Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted August 17, 2015 Awards Moderator Posted August 17, 2015 http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/17/the-100-best-novels-written-in-english-the-full-list Thought this was interesting. I've read 6 24. Considering I did English Lit at uni, that's pretty terrible!
Paid Members SpursRiot2012 Posted August 17, 2015 Paid Members Posted August 17, 2015 http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/17/the-100-best-novels-written-in-english-the-full-list Thought this was interesting. I've read 6 24. Considering I did English Lit at uni, that's pretty terrible! Also six. Although I never did English lit. To be honest, I have no desire to read very many of the ones I haven't, classics or not.
Moderators Chest Rockwell Posted August 17, 2015 Moderators Posted August 17, 2015 Three. Four if you count the two books I started and didn't finish as half each...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted August 18, 2015 Paid Members Posted August 18, 2015 I've read 12. I thnik the list is a bit pretentious in typical Guardian fashion though. I don't think anything on there was written in the past 40 years.
Paid Members Scott Malbranque Posted August 18, 2015 Paid Members Posted August 18, 2015 Four! Don DeLillo saved me right at the wire. But, no Michael Marshall Smith, Palahniuk, Easton Ellis, Douglas Adams, Vonnegut or Enid Blyton? I’m out!
Moderators PowerButchi Posted August 18, 2015 Moderators Posted August 18, 2015 (edited) I've read 12. I thnik the list is a bit pretentious in typical Guardian fashion though. I don't think anything on there was written in the past 40 years. I didn't find it pretentious. Maybe few great books have been written in the past 40 years? I certainly can't think of many and name. Can you? Although the list had books up to the year 2000. I read 18. Mainly during my English lit A-level. Annoyed by the exemption of All Quiet On The Western Front, unless it originally being in Nazi makes it ineligible for this list. Also, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4. Edited August 18, 2015 by PowerButchi
Guy Bifkin Posted August 18, 2015 Posted August 18, 2015 (edited) I've read 12. I thnik the list is a bit pretentious in typical Guardian fashion though. I don't think anything on there was written in the past 40 years. I read 18. Mainly during my English lit A-level. Annoyed by the exemption of All Quiet On The Western Front, unless it originally being in Nazi makes it ineligible for this list. See also Sven Hassel's Wheels of Terror. Edited August 18, 2015 by Guy Bifkin
Paid Members Carbomb Posted August 18, 2015 Paid Members Posted August 18, 2015 I've read 12. I thnik the list is a bit pretentious in typical Guardian fashion though. I don't think anything on there was written in the past 40 years. Midnight's Children was written in 1981.
King Pitcos Posted August 18, 2015 Posted August 18, 2015 I finished Ready Player One today, and was about to buy Ernest Cline's latest book (Armada) until I realised it isn't a sequel to Ready Player One but is instead another, similar-sounding story with similar-seeming 80s computer game references. I'm gonna start reading John Dies at the End.
drkopen Posted August 18, 2015 Posted August 18, 2015 I've read 17 of those books and started to read Sam Beckett's Murphy but never completed it. Its odd as i love beckett. Surprised David Copperfield was the only Dickens on the list whilst. Personally I think there are better examples of H.G. Wells' work as well.
Paid Members Azrall Posted August 19, 2015 Paid Members Posted August 19, 2015 To those who may or may not be interested. A novel I wrote was published last year, sadly the publisher went bust shortly after....that aside it's still available in Kindle format albeit without it's original cover.. http://www.amazon.co.uk/James-Knight-Ziarn-Allan-Bott-ebook/dp/B00O17XZLY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1439983953&sr=8-3&keywords=James+Knight it's currently free until tomorrow. Cheers.
MungoChutney Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 I've only read two of the books on that list and one of them, Jane Eyre, was a major factor in me giving up on school.
Pinc Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 I've read 17 of those books and started to read Sam Beckett's Murphy but never completed it. Its odd as i love beckett. I loved Murphy. One of my favourite books. Have struggled with anything else by Beckett. I tried Molloy but tired of it quickly, and wasn't blown away by his short fiction (all of which seems to be about tramps dying). I'd definitely read 8 on the list. I started Dracula and Mrs Dalloway but don't think I finished either.
Paid Members SpursRiot2012 Posted August 20, 2015 Paid Members Posted August 20, 2015 Has anyone read The Martian? I really feel like the only person in the world who didn't like it, in fact I'd say I absolutely hated it. One of those books I wish I hadn't bothered to finish. Matt Damon is perfect for the lead in the up and coming film though! I've been doing a few of the bigger self published books recently and it was a mistake. Just bought this from Amazon. It seems like my type of book and I had a hankering for Mars related books after re-reading the Red Mars trilogy. Hopefully I like it more than you did!
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted December 7, 2015 Paid Members Posted December 7, 2015 I've just finished Goodnight, Mister Tom. I bought it for my daughter a couple of years ago because I remember my late Grandad loved the TV adaptation with John Thaw. She's never read it but I was looking for something to read last week and couldn't be bothered with anything heavy so I started reading it and fell in love with it. It's a fairly easy going read but the subject matter isn't at all light. If you've not heard of it, it's about an evacuee sent to the countryside just prior to World War 2 and taken in by a gruff widower. The lad has a mentally unstable, hypocrite of a bible basher for a mother, is weak, sickly, covered in bruises and unable to read and write. "Mister Tom", said gruff old git, brings him out of his shell and they end up playing happy families until the kids mother insists he needs to go back home. It's full of tragedy and tackles some serious subject matters such as abuse, suicide and of course the war dead, home and abroad. I really enjoyed it. Being a kids book, it was easy to read and even easier to get absorbed in. Recommend it for you or your kids. My daughter's ten. I think she's a bit young for it. Although she reads a lot of Jacqueline Wilson and they are pretty heavy themselves.
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