Confessions of a Phillistine

[khaosworks]

I'm looking at the 100 Greatest Novels of All Time list and I'm almost ashamed to say how many of them I actually haven't read, and how many of them I have read, albeit in Classics Illustrated-type editions, or watched movie/TV adaptatations thereof.

Never had the patience for Moby Dick.

Comments

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

You barbarian, you!

Haven't read Moby Dick in years ... it was a bit rough going in places, wasn't it?
Must have been 8 or 9 before I made it all the way through. *g*

[camwyn]

Is it just me, or are virtually all these Greatest Novels of All Time written by white people of Western European ancestry? And who the hell let Madame Bovary on there?

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Yes, they are. Not to mention the overwhelming male gender of said authors. See the accompanying article for an explanation of how they were selected. [Note: I am NOT defending them. But at least it's good to get some background on the selection process.]

I'm looking forward to reading the feedback they receive (assuming it's published). And maybe an updated, wider-based list, later.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

I think that was an entry requirement ...
*sigh*
Read any of Marge Piercey's work?

[camwyn]

Can't say I have, no. I was just about to start getting peeved that Journey to the West wasn't on the list, or at least something like Outlaws of the Marsh (I'm not gonna argue in favour of The Tale of Genji because, for all that it was a seminal work, it really annoyed me on my first read-through). Then I read the selection article. Basically we're looking at a poorly titled opinion poll rather than anything that involves serious scholastic discussion.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

Well, yes - not as if it's the "Harvard Five-Foot Shelf of Books" or some other such classic collection of Classics.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

Make one, and pass it on!

[mrpsyklops.livejournal.com]

I may have read as many as 25 of them (maybe). That is, if you count novels that I read so many years ago that I don't clearly remember them any more.

I finished and enjoyed Moby Dick - finally, about the third time I tried to read it!

[hrrunka]

Four of the first 20 were books I was forced to read (and consequently hated), and another two I chose to read, at school when I was 11 or 12. I can only claim to have read 18, though I've started and abandoned a couple of others, dipped into three or four more, and seen film adaptations of another half-dozen...

[joatamon]

Heh. I've read 11 of them, including BFG and Northern Lights. I was actually surprised I'd read that many. I tend not to read anything that might be considered a classic, although I was pleased to see Kerouac's On The Road and Eliot's Daniel Deronda on the list since they're both sitting on my shelf at the moment. Unread though. Ah, well.

Thanks muchly for the list. I wonder if it's related to the BBC's 'Big Read' thingamebob?

[joecoustic.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I'm embarrassed or irritated with their choices. I seem to have read only 12 (maybe 13). I really do consider myself well read too.... Maybe my deciding (in the last 10 years) to catch up on some of the "classics" I'd never read was a little to SF&F based (such as Lovecraft, Tolkein, E.E."Doc" Smith) :).
Ahh well such is life when you do your reading for enjoyment.

[tronchin.livejournal.com]

Yea, I wasn't too impressed with their choices. I've read only a little over 20 of the books.

But I will say this. Yippie for including Calvino. "If on a winter's night a traveler" is one of my all time favs. *HIGHLY* recommended.

[dietbubba.livejournal.com]

Okay I am REALLY embarassed by the number I have read. Lets just say you can count the number I have read on two hands and will have fingers left over.

[adamselzer.livejournal.com]

Exactly two kinds of people would place "Tristram Shandy" in the top 10 - people who've read it 10 times or more, and people who've never really read it. And even those who read it 100 times can't claim to understand more than half of it.

I'm most amused to see "The BFG" on the list. A bit ashamed of what I haven't even a passing acuaintance with, but I've read a good deal of them. I don't, however, recommend anyone give Tristram Shandy a whirl without a good deal of assistance.