6/29/08

The New Classics

This is the list from Entertainment Weekly of The New Classics: The 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008.

Out of these I have read seven of them: #'s 2, 20, 34, 36, 78, 88 & 96 and I enjoyed all of them. I will now keep this list around for future book idea's. Thanks to
Lynne for making me aware of it.

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars' Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World's Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators' Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

7 comments:

Almost American said...

Thanks for posting that Sarah. It will give some focus to my trips to the library this summer. Persepolis and The Kite Runner have been on my 'to read' list for a while now, but I see others on that list I'd like to check out.

I've read 2, 7, 20, 25, 28, 36, 40, 41, 57, 84, and 96.

Expat mum said...

Well I managed about 10. I am constant;y reading but obviously not the classics. On that list, Bel Canto was probably my favorite as it was so quirky.

Janet said...

I've read 16 books from this list. I was surprised that "A Suitable Boy" by Vikram Seth wasn't on there.

My list is: 9,11,16,20,21,25,36,48,49,57,76,
82,89,92,93,and 96.

Mmm said...

I've scanned #1, and read pretty much most of 16, 67, 78 and 79. An interesting list.

Rhea said...

I think I've read about twelve of those...and some of them were for school. Sheesh. I need to get reading.

Pam said...

Okay, I counted them up and I have read about 20 of these. Well, I take that back. A couple of them I couldn't get through. Atonement for one (but loved the movie), The Handmaid's Tale for another. Also, A Heartbreaking Tale of Staggering Genius. I tried that one at least twice before giving up. Same with Secret History. Ugh.

Some have been long ago and I can't remember the plot on them, but a few stick in my mind. Bridget Jones's Diary is a fave. I loved Lonesome Dove and can discuss Larry McMurtry's work at some length, Bonfire of the Vanities was a fave back in the day. The Year of Magical Thinking -- if that is the one I think it is -- about the plague in the middle ages -- LOVE LOVE that one. And one of my faves is High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, or anything by him actually. About a Boy is an all-time fave and the movie wasn't bad either.

Many titles on here I still have on my to-read list. Like, who has time? hahahaha

Here's what I have read (including what I have TRIED to read but didn't): 2, 9,11,15*,16*,18,20,24,25,33,36,48,52,57,69*73, 82, 88, and 96

Interestingly, #74 (Friday Night Lights) has come up recently as being about former OU quarterback and Lt. Governor Jack Mildren, who recently passed away. Well, he was supposedly the inspiration for the book anyway. So it is definitely on my list.

bathmateus said...

it will give some focus to my Brit trips to USA this summer.

Bathmate