Anthony Burgess 99 Novels Meme
Yoinked from someone who ain't around right now...
Back in 1984, Anthony Burgess, a British novelist best remembered for writing A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, published a slim survey of novels published in or translated into English from 1939 to 1984. The "99 Novels List" in Burgess' personal opinion, was the "best in English since 1939". I liked the book and made a point to read a few of them. It's very different from the "BBC's 99 books" list moving around Facebook.
As memes go, this should not be too "novel" (pun intentional). Bold which ones have you actually read, pass it to your friends, or not.
1939
Party Going, Henry Green
After Many a Summer, Aldous Huxley
Finnegans Wake, James Joyce
At Swim-Two-Birds, Flann O'Brien
1940
The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene
For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
Strangers and Brothers (to 1970), C. P. Snow
1941
The Aerodrome, Rex Warner [an odd and overlooked novel about the appeal of fascism, seek it out if you can]
1944
The Horse's Mouth, Joyce Cary
The Razor's Edge, Somerset Maugham
1945
Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
1946
Titus Groan, Mervyn Peake
1947
The Victim, Saul Bellow
Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry
1948
The Heart of the Matter, Graham Greene
Ape and Essence, Aldous Huxley
The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer
No Highway, Nevil Shute
1949
The Heat of the Day, Elizabeth Bowen
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
The Body, William Sansom
1950
Scenes from Provincial Life, William Cooper
The Disenchanted, Budd Schulberg
1951
A Dance to the Music of Time (to 1975), Anthony Powell
The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger [I didn't see what all the fuss was about]
The Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight (to 1969), Henry Williamson
The Caine Mutiny, Herman Wouk
1952
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
The Groves of Academe, Mary McCarthy
Wise Blood, Flannery O'Connor
Sword of Honour trilogy (to 1961), Evelyn Waugh [very, very funny, and then it's not so funny any more, even though it's the same thing]
1953
The Long Goodbye, Raymond Chandler
1954
Lucky Jim, Kingsley Amis [one of my favourite books!]
1957
Room at the Top, John Braine
The Alexandria Quartet (to 1960), Lawrence Durrell
The London Novels (to 1960), Colin MacInnes
The Assistant, Bernard Malamud
1958
The Bell, Iris Murdoch
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Alan Sillitoe
The Once and Future King, T. H. White [read it when I was a kid]
1959
The Mansion, William Faulkner
Goldfinger, Ian Fleming
1960
Facial Justice, L. P. Hartley
The Balkans Trilogy (to 1965), Olivia Manning
1961
The Mighty and Their Fall, Ivy Compton-Burnett
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
The Fox in the Attic, Richard Hughes
Riders in the Chariot, Patrick White
The Old Men at the Zoo, Angus Wilson
1962
Another Country, James Baldwin
An Error of Judgment, Pamela Hansford Johnson
Island, Aldous Huxley
The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing
Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov
1963
The Girls of Slender Means, Muriel Spark
1964
The Spire, William Golding
Heartland, Wilson Harris
A Single Man, Christopher Isherwood
The Defence, Vladimir Nabokov
Late Call, Angus Wilson
1965
The Lockwood Concern, John O'Hara
The Mandelbaum Gate, Muriel Spark
1966
A Man of the People, Chinua Achebe
The Anti-Death League, Kingsley Amis
Giles Goat-Boy, John Barth
The Late Bourgeois World, Nadine Gordimer
The Last Gentleman, Walker Percy
1967
The Vendor of Sweets, R. K. Narayan
1968
The Image Men, J. B. Priestley
Cocksure, Mordecai Richler
Pavane, Keith Roberts [very good alternate history]
1969
The French Lieutenant's Woman, John Fowles
Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth [eh]
1970
Bomber, Len Deighton
1973
Sweet Dreams, Michael Frayn
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon [I've read this three times, but not lately. Some of the vignettes (and Pynchon seems to be best at vignettes) stick with me still.]
1975
Humboldt's Gift, Saul Bellow
The History Man, Malcolm Bradbury
1976
The Doctor's Wife, Brian Moore
Falstaff, Robert Nye
1977
How to Save Your Own Life, Erica Jong
Farewell Companions, James Plunkett
Staying On, Paul Scott
1978
The Coup, John Updike
1979
The Unlimited Dream Company, J. G. Ballard [not the Ballard I would pick but OK, it's not my list.]
Dubin's Lives, Bernard Malamud
A Bend in the River, V. S. Naipaul
Sophie's Choice, William Stryon
1980
Life in the West, Brian Aldiss
Riddley Walker, Russell Hoban
How Far Can You Go?, David Lodge
A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole [again, I didn't see what all the fuss was about.]
1981
Lanark, Alasdair Gray Darconville's Cat, Alexander Theroux
The Mosquito Coast, Paul Theroux [read it a long time ago]
Creation, Gore Vidal
1982
The Rebel Angels, Robertson Davies
1983
Ancient Evenings, Norman Mailer
For more on 99 Novels, read Anthony Burgess' column from the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/30/home/burgess-bestnovels.html
***
My score: 26, heavily concentrated in the 1940s and 1950s. Hm!
Back in 1984, Anthony Burgess, a British novelist best remembered for writing A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, published a slim survey of novels published in or translated into English from 1939 to 1984. The "99 Novels List" in Burgess' personal opinion, was the "best in English since 1939". I liked the book and made a point to read a few of them. It's very different from the "BBC's 99 books" list moving around Facebook.
As memes go, this should not be too "novel" (pun intentional). Bold which ones have you actually read, pass it to your friends, or not.
1939
Party Going, Henry Green
After Many a Summer, Aldous Huxley
Finnegans Wake, James Joyce
At Swim-Two-Birds, Flann O'Brien
1940
The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene
For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
Strangers and Brothers (to 1970), C. P. Snow
1941
The Aerodrome, Rex Warner [an odd and overlooked novel about the appeal of fascism, seek it out if you can]
1944
The Horse's Mouth, Joyce Cary
The Razor's Edge, Somerset Maugham
1945
Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
1946
Titus Groan, Mervyn Peake
1947
The Victim, Saul Bellow
Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry
1948
The Heart of the Matter, Graham Greene
Ape and Essence, Aldous Huxley
The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer
No Highway, Nevil Shute
1949
The Heat of the Day, Elizabeth Bowen
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
The Body, William Sansom
1950
Scenes from Provincial Life, William Cooper
The Disenchanted, Budd Schulberg
1951
A Dance to the Music of Time (to 1975), Anthony Powell
The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger [I didn't see what all the fuss was about]
The Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight (to 1969), Henry Williamson
The Caine Mutiny, Herman Wouk
1952
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
The Groves of Academe, Mary McCarthy
Wise Blood, Flannery O'Connor
Sword of Honour trilogy (to 1961), Evelyn Waugh [very, very funny, and then it's not so funny any more, even though it's the same thing]
1953
The Long Goodbye, Raymond Chandler
1954
Lucky Jim, Kingsley Amis [one of my favourite books!]
1957
Room at the Top, John Braine
The Alexandria Quartet (to 1960), Lawrence Durrell
The London Novels (to 1960), Colin MacInnes
The Assistant, Bernard Malamud
1958
The Bell, Iris Murdoch
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Alan Sillitoe
The Once and Future King, T. H. White [read it when I was a kid]
1959
The Mansion, William Faulkner
Goldfinger, Ian Fleming
1960
Facial Justice, L. P. Hartley
The Balkans Trilogy (to 1965), Olivia Manning
1961
The Mighty and Their Fall, Ivy Compton-Burnett
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
The Fox in the Attic, Richard Hughes
Riders in the Chariot, Patrick White
The Old Men at the Zoo, Angus Wilson
1962
Another Country, James Baldwin
An Error of Judgment, Pamela Hansford Johnson
Island, Aldous Huxley
The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing
Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov
1963
The Girls of Slender Means, Muriel Spark
1964
The Spire, William Golding
Heartland, Wilson Harris
A Single Man, Christopher Isherwood
The Defence, Vladimir Nabokov
Late Call, Angus Wilson
1965
The Lockwood Concern, John O'Hara
The Mandelbaum Gate, Muriel Spark
1966
A Man of the People, Chinua Achebe
The Anti-Death League, Kingsley Amis
Giles Goat-Boy, John Barth
The Late Bourgeois World, Nadine Gordimer
The Last Gentleman, Walker Percy
1967
The Vendor of Sweets, R. K. Narayan
1968
The Image Men, J. B. Priestley
Cocksure, Mordecai Richler
Pavane, Keith Roberts [very good alternate history]
1969
The French Lieutenant's Woman, John Fowles
Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth [eh]
1970
Bomber, Len Deighton
1973
Sweet Dreams, Michael Frayn
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon [I've read this three times, but not lately. Some of the vignettes (and Pynchon seems to be best at vignettes) stick with me still.]
1975
Humboldt's Gift, Saul Bellow
The History Man, Malcolm Bradbury
1976
The Doctor's Wife, Brian Moore
Falstaff, Robert Nye
1977
How to Save Your Own Life, Erica Jong
Farewell Companions, James Plunkett
Staying On, Paul Scott
1978
The Coup, John Updike
1979
The Unlimited Dream Company, J. G. Ballard [not the Ballard I would pick but OK, it's not my list.]
Dubin's Lives, Bernard Malamud
A Bend in the River, V. S. Naipaul
Sophie's Choice, William Stryon
1980
Life in the West, Brian Aldiss
Riddley Walker, Russell Hoban
How Far Can You Go?, David Lodge
A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole [again, I didn't see what all the fuss was about.]
1981
Lanark, Alasdair Gray Darconville's Cat, Alexander Theroux
The Mosquito Coast, Paul Theroux [read it a long time ago]
Creation, Gore Vidal
1982
The Rebel Angels, Robertson Davies
1983
Ancient Evenings, Norman Mailer
For more on 99 Novels, read Anthony Burgess' column from the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/30/home/burgess-bestnovels.html
***
My score: 26, heavily concentrated in the 1940s and 1950s. Hm!