A pretty heavy predilection towards English language literature there and American in particular. Five out of the ten are American books, is that an acceptable ratio?
This is a list of his favorite books - diversity is not really a requirement, is it? He likes what he likes. No reason to force yourself to misrepresent based on including a wide number of minorities or foreign fiction. It's a personal list and I very much enjoy these because they are this way.
5
I have also read them all....In fact last Summer I read Ulysses and Middlemarch back-to-back....it was an epic Summer. I would swap out one of the Flauberts for a Faulkner, cause if I were on a desert island I would have plenty of time to ponder the deeper meaning of his prose. And I agree that Roth belongs on that island....but I would take American Pastoral over Sabbath's Theatre. BUT if y'all had room for an 11th title, I would champion Roth's "Nemesis," because of its ability to capture an horrific time and place--America's polio scourge during the pre-Salk era. One of his latter and less-appreciated works, but very powerful and good for the non-viral setting of that little, germless island.
3
Really Brett? What about Bragg's The Maid of Buttermere? I still haven't got round to reading Less Than Zero, but it's at the top of my pile!
I looked for a list complied by a woman. There were none?
We, men and woman, often read the same things, but I do think some men do not read female authors as readily as women read male authors? Or is that just my age showing when we had less exposure to women authors?
So, could some literate woman compile a list of her faovrites for me?
We, men and woman, often read the same things, but I do think some men do not read female authors as readily as women read male authors? Or is that just my age showing when we had less exposure to women authors?
So, could some literate woman compile a list of her faovrites for me?
The Tin Drum. When Gunter Grass was awarded the Nobel Prize for Lit, I finally read it (some of my friends in high school read it when it first came out, but I couldn't get past the potato field and the five skirts). When I read it, I read it three times. Finish book, close. Open book, read again. Repeat as needed.
good lord what a stupid society we live in. So who cares if there's no black or not so many contemporary writers in his top ten? One person is even angry because he calls Karenina the greatest female character ever. Yes, this is the stupidity we have to face nowadays: people not being able to express their taste and feelings without being labeled with isms. Can you guys please calm down a bit please? The world doesn't revolve around you.
As for the list: I really like the mix, pretty cool move to include 'Sabbath's Theater' and 'The Corrections', though I would've liked him to include another book in exchange for one of Flaubert's, just to know what else he digs. Very interesting person, this Mr. Ellis.
As for the list: I really like the mix, pretty cool move to include 'Sabbath's Theater' and 'The Corrections', though I would've liked him to include another book in exchange for one of Flaubert's, just to know what else he digs. Very interesting person, this Mr. Ellis.
3
1,001 Nights, Voyage of the Beagle, Robinson Crusoe, The Moonstone, Labyrinths, The Man Who Was Thursday............
A great list. I've loved & read them all (save the Franzen and the Roth which I haven't read - though I should remedy that). Ulysses I found challenging in school. Tried several times. Not taking it in has haunted me. Very apt what he says about Flaubert. Going through the what I can only assume is a pitiful, boring (& I'm sure very common) mid-life crisis, I've recently re-read Sentimental Education & thought the same thing: what are the limits of experience & the imagination. By coincidence, these past few weeks, I've started listing to BEE's fascinating podcast. Packed with good stuff. Esp. his monologues at the start. He seems to have this weird tension wanting to be both intellectual and anti-intellectual. Though Marc Maron's podcast drew him out a bit - what with Maron's discussion of the intelligentsia & whether such a thing can exist in the US -- or can even be talked about here with a straight face. Anyway, what i found interesting about his comments (albeit brief) on these books is how uncharacteristic they were of so much of his other commentary: nothing self-conscious, none of that "I don't know" or the evasions or the second-guessing that one reads or hears in interviews. Though to be fair, I suppose his comments on Franzen on the podcast were rather serious, as if novels still mattered in the larger culture. That said, I almost think that his cultural criticism (in the form of several essays and his podcasts) of equal value to the novels.
Good list. But for me Roth's American Pastoral is a superior and more important work than Sabbath. By far.
3
No Dostoevsky?
i say that I do and I wish that I did read Huck Finn every five years. Every ten is not frequently enough.
This is a brilliant list, and would half overlap with my Top 10 list. In the places we differ, there is no denying the brilliance your choices. I would lead towards The Count of Monte Cristo, A Tale of 2 Cities, Catch 22, or To Kill a Mockingbird over Sabbath's Theater.
Now THAT'S a list
6
What, no Infinite Jest? Ha ha...
The best of these lists so far. I loved seeing Didion and "Sabbath's Theater" in there with all the usual classics.
3
The tyranny of the top ten list claims another victim.
1
I'd be interested to hear how Ulysses changed anyone's life.
2
"The greatest female character...ever made?!?" This statement infuriates me for a number of reasons. First, it is utterly pretentious for him to assert the personal authority to declare who is the best female character ever. Nobody will ever have that right, and in this case nobody gave him that right (regardless of what a silly thing that would be to bestow . Further, as an avid female reader, I find it amusing, but more so degrading, to be told who, among literature, represents me and my fellow women best by some male literary figure. Finally, I resent (admittedly likely unintended) attempts by a patriarchal society to box women in with little side comments like this. Would anyone describe Huck Finn as "the best MALE character ever created? Certainly not. In the blinded eyes of today's society, a male person is the ubiquitous understanding behind the term "person." By creating a secondary category of evaluation with this comment, female character instead of just character, he sidelines half the human population as other, as less than, as more specific than the assumed male.
I'm sure none of this is intended.
Who cares?
It is insulting regardless, and perhaps more so because it was not with purpose; it slipped out as easy as anything else he said in this otherwise intriguing article. What a scary thought.
I'm sure none of this is intended.
Who cares?
It is insulting regardless, and perhaps more so because it was not with purpose; it slipped out as easy as anything else he said in this otherwise intriguing article. What a scary thought.
4
My, my, Erica. Relax a bit. Ellis was only stating who HE believed to be the "greatest female character...ever made." I don't believe he was intending
this as a political/anti-feminist statement. As for me, my favorite character
(male and female) would be Raskolnikov from Dostoyevsky's "Crime and
Punishment."
this as a political/anti-feminist statement. As for me, my favorite character
(male and female) would be Raskolnikov from Dostoyevsky's "Crime and
Punishment."
2
There is no way in h*ll he finished Middlemarch.
2
this is a horribly boring and predictable list. borderline not worth printing. i can't say i'm surprised.
1
All white writers.
2
Primarily American as well, no Latin American or Asian books there.
These are his personal favorite books...I don't understand why he must include ones that are not strictly his favorite. It's incredibly personal and one's own particular taste..
3
Not sure I needed to know who Bet Easton Ellis' favorite books are a terrible writer has mediocre taste
3
how about expanding your world? Like adding some Toni Morrison, James Baldwin to the mix. Anyone who chooses so many old novels can rightly be accused of intellectual laziness.
2
maybe he has read both of those authors and they aren't his favorite books. Sheesh aren't people entitled to their own opinions anymore
7
How fatuous! Geeze Louise, throw in some Jim Thompson, Raymond Chandler, James Elroy, Stephen King's 11-22-63, for heaven sake. I wouldn't want to be stuck on a desert island with Mr. Ellis, some of whose novels I greatly enjoyed. Wow!
wow! an incredibly brilliant list with well thought explanations for his choices. i only wish i liked his work as much as the list
The Great Gatsby may well be "the great American novel". Gatsby's taking his shortcut is a tragedy but the ultimate tragedy is that Daisy and her ilk are, as has been demonstrated by the monied in the 21st Century, feckless and indifferent to the destruction they cause.
6
I'm feeling your list BIG time - you wouldn't BELIEVE the crumbly held-together-with-rubber-bands ruin I've made of my paperback editions of many hits on your list.
In light of our numerous literary taste parallels, may I make a suggestion?
Chekhov. Read Chekhov's short stories. Watch the fabulous film VANYA ON 42nd STREET to help you get the groove.
In the spirit of fairness, I'm gonna take a crack at PLAY IT AS IT LAYS.
Deal?
ps I love AMERICAN PSYCHO and urged my super smart teenage son to read it. Four thumbs up. :o)