Ayn Rand has 4 works among world's best novels

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Ayn Rand has 4 works among world's best novels

I received an email from Barbara pointing me to a blog that presented a fascinating data compilation. The poster is apparently not an Objectivist. Here is her entry: 100 Best Novels by hastydevil.

There are actually more than 100 novels on her compilation. She took four "Top 100 novel" surveys and compiled the results: one from BBC, two from Modern Library and one from Time Magazine.

She came up with 286 novels all total and there are 4 works by Rand on it: Anthem, Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead and We the Living. Please note that her list is in alphabetical order, so no ranking is involved:

List originally given in blog entry: 100 Best Novels by hastydevil

1. A BEND IN THE RIVER by V.S. Naipaul

2. A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens

3. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess

4. A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (series) by Anthony Powell

5. A DEATH IN THE FAMILY by James Agee

6. A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway

7. A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh

8. A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA by Richard Hughes

9. A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS by V.S. Naipaul

10. A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster

11. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce

12. A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving

13. A ROOM WITH A VIEW by E.M. Forster

14. A SUITABLE BOY by Vikram Seth

15. A TALE OF TWO CITIES by Charles Dickens

16. A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute

17. ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner

18. ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND by Lewis Carroll

19. ALL THE KING’S MEN by Robert Penn Warren

20. AMERICAN PASTORAL by Philip Roth

21. AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser

22. ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner

23. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell

24. ANNA KARENINA by Leo Tolstoy

25. ANNE OF GREEN GABLES by LM Montgomery

26. ANTHEM by Ayn Rand

27. APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA by John O’Hara

28. ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET by Judy Blume

29. ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis

30. ARTEMIS FOWL by Eoin Colfer

31. AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner

32. AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS by Flann O’Brien

33. AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS by H.P. Lovecraft

34. ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand

35. ATONEMENT by Ian McEwan

36. BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard

37. BELOVED by Toni Morrison

38. BIRDSONG by Sebastian Faulks

39. BLACK BEAUTY by Anna Sewell

40. BLEAK HOUSE by Charles Dickens

41. BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy

42. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley

43. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh

44. BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY by Helen Fielding

45. CALL IT SLEEP by Henry Roth

46. CAPTAIN CORELLI’S MANDOLIN by Louis de Bernieres

47. CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller

48. CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY by Roald Dahl

49. CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY by Robert Heinlein

50. COLD COMFORT FARM by Stella Gibbons

51. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

52. DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler

53. DAVID COPPERFIELD by Charles Dickens

54. DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather

55. DELIVERANCE by James Dickey

56. DOG SOLDIERS by Robert Stone

57. DOUBLE ACT by Jacqueline Wilson

58. DOUBLE STAR by Robert Heinlein

59. DUNE by Frank Herbert

60. EMMA by Jane Austen

61. ENDER’S GAME by Orson Scott Card

62. FALCONER by John Cheever

63. FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD by Thomas Hardy

64. FARENHEIT by Ray Bradbury

65. FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard

66. FIFTH BUSINESS by Robertson Davies

67. FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce

68. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones

69. GIRLS IN LOVE by Jacqueline Wilson

70. GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin

71. GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell

72. GOOD OMENS by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

73. GOODNIGHT MISTER TOM by Michelle Magorian

74. GORMENGHAST by Mervyn Peake

75. GRAVITY’S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon

76. GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens

77. GREENMANTLE by Charles de Lint

78. GUARDS! GUARDS! by Terry Pratchett

79. GUILTY PLEASURES by Laurell K. Hamilton

80. HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS by JK Rowling

81. HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE by JK Rowling

82. HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE by JK Rowling

83. HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN by JK Rowling

84. HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad

85. HENDERSON THE RAIN KING by Saul Bellow

86. HERZOG by Saul Bellow

87. HIS DARK MATERIALS by Philip Pullman

88. HOLES by Louis Sachar

89. HOUSEKEEPING by Marilynne Robinson

90. HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster

91. I CAPTURE THE CASTLE by Dodie Smith

92. I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves

93. ILLUSIONS by Richard Bach

94. INFINITE JEST by David Foster Wallace

95. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison

96. IRONWEED by William Kennedy

97. IT by Stephen King

98. JANE EYRE by Charlotte Brontë

99. KANE AND ABEL BY Jeffrey Archer

100. KATHERINE by Anya Seton

101. KIM by Rudyard Kipling

102. LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner

103. LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott

104. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov

105. LORD JIM by Joseph Conrad

106. LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding

107. LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA by Gabriel García Márquez

108. LOVING by Henry Green

109. LUCKY JIM by Kingsley Amis

110. MAGICIAN by Raymond E Feist

111. MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis

112. MATILDA by Roald Dahl

113. MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA by Arthur Golden

114. MEMORY AND DREAM by Charles de Lint

115. MIDDLEMARCH by George Eliot

116. MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie

117. MISSION EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard

118. MONEY by Martin Amis

119. MOONHEART by Charles de Lint

120. MORT by Terry Pratchett

121. MRS. DALLOWAY by Virginia Woolf

122. MULENGRO by Charles de Lint

123. MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather

124. MYTHAGO WOOD by Robert Holdstock

125. NAKED LUNCH by William Burroughs

126. NATIVE SON by Richard Wright

127. NEUROMANCER by William Gibson

128. NEVER LET ME GO by Kazuo Ishiguro

129. NIGHT WATCH by Terry Pratchett

130. 1984 by George Orwell

131. NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad

132. NOUGHTS AND CROSSES by Malorie Blackman

133. OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham

134. OF MICE AND MEN by John Steinbeck

135. ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute

136. ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac

137. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST by Ken Kesey

138. ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE by Gabriel García Márquez

139. ONE LONELY NIGHT by Mickey Spillane

140. PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov

141. PARADE’S END by Ford Madox Ford

142. PERFUME by Patrick Süskind

143. PERSUASION by Jane Austen

144. PLAY IT AS IT LAYS by Joan Didion

145. POINT COUNTER POINT by Aldous Huxley

146. PORTNOY’S COMPLAINT by Philip Roth

147. POSSESSION by A.S. Byatt

148. RABBIT, RUN by John Updike

149. RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow

150. REBECCA by Daphne du Maurier

151. RED HARVEST by Dashiell Hammett

152. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD by Richard Yates

153. SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh

154. SHANE by Jack Schaefer

155. SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser

156. SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut

157. SNOW CRASH Neal Stephenson

158. SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING by Charles de Lint

159. SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury

160. SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION by Ken Kesey

161. SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence

162. SOPHIE’S CHOICE by William Styron

163. STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert Heinlein

164. STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert Heinlein

165. SUTTREE by Cormac McCarthy

166. SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS by Arthur Ransome

167. TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald

168. TESS OF THE D’URBERVILLES by Thomas Hardy

169. THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow

170. THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton

171. THE ALCHEMIST by Paulo Coelho

172. THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Lawrence Durell

173. THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James

174. THE ASSISTANT by Bernard Malamud

175. THE BERLIN STORIES by Christopher Isherwood

176. THE BFG, Roald Dahl

177. THE BIG SLEEP by Raymond Chandler

178. THE BLIND ASSASSIN by Margaret Atwood

179. THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder

180. THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London

181. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger

182. THE CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR by Jean M Auel

183. THE COLOUR OF MAGIC Terry Pratchett

184. THE CONFESSIONS OF NAT TURNER William Styron

185. THE CORRECTIONS by Jonathan Franzen

186. THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO by Alexandre Dumas

187. THE CRYING OF LOT 49 by Thomas Pynchon

188. THE CUNNING MAN by Robertson Davies

189. THE DAY OF THE LOCUST by Nathanael West

190. THE DEATH OF THE HEART by Elizabeth Bowen

191. THE DOOR INTO SUMMER by Robert Heinlein

192. THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand

193. THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT’S WOMAN by John Fowles

194. THE GINGER MAN by J.P. Donleavy

195. THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS by Arundhati Roy

196. THE GODFATHER by Mario Puzo

197. THE GOLDEN BOWL by Henry James

198. THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK by Doris Lessing

199. THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford

200. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck

201. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald

202. THE HANDMAID’S TALE by Margaret Atwood

203. THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson

204. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers

205. THE HEART OF THE MATTER by Graham Greene

206. THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams

207. THE HOBBIT by JRR Tolkien

208. THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton

209. THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER by Tom Clancy

210. THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE by C.S. Lewis

211. THE LITTLE COUNTRY by Charles de Lint

212. THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien

213. THE MAGIC FARAWAY TREE by Enid Blyton

214. THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Booth Tarkington

215. THE MAGUS by John Fowles

216. THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett

217. THE MAN WHO LOVED CHILDREN by Christina Stead

218. THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert Heinlein

219. THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy

220. THE NAKED AND THE DEAD by Norman Mailer

221. THE OLD WIVES’ TALE by Arnold Bennett

222. THE PAINTED BIRD by Jerzy Kosinski

223. THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH by Ken Follett

224. THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. Cain

225. THE POWER AND THE GLORY by Graham Greene

226. THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE by Muriel Spark

227. THE PRINCESS DIARIES by Meg Cabot

228. THE PUPPET MASTERS by Robert Heinlein

229. THE RAGGED TROUSERED PHILANTHROPISTS by Robert Tressell

230. THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence

231. THE RECOGNITIONS by William Gaddis

232. THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie

233. THE SECRET AGENT by Joseph Conrad

234. THE SECRET GARDEN by Frances Hodgson Burnett

235. THE SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt

236. THE SHELL SEEKERS by Rosamunde Pilcher

237. THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles

238. THE SOT-WEED FACTOR by John Barth

239. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner

240. THE SPORTSWRITER by Richard Ford

241. THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD by John le Carre

242. THE STAND by Stephen King

243. THE STORY OF TRACY BEAKER by Jacqueline Wilson

244. THE STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY by James T. Farrell

245. THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway

246. THE THORN BIRDS by Colleen McCollough

247. THE TWITS by Roald Dahl

248. THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLES by John Cheever

249. THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler

250. THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS by Kenneth Grahame

251. THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James

252. THE WOMAN IN WHITE by Wilkie Collins

253. THE WOOD WIFE by Terri Windling

254. THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving

255. THE WORM OUROBOROS by E.R. Eddison

256. THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD by Zora Neale Hurston

257. THINGS FALL APART by Chinua Achebe

258. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee

259. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf

260. TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell

261. TRADER by Charles de Lint

262. TREASURE ISLAND by Robert Louis Stevenson

263. TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller

264. TRUSTEE FROM THE TOOLROOM by Nevil Shute

265. U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos

266. UBIK by Philip K. Dick

267. ULYSSES by James Joyce

268. UNDER THE NET by Iris Murdoch

269. UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry

270. V. by Thomas Pynchon

271. VICKY ANGEL by Jacqueline Wilson

272. WAR AND PEACE by Leo Tolstoy

273. WATCHMEN by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons

274. WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams

275. WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand

276. WHITE NOISE by Don DeLillo

277. WHITE TEETH by Zadie Smith

278. WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys

279. WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson

280. WINNIE THE POOH by AA Milne

281. WISE BLOOD by Flannery O’Connor

282. WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence

283. WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Brontë

284. YARROW by Charles de Lint

285. ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert Pirsig

286. ZULEIKA DOBSON by Max Beerbohm

This may not be a definitive parameter in judging Rand's impact, but it is an important indication.

Michael

[BaalChatzaf]

Five novels by RAH are also on the list.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Bob,

Heinlein gets 5 and L. Ron Hubbard gets 3, for whatever that's worth.

Michael

[Philip Coates]

Michael,

Rand only appears on one of those four lists, the write-in vote one from Modern Libray.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Phil,

That is true and I am glad you mentioned it because, in making the post, I did not look at the lists individually. Still, all four books are present (in the top 10). Two of the lists were voted and two were compiled by critics.

Michael

[Chris Grieb]

I'm glad Miss Rand is on the list but L. Ron Hubbard.