Books of the Century: A Hundred Years of Authors, Ideas, and Literature [Paperback]

New York Times Book Review (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 2000

A treasure-house of literary entertainment, featuring a century's worth of the best reviews, essays, and interviews ever published in The New York Times Book Review.

With more than 250 selections, Books of the Century -- now updated for this paperback edition -- sheds light on some of our greatest writers and how their books were received when first reviewed in The New York Times Book Review, America's most widely read journal of the literary arts. Arranged chronologically, here are reviews of Franz Kafka's The Trial, Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl, E. M. Forster's A Passage to India, and Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. Also selected from the Book Review's pages are letters to the editor from Jack London and Joseph Conrad, interviews with Émile Zola and Vladimir Nabokov, essays by Saul Bellow and Gabriel García Márquez, and the "Oops!" feature, which humbly presents reviews of classics such as Catch-22 and The Catcher in the Rye that the Book Review initially panned. A time line runs throughout, highlighting the century's literary landmarks. Bringing together classic reviews and writings, The New York Times Book Review has created a resource to be read and cherished for years to come.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Books of the Century, modestly subtitled A Hundred Years of Authors, Ideas, and Literature, is a fine and firm rebuff to anyone who has ever thought the New York Times Book Review the stodgiest of institutions. Sifting through the archives, the editors have come up with a wealth of killer critiques, beginning with an ambivalent notice of The Spoils of Poynton and ending with Martin Amis's ecstasy over Underworld. Many of the reviews feature matches made in editorial heaven: Randall Jarrell on e.e. cummings, Welty on E.B. White's classic Charlotte's Web, and Joan Didion on John Cheever's Falconer. But the essays and interviews are just as enticing. Henry Bech interrogates his creator, John Updike; Isaac Bashevis Singer catechizes Laurie Colwin ("Are you trying to convince me that I'm a big shot?"); and Philip Roth asks Milan Kundera the burning question, "What does sex mean to you as a novelist?"

But Books of the Century is not just a greatest hits. It's also a priceless compendium of misses and major mortifications. Applause to whoever decided to include numerous admissions of error under the hilarious heading "Oops!" No one should feel guilty for seeking these out first. In the TBR's early years, for instance, Bloomsbury was twice a whipping boy: E.M. Forster gets slammed for Howards End in 1911 and nine years later Virginia Woolf's The Voyage Out has little "to make it stand out from the ruck of mediocre novels." And judging from the weak parody it's afforded, The Catcher in the Rye was not initially a critical darling: Salinger "should've cut out a lot about these jerks and all that crumby school." But what are we to make of the fact that as the decades draw on, there seem fewer and fewer Oopses? Apparently the Times Book Review is not just getting older, it's getting better. In any case, by making us aware of the exhilarations of reading and thought, Books of the Century more than lives up to its subtitle. --Kerry Fried

From the Inside Flap

A treasure-house of literary entertainment, featuring a century's worth of the best reviews, essays, and interviews ever published in The New York Times Book Review.

With more than 250 selections, Books of the Century -- now updated for this paperback edition -- sheds light on some of our greatest writers and how their books were received when first reviewed in The New York Times Book Review, America's most widely read journal of the literary arts. Arranged chronologically, here are reviews of Franz Kafka's The Trial, Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl, E. M. Forster's A Passage to India, and Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. Also selected from the Book Review's pages are letters to the editor from Jack London and Joseph Conrad, interviews with Émile Zola and Vladimir Nabokov, essays by Saul Bellow and Gabriel García Márquez, and the "Oops!" feature, which humbly presents reviews of classics such as Catch-22 and The Catcher in the Rye that the Book Review initially panned. A time line runs throughout, highlighting the century's literary landmarks. Bringing together classic reviews and writings, The New York Times Book Review has created a resource to be read and cherished for years to come.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 688 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; Updated edition (November 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609806882
• ISBN-13: 978-0609806883
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #29 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Books & Reading > Reference

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a beautiful book, August 31, 2011

By 

geoffrey (ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Books of the Century: A Hundred Years of Authors, Ideas, and Literature (Paperback)

Books of the Century: A Hundred Years of Authors, Ideas, and LiteratureThis is a beautiful book beginning with the art on the cover. (There in red is Pynchon's V, his father's mistress).I came to the pleasure of learning late in life. In the modern world this is a treasure for its elementary, yet helpful discussion of these great authors. The new world of China and India and Brazil,etc, will make this a hard fishing hole to find. Here is one book you can judge by it's cover. I can imagine when the editors finished this they were happy with the result. I for one would love to see a sequel covering the same ground with modern literary scholars. That would be another treasure. If you are looking for a helpful beginning discussion of the twentieth century you will not regret reading these pages.I love this book. Look at that gorgeous cover...for a penny you could own gold.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A treasure trove for book lovers, April 4, 2001

By 

Tom Hinkle (Tulsa, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Books of the Century: A Hundred Years of Authors, Ideas, and Literature (Paperback)

Do you ever wonder how some of the most highly regarded and influential books of the century were reviewed when they were first released, without the benefit of hindsight? This book, a collection from the New York Times Book Review, gives you the answer. It's a tribute to the reviewers that they were often right on the money in their evaluations (like the reviews on "Ulysses", "The Grapes of Wrath", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", etc.). It's also kind of a hoot to read the "Oops!" reviews, where they dowgraded books like "Catch-22" and "Catcher in the Rye" when they first came out. There is a lot of fascinating reading here. I just wish it were more comprehensive, which may not be realistic on my part, since that would mean about a 10,000 page book. But for what this book sets out to do, it succeeds with flying colors.

I would suggest that all who are interested in obtaining this book put it in your "Shopping Cart" IMMEDIATELY, because if you come back later and put "Books of the Century" in the search engine, it will inexplicably bring up a bunch of books about architecture. HUHHH?? C'mon, Amazon, let's tweak that search engine a little here!!

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More than Just Book Reviews...But Why?, August 24, 2003

By 

Randy Keehn (Williston, ND United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Books of the Century: A Hundred Years of Authors, Ideas, and Literature (Paperback)

As the turn of the century neared, I was looking for some great perspectives on literature in the 20th Century. I'm still looking. Outside of the Modern Library' list of the 100 best English Language books of the 20th Century, I haven't seen much. That's too bad because, for me, the literature of the last century is the best compared to all other centuries. One book that has been a good perspective on 20th Century Literature is "Books of the Century" compiled by the editors of the New York "Times" Book Review. They got a bit of a head start on the turn of the century because they were celebrating their 100 years of reviewing books; 100 years that began in 1896. What the editors put together is a chronological selection of their reviews over the years. Of course, most of the selections are from either titles or authors that are well known to most of us. It is interesting to read contemporary reviews of books many decades old. What bothered me as I read through this books is the repeated appearances of letters, essays, and interviews that seemed to me to take up space best reserved for more book reviews. I admit that I enjoyed some of the letters (especially William Manchester's on H.L. Mecken), interviews (especially with I.B. Singer in 1978), and essays (especially Marquez on Hemingway). However, the title of the book suggested a more focussed work. I found myself skimming more and more as I went on. The final 143 pages is a yearly synopsis of the editors' choice of the best books from 1972-1997.

I am glad That the editors put this book out and I am glad that I read it. However, I would have preferred a summation of the editor's choice of the best books from 1896-1997 rather than the synopsis that they gave of the last 26 years.