The top 25 books of the last 25 years?
- Thread starter LooseCannon
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Genghis Khan
Ancient Mariner
I'm not much into anyone's top anything. Having seen Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code up in the top makes me think that the list is not all that impressive.
A
Anonymous
Guest
Genghis Khan said:
Ditto on that.
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
It's an odd list indeed, I would NEVER put Harry Potter and The Da Vinci Code on the same list with The Handmaid's Tale and The Name of the Rose... good lord. I've heard about many of these books like The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Captain Corelli's Mandolin, as too how good they are, well haven't read them myself, but anything is better than that damn nerdy kid that can fly a broom and Dan Brown's pseudo-historical fiction.
Raven
Ancient Mariner
One thing they got right was putting Raymond E. Feist's 'Magician' in there. A seriously awesome book from an awesome series. Also, anyone who likes fantasy should check out Robin Hobbs 'Assassin's Apprentice' trilogy...it's compelling stuff.
...And Da Vinci Code is overrated, as is HP.
...And Da Vinci Code is overrated, as is HP.
Albie
Keeping an open eye on the Weeping Angels.
Of them all, I've only read two - so can't really comment further. The two being "The Da Vinci Code" (which I personally thought was quite enjoyable - it never bothered me that his history was not correct; after all, it's only a story) the other been "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" - the latter is a very good read. The way it is told through the eyes of a boy with aspergers syndrome is quite an interesting viewpoint.
Hunlord
Trooper
I am currently studying that book for my exams (starting in two weeks), and I have to say that it is one of the worst and most boring books I have ever read. I found the plot boring, and thought that nothing actually actually happened in it, disliked the language in it, and generally hated it all round.Albie said:
Cornfed Hick
Ancient Mariner
Interesting mix of "serious" literature and popular fiction. Some surprising omissions: Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (won the Booker's Booker -- may be over 25 years ago); Remains of the Day by K. Ishiguro; Atonement by Ian McEwan; The English Patient by Michael Ondatjee (book is much better than film). For what it is worth, I recommend these works highly. The New York Times recently did a similar survey of the greatest works of American fiction in the last 25 years; hard to argue with any of them, and the top three are bona fide classics:
Winner: Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Runners-Up:
Underworld, by Don DeLillo
Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy
Rabbit Angstrom (Four Books), by John Updike
American Pastoral, by Philip Roth
Again, I strongly recommend all of them. These are definitely "American" novels, not merely because they are written by American authors and set in North America, but because each of them explore uniquely American events, attitudes and ways of life. That said, I would hope you don't have to be American to enjoy them. Note that McCarthy's recent novel, The Road, which I recommended in another string, recently won the Pulitzer Prize -- it is fantastic, and it is the sort of novel that readers of this BB might enjoy -- part science fiction, part horror story, part father-son drama. Very different from McCarthy's earlier works except for the fact that it explores "the evil that men do"
and is exceptionally well written.
Winner: Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Runners-Up:
Underworld, by Don DeLillo
Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy
Rabbit Angstrom (Four Books), by John Updike
American Pastoral, by Philip Roth
Again, I strongly recommend all of them. These are definitely "American" novels, not merely because they are written by American authors and set in North America, but because each of them explore uniquely American events, attitudes and ways of life. That said, I would hope you don't have to be American to enjoy them. Note that McCarthy's recent novel, The Road, which I recommended in another string, recently won the Pulitzer Prize -- it is fantastic, and it is the sort of novel that readers of this BB might enjoy -- part science fiction, part horror story, part father-son drama. Very different from McCarthy's earlier works except for the fact that it explores "the evil that men do"
and is exceptionally well written.
I don't know if this list is in any particular order, or not. But I do believe that, without a doubt, the top book of the last 25 years was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Not because it was a particularly good book - Rowling is an average writer at her best - but because it singlehandedly reintroduced children to reading. Kids who read one book are likely to move onto another, and then another, and so on. It's that simple.
Invader
Ancient Mariner
Good point, very good point actually. I was a kid when the Harry Potter series started, so I've never had any negative expressions about it. Haven't read any in quite a long time.
Out of the others there, I've read three. The notorious Da Vinci Code, which I enjoyed (don't take it too seriously, it's still a good read even if it's controversial). After reading his other works after the Da Vinci Code I must say Dan Brown is horribly repetitive as an author, though.
Then I've read the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman, also when I was younger. They were also very good books for me then, and were one of my favourite series as a child.
And the fourth is Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. We had to read that for English class. It's a memoir, but it's actually fairly interesting. It does disintegrate a bit at the end and gets a bit repetitive, but overall it was a good read.
Some of the others, unfortunately, I have not even heard about...
Out of the others there, I've read three. The notorious Da Vinci Code, which I enjoyed (don't take it too seriously, it's still a good read even if it's controversial). After reading his other works after the Da Vinci Code I must say Dan Brown is horribly repetitive as an author, though.
Then I've read the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman, also when I was younger. They were also very good books for me then, and were one of my favourite series as a child.
And the fourth is Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. We had to read that for English class. It's a memoir, but it's actually fairly interesting. It does disintegrate a bit at the end and gets a bit repetitive, but overall it was a good read.
Some of the others, unfortunately, I have not even heard about...
national acrobat
Ancient Mariner
I also thought it was a very good book, and that the way it was written was brilliant. It really felt to me like it was the autistic child writing rather than the author.Albie said:Each to their own.
I mean, I was not the only one as my wife liked it as well. I can see how some can find the plot a bit simple and the way it was written may not help, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.
Don, you're wrong.
Genghis Khan
Ancient Mariner
Raven said:
I enjoy almost all of Feist's work especially the Riftwar saga. The Serpantwar saga is great too. 'The Magician' is great for many reasons. I have already read the Riftwar saga so I knew about the 'Magician' main character Pug. It was great to see how the powerful magician got his start. I even played an old game based on one of his main characters: Jimmy the Hand (one of the computer games was called 'Return to Krondor'). If you have an old computer and like strategy/adventure games, this one is for you. There is none like it. Sorry for getting off topic.
Hunlord
Trooper
Ahh go and ask my sack.national acrobat said:Don, you're wrong.
Obviously I've read it in a different light than you probably have, reading it for school and studying the different themes of the plot in detail and so forth, but I still think that I would have disliked it if I read it myself. Its just not the kind of book that interests me, I found it tedious and uninteresting, but thats just me.
One omission from that list would have to be The Eye Of The World by Robert Jordan, without a doubt one of the most captivating and amazing books I've ever read. I'll go into more detail about it later, but for now I'm off.
Raven
Ancient Mariner
Hunlord said:Ahh go and ask my sack.
Obviously I've read it in a different light than you probably have, reading it for school and studying the different themes of the plot in detail and so forth, but I still think that I would have disliked it if I read it myself. Its just not the kind of book that interests me, I found it tedious and uninteresting, but thats just me.
One omission from that list would have to be The Eye Of The World by Robert Jordan, without a doubt one of the most captivating and amazing books I've ever read. I'll go into more detail about it later, but for now I'm off.
The trouble with The Eye of the World is that it's terribly generic at the beginning. Coupled with Jordan's method of taking five pages to describe a leaf blowing in the wind, it's not the greatest start to the series, if you're not a fantasy fan. I think The Great Hunt is much better, although Rand gets so bloody emo at times.
Anomica
Trooper
I think this list isn't about quality as much as quantity - top 25 sells or something?
On another note, eventhough I'm not much for Harry Potter, you must admit that the books have made a difference in children's reading? After all, kids that never read a book in their lives read these heavy tomes time and time again and love them. That's good.
A great, but strange, book in the list is Donna Tartt's The secret history. It's absolutely brilliant, especially if you've attended a small university or know some really weird academics, like me
. It's funny, strange and thrilling all at once. I highly recommend it.
I agree on Feist's books, and Robin Hobb's books about the Farseers, but I miss Steven Ericson's books about the Malazan book of the fallen. 8 books now, all can be read on their own but really are meant to go together. Really great books. Rober Jordan's series was great the first 6-7 books, but now nothing's happend over the past 2-3000 pages. There are loads of great fantasy books out there just waiting to be read.
On another note, eventhough I'm not much for Harry Potter, you must admit that the books have made a difference in children's reading? After all, kids that never read a book in their lives read these heavy tomes time and time again and love them. That's good.
A great, but strange, book in the list is Donna Tartt's The secret history. It's absolutely brilliant, especially if you've attended a small university or know some really weird academics, like me
. It's funny, strange and thrilling all at once. I highly recommend it.I agree on Feist's books, and Robin Hobb's books about the Farseers, but I miss Steven Ericson's books about the Malazan book of the fallen. 8 books now, all can be read on their own but really are meant to go together. Really great books. Rober Jordan's series was great the first 6-7 books, but now nothing's happend over the past 2-3000 pages. There are loads of great fantasy books out there just waiting to be read.
Hum dee dum. The Curious Incident of the Dig in the Night-time I had to read for class just like Hunlord, but I enjoyed it very much. I thought it was poignant and well-written, and actually, very funny. It was for a sort of philosophy class so I could pull out lots of stuff for the class, but I really enjoyed it as a book all by itself. Come to think of it, I actually read it once before we were assigned it for the class and I already liked it then....*drifts off*...
Ahem. About the other books. I really enjoyed Northern Lights by Pullman, but bear in mind that the first time I read it I was 10 or 11, about the same age that I first read the first HP book. I was actually dissappointed by the other two novels in the His Dark Materials Trilogy, which doesn't mean they are bad, just that Northern Lights had the scope for more potential. I agree with placing HP on that list because of LooseCannon's reasons.
The Da Vinci Code...more of a commercial stint than a quality read in my opinion....
As for the list of American novels provided by cornfedhick, the only one I've read is Beloved by Toni Morrison (for english class). It's good, but if you've read The Sound and the Fury, you'll recognize many of the narrative techniques are from there. So while not a very original novel, it certainly is a good novel about the slavery of blacks in America, a little different and not so stereotypical.
Ahem. About the other books. I really enjoyed Northern Lights by Pullman, but bear in mind that the first time I read it I was 10 or 11, about the same age that I first read the first HP book. I was actually dissappointed by the other two novels in the His Dark Materials Trilogy, which doesn't mean they are bad, just that Northern Lights had the scope for more potential. I agree with placing HP on that list because of LooseCannon's reasons.
The Da Vinci Code...more of a commercial stint than a quality read in my opinion....
As for the list of American novels provided by cornfedhick, the only one I've read is Beloved by Toni Morrison (for english class). It's good, but if you've read The Sound and the Fury, you'll recognize many of the narrative techniques are from there. So while not a very original novel, it certainly is a good novel about the slavery of blacks in America, a little different and not so stereotypical.