"I am the greatest, I said that before I even knew I was."

I remember my first reading challenge very, very clearly.  It was the spark that set me on a lifetime journey through a universe of wonderful, exciting stories...as well as a lifetime of myopia, possibly.  Luckily for me, glasses are very much in vogue at the moment.

Many, many moons ago, my older sister had a reading assignment due for class:  The Hobbit.  Her being my nearest sibling (though still rather older), I did my best to give her a hard time and be as much of a thorn in her side as possible (in my miniscule, chihuahua-like way).  So when she told our parents that she dreaded reading it, I saw an opportunity for victory.  Not sporty or popular, I recognized a niche that was within my reach to fill.  So I commenced reading The Hobbit, and fell into one of the most enjoyable, exciting experiences of my young life.  ...Having re-read it many, many times since then, I whole-heartedly wish that I could read it again with fresh eyes as I did those years ago.

Next was The Chronicles of Narnia, which I pooh-poohed for a very long time before reading.  (Children?  on adventures?  Please, I am not a child and have no interest in childish stories!  Ha!)  As I proceeded along my literary travels, I found that there were certain paths that most shunned out of hand.  Paths like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Les Miserables, and A Tale of Two Cities inspired eye-rolls of dread.  So I set out to conquer classic stories as well and inadvertently broadened my horizons on tidbits of history, writing, and sociology.  I thought myself a literary badass.  (Do not step to this, Diana seemed to say as she cracked open The Brothers Karamazov to a place well beyond the middle and pushed her enormous wire glasses farther up her nose.  Meanwhile, other kids are making out for the first time and hanging out with friends.)  I had found a tiny niche for myself as Diana, the READER... In retrospect, maybe my folks should have pushed sports a little more.

Now that I'm grown (mostly) and have become Diana, the many other things in addition to reading, I still love the whole reading thing (you know), and had despaired of finding more new and exciting (classic and/or super-great) books to read.  There is always the risk of reaching the point at which you surround yourself with the same old lovers and reach stagnation--the essence of enjoying a great book again and again is forgetting it's nuances in the interim and being surprised all over again.  In that way a book really is like a lover--a little surprise each time is necessary for a great experience.  Or, you could say a book is like a field--if you don't practice crop rotation the earth will become barren and plants will not grow.  A book is also like a recipe--surprise is necessary lest the journey become dull and flavorless.  Then again, a novel is like a...no?  ...enough metaphor?  Okay then.  :(

All that said, I was so pleased to find the Modern Library's Top 100 Greatest Novels list, and I set about to make it my goal to catch 'em all, like so many literary pokemon.  In this blog, I'm going to attempt to record my impressions of each novel and speculate on what made each one a part of the "greatest" list.  ...What makes a novel one of the greatest, anyway?  I'd say it's a combination of:

• Historical pertinence:  how does the novel speak to/respond to the events of the time?  (This can get really interesting, in that knowledge of the events/sociology of the time uncovers a whole layer of meaning to the story.)
• Literary style:  To me, this divides into two-ish types. 
• Use of meaning:  the writer's ability to hide layers of meaning in text
• Writing style:  considering the style of the period, the writer's means of expressing himself
• Universal significance:  how does the novel hold up over time?

These are just a few rough ideas--I'd be interested to know what other readers see as requirements for the very greatest, the Muhammad Ali's, of books.