Bookaholic - Reading the Best Books - Arrowsmith

Bookaholic - Reading the Best Books - Modern Library’s Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century

Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis made the Reader’s List at #78.

I found the novel interesting because of its foray into science.  I obtained my BA in Chemistry and spent a summer doing antimalarial drug research at the Department of Pharmacognosy at the University of Mississippi.  

I had no idea what the subject of Arrowsmith was prior to reading it.  I did know that Sinclair Lewis was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for it back in 1926.  A prize I think he declined.  My only experience or prejudgment would have been from reading Mainstreet which placed #68 on the Board’s List of 20th Best novels.

In many ways Arrowsmith is still relevant today as the Covid19 situation once again raises issues about science and ethics both of which come into play in Arrowsmith.

Sinclair Lewis, as he did with Mainstreet, brings middle class America of the times into focus.  You can get a glimpse of history even as you read fiction.  You get glimpses of the culture, prejudices, and mindsets.  

With the completion of Arrowsmith, I have just 4 books left to read of the READERS’ List of Top 100 (which includes more than 100 since it includes the Mission Earth Dekalogy as a single entry). 

Remaining I have #70 - The Wood Wife by Terri Windling, #80 Naked Lunch by William Burroughs and V. by Thomas Pynchon, all of which I am currently reading off and on.  Once I finish these 3, I will have completed the Readers’ Top 100 list EXCEPT for Ulysses by James Joyce.  It’s one I have started a couple of times but haven’t managed to finished.  

Ulysses is # 11 on the Readers’ List BUT #1 on the Board’s List.  I’ve only read 46 of the 100 entries on the Board’s List so far which includes 31 books that are also on the Readers’ List.  Ulysses is the final book shared by both.  I will be tackling Ulysses again soon I think.  It shouldn’t take me too long to finish the 3 ahead of it in my reading queue.

My other ongoing Reading Goals = (1) BBC’s Big Reads Top 100 and Top 200 (Ulysses is on the Top 100) and more recently (2) Reading The World - reading books written by authors from all of the world’s countries and jurisdictions.    I hope to complete the BBC 100 this year (I’ve completed 91) along with the Modern Library’s Readers 100.