Friday, June 27, 2008

Best Books of the Past 25 Years

Entertainment Weekly released its list of 100 Best Reads of the past 25 years and I didn’t fair too well – four out of 100. Here’s the breakdown:

Have Read
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien (1990)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)

Have Bought and Not Read
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)

Will Probably Read Soon
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)

Might Possibly Read Sometime
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)

Would Like To Read But Most Likely Never Will
1. The Road, Cormac McCarthy (2006)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
36. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
47. World's Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)

4 comments:

Krista said...

I had actually read 15, but many I had never even heard of! And I have not read your four. It's a great way to find a new book to read. The one I loved above all else on the list was "Bel Canto." And if you like music, don't pass up "High Fidelity!"

Anonymous said...

ok, so this is sad. I managed to hit 15. If I were 10 years younger and without children I would've probably hit a lot more, because the 15 I read, I read either as a student or as a young bachelor. What's even more pathetic is that I've given about 10 of these to my wife as gifts and not read them myself - including Bel Canto.
What's even worse is that of teh ones I did read, well fully 1/5 are "comic books" (Ahem, Graphic Novels!)

- Watchmen
- Maus (although to call this a comic book is really in bad form)
- Jimmy Corrigan (Love Chris Ware)

or, of course, the novel about comic books - Kavalier and Clay

I'm a little shocked by Holes making the list. That seems pretty overrated to me.

-Chris

Joel said...

Give the Road a chance. It's not his best, I don't think, but it's his most accessible and...well, I just know you'll love it. Also, on your personal lists, I'd make Murakami and Underworld switch places!

The Whited Sepulchre said...

Steve,
I was able to sign off on 22 of them (I used to run stores for Taylor's Books, Bookstop, and then Barnes & Noble)

May I suggest that you go ahead and crack open "Lonesome Dove", "Cold Mountain", and "High Fidelity"? To be followed closely by "Friday Night Lights"?