Here's an interesting poll asking people to vote on the greatest American novel of all time. Most of the books on the list of contenders deserve to be there, but of course the more books on the list, the more interesting the voting will be (and why have a list in the first place?). The authors say they are ignoring sociology and politics, but then make a snotty comment about "socialist realism" in defending their decision to leave "The Grapes of Wrath" off the list. The most notable absence I saw on the list was James Jones, whose World War II trilogy is stunning. I just saw "From Here to Eternity" on cable over the weekend, which just served to remind me what a great book it was.
