London Times: Best 60 books of past 60 years

In honor of the Cheltenham Literary Festival, the London Times has compiled its list of "The best 60 books of the past 60 years." The list is somewhat surprisingly filled with popular fiction rather than "literature."

I skimmed quickly and found that I'd read the following works:

1949
Nineteen Eighty-Four
George Orwell

1951
The Catcher in the Rye
J. D. Salinger

1953
Casino Royale
Ian Fleming

1954
Lord of the Flies
William Golding

1960
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee

1961
Catch 22
Joseph Heller

1965
Dune
Frank Herbert

1975
Salem’s Lot
Stephen King

1979
Smiley’s People
John le Carré

1986
Tourist Season
Carl Hiaasen

1990
Get Shorty
Elmore Leonard

1995
Northern Lights (aka The Golden Compass)
Philip Pullman

2006
The Road
Cormac McCarthy

There are many books on the list that I should read, of course. These books have the advantage of being stacked a few feet away, in the "to be read" pile:

1958
Our Man in Havana
Graham Greene

1964
Funeral in Berlin
Len Deighton

Eventually, I'll likely read Wodehouse, Coetzee, DiLillo, Nabokov's Lolita, and Dick's A Scanner Darkly.


Hat tip: Largehearted Boy.

If you are now inspired to do some additional summer reading, most books on the list are available at worker-friendly independent bookstore Powell's. Disclosure: use this link and the blog receives a 7.5% commission on your purchase.


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