Part two (#80-61)
Part three (#60-41)
Part four (#40-21)
Part five (#20-1)
I’ve pointed you to many lists of great books – the Novel 100, the Modern Library 100, the Radcliffe 100, the Bloomsbury 100, and the TIME 100, all of which have become reading lists for me. I thought it would be fun to put together my own greatest books list. This is the Klaw 100.
My qualifications for assembling such a list are scant. I estimate that I’ve read somewhere between 400 and 500 novels in my life, but can’t say I’ve even reached 70 out of 100 on any of the greatest-books lists I cited above. I’ve never read War and Peace, Ulysses, or The Grapes of Wrath. I hated Moby Dick and A Farewell to Arms. I started The Ambassadors and sold it after fifty fruitless pages. I can’t say this is a greatest books list. It is, however, my greatest books list.
My criteria are wholly subjective. The primary criterion is how much I enjoyed the book, accounting for more than half of the “score” I might give each book if I was inclined to go to that degree. I also considered the book’s literary value, and its significance in the annals of literature, whether by its influence, critical reception, or the modern perspective on the book. There is nothing on here I don’t like.
There are only three items on this list that run beyond 1000 pages, one of which is a series, and another is two books that I combined into a single entry. The third is the longest single book I’ve ever read, although that was originally published as two volumes itself. By and large, the one hundred books listed here are highly readable, accessible even to the casual reader.
I did omit works of primarily popular fiction, even ones I enjoyed, so there is no Harry Potter and no Jasper Fforde. I slipped P.G. Wodehouse in there, since his works have influenced at least two generations of writers and performers, and there are four or five works on there that might straddle the line between popular fiction and literature. You’ll also notice the absence of some works of undeniable literary importance that I either haven’t read or just flat-out didn’t like. I make no apologies for these omissions.
The bottom line: My list, my call.
I’ll post a spreadsheet with the entire list after the last post in this series on Friday. For now, we start with the first twenty, #100-81.
100. A Hero of Our Time
99. Silas Marner
98. The Man Who Was Thursday
97. The Life of Pi
96. A Room with a View
95. The Man in the High Castle
94. Germinal
93. The Conformist
92. Nervous Conditions
91. The Reivers
90. The Hound of the Baskervilles
89. Never Let Me Go
88. Anna Karenina
87. Native Son
86. The Riddle of the Sands
85. Kafka on the Shore
84. Right Ho, Jeeves
83. Huckleberry Finn
82. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
81. Robinson Crusoe
Tomorrow: #80-61.
Keith,
First of all, thank you for putting together the KLAW 100 🙂 Can’t wait for the rest of the list… Which, in a sense, makes it almost impossible to really comment, not knowing which novels you will reveal in the top 80 🙂
Oh, btw, I remember asking you during a four-letter chat a long time ago, but, don’t remember what you answered – did you read Murakami’s Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World?
It is good to see the KLaw 100 is a book list. On the whole the list seems right (though I haven’t read all of the entries). It was nice to be reminded of Silas Marner which was a fine novel that I often overlook. If I remember correctly Steve Martin’s adaption, Simple Twist of Fate, was fine also.
That said, it is inconceivable to me that any list of novels 81-100 would not include A Brave New World. It is an outrage! It was a great book, certainly no better than the fifth quintile.
Keith,
It is pointless to say why this book by a particular author instead of another, but have you read, and are you a fan of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy? The miniseries starring Alec Guinness has to be one of the finest miniseries ever.
Not having seen the rest of the list, I’d like to go ahead and offer praise for Native Son. It would probably rank in my top 10.
Are we allowed to guess your top 10?
Have not read Hardboiled Wonderland (I mistook that for two separate books when you asked me in chat) or Tinker, Tailor, but both are on the to-do list.
Yes, everyone is free to guess at the top 10 or 20.
I think we all should know #1 (or maybe it is #2), Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita.
Thrown in Tender Is the Night somewhere really high as well. If I remember that is your top Fitzgerald novel as opposed to Gatsby.
# 1 is Tender is the Night. The Great Gatsby is probably in the top 10 as well, as he has said Fitzgerald is his favorite author. Perhaps something from Faulkner as well.
#1: Tender is the Night
#2: The Master and Margarita
#3: Beloved#4
#4: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
#5: The Great Gatsby
#6:One-Hundred Years of Solitude
#7:The Wind-up Bird Chronicles
#8:
#9:1984
10:The Sound and the Fury
No arguments from me on these as they are all worthy of inclusion. I look forward to seeing the rest.
Bob, I say confederacy of dunces is on that list. maybe at 8. altho i hated dunces myself. couldnt get through 100 pages.
I’m going to guess Beloved as #1, though I wouldn’t agree with Keith. But I probably only remember enough books to make a top 75.
After re-reading the 3rd paragraph, I am beginning to think The Great Gatsby is #1.
Will look forward to your review of Hardboiled Wonderland.
I won’t try to guess the top 10, rather just sit back and enjoy it….
The Master and Margarita is #1
My mind could be failing me, but didn’t Keith enjoy The Beautiful and Damned more than Gatsby? Maybe that’s my own prejudice, though.
Malcolm, he may have, although I do not recall. But if you review his third paragraph, and then read why he opted for Huckleberry Finn over The Prince and the Pauper I can almost guarentee you that he will rank Gatsby ahead of The Beautiful and Damned.
I also was not sure of what his favorite Faulkner novel was.
I’m looking forward to the unveiling of the remainder of the Klaw 100 as much as I did the first round of the MLB Draft! (If it’s not clear, that actually is a compliment.)
This list will be a great reference to me; I’m trying hard to get out of my sports biography, retrospective, following -a-season, etc box. Unfortunately, I’ve found myself in a finance themed box now.
Just looking for something a little different than the norm for some good poolside reading.
The KLAW 100 has me excited for the week ahead. Based on your recommendation month’s ago, I’ve been watching Foyle’s War on DVD and loving every second. I’m sure I’ll be introduced to a bunch of new treasures to explore.
Bob – you are totally right. Gatsby better be #1, then.
This isn’t relating to the current post but I got to say that the DJF Podcast appearance was the awesome.
Man, ranking clearly is not my game, since I can’t be made to care what’s #1. But I’ll lay betting money that it is not Gatsby, because the betting money is always against any one novel, no matter how important.
Me, I’m impressed, since as what I consider a very distracted reader, I have put away most of this first twenty. George Eliot, yes, Kazuo Ishiguro, yes, Mark Twain oh yes and of course, Phil K. Dick, living argument that sometimes writing is not skill, holy hannah yes.
I really liked “A Room with a View.” Then again, I like Jane Austen novels. I am in fact a straight guy. 😉
Come on Keith, step outside the box and do a top 87 list… Top 100? So passe.
1. Master & Margarita
2. Wind-up Bird
3. Tender is the Night
4. “How to cook authentic Italian” by Giada de Laurentis
Keith – One request for the list, for those of us who might check out some of your recommendations. Any books not originally written in English, please recommend a translation. At least in my experience, a good translator is everything.
I have tons of respect for you and love your lit reviews, so I’m excited to see this list.
I love that Richard Wright is on the list, but I am sad to see Native Son included. It’s an important novel, but as I recently wrote in my undergraduate thesis (does that count as a self-plug? hah), I think it’s portrayal of black men as NOTHING but hyperviolent, enraged, supersexual victims of slavery is ultimately very damaging. Just my stance, though.
And generally, I th
TC: I don’t think I’d be able to even if I wanted to take the time. I have only read one translation of any foreign book on the list, and in most cases, don’t have the book handy here to check on whose translation it was. The only translator whose name I know is William Weaver, who has translated nearly every great work of Italian literature in the last fifty years.
Actually, there are four Sherlock Holmes novels. In addition to Baskervilles, there is “The Sign of Four,” “The Valley of Fear,” and “A Study in Scarlet.”
None of the other three is long enough to be called a “full-length novel,” which is how I described Baskervilles. Not that it makes them unworthy of one’s time, of course.
Here is my top ten.
1.The master and the margarita
2.The Sirens of Titan
3.This side of paradise
4.One hundred years of Solitude
5.A confederacy of dunces
6.A separate peace
7.The sound and the fury
8.The Screwtape Letters
9.Tender is the Night
10.Something Wicked this way comes
And finally i just gone done reading a book called “kissing in Manhattan” by David Schekler. It is a non-linear storyline that tells the story of a few different characters and then ultimately ties them altogether. It isn’t a very deep novel in terms of major themes, but it is entertaining with a good amount of humor.
Keith, I just finished The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. Thanks for the recommendation. Are there any other Le Carre novels that you enjoyed?
The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart. If you have any interest in psychology and how fragile the human mind can be, read this.