Seriously thoughtful Have you read 6 of those 100?

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by YGG-

The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?

Last year, our local Newspaper printed a list of 7 books that people are most likely to lie and say they've read when they haven't. I was gratified to see that I had read 6 of the 7 (the exception being Ulysses). Needless to say I was feeling pretty good about myself. And then you had to go and post this!

I 'm embarrassed to say how many of these I've read. Let's just say it's in the lower teens.

OK, let's say the lowest teen. There; you happy?

In my defense, I am a U.S. citizen. We elected Bush, you know. Twice. We're not exactly known for being overly thoughtful.

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#1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
#6 The Bible
#8 1984 - George Orwell
#24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
#25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
#29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
#41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
#58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
#70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
#72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
#81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
#89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
#100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Last year, our local Newspaper printed a list of 7 books that people are most likely to lie and say they've read when they haven't. I was gratified to see that I had read 6 of the 7 (the exception being Ulysses). Needless to say I was feeling pretty good about myself. And then you had to go and post this!

Just out of interest, can you remember any of the other six?

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

In my defense, I am a U.S. citizen. We elected Bush, you know. Twice. We're not exactly known for being overly thoughtful.

That seems unfair on yourself and many of your fellow countrymen. The U.S. certainly has no monopoly on stupidity, I'm pretty sure it's rife everywhere. Example; my mother still tells the story of how she overheard two people talking on a bus. One of them said, and my mother swears that this is true;

"I read a book once...it was green"

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

(From the tagline): History of Western Philosophy - Bertrand Russell

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

(From the tagline): Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Originally Posted by rhadin

...the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin?

Now these I've read!

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why is "The Chronicles of Narnia" listed, and then "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" listed separated?

And why not The Screwtape Letters or Mere Christianity? I've read both of these, but none of the children's books Lewis wrote.

[ardeegee]

Sadly, only 15 for me (I counted Tess only once even though it is listed twice.)

[arit]

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien - semi "Yes", did not get past page 200

6 The Bible - tiny semi "Yes", did read about 50 pages...

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare - Yes, if MacBeth and The Sonnets count as "complete"

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell - Yes

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding - Yes, in school

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley -Yes, again in school

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker -Yes

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams- Would like to, if there was an ebook

So five out of hundred, or seven to eight depending on the view. I am surprised that none of Verne's works are mentioned.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

Just out of interest, can you remember any of the other six?

....

Yep I was wondering too..


I never voted for the Bush, he was never my president!

[Xenophon]

Fifty-seven for me. But I found two things fascinating about that list: the duplications and overlap (noted up-thread), and the... strangeness... of what's included and left out. Earlier posters put it well: there are many books that seem more classic, more important (historically and culturally speaking) that just aren't on the list at all.

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).

Multiple entries for Shakespeare, but no mention of Kit Marlowe's Dr. Faustus?

On the whole, it seems like an odd basket of choices.

Xenophon

[toomanybooks]

58, but I didn't count the list duplicates twice.

[HarryT]

I suspect that a group of people have each been asked to name their five favourite books. That would account for the duplication and the somewhat odd choices.

[GeoffC]

I made 10 ... interesting no Illiad, nor Odyssey ...

[joobies]

45 so far. Have quite a few of the other books in my to be read stack on the Kindle.
Of course, that doesn't mean I have retained much. I plan to reread a few, now that I am much, much older.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

Just out of interest, can you remember any of the other six?

Originally Posted by kennyc

Yep I was wondering too.

I remember that Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father was one of them, but I can't remember any others. A search of the Virginian-Pilot website didn't turn up any kind of list of 7 books. The closest thing I could find was this list of 10 from BBC News, but I've only read half of those. Maybe this was the list in question, and my memory is a tad faulty, or perhaps the list I read was abbreviated. It has been a while since I saw the article.

1. 1984 - George Orwell (42%) READ
2. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (31%) READ
3. Ulysses - James Joyce (25%)
4. The Bible (24%) READ
5. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (16%)
6. A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking (15%) READ
7. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie (14%)
8. In Remembrance of Things Past - Marcel Proust (9%)
9. Dreams from My Father - Barack Obama (6%) READ
10. The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins (6%)

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

That seems unfair on yourself and many of your fellow countrymen. The U.S. certainly has no monopoly on stupidity...

I don't know; for a first world country, we're pretty dumb. According to Gallup:

* Nearly half of us believe the world is less than 10,000 years old.

* 24 percent of us can't say from which country we gained our independence.

* 18% of us believe the sun orbits the earth.

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

I'm pretty sure it's rife everywhere. Example; my mother still tells the story of how she overheard two people talking on a bus. One of them said, and my mother swears that this is true;

"I read a book once...it was green"

I read a two-volume set once -- and it was green (The Annotated Sherlock Holmes)

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

I made 10 ... interesting no Illiad, nor Odyssey ...

Two more books I've read. Why weren't they on the list?

[GeoffC]

...and how many consider the earth is flat ?

[Patricia]

I've read 69.

There are some annoying duplications (#14 Complete Shakespeare includes #98 Hamlet).
I'm surprised that there's no Balzac on the list, nor any Proust.