Archive for best novels
yet another list of 100 “best novels”
Posted in Books, Statistics with tags authors, best novels, book list, English literature, French literature, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowlings, Kazuo Ishiguro, NYT, Russian literature, Susanna Clarke, The Guardian, The Lord of The Ring, The New York Times, The North, Ursula Le Guin, Victor Hugo on June 15, 2026 by xi'ananother list of 100 “best novels”
Posted in Books, Kids, Travel with tags authors, best novels, book list, English literature, French literature, NYT, Russian literature, The Guardian, The New York Times, Ursula Le Guin, Victor Hugo on June 13, 2026 by xi'an“Lists procreate; they give rise to other lists” Margaret Atwood
The Guardian posted a(nother) list of 100 novels, “the best of all times”, gathered from authors, critics and academics worldwide polled by the journal. Out of which I only read 57, with the remaining 43 vacillating between classics I missed and others I had not even heard of. Somewhat predictable and very much favouring books in English. With several Victorian books, e.g. those of Jane Austen, Emily Brontë and Charles Dickens. Here is my read sublist, where I am glad to see Greenes’ End of the Affair, Grossman’s Life and Fate, McCarthy’s The Road, Naipaul’s House for Mr Biswas, Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day, Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness, but sad of seeing no Hugo’s, no Dinesen’s, no Chandler’s and no Céline…
- 100 The Road
- 99 Catch-22
- 95 Invisible Cities
- 94 Sentimental Education
- 93 Life and Fate
- 92 Jacob’s Room
- 91 The Left Hand of Darkness
- 88 The Turn of the Screw
- 87 The Vegetarian
- 86 The Talented Mr Ripley
- 85 A Farewell to Arms
- 84 The End of the Affair
- 83 The Buddenbrooks
- 80 A House for Mr Biswas
- 77 Dracula
- 73 Our Mutual Friend
- 71 The Outsider
- 70 Jude the Obscure
- 69 Crime and Punishment
- 68 Blood Meridian
- 67 The Man Without Qualities
- 66 The Master and Margarita
- 65 The Color Purple
- 64 The Good Soldier
- 59 Never Let Me Go
- 57 The Sound and the Fury
- 48 The Metamorphosis
- 41 Heart of Darkness
- 37 Invisible Man
- 36 The Handmaid’s Tale
- 35 Great Expectations
- 33 David Copperfield
- 30 Frankenstein
- 28 The Brothers Karamazov
- 27 The Trial
- 26 Don Quixote
- 25 Lolita
- 24 The Remains of the Day
- 23 Midnight’s Children
- 21 The Portrait of a Lady
- 20 Wuthering Heights
- 17 One Hundred Years of Solitude
- 16 Nineteen Eighty-Four
- 15 Moby-Dick
- 12 Bleak House
- 11 The Great Gatsby
- 10 Madame Bovary
- 9 Pride and Prejudice
- 7 War and Peace
- 6 Anna Karenina
- 3 Ulysses
- 1 Middlemarch
