The Modern Library

This book lists 194 novels with a brief synopsis of the story, plus a few lines about the author, including their age when the novel was published. It also lists the prize winners since 1950 in the Booker Prize, The CNA Award, Commonwealth Prize, Governor General's Literary Award, The Irish Times International Fiction Prize, Miles Franklin Award, Montana New Zealand Book Award, National Book Award, Nobel Prize For Literature, Prix Femina Etranger, Prix Medicis Etranger, Pulitzer Prize For Fiction, Stakis Prize For Scottish Writer of the Year, Whitbread Novel Award, & Whitbread First Novel Award. It also list Biographies, Autobiographies & Memoirs, even some poetry. In the introduction it says lovely things about why they put together this book, & about the love of books & reading. This is not just English or American authors, but writers from anywhere English is spoken. They talk about the role the novel plays in countries around the globe, how in Nigeria, "the novelist has become a dangerous opposition to those in power." This is a wonderful book, & I intend to work my way through the novels that they sample. It may take me 7 years but I can not think of a better way to read my way around the world.