The greatest novels ever written

What are the greatest novels ever written?  If this question was asked in a group of 100 people we would get 100 different answers.  Some people would include books that others wouldn’t even consider because they touched them deeply.  Others would list books that they had never even read knowing that they had a large impact on the world.  We could spend the rest of our lives debating the topic, but the answer can never truly be known because the list really would be different for each person. 

For example, I love the book Pilgrim’s Progress.  I love its allegorical method of telling a story much larger than itself.  I love the story of the man (John Bunyan) who wrote the book from his jail cell.  Some of you reading this though may hate the book.  You may find it cheesy how a man name “Christian” is traveling through things such as the “slough of despond”.  You may even find its Christian message offensive. 

This book would be on MY list, but it may be nowhere close to being on YOURS.

This is why lists such as the one done by Times or BBC are so important.  They allow us to see what the greatest books are for our generation.  They allow us to see beyond our personal tastes and reactions into the greater scope of literary works.  Sometimes these works, that we may never have found otherwise change us forever.  They allow us to see the world in a way previously foreign to us.

That is the purpose of this blog. 

Starting on May 1, 2012 I am going to start reading the 100 greatest novels.  I am going to start with #100 and work my way down to #1 reading one book a month.  No matter how busy life gets and how full my schedule is adding one more book during the course of a month shouldn’t be too bad. 

I would like to invite you to join along.  Doing this together we can go together through some of the great books of all time.  We can discuss what’s happening in them with the characters and the setting.  We can take a look at the author and what made them tick. 

During the course of the month we can become near experts on a great literary work.

May 1, 2012 we will start our journey with #100.

 Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein