I agree. Although limited in scope to the US, the list of Pulitzer winners of fiction from 1918 through the 60's is replete with names now unremembered.
I haven't read that yet, but we read Bartleby the Scrivener in high school, and I absolutely loved it. I have to go back & read it to see why! You may want to check that out.
I absolutely love your videos and explanations of books. Having said that, any list of top books that doesn’t have The Count Of Monte Cristo is infuriating. How dare they😡😝
Les Miserables will never be out done. It is absolutely staggeringly great. Of all the classics I have read, none mean as much to me as this one. I’ll never forget it.
Thank you for all the hard work you put into this but I would much prefer a 'Tristan List' where you recommend books for us and read a little from them. That helps me more. ❤
Is this list of 50 alogarithmic based, please ? I ask because it is so difficult to believe that some books are hardly ever recommended and get here they are !
This is a great video. I’ve read about 20 of these books. I think everyone needs to read Middlemarch-I think of that book often. I read the Bible daily. I would add the need for the Count of Monte Cristo to be on the list.
I rarely comment but I really appreciate your videos and they always encourage me to engage with some classics I wouldn't normally pick up for myself. Thank you for the effort you put into your videos and for your insights 🤗
Thank you so much, Tristan. This was so enjoyable and I love how you give a synopsis of each book. Your passion is infectious. Both of your channels are a delight.
It’s very interesting reading everyone’s comments. Certainly there are a few here I did not like much (and others loved) and some I loved (that others seem to passionately hate!). I do agree it would be really interesting to compile a list of non-Western writers. It would provide a fantastic way to explore more of the literature of Africa, Asia and perhaps South America.
@Tristan Just an observation as a viewer: It might be a good idea to pin a comment of your own as a reminder of where this list comes from. Many people, as shown by the comments, have missed that this list isn't your own ranking. This way, you clear up any confusion and you can gauge interest in avideo of your own 50 Greatest list, if you ever plan on making one. Either way, very interesting list. And congrats on the increased attention you're getting with the two channels!
This was a really good list and I enjoyed, very much, as always, your unique summarizing style. I would have found a place for Ovid’s Metamorphoses. A wonderfully innovative work that poses as an epic poem while, at the same time, defamiliarising epic poetry. It is, to me, the most sublime exposition of mock-heroic verse in which many of the divinities and heroes of Greco-Roman myth are made to look ridiculous, as are traditional masculine Roman values. This is a work that packs a great deal in a relatively small space. Not to mention, its exquisite language and imagery and its enormous influence on Western art and literature. I recommend Melville’s translation.
I would argue that the Color Purple is not greater than Bleak House, or Les Misérables, or A Picture of Dorian Gray, or Dracula, or Sense and Sensibility.
@@jatrodai8921 It is an excellent example of Gothic Horror from the Victorian period. Full of atmosphere and delightfully scary. The science and technology portrayed in the book was cutting edge (like the technique of transfusions). Stoker codified many of the tropes we now think of when we read about vampires. Wonderful stuff. What were your thoughts?
It should remain an opinion. I do not value the bible at all. It doesn’t deserve to be on anyone’s list of great literature at all. It is just a story of genocide, slavery, and misogyny. It is only popular because it was the only ‘approved’ book for centuries! It was written by men who would consider a wheelbarrow to be breakthrough technology and who never traveled more than 5 kilometers from their home.
In the top three on my list would be Fyodor Dostoyevsky's book 'The Idiot'. I would also include authors: Auster, Calvino, Ishiguro, Saramago, Singer and Vonnegut.
I loved this list! I'm currently reading The Great Gatsby (on Chapter 3) and I immediately knew, with its first sentence, that I was entering a masterpiece!☘
I really wasn’t a fan of 100 years of Solitude. I really think Persuasion by Jane Austen should have been on that list somewhere. I love P&P but I think Jane’s writing had matured and sharpened by the time she wrote Persuasion. Surprised Les Miserables wasn’t on there and also other French classics like Hunchback and phantom xx
I read Les Miserables about 40 years ago. It took me forever. I loved it but it was so realistic but so very sad. I was surprised it wasn’t on the list.
@@JoelleFromParis I would not be surprised, given that the presenter believes that 58 % of the best books in history come from the UK or the US, whereas the rest of the world contributed only 42 %. Germany, Italy, India, and Spain have only one book each on the list, and China and Japan have none.
The problem with lists like these (or rather the individual lists which it aggregates) are that they are far too parochial and focus on certain canons: English language (over half the entries); 20th century (over half the entries); Western civilisation (almost all); school and university set texts, etc. Thus we are led to believe that there has been no classics in Italian since the 13th century; none in Spanish since the 17th; nothing in Hebrew for 2 millenia; nothing at all from China, Japan, India, Scandanavia, South America (with one exception). This isn't plausible. Even the examples from authors that are in the list, I think the concensus would be that often these aren't even their best books. So the real benefit of such lists is that they are simply fun, stimulate debate and avenues to pursue; but are ultimately pointless.
Obviously, anyone making lists can only work with whatever language they know, and whatever books have been translated to that language. It's not possible to do the entire world since nobody knows every language in the world and every book in every language in the world, through all of history. He already stated it was a general list. Good grief.
Fun list. I've read all but 4.5 of them (I'm about halfway through In Search of Lost Time). This seems like a pretty good set of classics for folks wanting to start reading the most recommended core classic books. IN such a short list there will always be a lot left out, and it is too short a list to include much outside the mostly-male, mostly White Western literature, but that's a limitation lots of classics lists have.
Regardless of Les Miserables placement, I love your enthusiasm and your presentation of each book. Your love of literature is infectious and you inspire me to read more. I finished Les Miserables last year, and that was one of my life’s greatest reading experiences. I am now half way through The Brothers Karamazov. I am loving it. I love it’s Russianness and the way he flows through each of the characters and how they effect each others thoughts and actions. I have a craving for fish soup! Thank you for what you do. You truly brighten the world!
This is an interesting list and it’s made me consider reading several books I have not already read. Personally I would have liked to see more books from non-Western authors. Even just sticking to books which have English translations I’m guessing there are a number of books that really do belong on this list beyond the incredible One Hundred Years of Solitude. I also have a long frustration, not with this list but with all these sorts of lists, that genre fiction is vastly underrepresented. I suspect this is because most of the list makers are not genre readers but I could well be wrong. Anyway, yours is a thoughtful list, it made me consider what I believe makes a book influential, and I genuinely appreciate it. Hmm - perhaps I should clarify “non-Western?” I mean books like: The Mahabarata The Ramayana The Pillow Book The Tale of Genji The Story of the Stone Siddhartha Snow Country The Makioka Sisters Palace Walk (Naguib Mahfouz) Memoirs of a Woman Doctor (Nawal el Saadawi) The Water Margin The Romance of the Three Kingdoms Journey to the West The Dream of the Red Chamber A Fine Balance Malgudi Days The God of Small Things The Lion and the Jewel The Conservationist Sundiata I’ve read some of these (not enough by any means) and I know there are many more. I just think maybe we do ourselves a disservice as readers when we think about “top” or “best” or “most influential” and only think in terms of the books that are generally within our own cultural experience. I struggle with this so it’s top of mind for me. I understand it’s not that way for everyone. It would be the basis for a really fascinating book club though!
Well they would have to be read widely to be voted the “most influential” or best given these lists are compiled often by votes. Perhaps there should be a Top 100 brilliant but lesser known/underrated books.
@freudulant I was attempting to make the point that the language in which the book was initially published is nearly exclusively tilted toward English on lists like this when, in reality, books that have been read by millions more people, in some cases, are left off these kinds of lists on a regular basis. All of the books I listed in my initial comment above are extremely well known and have one or more English translations. As English speakers we are incredibly lucky that so many hugely significant world classics get translated into the language we speak. It’s a richness that I always hope to see reflected in summaries but rarely is that the case.
Thanks for your suggestions, and I agree about the usefulness and enjoyment of reading about other cultures. A Fine Balance was a great book, which I still think about. Also loved Palace Walk (the first of a trilogy.
I'm nearly done reading Swann's Way for the first time. I'm in my 60s, and because my family moved every 18 months my whole life (military) I started reading from a young age-making friends was not the best investment of my time. I've read many classics over those years (many of them lost on youth, I will admit), but of Proust I must say: astonishing, his prose is astonishing.
I've tried to read Proust several times, but somehow, I just couldn't get into the story. Which is a pity because I love those long, lengthy reads. I've enjoyed reading 'My Struggle' from Knausgard enormously and, in Dutch, the books of J.J. Voskuil-5,200 pages/7 books about his years working as a clerk. But I'm not in my sixties yet, so I still have hope!
@@carmenl163 So far I have not found the story in Swann's Way, such as it is, very compelling at all. What grabs me is Proust's descriptions of places, they 're like he put a photograph in front of me, and his descriptions of emotions and motives, which are very insightful and which my experience confirms to me, "yep, it's just like that". The real icing is when he puts to words what I have felt but never thought.
@@liamtaylor4955 That's what the truly great writers do, they translate our deepest thoughts into words. I'm definitely going to give Proust another go! Thank you
I am shocked! Your number 1 is actually my favorite book! 😮❤ I reread it every few years and I can always find a different point of view about it. It is really superb! Thank you for the video, it's clear that it took you a long time and hard work to make it! ❤
"If one were to count the ten greatest novels of all time, five of them would have to be Russian, leaving only five for the rest of the world Before the Russian revolution, Russia produced the greatest novelists in the world. Before the revolution, Russia passed through an immense period of creativity; it was almost an explosion. Nowhere else, in no other time, were so many great artists born together: Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Turgenev, and many more."
@@tommurray6407 Nice! You might like this--- :"Just a single man, Fyodor Dostoevsky, is enough to defeat all the creative novelists of the world. If one has to decide on 10 great novels in all the languages of the world, one will have to choose at least 3 novels of Dostoevsky in those 10. Dostoevsky’s insight into human beings and their problems is greater than your so-called psychoanalysts, and there are moments where he reaches the heights of great mystics. His book BROTHERS KARAMAZOV is so great in its insights that no BIBLE or KORAN or GITA comes close. In another masterpiece of Dostoevsky, THE IDIOT, the main character is called ‘idiot’ by the people because they can’t understand his simplicity, his humbleness, his purity, his trust, his love. You can cheat him, you can deceive him, and he will still trust you. He is really one of the most beautiful characters ever created by any novelist. The idiot is a sage. The novel could just as well have been called THE SAGE. Dostoevsky’s idiot is not an idiot; he is one of the sanest men amongst an insane humanity. If you can become the idiot of Fyodor Dostoevsky, it is perfectly beautiful. It is better than being cunning priest or politician. Humbleness has such a blessing. Simplicity has such benediction."
Impressive video! If I were to leave a book out, I'd pick "Lolita". I would add a book by Jules Verne, probably "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea."
Boo. Boo on you. Boo. Lolita is a pretty damn good novel (and yes, I will say I say this because I'm a big fan of Nabokov - though my favorite book of his is Pale Fire). Nabokov has some of the best prose of the English language, and definitely deserves a spot - and Lolita, though there are others I liked better, is his most famous example.
I finished reading 'war and peace' in february. I'm reading 'Anna Karenina' now. I'm completely agree with you. I'd add 'the Count of Montecristo'. It is in my tbr list. It is considered a masterpiece by many readers.Thank you Tristan. 😊
I'm gonna quote from an accurate review of To The Lighthouse: The cliché that ends the book is perfectly in tune with those throughout the book, and it is larded with them. The characters are as banal as they come, their situations dull, and the resolution not resolved. Now, were there some great descriptions, or philosophic depth Woolf may have pulled it off, but there is not an original thought in the book. Some argue that it perfectly portrays the dullness of those folk’s lives, but one need not write a boring poem on boredom to make a point. Having recently read Betty Smith’s great A Tree Grows In Brooklyn the point is hammered home, as nothing earth-shaking occurs in that novel, but it is an absolute masterpiece in that everything it utters serves the novel’s purpose- be it the description of a store, the tang of a scent, or the look in a character’s mien. The everyday in that novel is vivid, intellectual, and breathing, while To The Lighthouse is a hermetic and aridly lifeless affair. The characters are unrelatable to most and even those who do know such people long to distance themselves from those types... That some fools believe this a great work only manifests how out of touch many writers are with the real world, and real art.
This is one of the few books I’ve given up on after trying a good 20%. Sometimes I wonder if I should give it another go but you’ve convinced me not to bother so I thank you for saving me several wasted hours! I’m not a fan of Woolf and struggled with Orlando but IMO it was more deserving to be on this list.
What an insanely pretentious review lol. To The Lighthouse was not one of my favourites by any means, but anyone who takes such an absolute approach to literature is a much bigger fool than the people who like books that they consider "not real art." That is some truly insufferable stuff.
It is hard to see Tender is the Night by Scott Fitzgerald out of the list. Especially when poorer books like Catcher in the Rye, or The Colour Purple, get so highly praised. The Castle by Kafka deserves a place as well. These are the ones I would swap personally. Great channel! Thanks for all the videos.
So I respect the fact the Bible is on the list. Technically it is a book. It could be replaced with at least 10 other books - off the top of my head: (East of Eden, Watership Down, Wind & The Willows, Canterbury Tales, ATOTC, Lord of the Flies, Les Miserable…) And I’m sorry. But Lolita on this kind of list is truly bad form. Not Tristan - he is merely reporting the information- the those who make up these lists. And the fact that it’s listed in the top 10?? What? I’m nowhere near a banner of books. But for those book listers to keep this on a Best of ALL TIME List? Is insane to me. But as usual- TRISTAN rocked this list and this video. Well done!! ❤️
Your opinion of course but I thought Lolita was beautifully written. Disturbing? Yes. Engaging and thought-provoking? Yes. Slightly dull in places? Yes. But Nabokov can really inhabit a ( admittedly loathsome) character and spin a yarn.
man, i wish i'd undestand better why Don Quijote is so relevant. And this is not a veiled critique, i literally mean i wish i was more educated in order to understand that. I have been reading it since last year, a couple a pages a day, which is my startegy for books i want to read, but i dont want to read, iykwim.
Many people consider it the first novel ever written. I think its staying power comes from the interplay between idealism & reality & the clash of the two. So many readers and writers are idealists at heart... sometimes pushed to cynicism then back again as the wheel spins around. I think that's what makes it intriguing for so many people who love reading. That said, I think translation matters & mine was brutal, sluggish & not an enjoyable read.... I'd like to try again with a better one... & maybe you should check your translation & see if there's something you'd like better out there?
@@cynthiabrown5456 thank you for your answer. i wish i could blame the translation, but I'm reading the original work, Spanish is my native tongue. I'll keep going a couple of pages a day hahaha. if it is an important work for literature as a whole, it's particularly relevant for literature in Spanish, as you may expect. :'(
I get it. My skill in reading Spanish is average, but as that book was written in the early 1600s, a few years before The King James Bible, the language is of that era. Four hundred years! (I have the “IV Centenario” edition that I got in Madrid in 2005.) I had to look up words on every page. There are tons of footnotes on each page explaining things that are no longer around. No fun. I haven’t picked it up in years. I have an old version of an English translation, but it’s much the same. Kind of tedious, I hate to say. I was looking for a more up-to-date English translation of it. Haven’t had much success. (I go by Elisa too!) 😊
there is a great quixote yale lecture series on youtube. it is very thorough and explains everything in minute details. it even explains why quixote is spelled with an x
One not on the list but should be is: Watership Down. Beautifully written. I would also include Dorian Gray. Probably David Copperfield too which I am digging into for the second time. I might also suggest something by Ian McEwan -perhaps Atonement even this list is more focused on the classics. I also keep coming back to Chandler's The Big Sleep, and Lucky Jim by Kinglsey Amis is superb.
I read it for the first time just this past year. I absolutely LOVED it! I read it on Kindle, listened to an audiobook (which I generally don't do), and then ordered a physical copy. I hope to be re-reading it forever.
Read it when I was 14 years old and found it sad ! Kept saying to my parents: " It isn't up to humans to meddle with God's work' Re-read it and still find it sad, particularly now with AI ....how far are we going ?
Some lnteresting choices...I have read a batch of these but certainly there are a lot more to add to by TBR. Thanks as always Tristan to make everything interesting!!
I have just found your channel....very impressed...wow...and you are so joyous with presenting those glorious books. New subscriber. Thanks for you sharing your love of books
Another great video, thank you Tristan! The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath would be at the top of my list. I'm currently on Volume 3 of Proust's 'Recherche' and although it's early days still (7 volumes!) I can't imagine that anything will stand up to Proust once I've got to the end.
I wish more people would read the Bible all the way through. It is unlike any other book ever written. The Brothers Karamazov is sitting on my kitchen table, waiting patiently for me. I'm nervous, but I will be diving into it soon. But first I have to finish my Little Women re-read. I wish more people would read Gone With the Wind. It's one of my favorite books (and films) of all time. I've read it over and over since I was in 8th grade.
I read Gone with the Wind last month and absolutely loved it. I’ve not seen the film yet so looking forward to that. I’ve found an App that breaks lots of books down into around 15 minute daily chunks and it a great help reading the Bible which js spread over nearly 300 episodes. It’s called Serial Reader.
As a Malaysian, I have read some of the books and studied them too. But since we don't really have a book community here, or our tendency to read away from the Western canon, I feel that I need to read more from the list. Your passion in describing the books is amazing. Well done.
It is surprising that "Canterbury Tales" and "Gargantua" are not listed. I thought that maybe you would arbitrarily include "Tristan and Iseult" for an obvious reason. As for Steinbeck, it would be "East of Eden" for me. "Catch-22" is wonderful and it should be mentioned that Heller was inspired by Czech writer Jaroslav Hašek's "The Good Soldier Švek".
Ok. So I have to add as the list was winding down- I was wandering where 100 Years was… so I was happy to see it place first. Astonished. But really happy. 😊
My goodness, I was spellbound as I listened to this presentation. So well done! I feel like I still have so much to learn and to embrace, even at the age of 68. Thank you!
I love Pope so will be up for a read of his translation this year.he is hard , but as you said "well worth it". I was surprised t how many of these books I had read, including the Invisible Man. I have had two goes at Midnight's Children when I was working, now I an retired I have more time and perhaps I should maybe try again. I was surprised that Middlemarch was below Conrad. Conrad is a great writer, but better than George Eliot?
I am so glad I found this YT Channel...feel at home at last.... :) what I missed was "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint Exupery "The Rider on the White Horse" by Theodor Storm "Momo" and "Neverending Story" by Michael Ende... although I could imagine those to be seen as more contemporary literature.. I loooooove Pride and Prejudice...it is a timeless classic...always enjoyable ;) and...I am one of those who actually not only read "1984" but also compared it to other English Literature such as "2001: A Space Odyssey" by Arthur C. Clarke and H.G. Wells "The Time Machine" in a "Paper" I had to hand in for my A-Levels (German Abitur) in English. That was aaaaages ago ..but still...some books and their ideas..stick with you.. for life ;)
I clutched my pearls when you said Scarlett was the youngest of the sisters. As a girl raised in Georgia…that is close to blasphemy 🤭 I just found your channel this evening while working and love it. Thank you for making such wonderful content.
Wow so glad that David Copperfield made this list!! Those characters that you mentioned! Oh my goodness the way Dickens described all of them! Just pure perfection! Simply amazing!
One Hundred Years of Solitude is on my TBR cart and I hope to get to it this year!! Some of my favorites are in the top 10 but I’m missing Little Women and The Scarlet Letter 😆
In search of lost tlme. The theory of everything. No eugene onegin, the good soldier, gorky trilogy etc. Books. Its amazing how much we differ. I read marquez and instantly forgot it.
Wonderful, wonderful as always! I would take out Middlemarch, which I found dull and dreary, and replace it with Silas Marner -a much more readable, entertaining and moving story by the same author.
I do love a list of “Best Books” even if they are heavily biased towards western fiction. Having only started reading seriously in the past 18 months I was pleased to see I’d read 15 on this list and have 3 in progress. I own a further 14 leaving 18 to consider purchasing. I’d love to see your personal list but appreciate how hard it is to pick just 50 and how to decide which books to leave out. As others have said, The Count of Monte Cristo is my top omission along with Les Mis, Paradise Lost and something from Shakespeare (or do plays not count?). I would leave out To The Lighthouse and probably The Colour Purple although I’ve not read it yet. It would be interesting to see an equivalent list from an Asian or Eastern source to see how that compares but obviously only including those books available in translation.
I think a list like this can omit Bible, Illiad, and Odyssey, and Divine Comedy as they are in their own class. Otherwise omitting Paradise Lost would be unthinkable. I'd also recommend including only one work per author, as a reader who likes the one work would be incented to look for others. I don't believe David Copperfield is less of a work than Great expectations, or War and Peace vs. Anna Karenina. I've read 27 on the list. Of these, one's I was not a fan of include Sound and the Fury and Middlemarch.
Just a modest correction: Ralph Ellison's magisterial novel is not "The Invisible Man" like HG Wells's sci-fi- story of the same name. Rather, it is simply "Invisible Man." It may seem a trivial thing, but the late Mr. Ellison would want us to make the correction. I love Tristan's channel. I subscribed!!
I did not disagree with Charles Dickens personal view that it was his favourite child, BUT personally speaking Copperfield is my second favourite because my first favourite is Pip. 😊
Great list! Our mutual friend by Charles Dickens is an amazing read, I would say, better than his other works. Surprising that the Bible is so low on the list. It gets more superior the more books I read😅. Also amazed that Count of Monte Cristo, Robin Hood, Ivanhoe, and The Three Musketeers didn't make it.
The Count of Monte Cristo, yes, but I also loved The Stars My Destination (Alfred Best) which is largely a sci-fi retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo! 😊
I'm perhaps in the minority but I'd pick East of Eden over Grapes of Wrath (or actually put both books on the list). More controversially I'd pick Animal Farm over 1984 for the reasons given in CS Lewis's review of Orwell.
*Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire* - not only is this compelling history, but Mr. Gibbon could WRITE! If there were only book we could call magisterial, this would be it.
I think the most famous place Gulliver visits is Japan :) Actually I didn't rank Catch 22 as one of the best books I ever ead, because of countless repetitions. How many times can you read that doctor saw naked Yossarian on a tree? :) This is an extended novella, and I would probably enjoy the original more
BECAUSE IT'S HIS LIST NOT YOURS. WHY IS THIS SUCH A HARD CONCEPT TO GRASP? AND HE CAN'T INCLUDE EVERY DAMN THING EVER ON A LIST OF ONLY 50. AND OBVIOUSLY HE FELT THERE ARE BETTER THINGS THAN THE SAME OLD PRETENTIOUS BORES EVERY SNOBBY PROFESSOR HAS THUMPED FOR THE PAST 500 YEARS.
@n, Wouldn't it be boring if we all agreed ? The comments show our taste, mostly our subjectivity and allows for discussions. Btw: There is no need to use capitals for a while comment ! Why not ask Tristan if what you said are his views ? No need for polemics or confrontational responses, I love this channel and wouldn't like to see such hysterical attitudes that might put some of us off. As for Paradise Lost.....it should be in a !ist of 50 by dropping Lolita 😅
Marquez? Huh. Didn't see that coming. Great book. My own favorite novel is Moby-Dick, which I recommend as an audiobook for a first timer. It was meant to be read aloud. My favorite critic of Jane Austen is Mark Twain, who vowed that every time he read her, he wanted to dig up her bones and brain her with the business end of her thigh bone. Heh. My own favorite of Faulkner"s novels--and it would place very high on a list like this were I inclined to make one, is As I Lay Dying. I listened to an audiobook of The Sound and the Fury a few years ago and the actor's shift in voice between the the Benjy section and the Quentin section was like a thunderclap. I like the movie version of The Grapes of Wrath by John Ford better than the book. That's probably some kind of heresy. I probably would have gone for Of Mice and Men for a Steinbeck. Very surprised that Vanity Fair isn't on this list. Peril of the exercise, I guess.
It's amazing to me how you can give little snippets of each of these books! 📚 I've only read 12 on this list 🙄 and I strongly disagree with the placement of some; I mean how could they put The Great Gatsby ahead of The Divine Comedy or Frankenstein and where's The Count of Monte Cristo?! 🤓 I don't get it, but it's an interesting list, thank you for sharing.
Absolom, Absolom was one of the most challenging novels I have ever read. Whole chapters pass where I didnt really understand what I wasreading. Prefer As I Lay Dying.
I’m happy you included The Divine Comedy, a book largely overlooked for its appeal, humor and greatness. Recently, I visited Italy 🇮🇹 where Alighieri is cherished.
A very good list although I do have some gripes about the placements of the books but no matter. A bit sad to not see any genre defining classics apart from Lord of Rings for Fantasy but it is understandable. I think in the 50-100 part, some of the brilliant French writings by Victor Hugo and Dumas would be present. Also, maybe the foundational classics of Horror(Dracula), Sci-fi(Wells and Verne), Mystery(Arthur Conan Doyle)etc would also be represented for being a gateway to the wonderful world of lit especially for those whose second or third language is English and I will always credit these genre classics for my Mphil Eng Lit!
this reminds of 13 lousy studies compiled into a mega analysis for definitive conclusions. In this case another compiled by college sophomore bookworms. Where is e.g. Germinal, Berlin Alexandeplatz, Bleeding Edge, Against the Day, G.E.s best two by far--Romola and Daniel Deronda, Musil's Man w/o Qualities, Eccos Prague Cemetary and Baudelino, Goethe's Faust and William Meister, nothing by Borges, Nathan the Wise--the gospel according to jesus christ and all the names by j. Saramago, old man and the sea....
@@j.carlson4639 first time through good; absolutely brilliant on second reading. couple notches below Against the Day which is #4 novel on my personal goat list. Bleeding Edge is 11th. My Q would be how any top 50 list could contain nothing by Pynchon???
@@ratherrapid I thought TCoL49 is his best work I finished I also read Inherent Vice, Bleeding Edge and Gravity's Rainbow which at that point made me lose interest in him. I think Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, The World According To Garp by John Irving, Straight Man by Richard Russo, A Frolic of His Own by William Gaddis, The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy, The Tunnel by William Gass and maybe Stoner by John Williams would be some of my picks for greatest novels from the US. Old Man and The Sea I agree is a great one and Borges as well. A lot of those (mostly) huge bricks you've mentioned I've been meaning to check out. J. F. Powers is my favorite short story writer.
I love this video, but the order is nonsensical, Wuthering Heights and Harper Lee's great book above Tolstoy's War and Peace ? I loved Tristin's enthusiasm but the methodology of getting to this order must be flawed. Never mind, it was a lit offer books.
@@j.carlson4639 uve read way more than myself. do get to Romola, and G.E.s Felix Holt the Radical which has some of the best drawn scenes re older mothers and their relationships with their adult sons. Musil's Man w/o Qualities is 99 hrs audible and for anyone that reads--one of the very best written.
