(no subject)

[decemberthirty]

Okay, I'm having a totally boring day at work, so I'm going to post a totally boring journal entry. I've been fooling around online because it kind of looks like I'm working, and I found all kinds of book lists. It's silly of me, but I'm always fascinated by these type of lists and I love going through to see which books I've read... So here are a couple of the lists I've found, with the books I've read in bold.


Pulitzer Winners

2003 Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenidies
2002 Empire Falls by Richard Russo
2001 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
2000 Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
1999 The Hours by Michael Cunningham
1998 American Pastoral by Philip Roth
1997 Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer by Steven Milhauser
1996 Independence Day by Richard Ford
1995 The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
1994 The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
1993 A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler
1992 A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
1991 Rabbit at Rest by John Updike
1990 The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos
1989 Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
1988 Beloved by Toni Morrison
1987 A Summons To Memphis by Peter Taylor
1986 Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
1985 Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie
1984 Ironweed by William Kennedy
1983 The Color Purple by Alice Walker
1982 Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike
1981 A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
1980 The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer
1979 The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
1978 Elbow Room: Stories by James Alan Mcpherson
1977 No award was given.
1976 Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow
1975 The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
1974 No award was given.
1973 The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
1972 Angle of Repose by Wallace Earle Stegner
1971 No award was given.
1970 The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford by Jean Stafford
1969 House Made of Dawn by N Scott Momaday
1968 The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron
1967 The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
1966 The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter by Katherine Anne Porter
1965 The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau
1964 No award was given.
1963 The Reivers: A Reminiscence by William Faulkner
1962 The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor
1961 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
1960 Advise and Consent by Allen Drury
1959 The Travels of Jaimie Mcpheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor
1958 A Death in the Family by James Agee
1957 No award was given.
1956 Andersonville by Mackinlay Kantor
1955 A Fable by William Faulkner
1954 No award was given.
1953 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
1952 The Caine Mutiny: A Novel of World War II by Herman Wouk
1951 The Town by Conrad Richter
1950 The Way West by A B Guthrie
1949 Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens
1948 Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener
1947 All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
1946 No award was given.
1945 A Bell for Adano by John Hersey
1944 Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin
1943 Dragon's Teeth I by Upton Sinclair
1942 In This Our Life by Ellen Glasgow
1941 No award was given.
1940 The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
1939 The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
1938 The Late George Apley by John Phillips Marquand
1937 Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
1936 Honey in the Horn by Harold Lenoir Davis
1935 Now in November by Josephine Johnson
1934 Lamb in His Bosom by Caroline Miller
1933 The Store by Thomas Stribling
1932 The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
1931 Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes
1930 Laughing Boy by Oliver Lafarge
1929 Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin
1928 The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
1927 Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield
1926 Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis
1925 So Big by Edna Ferber
1924 The Able Mclaughlins by Margaret Wilson
1923 One of Ours by Willa Silbert Cather
1922 Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington
1921 The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
1920 No award was given.
1919 The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington
1918 His Family by Ernest Poole



Booker Winners

2003 Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre
2002 Life of Pi by Yann Martel
2001 True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
2000 The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
1999 Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
1998 Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
1997 The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
1996 Last Orders by Graham Swift
1995 The Ghost Road by Pat Barker
1994 How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman
1993 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
1992 The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (co-winner)
1992 Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth (co-winner)
1991 The Famished Road by Ben Okri
1990 Possession: A Romance by A. S. Byatt
1989 The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
1988 Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
1987 Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
1986 The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis
1985 The Bone People by Keri Hulme
1984 Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner
1983 Life & Times of Michael K by J. M. Coetzee
1982 Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
1981 Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
1980 Rites of Passage by William Golding
1979 Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald
1978 The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch
1977 Staying On by Paul Scott
1976 Saville by David Storey
1975 Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
1974 The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer
1973 The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell
1972 G. by John Berger
1971 In a Free State by V. S. Naipaul
1970 The Elected Member by Bernice. Rubens
1969 Something To Answer for by P. H. Newby



Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century

1. Ulysses, James Joyce
2. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
4. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
5. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
6. The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
7. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
8. Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler
9. Sons and Lovers, D.H. Lawrence
10. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
11. Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry
12. The Way of All Flesh, Samuel Butler
13. 1984, George Orwell
14. I, Claudius, Robert Graves
15. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
16. An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser
17. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers
18. Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
19. Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
20. Native Son, Richard Wright
21. Henderson the Rain King, Saul Bellow
22. Appointment in Samarra, John O'Hara
23. U.S.A. (trilogy), John Dos Passos
24. Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson
25. A Passage to India, E.M. Forster
26. The Wings of the Dove, Henry James
27. The Ambassadors, Henry James
28. Tender Is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
29. The Studs Lonigan Trilogy, James T. Farrell
30. The Good Soldier, Ford Maddox Ford
31. Animal Farm, George Orwell
32. The Golden Bowl, Henry James
33. Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser
34. A Handful of Dust, Evelyn Waugh
35. As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner
36. All the King's Men, Robert Penn Warren
37. The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Thornton Wilder
38. Howards End, E.M. Forster
39. Go Tell It on the Mountain, James Baldwin
40. The Heart of the Matter, Graham Greene
41. Lord of the Flies, William Golding
42. Deliverance, James Dickey
43. A Dance to the Music of Time (series), Anthony Powell
44. Point Counter Point, Aldous Huxley
45. The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
46. The Secret Agent, Joseph Conrad
47. Nostromo, Joseph Conrad
48. The Rainbow, D.H. Lawrence
49. Women in Love, D.H. Lawrence
50. Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller
51. The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer
52. Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth
53. Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov
54. Light in August, William Faulkner
55. On the Road, Jack Kerouac
56. The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett
57. Parade's End, Ford Maddox Ford
58. The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton
59. Zuleika Dobson, Max Beerbohm
60. The Moviegoer, Walker Percy
61. Death Comes for the Archbishop, Willa Cather
62. From Here to Eternity, James Jones
63. The Wapshot Chronicles, John Cheever
64. The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
65. A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
66. Of Human Bondage, W. Somerset Maugham
67. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
68. Main Street, Sinclair Lewis
69. The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton
70. The Alexandria Quartet, Lawrence Durrell
71. A High Wind in Jamaica, Richard Hughes
72. A House for Mr. Biswas, V.S. Naipaul
73. The Day of the Locust, Nathanael West
74. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
75. Scoop, Evelyn Waugh
76. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark
77. Finnegans Wake, James Joyce
78. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
79. A Room With a View, E.M. Forster
80. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
81. The Adventures of Augie March, Saul Bellow
82. Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner
83. A Bend in the River, V.S. Naipaul
84. The Death of the Heart, Elizabeth Bowen
85. Lord Jim, Joseph Conrad
86. Ragtime, E.L. Doctorow
87. The Old Wives' Tale, Arnold Bennett
88. The Call of the Wild, Jack London
89. Loving, Henry Green
90. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
91. Tobacco Road, Erskine Caldwell
92. Ironweed, William Kennedy
93. The Magus, John Fowles
94. Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys
95. Under the Net, Iris Murdoch
96. Sophie's Choice, William Styron
97. The Sheltering Sky, Paul Bowles
98. The Postman Always Rings Twice, James M. Cain
99. The Ginger Man, J.P. Donleavy
100. The Magnificent Ambersons, Booth Tarkington



College Board’s 101 Great Books

Achebe, Chinua: Things Fall Apart
Agee, James: A Death in the Family
Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice
Baldwin, James: Go Tell It on the Mountain
Beckett, Samuel: Waiting for Godot
Bellow, Saul: The Adventures of Augie March
Brontë, Charlotte: Jane Eyre
Brontë, Emily: Wuthering Heights
Camus, Albert: The Stranger
Cather, Willa: Death Comes for the Archbishop
Chaucer, Geoffrey: The Canterbury Tales
Chekhov, Anton: The Cherry Orchard
Chopin, Kate: The Awakening
Conrad, Joseph: Heart of Darkness
Cooper, James Fenimore: The Last of the Mohicans
Crane, Stephen: The Red Badge of Courage
Dante: Inferno
de Cervantes, Miguel: Don Quixote
Defoe, Daniel: Robinson Crusoe
Dickens, Charles: A Tale of Two Cities
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor: Crime and Punishment
Douglass, Frederick: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Dreiser, Theodore: An American Tragedy
Dumas, Alexandre: The Three Musketeers
Eliot, George: The Mill on the Floss
Ellison, Ralph: Invisible Man
Emerson, Ralph Waldo: Selected Essays
Faulkner, William: As I Lay Dying
Faulkner, William: The Sound and the Fury
Fielding, Henry: Tom Jones
Fitzgerald, F. Scott: The Great Gatsby
Flaubert, Gustave: Madame Bovary
Ford, Ford Madox: The Good Soldier
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von: Faust
Golding, William: Lord of the Flies
Hardy, Thomas: Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel: The Scarlet Letter
Heller, Joseph: Catch 22
Hemingway, Ernest: A Farewell to Arms
Homer: The Iliad
Homer: The Odyssey
Hugo, Victo:r The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hurston, Zora Neale: Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous: Brave New World
Ibsen, Henrik: A Doll's House
James, Henry: The Portrait of a Lady
James, Henry: The Turn of the Screw
Joyce, James: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Kafka, Franz: The Metamorphosis
Kingston, Maxine Hong: The Woman Warrior
Lee, Harper: To Kill a Mockingbird
Lewis, Sinclair: Babbitt
London, Jack: The Call of the Wild
Mann, Thomas: The Magic Mountain
Marquez, Gabriel García: One Hundred Years of Solitude
Melville, Herman: Bartleby the Scrivener
Melville, Herman: Moby Dick
Miller, Arthur: The Crucible
Morrison, Toni: Beloved
O'Connor, Flannery: A Good Man is Hard to Find
O'Neill, Eugene: Long Day's Journey into Night
Orwell, George: Animal Farm
Pasternak, Boris: Doctor Zhivago
Plath, Sylvia: The Bell Jar
Poe, Edgar Allan: Selected Tales
Proust, Marcel: Swann's Way
Pynchon, Thomas: The Crying of Lot 49
Remarque, Erich Maria: All Quiet on the Western Front
Rostand, Edmond: Cyrano de Bergerac
Roth, Henry: Call It Sleep
Salinger, J.D.: The Catcher in the Rye
Shakespeare, William: Hamlet
Shakespeare, William: Macbeth
Shakespeare, William: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare, William: Romeo and Juliet
Shaw, George Bernard: Pygmalion
Shelley, Mary: Frankenstein
Silko, Leslie Marmon: Ceremony
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Sophocles: Antigone
Sophocles: Oedipus Rex
Steinbeck, John: The Grapes of Wrath
Stevenson, Robert Louis: Treasure Island
Stowe, Harriet Beecher: Uncle Tom's Cabin
Swift, Jonathan: Gulliver's Travels
Thackeray, William: Vanity Fair
Thoreau, Henry David: Walden
Tolstoy, Leo: War and Peace
Turgenev, Ivan: Fathers and Sons
Twain, Mark: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Voltaire: Candide
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr.: Slaughterhouse-Five
Walker, Alice: The Color Purple
Wharton, Edith: The House of Mirth
Welty, Eudora: Collected Stories
Whitman, Walt: Leaves of Grass
Wilde, Oscar: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Williams, Tennessee: The Glass Menagerie
Woolf, Virginia: To the Lighthouse
Wright, Richard: Native Son



Most frequently banned books in the ‘90s

Impressions Edited by Jack Booth et al.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
More Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
The Witches by Roald Dahl
Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
Blubber by Judy Blume
Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
Christine by Stephen King
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Fallen Angels by Walter Myers
The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsman
Little Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Snyder
Night Chills by Dean Koontz
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Snyder
My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Cujo by Stephen King
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
Grendel by John Champlin Gardner
I Have to Go by Robert Munsch
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
My House by Nikki Giovanni
Then Again, Maybe I Won't by Judy Blume
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of the Halloween Symbols by Edna Barth
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz


At this point I should probably say that I don't put a whole lot of stock in lists like these; many of the books that are in bold are things that I did not like, and many great books are not represented. Still, it's kinda fun, and it does show me some definite holes in my reading that I should work on repairing. And hey, who knew I had read so many banned books?

Comments

[gerbie.livejournal.com]

I sometimes do the same, yet I feel it misrepresents reality somewhat. I read a lot, but I don't get as many 'bolds' as you do. What would people who only read once in a while get?

[decemberthirty.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. Having more bold titles doesn't mean that I am more well-read than you, it just means that I've read different things. In fact, I think lists like these can even be detrimental to people who are trying to develop their taste as readers; instead of encouraging people to explore different authors and follow their own likes and dislikes, these lists send the message that if you read these particular books, then you will automatically become well read. Silly.

[gerbie.livejournal.com]

The thing is though, that even should you only read 100 books in your life and you take that particular list, everyone would consider you well read, because in any conversation, you can always quote a classic or draw a comparison with one of the best books of all times.

It comes down to a definition of well read.

[sarajw.livejournal.com]

Read "A Good Man is Hard to Find" immediately. It's a short story and it will fit quite well with McCullers.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~DRBR/goodman.html

Okay, with that said, I think book lists are kind of fun. I guess it all really depends on how impressionable you are. If you take to heart not enjoying some works on a list and criticize yourself for your tastes, then book lists are not for you. If you can look at a list and say, "Ooh, new prey," then they're a little more enjoyable.

Oh, and I have a question for you: if following a some sort of cannon does not make you well-read, what does? Do you consider yourself well-read? What will it take for you to become so? And can such a thing be accomplished before retirement?

[decemberthirty.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll have to check it out.

You've raised some interesting questions here. First let me say that I also think book lists can be fun. If I didn't think so, I wouldn't have spent my whole boring work day fooling around with them! ; ) I just feel that it's important not to view lists like these as the be-all and end-all of good books. In my opinion, being well-read does not just mean that you've read all the books that the Modern Library Association, or the Pulitzer Prize Committee, or your professors, or whoever else say you should read. To me, someone who is well-read may have read quite a few of those books, but has also deviated from the lists in pursuit of his or her own taste, has thought thoroughly about what they have read, and is passionate about the books they love. Someone who reads because they love reading (as opposed to someone who reads for the sake of being able to check books off a list or impress people in conversation), will automatically seek out books by writers they love, books that deal with subjects they're interested in, books that are recommended by people they trust, etc. And in so doing, they're likely to find wonderful things to read that aren't mentioned on any list anywhere. I think the lists, or the idea of the canon, make a good starting point, but then you've got to be willing to experiment and follow you own taste. I'd much rather talk about books with someone who has done this kind of exploring than with somebody who can quote at will from every Pulitzer winner ever. So I guess my answer is, it's important to read the canon, but it's also important to branch out and exercise your own critical thinking abilities in selecting what you read.

Do I consider myself well-read? Good question. I guess I would say that I'm on my way there. Perhaps I could say that I consider myself well-read for a 25-year-old. I read all the time, and I'm usually pretty passionate and opinionated about what I read, as you know from reading this journal, but I don't have much of a plan to my reading. I've got lists of books to read coming out my ears, and I would consider most of what I read to be "literature" (almost as problematic a term as "well-read"), but it comes about rather haphazardly. I've read a lot of books that are part of the canon, although I'm much more well-versed in the modern canon than in the old stuff. As for what it will take for me to become well-read, I don't really know. I suppose it would help if I approached my reading from a more systematic standpoint, but it's of equal importance to me that I enjoy what I read as that I read books that will contribute to my being well-read.

And of course, it's important to note that the definition of well-read is quite personal, and differs for every individual. You may have entirely different ideas than I do, and I'd love to hear how you would define "well-read." Sorry for writing such a huge essay here; I hope it's at least a little bit interesting for you.

Tardy

[sarajw.livejournal.com]

I really had to hunt down this old post. I meant so long ago to reply to this and keep this conversation going. Sorry for my tardiness.

So, we were trying to determine was what it takes to make a person well-read.

First, I'd like to say that before coming to lj, I considered myself well read. I think I filled much of your criteria. I had read much of the literary cannon and devoured all of the books by the particular authors that I adored before moving on to something new. It was not until coming to lj that I realized how much of modern lit I have overlooked. Perhaps I'm a little reluctant to stray too far from the tried and true, or maybe it's just that every time I try something new, I find it to be garbage. or maybe it's just that there is so much that I haven't gotten to that I am already aware of that makes me more reluctant to finish those before attempting what may just be another fad book. Regardless, discovery of books is only part of it.

Also, there must be some comprehension, analysis, or some amount of thought applied to the subject area. I still remember being in a senior English seminar and discussing Frankenstein. We were talking about all these different themes and discussing Rousseau and having a great discussion. And there was this one guy there that wasn't getting a word of it. I think he got stuck on the whole "don't mess with God's creation" and couldn't move beyond it, but it was as if he had never analyzed or really thought on what he had read in his life. How do you get to be a senior and not know how to think and use a book? Regardless, I think reading isn't enough. you have to be able to do with it. You have to have opinions and know why. Why was this book a great book?

And then you have to speak the language. I considered you well-read without even knowing what you've read. Regardless of how much you have read, you have presented yourself here in a most articulate manner and convey that you have had some learning: good grammar, grasp of language, etc. This would allow one to assume that you have read much simply because of your ability to participate as an educated person. I suppose we are predisposed that people become literate through reading, though that is probably a faulty signifier.

I think that's all I have for now. I wish I disagreed more. Too bad there aren't more people to contribute to our discussion!

All the good it does us

[sarajw.livejournal.com]

I have another thought!

So, you're well-read. So, I'm well-read. Great! Does that mean we're done? I think not. As someone dedicated to books, knowledge, and language we'll continue reading and reading and reading. We'll never be finished and our well-readiness (nice word) will in no way complete us.

Then again -- when you're a famous writer, you'll allude to all the incredible things that you've read. They'll have to publish a separate annotation to catalog the evidence of the breadth of your literary knowledge. You, Yates, and Joyce. They were well-read. Yep.

Re: All the good it does us

[decemberthirty.livejournal.com]

First of all, let me just say that I love the fact that you came back to continue this conversation! That's true LJ dedication right there. Now I think I'm going to break your comments down and reply point by point.

Perhaps I'm a little reluctant to stray too far from the tried and true, or maybe it's just that every time I try something new, I find it to be garbage.

It's a shame that you find a lot of new stuff to be garbage. I know that I often feel like my reading goes in streaks: I'll read three great books, then five in a row that are all disappointing, and then a few more good ones. Perhaps you've just been having bad luck lately in the new things you've been trying. And of course, there is a lot of garbage out there to be waded through, but there are some truly amazing writers working right now and finding one of them is worth wading through the garbage, at least for me. I really like knowing that there are people who are alive and writing right now who use language as sensitively and create characters as vividly as any of the acknowledged great writers of the past. It's important to me to know that that level of skill and care is not gone from the world. So, yeah, my advice is to keep trying. I'd be happy to give you some titles if you want. I love doing that stuff. "Great books published in the last 10 years" or something like that.

Also, there must be some comprehension, analysis, or some amount of thought applied to the subject area. [...] Regardless, I think reading isn't enough. you have to be able to do with it. You have to have opinions and know why. Why was this book a great book?

Couldn't agree more. This is what I was trying to get at in my initial reply when I said that in order to be well read, someone must have "thought thoroughly about what they have read, and [be] passionate about the books they love." What's the point in reading otherwise?

And then you have to speak the language. I considered you well-read without even knowing what you've read. Regardless of how much you have read, you have presented yourself here in a most articulate manner and convey that you have had some learning: good grammar, grasp of language, etc.

Well, thank you! Very kind of you to say. It's interesting how much the ability to speak the language influences my estimation of someone's intelligence. This is especially true in a situation like livejournal, where communication is exclusively written. It's very easy for me to write someone off if they can't or don't bother to express themselves clearly. This is probably not a good thing, but it's just the way it is...

when you're a famous writer, you'll allude to all the incredible things that you've read. They'll have to publish a separate annotation to catalog the evidence of the breadth of your literary knowledge. You, Yates, and Joyce.

Ah ha ha ha! Don't you think you might be, um, counting my chickens before they hatch? Nonetheless, it's nice of you to have such confidence in me. It's not everyday that I hear myself mentioned in the same sentence as Joyce... Seriously, though, the style of my novel is pretty basic, not particularly allusive, certainly nothing to require special annotation.

I don't feel that I've added much to our dialogue here. Oh well. It's late and I have a headache. Time for bed.