I would add two books to this list that I think are worth mentioning from my perspective only :

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Thank you for your list. It is always a risk to share on the internet because so many revel in elitist, non-value added comments. It takes courage to put out one’s views and opinions.

~ Gabrielle

Definately the best American author of the last century, and arguably with Joyce the best in the world.

I mean, a top 100 with no mentioin of Pynchon at all! What about Gravity’s Rainbow? That is not really a top 100 at all. There are great book in there don’t get me wrong, but missing a great like that is shamefull. It would be like talking about the greatest athlete of the century and excluding Ali!

English majors (as you can clearly see above) seem to have a problem with people reading books outside their comfort zone or personal beliefs. C. French was clearly taking the opportunity to name drop as many authors as he could to appear authoritative while presenting cliched critiques of well known authors. In fact, the post was so overloaded with every name they could think of, the argument’s thesis was lost.

This list was a jumping off point for people who don’t read much and are looking to start. How about a little less boyish whining and less venom like gossipy wash women?

A man is someone who should be honest and strong in their honesty. She stated to the House of Un-American Activities, under oath, that she the playwright B. Brecht, and that he tried to make her join the Communist Party; however, her dates constantly changed and his location was nowhere close to her during the dates she mentioned to the court. She lied in order to seem significant, and “American,” to the court; therefore, she was not only dishonest, but in need to appease a higher power for personal gain. She does not even display her own theories.
A man should never listen to a hypocrite, further more a liar. Our country is based on strong truths that will not bend to the whims of stronger obstacles. If our forefathers were of the character of Ayn Rand, we would still be a part of Britain. She would just scream about how everyone should be radical-individualists while at the same time appeasing the powers that be. That is called being Spineless.
Replace her with the notes of something more manly. The letters of Thomas Jefferson. Now that was a man.

I have to agree with the previous poster who took issue with the three books related to Teddy Roosevelt. I mean, come on. Why not at least substitute in a book on Lincoln? Or how about David McCullough’s John Adams?

Also, why on earth would you put two works by Kerouac on there? Good God.

In fact, why are there so many duplicate authors on your list? Especially when they are relatively marginal authors? Two works by James Jones? Kurt Vonnegut? Are those necessary?

I’m sorry, but Ayn Rand is trash. If you want a defense of narcissism and selfishness, stick with the Nietzsche. Rand is just ubermensch theory for fifth graders. There’s a reason why CEOs are having to bribe universities to teach that tripe; if she were any good, we’d have been reading her long ago.

No Thucydides? What gives?

You chose Hamlet as your exemplary Shakespeare play? Oh, please. Good grief; have you read Coriolanus? Have you read King Lear? Shakespeare at the very least deserves more than one play, especially if Kerouac gets two worthless novels.

I would think the Aeneid at least deserves a spot.

Also, what about Faulkner? Flannery O’Connor? Conrad? All the King’s Men? T.S. Eliot? Orlando Furioso? St. Thomas Aquinas? St. Augustine? Chaucer? Evelyn Waugh? Tom Jones? Edmund Burke?

I mean, I realize this isn’t to be an exhaustive list, but the fact that not one of the aforementioned authors/works merited a spot is just shocking. I mean, my God, I count four Steinbeck novels. Is he REALLY that good? Hardly, I think: Consider other Americans such as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry James who are much more accomplished.

There’s also a serious dearth of poetry here: I see none apart from Paradise Lost, the Commedia, and Homer–epics all. What about Tennyson, Keats, Shelley, Pope, Dryden, Donne, Pound, Yeats, Auden, Marlowe, Sidney, Spenser, Ovid, Horace, etc., etc.?

My excessive querulousness aside, though, there are some rather bang-up choices here. I’m glad you picked a McCarthy novel. And I am adamant that the Handbook for Boys should be required reading for everyone, males and females both. Perhaps we wouldn’t be such a sissified nation if we did. But the classics are really most necessary to edification and the inculcation of virtue.

–A Mildly Disgruntled English Major

(P.S.: Excuse my english, still studying it in school)