lovejuice's top hundred novels

[Lucky]

Who was it that said he'd read your number one if you ever got to it? Time to get cracking.

That would be me. And I promise to keep my word. We have similar taste so I'm looking forward to it. I'm reading God: The Biography right now and depending on what I get for Christmas I'll read The Unbearable Lightness of Being next.

[kuehnepips]

1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera)

God, do I hate this book.

[Adam]

This was a very good read

Outta curiosity, have most of you read at least 100 books you legitimately love? I don't think I could even make a top 40 without including some filler

[dreamdead]

Have read (bolded the loved ones):
99. Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys)
97. The Drawing of the Three (Stephen King)
91. A Personal Matter (Kenzaburo Oe)
90. Things Fall apart (Chinua Achebe)
87. Ham on Rye (Charles Bukowski)
78. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
77. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
72. Surfacing (Margaret Atwood)
67. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
65. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
64. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
56. The Glass Bead Game (Hermann Hesse)
45. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller (Italo Calvino)
35. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
31. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
28. Steppenwolf (Herman Hesse)
27. Siddhartha (Herman Hesse)
17. Narcissus and Goldmund (Herman Hesse)

Want to read now:
83. The Power and the Glory (Graham Greene)
60. The Zero (Jess Walter)
51. The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)
49. The Plague (Albert Camus)
47. The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood)
14. The Blithedale Romance (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
12. To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)
10. Kiss of the Spider Woman (Manuel Puig)
9. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
3. The Sea, the Sea (Iris Murdoch)

Great list for generating more texts to read. Surprised by the lack of Beckett, actually.

[Melville]

This was a very good read

Outta curiosity, have most of you read at least 100 books you legitimately love? I don't think I could even make a top 40 without including some filler

According to a list on my computer, I could get to around 75. But lovejuice is some kind of superhuman being who reads 100 books per year, so getting to 100 favorites seems like a simple feat for him.

[Benny Profane]

It's a fair question. I know that I could bust out an awesome top 50, but I don't know if I have 100 that I truly love.

I read about 25 - 30 books a year.

[Kurosawa Fan]

According to my reading log, I've loved 40 books (I highlight any book I've loved). I could probably stretch that to 50 though, as some of them that aren't highlighted have settled quite well since reading them.

[lovejuice]

i'm only confident that the top 30 well represent my taste. anything after 70 is quite shaky.

[Mysterious Dude]

A top 30 would be the most I would risk. I'm not even sure about my top 10, though; I haven't read some of them since high school.

As for the list...

90. Things Fall Apart ****
88. Jude the Obscure ***
77. Ender's Game **½
45. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller ***½
44. A Clockwork Orange ***½
37. The Scarlet Letter ***
35. Fahrenheit 451 ****
32. To Kill a Mockingbird ***½
31. The Great Gatsby **½
2. Lolita ***½

[Duncan]

86. Speaker for the Dead (Orson Scott Card)
77. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
75. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
69. The Manticore (Robertson Davies)
65. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
64. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
63. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
56. The Glass Bead Game (Hermann Hesse)
51. The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)
49. The Plague (Albert Camus)
46. Fifth Business (Robertson Davies)
44. A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess)
43. Darkness at Noon (Arthur Koestler)
38. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)
37. The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
32. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
31. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
28. Steppenwolf (Herman Hesse)
27. Siddhartha (Herman Hesse)
17. Narcissus and Goldmund (Herman Hesse)
15. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
12. To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)
9. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
6. The Idiot (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
2. Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)
1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera)

Love the bolded ones. Congrats on finishing. Impressive feat.

[Llopin]

98. Of Love and Other Demons (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) **1/2
96. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) **
92. The Magic Toyshop (Angela Carter) ***
91. A Personal Matter (Kenzaburo Oe) ****
89. More than Human (Theodore Sturgeon) ***1/2
87. Ham on Rye (Charles Bukowski) ****
83. The Power and the Glory (Graham Greene) ***
77. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card) **1/2
76. Marcovaldo (Italo Calvino) ***
75. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens) ***
70. The Wings of the Doves (Henry James) ***
65. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) **1/2
64. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) ***
61. Foucault's Pendulum (Umberto Eco) **1/2
59. Blindness (Jose Saramago) ***
57. Shanghai Baby (Wei Hui) **
56. The Glass Bead Game (Hermann Hesse) ****
50. The Adventures of Augie March (Saul Bellow) ***
49. The Plague (Albert Camus) ***1/2
45. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller (Italo Calvino) ****
44. A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess) ***
43. Darkness at Noon (Arthur Koestler) ***1/2
38. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde) ***
36. The Baron in the Trees (Italo Calvino) ***1/2
35. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury) ***
34. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (Philip K. Dick) ****
33. Ubik (Philip K. Dick) ***1/2
31. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald) ***
30. Nights at the Circus (Angela Carter) ***
29. Immortality (Milan Kundera) ***
28. Steppenwolf (Herman Hesse) ****
27. Siddhartha (Herman Hesse) ***
24. The Man Who Was Thursday (G.K. Chesterton) ***
22. A Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole) ***
20. The Little Prince (Antoine De Saint-Exupery) ***
18. The Joke (Milan Kundera) ***1/2
17. Narcissus and Goldmund (Herman Hesse) ***1/2
15. Life of Pi (Yann Martel) **1/2
12. To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf) ****
11. The Tenth Man (Graham Greene) ***1/2
10. Kiss of the Spider Woman (Manuel Puig) ***
9. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky) **** (best novel ever, man)
6. The Idiot (Fyodor Dostoevsky) ***1/2
4. The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco) ***
2. Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov) ****
1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera) ***

Seems like, as I said before, our tastes differ. I like most of the novels mentioned, but love few of them. You seem infatuated with a handful of writers who have an omnious presence. I think the list is very traditional, yet consistent, and there's several books I haven't read that really peak my interest.

[Cherish]

Wow, impressive list! I like quite a few on there, but these five would definitely make my top 100:

The Magic Toyshop
A Tale of Two Cities
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Crime and Punishment
Brighton Rock

[thefourthwall]

24. The Man Who Was Thursday.


It’s without any doubt the happiest book in this list.

I just started reading this--I troll your list for suggestions when I need a new book--and it's superb. After rereading your review, I'm tempted to chuck work for the day and just read to get to that good end.

[endingcredits]

this list is more a fun challenge to your truely rather than a representative of my taste. each entry'll be accompanied by a short paragraph or two. the higher the entry, the more well-thought out my comment is (or i hope).

have you read anything by isaac bashevis singer? definitely on my top 100.

[lovejuice]

have you read anything by isaac bashevis singer? definitely on my top 100.

not yet but anything in your recommendation piques my interest. any one particular book?

[Mysterious Dude]

God, do I hate this book.

What books about Eastern Europe do you recommend, Nada?

[endingcredits]

not yet but anything in your recommendation piques my interest. any one particular book?

Sosha comes to mind for being particularly good. Shadows on the Hudson is also well worth the read. His short story collections are marvelous as well.