Post by @GeePawHill@mastodon.social

@GeePawHill@mastodon.social · 18 hours ago

As a person who's read widely in the English literary canon, I have to say, I thought the Guardian's top 100 was a reasonably good list.

Not perfect, of course, never perfect.

But a reader of English novels could do a *lot* worse than to start there.

I've read ~55 of those books. I am, of course, a total book dork, among my other dorkeries.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2026/may/12/the-100-best-novels-of-all-time

EDIT: Apologies, didn't realize it was paywalled. Here: https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueLit/comments/1e1m7rg/the_100_best_books_of_the_21st_century/

hsfear (he/him/his)

@hsfear@mastodon.social · 1 hour ago

@GeePawHill Some year it would be interesting to discuss the value of connoisseurship because it cuts to a distinction that I think is true about how you and I listen to music. I will say that I think any literary list that includes Joyce, Dostoevsky, and Kafka is self-subverting-it can neither be useful as a reading list to connoisseurs nor non-connoisseurs. (And, I love Kafka.)

GeePawHill

@GeePawHill@mastodon.social · 1 hour ago

@hsfear It's an endlessly fascinating topic for art of all kinds, I think.

What role does education play? How do we bring the juniors along so that they can even *understand* what the cutting edge is doing. Or should we, even? Maybe it's our private VIP bar, and one can only ever find it by oneself.

I've learned so much from stretching myself to try and grok some of Pat Metheny's music. *Some* of it. Some is still out of my reach.

hsfear (he/him/his)

@hsfear@mastodon.social · 52 minutes ago

@GeePawHill I think you can stretch your taste without having to master the technical experience. I think I can claim that.
'

GeePawHill

@GeePawHill@mastodon.social · 41 minutes ago

@hsfear And there may lie a difference between us, if a small one? I feel I need to both like it and grok it to really experience it. When I like something I don't grok, I'm uncomfortable, and when I grok but don't like it, I'm uncomfortable.

Danil Suits

@vocumsineratio@hachyderm.io · 10 hours ago

@GeePawHill

Your reddit link would appear to reference a different list (from two years ago).

GeePawHill

@GeePawHill@mastodon.social · 8 hours ago

@vocumsineratio <sigh>. Every day the internet gets less useful.

GeePawHill

@GeePawHill@mastodon.social · 18 hours ago

I've read all of the top 20. I would recommend all but _Tristram Shandy_ and _Ulysses_ to anyone who doesn't want to spend the rest of their life on literary appreciation. (That is, both are *very* difficult books to read, and remember, I'm a major book dork.)

I would prolly strip *all* the translations from the list. Translators *really* matter, and it's difficult to know in advance whether one has found a good one.

GeePawHill

@GeePawHill@mastodon.social · 18 hours ago

I was also surprised to see authors on that list with multiple works. I think I would have ruled that out.

Hard choices, that would make, but a list of the 100 greatest novels in the English language is *already* making a helluva lotta hard choices.

I'd keep, for instance, _Mrs. Dalloway_ and lose _To The Lighthouse_. I'd keep _Emma_ and lose _Persuasion.

GeePawHill

@GeePawHill@mastodon.social · 18 hours ago

Accessibility does not appear to have been any sort of consideration in their musings. _Ulysses_, for instance, is a difficult book for PhDs in English literature.

GeePawHill

@GeePawHill@mastodon.social · 18 hours ago

But.

Having said all that.

As "The 100 Greatest X" lists goes, in a domain about which I have pretty strong experience, they did a pretty fair job.

The English literary canon is *big*, and it's full of many very good books, and some -- my view -- useless self-indulgent shite, too.

To offer these 100 was a reasonable effort.

DeanFarrell

@DeanFarrell@mstdn.plus · 18 hours ago

@GeePawHill Since that list is behind a paywall, I can't read it. I will, however, proffer my own three favorite novels:

1. THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
2. OF HUMAN BONDAGE, W. Somserset Maugham
3. ON THE ROAD, Jack Kerouac

GeePawHill

@GeePawHill@mastodon.social · 18 hours ago

@DeanFarrell Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't realize it was paywalled. Lemme see what I can do.

GeePawHill

@GeePawHill@mastodon.social · 18 hours ago

@DeanFarrell Now edited with a hacked version from Reddit.

GeePawHill

@GeePawHill@mastodon.social · 18 hours ago

@DeanFarrell And Maugham's on my list, too. :)