Interesting list. May I make one suggestion? If you are going to read Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain read the translation by John Woods not the older one by Harriet Lowe-Porter. You might also want to try Mann’s Death in Venice. I would be curious to know what you think of The Magic Mountain.
Reading the right translation is so important. I found the first translation I tried of “Les Miserables” to be almost unreadable, then loved the second one I tried.
Same here! The first time I saw this list was definitely a rude awakening. I'm slowly trying to work my way through, but it's going to take me a long time. haha
Great list. I think I own about half of the books on the list but only read about half of those (so far). The older I get the more graphic novels and sci fi make it to my personal list. Books like Ready Player One, Heir to the Empire, the Foundation series and the Long Earth are probably not great literature but I loved reading them and wish I could read them for the first time again.
Ready Player One was soooo good. Definitely an all-time favorite of mine.
I've been slowly buying the books on this list, so I've amassed quite a collection of them just like you. Hopefully we can both work our way through these classics in the coming years!
A lot of these I've never heard of, like Scoop by Evelyn Waugh. A few I haven't read, but I'm done with the writer (looking at you, Henry James), so I (probably) won't read. Others I have no desire to read, like Harry Potter. The rest I've either read or (more likely) want to read.
No Epic of Gilgamesh? It's one of man's oldest stories, it's short, and it's a good read. At least one of Aristotle's works should be on the list, in my opinion.
Nice! And yeah, some of these books are either quite polarizing (Lolita, Atlas Shrugged, etc.) or enormous and intimidating (Infinite Jest, Les Miserables, etc.). I can understand not wanting to tackle all of them!
You leave out War and Peace as too long but allow Proust… I only scanned the list rapidly but I don’t recall seeing Vanity Fair, which in MHO is streets ahead of anything Anthony Trollope wrote. Anna Karenina is worthy of a place, as are The Mill on the Floss. Tom Jones, Catch 22, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Road, Kim, A Suitable Boy, The Number One Ladies Detective Agency, Nostrilia by Cordwainer Smith (far superior to Dune). I think a list of 200 books only scratches the surface
Hi Terence! Thanks for reading. I'm a bit confused by your comment because many of the books you mentioned are indeed on the list above, including War and Peace, Vanity Fair, Anna Karenina, Tom Jones, Catch-22, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I agree that those books are all deserving of a spot, and they're represented above.
+1 that a Top 200 list only scratches the surface. It's simultaneously a huge list (2x the length of many of the lists I used as a reference) but also way too short (there are many other deserving books that should be included on a list like this). Thanks for the additional ones you recommended!
Interesting list. May I make one suggestion? If you are going to read Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain read the translation by John Woods not the older one by Harriet Lowe-Porter. You might also want to try Mann’s Death in Venice. I would be curious to know what you think of The Magic Mountain.
Ohhh, good to know! Thanks for the rec!
Reading the right translation is so important. I found the first translation I tried of “Les Miserables” to be almost unreadable, then loved the second one I tried.
200 essential readings . Just seeing the list and reminding myself how many I read , I realized my ignorance in Literature . You nailed it Bobby .
Same here! The first time I saw this list was definitely a rude awakening. I'm slowly trying to work my way through, but it's going to take me a long time. haha
Great list. I think I own about half of the books on the list but only read about half of those (so far). The older I get the more graphic novels and sci fi make it to my personal list. Books like Ready Player One, Heir to the Empire, the Foundation series and the Long Earth are probably not great literature but I loved reading them and wish I could read them for the first time again.
Ready Player One was soooo good. Definitely an all-time favorite of mine.
I've been slowly buying the books on this list, so I've amassed quite a collection of them just like you. Hopefully we can both work our way through these classics in the coming years!
Nice list.
A lot of these I've never heard of, like Scoop by Evelyn Waugh. A few I haven't read, but I'm done with the writer (looking at you, Henry James), so I (probably) won't read. Others I have no desire to read, like Harry Potter. The rest I've either read or (more likely) want to read.
No Epic of Gilgamesh? It's one of man's oldest stories, it's short, and it's a good read. At least one of Aristotle's works should be on the list, in my opinion.
Good additions, William! Agreed re: "Epic of Gilgamesh."
Thanks for sharing. :-)
I’ve read 52–and some I will never read, and I’m ok with that.
Nice! And yeah, some of these books are either quite polarizing (Lolita, Atlas Shrugged, etc.) or enormous and intimidating (Infinite Jest, Les Miserables, etc.). I can understand not wanting to tackle all of them!
You leave out War and Peace as too long but allow Proust… I only scanned the list rapidly but I don’t recall seeing Vanity Fair, which in MHO is streets ahead of anything Anthony Trollope wrote. Anna Karenina is worthy of a place, as are The Mill on the Floss. Tom Jones, Catch 22, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Road, Kim, A Suitable Boy, The Number One Ladies Detective Agency, Nostrilia by Cordwainer Smith (far superior to Dune). I think a list of 200 books only scratches the surface
Hi Terence! Thanks for reading. I'm a bit confused by your comment because many of the books you mentioned are indeed on the list above, including War and Peace, Vanity Fair, Anna Karenina, Tom Jones, Catch-22, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I agree that those books are all deserving of a spot, and they're represented above.
+1 that a Top 200 list only scratches the surface. It's simultaneously a huge list (2x the length of many of the lists I used as a reference) but also way too short (there are many other deserving books that should be included on a list like this). Thanks for the additional ones you recommended!
My apologies, I read this late at night after skimming the list. I should have re-read your post before being too hasty to reply.
All good, Terence. No worries!