Thursday, December 10, 2015

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

The 100 greatest British novels

10 comments:

Jeff Meyerson said...

I've read 28, as near as I can tell, though some are series. (The Powell is a 12-book series.)

I still haven't read MIDDLEMARCH, however.

Unknown said...

I took a Victorian novels course in grad school, and MIDDLEMARCH was one of the required texts. There were some looooooong books required in that class, and that was one of the longest. And it seemed even longer.

Deb said...

I was reading MIDDLEMARCH (which I love--though I'm not sure I would rank it quite as high as this list does) during my first pregnancy. There are pictures of me in the hospital and the thick, green spine of MIDDLEMARCH is visible in all of them.

I think there should be a time lapse before a book can be considered for this list. Will we really think THE LITTLE STRANGER or ATONEMENT or NEVER LET ME GO are in the 100 top novels in another 20 years. Let time bring some seasoning to the party before the decision is made.

Deb said...

And Bill--remember most Victorian novelists were paid by the word; which explains a lot, especially where Dickens is concerned!

Unknown said...

BLEAK HOUSE was another one required in the class, but it seemed to go a lot faster than MIDDLEMARCH. I'm not sure which one has the greater page count, but they're both massive.

Rick Robinson said...

I've read just 17 of them, seen several more as films. Not a lot there I'm eager to read now.

Jeff Meyerson said...

I didn't read BLEAK HOUSE until I was in my 40s, but loved it then. I suppose I really should try MIDDLEMARCH one of these days, but then I was never a big fan of MILL ON THE FLOSS or SILAS MARNER.

OK, saying I was "never a big fan" is an understatement. I loathed them.

Deb said...

SILAS MARNER is not Eliot's finest hour. THE MILL ON THE FLOSS is a little too treacly (and the melodramatic ending for the brother and sister--oh dear) for my taste. MIDDLEMARCH is Eliot's best. Virginia Woolf called it the wisest novel written in English. I'm not sure if get commendation would be a positive or negative for some readers.

Jerry House said...

P. G. Wodehouse only at #100? I think not!

Dan_Luft said...

I meant to comment on this a few days ago. This might be the best "Top 10" I've seen.