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left-of-center2012

(34,195 posts)
Tue Oct 15, 2019, 10:31 AM Oct 2019

The 100 best novels written in English: the full list

After two years of careful consideration, Robert McCrum has reached a verdict on his selection of the 100 greatest novels written in English.

Robert McCrum is an associate editor of the Observer. He was the literary editor of the Observer from 1996 to 2008, and has been a regular contributor to the Guardian since 1990.

1. The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan (1678)
2. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1719)
3. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726)
4. Clarissa by Samuel Richardson (1748)
5. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding (1749)
6. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne (1759)
7. Emma by Jane Austen (1816)
8. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)
9. Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock (1818)
10. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe (1838)

Full list at:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/17/the-100-best-novels-written-in-english-the-full-list

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The 100 best novels written in English: the full list (Original Post) left-of-center2012 Oct 2019 OP
I would have thought "Grapes of Wrath" would be a little higher, but wuddo I know? Indeed, this list dameatball Oct 2019 #1
List is in date order, not what is considered best SCantiGOP Oct 2019 #4
Ohhh...duh. I wondered why the writer was so enamored with the older novels. It should have been dameatball Oct 2019 #6
Only one by Faulkner? At 55th. Seriously? Bradshaw3 Oct 2019 #2
"Oh well, each to his own" left-of-center2012 Oct 2019 #3
Yes and I gave MY opinion Bradshaw3 Oct 2019 #5
. left-of-center2012 Oct 2019 #7
... Bradshaw3 Oct 2019 #9
list from 4 years ago. TeamPooka Oct 2019 #8
Add additions if you like left-of-center2012 Jun 2020 #11
Message auto-removed Name removed Jun 2020 #10

dameatball

(7,603 posts)
1. I would have thought "Grapes of Wrath" would be a little higher, but wuddo I know? Indeed, this list
Tue Oct 15, 2019, 10:42 AM
Oct 2019

would make a helluva library.

dameatball

(7,603 posts)
6. Ohhh...duh. I wondered why the writer was so enamored with the older novels. It should have been
Tue Oct 15, 2019, 11:28 AM
Oct 2019

obvious to me. Thanks for pointing it out....

Bradshaw3

(7,962 posts)
2. Only one by Faulkner? At 55th. Seriously?
Tue Oct 15, 2019, 11:03 AM
Oct 2019

Seems heavily weighted toward the English classics. Oh well, each to his own.

Response to left-of-center2012 (Original post)

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