Amazon's 100 Must Read Books

[meeera]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Would that list include The Very Hungry Koala?

I'd have trouble trimming my picture book list: Diary of a Wombat, Possum Magic, The Rabbits, Are We There Yet?, Tiddalick, Grandma comes from Gooligulch, A is for Aunty, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, The Waterhole, The Lost Thing, Uno's Garden ... many of those recommended for adults as well.

(The Very Hungry Koala would be a very boring book.)

[NickyWithNook]

Blinky Bill?

[meeera]

Originally Posted by NickyWithNook

Blinky Bill?

I'm "eh" on Blinky Bill. Snugglepie won out.

[EndlessWaves]

I've read 9 on the Amazon list, or 7 if you discount the ones where they dumbed down the title for the US market (Northern Lights, Philosopher's stone). 17 on the goodreads list.

It does seem heavily US-biased. As well as the lack of Douglas Adams there's no John Wyndham, No Arthur C. Clarke, No Terry Pratchett.

As a Brit a trio of notable US omissions are Tom Clancy, H.P. Lovecraft and the lack of any US fantasy (Chronicles of Amber, something by Michael Moorcock).

What really puzzles me is Charlotte's web. I vaguely remember reading it here in the UK but as far as children's books go it would be fairly far down the list, behind stuff like Stig of the Dump and Treasure Island. Is it really that big in the US or is it mainly on the Goodreads list because it's on the Amazon list?

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

...Dune is the all-time sci-fi classic; and probably my favorite book ever.

Dune? I'm not sure about that, it's a good story but compared to the mind blowing books like Rendezvous with Rama, The Complete Robot and Ringworld I certainly wouldn't call it the peak of sci-fi achievement.

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

No Virgil, Homer, Shakespeare, Dickens, Verne or Melville?

I'm not sure I'd call any of them essential books. Admittedly I haven't read much from those authors but the Dickens and Verne I've read were little more than average (and often inferior to adaptations/readings) and I'm far from alone in giving up on the unabridged Moby Dick half way through.

Shakespeare is admittedly brilliant but better experienced as a group reading or performance.

The only classical author I've read is Vitruvis so I won't judge Virgil and Homer from that (he's interesting, but not for his writing ability).

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by EndlessWaves

What really puzzles me is Charlotte's web. I vaguely remember reading it here in the UK but as far as children's books go it would be fairly far down the list, behind stuff like Stig of the Dump and Treasure Island. Is it really that big in the US or is it mainly on the Goodreads list because it's on the Amazon list?

Charlotte's Web is indeed a great American children's classic. It is the first book that I can remember reading and studying as a whole class together in fourth grade (that's 9-10 year olds). I've never heard of Stig of the Dump, but I see it is a British children's book.

[Namekuseijin]

Originally Posted by meeera

I'm not particularly impressed by the SF choices - Handmaid's Tale and Fahrenheit 451, yes, but Dune over Hitchhiker's Guide?

Dune is scifi, Hitchhiker is satire. It's no more scifi than Gulliver Travels and indeed I find Adams as great a satirist as Swift. Just because it's set in space and has aliens and spaceships doesn't make it scifi. Its outlandish concepts like the bistromatic engine may be great fun but are very unscientific. works well for the purpose of satire though...

[Namekuseijin]

Originally Posted by EndlessWaves

I'm not sure I'd call any of them essential books. Admittedly I haven't read much from those authors but the Dickens and Verne I've read were little more than average (and often inferior to adaptations/readings) and I'm far from alone in giving up on the unabridged Moby Dick half way through.

look! An escapist fantasy fan whining of those classics authors who dared to cope with real life and everyday struggles...

I'd go as far as saying that after more than a full century of that, people got fed up and gone Don Quixote themselves, all the way back to chivarly books...

(and yes, I know Verne is about the excitement of fantastic voyages)

The only classical author I've read is Vitruvis so I won't judge Virgil and Homer from that (he's interesting, but not for his writing ability).

good thing you won't judge poets from the writings of the ancient architect

[Namekuseijin]

Originally Posted by peachiekene

I actually stopped counting once I got to the third listed HP book.
I have read them all, but I don't think any series should take up more than one spot.

spot on

damned lists and series

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

Its outlandish concepts like the bistromatic engine may be great fun but are very unscientific.

And Dune has magickal spacefolding and prescience, which is just as much fantasy as the Infinite Improbability Drive and Bistromathics. Just less funny.

[EndlessWaves]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

look! An escapist fantasy fan whining of those classics authors who dared to cope with real life and everyday struggles...

I'm not sure if you're serious or not. My point was that I wasn't finding them any better than other authors who have tackled the same topics. I suppose there is something to be said for reading them because other people have read them, to establish a common ground.

[mike_bike_kite]

I was amazed to find I'd read 25 on both lists though it seemed odd to have multiple books by the same author. Some of the choices also seemed a little odd (Harry Potter, Hunger games, Dune, King James Bible).

[barutanseijin]

29 from the Amazon list. (But i read Goodnight Moon enough times to have memorized it).

I thought that the choices were a bit odd & weighted to more recent works. I would have taken Joan Didion's Slouching towards Bethlehem over Year o' Magical Thinking. Would Murakami fans really choose Wind-up Bird as his best? I'm not a fan, but if i had to choose one, i'd go with Hard Boiled Wonderland. I like Lolita, but Nabokov's Pale Fire is more fun. And so on

33 from Goodreads. Which is also Amazon's list.

[LadyKate]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Amazon Announces 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime



Here's the list. How many have you read?

• 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime

Vote at Goodreads for your favorites:

• 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime: Readers' Picks

.

I just glanced through them and see in the first twenty three children's books
that were not available when I was a child. LOL I have no desire to go back to read kiddie books and as I have never had kids had no reason to revisit kiddie books. You would think they would have an adult and children's list.

[LadyKate]

Originally Posted by ucfgrad93

The Amazon list had:

Great Expectations by Dickens


The Goodreads list had:

A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations by Dickens
Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare

And as I look at the Shakespeare I have to disagree with it on a "BOOK" list. They are plays! Drama! and in truth, best enjoyed when viewed as a play! (not the scrambled versions most of the Hollywood versions are but the good BBC classic versions that are true to the play if you don't have the pleasure of seeing it performed live which is the absolute best way to enjoy Shakespeare)