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Hungry Mind Review, 100 Books

Yet another reaction to the now notorious Modern Library 100 list. This is from the discontinued Hungry Mind Review, the history of which can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruminator_Review

What the Hungry Mind Review of Spring 1999 had to say about its list:
The books were chosen by five writers: Mary Moore Easter, Heid E. Erdrich, Bill
Holm, David Mura, and George Rabasa, under the direction of Bart Schneider,
editor of the Hungry Mind Review, and J. Otis Powell of The Loft Literary Center in
Minneapolis.

The Hungry Mind Review list provides a compelling alternative to the Modern
Library's selection of "100 Best Novels published in the English language since
1900," announced last July. Although the Modern Library list was criticized for
including only six books by nonwhite writers, only nine books by women, and very
few books published after 1960, it initiated a lively national discussion. The HMR list
reflects a far more realistic race and gender balance, and includes a good number
of contemporary books. Our list is however limited to books written by Americans.

While the Modern Library list is restricted to novels, the Hungry Mind Review
includes distinguished books of nonfiction and collections of short fiction. "Opening
the list to nonfiction makes sense in a literary century that has witnessed the
blurring of the line between fiction and nonfiction," according to Hungry Mind
Review editor Bart Schneider. "It's thrilling to have James Agee's Let Us Now
Praise Famous Men, as well as the autobiographies of Malcolm X and Alice B.
Toklas, on this list," Schneider adds. "Essential 20th-century writers like James
Baldwin, Joan Didion, and Gore Vidal, who each have collections of nonfiction
included on the list, are commonly thought to have done their best writing in the
essay form."

This list was originally published in 1999 and was added to this site over 1 year ago.