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賯丕卅賲丞 賲賰乇賵賲 #1
兀賮囟賱 賲卅丞 乇賵丕賷丞 賮賷 丕賱賱睾丞 丕賱廿賳噩賱賷夭賷丞
賷賲孬賱 賴匕丕 丕賱賲卮乇賵毓 禺賱丕氐丞 丕賱乇賵丨 丕賱鬲賷 兀賳卮兀鬲 賲賵賯毓 芦賰鬲亘 賲賲賱丞禄.
毓賳丿賲丕 兀氐亘丨鬲 賲丿賵賳丞 芦賰鬲亘 賲賲賱丞禄 賲賵賯毓賸丕 賮賷 亘丿丕賷丞 毓丕賲 2019貙 丕賱鬲賮 丨賵賱賳丕 毓丿丿 賲賳 丕賱兀氐丿賯丕亍 丕賱賰鬲丕亘/丕鬲 賵丕賱賲鬲乇噩賲賷賳/丕鬲 賷賲賱兀賵賳 氐賮丨丕鬲 丕賱賲賵賯毓 亘賲爻丕賴賲丕鬲賴賲/賳. 賵賮賷 睾囟賵賳 卮賴賵乇貙 亘丿兀賳丕 賳卮乇 爻賱丕爻賱 賲禺鬲賱賮丞貙 賲賳 囟賲賳賴丕 爻賱爻賱丞 芦兀賮囟賱 100 乇賵丕賷丞 賮賷 丕賱賱睾丞 丕賱廿賳噩賱賷夭賷丞禄 賱賱賳丕賯丿 丕賱廿賳噩賱賷夭賷 乇賵亘乇鬲 賲賰乇賵賲貙 賵丕賱鬲賷 賳賳卮乇賴丕 賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘.
賷賯丿賲 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 氐賵乇丞 鬲丕乇賷禺賷丞 賱賱兀丿亘 丕賱廿賳噩賱賷夭賷貙 鬲賵囟丨 兀賴賲 丕賱兀毓賲丕賱 丕賱賲賳卮賵乇丞賮賷賴貙 毓賱賶 賲丿賶 孬賱丕孬丞 賯乇賵賳.
賱匕賱賰 賯丿 賷賰賵賳 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賲賮賷丿賸丕 賱賱賯乇丕亍 丕賱賲丨亘賷賳 賱賱兀丿亘貙 賱賲毓乇賮丞 爻亘亘 兀賴賲賷丞 丕賱乇賵丕賷丕鬲 丕賱鬲賷 賯乇兀賵賴丕貙 賵賲毓乇賮丞 乇賵丕賷丕鬲 噩丿賷丿丞 賲賴賲丞 賱賲 賷賯乇兀賵賴丕貙 賵賯丿 賷賰賵賳 賲賮賷丿賸丕 兀賷囟賸丕 賱丿賵乇 丕賱賳卮乇 賱賲毓乇賮丞 兀爻賲丕亍 賰鬲亘 賵賲丐賱賮賷賳 噩丿丿貙 賵賴賷 兀爻賲丕亍 賲鬲丨賯賯丞 賮賷 丕賱孬賯丕賮丞 丕賱廿賳噩賱賷夭賷丞 賵賱賰賳賴丕 睾賷乇 賲毓乇賵賮丞 兀賵 賲丐孬乇丞 賮賷 孬賯丕賮鬲賳丕.
毓賳丿賲丕 兀氐亘丨鬲 賲丿賵賳丞 芦賰鬲亘 賲賲賱丞禄 賲賵賯毓賸丕 賮賷 亘丿丕賷丞 毓丕賲 2019貙 丕賱鬲賮 丨賵賱賳丕 毓丿丿 賲賳 丕賱兀氐丿賯丕亍 丕賱賰鬲丕亘/丕鬲 賵丕賱賲鬲乇噩賲賷賳/丕鬲 賷賲賱兀賵賳 氐賮丨丕鬲 丕賱賲賵賯毓 亘賲爻丕賴賲丕鬲賴賲/賳. 賵賮賷 睾囟賵賳 卮賴賵乇貙 亘丿兀賳丕 賳卮乇 爻賱丕爻賱 賲禺鬲賱賮丞貙 賲賳 囟賲賳賴丕 爻賱爻賱丞 芦兀賮囟賱 100 乇賵丕賷丞 賮賷 丕賱賱睾丞 丕賱廿賳噩賱賷夭賷丞禄 賱賱賳丕賯丿 丕賱廿賳噩賱賷夭賷 乇賵亘乇鬲 賲賰乇賵賲貙 賵丕賱鬲賷 賳賳卮乇賴丕 賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘.
賷賯丿賲 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 氐賵乇丞 鬲丕乇賷禺賷丞 賱賱兀丿亘 丕賱廿賳噩賱賷夭賷貙 鬲賵囟丨 兀賴賲 丕賱兀毓賲丕賱 丕賱賲賳卮賵乇丞賮賷賴貙 毓賱賶 賲丿賶 孬賱丕孬丞 賯乇賵賳.
賱匕賱賰 賯丿 賷賰賵賳 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賲賮賷丿賸丕 賱賱賯乇丕亍 丕賱賲丨亘賷賳 賱賱兀丿亘貙 賱賲毓乇賮丞 爻亘亘 兀賴賲賷丞 丕賱乇賵丕賷丕鬲 丕賱鬲賷 賯乇兀賵賴丕貙 賵賲毓乇賮丞 乇賵丕賷丕鬲 噩丿賷丿丞 賲賴賲丞 賱賲 賷賯乇兀賵賴丕貙 賵賯丿 賷賰賵賳 賲賮賷丿賸丕 兀賷囟賸丕 賱丿賵乇 丕賱賳卮乇 賱賲毓乇賮丞 兀爻賲丕亍 賰鬲亘 賵賲丐賱賮賷賳 噩丿丿貙 賵賴賷 兀爻賲丕亍 賲鬲丨賯賯丞 賮賷 丕賱孬賯丕賮丞 丕賱廿賳噩賱賷夭賷丞 賵賱賰賳賴丕 睾賷乇 賲毓乇賵賮丞 兀賵 賲丐孬乇丞 賮賷 孬賯丕賮鬲賳丕.
627 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2015
13 people are currently reading
121 people want to read
About the author
Robert McCrum
55听books40听followersRobert McCrum is an associate editor of the Observer. He was born and educated in Cambridge. For nearly 20 years he was editor-in-chief of the publishers Faber & Faber. He is the co-author of The Story of English (1986), and has written six novels. He was the literary editor of the Observer from 1996 to 2008, and has been a regular contributor to the Guardian since 1990
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 12, 2021
There aren鈥檛 enough books of book recommendations (compared to movie guides, say) but I can鈥檛 say this one especially thrilled my marrow. There were only 5 choices which surprised me :
Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm (1911)
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1926)
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor (1971)
The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald (1988)
Amongst Women by John McGahern (1990)
The other 95 were a really fairly obvious MOR literary playlist 鈥� this is a straight-down-the-line big name stuff from Pilgrim鈥檚 bloody Progress all the way to Peter bloody Carey.
One thing which really bugs me here is 鈥� does this guy Robert McCrum seriously LIKE all these 100 novels? His taste is such that every classic novel is right up his alley, every wildly different type from Tom Jones to Murphy? I have read 68 of the 100 鈥� it would have been more except his choice from an author was different to mine. But really, you can鈥檛 like everything! And I must say that I thoroughly hated the following:
The Good Soldier
Tropic of Cancer
Murphy
Under the Volcano
Housekeeping
Underworld
And he regrets not including The Man who Loved Children which I hated more than the above six put together.
He does 鈥� hooray! - confess to disliking the following :
Walter Scott (鈥淚鈥檝e never finished even his best known novels鈥�)
Elizabeth Gaskell (鈥渨hose appeal I don鈥檛 understand鈥�)
Norman Mailer
Kingsley Amis
John Fowles (鈥渉as not worn well鈥�)
Iris Murdoch (鈥渃ontrived and artificial鈥�)
A couple of his inclusions like Cold Comfort Farm are trifles. I love Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (or did many years ago, would I love it so much now?) but it really shouldn鈥檛 be keeping Carson McCullers out of the list. I mean, well, really!
Of the rest I confess I'm scared of Voss and The Golden Bowl and I wouldn鈥檛 touch Clarissa with your grandmother鈥檚 barge-pole:
HERE IS THE LIST OF THE 100 NOVELS
1.The Pilgrim鈥檚 Progress by John Bunyan (1678) (I agree but many people are going to fall asleep in mid sentence)
2. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1719) (I agree!)
3. Gulliver鈥檚 Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726) (I agree!)
4. Clarissa by Samuel Richardson (1748)
5. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding (1749) (I agree!)
6. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne (1759) (I agree!)
7. Emma by Jane Austen (1816) (I agree!)
8. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818) (I agree just about, but Christ this can be dull stuff.)
9. Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock (1818)
10. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe (1838)
11. Sybil by Benjamin Disraeli (1845)
12. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bront毛 (1847) (obviously but some think this is massively dull)
13. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bront毛 (1847) (I agree!)
14. Vanity Fair by William Thackeray (1848) (I agree!)
15. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850) (almost the only Dickens I haven't read)
16. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850)
17. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851) (I agree but see Jane Eyre above)
18. Alice鈥檚 Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865) (I agree!)
19. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (1868) (I鈥檓 not sure I agree, when you get down to it The Moonstone is silly)
20. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868-9)
21. Middlemarch by George Eliot (1871-2) (I agree!)
22. The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope (1875)
23. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1884/5) (I agree!)
24. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)
25. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome (1889) (I agree!)
26. The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle (1890) (I like it but hmmm, not one of the all time 100)
27. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1891) (I weirdly agree!)
28. New Grub Street by George Gissing (1891) (I agree!)
29. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy (1895)
30. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (1895) (I agree!)
31. Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897) (I agree!)
32. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (1899) (I agree!)
33. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (1900)
34. Kim by Rudyard Kipling (1901)
35. The Call of the Wild by Jack London (1903)
36. The Golden Bowl by Henry James (1904)
37. Hadrian the Seventh by Frederick Rolfe (1904) (nooooo)
38. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (1908) (ah, how could I not agree!)
39. The History of Mr Polly by HG Wells (1910)
40. Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm (1911) (nooooo)
41. The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford (1915) (UGH)
42. The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan (1915) (are you kidding?)
43. The Rainbow by DH Lawrence (1915) (I do not agree!)
44. Of Human Bondage by W Somerset Maugham (1915)
45. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (1920) (I agree!)
46. Ulysses by James Joyce (1922) (I agree!)
47. Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis (1922) (I agree!)
48. A Passage to India by EM Forster (1924) (I agree!)
49. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos (1925) (I agree!)
50. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (1925) (I agree!)
51. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald (1925) (hmmmmm)
52. Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1926)
53. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (1926)
54. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (1929)
55. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (1930) (yes!)
56. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932) (I suppose so)
57. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (1932) (nooo!)
58. Nineteen Nineteen by John Dos Passos (1932)
59. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller (1934) (noooo!)
60. Scoop by Evelyn Waugh (1938) (well, it's good, but hmmmm)
61. Murphy by Samuel Beckett (1938) (again, noooo!)
62. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (1939) (I agree!)
63. Party Going by Henry Green (1939)
64. At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O鈥橞rien (1939) (I agree!)
65. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (1939) (I agree I think but heck it was a while ago)
66. Joy in the Morning by PG Wodehouse (1946)
67. All the King鈥檚 Men by Robert Penn Warren (1946) (didn't like it but probably my fault)
68. Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry (1947)(ech noooo)
69. The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen (1948)
70. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1949)
71. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (1951) (noooo)
72. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger (1951) (significant but bad)
73. The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow (1953) (even though I did not finish this, I agree!)
74. Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1954)
75. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955) (I agree!)
76. On the Road by Jack Kerouac (1957) (loved at the time, but this is probably more an event than a novel)
77. Voss by Patrick White (1957)
78. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960) (I agree - I think it鈥檚 illegal not to!)
79. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (1960) (nahhh)
80. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1961) (I agree!)
81. The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing (1962)
82. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (1962) (I agree!)
83. A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (1964)
84. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (1966) (I agree!)
85. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (1966) (I agree!)
86. Portnoy鈥檚 Complaint by Philip Roth (1969) (I agree!)
87. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor (1971) (a lovely obscurity but in the top 100?)
88. Rabbit Redux by John Updike (1971)
89. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (1977)
90. A Bend in the River by VS Naipaul (1979) (not really)
91. Midnight鈥檚 Children by Salman Rushdie (1981) (I agree!)
92. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (1981) (ugh)
93. Money: A Suicide Note by Martin Amis (1984) (I agree!)
94. An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro (1986)
95. The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald (1988)
96. Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler (1988) (nooooo)
97. Amongst Women by John McGahern (1990) (nooooo)
98. Underworld by Don DeLillo (1997) (this bloated blimp of preciousness? Nope)
99. Disgrace by JM Coetzee (1999)
100. True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey (2000) (naw 鈥� there is so much better stuff than this鈥�)
Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm (1911)
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1926)
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor (1971)
The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald (1988)
Amongst Women by John McGahern (1990)
The other 95 were a really fairly obvious MOR literary playlist 鈥� this is a straight-down-the-line big name stuff from Pilgrim鈥檚 bloody Progress all the way to Peter bloody Carey.
One thing which really bugs me here is 鈥� does this guy Robert McCrum seriously LIKE all these 100 novels? His taste is such that every classic novel is right up his alley, every wildly different type from Tom Jones to Murphy? I have read 68 of the 100 鈥� it would have been more except his choice from an author was different to mine. But really, you can鈥檛 like everything! And I must say that I thoroughly hated the following:
The Good Soldier
Tropic of Cancer
Murphy
Under the Volcano
Housekeeping
Underworld
And he regrets not including The Man who Loved Children which I hated more than the above six put together.
He does 鈥� hooray! - confess to disliking the following :
Walter Scott (鈥淚鈥檝e never finished even his best known novels鈥�)
Elizabeth Gaskell (鈥渨hose appeal I don鈥檛 understand鈥�)
Norman Mailer
Kingsley Amis
John Fowles (鈥渉as not worn well鈥�)
Iris Murdoch (鈥渃ontrived and artificial鈥�)
A couple of his inclusions like Cold Comfort Farm are trifles. I love Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (or did many years ago, would I love it so much now?) but it really shouldn鈥檛 be keeping Carson McCullers out of the list. I mean, well, really!
Of the rest I confess I'm scared of Voss and The Golden Bowl and I wouldn鈥檛 touch Clarissa with your grandmother鈥檚 barge-pole:
HERE IS THE LIST OF THE 100 NOVELS
1.The Pilgrim鈥檚 Progress by John Bunyan (1678) (I agree but many people are going to fall asleep in mid sentence)
2. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1719) (I agree!)
3. Gulliver鈥檚 Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726) (I agree!)
4. Clarissa by Samuel Richardson (1748)
5. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding (1749) (I agree!)
6. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne (1759) (I agree!)
7. Emma by Jane Austen (1816) (I agree!)
8. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818) (I agree just about, but Christ this can be dull stuff.)
9. Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock (1818)
10. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe (1838)
11. Sybil by Benjamin Disraeli (1845)
12. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bront毛 (1847) (obviously but some think this is massively dull)
13. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bront毛 (1847) (I agree!)
14. Vanity Fair by William Thackeray (1848) (I agree!)
15. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850) (almost the only Dickens I haven't read)
16. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850)
17. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851) (I agree but see Jane Eyre above)
18. Alice鈥檚 Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865) (I agree!)
19. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (1868) (I鈥檓 not sure I agree, when you get down to it The Moonstone is silly)
20. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868-9)
21. Middlemarch by George Eliot (1871-2) (I agree!)
22. The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope (1875)
23. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1884/5) (I agree!)
24. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)
25. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome (1889) (I agree!)
26. The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle (1890) (I like it but hmmm, not one of the all time 100)
27. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1891) (I weirdly agree!)
28. New Grub Street by George Gissing (1891) (I agree!)
29. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy (1895)
30. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (1895) (I agree!)
31. Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897) (I agree!)
32. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (1899) (I agree!)
33. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (1900)
34. Kim by Rudyard Kipling (1901)
35. The Call of the Wild by Jack London (1903)
36. The Golden Bowl by Henry James (1904)
37. Hadrian the Seventh by Frederick Rolfe (1904) (nooooo)
38. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (1908) (ah, how could I not agree!)
39. The History of Mr Polly by HG Wells (1910)
40. Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm (1911) (nooooo)
41. The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford (1915) (UGH)
42. The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan (1915) (are you kidding?)
43. The Rainbow by DH Lawrence (1915) (I do not agree!)
44. Of Human Bondage by W Somerset Maugham (1915)
45. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (1920) (I agree!)
46. Ulysses by James Joyce (1922) (I agree!)
47. Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis (1922) (I agree!)
48. A Passage to India by EM Forster (1924) (I agree!)
49. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos (1925) (I agree!)
50. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (1925) (I agree!)
51. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald (1925) (hmmmmm)
52. Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1926)
53. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (1926)
54. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (1929)
55. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (1930) (yes!)
56. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932) (I suppose so)
57. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (1932) (nooo!)
58. Nineteen Nineteen by John Dos Passos (1932)
59. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller (1934) (noooo!)
60. Scoop by Evelyn Waugh (1938) (well, it's good, but hmmmm)
61. Murphy by Samuel Beckett (1938) (again, noooo!)
62. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (1939) (I agree!)
63. Party Going by Henry Green (1939)
64. At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O鈥橞rien (1939) (I agree!)
65. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (1939) (I agree I think but heck it was a while ago)
66. Joy in the Morning by PG Wodehouse (1946)
67. All the King鈥檚 Men by Robert Penn Warren (1946) (didn't like it but probably my fault)
68. Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry (1947)(ech noooo)
69. The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen (1948)
70. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1949)
71. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (1951) (noooo)
72. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger (1951) (significant but bad)
73. The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow (1953) (even though I did not finish this, I agree!)
74. Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1954)
75. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955) (I agree!)
76. On the Road by Jack Kerouac (1957) (loved at the time, but this is probably more an event than a novel)
77. Voss by Patrick White (1957)
78. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960) (I agree - I think it鈥檚 illegal not to!)
79. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (1960) (nahhh)
80. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1961) (I agree!)
81. The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing (1962)
82. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (1962) (I agree!)
83. A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (1964)
84. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (1966) (I agree!)
85. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (1966) (I agree!)
86. Portnoy鈥檚 Complaint by Philip Roth (1969) (I agree!)
87. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor (1971) (a lovely obscurity but in the top 100?)
88. Rabbit Redux by John Updike (1971)
89. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (1977)
90. A Bend in the River by VS Naipaul (1979) (not really)
91. Midnight鈥檚 Children by Salman Rushdie (1981) (I agree!)
92. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (1981) (ugh)
93. Money: A Suicide Note by Martin Amis (1984) (I agree!)
94. An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro (1986)
95. The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald (1988)
96. Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler (1988) (nooooo)
97. Amongst Women by John McGahern (1990) (nooooo)
98. Underworld by Don DeLillo (1997) (this bloated blimp of preciousness? Nope)
99. Disgrace by JM Coetzee (1999)
100. True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey (2000) (naw 鈥� there is so much better stuff than this鈥�)
January 25, 2023
A nice coffee table read and reference point to an opinion of the best 100 novels written in English, shame it did not include a worldwide reference. That said some good descriptive narrative about each book. I鈥檝e basically picked this up and down at leisure over a period of time.
I can鈥檛 imagine that any one person would agree with the top 100, we are all different.
I can鈥檛 imagine that any one person would agree with the top 100, we are all different.
April 18, 2023
賱丕卅丨丞 亘兀賮囟賱 賲卅丞 乇賵丕賷丞 亘丕賱賱睾丞 丕賱丕賳丨賱賷夭賷丞 賲賳 賵噩賴丞 賳馗乇 丕賱賰丕鬲亘 .
February 28, 2023
An idiosyncratic (and, therefore, wonderful) guide to the English novel
This book is a compulsively readable guide to the joys, the wisdom, and the creativity of the English novel over a little more than 300 years, from John Bunyan to Peter Carey. It includes writers from much of the English-speaking world, not just the British Isles and the U.S. This is a very personal choice of works, as McCrum makes it clear, with no more than one novel per author.
But precisely because this is a personal selection, each of the 100 reviews is written with contagious enthusiasm and profound knowledge of the author and the work. We can allow Robert McCrum a certain degree of idiosyncrasy, as he is a gifted stylist himself and he does have good taste. I missed some of my favorite books but I made new discoveries about the ones I had read before.
With guides like this, even strong disagreement leads to insight. I don鈥檛 think that, as McCrum claims, P. G. Wodehouse鈥檚 best work was behind him when he published 鈥淛oy in the Morning鈥� (1946). But this statement led me to recall all the great Wodehouse novels written after that date, including one of his very last, 鈥淎unts aren鈥檛 Gentlemen鈥� (1974).
One additional benefit you get from a book like this is the understanding that no author writes in a vacuum, and that familiarity with what came before enhances the pleasure and the profit of reading. There is something of Jane Austen in Elizabeth Taylor, of Daniel Defoe in J. M. Coetzee, of Charles Dickens in Salman Rushdie, and so on.
If the idea of a 鈥渂est novels guide鈥� comes across as arrogant to you, try to view this book as a conversation: a great lover of literature shares his preferences with you. Agree or disagree, you will have a very good time. I did.
This book is a compulsively readable guide to the joys, the wisdom, and the creativity of the English novel over a little more than 300 years, from John Bunyan to Peter Carey. It includes writers from much of the English-speaking world, not just the British Isles and the U.S. This is a very personal choice of works, as McCrum makes it clear, with no more than one novel per author.
But precisely because this is a personal selection, each of the 100 reviews is written with contagious enthusiasm and profound knowledge of the author and the work. We can allow Robert McCrum a certain degree of idiosyncrasy, as he is a gifted stylist himself and he does have good taste. I missed some of my favorite books but I made new discoveries about the ones I had read before.
With guides like this, even strong disagreement leads to insight. I don鈥檛 think that, as McCrum claims, P. G. Wodehouse鈥檚 best work was behind him when he published 鈥淛oy in the Morning鈥� (1946). But this statement led me to recall all the great Wodehouse novels written after that date, including one of his very last, 鈥淎unts aren鈥檛 Gentlemen鈥� (1974).
One additional benefit you get from a book like this is the understanding that no author writes in a vacuum, and that familiarity with what came before enhances the pleasure and the profit of reading. There is something of Jane Austen in Elizabeth Taylor, of Daniel Defoe in J. M. Coetzee, of Charles Dickens in Salman Rushdie, and so on.
If the idea of a 鈥渂est novels guide鈥� comes across as arrogant to you, try to view this book as a conversation: a great lover of literature shares his preferences with you. Agree or disagree, you will have a very good time. I did.
April 12, 2023
賰鬲丕亘 賲賴賲 賱賰賱 賲丨亘 賱賱兀丿亘 丕賱丕賳噩賱賷夭賷 兀賵 丕賱兀丿亘 毓丕賲丞貙 爻賳毓乇賮 賲賳賴 乇賵丕賷丕鬲 賲賴賲丞 賵賰鬲丕亘 賱賲 賳爻賲毓 毓賳賴賲 賵乇亘賲丕 賱賲 鬲鬲賲 鬲乇噩賲鬲賴賲 賱賱毓乇亘賷丞貙 賵賰匕賱賰 爻賳毓乇賮 賱賲丕匕丕 賰丕賳鬲 丕賱乇賵丕賷丕鬲 丕賱卮賴賷乇丞 賵丕賱賲賴賲丞 毓賱丕賲丞 賮丕乇賯丞貙 賵賴賷 兀爻亘丕亘 賯丿 鬲睾賷亘 毓賳丕 亘爻亘亘 兀賴賲賷丞 鬲賱賰 丕賱乇賵丕賷丕鬲 賲賳 丕賱賳丕丨賷丞 丕賱賱睾賵賷丞 賵賴賵 賲丕 賷囟賷毓 亘卮賰賱 賲丕 賮賷 丕賱鬲乇噩賲丞貙 丕賱賰丕鬲亘 乇睾賲 兀賴賲賷鬲賴 丕賱丕 丕賳賴 賷亘丿賵 賰賱丕爻賷賰賷丕 亘卮賰賱 賰亘賷乇貙 賵賷賮乇丿 賲爻丕丨丞 賰亘賷乇丞 賱亘丿丕賷丕鬲 丕賱兀丿亘貙 孬賲 賷鬲丨賵賱 賮賷 丕賱爻賳賵丕鬲 丕賱兀禺賷乇丞 賱鬲賵夭賷毓 賲鬲賵丕夭賳 毓賱賶 乇賵丕賷丕鬲 丕賱賲乇兀丞 賵丕賱兀賯賱賷丕鬲 丕賱毓乇賯賷丞 賵丕賱噩賳爻賷丞貙 賵賱賰賳 爻鬲馗賱 兀賷 賯丕卅賲丞 賲毓亘乇丞 毓賳 鬲賮囟賷賱丕鬲 氐丕丨亘賴丕貙 賵賲毓乇囟丞 賱賱丕賳鬲賯丕丿貙 賵賲賮賷丿丞 賮賷 匕丕鬲 丕賱賵賯鬲貙 鬲噩乇亘丞 噩丿賷丿丞 賮賷 賲卮丕乇賰丞 賴匕丕 丕賱毓丿丿 丕賱賰亘賷乇 賲賳 丕賱賲鬲乇噩賲賷賳貙 爻丕毓丿鬲 賮賷 丕賳噩丕夭 丕賱賲卮乇賵毓貙 賲毓 丕賱丨賮丕馗 毓賱賶 賲爻鬲賵賶 噩賷丿 賱賱鬲乇噩賲丞 賷鬲亘丕賷賳 賯賱賷賱丕 亘丕禺鬲賱丕賮 丕賱賲賴丕乇丞 賵丕賱禺賷乇丞貙 賵賱賰賳賴 賷馗賱 賮賷 丨丿夭丿 丕賱噩夭丿丞
February 11, 2025
We all have differing views on what constitutes good writing, so Mccrum is never going to please everyone, especially as he limits the list to a maximum of one book per author. Are the best of Beerbohm, Kerouac, Martin Amis , really better than Pride and Prejudice, Bleak House, Animal Farm? Is The End of the Affair really the best of Graham Greene? Hmmm.
June 5, 2024
Pretty good selection of novels in English, although he doesn't stray far from the canon. Some surprises and some notable omissions.
Annoyingly, he has loads of spoilers, so there were a small few entries I skipped as I didn't want to ruin the novels before I read them..
Annoyingly, he has loads of spoilers, so there were a small few entries I skipped as I didn't want to ruin the novels before I read them..
November 25, 2024
A superb analysis
This is an amazing little book. While I do not agree with all the choices, it was a marvelous experience to read the analysis. I now have a wonderful list of books to read and, in some cases, reread.
This is an amazing little book. While I do not agree with all the choices, it was a marvelous experience to read the analysis. I now have a wonderful list of books to read and, in some cases, reread.
January 17, 2016
I love book lists. Firstly, it is always a thrill to find books on the list I have read and see what someone has to say about them and secondly, to discover new books I want to read. Each book listed contains a brief synopsis of each novel but it is the additional notes on the text and how McCrum puts the novels into the context of their time and brings in details about the authors and their lives and who influenced who etc that is the real joy. It's a book for pleasure and indulgence. I never knew the word grubby could be associated with the hacks who plied their trade on Grub Street and it is the minutiae of literary life like this that is such a thrill for me. 100 Novels in English is a decadent box of chocolates and a real treat.
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