TIME All-Time 100 Novels discussion

So every once in a while I attempt to tackle a book on this list with the thought that maybe someday I'll have read them all.

My husband has been on a spy kick lately and swears that The Spy Who Came in From the Cold is one of the best books he's ever read. I guess we own it now (somewhere) so I may have to tackle it at some point.

Just thought I'd share this list with you all ... there's some classics on here that are quite good and some I feel I should re-read now that I'm out of school.

I'm obsessed with book lists, I want to read as many books in my lifetime as I can! From this list, here are the books I've read:

Animal Farm - George Orwell
Atonement - Ian McEwan
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee

Adds up to 11. I definitely enjoyed almost all of these! I'm really excited to read the rest, and actually quite excited for this group! :)

Roth's American Pastoral is one of my favorite books that I've ever read. It definitely isn't the most joyful piece of fiction, but it is really beautiful.

read:
Atonement (just finished; overrated?)
Grapes of Wrath (hated it; re-read?)
Great Gatsby (me lovey)
Housekeeping (started; promising)
Lion, Witch & Wardrobe (always)
Lord of the Flies (mmyes)
Slaughterhouse-Five (forever)
Spy Who Came in From the Cold (yes!; *bookclub)
The Sun Also Rises (delightful; *bookclub)
To Kill A Mockingbird (must read again)

next:
Their Eyes Were Watching God (near-bookclub pick)
Beloved (liked excerpts; why not?)
other Cormac McCarthy (No Country, The Road)
I, Claudius (heard good things)
On the Road (must-read)

I'd have to say Mockingbird, Gatsby, and Slaughterhouse were glorious.

Glad to be member #9 - my favorite number!

Yep, here's what I've got:
• American Pastoral (Cole, I LOVE this book too.. though it's one I think would divide a lot of people)
• Animal Farm (too long ago; must re-read)
• Atonement
• Does it count if I read the first 75 pages of Blind Assassin? haha.. I LOVE me some Atwood, but couldn't get in to this one, so back on the list it goes)
• Catcher in the Rye
• The Corrections (some say overrated, I LOVED it)
• Grapes of Wrath (loved it but need to re-read it)
• Great Gatsby (one of my favorites ever!)
• Invisible Man (a college read that I took little time on the first go round)
• Lolita (the annotated version; great)
• Lord of the Flies
• The Man Who Loved Children (for the length of this, it could be better called "The Man Who Put Gail to Sleep Every Night" - sheesh!)
• Mrs. Dalloway
• 1984 (REALLY need to re-read this one)
• (some of) Rabbit Run
• Slaughterhouse Five


Do you guys think that this is a great list of books to purchase over the years? As in, someone could take a look at your bookshelves and be satisfied they are in the common of not just a book lover but an intelligent book lover? Yep, I thought so too.

Eh gads - I missed a couple, including the ALL TIME GREATEST BOOK EVER: To Kill A Mockingbird.

A few others I missed on the first run-through:
On the Road
Clockwork Orange (too long ago to remember anything but its overall theme of extreme trippyness)

Mine read include:

Animal Farm
The Great Gatsby
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Invisible Man
Lord of the Flies
1984
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Sun Also Rises
Their Eyes Were Watching God
To Kill a Mockingbird

So I am at a measily 10, and all but two of those were read in high school! Man, I need to get cracking on some good books!

Here is what I have read:

Animal Farm
Are you there God
Catch 22
Catcher in the Rye
Clockwork orange
The Confessions of Nat Turner
Death of the Heart
Deliverance
The French Lt's Woman
Gone with the Wind
Grapes of Wrath
Great Gatsby
Herzog
I Claudius
Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe
Lord of the Flies
The Lord of the Rings
1984
One flew over the Cuckoo's nest
Portnoy's Complaint
The prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Rabbit Run
Ragtime
Slaughterhouse Five
To Kill a Mockingbird

That's 25. And my favorite by far is To Kill a Mockingbird. By far. By miles.

But one thing that hit me as I thought about the books I have read is how some of them are so strongly associated with a time in my life. I've had that happen with music before but never with a book list!

I'm going to give American Pastoral a try. I don't think I've ever heard of it but there are some strong recommendations by some of you. I'm leaving for the library!

You'll have to let us know what you think of Pastoral. Is it your first introduction to Roth? I've also read his "Plot Against America" and have long had good intentions to read "Human Stain" (which I hear is fantastic) but just haven't gotten around to it ...

Let us know what you think of Pastoral, Meg. Is that your first time reading Roth? I've read his Plot Against America (found it ... interesting) and have Human Stain but have yet to get around to it despite hearing wonderful things.

Well, it took me awhile to check this out. . . Here's what I've read:
Animal Farm
Are you there God?...
Atonement
Beloved
Catcher in the rye
The Corrections
Gone with the Wind
Great Gatsby
Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe
Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Rings
Mrs. Dalloway
1984
Slaughterhouse Five
To kill a mockingbird
to the Lighthouse

I also read about ten pages of The Sound and the Fury which I consider an even bigger achievement.

I also read about ten pages of The Sound and the Fury which I consider an even bigger achievement.

Ellen, you crack me up. But only because I can relate to you on this one!

Hey! I might have read Are you there God? out loud to you, my daughter! I know we read some Judy Blume together.

I quit after reading about an eighth of it. I haven't read Roth for probably 30 years but I got started and thought immediately that it was Portnoy's Complaint all over again with older characters. He makes being in your 60's seem like it's something pathetic. Actually, he makes every age seem decadent and sleazy. And I don't like Roth's style....rambling, talking and talking, getting darker and darker.

I quit when Swede kissed his eleven year old daughter. I just cannot read books about incest and child abuse and I suspected that that was where he was going. I'm becoming more sensitive to those issues as I spend more years working with kids. So no thank you to American Pastoral.

Next on my list....a rereading of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. We'll see how well I tolerate abuse of mental patients!

Ahh...I could totally see that with Pastoral. It's always interesting to me the way the same book can resonate a different meaning to you depending on what point you are at in your life.

One Flew is on my short list too ... that is, if I could get these Twilight books out of my head long enough to read something that's not candy for the brain! haha

Gail, I don't know if you have seen the movies or not, but regardless, you need to read The Lord of the Rings. I put off reading them for sooooo long (finally did in high school), but they are so amazing that I stayed up all night to finish the second book. They will suck you in, and you will wonder why it took you so long to read them. I have them, if you want to borrow them! :)

Surprisingly, I've read most of the same ones that others have (did our HS english teachers all choose the same books?)
Of those I have read, The Great Gatsby probably has stuck with me the longest. Being from the mid-west, I understand why Gatsby felt like he had to prove himself and put on a persona.