Modern Library 100

I love to read, but I find myself more often than not reading a lot of twaddle. I’d like to stop that and read some substantial works for awhile. So I’m going to read my way through the Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels. I’m not going to start with the first one, though, because it’s “Ulysses.” And “Ulysses” intimidates me.

“Ulysses” by James Joyce.

I tried to read this once, and I gave up after about page 10. I’m not looking forward to trying it again. But I read “Moby Dick,” by golly, so I can read this, too.

“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

I read this in high school, but I don’t remember all that much about it.

“A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” by James Joyce

Did I mention that “Ulysses” intimidates me? Maybe I should’ve said James Joyce intimidates me.

“Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov

I’ll definitely be humming “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” a lot when I read this one.

“Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley

This is another that I read in high school.

“The Sound and the Fury” by William Faulkner

It seems like this is one that I should have read in school, but I don’t know whether I ever actually did.

“Catch-22″ by Joseph Heller

I’ve read it multiple times, but it’s been a few years since the last time. I look forward to revisiting it.

“Darkness at Noon” by Arthur Koestler

I’ve never heard of it.

“Sons and Lovers” by D.H. Lawrence

Something about this has always made me think it would be a big downer. I don’t actually know anything about it, though.

“The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck

This, I’m pretty sure, is a big downer.

“Under the Volcano” by Malcolm Lowry

There was a copy of “Under the Volcano” on my bookshelf for several years. (I think it came from Chris, when they were deaccessioning things for their expatriation.) I never read it, though, and I’m pretty sure we took it to Goodwill.

“The Way of All Flesh” by Samuel Butler

I have no idea what this is, but it sounds heavy.

“1984″ by George Orwell. I read this in high school, too.

“I, Claudius” by Robert Graves

I feel like I’ve heard of this, but I don’t know anything about it.

“To the Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf

Ditto.

“An American Tragedy” by Theodore Dreiser

Also, ditto.

“The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” by Carson McCullers

I love the title of this book, and I’ve heard wonderful things about it. I’m not sure why I’ve never read it.

“Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut

This, I have read. It’s been a good long while, though, and I don’t remember much about it at all.

“Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison

I’ve read this, and I don’t remember liking it.

“Native Son” by Richard Wright

This is another of the many of which I’ve heard but know nothing.

“Henderson the Rain King” by Saul Bellow

It sounds intriguing, but I haven’t a clue what it’s about.

“Appointment in Samarra” by John O’Hara

Hey! It’s another ditto!

“U.S.A.” (trilogy) by John Dos Passos

Is it fair to put a trilogy on your Top 100 list as one book? I don’t think so, Modern Library.

“Winesburg, Ohio” by Sherwood Anderson

I vaguely recall trying to read this once.

“A Passage to India” by E.M. Forster

Again, no idea about this one.

“The Wings of the Dove” by Henry James

How many ways can I say, “I don’t know what this is about”?

“The Ambassadors” by Henry James

Not nearly enough ways, I’d say.

“Tender is the Night” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I read this a few years ago.

“The Studs Lonigan Trilogy” by James T. Farrell

Is this really another trilogy? Geewhiz, Modern Library.

“The Good Soldier” by Ford Madox Ford

I don’t know anything about the book, but tell me: Who would name their child “Ford Ford”?

“Animal Farm” by George Orwell

I read this in middle school.

“The Golden Bowl” by Henry James

There seems to be a lot of Henry James on this list. I’m pretty sure I’ve never read any Henry James.

“Sister Carrie” by Theodore Dreiser

I don’t know anything about this book.

“A Handful of Dust” by Evelyn Waugh

I don’t know anything about this book.

“As I Lay Dying” by William Faulkner

I don’t know anything about this book.

“All the King’s Men” by Robert Penn Warren

Rockford tells me this is about Huey P. Long.

“The Bridge of San Luis Rey” by Thornton Wilder

I think I’ve seen the movie.

“Howard’s End” by E.M. Forster

I don’t know anything about this book.

“Go Tell it on the Mountain” by James Baldwin

I don’t know anything about this book.

“The Heart of the Matter” by Graham Greene

I love Graham Greene, but I don’t believe I’ve read this one.

“Lord of the Flies” by William Golding

finished 4/26/10. Somehow, I managed to avoid reading this in school.

“Deliverance” by James Dickey

I’ve read this and seen the movie. And Rockford has subjected me to some of Dickey’s poetry. (OK, fine. It’s not all that bad.)

“A Dance to the Music of Time” (series) by Anthony Powell

A series. Harrumph.

“Point Counter Point” by Aldous Huxley

I don’t know anything about this book.

“The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway

I’m relatively certain I’ve read this, but I don’t remember anything about it.

“The Secret Agent” by Joseph Conrad

I don’t know anything about this book.

“Nostromo” by Joseph Conrad

I don’t know anything about this book.

“The Rainbow” by D.H. Lawrence

I don’t know anything about this book.

“Women in Love” by D.H. Lawrence

I don’t know anything about this book.

“Tropic of Cancer” by Henry Miller

Something about the title and/or the book jacket must’ve stuck with me, because I remember seeing this in the library when I was a kid. I never picked it up, though.

“The Naked and the Dead” by Norman Mailer

I don’t know anything about this book.

“Portnoy’s Complaint” by Philip Roth

Something tells me this one will be difficult.

“Pale Fire” by Vladimir Nabokov

I don’t know anything about this book.

“Light in August” by William Faulkner

I don’t know anything about this book.

“On the Road” by Jack Kerouac

I’m pretty sure I haven’t read this.

“The Maltese Falcon” by Dashiell Hammett

I have read this, and I liked it.

“Parade’s End” by Ford Madox Ford

I don’t know anything about this book.

“The Age of Innocence” by Edith Wharton

I tried to read a biography of Wharton a few months ago. I hope her book is better than her biography.

“Zuileka Dobson” by Max Beerbohm

I don’t know anything about this book.

“The Moviegoer” by Walker Percy

I read this several years ago. I remember that I wasn’t blown away.

“Death Comes for the Archbishop” by Willa Cather

I think I’ve read this.

“From Here to Eternity” by James Jones

I don’t know anything about this book.

“The Wapshot Chronicles” by John Cheever

I don’t know anything about this book.

“The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger

I read this in middle school or high school, and I did not like it. Not one little bit.

“A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess

I’ve seen the movie. I didn’t like the movie.

“Of Human Bondage” by W. Somerset Maugham

I don’t know anything about this book.

“Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad

I tried to read this once and couldn’t get into it.

“Main Street” by Sinclair Lewis

I don’t know anything about this book.

“The House of Mirth” by Edith Wharton

I don’t know anything about this book.

“The Alexandria Quartet” by Lawrence Durell

I don’t know anything about this book.

“A High Wind in Jamaica” by Richard Hughes

I don’t know anything about this book.

“A House for Mr. Biswas” by V.S. Naipaul

I don’t know anything about this book.

“The Day of the Locust” by Nathanael West

I don’t know anything about this book.

“A Farewell to Arms” by Ernest Hemingway

I’m pretty sure I’ve read this one.

“Scoop” by Evelyn Waugh

I don’t know anything about this book.

“The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” by Muriel Spark

I don’t know anything about this book.

“Finnegans Wake” by James Joyce

Joyce again. Yikes.

“Kim” by Rudyard Kipling

I don’t know anything about this book.

“A Room with a View” by E.M. Forster

Did they make a movie of this? I think so.

“Brideshead Revisited” by Evelyn Waugh

I don’t know anything about this book.

“The Adventures of Augie March” by Saul Bellow

I don’t know anything about this book.

“Angle of Repose” by Wallace Stegner

I don’t know anything about this book. OK, I’m not writing that on another title.

“A Bend in the River” by V.S. Naipaul

“The Death of the Heart” by Elizabeth Bowen

“Lord Jim” by Joseph Conrad

“Ragtime” by E.L. Doctorow

“The Old Wives’ Tale” by Arnold Bennett

“The Call of the Wild” by Jack London

I’ve never read anything by Jack London. I expect it to be all manly.

“Loving” by Henry Green

“Midnight’s Children” by Salman Rushdie

“Tobacco Road” by Erskine Caldwell

“Ironweed” by William Kennedy

finished on 4/21/10

“The Magus” by John Fowles

“Wide Sargasso Sea” by Jean Rhys

“Under the Net” by Iris Murdoch

“Sophie’s Choice” by William Styron

“The Sheltering Sky” by Paul Bowles

finished on 4/19/10

“The Postman Always Rings Twice” by James M. Cain

finished on 5/17/10

“The Ginger Man” by J.P. Donleavy

“The Magnificent Ambersons” by Booth Tarkington

finished on 5/14/10. I know my in-laws like this one.