Top 100

100 Best First Lines from Novels

According to the American Book Review:
1. Call me Ishmael. —Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (1851)
2. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. —Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813)
3. A screaming comes across the sky. —Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow (1973)
4. Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. —Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967; trans. Gregory Rabassa)
5. Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. —Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (1955)

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Time’s 100 Best Novels 1923-present

Bil asked the question: how many of Time’s list of 100 Best Novels have you read?
41 of them. Most of them in high school or college English classes. When I read the list I was disappointed at what was missing and some of the crap they included. These people can’t tell me they actually read Infinite Jest. I don’t believe it. And what the hell is “Are you there God, It’s me Margaret” doing on this list? If they needed to pick a teen novel, there are 30 better than that. I also wonder why they picked the year 1923 as the starting point. What’s significant about that year?

  1. The Adventures of Augie March
  2. Animal Farm
  3. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (what the hell?)
  4. Beloved
  5. The Blind Assassin
  6. The Bridge of San Luis Rey
  7. Catch-22
  8. The Catcher in the Rye
  9. A Clockwork Orange
  10. The Corrections
  11. Death Comes for the Archbishop
  12. The French Lieutenant’s Woman (TOTAL SUCKAGE!)
  13. Go Tell it on the Mountain
  14. Gone With the Wind
  15. The Grapes of Wrath
  16. The Great Gatsby
  17. The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
  18. Herzog
  19. Invisible Man
  20. Light in August
  21. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
  22. Lolita
  23. Lord of the Flies
  24. The Lord of the Rings
  25. Midnight’s Children
  26. Mrs. Dalloway
  27. Neuromancer
  28. 1984
  29. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
  30. Portnoy’s Complaint (SUCKED!)
  31. Possession
  32. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
  33. Rabbit, Run
  34. Slaughterhouse-Five
  35. Snow Crash
  36. The Sound and the Fury (Two Faulkners listed, but not “As I Lay Dying?” Shame.)
  37. The Sun Also Rises
  38. To Kill a Mockingbird
  39. To the Lighthouse
  40. Tropic of Cancer
  41. White Noise
Continue ReadingTime’s 100 Best Novels 1923-present

Random House Modern Library’s Top 100 Nonfiction Books

in 1998, the Modern Library released its list of the best 100 novels of the 20th Century amid much controversy over both what they put in and what they left out.

They’re back – with the Top 100 Nonfiction books of the 20th Century. So go ahead and argue what should have been left out and what deserved to be included.

1. Education of Henry Adams – Henry Adams, Edmund Morris

2. Varities of Religious Experiences – William James

3. Up from Slavery – Booker T. Washington

4. A Room of One’s Own – Virginia Woolf

5. Silent Spring – Rachael Carson, Ellen Burstyn, Rachel L. Carson

6. Selected Essays – T. S. Eliot

7. The Double Helix : A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA – James D. Watson

8. Speak, Memory : An Autobiography Revisited (Everyman’s Library (Cloth), 188) – Vladimir Nabokov

9. American Language, Supplement One – H. L. Mencken

10. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (Great Minds Series) – John Keynes

11. The Lives of a Cell : Notes of a Biology Watcher – Lewis Thomas

12. The Frontier in American History – Frederick Jackson Turner

13. Black Boy : (American Hunger) (Perennial Classics) – Richard Wright

14. Aspects of the Novel – Edward Morgan Forster

15. The Civil War : A Narrative : Fort Sumter to Perryville, Fredericksburg to Meridian, Red River to Appomattox (3 Vol. Set) – Shelby Foote

16. The Guns of August – Barbara Tuchman

17. The Proper Study of Mankind : An Anthology of Essays – Henry Hardy(Editor), et al

18. The Nature and Destiny of Man : A Christian Interpretation : Human Nature (2 Vol Set)(Library of Theological Ethics) – Reinhold Niebuhr, Robin W. Lovin (Introduction)

19. Notes of a Native Son – James Baldwin

20. Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas – Gertrude Stein

21. Elements of Style – William Strunk, E. B. White

22. An American Dilemma : The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy (Black and African-American Studies) – Gunnar Myrdal, Bok Sissela (Introduction)

23. Principia Mathematica to 56 (Cambridge Mathematical Library) [ABRIDGED] – Bertrand Russell, Alfred North Whitehead

24. Mismeasure of Man – Stephen Jay Gould

25. The Mirror and the Lamp : Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition. – Meyer Howard. Abrams

26. Pluto’s Republic : Incorporating the Art of the Soluble and Induction and Intutition – Peter Medawar

27. The Ants – Bert Holldobler, Edward O. Wilson

28. A Theory of Justice. – John Rawls

29. Art and Illusion : A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation – Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich, Ernest H. Gombrich

30. Making of the English Working Class – Edward P. Thompson

31. The Souls of Black Folk – W. E. B. Dubois, et al

32. Principia Ethica (Great Books in Philosophy) – G. E. Moore

33. Philosophy and Civilization. – John Dewey

34. On Growth and Form – D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson

35. Ideas and Opinions – Albert Einstein

36. The Age of Jackson – Arthur Meier Schlesinger

37. The Making of the Atomic Bomb – Richard Rhodes

38. Black Lamb and Grey Falcon : A Journey Through Yugoslavia (Twentieth-Century Classics) – Rebecca West

39. Autobiographies (Collected Works of W.B. Yeats, Vol 3) – William H. O’Donnell(Editor), et al

40. Science and Civilization in China : Chemistry and Chemical Technology : Part 6 : Military Technology, Missiles and Sieges (Vol 5) – Joseph Needham, et al

41. Good-Bye to All That : An Autobiography – Robert Graves

42. Homage to Catalonia – George Orwell

43. Autobiography of Mark Twain – Charles Neider(Editor)

44. Children of Crisis – Robert Coles

46. The Affluent Society – John Kenneth Galbraith

47. Present at the Creation : My Years in the State Department – Dean Acheson

48. The Great Bridge : The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge – David G. McCullough

49. Patriotic Gore : Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War – Edmund Wilson

50. Samuel Johnson – Walter Jackson Bate

51. The Autobiography of Malcolm X – Malcolm X, Alex Haley

52. The Right Stuff – Tom Wolfe

53. Eminent Victorians – Lytton Strachey

54. Working : People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do – Studs Terkel

55. Darkness Visible : A Memoir of Madness – William Styron

56. The Liberal Imagination : Essays on Literature and Society – Lionel Trilling

57. Second World War – Winston Churchill, John Keegan (Illustrator)

58. Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass (Vintage International) – Isak Dinesen

59. Jefferson, the Virginian (Jefferson and His Time, Vol 1) – Dumas Malone

60. In the American Grain – William Carlos Williams, H. Gregory (Designer)

61. Cadillac Desert : The American West and Its Disappearing Water – Mark Reisner, Marc Reisner

62. The House of Morgan : An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance – Ron Chernow

63. Sweet Science – A.J. Liebling

64. The Open Society and Its Enemies : The Spell of Plato – Karl Raimund Popper

65. Art of Memory – Frances A. Yates

66. Religion and the Rise of Capitalism – R. H. Tawney

67. A Preface to Morals – Walter Lippmann

68. The Gate of Heavenly Peace : The Chinese and Their Revolution 1895-1980 – Jonathan D. Spence

69. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions – Thomas S. Kuhn

70. The Strange Career of Jim Crow – Comer Vann Woodward

71. The Rise of the West : A History of the Human Community With a Retrospective Essay – William H. McNeill

72. The Gnostic Gospels – Elaine Pagels

73. James Joyce – Richard Ellmann

74. Florence Nightingale : 1820-1910 – Cecil Woodham-Smith

75. Great War and Modern Memory – Paul Fussell

76. The City in History – Lewis Mumford

77. Battle Cry of Freedom : The Civil War Era – James M. McPherson

78. Why We Can’t Wait – Martin Luther, Jr. King

79. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt – Edmund Morris

80. Studies in Iconology Humanistic Themes in the Art – Erwin Panofsky

81. The Face of Battle – John Keegan

82. The Strange Death of Liberal England – George Dangerfield, Peter Stansky

83. Vermeer – Lawrence Gowing, et al

84. A Bright Shining Lie : John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam – Neil Sheehan

85. West With the Night – Beryl Markham

86. This Boy’s Life : A Memoir – Tobias Wolff

87. A Mathematician’s Apology – G. H. Hardy

88. Six Easy Pieces : Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher (Helix Book.) – Richard P. Feynman, Paul Davies, Robert B. Leighton

89. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (Perennial Classics) – Annie Dillard

90. Golden Bough – James George Frazer

91. Shadow and Act – Ralph Waldo Ellison

92. The Power Broker : Robert Moses and the Fall of New York – Robert A. Caro

93. American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It – Richard Hofstadter

94. Contours of American History – William Appleman Williams

95. The Promise of American Life – Herbert Croly

96. In Cold Blood : A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences – Truman Capote

97. The Journalist and the Murderer – Janet Malcolm

98. The Taming of Chance – Tim Hacking, Ian Hacking

99. Operating Instructions : A Journal of My Son’s First Year – Anne Lamott

Continue ReadingRandom House Modern Library’s Top 100 Nonfiction Books

Random House Modern Library Readers’ 100 Best Novels

In response to their list of 100 best novels, the Modern library let the readers respond with their favorite books. This list was derived from an online user poll conducted on the Modern Library web site from July 20 to October 20, 1998, during which 217,520 votes were cast.

**Note from Steph: Consider the first ten entries, and ask yourself if the internet culties weren’t overloading the Modern Library online poll with votes. Damned Scientologists! And, really, who the hell is Charles De Lint, the guy with something like twelve books that made this list? After awhile I just stopped linking to his books.

1. Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged

2. Rand, Ayn. The Fountainhead

3. Hubbard, L. Ron. Battlefield Earth

4. Tolkien, J.R.R. The Lord Of The Rings

5. Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird

6. Orwell, George. 1984

7. Rand, Ayn. Anthem

8. Rand, Ayn. We The Living

9. Hubbard, L. Ron. Mission Earth

10. Hubbard, L. Ron. Fear

11. Joyce, James. Ulysses

12. Heller, Joseph. Catch-22

13. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby

14. Herbert, Frank. Dune

15. Heinlein, Robert. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress

16. Heinlein, Robert. Stranger In A Strange Land

17. Shute, Nevil. A Town Like Alice

18. Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World

19. Salinger, J. D. The Catcher In The Rye

20. Orwell, George. Animal Farm

21. Pynchon, Thomas. Gravity’s Rainbow

22. Steinbeck, John. The Grapes Of Wrath

23. Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse Five

24. Mitchell, Margaret. Gone With The Wind

25. Golding, William. Lord Of The Flies

26. Schaefer, Jack. Shane

27. Shute, Nevil. Trustee From The Toolroom

28. Irving, John. A Prayer For Owen Meany

29. King, Stephen. The Stand

30. Fowles, John. The French Lieutenant’s Woman

31. Morrison, Toni. Beloved

32. Eddison, E. R. The Worm Ouroboros

33. Faulkner, William. The Sound And The Fury

34. Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita

35. De Lint, Charles. Moonheart

36. Faulkner, William. Absalom, Absalom!

37. Maugham, W. Somerset. Of Human Bondage

38. Flannery O’Connor. Wise Blood

39. Lowry, Malcolm. Under The Volcano

40. Davies, Robertson. Fifth Business

41. De Lint, Charles. Someplace To Be Flying

42. Kerouac, Jack. On The Road

43. Conrad, Joseph. Heart Of Darkness

44. De Lint, Charles. Yarrow

45. Lovecraft, H.P.. At The Mountains Of Madness

46. Spillane, Mickey. One Lonely Night

47. De Lint, Charles. Memory And Dream

48. Woolf, Virginia. To The Lighthouse

49. Percy, Walker. The Moviegoer

50. De Lint, Charles. Trader

51. Adams, Douglas. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy

52. McCullers, Carson. The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter

53. Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale

54. McCarthy, Cormac. Blood Meridian

55. Burgess, Anthony. A Clockwork Orange

56. Shute, Nevil. On The Beach

57. Joyce, James. A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man

58. De Lint, Charles. Greenmantle

59. Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Game

60. De Lint, Charles. The Little Country

61. Gaddis, William. The Recognitions

62. Heinlein, Robert. Starship Troopers

63. Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises

64. Irving, John. The World According To Garp

65. Bradbury, Ray. Something Wicked This Way Comes

66. Jackson, Shirley. The Haunting Of Hill House

67. Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying

68. Miller, Henry. Tropic Of Cancer

69. Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man

70. Windling, Terri. The Wood Wife

71. Fowles, John. The Magus

72. Heinlein, Robert. The Door Into Summer

73. Pirsig, Robert. Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance

74. Graves, Robert. I, Claudius

75. London, Jack. The Call Of The Wild

76. Flann O’Brien. At Swim-Two-Birds

77. Bradbury, Ray. Farenheit 451

78. Lewis, Sinclair. Arrowsmith

79. Adams, Richard. Watership Down

80. Burroughs, William S.. Naked Lunch

81. Clancy, Tom. The Hunt For Red October

82. Hamilton, Laurell K.. Guilty Pleasures

83. Heinlein, Robert. The Puppet Masters

84. King, Stephen. It

85. Thomas Pynchon. V.

86. Heinlein, Robert. Double Star

87. Heinlein, Robert. Citizen Of The Galaxy

88. Waugh, Evelyn. Brideshead Revisited

89. Faulkner, William. Light In August

90. Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

91. Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell To Arms

92. Bowles, Paul. The Sheltering Sky

93. Kesey, Ken. Sometimes A Great Notion

94. Cather, Willa. My Antonia

95. De Lint, Charles. Mulengro

96. McCarthy, Cormac. Suttree

97. Holdstock, Robert. Mythago Wood

98. Bach, Richard. Illusions

99. Davies, Robertson. The Cunning Man

100. Rushdie, Salman. The Satanic Verses

Continue ReadingRandom House Modern Library Readers’ 100 Best Novels

Random House Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels

In 1998 the Modern Library, a division of Random House, New York, released this list of ‘the 100 best novels written in the English language and published since 1900.’ The jurors were Daniel J. Boorstin, A.S. Byatt, Christopher Cerf, Shelby Foote, Vartan Gregorian, Edmund Morris, John Richardson, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., William Styron, and Gore Vidal.

Continue ReadingRandom House Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels