by D.G. Martin

What happened to Thomas Wolfe?

It was my first question for Peder Zane after reading his new book, ìThe Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books.î

Zane, the long-time book editor at the Raleigh News and Observer, contacted 125 leading writers and asked them this question: What are the 10 greatest works of fiction of all time?

Zane took the results, consolidated them, and came up with an overall top-ten list. The bad news is that North Carolinaís treasured author of ìLook Homeward Angelî did not make this top-ten list.

There is worse news.

First though, here is the ìtop topî ten list compiled by Zane.

1. ìAnna Karenina,î Leo Tolstoy
2. ìMadame Bovary,î Gustave Flaubert
3. ìWar and Peace,î Leo Tolstoy
4. ìLolita,î Vladimir Nabokov
5. ìThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,î Mark Twain
6. ìHamlet,î William Shakespeare
7. ìThe Great Gatsby,î F. Scott Fizgerald
8. ìIn Search of Lost Time,î Marcel Proust
9. The stories of Anton Chekhov
10. ìMiddlemarch,î George Eliot

Disappointed? Did your favorite book miss the list, too?

Surprised? Even though most of the writers who picked the books are Americans, only two of the top ten were born in the United States.

I asked Zane why he thought the Bible did not make the list. ìWe limited this to works of fiction,î he reminded me. ìThe Bible is not supposed to be a work of fiction.î

Nevertheless, several writers included the Bible or one of its books as their number-one pick.

The 125 writers mentioned a total of 544 books in their top-ten lists. Most of these 544 books were listed by only one of the 125 writers.

(I am moving towards the ìeven worseî news.)

For instance, the modern North Carolina classic, ìCold Mountainî by Charles Frazier, was noted only once. Chapel Hillís Elizabeth Spencer ranked it eighth on her list. Others on Spencerís list, in order, were Dickensí ìGreat Expectations,î Faulknerís ìThe Hamlet,î Fieldingís ìJoseph Andrews,î Stendhalís ìThe Red and the Black,î Weltyís ìThe Golden Apples,î Turgenevís ìOn the Eve,î Forsterís Where Angels Fear to Tread,î Fitzgeraldís ìTender Is the Night,î and Catherís ìThe Professorís House.î
There is a hint in Spencerís list about the worse news that is coming.

None of the books of Spencerís top-ten list made it to the ìtop topî ten. But as a big fan of Elizabeth Spencerís writing, especially her ever-popular ìThe Light in the Piazza,î I am more likely to be guided by her choices than by any consolidated list.

In fact, the top-ten list of each one of the authors whom I know is much more interesting than the consolidated list. From Zaneís book, I learned the top choices of several of my favorite North Carolina writers: Fred Chappell (ìThe Iliadî), Clyde Edgerton (Shakespeareís ìHamletî), Alan Gurganus (ìDefoeís Robinson Crusoeî), Reynolds Price (ìMadam Bovaryî), Gail Godwin (Jamesí ìThe Portrait of a Ladyî), Haven Kimmel (ìThe Gospel of Markî), Lee Smith (Joyceís ìThe Deadî), Louis Rubin (ìIn Search of Lost Timeî), and G.D. Gearino (Voltaireís ìCandideî).

Did you notice that there was more bad news about Thomas Wolfe? None of these North Carolina writers made ìLook Homeward Angelî a number-one choice. Nor did any of the 125 writers. In fact, and here is the worse news I promised you, none of the 125 writers included ìLook Homeward Angelî as one of their individual top-ten choices. The very worst news for Wolfe fans is that every one of the participating North Carolina writers omitted this North Carolina classic.

Zane provides a wonderful set of summaries of the 544 books that were mentioned at least once by a participating writer. It is a great reference tool, almost a complete one, considering that I already know about the missing ìLook Homeward Angel.î

Top 10, top 100, top anything lists are tricky. They are fun and they provoke instructive discussion and arguments. But, as ìThe Top Tenî shows us again so well, they are subjective and personal. In the end we have to work our own ways to books that best entertain us, educate us, and change us.
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D.G. Martin is the host of North Carolina Bookwatch, UNC-TVís weekly local literary series.