has a group ever ranked the top books of all time?

[ucdawg12]

I'm wondering if theres a ranking out there like AFI's top 100 american movies but for books (but it doesnt have to be just american of course, it would probably be a short list lol). I'd like to see what I have missed and how the books I like compare to a list like that.

Thanks

[faith]

that would be interesting

[Capnplank]

Modern Library ranked the top 100 novels of the 20th century, with reader submissions in a list alongside it
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html

Then had rivals do the same
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100rivallist.html

The Observer ranked the top 100 novels of all time, in chronological order
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1061037,00.html


Just Google around a bit and there are probably more to be found, but these are a few that I've checked every so often.

[Diceman]

Then had rivals do the same
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100rivallist.html

I just had a gander at the readers' choices on this page.

Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead in 1 and 2, and Battlefield Earth in 3.

4 Ayn Rand books in the top 10, and 3 of Elron's as well.

Sorry kids, this list isn't valid. The Scientologists and the Rand-disciples must have gotten wind of this and voted for their gods en masse.

I'm not knocking the books - I'd have Atlas Shrugged in my own personal top 10, certainly - but I am skeptical when I am told that the average guy on the street believes that Ayn Rand and Elron Hubbard are the "best" authors this planet has ever produced.

[Capnplank]

Yeap. The real meat is of course the other list, but the reader list is entertaining at least. I've always been curious as to what group of people was responsible for that list -- if it was an online vote where some Rand fans made themselves a little vote macro or what.

[atreides]

http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100rivallist.html

sweet, a top 10 greatest books of all time list where I have actually read 7 out of the first 10 novels listed, and enjoyed all of them (except for The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath).

I've used the Observer list before, to get out books from the library that I saw on that list, but so far havent been successful in finishing most of the books I got out, I found them too boring, or too difficult to read. I took out The Tin Drum (too disturbing and weird), the 39 steps (boring action adventure), Don Quixote (didnt even start this one) and Atonement (actually finished this one, dissapointing ending, dull for the most part).

I really prefer the books on the first list.

[Capnplank]

"The Tin Drum" took me somewhere between one and three months to finish, and let me tell you, that book doesn't stop being disturbing and weird. I liked it a lot, but I just seemed to slooowly trudge through it. Did I mention it's frickin weird?

[atreides]

I saw the movie five years ago or so and it scared me :/

[bjortan]

That scene with the eels and the horse's head put me off fish for a year.

[atreides]

I didnt see all of it luckily, hearing that weird little boy scream once put me off seeing the rest of it.

*makes a note never to see it again*

[bjortan]

Oh, it's a great movie and an even better book. It's well worth seeing, and even more worth reading. It IS disturbing, but then again it's about a very disturbing period in history...