# Greatest 20th Century Novels: Which Have You Read? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598 "2012-06-28T16:24:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/1 "2012-06-28T16:24:02Z")
Not that any literary “canon” should be accepted uncritically (there are some books on the following list I think were awful), but… of the books on the following ist created by the Modern Library, which have you read? (As of now, I’ve read 30 of them, myself.) ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/2 "2012-06-28T16:28:21Z")
Following list, following list. Wherefore art thou, following list? And, yes, that’s not how Shakespeare used “wherefore”. I use the material I can, dammit. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/3 "2012-06-28T16:31:38Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Following list, following list. Wherefore art thou, following list? I’m assuming it’s a very sarcastic commentary on the quality of 20th Century Novels. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/4 "2012-06-28T17:27:08Z")
Not read enough of them, sadly, and many sit on our shelves. On the other hand, I don’t feel my life is poorer for it. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/5 "2012-06-28T17:48:37Z")
I’ve only read about ten. I only enjoyed about five. And I counted Heart of Darkness although technically I couldn’t force myself through the last few pages. I don’t have any plans to read the others. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/6 "2012-06-28T18:07:11Z")
Thirty. I guess I’m a Yankee through-and-through - I just don’t get what people think is so great about _Women in Love_, or _Old Wives’ Tale_. Or _Kim_. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/7 "2012-06-28T18:12:35Z")
I’ve completed 12. There are several others that I attempted to read but gave up on: _Catch 22, Ulysses, Sound and the Fury_, and _Passage to India._ Next in my queue is _Slaughterhouse Five._ ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/8 "2012-06-28T18:19:27Z")
1. I didn’t count the ones I started but didn’t finish because they bored me to tears (_Lolita, On The Road, Invisible Man, Midnight’s Children_) or were just bullshit not worth finishing (_Finnegans Wake_). ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/9 "2012-06-28T18:23:06Z")
I voted for 19 of them. I wasn’t sure what to do about Tropic of Cancer and Portnoy’s Complaint, where I…ahem…_skimmed_ them as a young teenager. So I voted “yes” on Portnoy and “no” on Tropic. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/10 "2012-06-28T18:26:49Z")
I have only read 5 and of those, \*Catch 22 \*was the only one I thought was horrible. There are probably 30 or so of those sitting on my shelf. I could probably name 10 or so novels that should be on that list, but obviously couldn’t tell you what they should replace. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/11 "2012-06-28T18:30:39Z")
Crap, I missed a couple. Start the poll over again! ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/12 "2012-06-28T18:31:49Z")
Not too many. Seven of them. Though at least two of them, while I know I read long ago, I couldn’t tell you thing-one about them. And there are a few others which I’ve either started and never finished, or bought and never started. And now that I think about, at least one that I’m not sure if I ever read or not (I think I might have (_Heart of Darkness_)). But it’s weird, because I know all about the story, plot, characters etc, but I can’t swear I actually read it. It’s like _Gone With The Wind_ – I never saw it, but I could probably win a trivia contest about it. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/13 "2012-06-28T18:33:42Z")
I’ve read 36. It pays to have taken at least a dozen novels courses in college. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/14 "2012-06-28T18:37:19Z")
Almost all of the “great” novels are written by white people? Fuck that noise. I don’t know why that’s making me angry - it’s irrational to say the least - but it is. :mad: I’m glad there’s at least a few non-white people there. But um, yeah. 12. I’ve read 12. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/15 "2012-06-28T18:39:14Z")
Only 31. And I really enjoyed most of them–let’s hear it for Ford Madox Ford! I need to read a more–but doubt I’ll make it to 100%… ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/16 "2012-06-28T18:40:31Z")
Just seven. I don’t read many novels. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/17 "2012-06-28T18:40:49Z")
15 and a few I tried to start but they were just shit. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/18 "2012-06-28T18:42:52Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > And I really enjoyed most of them–let’s hear it for Ford Madox Ford! Out of the ones that I read from this list, The Good Soldier was by far the dullest. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/19 "2012-06-28T18:46:03Z")
I ended up with seven, although there are one or two others that I may have read but am not sure. I also didn’t count _Tobacco Road,_ which I really tried to read but gave up about a quarter of the way through. Honestly, it reads like a parody of its own genre. (See Thurber’s “Bateman Comes Home” for an actual parody that is almost indistinguishable from the original.) ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/20 "2012-06-28T18:47:47Z")
Is anyone else surprised that _To Kill a Mockingbird_ isn’t on this list? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598.md?page=2)