Random House's Top 100 Books of the Twentieth Century

holy hell. I've read zero books from the critic's list and only 3 from the reader's list (the 2 King books and Dune). I'm happy Dune was mentioned since it jumpstarted the finest science fiction series ever.

And the reader's list looks like tons upon tons of science fiction dorks voted.
 
Is this list only for English and American novels? It better be, because there are numerous superior French and Russian novels to almost everything on the list.

Im not a big fan of the list. Where is Pale Fire--55? I dont even see Pnin. how are these books lower than Hemingway and Forster novels? And that atrocious To the Lighthouse ugh. Ive read a good chunk, but I tend to dislike most English and American novelists. I would have rated Graham Greene much, much higher, and Faulkner too. I dont understand why Fitzgerald is so high?

Anyway the big joke is the readers list; look at all the Ayn Rand! My god, she is about the worst thinker/writer I have ever read. I remember the very conservative National Review writer William Buckely said Atlas Shrugged was the most mean sprited piece of intellectual tripe he had ever read on Charlie Rose. And L. ROn Hubbard is in the top 10! Jesus. The apocalypse is upon us.
 
It was funny... I fist saw this list on a door at the Area Office. There were no markings on it that weren't on the printed sheets of paper other than a "NO!" scribbled next to "Ulysses" and "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man". :lol:

I was shocked not only that "Lolita" made the top 5, but that it came before "Pale Fire". And where was Ken Kesey on the critics' list? Burroughs? THOMAS WOLFE??? MARCEL PROUST???
 
I've read a handful of those. Oh gee, only On The Road by Kerouac, how fucking original. :Smug:

One Rushdie mention per list, that's alright. Haven't read Midnight's Children, but even though The Satanic Verses is brilliant, Fury >>>>>>>>> Satanic Verses
 
Did i miss it, or is LOTR not even on the "official list" and why the fuck is battlefield earth ranked above it on the user list? fucking scientologists...
 
I checked its based on the English speaking world.

I am also surprised LOTR didnt make the readers list, with all the other tripe on there.
 
I didn't even think about LOTR, because those books transcend mere mortals anyhow.

EDIT: Gah you fuckers, it's on the reader's list. STOP CORNFUSING ME!!! :loco:

So what's up with Ayn Rand? I thumbed through one of her books in Barnes y Noble once, it was really wordy and self-important like. I hate that kind of shite.
 
I read the Great Gatsby last night (yeah, all of it), and I have to say that it is one supreme piece of literature, but that pretty much goes without saying.
 
ah Ayn Rand is a terrible writer, and her thought is basically extreme individualism without any real underpinnings of any responsibility towards others etc--Its an ultra extreme and ridiculous form of Nietzsche read by idiotic uncultured conservatives in this country. She was a Russian refugee from the Revolution,who developed such a hatred for other people she developed this wacko theory. If the most revered conservative thinker of the last 50 years, Buckley, thinks you are shit, you must be.


But at least she is not L Ron Hubbard; he is a genius to get people to follow a religion about ancient aliens etc.
 
Anybody remember those Dianetics commercials in the 80s? Wow were those bad.

"Flowers are sometimes yellow. Page 582, DIANETICS."

Classic!
 
speed said:
Its an ultra extreme and ridiculous form of Nietzsche read by idiotic uncultured conservatives in this country.
Click to expand...
Strange, I wouldn't think conservative thought would have much use for Nietzsche, except maybe to argue against. Unless it's some right wing form of nihilism, which I could definitely see.
 
Critic's list:
2. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
64. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
96. SOPHIE'S CHOICE by William Styron

Reader's list:
4. THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
51. THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams
77. FARENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury


that's all i've read from this list, so i refuse to comment on it other than to say that lists are useless!
 
her philosophy is of extreme rational self-interest--called objectivism. Its basically much the same as neo-liberal economics. And she is a atrocious writer. Different from Nietazche, but similar in spirit; a extreme right wing form
 
her writing style is nothing more than dimensionless stock characters; each character represents a ideology or thought. There is no thought of pyschology, or any understanding of any aspect of humanity. Plus, she is not exactly Salman Rushdie--her writing is painfully simplisitic. Its been like 10 years since I was focred to read atlas shrugged and the Fountainhead by a old hag english teacher of mine.

If you cant tell, there are very very few writers I abhor, and she tops the list. And she tops it, because of how seriously certain types of people take her.
 
Dougless Adams is THE most clever person in the galaxy, by far, im convinced. Talking to him must be awsome. He fucking has somthing clever/witty/funny to follow up EVERY one of his sentances in all of his books. Its rediculous in fact how witty the man is... has anyone noticed this?
 
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