Seriously thoughtful Have you read 6 of those 100?

[kindlekitten]

I too wonder about this list. it seems I have filled out many other lists and found myself sadly lacking... I've left in the ones I've read.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen -
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien -
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte -
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling -
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee -


6 The Bible --
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte -
8 1984 - George Orwell -
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman -
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens -


11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott -
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy -
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller -
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare -
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier -


16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien




21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell --
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens -
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams -





29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll -
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame -


31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy -
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens -
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis -




36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis -

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden -
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne -


41 Animal Farm - George Orwell -
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown -



46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery -

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood -
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding -
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan -yes



52 Dune - Frank Herbert

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen -



57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens -
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley -



61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck -
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov -


65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas -


66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac -

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville -


71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens -
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker -
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett -

75 Ulysses - James Joyce -


76 The Inferno - Dante -


79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray -



81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens -


85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert -



87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White -

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -YES




94 Watership Down - Richard Adams-




97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas -
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare -

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo -


so I have 58.

and I have to say.... wtf!? Bridget Jones Diary? it must be a MUCH better book than movie! (cute movie, just not something I would expect to be counted as a literary great)

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

For example (just from SF/Fantasy genre): Dune and Hitchhiker's Guide, but nothing by Heinlein (who wrote at least three or four books that surpass Dune both as literature and also in cultural importance) and nothing by Terry Pratchett (who seems to have at least equalled Douglas Adams).

I can't figure out why Douglas Adams was included at all. I know it is a "trendy" read, but I certainly wouldn't classify him as any better than a mediocre writer at best. Arthur Clarke was certainly a better and more memorable writer, just to name one.

John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway certainly deserve greater accolades than the list provides.

[Bilbo1967]

It seems to me that there is a lot of debate about what would be the essential 100 books of all time.

I'd be happy to start a new thread where people here can nominate their favourite 10 books, say, and I'll compile a top 100 (or maybe 50) list from that if enough people respons.

Before I do that, though, I'd be interested to know if people think it's a good idea (maybe it's been done before?) and whether or not we should have some stipulations (e.g. not all sci-fi, the ten books chosen have to be from a variety of decades (or centuries), all English language (or widely available in translation), that kind of thing.

Please let me know - I'm happy to start such a thread and pull all the results together.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

It seems to me that there is a lot of debate about what would be the essential 100 books of all time.

I'd be happy to start a new thread where people here can nominate their favourite 10 books, say, and I'll compile a top 100 (or maybe 50) list from that if enough people respons.

Before I do that, though, I'd be interested to know if people think it's a good idea (maybe it's been done before?) and whether or not we should have some stipulations (e.g. not all sci-fi, the ten books chosen have to be from a variety of decades (or centuries), all English language (or widely available in translation), that kind of thing.

Please let me know - I'm happy to start such a thread and pull all the results together.

I think not only would it be fun, but be very interesting to see what the community comes up with here.

[kindlekitten]

it seems that various groups do this occasionally, but it would be fun to see what this gang comes up with!

[Elsi]

Here's the list of the ones I have read:

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 1984 - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

If I count correctly, that's 38.

In October 2008, I noted that I had read 40 of the BBC's Big Read 100. Since then, I have read Pillars of the Earth which takes me to 41.

[derrell]

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien -
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee -
6 The Bible
8 1984 - George Orwell
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis -
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

Well 22 is what I come up with but being one of the bitter, clinging, unwashed masses of the mid-southern United States I'm sure some of those I remember reading were most likely cartoons that I watched while eating cheerios in cheap beer in the living room of my mobile home.

Originally Posted by kennyc

I think not only would it be fun, but be very interesting to see what the community comes up with here.

All of that aside I agree it would be interesting to see what the folks here at MR come up with as a list.

[kindlekitten]

beer and cheerios? that's a joke, right?

[derrell]

Well yes actually it is. More like sarcasm really, just imagine [sarc] [/sarc] tags around that run on sentence.
Although there was that one time.... but we won't get into that.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by derrell

Well yes actually it is. More like sarcasm really, just imagine [sarc] [/sarc] tags around that run on sentence.
Although there was that one time.... but we won't get into that.

Being a transplanted Okie......I'm sure there was.....at least one.....

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

It seems to me that there is a lot of debate about what would be the essential 100 books of all time.

I'd be happy to start a new thread where people here can nominate their favourite 10 books, say, and I'll compile a top 100 (or maybe 50) list from that if enough people respons.

Before I do that, though, I'd be interested to know if people think it's a good idea (maybe it's been done before?) and whether or not we should have some stipulations (e.g. not all sci-fi, the ten books chosen have to be from a variety of decades (or centuries), all English language (or widely available in translation), that kind of thing.

Please let me know - I'm happy to start such a thread and pull all the results together.

Sounds like fun.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by derrell

Well yes actually it is. More like sarcasm really, just imagine [sarc] [/sarc] tags around that run on sentence.
Although there was that one time.... but we won't get into that.

having more or less successfully raised a boy child, there are many errrr uhhhh "gastronomic experiments" I witnessed

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

It seems to me that there is a lot of debate about what would be the essential 100 books of all time.

I'd be happy to start a new thread where people here can nominate their favourite 10 books, say, and I'll compile a top 100 (or maybe 50) list from that if enough people respons.

I think you need at least 2 lists: 100 essential fiction and 100 essential nonfiction. Of course, that raises another question: Is the Bible fiction or nonfiction? Which leads to yet another question: Which version of the Bible? Or can we just say "Bible" includes all versions and all religions?

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by rhadin

I think you need at least 2 lists: 100 essential fiction and 100 essential nonfiction.

Maybe true, perhaps I'll stick to fiction for this one?

Originally Posted by rhadin

Of course, that raises another question: Is the Bible fiction or nonfiction?

Not going there!

[nomesque]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

and I have to say.... wtf!? Bridget Jones Diary? it must be a MUCH better book than movie! (cute movie, just not something I would expect to be counted as a literary great)

Well, I didn't realise until I read the book that it's a Pride and Prejudice remake...