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Ooh, another list! EW’s Top 100 books of the last 25 years
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Everyone loves lists prepared by magazine editors or bloggers or the like. Not the actual lists, but the act of reading them and reacting to them.
Are you kiddin’ me? They ranked THAT over THAT? You get a little surge of adrenaline and sometimes of superiority, and then move on. Lists don’t require a lot of commitment.
Which brings us to the latest book list, Entertainment Weekly’s Top 100 books of the past 25 years, part of an issue that did the same thing to movies, TV, music, etc.
Of course the result is preposterous. A Harry Potter novel at No. 2, ahead of all the literature written in the last 25 years, will start that little vein throbbing in your temple. Then you work your way down the the bottom, and see “The Da Vinci Code” ranked, without even a mention of “In the Beauty of the Lilies” by John Updike or ‘Winter’s Tale” by Mark Helprin, to name but a couple of works of art that come to mind that are not on the list at all. It’s anuerysm time, baby!
On the positive side, I was delighted to see such “The Things They Carried” (31), “Parting the Waters” (32) and “Praying for Sheetrock (44), outstanding books but not the ones you expect to see on lists like this.
So here is the whole list, below, presented like a pinata. Reader, here are your sticks. Start bashing away!
The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr (1995)
American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (1990)
Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
World’s Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
Money, Martin Amis (1985)
Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)
The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
The Predators’ Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)
Permalink | Comments (41) | Post your comment | Categories: Books
Comments
By Jeff
June 30, 2008 8:49 AM | Link to this
Most of the books I had heard of I could see a critic putting on a ‘Top’ list. I wouldn’t necessarily have done so, but I can see a critic doing it.
The one exception is The Road. I simply do NOT understand how ANYONE - not even Cormac McCarthy himself - could POSSIBLY put that book as number one on ANYTHING other than a ‘WORST Books of (blank)’ list.
Of those on the list with which I am familiar (believe it or not, I have read about 5 of them, heard of probably a dozen more), there were a few rankings that I would change, but hey, this isn’t my list!
The highest ranking - other than The Road - that I have read was Into Thin Air, which was #11 here, and I could see that.
By Anne
June 30, 2008 9:08 AM | Link to this
I guess I’m just not a “high-brow” book reader, as I have only read 3 on the list and thought they were horrible. I have to agree with Jeff on the #1. I couldn’t even finish it. I mainly read for entertainment. But again, this isn’t my list.
By Jeff
June 30, 2008 9:15 AM | Link to this
Anne:
Don’t worry, I’m not very ‘high brow’ either. Matter of fact, the only reason this list has any validation by me at all is books like The Giver are on it. I actually read that one back in ES, so that couldn’t have been THAT long after it was put out! (I left ES in Spring 94, this list says it was published in 1993.)
By Kim
June 30, 2008 9:18 AM | Link to this
Well, starting around #35, I had read many of them. So I just ignore the first ones :)
By Anne
June 30, 2008 9:23 AM | Link to this
Jeff: Thanks! A lot of my friends are into reading recommendations from Oprah’s book club and I swear, I’ve tried to read a few, but it just ain’t happening! A lot of my more “literary” choices were read in school and I did enjoy them. I read based on a friend telling me something is good or by picking up a book in a store that piques my interest. As I said before, reading for me is all about enjoying a well told story. It’s all about the enjoyment factor. I have read some recommendations from this blog and liked the ones I’ve chosen.
By Mike
June 30, 2008 9:38 AM | Link to this
How many of these books do we recognize because they made movies out of them? I wonder if that was a deciding factor in picking the “greatest” novels? (If you’re trying to count, the movie “The Golden Compass” is a section of “His Dark Materials.”)
The ones on this list that I’ve read, I’ve enjoyed. But novels covers such a broad range of emotions and biases, levels of humor and sadness, that I can’t imagine that anyone could put together a list that would make more than a few people happy.
By Winnie
June 30, 2008 9:38 AM | Link to this
I’ve read three on the list and loved them. I read Into Thin Air and was exhausted just reading about mountain climbing.
I listened to the audio of The Year of Magical Thinking. I’ve had a son die of cancer and had also experienced my share of “magical thinking”. It was like having a conversation with the author—heartbreaking and up-lifting at the same time.
I read A Prayer for Owen Meany after my daughter read it for her literature class. It lasted me through a whole spring break vacation and it’s one of the few books I’ve saved.
But books are like food. Everyone’s taste is different. I’m glad there are such a variety to choose from!
By SaveOurRepublic
June 30, 2008 9:55 AM | Link to this
Dr.Stan Monteith’s brilliant expose on the Globalist Elite…”The Brotherhood of Darkness”, G.Edward Griffin;s masterpiece on the private arm of the international banking cartel (aka The Fed) “The Creature from Jekyll Island” and Ted Pike’s “The Hope of the Wicked” should be read by ALL Americans who truly care about saving our Constitutional Republic!
By Jeff
June 30, 2008 10:00 AM | Link to this
Speaking of a ‘well told story’:
I picked up Lee Child’s latest - Nothing to Lose - Saturday at the library. 407 pages.
Had it completed Sunday afternoon. Would have finished sooner, but had things to do Sunday morning. (This IS the South y’all…)
Nothing to Lose goes down as number 28 on the year, and so far I’d rank it up there as within the top 3 - possibly even number 1 - of the lot! (It gets serious contention from Jeremy Robinson’s The Didymus Contingency and Matthew Reilly’s Scarecrow.)
By Gray Matter
June 30, 2008 10:05 AM | Link to this
Jeff, McCarthy goes over your head. I assume many things do. The Road is genius; as was No Country for Old Men, Child of God and Blue Meridian…anything penned by McCarthy is genius. Pillars of the Earth and the sequel World Without End are also very brilliant reads, by Ken Follett. if you have not read The Road, you have something wonderful to look forward to. Run out and buy it now, enjoy!
By Gray Matter
June 30, 2008 10:11 AM | Link to this
How can you not have A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole not be on the list. Criminal!
By kerry
June 30, 2008 10:37 AM | Link to this
I’ve only read 10 on this list and I read both fiction and nonfiction. And it seems to me, at least here in the south, there presumably would be included A Miracle of Catfish and works by Pat Conroy and John Grisham. I liked The Ruins but the A Simple Plan was better.
By Jeff
June 30, 2008 10:42 AM | Link to this
Phil:
An idea:
What about a “AJC Readers’ Top X Books”? We could all submit our lists here (you could also do this with your print edition columns and have them email or write you) and you could compile them into a single list.
I know it would be a lot of work on your end, but it could prove interesting for us… :P
By sansho1
June 30, 2008 10:51 AM | Link to this
Gray Matter, A Confederacy of Dunces was published in 1980 I believe, making it ineligible. Certainly it would be at or near the top otherwise, I would think.
I’ve read about 20 of these — the Murakami book and Cholera are my two faves on the list. It’s tough for regional fiction to make it onto a list like this, as there are several books by Harry Crews and Larry Brown that I enjoyed much more than some of the stuff on here.
By Reading Mom
June 30, 2008 10:53 AM | Link to this
The Road is a very good book. I still think about it from time to time even though I read it last year.
I have read over a dozen books on the list. The Handmaid’s Tale is another that has always remained in my memory. Case Histories was good, but not great. Still trying to get through Love in the Time of Cholera!Definitely agree with Gray Matter about Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, both are brilliant.
By Gray Matter
June 30, 2008 11:04 AM | Link to this
Oprha should keep her ego and her hands away from great literature like McCarthy and stop trying to jump on any bandwagon that gets her name in the press. I generally avoid a book she mentions. I’ve read McCarthy for years and couldn’t believe Oprah would foul up his writings with her ego and constant need for attention. If you watched her so called attempt of an interview with him, you could tell he was bored to tears with the banal ego-maniac woman trying to squeeze something out of him for her ratings and her monolithic ego.
By faye
June 30, 2008 11:09 AM | Link to this
The Road was ok - I wouldn’t put it number one. let alone top ten. I love John Irving (except for the A Son of the Circus) and A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of my favorites - I would rank it higher. Into Thin Air is one of my favorite books of all times - the story just utterly intrigues me. I hated hated hated Love in the Time of Cholera despite many, many people recommending it to me - I’m not a fan of the genre - I didn’t like One Hundred Years of Solitude either - most men I know loved it - most women friends, not so much. Who knows? I’m disappointed that The Kite Runner scored so low and that Harry Potter scored so high.
Over all, I like the list - I’ll have to look for books I haven’t read yet.
By Allegra USA Online Pharmacy US
June 30, 2008 11:32 AM | Link to this
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By Political Mongrel
June 30, 2008 12:47 PM | Link to this
It’s interesting—-and very nice—-to see a couple of graphic novels on the list. It’s about time that they were taken seriously as an art form.
By Marie
June 30, 2008 1:05 PM | Link to this
I totally agree with Pillars of the Earth.
I guess I am a nerd, I have read about half of the list and some I would not have put even remotely near a “best list”. In face some of the authors are quite good but the books they chose were not the best, Toni Morrison is great but I think beloved is not her best work even though it was turned into a movie. Paradise is her most moving book, Isabel Allende’s Daughter of Fortune was a really moving tale, not so much on the Eva luna.
I liked the Kite Runner but thought that a Thousand Splendid Suns was better. Some that I agree with are The Poisonwood Bible-what a great story, Love in the Time of Cholera-great romance. I would have included one of Wally Lamb’s books as well as The Time Travelers Wife. But hey thats just me,
Yeah when is the AJC readers book list coming out!!
By Tricia S
June 30, 2008 1:22 PM | Link to this
I, like many of you, have read quite a few of these titles. The list doesn’t seem complete with the omission of A Thousand Splendid Suns” and Barbara Kingsolver’s *The Prodigal Summer. I also loved The House of Sand and Fog for it’s riveting suspense. Everyone should read Bel Canto for its very original story. I’m not a fan of The Road. Fnally, how could Memoir of a Geisha be omitted?
By molly
June 30, 2008 1:40 PM | Link to this
Left off the list for some stupid reason: -Lonesome Dove (Larry McMurtry) -A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (Dave Eggers) -A Million Little Pieces (James Frey - I don’t care if he made it up, still the best story of addiction and recovery I’ve read, ever.) -Black Hawk Down (Mark Bowden) -Prep (Curtis Sittenfeld) -Sex and the City (Candice Bushnell) -Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt) -Eat Pray Love (Elizabeth Gilbert) I could go on and on…the fact that “the DaVinci Code” is on here is an insult to real, talented, non-plagiarizing writers.
-The Namesake (Jhumpa Lahiri)By molly
June 30, 2008 1:41 PM | Link to this
Left off the list for some stupid reason: -Lonesome Dove (Larry McMurtry) -A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (Dave Eggers) -A Million Little Pieces (James Frey - I don’t care if he made it up, still the best story of addiction and recovery I’ve read, ever.) -Black Hawk Down (Mark Bowden) -Prep (Curtis Sittenfeld) -Sex and the City (Candice Bushnell) -Eat Pray Love (Elizabeth Gilbert) I could go on and on…the fact that “the DaVinci Code” is on here is an insult to real, talented, non-plagiarizing writers.
-The Namesake (Jhumpa Lahiri)By Jean
June 30, 2008 2:00 PM | Link to this
I was so glad to see other fans of Irving’s “A Prayer for Owen Meany”. I have read this four times now and laughed and cried through each of them.
I have read about 25 of the 100, some of them multiple times. Some struggling through because I think it is somehow cheating to begin a book and not finish just because you hate it.
Great fun, thanks for sharing all of your comments. I found it very interesting indeed.
By TallyBrave
June 30, 2008 2:52 PM | Link to this
I have read about ten of these books. The one that I got a giggle out of—and the only one I actually agree with as being “tops” is Bridget Jones’ Diary! lol
I do also recommend Last Train to Memphis, which comes in at #62.
By TallyBrave
June 30, 2008 2:55 PM | Link to this
I have read about ten of these books. The one that I got a giggle out of—and the only one I actually agree with as being “tops”— is Bridget Jones’ Diary! lol
I do also recommend Last Train to Memphis, which comes in at #62.
By Kim
June 30, 2008 2:56 PM | Link to this
When …Owen Meany first came out, I bought a copy for everyone I knew. I’ve read all of John Irving’s books, and this is the finest. WHAT a book.
By Shannon, M.Div.
June 30, 2008 2:56 PM | Link to this
Tsk—leaving off Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell? Tsk tsk tsk.
By Gray Matter
June 30, 2008 3:34 PM | Link to this
Molly, Lonesome Dove did make the list at number 25. It’s good to see that others enjoyed A Prayer for Owen Meany as much as I did. Don’t watch the movie they loosely based the film on, it was horrible. I’m still puzzled about No Country for Old Men being excluded, or anything McCarthy other then number one pick they did include. The man is genius. I thought, for a Grisham novel….A Painted House was good a summer read.
By spence
June 30, 2008 3:36 PM | Link to this
Hey Molly - read the list again! Lonesome Dove, Angela’s Ashes and Eat Pray Love are on there.
By elaine
June 30, 2008 4:02 PM | Link to this
Many familiar because NY Times Best Sellers List over the years. I have read at least half, many as selections of neighborhood women’s book club. Many favoite suthors on list but not personal favorite selection of that author. Seldom see movie versions. Joan Didion, Ian MacGowan, Marilyn Robinson,Barbara Kingsolver brilliant writers with non formula styles.
By rob osattin
June 30, 2008 8:24 PM | Link to this
I read several books on the list but am tempted to check out some of the others. Two books I have to add are A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking (1988) and The Celestine Prophecy, James Redfield (1993). How about that for eclectic tastes!
By Quint
June 30, 2008 8:55 PM | Link to this
What the…!? The Ruins? A story about killer vine? You have to be kidding me. I couldn’t get through that tripe. And trust me, I have read some junk. But this was the worst. Granted, I never finished it because it was so horrible, but could it have gotten really good in the last 100 pages?
By Meg
June 30, 2008 9:15 PM | Link to this
Worse than the list is the fact I’ve read so few of them. Shoot, I’ve never heard of most of them! AHHHHHHHHH!!!
By Willie G
June 30, 2008 9:32 PM | Link to this
What a crock!! I am retired and read a book per day, or more. I have read some of the list. Most of them did not impress me. Redo the list, and make it better, cause you sure cant make it much worse.
By John
June 30, 2008 9:40 PM | Link to this
Rick Bragg’s “All Over But the Shouting” is a must included book as is John Grisham’s “The Firm.”
By Michael
June 30, 2008 11:04 PM | Link to this
I can’t claim to be some expert since I’ve read maybe three of those, but there’s only one Harry Potter book on the list? Are you frickin’ kidding me? Surely one of the final three books are more worthy than something on that list.
By FM Fats
July 1, 2008 9:55 PM | Link to this
I’ve read 35 of them, and it’s great to see some of my favorite writers on the list, like Murakami and Boyle. A few more genre writers would have been nice, like Hiaasen or Connelly. Alan Furst should be there, too.
By Jan Harayda
July 3, 2008 12:08 PM | Link to this
Hi, Phil, Great to see that there’s a critic who’s still willing to use the word “preposterous” (which these days we see so much less often than “astonishing,” “mesmerizing” and “monumental”).
What do you and your visitors think of the omission of all poetry from the EW list? The magazine ignored both adult books like Philip Larkin’s “Collected Poems” and all the poetry written for children.
Anybody want to make a case for “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” (1990)? Jan
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