Issybird, you have to remember that different people are using different measures for "best".
Particularly in these older decades, one of the most important factors that I used was my interpretation of how much influence a book has continued to have since it was published. Think Shakespeare. Did he do the absolute best writing of his period? I don't know, I've read almost nothing else of that time, but there is no arguing that he has had the largest ongoing influence.
Another important factor, for me, is how much I want to pick up the book and read it again. Think Shakespeare again. There's a quote in the Wikipedia article:
Quote:
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poet and critic John Dryden rated Shakespeare highly, saying of Jonson, "I admire him, but I love Shakespeare".
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