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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2012 - 08:31 am:   

Okay, it's 10 years old now, this list. But I stumbled upon it the other day, and found it fascinating. Voted on by many eggheads world-wide, the 100 best of the best of the best books (or better, single works) EVER WRITTEN list. Interesting choices... but judging by the roughly 30 or so entries I've read, confirm the whole is well-selected: can't argue with what is here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_Best_Books_of_All_Time

Note what's been decided as the #1 greatest work ever written bar none: Cervantes' Don Quixote (actually two disparate novels [written 10 years apart—the second as a rebuke to the first's many unauthorized sequels!], long since folded indelibly together... just to be perfectly anal about it...).
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.31.184.63
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2012 - 10:02 am:   

No Da Vinci Code?
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.145.133.49
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2012 - 11:49 am:   

only 2 books less than 60 years old...
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2012 - 04:39 pm:   

only 2 books less than 60 years old...

?!?—I count 16.

Which subset makes up probably the least amount of these I've actually read. Beloved, though... a touching-on-horror novel itself, one could argue, is a powerful novel indeed, and beautifully written; it's remained in my mind many years after reading it....
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Steven MacDiarmid (Stevenm)
Username: Stevenm

Registered: 08-2012
Posted From: 86.156.35.112
Posted on Monday, August 13, 2012 - 05:28 pm:   

Hi everyone, I'm surprised to see only one Dickens novel included. I'm not a great fan, but given that Faulkner and Garcia Marquez have two each it surprises me a little. As does four for Dostoevsky actually.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.168.83.212
Posted on Monday, August 13, 2012 - 08:39 pm:   

Velkomm to our lair young Steven.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.168.83.212
Posted on Monday, August 13, 2012 - 08:40 pm:   

It's normally busier than this...
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Tuesday, August 14, 2012 - 05:55 am:   

Hey, Steven.

I too wondered about the odd lack of Dickens' work. And BLINDNESS by Saramago? I've not seen the film, it just sounded super-downer depressing... but really, they put on the list a work (at the time the list was made) but 7 years old?

Maybe there's a lot of diversity, inclusivity, politics, etc., going on. For the sake of it, I mean. I hope not. But I can't really know, unless I read all these and make my own assessment... that might take some time....
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Tuesday, August 14, 2012 - 07:52 am:   

Also - no Romantic poets.

And no Milton.
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Steven MacDiarmid (Stevenm)
Username: Stevenm

Registered: 08-2012
Posted From: 143.252.80.100
Posted on Tuesday, August 14, 2012 - 11:26 pm:   

Hi and thanks Weber & Craig. The list does seem a bit skewed to me. That said, I think I've only read about a quarter of the titles so I'm probably not very well qualified to criticise!

About ten years ago The Guardian did a list of 100 greatest novels. Don Quixote came top of that one too.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.33
Posted on Wednesday, August 15, 2012 - 10:09 pm:   

I've read 22 of those.

Good to see Knut Hamsun on there with 'Hunger' although his follow-up 'Mysteries' is an even greater book, imho. Read it just last month and it's incredible.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Sunday, March 24, 2013 - 05:25 pm:   

Here's not 100, but just another place I stumbled across with its ranking of 25 of what it thought (a few years back, apparently) are the best horror novels (our landlord appears on the list): http://www.rankopedia.com/Best-Modern-Horror-Novels/Step1/21579.htm?refresh=1080 5073

btw: Anyone read Off Season by Jack Ketchum?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 94.116.91.123
Posted on Sunday, March 24, 2013 - 05:35 pm:   

Thanks for that, Craig. Very satisfying to see Robert R. McCammon's great masterpiece, 'They Thirst', praised so highly. I wouldn't have it anywhere near that high but it is certainly one of the greatest horror novels I ever read and the only one that ever gave me nightmares. The imagery and action sequences are incredibly vivid and cinematic in the same way as Robert E. Howard, IMO.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 94.116.91.123
Posted on Sunday, March 24, 2013 - 05:38 pm:   

Jesus! They're insane! I thought 'The Hungry Moon' was one of Ramsey's weaker novels, relatively speaking. I'd go for 'Incarnate', at the minute.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 94.116.12.227
Posted on Sunday, March 24, 2013 - 06:16 pm:   

For the record the best horror novel ever written is still Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'.

The best horror novel of the 20th Century is a toss-up between T.E.D. Klein's 'The Ceremonies' and William Peter Blatty's 'The Exorcist'/'Legion'.

We won't be able to start judging this century till 2020 at the earliest...
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Sunday, March 24, 2013 - 06:42 pm:   

Mary Shelly might compete with Stoker, Stevie, having created a fascinatingly alien villain in Frankenstein's monster.

I don't know, I might myself pick King's The Shining as the best 20th Century horror novel; not having read enough to cast a very informed vote, mind.

Had it been published a mere 3 years later, Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw" would most certainly have garnered the laurel of "Best Horror Novella" of the 20th Century.
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 2.30.199.6
Posted on Sunday, March 24, 2013 - 09:51 pm:   

Think I'd vote for William Hope Hodgson's The House on the Borderland despite its flaws. That or Fritz Leiber's Our Lady of Darkness. There aren't many great horror novels, novels that change your sense of what the genre can do.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, March 25, 2013 - 11:25 am:   

'Frankenstein' is a great book, Craig, but for me 'Dracula' is the culmination of the Victorian horror story as well as having kick-started the fast paced and exciting but well written pulp horror trend that culminated in H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos tales.

I know Lovecraft himself decried 'Dracula' as a bad book but then M.R. James thought Lovecraft poor so what do horror writers know.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, March 25, 2013 - 11:38 am:   

I've read 20 of the 25 books on that list. The only ones I haven't read are:

'The Song Of Kali' by Dan Simmons
'Bag Of Bones' by Stephen King
'Off Season' by Jack Ketchum
'The House Of Leaves' by Mark Danielewski
'The God Project' by John Saul
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, March 25, 2013 - 03:15 pm:   

As that list is from 1950 to the present here's my version - obviously only including books I have read - for the craic. I’m only going to include horror novels rather than pure sci-fi/horror or fantasy/horror so no; ‘Invasion Of The Body Snatchers’, ‘The Santaroga Barrier’, ‘The Stand’, ‘The Land Of Laughs’ or ‘Imajica’ – great horror novels though they are:

1. ‘The Exorcist’ (1971) / ’Legion’ (1983) by William Peter Blatty
2. ‘The Ceremonies’ (1984) by T.E.D. Klein
3. ‘Ghost Story’ (1979) by Peter Straub
4. ‘The Shining’ (1977) by Stephen King
5. ‘Incarnate’ (1983) by Ramsey Campbell
6. ‘Harvest Home’ (1973) by Thomas Tryon
7. ‘The Haunting Of Hill House’ (1959) by Shirley Jackson
8. ‘The Nestling’ (1982) by Charles L. Grant
9. ‘Voice Of Our Shadow’ (1983) by Jonathan Carroll
10. ‘They Thirst’ (1981) by Robert R. McCammon
11. ‘The Religion’ (1982) by Nicholas Conde
12. ‘Our Lady Of Darkness’ (1977) by Fritz Leiber
13. ‘I Was Dora Suarez’ (1990) by Derek Raymond
14. ‘I Am Legend’ (1954) by Richard Matheson
15. ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ (1967) by Ira Levin
16. ‘The Damnation Game’ (1985) by Clive Barker
17. ‘The Influence’ (1988) by Ramsey Campbell
18. ‘Full Dark House’ (2004) by Christopher Fowler
19. ‘Manhattan Ghost Story’ (1984) by T.M. Wright
20. ‘Salem’s Lot’ (1975) by Stephen King
21. ‘Shadowland’ (1980) by Peter Straub
22. ‘Sacrament’ (1996) by Clive Barker
23. ‘The Nameless’ (1981) by Ramsey Campbell
24. ‘Shrine’ (1983) by James Herbert
25. ‘Burnt Offerings’ (1973) by Robert Marasco
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Monday, March 25, 2013 - 03:34 pm:   

That looks like a definitive list! I'm too embarrassed to say how many or which ones I've not read, but the ones I have, all belong here certainly. I don't know if I'd have put The Ceremonies quite that high... the novella it comes from, deserves to be high on a list, but I remember somehow the novel not quite completely satisfying me....

Stevie, you should consider soon reading Song of Kali, by Dan Simmons. There's a lot of fans of that novel on this board, I know, and I'm one too—a short quick horror novel that stays with you long after you put it down; and will certainly reappear on the list above.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, March 25, 2013 - 03:56 pm:   

Must seek out a copy, Craig. I've yet to read anything by Dan Simmons and know him only by reputation.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.212.230.67
Posted on Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - 12:11 am:   

There were only 23 voters for that list. Not sure quite how reliable that makes it.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - 12:21 am:   

There was only one voter for my list, Weber, and I stand by it without reservation.
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Patrick Walker (Patrick_walker)
Username: Patrick_walker

Registered: 01-2010
Posted From: 87.115.112.21
Posted on Thursday, March 28, 2013 - 05:10 pm:   

Yes, I've read Off Season by Jack Ketchum, Craig. I'm a bit of a fan. It's not a good novel, though. In fact I'd not recommend it to anyone!
Try The Girl Next Door, Stranglehold, Red or some of his shorter works; The Box is one of the most haunting and disturbing short stories I've come across.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Friday, March 29, 2013 - 03:45 pm:   

I'll look for some of those others, Patrick. "The Box" sounds intriguing.... I've looked up the movies based on his books, and they all look pretty sick and twisted.
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Stu (Stu)
Username: Stu

Registered: 04-2008
Posted From: 90.244.35.89
Posted on Friday, March 29, 2013 - 05:14 pm:   

Red is pretty good and actually quite charming. Once the set-up is established it doesn't really do anything that you don't expect (except move at a more leisurely pace than these vigilante films normally do) but it does it very well. It's kind of like an American version of Harry Brown. And Brian Cox is grace under pressure personified.
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Patrick Walker (Patrick_walker)
Username: Patrick_walker

Registered: 01-2010
Posted From: 46.208.24.143
Posted on Sunday, March 31, 2013 - 05:52 pm:   

I can't comment on the film but Red, the novel, is excellent. My paperback copy includes a bonus novella called The Passenger which is also one of my favourite Ketchums.
Stephen King's generous introduction to The Girl Next Door is a nice read, too, regardless of his, I think, overlavish praise of Off Season!

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