Time's Top 100 Novels....Say What?
Hey everyone! Time magazine recently published their list of the Top 100 Novels. Lists like this immediately catch my eye as I'm such a fan of ranking things. Even though I always get annoyed by the end product, the concept itself is too alluring to be resisted. Plus, it exposes me and everyone else to books we may not have discovered otherwise.
As I scanned through the list my first thoughts were No Russians? And No Austen? And No Fountainhead? I was so perplexed by this that I read their blurb on how they came up with the list. They only chose novels that were written in the English language after 1923 (they noted that Ulysses was written in 1922 - so was the entire point of this arbitrary date to exclude the works of James Joyce - not that I have a problem with that since I've never read Joyce, but still). Secondly, I noted that two guys came up with this list. I have two problems with this: Two. Guys. How random is that? Why don't they just get their own blog or something. Their random criteria explains no Anna Karenina and no Pride and Prejudice. But what about The Fountainhead? It was written in English after 1923. My guess at their rational: Written by a woman - strike 1. Written by someone whose native tongue was not English - strike 2. Written by a devout anti-Communist whose devotees include Fed Chair Alan Greenspan - strike 3. Sorry Ayn, hopefully you'll be satisfied with your placement on the Most Influential Books list. But I'm sure Time's two critics were educated/indoctrinated in liberal arts at Ivy League schools, so I guess we'll just have to assume that they're qualified to be the sole contributors for such a grandly named list and take their opinions as gospel. Now for a little analysis on the list:
19 - Number of books I've read on the list
16 - Number of books I've read on the list and liked
10 - Number of books I haven't read but have seen the movie version
7 - Number of books I've tried to read but gave up on
13 - Number of books previously on my To Read list
72 - Number of books written by men
18 - Number of books written by women
9 - Number of authors who were on the list twice
1 - Number of women authors who made the list twice (Virgina Woolf)
1 - Father/Son combo who made the list (Kingley and Martin Amis)
Lots - Number of books on list I haven't even heard of, many of which I'll now add to my To Read List
Infinity - Number of books I like much better than many on this list
I have to wonder how Time's Top 100 Novels would have looked if two women created it - or even one man and one woman. I'm really to believe that 80% of the best novels written since 1923 - are written by men? This strikes me as extremely sexist. And most of the women they did include are tres PC. It seems like they said, ok we picked our 70 white guys who wrote books we loved, so let's spend the rest of the list trying to appease all the non-white males out there (for example, Beloved was required reading in SEVERAL classes for my brother who majored in journalism and is a thesis away from his Masters in Education. Why that book and why was it mandated more than once? No, I've never read Beloved so I don't know just how mind-blowingly good it is. And I will probably never know as I have no desire to ever read it. And yes, I know this is close-minded and Oprah would be disappointed in me.).
Four of my top 5 books were left off the list, but I was pleased to see that GWTW made it (aside from The Fountainhead, my other huge disappointment was the blackballing of A Confederacy of Dunces). I'm sure this was a yet another calculating move on the part of these two guys. They didn't want to deal with all the hate mail that one exception would have created from romantically-minded females. The funniest inclusion was Are You There God, It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume. Don't get me wrong, I loved this book when I was ten and I would happily re-read it and all of Judy Blume, except for the icky Forever. I'm just trying really hard to picture these two dingbats reading this book on the subway on their way to work and then deciding yeah, that's one of the best 100 novels ever written! My guess is that they're also afraid of all of America's tween girls. The other children's book on the list is The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. No complaints here.
Some authors I was glad to see on the list, but the book selected was either not my choice or one I haven't yet read, i.e., Dashiell Hammet's Red Meridian (haven't even heard of it), Thorton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey (his Mr. North is in my personal Top 10 list, but I'm now adding Bridge to my To Read list even though it sounds suspiciously like a war book), E.M. Forster's A Passage to India (good book, but I loved Room with a View so much more), Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby (the traditional choice, but I'm a Tender is the Night girl.....Die Daisy, Die!), and John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath (I'll admit it - I hated the book, the movie, and even a play of it I was forced to watch in The Fort starring Brother Alexander. Give me East of Eden any day). The other books on this list that I really, really didn't like were McEwan's Atonement and DeLillo's White Noise (both books by white guys I read so much about that I practically felt obligated to read. End result: a heap of boredom and much ado about nothing).
But at least they included Faulkner. In my opinion, the best writer of the 20th century. And he made the list twice. A Southerner no less.
Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Rednecks for Kerry
-sunday
As I scanned through the list my first thoughts were No Russians? And No Austen? And No Fountainhead? I was so perplexed by this that I read their blurb on how they came up with the list. They only chose novels that were written in the English language after 1923 (they noted that Ulysses was written in 1922 - so was the entire point of this arbitrary date to exclude the works of James Joyce - not that I have a problem with that since I've never read Joyce, but still). Secondly, I noted that two guys came up with this list. I have two problems with this: Two. Guys. How random is that? Why don't they just get their own blog or something. Their random criteria explains no Anna Karenina and no Pride and Prejudice. But what about The Fountainhead? It was written in English after 1923. My guess at their rational: Written by a woman - strike 1. Written by someone whose native tongue was not English - strike 2. Written by a devout anti-Communist whose devotees include Fed Chair Alan Greenspan - strike 3. Sorry Ayn, hopefully you'll be satisfied with your placement on the Most Influential Books list. But I'm sure Time's two critics were educated/indoctrinated in liberal arts at Ivy League schools, so I guess we'll just have to assume that they're qualified to be the sole contributors for such a grandly named list and take their opinions as gospel. Now for a little analysis on the list:
19 - Number of books I've read on the list
16 - Number of books I've read on the list and liked
10 - Number of books I haven't read but have seen the movie version
7 - Number of books I've tried to read but gave up on
13 - Number of books previously on my To Read list
72 - Number of books written by men
18 - Number of books written by women
9 - Number of authors who were on the list twice
1 - Number of women authors who made the list twice (Virgina Woolf)
1 - Father/Son combo who made the list (Kingley and Martin Amis)
Lots - Number of books on list I haven't even heard of, many of which I'll now add to my To Read List
Infinity - Number of books I like much better than many on this list
I have to wonder how Time's Top 100 Novels would have looked if two women created it - or even one man and one woman. I'm really to believe that 80% of the best novels written since 1923 - are written by men? This strikes me as extremely sexist. And most of the women they did include are tres PC. It seems like they said, ok we picked our 70 white guys who wrote books we loved, so let's spend the rest of the list trying to appease all the non-white males out there (for example, Beloved was required reading in SEVERAL classes for my brother who majored in journalism and is a thesis away from his Masters in Education. Why that book and why was it mandated more than once? No, I've never read Beloved so I don't know just how mind-blowingly good it is. And I will probably never know as I have no desire to ever read it. And yes, I know this is close-minded and Oprah would be disappointed in me.).
Four of my top 5 books were left off the list, but I was pleased to see that GWTW made it (aside from The Fountainhead, my other huge disappointment was the blackballing of A Confederacy of Dunces). I'm sure this was a yet another calculating move on the part of these two guys. They didn't want to deal with all the hate mail that one exception would have created from romantically-minded females. The funniest inclusion was Are You There God, It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume. Don't get me wrong, I loved this book when I was ten and I would happily re-read it and all of Judy Blume, except for the icky Forever. I'm just trying really hard to picture these two dingbats reading this book on the subway on their way to work and then deciding yeah, that's one of the best 100 novels ever written! My guess is that they're also afraid of all of America's tween girls. The other children's book on the list is The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. No complaints here.
Some authors I was glad to see on the list, but the book selected was either not my choice or one I haven't yet read, i.e., Dashiell Hammet's Red Meridian (haven't even heard of it), Thorton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey (his Mr. North is in my personal Top 10 list, but I'm now adding Bridge to my To Read list even though it sounds suspiciously like a war book), E.M. Forster's A Passage to India (good book, but I loved Room with a View so much more), Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby (the traditional choice, but I'm a Tender is the Night girl.....Die Daisy, Die!), and John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath (I'll admit it - I hated the book, the movie, and even a play of it I was forced to watch in The Fort starring Brother Alexander. Give me East of Eden any day). The other books on this list that I really, really didn't like were McEwan's Atonement and DeLillo's White Noise (both books by white guys I read so much about that I practically felt obligated to read. End result: a heap of boredom and much ado about nothing).
But at least they included Faulkner. In my opinion, the best writer of the 20th century. And he made the list twice. A Southerner no less.
Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Rednecks for Kerry
-sunday
posted by Sunday at
1:20 PM
5 Comments:
I've read about a third of the books. The Corrections? wow, was there something in that book I missed? Seemed like so many books written since Rabbit Run. Can't bear the Fountain Head. I was promised $50 if I could get to the hundreth page. I couldn't. Turgid. How about a joke or two. Look! Light in August is on the list! A fav! No jokes but a great book.
On the women. I agree. Very much a boy's list and I am a boy who loves a boy book. But this is a very conservative college educated sort of collection. Nothing out of the ordinary. No wild choices. All establ....zzzzzzz. But this is Time after all.
E.L. Doctorow?
Glad to see Flan O'brien. Can't go wrong there. His jokes make up for Rand, sitting over there in the corner schemeing.
By
Anonymous, at 10/24/2005 6:25 PM
Don't feel bad that you don't have the urge to read beloved. It is not that good. The list is cravenly PC, destroying any credibility it may have had. Honestly, I've read things fall apart, twice, and while it is good, to put it in the BEST 100, since 1923 even, is pushing it a bit.
Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813, and was originally submitted to publishers in the late 1790's. If it had met the "arbitrary criterium" I could not imagine keeping it off the list. Also, I enjoyed Atlas shrugged much more than the fountainhed, if you haven't already, give it a shot.
As for the women topic. I agree and disagree. Although I am quite sure that the distribution amongst gender on this list should be within %10. I can't honestly think of any snubbs other than at least Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged by Rand and "I know why the caged bird sings" by Angelou.
By
Anonymous, at 10/24/2005 7:29 PM
Hmm... I can't believe *I* am posting a correction to your blog. Hammett wrote Maltese Falcon. Cormac McCarthy is the author of Blood Meridian. He is probably one of my top 5 favorite authors and I happily found a section of one of his new books in the Fall Virginia Quarterly Review (yes, I subscribe to a literary magazine). I will gladly purchase you one of his books. And, I agree about Anna K. Jeepers. Well, if this comment didn't shock you, I don't know what will. LR
By
Anonymous, at 10/25/2005 5:38 PM
Happy Birthday Sunday! I hope you have a great day. See you two soon.
Jess
By
El Capitan, at 10/27/2005 10:38 AM
very odd choices: power and the glory, under the volcano. two books that are so historically similar, (mexican revolution) and are by far not the best works by the authors. same goes for 'death of an archbishop', not willa cathers best (but love to see a nebraska author on the chart!!). i loved the prime of miss jean brodie, def deserves its spot. also happy to see the movie goer. but very angry at the lack of 'razors edge', herman hesse or 'the little prince'. all in all, ive read 15 of the top 100. now sunday, you mush publish your top 100.... happy belated bday, cyd
By
Anonymous, at 10/30/2005 1:39 AM
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