{"id":6827,"date":"2026-01-17T14:36:03","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T20:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/?p=6827"},"modified":"2026-01-17T14:36:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T20:36:03","slug":"the-guardian-ranks-updikes-top-not-always-dirty-dozen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/2026\/01\/17\/the-guardian-ranks-updikes-top-not-always-dirty-dozen\/","title":{"rendered":"The Guardian ranks Updike’s top not-always-dirty dozen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>We love lists, and so does The Guardian<\/em> (UK), which named John Updike’s debut novel, The Poorhouse Fair<\/em>, as his twelfth best, despite calling it “a curio.” Number 1 on their list\u2014no surprise\u2014is Rabbit Angstrom<\/em>, the Everyman’s Library compilation of the author’s four “Rabbit” books, which they ranked (best to least) Rabbit at Rest<\/em> (1990), Rabbit Is Rich<\/em> (1981)\u2014both Pulitzer Prize winners\u2014followed by Rabbit, Run<\/em> (1960) and Rabbit Redux<\/em> (1972).<\/p>\n

Roger’s Version<\/em> (1986) placed No. 2 on their list, with Couples<\/em> (1968), notorious as Updike’s raciest book, not far behind at No. 3. Then comes the Everyman’s Library compilation of Updike’s Henry Bech sagas, and Updike’s slender Of the Farm<\/em> (1965) at No. 5, followed by The Witches of Eastwick<\/em> (1984) at No. 6 and The Centaur<\/em> (1963) at No. 7.<\/p>\n

The biggest surprise is that Memories of the Ford Administration<\/em> (1992)\u2014generally dismissed by most readers, critics, and scholars\u2014came in at No. 8, ahead of the much-acclaimed Gertrude and Claudius<\/em> (2000) at No. 9, S.<\/em> (1988)\u2014Updike’s final volume in his Scarlet Letter<\/em> trilogy\u2014at No. 10, and the under-appreciated Seek My Face<\/em> (2002) at No. 11.<\/p>\n

Read what The Guardian had to say<\/a> about each pick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We love lists, and so does The Guardian (UK), which named John Updike’s debut novel, The Poorhouse Fair, as his twelfth best, despite calling it “a curio.” Number 1 on their list\u2014no surprise\u2014is Rabbit Angstrom, the Everyman’s Library compilation of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":818,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/818"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6828,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6827\/revisions\/6828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}