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Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read
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Author:  Catriona [ Sun Jan 18, 2009 4:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

Just wondering whether anyone else has seen this? It started yesterday in the Guardian and is in seven parts - Love, Crime, Comedy, Family & Self, State of the Nation, Science Fiction & Fantasy and War & Travel, so about 140 books in each section. (It can be found on-line if you don't want to have to buy the papers).

I only managed to clock up 20 in the Love section and 34 in the Crime section (which is one of my favourite genres!) so I dread to think how I will do in the Scence Fiction and Fantasy section. But it has provoked much discussion around the dinner table.

Author:  James [ Sun Jan 18, 2009 8:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

Just looking at the Crime... I'm annoyed by the lack of Lawrence Block, but more to the point no Christie, Allingham or Marsh?! Absolutely crazy list. (But will probably still try to pick some of them up...)

Author:  Amanda M [ Sun Jan 18, 2009 11:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

Should I be embarrassed that the only novel in the Crime section I've read is Jurassic Park :oops: (Not entirely sure how that comes under the Crime genre). Although that does beat the zero that I got in the Love section. I'm eagerly awaiting the Science Fiction/Fantasy section to see how I do with those lists :D

Author:  Abi [ Sun Jan 18, 2009 11:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

Oh dear - five in the Crime (Wilkie Collins, Dorothy Sayers and Of Mice and Men, though I wouldn't really say that that was crime) and six in Love. And how come there wasn't any Jane Austen in the Love section?

Another one hoping to do better in SciFi/Fantasy!

Author:  Lolly [ Mon Jan 19, 2009 12:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

No Gladys Mitchell? No Edmund Crispin? No Father Brown? And if they're going to suggest Of Mice and Men and Kim are crime novels then what about Little Dorrit?

I didn't think they'd chosen the best Dorothy Sayers or John Dickson Carr either.

Bit of an odd list I thought...leaving out some really good authors for the sake of some pretentiously obscure novels...but then that's the Guardian all over (*lights touchpaper and retires* :lol: )

Author:  Carys [ Mon Jan 19, 2009 9:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

Jane Austen was in the love section there was a huge section on her.

I skimmed through the love section so not sure how many I've read. I'm really glad the Guardian has done this list as I need recommendations on good literature and I am more confident that the Guardian would provide me with a list that would appeal to me than a paper like say the Daily Mail whose list I would imagine be full of trashy novels.

Author:  Mona [ Mon Jan 19, 2009 2:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

21 in Love, 20 in Crime and 15 in Comedy.

A fascinating list, I'm really looking forward to seeing the other genres.

Author:  JS [ Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

Grr, no Agatha Christie in the crime section. How could they??

The only thing that stopped me emailing to complain was that (as a journalist myself) I suspect they deliberately omitted Christie just to provoke such reactions.... :twisted:

Author:  Emma A [ Mon Jan 19, 2009 7:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

Lolly wrote:
No Gladys Mitchell? No Edmund Crispin? No Father Brown? And if they're going to suggest Of Mice and Men and Kim are crime novels then what about Little Dorrit?

I didn't think they'd chosen the best Dorothy Sayers or John Dickson Carr either.

Bit of an odd list I thought...leaving out some really good authors for the sake of some pretentiously obscure novels...but then that's the Guardian all over (*lights touchpaper and retires* :lol: )

I've not seen the list myself (The Telegraph on Saturday had a list of 100 best novels - Middlemarch was 1 :shock: ) but can't believe there would be no Christie, Chesterton, Allingham et al in the crime section! There are some obvious authors (Sayers, Dickson Carr) and not-so-obvious (Of Mice and Men?) - I feel they've been mischievous with their selections. Likewise the comedy novels include a lot of books that are not comedic - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, for example.

I suppose this list merely indicates that everyone's taste is different; secondly, that they didn't list authors who've gone out of print. Ross Macdonald, for example, wrote some of the best hard-boiled detective novels around (better than Hammett, IMHO), and isn't listed - but then you can only get his books imported from the US.

Author:  Catriona [ Mon Jan 19, 2009 8:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

There were actually five Agatha Christies in an insert.

I suppose a list like this is always going to be subjective, and they do invite you to let them know if there are novels you think should be/should not be included. It has provoked a lot of discussion in our family, and made us all think about possible future reading material. I know I've got quite a few books on my shelves that are on the list which I haven't read.

Looking forward to Family and Self tomorrow!

Author:  RroseSelavy [ Mon Jan 19, 2009 9:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

I was rather disgusted to find that I'd read three of the books in the Love section ;) (though I have to admit that just reading the resume of The Snow Goose made me well up - such a beautiful book)

Author:  Carys [ Mon Jan 19, 2009 9:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

As Catriona said there were some Agatha Christie's in a section dedicated to her, the link is here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jan/18/1000-novels-crime-agatha-christie-blincoe

I'd read 19 of the love novels, though I'm not sure I'd describe either Rebecca or The Virgin Suicides as love stories.

Author:  JS [ Mon Jan 19, 2009 10:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

Quote:
As Catriona said there were some Agatha Christie's in a section dedicated to her, the link is here:


Ah, thanks for that - the perils of reading the newspaper online.

Author:  Abi [ Mon Jan 19, 2009 10:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

Carys wrote:
Jane Austen was in the love section there was a huge section on her.


Ok, found that now... :oops: Must say I'm very relieved - that ups my score a bit anyway!

Gah - only three from Comedy. I begin to feel I'm not as well read as I thought I was. If only there were a few more books by people like EBD, EJO, DFB....

Author:  Amanda M [ Mon Jan 19, 2009 10:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

Two from Comedy so a slight improvement :D At least I've got lots of new ideas for the Book Challenge.

Author:  Carys [ Mon Jan 19, 2009 10:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

It's not very well laid out online, I buy the Guardian every Saturday and the love section was much easier to understand on paper than it is online! I'm tempted to buy it tomorrow for the Family section.

I had read 6 of the crime books, which I was quite surprised about. As someone else said earlier on I don't see Of Mice and Men as a crime novel. I only had 3 comedy... My current total is 28 and I doubt I'll get any Science Fiction unless the Phillip Pullman books are included in there.

Author:  Kathy_S [ Mon Jan 19, 2009 11:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

How do you get to it on line? The links I followed told me I had to be a subscriber -- not exactly an option here.

Author:  Abi [ Mon Jan 19, 2009 11:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

Kathy_S wrote:
How do you get to it on line? The links I followed told me I had to be a subscriber -- not exactly an option here.


I just googled "Guardian 1000 books" and it came up.

Author:  Kate [ Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

Here's a link.. It's letting me read without subscribing.

Author:  Sarah_G-G [ Thu Jan 22, 2009 4:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

I'm quite curious as to how they picked this list. Having just read the science fiction and fantasy list, I've read a lot more of the books suggested by the individual authors chosen to suggest e.g. best fantasy worlds, best dystopian fiction, than from the main list. I also seem to have not heard of a surprising number of books on the list considering how much time I've spent in the fantasy section of book shops and libraries over the years! I was expecting not have have heard of some of them as I don't like sci-fi much, but most of the novels in there seemed to be a) *very* old b) gothic or c) not usually in the fantasy/ sci-fi section so far as I could see :? Is Lord of the Flies sci-fi/ fantasy, for one? I see that it's an experiment and unlikely to have happened, but isn't the point of it that Golding thought it could happen like that if a group of schoolboys were abandoned on an island?

Ah well, disappointing in my eyes. I'd hoped to get some ideas from it for what to read this year but truthfully very little of it seems to be to my taste, which is surprising considering fantasy is usually one of my favourite genres. Too much of it was gothic. I'll take some recommendations from the dystopian section but that's about it, unfortunately. I've already read all of the books in the (very short) insert on fantasy lands.

Author:  Amanda M [ Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

I agree with Sarah, quite a curious list. Fantasy and science-fiction make up the biggest portion of my bookshelf but I'd only read 3 in the list section (although I had read all the Imagined Worlds section).

Author:  Emma A [ Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

Of course everyone's taste is different, but I found it interesting that of the two Iain Banks novels, they were his first in both Banks and M. Banks personas. Haven't read many of his supposedly non-sci-fi, but I wouldn't say that Consider Phlebas is his best novel, even of the Culture books. I'd go for Against A Dark Background, or The Player of Games, or The Algebraist. Consider Phlebas was merely the first, and perhaps is influential because of that.

Their lists in the genre fiction seem to delight in adding books which most aficionados would not include in that genre!

Incidentally, I counted up the novels I'd read from the 100 best decided upon by the Telegraph, and I had read a measly 17! Considering the vast amount of books I have read, I'm a little ashamed - though if I included books I've tried to read, I'd be up around 30 or so...

Author:  Tor [ Mon Jan 26, 2009 4:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

I really liked these lists! I had read quite a few in each section (I was pleasantly surprised at the number of children's books in the war and travel section, bumping up my total there!).

As I expected, I totaled most in Love, Sci-Fi and Family and Self (28, 44 and 27 respectively), and I have to say that all of the books that I had read I really felt to be wonderful novels, and a real cut above the average. So I am hoping that the other titles on the list will be equally satisfying - intending to use it as a basis for recommendations for this years reading.

Author:  Amanda M [ Mon Jan 26, 2009 8:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

I got 6 in the War and Travel section, so my best category so far :D I was especially pleased to see The Machine Gunners in there - I love that back and the sequel Fathom Five.

Author:  Lexi [ Wed Jan 28, 2009 5:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Guardian/Observer 1000 novels everyone must read

I've only read 38 from the main list, that's terrible! I'm particularly poor on the State of the Nation section, only 1 from that.

I must read more of the classics this year.

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