100 Greatest Novels Of All Time

Dervala blogs this morning about the Observer's list of the 100 Greatest Novels (with a link from the Guardian actually) and the crazy girl has read an impressive 49 out of 100. Here's the list for you if you feel like counting. Honestly, I think Pilgrim's Progress is the dirty little secret of English Literature -- NOBODY has ever read it and nobody ever should be forced to.

I won't say how many I've read. I've read a lot because I was an English major and even in America, that means these books are your solid diet for four years of college. Don't even ask me how FEW American novels I've read -- it's embarrassing. When I was in grad school at Columbia University in NYC, I signed up for a Kamikazi LIterature for Lunatics type class where we were supposed to read one VERY THICK novel a week (500 + pages) -- Anna Karenina this week, Madame Bovary next week, Great Expectations the week after, Moby Dick for week four. It was brutal. But of course wonderful too. The teacher was John Romano. I heard he ended up out in Hollywood writing drama shows like Law & Order. Wonder what he's doing now He was a terrific professor and the course was incredible.

[Well, one more big score for the web and how it never lets you lose track of anyone. Here's an update on my old Columbia professor. John Romano did end up writing for TV in Hollywood. Bravo, man. Way to go.]