Good Fiction Guide, Ed. Jane Rogers 2nd ed.
Oxford University Press, 2005.
Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719)
Charles Dickens’ Bleak House (1852-3)
George Eliot’s Middlemarch (1871-2)
Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure (1896)
Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle (1906)
D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers (1913)
Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway (1925)
Aldous Huxley’s Eyeless in Gaza (1936)
Henry Green’s Party Going (1939)
Martin Amis’ Money (1984)
Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus (1984)
Iain Sinclair’s Downriver (1991)
Okay, you already know that I’m a bit obsessed with this book of booklists, so you wont be surprised to see another selection from it (the additional titles in the section Valentine Cunningham has edited are also intriguing, so this is really just a teaser).
But isn’t it interesting? I mean, sure, Bleak House and The Jungle…they’re obviously books that take this subject into consideration. But don’t some of the others surprise you at first glance? And, then, you think about it for a few seconds (if you’ve read them, obviously it’s a really short thought if you haven’t) and suddenly you understand why they’re included in such company.
Any on here strike your fancy? Anything that you can say that would make me want to read a book by Martin Amis?
Heheh. I wasn’t so much bored as irritated, but that might have been just bad timing I suppose. I’ve heard that other people (like you and me, Jenny) expected The Jungle to be grim but actually found it a very compelling and satisfying read, so I’m quite hopeful on that score.
I could never say anything that would make anyone want to read Martin Amis. I can’t imagine that anyone would be able to say anything to make me want to read Amis. He sounds soooooo boring! But I’ll be interested to hear what you think about most of these others. Won’t The Jungle be terribly grim?