Classics: books to read
Mar. 26th, 2007 05:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaelieAfter reading over that other list, I though there may be a better "Top 100 Books" list out there and found one that suited me more. This one has some truly old books of the sort that I consider classic, like The Illiad and The Odyessey, and this list has a LOT of books on it that I haven't ever read.
They're alphabetical by title, just to change things up a bit. I've already read some but should probably read them again, too....
I got the list from a British book site, and they pooled the information based on "a vote by 100 noted writers from 54 countries as released by the Norwegian Book Clubs. Don Quixote was named as the top book in history but otherwise no ranking was provided."
1. 1984 by George Orwell (1903-1950) England
2. A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) Norway
3. A Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) France
4. Absalom by William Faulkner (1897-1962) United States
5. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russia
6. Beloved by Toni Morrison (b. 1931) United States
7. Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Doblin (1878-1957) Germany
8. Blindness by Jose Saramago (b. 1922) Portugal
9. Buddenbrook by Thomas Mann (1875-1955) Germany
10. Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) England
11. Children of Gebelawi by Naguib Mahfouz (b. 1911) Egypt
12. Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentina
13. Complete Poems by Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837) Italy
14. Confessions of Zeno by Italo Svevo (1861-1928) Italy
15. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor M Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) Russia
16. Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) Russia
17. Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) Italy
18. Diary of a Madman and Other Stories by Lu Xun (1881-1936) China
19. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) Spain
20. Essays by Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) France
21. Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) Denmark
22. Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) Germany
23. Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais (1495-1553) France
24. Gilgamesh by Unknown (c 1800 BC) Mesopotamia
25. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1812-1870) England
26. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) Ireland
27. Gypsy Ballads by Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936) Spain
28. Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) England
29. History by Elsa Morante (1918-1985) Italy
30. Hunger by Knut Hamsun (1859-1952) Norway
31. Independent People by Halldor K Laxness (1902-1998) Iceland
32. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1914-1994) United States
33. Jacques the Fatalist and His Master by Denis Diderot (1713-1784) France
34. Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Celine (1894-1961) France
35. King Lear by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) England
36. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (1819-1892) United States
37. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) Russia/United States
38. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (b. 1928) Colombia
39. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) France
40. Mahabharata by Unknown (c 500 BC) India
41. Malone Dies by Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) Ireland
42. Mathnawi by Jalal ad-din Rumi (1207-1273) Afghanistan
43. Medea by Euripides (c 480-406 BC) Greece
44. Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar (1903-1987) France
45. Metamorphoses by Ovid (c 43 BC) Italy
46. Middlemarch by George Eliot (1819-1880) England
47. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (b. 1947) India/Britain
48. Moby Dick by Herman Melville (1819-1891) United States
49. Molloy by Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) Ireland
50. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) England
51. Njaals Saga by Unknown (c 1300) Iceland
52. Nostromo by Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) England
53. Oedipus the King by Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greece
54. Old Goriot by Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) France
55. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (b. 1928) Colombia
56. Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo (1918-1986) Mexico
57. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002) Sweden
58. Poems by Paul Celan (1920-1970) Romania/France
59. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1775-1817) England
60. Ramayana by Valmiki (c 300 BC) India
61. Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust (1871-1922) France
62. Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih (b. 1929) Sudan
63. Selected Stories by Anton P Chekhov (1860-1904) Russia
64. Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence (1885-1930) England
65. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1835-1910) United States
66. The Aeneid by Virgil (70-19 BC) Italy
67. The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) Portugal
68. The Book of Job by Unknown (600-400 BC) Israel
69. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor M Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) Russia
70. The Castle Bohemia by Franz Kafka (1883-1924) Bohemia
71. The Complete Stories by Franz Kafka (1883-1924) Bohemia
72. The Complete Tales by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) United States
73. The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russia
74. The Devil to Pay in the Backlands by Joao Guimaraes Rosa (1880-1967) Brazil
75. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italy
76. The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing (b.1919) England
77. The Idiot by Fyodor M Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) Russia
78. The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer (c 700 BC) Greece
79. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) Ireland
80. The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann (1875-1955) Germany
81. The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil (1880-1942) Austria
82. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) United States
83. The Orchard by Sheikh Musharrif ud-din Sadi (c 1200-1292) Iran
84. The Possessed by Fyodor M Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) Russia
85. The Recognition of Sakuntala by Kalidasa (c. 400) India
86. The Red and the Black by Stendhal (1783-1842) France
87. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (1897-1962) United States
88. The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972) Japan
89. The Stranger by Albert Camus (1913-1960) France
90. The Tale of Genji Genji by Shikibu Murasaki (N/A) Japan
91. The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass (b.1927) Germany
92. The Trial by Franz Kafka (1883-1924) Bohemia
93. The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) Ireland
94. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (b. 1930) Nigeria
95. Thousand and One Nights by Unknown (700-1500) India/Iran/Iraq/Egypt
96. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) England
97. Ulysses by James Joyce (1882-1941) Ireland
98. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russia
99. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (1818-1848) England
100. Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis (1883-1957) Greece
Please note, however, if you have read something that you highly recommend that isn't on this list, go ahead and comment! ^_^
They're alphabetical by title, just to change things up a bit. I've already read some but should probably read them again, too....
I got the list from a British book site, and they pooled the information based on "a vote by 100 noted writers from 54 countries as released by the Norwegian Book Clubs. Don Quixote was named as the top book in history but otherwise no ranking was provided."
1. 1984 by George Orwell (1903-1950) England
2. A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) Norway
3. A Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) France
4. Absalom by William Faulkner (1897-1962) United States
5. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russia
6. Beloved by Toni Morrison (b. 1931) United States
7. Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Doblin (1878-1957) Germany
8. Blindness by Jose Saramago (b. 1922) Portugal
9. Buddenbrook by Thomas Mann (1875-1955) Germany
10. Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) England
11. Children of Gebelawi by Naguib Mahfouz (b. 1911) Egypt
12. Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentina
13. Complete Poems by Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837) Italy
14. Confessions of Zeno by Italo Svevo (1861-1928) Italy
15. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor M Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) Russia
16. Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) Russia
17. Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) Italy
18. Diary of a Madman and Other Stories by Lu Xun (1881-1936) China
19. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) Spain
20. Essays by Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) France
21. Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) Denmark
22. Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) Germany
23. Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais (1495-1553) France
24. Gilgamesh by Unknown (c 1800 BC) Mesopotamia
25. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1812-1870) England
26. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) Ireland
27. Gypsy Ballads by Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936) Spain
28. Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) England
29. History by Elsa Morante (1918-1985) Italy
30. Hunger by Knut Hamsun (1859-1952) Norway
31. Independent People by Halldor K Laxness (1902-1998) Iceland
32. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1914-1994) United States
33. Jacques the Fatalist and His Master by Denis Diderot (1713-1784) France
34. Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Celine (1894-1961) France
35. King Lear by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) England
36. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (1819-1892) United States
37. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) Russia/United States
38. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (b. 1928) Colombia
39. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) France
40. Mahabharata by Unknown (c 500 BC) India
41. Malone Dies by Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) Ireland
42. Mathnawi by Jalal ad-din Rumi (1207-1273) Afghanistan
43. Medea by Euripides (c 480-406 BC) Greece
44. Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar (1903-1987) France
45. Metamorphoses by Ovid (c 43 BC) Italy
46. Middlemarch by George Eliot (1819-1880) England
47. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (b. 1947) India/Britain
48. Moby Dick by Herman Melville (1819-1891) United States
49. Molloy by Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) Ireland
50. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) England
51. Njaals Saga by Unknown (c 1300) Iceland
52. Nostromo by Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) England
53. Oedipus the King by Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greece
54. Old Goriot by Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) France
55. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (b. 1928) Colombia
56. Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo (1918-1986) Mexico
57. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002) Sweden
58. Poems by Paul Celan (1920-1970) Romania/France
59. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1775-1817) England
60. Ramayana by Valmiki (c 300 BC) India
61. Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust (1871-1922) France
62. Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih (b. 1929) Sudan
63. Selected Stories by Anton P Chekhov (1860-1904) Russia
64. Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence (1885-1930) England
65. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1835-1910) United States
66. The Aeneid by Virgil (70-19 BC) Italy
67. The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) Portugal
68. The Book of Job by Unknown (600-400 BC) Israel
69. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor M Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) Russia
70. The Castle Bohemia by Franz Kafka (1883-1924) Bohemia
71. The Complete Stories by Franz Kafka (1883-1924) Bohemia
72. The Complete Tales by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) United States
73. The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russia
74. The Devil to Pay in the Backlands by Joao Guimaraes Rosa (1880-1967) Brazil
75. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italy
76. The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing (b.1919) England
77. The Idiot by Fyodor M Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) Russia
78. The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer (c 700 BC) Greece
79. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) Ireland
80. The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann (1875-1955) Germany
81. The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil (1880-1942) Austria
82. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) United States
83. The Orchard by Sheikh Musharrif ud-din Sadi (c 1200-1292) Iran
84. The Possessed by Fyodor M Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) Russia
85. The Recognition of Sakuntala by Kalidasa (c. 400) India
86. The Red and the Black by Stendhal (1783-1842) France
87. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (1897-1962) United States
88. The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972) Japan
89. The Stranger by Albert Camus (1913-1960) France
90. The Tale of Genji Genji by Shikibu Murasaki (N/A) Japan
91. The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass (b.1927) Germany
92. The Trial by Franz Kafka (1883-1924) Bohemia
93. The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) Ireland
94. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (b. 1930) Nigeria
95. Thousand and One Nights by Unknown (700-1500) India/Iran/Iraq/Egypt
96. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) England
97. Ulysses by James Joyce (1882-1941) Ireland
98. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russia
99. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (1818-1848) England
100. Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis (1883-1957) Greece
Please note, however, if you have read something that you highly recommend that isn't on this list, go ahead and comment! ^_^
