I don't do memes, but if I did, I'd do this one

[caddyman]

Time's 100 books meme
(nicked from itsjustaname)

TIME have picked their 100 best English language novels from 1923 to the present.


So how many have you read?

4 (Four, count 'em)

Which ones have you read? (or indeed haven't if that’s a quicker way to do it)

Animal Farm
The Lord of the Rings
1984
Watchmen

Do you have anything to say in your defence?

I don't read populist trash.

Next...?

Comments

[itsjustaname.livejournal.com]

*laughs*

[jfs.livejournal.com]

I don't read populist trash.

I think there's an awful lot of novels on that list that it's a tad harsh to dismiss as 'populist trash'.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

I fear that you might have made the mistake of taking me seriously...

Horrified

[oldnick.livejournal.com]

15 up here.

Animal Farm
The Berlin Stories
The Big Sleep
Brideshead Revisited
Catch-22
The Catcher in the Rye
A Handful of Dust
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Lord of the Flies
The Lord of the Rings
Lucky Jim
Neuromancer
1984
Portnoy's Complaint
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold

Re: Horrified

[oldnick.livejournal.com]

(and what Jiimfer said, re movies)

[failing-angel.livejournal.com]

They included the Watchmen?
I'm impressed.

Animal Farm
Catch-22
A Clockwork Orange
The Great Gatsby
I, Claudius
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Lord of the Flies
The Lord of the Rings
Neuromancer
1984
Slaughterhouse-Five
Snow Crash
Watchmen

Do you have anything to say in your defence
Um, I've seen films of some of the others?

PS - like the new icon - going cyberpunk?

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Let's just say I'm a neuromantic...

[mr-h-r-hughes.livejournal.com]

Hehehehehehe! Well done sir!

Ouch!!!

[failing-angel.livejournal.com]

[count zero and breath]

[fractalgeek.livejournal.com]

A somewhat similar list here... with the more literary ones from school:

Animal Farm
Catch-22
The Catcher in the Rye
The Grapes of Wrath
Gravity's Rainbow
The Great Gatsby (I think at school - didn't make a lot of impression if I did)
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Lord of the Flies
The Lord of the Rings
Neuromancer
1984
The Painted Bird
Slaughterhouse-Five
Ubik
Watchmen

So 14 I actually would claim

[failing-angel.livejournal.com]

What's worrying me is that I didn't study any of mine at school.

Um, yay comprehensives?

[ash1977law.livejournal.com]

A lowly 7 here I'm afraid.

Lion/Witch/Wardrobe
LordOfTheFlies
LordOfTheRings
Neuromancer
1984
SnowCrash
Watchmen

[mr-h-r-hughes.livejournal.com]

22 I think.

If you haven't read Catchh 22 then in my opinion you are *really* missing out.

For the pulp/noir/film fan Red Harvest is essential. A Fistful of Dollars was based on Yojimbo, but Yojimbo was, I believe, based on Red Harvest.

[queenortart.livejournal.com]

13 I think - and none of them except GWTW in the last 10 years. Still on my Rolf List for this year is to keep account of my books so I can work out what I've been reading. Neuromancy has been sitting in the pile of books on the stairs for at least two years.

Animal Farm
The Big Sleep
Brideshead Revisited
Gone with the Wind
The Great Gatsby
I, Claudius
T'Lion t' Witch and t'Wardrobe
Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Rings
1984
Passage to India
Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Watchmen

[queenortart.livejournal.com]

Oh I tell a lie - I've read LOTR more recently than that

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Anybody who uses capitals randomly in their writing should beware of calling anyone a a bumpkin. Let's not get on to the proper use of hyphens, either.

[ellefurtle.livejournal.com]

Raaaaaaar! I have read 5 and was too ashamed to admit it - you have given me strength! bless you

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Pleasure, Ma'am.

[wallabok.livejournal.com]

Not much better (and admittedly most of those I was forced to read at school)

Animal Farm
Catch-22
The Catcher in the Rye
Gone With the Wind
The Grapes of Wrath
The Great Gatsby
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Lord of the Flies
The Lord of the Rings
1984
Slaughterhouse-Five

[bluesman.livejournal.com]

I am pleasantly surprised to be able to claim that I have read nine of them (as I am such a lazy populist nerk that I would think I'd read no more than three or four...):

Animal Farm (forced to read it at school)
Catch-22
Gone With The Wind
The Grapes of Wrath
The Lord of the Rings
1984
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
Portnoy’s Complaint
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold

My defence is that I am an avid reader, but I am vaguely disturbed that it has been 20 or even 30 years since I read them (except for LOTR, which I re-read a few years ago in anticipation of the films). What can I say, most of my reading for the last several years has been of the Tom Clancy/guitar mag/bible variety.

They didn't ask for my opinion, otherwise I would have staunchly stood for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and High Fidelity. No really.

It's odd that one accepts these 100 books as classics, whereas Rolling Stone magazine published a list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, a while ago, and guitarists everywhere (including myself) were aghast at some of the choices, and notable omissions. If TIME had picked the 100 greatest writers, maybe there would be similar outrage.

[thomryng.livejournal.com]

At a quick glance, I counted 17. To be fair, many of these were force-fed to me at school.

However... there are at least two such titles I recommend to you, Catch-22 and Slaughterhouse-Five. Vonnegut's book, in particular, is one of my favourites for its combination of light-hearted absurdism and gut-wrenching horribleness. You'll never look at Newton's Laws in the same way again.

[ellistar.livejournal.com]

i am proud to say I have read four

LOTR
lord of the flies
1984
watchmen

two by choice and two via o levels

so that is me confirming my level of ignorance and getting the wooden spoon or book prize

[colonel-maxim.livejournal.com]

As I said elsewhere, I can only claim 13. Still, it is nice to think that some member of the Athenaeum Club maintains a pretence at a facade of literacy (unfortunately, I think that member is Harvey).

[boredinsomniac.livejournal.com]

I have read 14 or so. At least 4 of those do not belong on that list by virtue of suckage.

The list is full of books I've found at work and thought , "I've never heard of this, but it looks good." Beloved, The Berlin Stories, The Blind Assassin, and The Sheltering Sky were among these. You might like Berlin Stories.