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/lit/ - Literature

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14015897 No.14015897 [Reply] [Original]

Thoughts on this list?
https://notesonliberty.com/2019/10/17/10-best-american-novels-of-the-past-half-century/

10.Ham on Rye(1982) by Charles Bukowski
9.Humboldt’s Gift(1975) by Saul Bellow
8.Beloved(1987) by Toni Morrison
7.The Echo Maker(2006) by Richard Powers
6.The Namesake(2003) by Jhumpa Lahiri
5.Breakfast of Champions(1973) by Kurt Vonnegut
4.The Birth of the People’s Republic of Antarctica(1983) by John Calvin Batchelor
3.Blood Meridian(1985) by Cormac McCarthy
2.Middlesex(2002) by Jeffrey Eugenides
1.The Known World(2003) by Edward P. Jones

>> No.14016536

>>14015897
Lonesome Dove
Ironweed
White Noise
American Psycho

Should be on the list
Breakfast of Champions, Beloved should not. I haven’t read a bunch of the others so no idea. I did read another Powers novel and thought it was pretty good but not top 10 of the last 50 years. Same with Bellow.

>> No.14016545

>>14015897
That is Bukowski’s best but not in the top ten for the past 50 years. Sorry edgy alcohols

>> No.14016613
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14016613

>> No.14016851

>>14016536
I unironically think Infinite Jest should be #1

>> No.14016878

>>14015897
I've read just two of those. Humboldt's Gift belongs on the list, but Breakfast of Champions definitely doesn't. I'd replace that with something like Crossing to Safety.

>> No.14016936

Gravity's Rainbow?

>> No.14016941

>>14015897
>Middlesex(2002) by Jeffrey Eugenides
Someone here actually read this ? Thoughts ?

>> No.14016950

Americans writing novels? How quaint.

>> No.14016953

>>14016941
Bro no one on this board reads shit published past 1996

>> No.14017006
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14017006

>>14015897
>Eugenides

>> No.14017012

JR by Gaddis should be on there
Same with The Easter Parade by Yates

>> No.14017019

>>14015897
The Known World is exceptional. Surprised but not upset to see it ranked. Jhumpa Lahiri and Kurt Vonnegut shouldn't be anywhere near this list. Echo Maker was dull but good for Powers. Never read Middlesex. Loved Ham on Rye but don't know that I'd call it a Top 10 American novel. I'm not a DFW cultist but Infinite Jest deserves some sort of mention. It's the indisputable "it" novel of the United States for the last decade, inspiring memes, derision, loyalty, martyrdom and the like. It's also good in its own right. Also this>>14016536

>> No.14017033

How the fuck is Gravity's Rainbow not there. It's hardly 'too provincial'

>> No.14017280

Underworld

>> No.14017579

>>14017006
So it's /lit/core?

>> No.14019094

I know like two of those

>> No.14019168

>>14015897
Beloved is awful and Breakfast of Champions is not even close to Vonnegut’s best. Midway list

>> No.14019874

>>14017280
I hate it

>> No.14019899

>>14016613

Fucking this. Number 1 or 2. Only other competition is Mason & Dixon

>> No.14020104
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14020104

>10. Ham on Ry--