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So called 'classic' novels top 100 from The Guardian


Couple more lists from the past - interesting comparison
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I'd be strongly inclined to limit this to one per novelist. I can't see any justification for two Tolstoys in the top 10, nor any justification for Anna Karenina anywhere (OK, I'll admit it, I was rooting for the train). I think I've read about 30 of them, probably only Master and Margarita would make my personal top 10. Tend to feel that several of them were 'good for me' without ever wanting to return to them. But I spotted a few that I hadn't thought about, so I'll go and have a read later on.
 
Son of Stan said:
Yes I think Catcher in the Rye is probably a young person's book. I read it when I was about 15 and wanted to be called Phoebe (his sister?) Family totally ignored me. Not sure how it would fare if I read it again, it's been decades.

Sometimes audiobooks are great. All depends on the voice for me. Simon Callow reading Wodehouse was perfect and Stephen Fry narrating all of the Sherlock Holmes books was wonderful.
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Was greatly disappointed in this when I got round to reading it as an adult, had the feeling it was written by a 15 year old.


8 for me on the list, Picture of Dorian Gray should be on it
 
40 and a half. But l am very old and very deaf so reading is a way of entering w
orld's that hearing loss denies me.

The half?
Ulysses defeats me every time but theres an RTE radio versión which seems a lot easier to grasp. Ah @ Monty Pigeon has already mentioned that.
Doh!

No Steinbeck or Vonnegut, Wodehouse or Waugh? Amis, Boyd, McEwen, Thackeray? l mean just scanning my bookshelves there's Anthony Burgess a stand out omission for me, as is Pat Barker..
All these lists are essentially subjective though but great to give an idea of what to ask for at Christmas, birthdays etc.
Monty Pigeon said:
One book that never gets a look-in in these lists is probably my favourite British book of the 20th Century.

I think Burgess burnt so brightly in his lifetime (novelist, prolific reviewer, screenwriter, composer), his legacy has suffered from his absence. A Clockwork Orange is great, but this is his masterpiece:

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My favourite all time read.
 
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