Greatest books 1950-2000

The Greatest Books: The Best Books Since 1950 - 1 to 50

It’s not whether you agree or disagree, but it’s inspiring to know they exist

 

I've never heard of No. 1 or its author. Hopefully that doesn't make me an illiterate dunce.
Also, not discounting the greatness of Poe works at all, but even if the book was published after 1950 should a collection of his works be on this list since he died in 1849?

 

Massive fail. "Ball Four" is nowhere to be found.

 

I'm not judging, because I've read, like, two of these books. But I'm a little surprised you've never heard of One Hundred Years of Solitude. It's not a surprise pick or an unfamous book.

 

Agreed. It's like putting a Greatest Hits record on a list of best albums.

 

I tried to read it last year. Couldn't keep anybody straight. I got to page, like, 50, and I wasn't sure if someone was fucking his mum or not, and I figured if I couldn't keep that sorted, I was doomed.

 

I understand the need for a canon, but I hate ranking art. I love that the NYT doesn’t give stars to movies. These works should be enjoyed, thought about, talked about. What hits one person a certain way does not necessarily hit the other that way, if at all. Something may hit the same person in different ways depending upon their stage of life at separate readings.

 

I like it better when they give their picks for the top 100 and don't rank them. That seems like a useful list to make. Ranking them doesn't do much for me.

And, yeah, they cheated by putting collections of long-dead writers on this list.

Edit: It's created by an algorithm. That explains that.

 

I of course read (some not all) of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and I read Dune, and to put them on this list is a farce. Dune might not be in the top 50 sci-fi books of 1950-2000.

 

I don't doubt that. I'm sure they didn't pull it out of thin air. And, frankly, I'm surprised myself that I haven't heard of it. I just never crossed paths with it in any of my high school or college lit classes, which is probably when most people read the types of books on this list.
I haven't read more than a few of the books listed -- honestly, once you don't have to read them for a class, how often do you make an effort to go back to the classics -- but I've at least heard of a bunch of them or their authors.