100 Books - how are you doing?

[robnplunder]

15 and I have no immediate plan to increase the number. 25 if I count movies I saw .

 

[Bestwifeever]

The article said Amazon's editors came up with the list. They have a fiction editor, a young adult books editor, a children's book editor, etc., etc., so maybe equal slots were given to each editor. Charming as it is, I don't think most of us will be checking out The Very Hungry Caterpillar from the library, for example....

 

[Skyward1]

I read an article about this yesterday and one of the quotes that stood out to me was by an editor at Amazon that said basically they made an effort not to make this a list of, to paraphrase her, books that feel like you are eating your veggies or doing homework. I remember reading "A Brief History of Time" many years ago and it certainly felt like that to me. It was a bit of a slog to get through but maybe I should dig it out and give it another try.

 

[scrabbler1]

If I exclude a few books I had to read (but might not have actually done so) in high school, I have read 2 of them, "Moneyball" and "World According to Garp," both in the last 18 months. The books on the list are not my kind of books. When I saw how big that Caro book about Bob Moses was, I found a smaller book (about 150 pages?) which summarized the Caro book, like a glorified Cliff Notes.

The only book on the list I have not read but might consider one day is "All the President's Men."

 

[NW-Bound]

Hmm... Nothing from Solzhenitsyn, Tolstoy, Victor Hugo, John le Carré, etc...

 

[Meadbh]

Hmm... Nothing from Solzhenitsyn, Tolstoy, Victor Hugo, John le Carré, etc...

Nothing from Heaney, Years, Binchy, Shaw, Wilde....

We all bring our cultural context to our lists. The Amazon list is worthwhile reading, but it's predominantly Anglo-American. And there's nothing wrong with that, so long as we understand that this is an American company marketing to Americans.

http://www.cbc.ca/books/2014/02/ama...ead-in-a-lifetime-how-many-have-you-read.html

Below is a similar list from Ireland. I have read 33 of them. There is no overlap with Amazon's list.

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1690.Best_Irish_Books

My point is that a list is just a list. There are no "best books", only many thousands of great books.

 

[Gumby]

My point is that a list is just a list. There are no "best books", only many thousands of great books.

Right on the money.

Edit to add: And consider as well all the great books that were written in a language we don't understand and have never been translated into one we do.

 

[MichaelB]

I enjoy these lists because they always give me good new candidates for my reading.

 

[splitwdw]

I've read a few on the list but I'm more into history, technical or reference books.

 

[Sarah in SC]

I like Gumby's list. There are a few I've read, more that I haven't, but the ones I have read I would agree are important works of fiction.
Like HFWR, I read a lot of non fiction, but it is good to stretch the muscles every now and again. DH is more of a fiction reader; I will share both lists with him.

 

[steelyman]

Good list, Gumby. Now I have more Kindle titles - I love that thing.

 

[traineeinvestor]

Kind of a weird list and to some extent or another as subjective as all the other lists of "must read" or "best" books that people put together.

 

[HFWR]

I can't believe that one of the great authors of our time did not make the list...

 

[Mr. Paul]

Here's a few that would definitely be on my list.

To Kill a Mockingbird ... H. Lee
Grapes of Wrath ... J. Steinbeck
Desert Solitaire ... E. Abbey
Pillars of the Earth ... K. Follett
Stars my Destination ... A. Bester
Endurance ... F A Worsley
Stranger in a Strange Land ... R. Heinlen
Foundation series ... I. Asimov
Touching the Void ... J Simpson
My First Summer in The Sierra ... J Muir
Garden of Rama ... A C Clarke
Into Thin Air ... J Krakauer
The Hobbit JRR Tolkein
Catcher in The Rye ... J R Salinger
The Worst Journey in The World ... A Cherry-Gerrard
Robinson Crusoe ... D Defoe
Ender's Game ... O S Card

 

[Ronstar]

I think I've read 4 and those were many years ago for high school / college classes.

 

[splitwdw]

Wonder if the list was made up by the number of books NOT selling.

 

[donheff]

I think I read 37 but that is including Guns, Germs and Steel which no one really reads. Pretty random list.

 

[MRG]

Not really understanding Amazon's criteria in selection. Have read about 25 or so, very few of the books have stuck with me or really had much to recommend them beyond bathroom stall reading matter. OTOH, when I tried to read a Harry Potter book it was just beyond me - Dr. Seuss books felt like they were written from a more adult perspective and I had more respect for that author - so maybe I'm a really poor judge of good books..

Dr. Seuss had some great books. Think 'Oh the Places You'll Go' should be required reading for all.

I've read many on this list, some we're required reading in school, but I had read them years before the classes I took required them.

I just recently read 1984 for probably the 25th time. It still fascinates me. Sad many schools don't require it any more. The youngest person that told me she had read it, claimed since it was 1984 her instructor made it required for that year.
MRG