# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/41 "2012-06-28T21:34:03Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > 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. This. My eyes glazed over through Heart of Darkness, but I counted it and the several others that I just read because I was assigned them. I did manage to read and enjoy several of the rest of them of my own volition. I’m not sure how many of the novels I’ve read for school I’ve actually enjoyed. _Call of the Wild_. So that’s one at least. ---
**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, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/42 "2012-06-28T21:34:56Z")
Interesting to see exactly TWO books from the list that NOBODY has read: “A Death of the Heart” by Elizabeth Bowen and “Loving” by Henry Green. Truthfully, I’d never even heard of either book before I found this list. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/43 "2012-06-28T21:44:33Z")
Where’s To Kill a Mockingbird? Gravity’s Rainbow? Red Harvest? I’ve read about 30, but seem to remember a century’s end list that was much better than this one; maybe a librarian’s list or something? ---
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/44 "2012-06-28T21:53:43Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Do you have any specific non-white writers in mind that you think ought to have been included? Not to speak for **Anaamika** , but there are one or two African novels I felt could have been on the list. For example: Chinua Achebe’s [Things Fall Apart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Things_Fall_Apart) Amos Tutuola’s [The Palm-Wine Drinkard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Palm-Wine_Drinkard) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/45 "2012-06-28T22:05:36Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > _Call of the Wild_. So that’s one at least. Oh, I’d missed that one! So there’s _one_ book on the list that I’ve read. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/46 "2012-06-28T22:31:39Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > I was surprised at the choices, too. > > Like, I loved Graham Greene’s **The Heart of the Matter** , but why was that chosen over his more famous (and far more accessible) **The End of the Affair** , **Brighton Rock** , or **The Power and Glory**? > > Edit: > > That was written in the 19th century. 🙂 That didn’t stop them from including _The Way of All Flesh_. (published posthumously past the century’s turn, sure, but written in and of the 19th). Actually, it shows up here as a book about Mr. Al L’Flesh. I wonder if he knows the archbishop’s friend Mr. Dath? 🙂 It seems clear that the list is English-language only, which would explain the preponderance of American & British authors. Odd that that does not seem to be mentioned explicitly. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/47 "2012-06-28T22:53:21Z")
Only 11 for me. I noticed the title “Hart of Darkness.” I always wondered why Corey Hart wore his sunglasses at night. ---
**Author:** ![colonial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/48 "2012-06-28T22:59:26Z")
I’d like to see lie detector results for those who claim to have slogged through either _Ulysses_ or _Finnegan’s Wake._ James Joyce is actually probably the _worst_ writer in the _entire history_ of English literature, and he would have to be on the short list of the worst in the history of _world_ literature. And any list of best novels which omits someone like Tolkein is a fraud, not to be taken seriously by anyone who really knows what it really is to be a good book. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/49 "2012-06-28T23:01:35Z")
10 for me, at least half from High School. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/50 "2012-06-28T23:11:11Z")
HART OF DARKNESS-is that about a murderous deer? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/51 "2012-06-28T23:28:48Z")
I’ve read 27, I couldn’t finish Heart of Darkness or Ulysses, so i didn’t count them. Am I right in thinking Salman Rushdie, James Baldwin and V.S. Naipaul are the only non whites on the list? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/52 "2012-06-28T23:31:30Z")
Only 4. But I have seen the movies! ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/53 "2012-06-28T23:39:04Z")
> [@colonial](#): > > I’d like to see lie detector results for those who claim to have slogged through either > _Ulysses_ or _Finnegan’s Wake._ > > James Joyce is actually probably the _worst_ writer in the _entire history_ of English literature, > and he would have to be on the short list of the worst in the history of _world_ literature. > > And any list of best novels which omits someone like Tolkein is a fraud, not to be taken seriously > by anyone who really knows what it really is to be a good book. I slugged through Ulysses. And Heart of Darkness - I will freely admit that I was 1) young 2) full of myself and 3) didn’t understand a darn thing but thought it was important that I read both those books to say I’d read them. In fact, I read many of the books on that list under those circumstances. (Joyce’s The Dead, however, is a fantastic short story or novella or whatever it is…I have to dig that up and reread it). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/54 "2012-06-28T23:45:00Z")
> [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > Am I right in thinking Salman Rushdie, James Baldwin and V.S. Naipaul are the only non whites on the list? Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright are African-Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/55 "2012-06-28T23:48:23Z")
Only 9 for me, but I missed marking Catcher in the Rye. Sad to see no sci-fi/fantasy, that I noticed anyway. No Bradbury, Clarke, Dick, Tolkien… ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/56 "2012-06-28T23:54:58Z")
Jeez, no wonder I never get anything done. I read too damn much. Although, as **SpoilerVirgin** said, it helps to have taken novels courses. That’s how I ended up reading all of Faulkner and a lot of Nabokov and Conrad. I can’t help wondering, looking over the list, if the people who compiled it have read much of anything written in the _second_ half of the twentieth century. In fact, I’m noticing that a lot of what I’ve read is pre-1923 (in other words, free for Kindle). They’re missing a whole lot of good stuff there - and some of it was written by people who weren’t white and/or weren’t men! ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/57 "2012-06-29T00:01:34Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I’m not sure how many of the novels I’ve read for school I’ve actually enjoyed. _Call of the Wild_. So that’s one at least. This, though I don’t know if I read that one for school or on my own. I was the kid in class who always had her head down as if she had a headache, but in reality was reading an INTERESTING book in her lap. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/58 "2012-06-29T00:17:07Z")
Finished 25, some of them only because in my youth, if I started a book, I’d force myself to finish it. I wouldn’t read _Sister Carrie_ again if you paid me. Also surprised about _To Kill A Mockingbird_ and didn’t see _Gone With the Wind_ either. It might not be great literature compared to the others on the list, but I think it should be there. My favorite from the list is _Of Human Bondage_. Another book that should have made the list is _A Fine Balance_ by Rohinton Mistry. And isn’t _Kristin Lavrandsdattar_ a 20th century book? It won one of the big prizes and it’s awesome, and readable. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/59 "2012-06-29T00:32:54Z")
43 for certain, mostly the older and British ones. I’m up on James, Wharton, Waugh, and Forster. Some of the Hemingways, Faulkners, and Fitzergeralds, I’m not sure of; it’s been a long time since I took 20th-century American lit and I get the titles mixed up. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598/60 "2012-06-29T01:12:23Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright are African-Americans. As is James Baldwin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-20th-century-novels-which-have-you-read/626598.md?page=4)