I recently began looking for ideas regarding books to read during my lunch hour. I can only re-read the books I own so many times before I need to branch out. I found a New York Times “100 All-Time Novels” list and downloaded it. Sadly, of the 100 on the list I’ve read only 13. And there’s not a single John Irving book on the list. Boo. Who determines what books are the best anyway?
Anyway, when I finally went to the library a few weekends ago I picked up two books from the list: The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood and The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow. Yes, I was in the first aisle of fiction, why do you ask? I’m about ¼ of the way through the first one (I’ve been going home for lunch or working through lately so I haven’t been reading as much as I usually would.) I’ve liked the other books I’ve read by Atwood so I had no great fear of this book. So far, so good. I’ve never even heard of Saul Bellow although he has TWO books on the list. Hrumph.
If I go through a couple more books by people I’ve never heard of and end up hating more than I like I’ll scrap this idea and look elsewhere. I also found a “1,001 Books you Must Read Before you Die” list (based on the book of the same name I'm guessing.) I’ve got 42 of those down (and there are three of Irving’s books on this list!) so maybe I’ll pick and choose between the two lists.
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You've got me beat - I've only read 11 of the 100 (but not because I haven't bought many of the others and they have sat on my shelf collecting dust - good intentions). I was excited to see that Iris Murdoch's Under the Net made the cut! You'll have to ask Evan about his experience with Invisible Man. :)
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