The Observer's 100 Greatest Novels of All Time

Original list in The Observer, 12 Oct. 2003.

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"If lists are a guilty pleasure, then book lists are a sinful addiction. That's an observation for which the show more Observer can adduce empirical evidence. Ten years ago, on 12 October 2003, in a headline-grabbing stunt, writing as literary editor, I compiled (with a lot of help from colleagues) a list, provocatively entitled "The 100 Greatest Novels of All Time". Say what you like about lists, but this one rapidly developed a life of its own, like a sci-fi alien. Once the initial furore – why no Updike? How on earth could we exclude PG Wodehouse? – had died down, the creature we had created continued to circulate in cyberspace, sponsoring a rare mixture of rage and delight, apparently without rhyme or reason. Every now and again, some particular group would tangle with the Observer list. And it would drive them mad (in good and bad ways) all over again. For reasons I have yet to fathom, it excited special notice in Australia."

Robert McCrum in The Observer, 22 Sep 2013.

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Not to be confused with The Observer's 100 Best Novels started in 2013, which excludes the translations that are such a feature of this 2003 list. show less