Lit Nets Top 100 Books Official List

I've only read 52. Of the remaining books, I only want to read about half of them. The list is interesting, although I agree with JBI that it is skewed (what list of such a manner isn't?) and a bit predictable (with all the Dostoevsky and Orwell fanatics... er, "fans"). The biggest void, as JBI points out, is the absolute dearth of lyric poetry... but then again, as a regular participant in the poetry discussions, this is no surprise, either. The other great "flaw", if we can call it that, is certainly the lack of cultural balance. Not a single non-Western book!? Only one book from Latin-America... and its not even something by Borges or Neruda? Still I wouldn't find fault with the notion that most of these books are worth reading, and it does offer a bit of an insight into the reading habits of the LitNetters. Good job, Dark Muse... I wouldn't wish to have had to organize the same myself.

Granted, most of the people that participated haven't read nearly as much as posters like JBI and stlukesguild. Which is why I avoided contributing anything to the list, I haven't even read twenty of the novels that actually made it onto the list.

But of course it's just the LitNet list, so it's going to be a reflection of the tastes of the forum members here, not necessarily of any sort of objective academic ranking of important literature from around the world. It's just the favorite books of LitNet users.

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Originally Posted by limajean

Great Expectations left a terrible taste in my mouth...

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And I hate Ayn Rand more than just about any writer I've ever read!

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Originally Posted by PabloQ

DM, just out of curiosity, did you keep track of how many Lit Netters contributed to the list?
Of course, the next mature step will be for us to start telling each other how stupid we are for ranking x over y. Wait for it. It's coming.

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No, I did not count, exzactly how many memebers voted

Haha, yes I think Stlukes and JBI will begin the wtich hunt shortly. LOL I knew I could rely upon them to have something critical to say.

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Originally Posted by JBI

It is hardly balanced - where are any of the world books - like I said, not one Canadian book, and that is even a country that speaks English! There is clearly no balancing in terms of ethnicity - maybe in terms of time-scope, but really, I doubt if we took another test in 10 years, half the contemporary books would be on it, given the change in tastes over time. I'm just peeved that nothing international that isn't a rather cliché choice made the list. As it is, the modernist ones, and contemporary ones, all seem to be English books, and from England or the UK.

Lets be honest - what is the better work of world literature, the Poems of a Thousand Masters by various poets from the Tang and Sung Dynasty of China, or Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. Who is more central, Yukio Mashima, or Heller? Seriously, who is the better writer, Virginia Woolf, or Patrick Suskind?

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I see what you mean and I agree with you. When I said it is balanced, I have in mind the time period the books were written in. Yes, probably after ten years some of the them wouldn't be in the top 100, but of course this list is bound to change. First of all, all members who voted are going to read many more books from now on and I am sure they will find at least 2-3, which are better.

There is something else. Thinking that one actually votes for the best book is maybe rather unreal. To be honest nobody can say what the best book is, one votes for the books that are his personal favourites, for the ones that managed to impress the reader most, for the ones that were most influential. That is also bound to change in time. For example there are books that I don't really like the first time I read, but after some time passes I find out that they have actually impressed me and my mind keeps dwelling upon them. For me this makes a book rather good in spite of the fact that while reading it I've found the characters rather unconvincing, the style tiring, the plot dull or whatever. For me if one book is influential it is good.

Still this thinking is reminding me of your amazement there is not a single poetry book, because indeed what can be more influential than poetry. But I didn't see any short stories too (if we don't count Kafka's Metamorphosis, which I've seen to be classified as one, but I don't really think it is a very good classification). So this isn't the only strange exception, right? But to be honest when I hear "the best book I've ever read" I never think of poetry first, I start thinking about novels. That's not because I don't like or I don't read poetry it's just the way my mind works and I am sure there are other people who do the same. So no matter how stupid it sounds maybe some of us didn't think of it, God knows I didn't :D:blush: But then there is the question can you put poetry and prose of any kind in one list? For me they are different universes, so I can't do it, but I suppose there are others, too.

As for the English literature I have no explanation and I can't argue at all.

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Originally Posted by bazarov

Because too many people come here, leave 20 posts and then disappear. Members with more then 500 posts (that's an example) (without those ''General Chat'' freaks, there are members with 5000 posts and I never seen them in General Literature section) are true members of this forum and thread is called Lit Nets Top...
Of course, don't be offended with that; it's not your fault you just discovered this site :D

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but it still doesnt make their opinion any less valid. the fact they 'disappear' might simply mean they have better things to do than hang around on message boards arguing about, say, a popularity contest ;)

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Originally Posted by JBI

Because, look how many people left just this post, or very little else - or who just came in here to ask a question about a book their teacher assigned, left their top 10, and vanished.

In truth, it would be interesting on many levels a) to see how reading these boards has effected ones judgment and value of literature, b) how, I would say, more established readers (being that they have been reading for longer, or more books) choose books verses beginner (I hate to use that term though) readers value books.

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but my point is just because you have more posts doesn't mean you are a more 'established reader'

I can soemwhat see what JBI is saying here, though I would not nessciarly consider membership on this forum to be a mark of ones reading habbits, but if there are those that are voting who do not actively participate on the forum, then it can detract on how reperesentive the list is of this forum bored, if some of the votes have been affected by only one time posters

if they have contributed their top 10, i would say that is actively participating ;)

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Originally Posted by Hank Stamper

but my point is just because you have more posts doesn't mean you are a more 'established reader'

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You are right about that; but nobody said that. :)

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Originally Posted by Mopey Droney

And I hate Ayn Rand more than just about any writer I've ever read!

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I never said that, did I? I've been holding this back all day!!! And The Kite Runner makes it into this list! Where is Umberto Eco? Where is Samuel Beckett? No non-fiction either! The list goes on. It is better to accept an imperfect list than to hope for a perfect one. stlukesguild, hope you are not calling me a Dostoevsky 'fan'. I just worship him which is a bit different from being a 'fan.' I wish The Brothers Karamazov was No.1. Well you can't have everything, can you?

Crime and Punishment was better than the Brothers Karamazov. I worship Dostoevsky, and I believe Raskolnikov wins the best character of all time award.

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Originally Posted by Mopey Droney

And I hate Ayn Rand more than just about any writer I've ever read!

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haha, we're even then.

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Originally Posted by Dr. Hill

Crime and Punishment was better than the Brothers Karamazov. I worship Dostoevsky, and I believe Raskolnikov wins the best character of all time award.

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And I disagree.

You may...

I know :D
Maybe better character, but not a better novel.

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Originally Posted by stlukesguild

The biggest void, as JBI points out, is the absolute dearth of lyric poetry... but then again, as a regular participant in the poetry discussions, this is no surprise, either.

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Lyric poetry was consciously not included. Actually the original idea was to only do novels, and yet plays and epic poetry got in.

Out of interest, here is a 2003 recent national survey of the favourite books in Britain

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

At least our list isn't full of kids books and rubbish. Those mystery voters who contribute nothing at least had good taste!

Taste is a matter of taste.

Yes it is. But nobody really likes Jeffery Archer do they? I refuse to believe it.

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Originally Posted by Virgil

Lyric poetry was consciously not included. Actually the original idea was to only do novels, and yet plays and epic poetry got in.

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Yes, that is true. When I first started this project it was with novels in mind, but when others started to inquire abotu wanting to include plays, poetry, and such, I decided I would open the playing field. Since this list was for the Members here, I would not exlcude the choices they wanted to include.

But if there had been any bodies of poetry which had enough votes, I would have included it over a novel with less favor.

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Originally Posted by Tallon

Yes it is. But nobody really likes Jeffery Archer do they? I refuse to believe it.

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you got me there:lol:

oh geesh this list is putting pressure on me, esp. since i think i read only about 8 or so books of the above list..

do you think students who are doing English in uni should read a lot of these books? i just cnt find the time, between reading the texts for uni and reading other stuffs..

ooh haha just saw the post above me,

me. i love jeffrey archer and john grisham too..

Where is Umberto Eco? Where is Samuel Beckett?

Indeed! But then again where is William Blake, Italo Calvino, J.L. Borges, and Baudelaire!?!

No non-fiction either! The list goes on.

Yes! Give me Montaigne's essays, Rousseau's Confessions, Emerson's essays, and Pater, Ruskin, DeQuincy, and Charles Lamb.

It is better to accept an imperfect list than to hope for a perfect one.

At least it's more realistic.

stlukesguild, hope you are not calling me a Dostoevsky 'fan'. I just worship him which is a bit different from being a 'fan.' I wish The Brothers Karamazov was No.1. Well you can't have everything, can you?

Don't get me wrong. I quite like Dostoevsky... and certainly find the Brothers Karamazov to have been one of the greatest novels I have read... but there are others that I like as much or more.

Lyric poetry was consciously not included. Actually the original idea was to only do novels, and yet plays and epic poetry got in.

Why? Baudelair'e Les Fleurs du Mal, Whitman's Leaves of Grass, Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience, Neruda's Residence on Earth, Montale's Cuttlefish Bones, Petrarch's Canzoniere, Spenser's Amoretti and Epithalimion and even Shakespeare's Sonnets were intended as a unified volume... a "book".

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Originally Posted by stlukesguild;653378[COLOR="DarkRed"

No non-fiction either! The list goes on.[/COLOR]

Yes! Give me Montaigne's essays, Rousseau's Confessions, Emerson's essays, and Pater, Ruskin, DeQuincy, and Charles Lamb.[/COLOR]

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Montaigne's essays did squeak in toward the end of the list.

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Originally Posted by stlukesguild

Why? Baudelair'e Les Fleurs du Mal, Whitman's Leaves of Grass, Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience, Neruda's Residence on Earth, Montale's Cuttlefish Bones, Petrarch's Canzoniere, Spenser's Amoretti and Epithalimion and even Shakespeare's Sonnets were intended as a unified volume... a "book".

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Leaves of Grass was in consideration, but it just did not get enough votes to get it in.

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Originally Posted by bazarov

I know :D
Maybe better character, but not a better novel.

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I just finished The Brothers Karamazov, literally last night. I loved it, absolutely loved it. I adored Alyosha for his kind heartedness and I thought Dostoevsky's presentation of Good and Evil was about as spot on as anyone has ever gotten, but Crime and Punishment affected me on a new level. I read it once, on my own in a few weeks last January. Then I read it again because I discovered it to be on my summer reading list for AP English.

This time, I read it in one day. 12 hours of reading Crime and Punishment, and when I put the book down, I felt the most contemptuous I have ever felt, in a brilliant new way. I hated everything about humanity and wished to escape the world forever. Upon thinking about it more, of course, I realized its more optimistic themes, but I was so affected by Dostoevsky's tortured character that I felt like him, I felt like Raskolnikov sleeping in rags and cursing the stupidity of humanity. It was absolutely surreal.

So I can't say any other book has garnered such a reaction from me before or since, and I doubt that one will arise.

No. 59 on the list, "Fictions". Is that the one by Borges?

Ah, yes it is. I should have included that. I will ammend the list now.

I would like to give kudos to Dark Nuse for doing all the hard work in collating and tabulating all the votes. This was a lot of work. Thank you Dark Muse. You just provided Lit Net with a invaluable service. :thumbs_up :)

You are quite welcome, and regardless of discrepancies some people have over what made it to the list I am grateful for everyone's appreciation in putting it together. It was fun even if tedious at times.

Just give the whiners raspberries, Dark.

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Originally Posted by Dr. Hill

I just finished The Brothers Karamazov, literally last night. I loved it, absolutely loved it. I adored Alyosha for his kind heartedness and I thought Dostoevsky's presentation of Good and Evil was about as spot on as anyone has ever gotten, but Crime and Punishment affected me on a new level. I read it once, on my own in a few weeks last January. Then I read it again because I discovered it to be on my summer reading list for AP English.

This time, I read it in one day. 12 hours of reading Crime and Punishment, and when I put the book down, I felt the most contemptuous I have ever felt, in a brilliant new way. I hated everything about humanity and wished to escape the world forever. Upon thinking about it more, of course, I realized its more optimistic themes, but I was so affected by Dostoevsky's tortured character that I felt like him, I felt like Raskolnikov sleeping in rags and cursing the stupidity of humanity. It was absolutely surreal.

So I can't say any other book has garnered such a reaction from me before or since, and I doubt that one will arise.

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If you think you are quite done with Dostoevsky, think twice because you are not. You have not met Lyov Nikolayevich Myshkin or 'Prince Myshkin' yet. Read The Idiot and it will change you forever. These are life-changing books. If you think Alyosha Karamazov is good and you like him, what do you think of Ivan Karamazov? Karamazov is a BIG book in every sense. It is not about one character, it is about humanity or, on a lower level, the turbulent Russia of Dostoevsky's time. As one of the characters says, "Europeans have their Hamlets, us Russians have our Karamazovs." It is about the good, the bad and the in-between, it is about humanity showing its different facets in different characters. I like Crime and Punishment, it is Dostoevsky's Macbeth, racey, fast-paced and ruthless. I rate it below Karamazov (for its huge scope), and The Idiot (for its excellent characterization). Then there is the scandalous nameless narrator in Notes from the Underground. He is in a league of his own as well. As far as Dostoevsky is concerned, things only get better. There are no 'minor' works. Each one of his books and stories stand tall on their own merits and can challenge the best for what they are good at.

Great job, DM! :thumbs_up

Four out of the five books I had nominated have entered the list! A pity the fifth one couldn't make it (The Hotel New Hampshire is much better in my opinion than some of the classics included, but well that's just my opinion. And I guess would be quite sacrilegious (couldn't think of a better word) one too...how dare I compare a classic with some other book? :p).

But still the list is good enough. Am delighted that books like The Magus, Middlesex, The Kite Runner and Lord of the Flies are also present. There are also some that are on my 'to read' list. BTW I have only read twenty-three.

*edit to add*
Am glad to see no Paulo Coelho and Gabriel García Márquez in the list though I miss Rushdie and Irving!

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Originally Posted by Pensive

*edit to add*
Am glad to see no Paulo Coelho and Gabriel García Márquez in the list though I miss Rushdie and Irving!

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I think Marquez made it. I am sure I saw "100 years of solitude" somewhere. I don't regret this one though :D

edit: yes, it's 32.

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Originally Posted by Kafka's Crow

If you think you are quite done with Dostoevsky, think twice because you are not. the in-between, it is about humanity showing its different facets in different characters. I like Crime and Punishment, it is Dostoevsky's Macbeth, racey, fast-paced and ruthless. I rate it below Karamazov (for its huge scope), and The Idiot (for its excellent characterization). Then there is the scandalous nameless narrator in Notes from the Underground. He is in a league of his own as well. As far as Dostoevsky is concerned, things only get better. There are no 'minor' works. Each one of his books and stories stand tall on their own merits and can challenge the best for what they are good at.

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What Kafka said. Also, there several writers of classics I respect that say The Demons (also titled the The Possessed depending on who did the translating) was better than all of them.

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Originally Posted by promtbr

What Kafka said. Also, there several writers of classics I respect that say [The Demons (also titled the The Possessed depending on who did the translating) was better than all of them.

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Next on my reading list, definitely next on my reading list!

I've read 21 fully, and parts of about 4 :) Thanks for compiling list.

Metemorphosis- is that The Metamorphosis or Ovid's Metamorphoses?

How many votes did the top and bottom get? I only remember some of the titles being mentioned about once.

I fail to see how Mockingbird is better than Lolita, but I guess the list only indicates popularity. Slightly annoyed that Brideshead Revisited is so low- it's just so quintessentially English :)

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Originally Posted by Kafka's Crow

If you think you are quite done with Dostoevsky, think twice because you are not. You have not met Lyov Nikolayevich Myshkin or 'Prince Myshkin' yet. Read The Idiot and it will change you forever. These are life-changing books. If you think Alyosha Karamazov is good and you like him, what do you think of Ivan Karamazov? Karamazov is a BIG book in every sense. It is not about one character, it is about humanity or, on a lower level, the turbulent Russia of Dostoevsky's time. As one of the characters says, "Europeans have their Hamlets, us Russians have our Karamazovs." It is about the good, the bad and the in-between, it is about humanity showing its different facets in different characters. I like Crime and Punishment, it is Dostoevsky's Macbeth, racey, fast-paced and ruthless. I rate it below Karamazov (for its huge scope), and The Idiot (for its excellent characterization). Then there is the scandalous nameless narrator in Notes from the Underground. He is in a league of his own as well. As far as Dostoevsky is concerned, things only get better. There are no 'minor' works. Each one of his books and stories stand tall on their own merits and can challenge the best for what they are good at.

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I've read: (In order of greatness, lol)

Crime and Punishment
The Brothers Karamazov
Notes from Underground
The Idiot
Poor Folk
The House of the Dead
The Gambler
The Double

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Originally Posted by kelby_lake

I've read 21 fully, and parts of about 4 :) Thanks for compiling list.

Metemorphosis- is that The Metamorphosis or Ovid's Metamorphoses?

How many votes did the top and bottom get? I only remember some of the titles being mentioned about once.

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It would the The Metamophosis by Kafka

The top ten books had:

1:17
2:14
3 & 4:13
5, 6, 7: 12
8: 11
9 & 10: 10

Most the chunk in the middle had between 8-5

Then 4-3

and after I went through all the 3's the list had not yet completed 100, so some of the very last had 2

Congratulations Muse for finally completing the list!! You put a lot of time and effort into it! Weldone!
I've read 24 of them.