Here is the link to the list.
I have read 15
I’ve read 16 of them.
There are probably other things wrong with the list, but one thing that jumps out at me is that it makes no friggin’ sense to single out that one Harry Potter book to put on the list, particularly when there were a couple of other series that made it on as series (His Dark Materials and Sandman).
Kind of surprised Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil isn’t on the list.
And to answer the question: 18.
4,
The list seems very female centric. I can’t think of a good reason why it shouldn’t be. It just makes me wonder how much influence Oprah’s book club has on that list.
I think I’ve read 13:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Maus
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Watchmen
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
The Handmaid’s Tale
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
The Bonfire of the Vanities
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
A Prayer for Owen Meany
Fast Food Nation
The Da Vinci Code
America (The Book)
I’ve read 11 of them, and that surprises me. I’d expect my number to be even lower because I’m a mostly random reader. I just pick stuff up at the library or the Goodwill or on Amazon that looks interesting, and my idea of interesting rarely intersects with anybody’s idea of good or even popular literature.
I should probably take points of for having read Bonfire of the Vanities and absolutely despised it.
27, but what a strange list.
I have read fifteen of these. I am a little gobsmacked at some of the selections considered to be “classics,” considering some of the conspicuous omissions. Whaddya want from Entertainment Weekly, I guess.
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
16. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
36. Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)
Three. I mostly read newspapers and magazines.
From the list I’ve read: “Naked,” “Nickel and Dimed” and “Fast Food Nation.” I also prefer non-fiction to fiction.
These.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling
Beloved, Toni Morrison
Mystic River, Dennis Lehane
Maus, Art Spiegelman
Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer
The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
On Beauty, Zadie Smith
Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
The Ghost Road, Pat Barker
Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry
The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
Neuromancer, William Gibson
Naked, David Sedaris
Case Histories, Kate Atkinson
The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
Persepolis, Marjane Satrap
His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen
Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan
The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe
The Giver, Lois Lowry
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
Fun Home, Alison Bechde
Secret History, Donna Tartt
Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving
A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell
The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney
Atonement, Ian McEwan
And the Band Played On, Randy Shilt
Close Range, Annie Proulx
Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow
The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show
Weird list.
I have read 16.
I also started another 5, but found them so boring/unreadable/annoying, I gave up and/or skipped to the end. Those were:
I don’t think so.
I do think they should have either inlcuded more non-fiction books, or left them off the list altogether. The list as it is is so heavily weighted toward fiction that the non-fiction entries look at bit anomalous.
The other thing that makes it a weird list is that they restricted themselves to one work per author, which meant that they had to leave out some books that, without that restriction, would certainly be more “classic” than those that made the list.
So, 22. Very weird list. Agree on oddness of the few nonfiction entries.
And Waiting to Exhale is #52 and Cloud Atlas is #70? I don’t think so.
[ol]
[li]7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)[/li][li]22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)[/li][li]25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)[/li][li]31. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (1990)[/li][li]34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)[/li][li]36. Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)[/li][li]48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)[/li][li]60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)[/li][li]67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)[/li][li]72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)[/li][li]94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)[/li][li]96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)[/li][li]100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)[/li][/ol]
For someone who reads a lot, I apparently don’t read the “right” books. :dubious: Still, I should get extra credit for reading The Joy Luck Club and The Poisonwood Bible a hundred times. Thanks, Oprah.
I’ve only read six of 'em.
I clicked on the list figuring zero,but have read one…Fast Food Nation.