January 23, 2009

Entertainment Weekly's "New" Classics List

I love lists! I spotted this particular list over on Bookogged's blog and had to share it. I've marked all the books I've read in RED (27/100). Some were read (or re-read) after starting my blog, so hover over the titles to find links to my reviews.

The books I own (and have yet to read) are in GREEN. Any suggestions about the latter? What should I read first? And, yes, Jen. I know. Lonesome Dove. ;)


Oh, and my Top Ten from the list?

Blindness
Bel Canto
The Things They Carried
The Lovely Bones
The Poisonwood Bible
The Giver
The Kite Runner
A Prayer For Owen Meany
Eat, Pray, Love
Atonement


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 (1996)
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 (1999)
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 (199
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 (1999)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators’ Ball, Connie Bruck (1989)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

15 comments:

  1. Sad to say, I have only read FOUR of these books: High Fidelity, A Prayer for Owen Meaney, Possession, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. But, I am happy to report, many, MANY of them are on my immediate TBR list. Different from my eventual TBR list. :)

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  2. Regarding your 'green' list, I'm surprised you haven't read Possession or My Secret History yet. Only because they're two of my favorite books EVER written. It took me a few tries to get into Possession, but then I loved it, and I've read it several times since. I also loved Lonesome Dove, but I think you have to be in a certain mood (summertime? in love with a cowboy?) for that one. I loved reading this list even though it makes me feel there all the more books I must get to. Oh, and I also want to read Remains of The Day. Maybe for the Japanese Literature Challenge 3. ;)

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  3. Anonymous1:45 AM

    Oh dear I've only read 16 of those books. Of the green books I'd say read Remains of the Day first.

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  4. Possession, Secret History, and Lonesome Dove...all long time favorites of mine.

    Lonesome Dove surprised me to death; I never thought I'd like a western. But the characters are marvelous, delightful human beings, trying to be good, longing to be bad.

    I was totally captured by the story in Secret History. The college students mess up and things get worse and worse and worse.

    Possession was a romance, a dual romance. It was fun to read the interplay between the ages. Skip the poetry if you want.

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  5. I love lists! I've read 33 of these, and of the green books, would suggest starting with The Secret History. It was on my 'best of' list many years ago.

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  6. Anonymous3:01 PM

    Stephen King's On Writing is excellent. I can't recommend it enough.

    I really need to read Possession. Every I know who has read has loved it.

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  7. Anonymous8:47 PM

    I've only read 15 of these. I'd suggest reading REMAINS OF THE DAY soon. I remember really liking that one.

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  8. What is it about lists that we love? And isn't it delightful to cross off the books you've read? And as you do so to think about them again. It's fun, though daunting at times, to make lists of books you want to read, books to buy or check-out from the library.

    Looks like I need to add Possession and Secret History to my TBR list - so many positive comments about them.

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  9. Bellezza - I've seen the movie Possession and bought the book shortly there after. I think I tried to read it at one point, but got bogged down with the poetry. Maybe I'll give it another go. And The Secret History has been in my stacks forever. I may nominate that for my f2f book group choice for March. I REALLY want to read it! Yes, summertime is probably perfect for Lonesome Dove. It's such a chunkster!! And Remains of the Day is such a fabulous movie!! I really need to read all of these. :)

    Margaret - I've noted Remains of the Day and will get to it this year. I adored the film. Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson are fabulous.

    Debbie - OK, OK, I'll read them! :) And thanks for the advice about the poetry. I think that's why I gave up the first time around.

    JoAnn - Wow! You've read quite a few of these! And another vote for The Secret History. If my book group doesn't choose it for March, I'll go ahead and read it anyway.

    Sassymonkey - Greetings!!! Oh, I know King's book is excellent. My husband raved about it years ago. OK, it's moving to my nightstand right now. I needed a nonfiction read this month, so this will be just the ticket. Thank you!

    Kay - Oooh, another vote for Remains of the Day. Sigh. I need to unplug my computer and read for a month! ;)

    Booklogged - I don't know! I've always loved lists. I think I joined all those book challenges last year and the year prior just so I could make up a bunch of lists. Not this year, though. No challenges!! I'm just going to read what I'm inspired to read. But... I'll make up lists after I've finished. :)

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  10. I've only read 20 of the 100. My top 10 from th list (in no particular order) would be:
    Prayer For Owen Meany
    The Road
    Cold Mountain
    Into Thin Air
    Lonesome Dove
    Loveley Bones
    Amaz. Adventures of Cavalier & Clay
    Poisonwood Bible
    Curious Incident of the Dog...
    Watchmen

    Lee

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  11. Lee - You know how I feel about Cold Mountain! That's another nudge for Lonesome Dove. Might be a good summer pick.

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  12. I didn't know Possession was a movie! You teach me something new every day, Lesley. As to the poetry, do what I did: skip it!

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  13. Bellezza - Yep. With Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart. Go here for details.

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  14. Definitely read Remains of the Day. It's wonderful.

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  15. Nancy - I'll either nominate Remains of the Day or The Secret History for my book club selection for March. They both have had lots of positive remarks and I own both! Either way, I'll read them. Thanks for the recommendation!

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