Brought out by the Orange Prize for Fiction. This list was “compiled by public vote”. Authors were also asked (later) to give their input.
I’m not big on contemporary fiction – my taste is mercurial, and rather improvisational.
But let’s take a look at the list. I’ll bold-type the ones I have read.
THE LIVING LIBRARY OF TOP 50 ESSENTIAL CONTEMPORARY READS are (in alphabetical order by title):
1. A Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez
2. A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving – one of my favorite books ever. I can count on one hand the books which made me dissolve into weeping at the very end. Owen Meany is one. The other two are: Geek Love by Katherine Dunn and Atonement by Ian McEwan.
3. A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth
4. American Pastoral Philip Roth
5. Atonement Ian McEwan Hello!! I’ve written about the impact this book had on me before here and here. One of the saddest books I have ever read, and also one of the most masterful.
6. Being Dead Jim Crace
7. Birdsong Sebastian Faulks
8. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin Louis de Bernieres
9. Cloudstreet Tim Winton – haven’t read it – but my friend Ted gave it to me a while back for a birthday. It’s on the “list”.
10. Disgrace JM Coetzee
11. Enduring Love Ian McEwan
12. Faith Singer Rosie Scott
13. Fingersmith Sarah Waters
14. Fred and Edie Jill Dawson
15. Fugitive Pieces Anne Michaels
16. Girl with a Pearl Earring Tracy Chevalier
17. Grace Notes Bernard MacLaverty
18. High Fidelity Nick Hornby Love it.
19. His Dark Materials Trilogy Philip Pullman
20. Hotel World Ali Smith
21. Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides
22. Midnight’s Children Salman Rushdie
23. Misery Stephen King It’s not my favorite Stephen King – but it’s up there! My favorite of his, hands down, is It.
24. Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow Peter Hoeg
25. Money Martin Amis
26. Music and Silence Rose Tremain
27. Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit Jeanette Winterson I’ve written about her before, too. (She’s also included in my Commonplace Book, a couple of times over. Her writing is very quotable) I will read anything this crazy writer has ever written – even though her books over the last 10 years have descended into parody. But her early stuff: Sexing the Cherry, and The Passion are among my favorite books. Oranges are not the only fruit is her memoir – one of her first books. (It tells you something about this writer’s massive EGO that her first book is a MEMOIR!!) Winterson is a lesbian, and she grew up in a cult of missionaries. It’s a very interesting story.
28. Riders Jilly Cooper
29. Slaughterhouse-five Kurt Vonnegut
30. The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood Two thumbs down. Hated this book. Love Margaret Atwood, hated this book.
31. The Corrections Jonathan Franzen – haven’t read it, but it’s on the “list”.
32. The Golden Notebook Doris Lessing Oh gimme a BREAK
33. The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood Now this is more like it. Margaret Atwood at her creepy best. Cat’s Eye is still my favorite Atwood novel – but The Handmaid’s Tale is a modern-day classic – I bet it will still be read long after her passing.
34. The House of Spirits Isabelle Allende
35. The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco
36. The Passion Jeanette Winterson One of my favorite books ever. I put it onto my list of “top historical fiction”. Adore this book. It’s Winterson at her virtuoso very best.
37. The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver I read it. Couldn’t get into it. The story of the 1959 war for independence in the Belgian Congo? Should be right up my alley. Couldn’t get into it. Disappointment.
38. The Rabbit Books John Updike I am embarrassed. I have never read the Rabbit books.
39. The Regeneration Trilogy Pat Barker
40. The Secret History Donna Tartt
41. The Shipping News E Annie Proulx One of my favorite books ever written. This book is in my heart forever. For many many personal reasons. I didn’t read this book. I LIVED it.
42. The Tin Drum Gunter Grass
43. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami
44. The Women’s Room Marilyn French
45. Tracey Beaker Jacqueline Wilson
46. Trainspotting Irvine Welsh Heh heh. Lots of fun.
47. Unless Carol Shields
48. What a Carve-Up Jonathan Coe
49. What I Loved Siri Hustvedt
50. White Teeth Zadie Smith
(found this list via Book Slut)
Owen Meaney! Owen Meaney!
But no “The Alchemist”? No “Things Fall Apart”?
I have read only 3 on that list. Which I guess indicates where my taste does not lie.
Surprising that Pynchon didn’t make the original list.
A writer that I would add is John Hawkes, who is hugely neglected in proportion to his merits, which are considerable. I’ve only read three of his novels, “The Cannibal,” “The Beetle Leg,” and “The Lime Twig,” all of which I would recommend.
I also love “The Exagggerations of Peter Prince” by Steve Katz, an unimaginably weird book.
That wasn’t a typo, by the way. There really are three g’s in the title.
Dearest: the term ‘trendy’ comes to mind. What a load [for the most part]. love, dad
Hi Sheila’s Dad,
I tend to agree. Probably only a handful will survive.
Dear Sheila:
#8 (Corelli’s Mandolin) is one of the [if not THE] book of the last ten years. The history is magnificently heartbreaking – and it’s a tale told well. The film, although so-so, was still better than most everything that year (’01) – a testimony to the durability of the original.
— I’m surprised that NO ONE has mentioned “The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter”, or “Member of The Wedding”.
#37 – You should replace this one with “King Leopold’s Ghost” if you want a Congo-history with some teeth that you can get into. This is one of the saddest periods in recent history (the past 100 or so years). The Belgians are monsters.
Anyway — there’s my opinion, and you’re entitled to it. Hope you are well!
Best,
-Will
OK, where are the following? Donald Barthelme (60 Stories); Raymond Carver (Where I’m Calling From); Robertson Davies (Fifth Business); Joseph Heller (Catch-22); Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day); V. S. Naipaul (A House for Mr. Biswas); Alice Munro (practically anything); Tim O’Brien (The Things They Carried); William Trevor (Collected Stories). And how about three novels not read nearly enough by anyone anywhere: Walter Abish, How German Is It; Frederick Barthelme, Two Against One; and Mary Robison, Why Did I Ever.
There is stuff on the original list of 50 that won’t last out the next two years, let alone the century.
Hello Bryan–
Nice call on John Hawkes. He’s a terrific writer whose reputation seems to have slipped through the cracks. Once accounted one of the major American postmodernists–along with Pynchon, Barthelme, Barth, and Coover–he’s now almost forgotten. Perhaps the failure of any of these names to make the list of 50 suggests something about a) postmodernism; or b) tame readership.