'Where's Harry Potter?' TIME lists 100 best novels

MANILA - TIME Magazine recently released a list of "100 Best Novels of All Time", to both cheers and jeers from readers.

The list, made by book critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo, featured a hundred English language titles - mostly from Western authors - spanning 1923 (the date TIME began publishing) up to present.

Lacayo described the task as a "massive, anguished, and exalted" undertaking that required them to re-read many classics and consider ones they have never read before.

They drew up inventories of their particular favorites and those that matched (about 80 titles) were included in the list.

The rest were chosen after thorough discussions and brainstorming.

Included in the list are books that eventually were adapted into films like Ian McEwan's "Atonement", C.S. Lewis's "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe", J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings", Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird", and the lone graphic novel on the list - "Watchmen" by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind" also made the list, after its movie version failed to land a spot in TIME's list of 100 Greatest Movies of All Time.

Part-Asian or African writers who were included in TIME's list are British-Indian novelist Salman Rushdie ("Midnight's Children"), British-Japanese author Kazuo Ishiguro ("Never Let Me Go"), and Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe ("Things Fall Apart").

Representation

Several authors were listed twice, including William Faulkner for "Light in August" and "The Sound and The Fury", Vladimir Nabukov for "Lolita" and "Pale Fire", Saul Bellow for "Herzog" and "The Adventures of Augie March", George Orwell for"1984" and "Animal Farm", Virginia Woolf for "Mrs. Dalloway" and "To the Lighthouse" and Philip Roth for "American Pastoral" and "Portnoy's Complaint."

There were many books that were considered for the list, but were later dropped either because they did not fit the specified time period or did not fit the genres laid down in the "ground rules."

For example, "Ulysses" and "One Hundred Years of Solitude" are not included because they were published before 1923.

Many readers reacted strongly to the list of 100 great novels, insisting that the critics had left out choice titles like Amy Tan's "Joy Luck Club", Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead", or J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series.

Female readers, in particular, remarked how the list lacked "female voices."

"The list seems to be too American male-centric," said a reader named Maria from the Philippines.

A Pennsylvania-based reader named Beth Creveling reacted to the list, saying: "...you can tell that this list was compiled by two men; women would have selected [a] somewhat different list, I think."

To instruct, spark discussion

However, as many readers like Michael Ferges of Arizona also pointed out, the TIME's list cannot please everybody since "there are too many competing standards for how to judge a book as one of the greatest of the past 80 [plus] years."

The critics know full well they will be at the receiving end of angry emails or suggestions.

As Lacayo cheekily notes in his explanatory article, the TIME list serves two purposes: "One is to instruct. The other of course is to enrage."

"We're bracing ourselves for the e-mails that start out: 'You moron! You pathetic bourgeoisie insect! How could you have left off... (insert title here).' Let's call the whole thing off? Just the opposite -- bring it on. Sometimes judgment is best formed under fire," he said.

James Kelly, TIME Managing editor, however, was more forgiving when he addressed the obvious onslaught of reader vitriol.

Kelly writes in his article: "I know the list will spark lots of discussions, but I hope it also sends you back to the books you read with pleasure years ago as well as to books that you may not have heard of."  via www.abs-cbnNEWS.com