Lit Nets Top 100 Books Official List

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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.

heh, I'm proud of myself...I've read/am reading 24 :eek2:.

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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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Blasphemy!!!

Demons are good, but nowhere near Crime and Punishment or Idiot.
It's not just my personal opinion; Crime and Punishment is 1st on this list and Idiot is 26th. That's surely not a coincidence, amount of bookworms votes makes it very objective.

May I ask what classics said that?

But please, read Demons; I've finished rereading it last week and it's really great and interesting.

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Originally Posted by Psycheinaboat

Just give the whiners raspberries, Dark.

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Oooooo....raspberries!

Now's the time when I remember to thank DarkMuse.
Thank you, Darkmuse!

So now I can whine more! Yay!

I find it a bit curious that out of Hesses works, Siddharta made it into the list. What about "Glass Bead Game"? "Demian"? "Steppenwulf"? Well, Siddharta was okay, but I wouldn't have thought of it as his best.


Still, I wonder what would be THE PERFECT LIST for books by those members who seem to be lit-majors or something similar.

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Originally Posted by Taliesin

I find it a bit curious that out of Hesses works, Siddharta made it into the list. What about "Glass Bead Game"? "Demian"? "Steppenwulf"? Well, Siddharta was okay, but I wouldn't have thought of it as his best.

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Steppenwulf, and The Glass Bead Game were nominated, they just did not make enough to get on the list.

I have to say personally I thought Siddhartha was amazing, it is ranked among my favorites. Though I have not read much by Hesse besides that.

Great List! Seems like my own tally was right!:D

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Originally Posted by Taliesin

I find it a bit curious that out of Hesses works, Siddharta made it into the list. What about "Glass Bead Game"? "Demian"? "Steppenwulf"? Well, Siddharta was okay, but I wouldn't have thought of it as his best.

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I was rather surprised by that. Probably because I don't like "Siddharta" :D I was for "Steppenwolf".
Also, I regret seeing Cunningham didn't make it. Maybe the next time :)

nice list. im new here and its my first time to post a message :D yehey! im familiar with almost all of the books on the list and i havent taken up any lit course yet. i wonder what happened to 'a seperate peace' :D
only 9 on my shelf and the count of monte cristo is the only one i was able to finish till the last page but anyway i have all the time in the world to read all of those :D

this kind of list will always be opened for debate. for me, Flaubert is by far a greater author than Dostoievsky or Orwell.

and my opinion is to put into brackets the original title of the books (for example: The Stranger I guess is Camus' L'Etranger) to avoid the association the books written in English language.

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Originally Posted by DisPater

this kind of list will always be opened for debate. for me, Flaubert is by far a greater author than Dostoievsky or Orwell.

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Question was which is the best book, not who is the best writer.

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Originally Posted by bazarov

Question was which is the best book, not who is the best writer.

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ok. "Madame Bovary" is a much greater book that "1984", "Crime and Punishment", "Les Miserables" and "Brothers Karamazov".


later edit:
I don't want to start a discussion here about which is the greatest novel and author. I just wanted to say that this kind of list always will provoke some "talks" because we all have our own personal ways to see a book.