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.  

Guilty Pleasures - Laurell K. Hamilton - a review

 

Guilty Pleasures   ranked 82nd on Modern Library's 100 Best Novel's of the 20th Century Reader's List.  I have been making my way through the Modern Library List and Guilty Pleasures was my 95th book to read from that list (actually there are more than 100 books on the list since number 9 on the list is The Books of the Mission Earth Dekalogy by L. Ron Hubbard.  So I guess Guilty Pleasures was maybe the 104th book I read?  

Anyway, the Reader's List is a easier to read list than the Board's List (also more than 100 since it also includes some multiple book series).  You won't find Sci-fi and Fantasy on the Board list but they are prevalent on the Reader's List.

For Guilty Pleasures you can think Buffy the Vampire Slayer (old TV series) with a twist.  It was a fun book to read but won't win many literary awards like the Pulitzer Prize.  But if you want entertaining, then it's a good read.  It was probably more of a novelty when it was written than it is today when you have many competing novels of a similar genre such as Cassandra Clare.  If you like Cassandra Clare's novels, you'll probably like Laurell K. Hamilton's "Anita Blake" novels.

2020 Final Tally

 Not a lot of foreign authors in my 2020 final tally but more diverse than the first posting.

My final tally for 2020 included 52 authors from 9 jurisdictions -

US = 31

UK = 12

Australia = 2

Ireland = 2

Canada, Iceland, Russia, Poland and Cyrus all had 1 each (Cyprus was actually a Dual Nationality - UK / Cyprus born in Cyprus and that was author Alex Michaelides).

One author, Patrick Ness, is a dual US / UK citizen born in the US but lives in London.  I included him as UK since he wrote the books from the UK.

So 59.6% were by American Authors while 90% were by Native English speakers.

What about gender?  I was surprised by the dominance of male authors.  There are 36 male authors represented and just 16 females.   So 69% were male authors.

I say surprised because many of my favorite authors are female.  But my reading list from 2020 (and indeed 2019 and 2018) came from "Best Book" lists as I am trying to finish reading books from the two lists - BBC Big Reads and Modern Libraries 20th Century with other books mixed in from Goodread lists or books I heard of from elsewhere.  

I will be interested to see how 2019 and 2018 compare.  

So far in 2021 I have completed 26 books but I haven't looked at those stats yet either as to nationality of the author nor whether they were male or female.  I will be making an effort in 2021 to read more "non-native English" authors so books written by authors NOT from one of the 6 native English speaking countries.

This morning I completed my own spreadsheet of world jurisdictions  with the authors / books compiled by https://ayearofreadingtheworld.com/thelist/.  I will try to add to that list and then start selecting books written by authors from jurisdictions from which I haven't yet read anything.

My reading in 2020

 I have started reviewing the 100 books I read in 2020 to see which authors I read and information about them. It appears I read books written by 52 different authors.  I alphabetized the list and started looking at where they were from and their gender.

The first 28 authors broke down as:

19 authors from the United States with 13 different States represented.  A couple of the authors were actually born abroad and one, Cassandra Clare appears to have moved around the world with her parents so I don't have a state assigned to her.  One of the 19 was Native American belonging to one of the Lakota Tribes (Sioux).

4 Authors were British, 2 were Irish, 2 were Irish and one was born in Cyprus but one parent is British.  I tentatively have them listed as being from Cyprus.  

Of those first 28, 20 were male and 8 female.

My mix of reading material in 2020 came from the BBC Big Read Top 200 list, Modern Library Best Novels of the 20th Century List, Goodread Best Authors and miscellaneous.

I plan to finish the statistics on 2020 but also look at 2019 and of course 2021.  

Who is your favorite Author that isn't British or American?

 I read a lot of books.  I am a verified bookworm.  How much of a bookworm?  I have an account at Goodreads .  It shows that in 2019, I read 106 books totalling 37,681 pages.  In 2020, the number of books completed fell to 100 but the pages increased to 40,583.  So far in 2021, I've read 26 books and 11,173 pages.  So in the past 25 1/2 months, I have completed 232 books and 89,437 pages.  Note - Covid19 has been responsible for me having time to read in 2020 and so far in 2021.

I largely read books today using my Kindle.  I'm one of those people who may have several books that I am reading switching between them.  Currently I think I have 9 books ongoing.  Let's face it, some books are easier to read than others.  And some times we are in the mood where we can read a book that requires thought and sometimes we just want to read something exciting even if it doesn't make sense logically.

My goal for 2021 is to finish reading the BBC The Big Read Top 100 or the Modern Library's Best 100 Novels of the 20th Century READERS List    or both.  I've read 93 of the Modern Library 100 and 90 of the BBC 100.

I have a Google Drive page that has my book lists.  Here is the link: Tim's Best Book Lists

BUT for now, I am interested in expanding my foreign author reading.  Since I am from the USA, I have probably read mostly American Authors.  A couple of years ago, I discovered a blog - A Year of Reading the World  and I am now in the process of taking their blog and seeing if I can read a book from every country as well - no idea how long that will take.

So I will try to review the books I have read recently (past few years) to identify which countries the authors are from for which I have already read books.  Currently I know I have read books by authors from:

Afghanistan
Australia
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Denmark
Dominica
Egypt
France 
Germany
Iceland
Ireland
Jamaica  in progress
Japan
Mexico
Nigeria
Russia
Sweden 
Trinidad and Tobago
UK and 
USA

That is 25 Countries that I am aware of that I have read at least 1 book written by an author from that nation or locality. 

So any recommended Non-US, Non-UK, Non-Canadian authors?  Books that are written in or translated into English?

My goodreads account is https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/22491910-tim-new