Lit Nets Top 100 Books Official List

[Hank Stamper]

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

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

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.

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

[Dark Muse]

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

[Hank Stamper]

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

[bazarov]

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

You are right about that; but nobody said that.

[Kafka's Crow]

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

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?

[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.

[Zee.]

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

haha, we're even then.

[bazarov]

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

And I disagree.

[Dr. Hill]

You may...

[bazarov]

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

[Virgil]

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.

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

[prendrelemick]

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

[Tallon]

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

[prendrelemick]

Taste is a matter of taste.

[Tallon]

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