Who Makes These Lists?

A few years back, the Modern Library published their list of the Top 100 Best Novels -- a board's list and a reader's list. And so, being the list lover (and book lover) that I am, I immediately set out to find out how many of those I had read, and then subsequently vowed to fill in the gaps on both lists. Then I got to James Joyce's Ulysses (which is #1 on the board's list and #11 on the reader's list), and I decided these kinds of self-imposed challenges are silly.

Then recently I was looking for something good to read, so I thought, hey, why not recommit myself to this quest? So I made a list of all the books I've already read and those I'd need to read to complete both the board's and the reader's lists.

I saw Ulysses again, I vowed to power through it this time. Then I saw Finnegan's Wake, another Joycean masterwork. The inclusion of this book on the list makes me seriously question the lives and minds of the listmakers. For those who aren't familiar with this title, let me quote a paragraph from the first page of the novel (which, by the way is often cited as "comic fiction"):


The fall (bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonner-
ronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthur-
nuk!) of a once wallstrait oldparr is retaled early in bed and later
on life down through all christian minstrelsy. The great fall of the
offwall entailed at such short notice the pftjschute of Finnegan,
erse solid man, that the humptyhillhead of humself prumptly sends
an unquiring one well to the west in quest of his tumptytumtoes:
and their upturnpikepointandplace is at the knock out in the park
where oranges have been laid to rust upon the green since dev-
linsfirst loved livvy.

Really??! I have a very difficult time believing enough people have read this to warrant a place on the Top 100!

I've decided I'm ok with my incomplete list.