Hatchard's is an old established bookshop in London, certainly more "up-market" than Waterstone's. Well, not to be outdone by the folks at Waterstone's (or us for that mater), Hatchard's has developed what it considers a 100 best list as well. I did find the comments made by Hatchard's to be much more interesting than the blurb from Waterstone's. As a result, I quote from it below: I think this is a much more widespread list than Waterstone's. I would be interested in seeing an American originated version. Has anyone seen one? Have Barnes & Nobles or Borders done anything similar?
| "It is not an easy choice. What makes a classic? There are so many answers - there are so many styles of writing. The 100 novels we have chosen as Hatchard's Modern Classics share one thing - we are prepared to argue passionately that they represent the best in their field. It is impossible to pick the highlight of the list …. These are not classics to stick on a shelf and allow to become dusty. They are classics to read and reread and love, as we do. They are classics because they are the most involving books we know. In their very different ways they are excellent. |
As the list is not in any discernible alphabetic order, I assume that they have numbered them according to preference. However, no mention of that is made in their booklet. I have not yet found the web site (if they have one). So I resorted to retyping their entire list, for you my faithful reader. You can select to see the list below, or download it. It is in Word 7.0 format. If you can not get at it either of these two ways, please e-mal me and I will send you a copy.