Seriously thoughtful Have you read 6 of those 100?

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by dreams

Nice idea How about something like this?

The MR International Essential Books of all Time List suggestions. (Fiction) [Non-discussion Thread]

and a second thread or in the same thread....

The MR International Essential Books of all Time List suggestions. (Non-Fiction)[Non-discussion Thread]


*[Separate threads in: English forum / German forum / French forum - Language forums can contain suggestions from other languages ie., Spanish in the English forum etc.]

*List no more than 5 essential books and the universal aspect of each that makes it qualify as an essential book (in your opinion).


To keep the thread on topic of lists and aspects of universal appeal, and not digress into various side debates of another member's personal listed choices, the thread title could state; Non-discussion Thread.

I'd be interested to see what the compilation of the 3 separate language forums would be.

Thanks for the suggestions Dreams. I think I'll start this thread this evening (UK time). I will need to ask for volunteers to help with the French and German forum versions (I'm English, remember - we don't learn languages, we just speak English very...slowly...and....LOUDLY to those pesky foreigners )

[Juliette]

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - NO
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien - YES
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte - YES
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling - YES
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - NO
TOTAL SO FAR: 3

6 The Bible -- YES
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte - NO
8 1984 - George Orwell - YES
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman - YES
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - YES
TOTAL SO FAR: 7

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott - YES
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy - YES
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller -
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare -
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier -
TOTAL SO FAR: 9

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien YES
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk -
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger YES
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger - YES
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot -
TOTAL SO FAR: 12

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 - YES
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - YES
TOTAL SO FAR: 14

26 Tess Of The D'Urbervilles - - - - - - - YES
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky- YES
28 Grapes of Wrath YES
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - YES
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - YES
TOTAL SO FAR: 19

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy -YES
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens - YES
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - YES
34 Emma - Jane Austen -
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen -
TOTAL SO FAR: 22

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis - YES
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossein -
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres -
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden -
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne -
TOTAL SO FAR: 23

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell - YES
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown - YES
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez -
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving -
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins -
TOTAL SO FAR: 25

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 - YES
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan -
TOTAL SO FAR: 26

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel - YES
52 Dune - Frank Herbert -YES
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons -
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen -
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth -
TOTAL SO FAR: 28

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon -
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens -
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley -YES
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon - YES
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - YES
TOTAL SO FAR: 31

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck - YES
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov -
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt -
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold -
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas - YES
TOTAL SO FAR: 33

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac -
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy -
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding -
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie -
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville - YES
TOTAL SO FAR: 34

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens -
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker -YES
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett - YES
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson -
75 Ulysses - James Joyce -YES
TOTAL SO FAR: 37

76 The Inferno - Dante - YES
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome -
78 Germinal - Emile Zola -
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray -
80 Possession - AS Byatt -
TOTAL SO FAR: 38

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - YES
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell -
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker -
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro -YES
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert -
TOTAL SO FAR: 40

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry -
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White -
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom -
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -YES
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton -
TOTAL SO FAR: 41

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad - YES
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery -YES
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks -
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams-
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole -
TOTAL SO FAR: 43

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute -
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas -
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare - YES
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - YES
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo -YES
TOTAL SO FAR: 46

Ow.

[Gideon]

31...

Why some of them are on there is beyond me, though...

[Juliette]

Originally Posted by Gideon

31...

Why some of them are on there is beyond me, though...

The definition of classic isn't always correct, I suppose

[Bob Russell]

Only 16, but many more I've started and not finished because I didn't like them.

The list itself strikes me as a bit odd in the selections, but I suppose it's so arbitrary that it would be hard to create any version of the list that wouldn't seem odd in one way or another.

All in all, very interesting...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

Thanks for the suggestions Dreams. I think I'll start this thread this evening (UK time). I will need to ask for volunteers to help with the French and German forum versions (I'm English, remember - we don't learn languages, we just speak English very...slowly...and....LOUDLY to those pesky foreigners )

There is already a thread of this nature on the "Reading Recommendations" forum, which is the appropriate place for it. No need for a duplicate.

[Eddie]

46. Too many Jane Austen and Charles Dickens books in that list, and a lot of weird choices and authors I never heard of. Heading off to Wikipedia...

[later edit] It's actually part of the Big Read list, which was a survey who tried to find the UK's best-loved books of all time. No wonder Austen and Dickens are so prominently featured...

[Juliette]

Originally Posted by Eddie

46. Too many Jane Austen books in that list, and a lot of weird choices and authors I never heard of. Heading off to Wikipedia...

You're right, too much Jane Austen

[HarryT]

One can never have too much Austen and Dickens .

[Juliette]

Then again, you can't have too many books

[kacir]

What is the difference between book number 26 and 12?

By the way, I have counted 29, but I might have read more of those while I was reading in my mother language - the names of books are sometimes translated in a strange way. For example A town like Alice was published here under name A town like Alice Springs

[Juliette]

Originally Posted by kacir

What is the difference between book number 26 and 12?

By the way, I have counted 29, but I might have read more of those while I was reading in my mother language - the names of books are sometimes translated in a strange way. For example A town like Alice was published here under name A town like Alice Springs

The Catcher in the Rye is translated in Italian as Young Holden... so I feel your pain

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There is already a thread of this nature on the "Reading Recommendations" forum, which is the appropriate place for it. No need for a duplicate.

Hmmm...OK, thanks Harry - consider me slapped down.

When are they going to publish the results?

Oh, and good of you not to link to that thread so that we all have the fun of trying to find it!

[narbeauchamp]

I remember going through this list a few months ago,the way things are counted is a bit off,ie Hamlet is technically listed twice.But I was probably at around 78 or so (I'd have to go on FB and search for it probably ) ,I think there are some things that I am working through on various reading lists...I always enjoy seeing these "How many of these books have you read" type lists....

[phenomshel]

Total : 25