Monday, January 07, 2008

Great writers

The Times has just featured a list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. I was quite surprised to find that I had read something by almost all the top ten, given that I have not formally studied English literature since I was sixteen.

So how many of them have you read and do you agree with the list?

Three notable things:

1. School was back today. Hooray!

2. I got last week's Open University assignment back, it was fine.

3. I started to pull together the info for my tax return today. Urgh.

5 comments:

Lane Mathias said...

I'm quite surprised to see Larkin at No 1 (if the list is in order) and I think there are some odd choices there. Wonder how they compiled the list?

Having said that I was relieved to at least recognise most of them.

But Bruce Chatwin? Rosemary Sutclif. Nope, never read them.

ps hooray for back at school:-)

CL Taylor said...

Hmmm...let's see...

1. Philip Larkin - yes

2. George Orwell - yes

3. William Golding - yes

4. Ted Hughes - yes

5. Doris Lessing - no

6. J. R. R. Tolkien - yes

7. V. S. Naipaul - no

8. Muriel Spark - no

9. Kingsley Amis - yes, Lucky Jim (didn't finish it)

10. Angela Carter - no

11. C. S. Lewis - yes

12. Iris Murdoch - yes

13. Salman Rushdie - no

14. Ian Fleming - no (seen the films tho' ;o))

15. Jan Morris - no

16. Roald Dahl - yes, lots

17. Anthony Burgess - no

18. Mervyn Peake - no

19. Martin Amis - yes, London Fields (didn't finish it)

20. Anthony Powell - no

21. Alan Sillitoe - no

22. John Le Carré - no

23. Penelope Fitzgerald - no

24. Philippa Pearce - no (who?)

25. Barbara Pym - no (who?)

26. Beryl Bainbridge - no

27. J. G. Ballard - no

28. Alan Garner - no

29. Alasdair Gray - no

30. John Fowles - yes, loved The Collector

31. Derek Walcott - no

32. Kazuo Ishiguro - no

33. Anita Brookner - no, though I do have one of her books I've been meaning to read for ages

34. A. S. Byatt - yes

35. Ian McEwan - yes

36. Geoffrey Hill - no

37. Hanif Kureishi - yes, all of them I think

38. Iain Banks - yes

39. George Mackay Brown - no

40. A. J. P. Taylor - no (I thought he was a history writer?!)

41. Isaiah Berlin - no

42. J. K. Rowling - yes, all of them!

43. Philip Pullman - yes, didn't finish it though

44. Julian Barnes - no (seen the films though if he's the man I think he is)

45. Colin Thubron - no (who?)

46. Bruce Chatwin - no (who?)

47. Alice Oswald - no

48. Benjamin Zephaniah - no

49. Rosemary Sutcliff - no

50. Michael Moorcock - no

Oh dear 17/50 - that's not very good is it?

Cathy said...

I was surprised at Larkin being top, too.

Cally, my total was 24, including a few unfinished (Midnight's Children sticks in my mind) For some I have only read a poem or short story and I have to admit there were a few I'd not heard of either!

Cx

Jen said...

Crumbs, I'm too ashamed to say how few I've read.

There are actually, ahem, quite a few I've never even heard of.

Disgraceful. Sigh.

Anonymous said...

Yes, school back - hurray indeed!

Crystal xx