I am so ready for this onslaught 🍿

My Top 10 Books from the 20th Century You MUST Read (that I actually enjoy), no particular order: 1) Hundred Years of Solitude 2) The Snow Leopard 3) East of Eden 4) Dune 5) Nostromo (1904, I checked) 6) The Gulag Archipelago 7) A Bend in the River 8) Book of the New Sun ( they're all short books so I'm counting as 1) 9) Satanic Verses 10) The Hero with a Thousand Faces I love comics and may make a Top 10 just for them!

I will be patiently biding my time till the ‘Top 10 Nonfiction Classics you MUST read’ video Steve!

The contemporary list is going to be carnage and I CAN'T WAIT 😄

15:08 OMG YES 😂 The comic book industry rocking 2 top 10 MUST reads. I never thought I would see the day!

“You can’t write a better book than you have in you” that is really interesting to me and something id lobe to hear you expand on. Glad you made another response to Kieran! Was especially curious what you would say about Captain America. Also loved your list. A couple i need to get to still. I have already filmed my modern list and our only overlap was Kafka. Thanks for a great video

Surely coming soon somewhere, sometime, "Top 10 Twenty-first Century books you MUST colour in"....

On Agatha Christie, I've only read a couple, someone mentioned to me they didn't care for her as much as other mystery writers since in so many of her stories, the murderer comes out of left field and the reader can feel let down that they never had a chance of figuring it out. That influenced me not to read more but I will try The Mysterious Affair.

Even non readers have heard of Agatha Christie. She is who I go to for a cozy fun read.

Magic Mountain? You really are old school..... Collected Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer Life and Fate - Vasily Grossman Children of Gebelaawi - Naguib Mahfouz I Served the King of England - Bohumil Hrabal Red Sorghum - Mo Yan The Good Soldier Svejk - Jaroslav Hasek My Antonia - Willa Cather A Bend of the River - VS Naipaul Berlin Alexanderplatz - Alfred Doblin The Death of Artemio Cruz - Carlos Fuentes Runners Up: Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole Graveyard of the Angels - Reynaldo Arenas The Leopard - Giuseppe de Lampedusa The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro Got a lot to get to still...

Superior 1900s Lit: • Ulysses by James Joyce • Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison • Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko • Beloved by Toni Morrison • The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka • We by Yevgeny Zamatin • Watchmen by Alan Moore • Carpenter’s Gothic by William Gaddis • Negrophobia by Darius James • 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Honorary friends: • Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse • Italo Svevo - Zeno’s Conscience • Ishmael Reed - Flight to Canada

Do you think these first couple of decades of the new century (now) also have a similar quality to them that you mention about the last one? That people now also FEEL some kind of "beast" moving, some groundbreaking wheels turning? I don't know if this feeling is caused by the crises of the pandemic, wars, political polarities, or if it's something even bigger. But I definitely feel it now, so much so I had to pause this video and point it out immediately.

If you find Lang's 'Metropolis' to be overrated, and can tolerate anime, I highly recommend Rintaro's 'Metropolis' from 2001. It is exceptional, and exceptionally underrated

It was great to see so many personal favorites reflected on your list (not just Tolkien, but Christie and Grahame)! I was baffled by his choice of Captain America as well; if he wanted to emphasize Marvel, Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four would have been better choices, but if you're just picking a comic book character, the one to pick is the one on your list. I like the film Metropolis more than you do, but putting the novelization into a top 10 of anything is absurd.

Love your list, but I do also love MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN. Additionally, I've read most Agatha Christie books many times over. She is someone whose stories I can return to again and again with no loss of appreciation. I agree her influence is wide and deep, and she deserves more scholarly consideration. Thank you for pointing this out. I work in a bookstore, and even today (many decades after her prime writing years) we have whole shelves dedicated to her titles.

Re Thea von Harbou. I haven't watched Metropolis in its entirety (but the excerpts I've seen are brilliant) and I didn't know she wrote a novelization of the screenplay, but I have seen a later work of hers: M, and I read the screenplay. M was about a child molester/ murderer on the loose. So far as I know M was not novelized. The screenplay was simply amazing. Without question it is a masterpiece. It uncoils like a beautiful, poisonous snake. Von Harbou may have been a Nazi or Nazi sympathizer but that does not detract from her talent as a writer.

I think I must be the only person left in the world to have read Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter but NOT the Lord of the Rings. I'm planning to fix that this winter after I finish God Emperor of Dune!

Some interesting views on this subject from both Kieran and Uncle Steve. There probably needs to be a separate discussion and/or bunfight on whether genre fiction can be a classic, or a must read. So parking all the genre stuff the list below is in chronological order. The pedants amongst you will point out that the Conrad was serialised in 1899 and only published in 1902… Heart of Darkness Ulysses Great Gatsby The Sound And The Fury The Naked And The Dead Lolita Herzog The Magus One Hundred Years Of Solitude Money

I feel I have to make a comment here. While I am a firm believer that figures from popular culture should be included in lists of important cultural milestones--I am a bit too old fashioned and maybe too old to place them in a list of Great Books. Since the mid 1800's works of popular fiction have produced characters and stories that tower over literary works of their time. The Three Musketeers, Monte Cristo, Frankenstein, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman are a few examples. But the first five of that group are from popular fiction while the last three are from Comics which were looked down upon (and still are to some extent) by snooty literary types. Initially, so were the Musketeers, Monte-Cristo, Frankenstein, Dracula, and Sherlock Holmes despite their persistent popularity. Even enthusiasts for Graphic Novels still sneer at Dumas though his works have endured in popularity whereas the enthusiams of the literary critics have not met with such longevity. On a list of great characters all mentioned belong on that list and deserve recognition. But I have difficulty putting a comic book on a list of Great Books. Characters can come from places other than books, but to me, a comic book no matter how well done is simply not a book. But that's just me.

I had my fingers crossed that you would include House of Mirth! Great choice. And I find your choice of Wind in the Willows surprising but really fascinating. Still, I wouldn’t include many of your other choices on my own list…

I made my own, most read in polish translation, maybe more europcentric than yours :) 1. Swann's Way 2. Wright's Black Boy 3. 1984 4. Of Mice and Men 5. The Plague 6. The Trial 7. The Unbearable Lightness of Being 8. The Master and Margarita 9. Portnoy’s Complaint 10. Catch-22 I thought it would be easier, but it became really hard. Saddly no women on my list.

I know you'll hate this but here's mine haha (in no particular order): In Search of Lost Time The Magic Mountain The Ambassadors Ulysses Petersburg The Man without Qualities To the Lighthouse The Strudlhof Steps Parade’s End Pale Fire

I do add in my caveats that these are not all my favourites. Therefore, I want to clarify, In Cold Blood is a mid book at best 😂 If this was a ‘favourite modern classics of mine’ video, the list would look vastly different.

I agree with The Wind in The Willows being quite sad. It's one of my favourites, it was one of the first novels i ever chose to read.

A great list! And so much I've not read! I do love Orlando by Virginia Woolf. I really need to reread it!

Lord of the Rings is one of those books that had me at my school library AFTER school just so I had the quiet time to read it .

I can see in cold blood being of relative importance as it did help a bit with a new genre, of course I dont everything.

I've read 8 out of 10 of these books and I would put most of them on my list as well. I blame the fact that I was born in the country of Franz Ferdinand's assassination for not having read Wind in the Willows as a kid. I only heard about it in recent years. I also haven't read Doctor Zhivago, for which I have no excuse, since Russian classics have always been must-reads in my country.

I disagree with the Captain America choice. I can see where he's coming from, but I would say that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four is far more influential on superhero comics today than Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's Captain America.

Refreshing to see two Modern Classic lists without Hemingway and Fitzgerald.

Well if part of the fun of these lists is "Why did you include this and not this?" Then why not just include Meg? It's the greatest book of the last several centuries, and it's all subjective, anyway...

I can’t believe you say such terrible things about the film Metropolis! It’s obviously great! It has the best dance scene ever!

Akira is only 6 volumes btw, you can read the whole thing in a day

Now I want to read Akira!

It sounds to me like K.D.’s list should be the most influential novels, not classics. Love your list. I’ve read them all except Dr. Zhivago.

Among the greatest novels of the 20th century I would put Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess. It doesn't get mentioned very often, I think because it's so entertaining that people don't take it seriously, and they just think it's going to like A Clockwork Orange, which it isn't at all.

31:32 There are 6 volumes of Akira. Dune feels less a sci-fi classic and more of a wistful longing for Kipling's Kim. Btw, Kim is a 1900 novel, can make the list. A better colonial novel than Dune, I think.

I watch Kieran’s channel sometimes. I like his sense of humor, and when he lambasts the likes of Daniel Greene and other cringy BookTubers. I do find some of his takes to be, uh, curious, lol (Most notably his blanket dislike of Shakespeare. I also find his disregard for Cormac McCarthy to be somewhat misplaced, though I can understand people who don’t love his writing style.) Nothing wrong with a difference in opinion, of course. And I wholly appreciate his commitment to calling people out on their bullshit. A little bit goes a long way, when watching his videos, though.

I would say if lord of rings is on here then dune should be on here ( in the context of this list and the nature of it).

I agree with superman ,I actually thought the same thing.

RE: Doctor Zhivago. I read Zhivago around the time it first became available in English in the U.S. I believe I was in Germany at the time. I was only a few years out of Law School and the memory of the great Russian writers Tolstoi, Turgenev, and Dostoevsky was very fresh in my mind. Zhivago was a disappointment. Being an American, I tend to expect the hero to be heroic, to take stand, fight for what he believes in (even if he fails). Zhivago is passive--horrified by the Revolution but unable to support or oppose it. He's more of a witness than a protagonist or actor. I felt the same way about Pierre in War and Peace. But Pierre eventually decided to do something to resist Napoleon for invading Russia. Pierre decides to assassinate him. He fails, but at least he tried. Zhivago, cannot even muster the courage to break off with his mistress. When it was filmed, the screenplay by British Dramatist Robert Bolt was a big improvement over the novel, but Zhivago still comes off as a witness, though much less obviously so.

These lists have the problem that they depend on perceptions of the list maker of later period reflecting on the literature of an earlier period with the hindsight of the history to come. I think if you looked at literature of the twentieth century in 1922 - the list would be very different from one written a century later. I am therefore wondering if a 21 century list will be possible with any degree of viewing durability. BTW I would certainly have included “The Feynman Lectures on Physics“ both for the quality of delivery and impact on teaching of the sciences.

I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a Stevestream. Those pesky editors must be getting in the way again.

are you taking a KZfaq hiatus after this or a video hiatus? are you getting bored with making videos?

Totally agree with you about Thea Von Harbou's Metropolis, but not when it comes to Fritz Lang's film (does that make me a dude bro now? If so, it's time for me to start growing the neck-beard...)

Having just watched the original video this one is a response to, I am not going to bother finishing this, but will repost my comment from the original. It amazes that someone who loves to read would not like Shakespeare. Regardless, I have no issues with the list as it's one's personal preference. I might have to make my own list at some point, but I would always start with the Epic of Gilgamesh due to its historical importance considering all the later stories/myths that borrowed from it. I just listened to Oedipus the King for the first time since college, and I enjoyed it, but I am not very impressed with Oedipus at Colonus which is wordier with very little plot. Romeo and Juliet is okay, but not in my personal top five Shakespeare plays (Hamlet, Macbeth, The Tempest, Richard III, and King Lear are my favorites). I must disagree with the inclusion of The Castle of Otranto. It might be historically important as the first true gothic novel, but for casual readers not interested in the history of gothic literature, it is not going to be a fun read. I absolutely agree with Crime and Punishment. I do not always agree with Dostoevsky's personal philosophies, but his writing has no equal. I will say your list doesn't have many female authors, so I would add Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, and possibly a Toni Morrison book (Sula is a personal favorite). I might also add Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, and I would also include a postmodern book by Pynchon or the collected works of Jorges Luis Borges. Also, in the interest of having a well-rounded list, I would include a comedic book such as A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole or a book by Douglas Adams, and a graphic novel such as Maus by Art Spiegelman or Watchman by Alan Moore since it appears on Time's "Greatest 100 English Novels" list.

Good video!!!!!!!

Oh you said dune! I swear I commented about dune before you said it!

Rushdie is a minor author?!? _Midnight's Children_ is certainly my favorite book.

Fritz Lang's movies he made when he emigrated to America without von Harbou are in many ways better. I've never read any of her novels so maybe they have something in the prose to elevate them. Thea claimed like fellow Nazi propagandist Leni Riefanstahl that she was never actually a true believer but I think you can see even from her pre-Reich penned films had a fascists streak.

No Ulysses?? No Lolita??? No Gravity’s Rainbow or Slaughterhouse 5?? This is a CRIME. Please Steve,start taking your medications properly.

Well, you went and set Standfast off.

Great video Steve. I just wanted to say I’m a little disappointed in The Mysterious Affair at Styles as a conclusion, not as a catalyst for change but from a quality standpoint. Having read this in the summer as part of a Poirot injection to my reading plans I felt it lacking in supporting characters and coherent plotting. I hope there is better to come from Christie. I have seen glimpses of what I need in The Murder on the Links so am hopeful. I would like to salute the inclusion of The Lord of the Rings (a book of quality that outstrips the influence it asserts) and The Wind in the Willows, a classic that is truly lacking in cheerleaders. 🫡