07 November 2012

Book Riot's Top 50 Books (Are def. not mine)

Awhile ago Book Riot solicited our favorite 3 books, and then compiled them all into a list and behold! That list is here! Along with the ones I've read in bold and some commentary. (I blame today's bandwagon-jumping on Laura and Red. And my inability to avoid a good book list.) Read count: 22

1. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (126 votes) *I get extra points for having read this as an adult.
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen   *Anyone shocked by this? ::crickets::
3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte  *Oh Jane. I love your pious little plain self
4. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling 
5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald *YESSSSS THANK YOU are you taking notice, former students? Also, hey Jay Gatsby - call me!
6 . The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien *UGHHH I have opinions about this series and most of them boil down to: Tolkien's editor was terrible at his job.
7. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell *I love this book so hard. It's the one of mine that made the list.
8. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte *Dear characters in this book: I hate you all.
9. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak *I LIKED IT OKAY LAURA?
10. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
11. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
12. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
13. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
14. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
15. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut *Never read any Vonnegut. Dunno if I will.
16. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving *The only person who can speak in all caps without shouting on the internet is dead.
17. The Stand by Stephen King
18. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien 
19. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy *I've read half of this and it was amazing.
20. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
21. Persuasion by Jane Austen
22. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
23. The Brothers Karamozov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
24. The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon *Please let's fetishize more Scotsman. I like gingers.
25. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
26. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
27. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger *What is WRONG with you people? This book was hooooorrible!
28. American Gods by Neil Gaiman *Not his best - not by a long shot. Read Neverwhere instead.
29. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas *This book makes the angels sing do-wop music in the angel shower.
30. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
31. 1984 by George Orwell
32. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
33. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott *Confession: I hate Jo and what she did to Laurie. HATE.
34. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
35. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
36. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
37. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams
38. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov *A not-ex has memorized the first line of this and used to quote it often. Not an incentive to 1)date him and 2)read the book, but did I do it any way? Yes I did. #occasionallynotthesharpesttool
39. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier *YESSSS one of the best ever.
40. Ulysses by James Joyce *This is a joke. No one loves Ulysses that much. Stop trying to look smart, Book Riot - we're all readers here, and everyone's read Flowers in the Attic.
41. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
42. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky *Nope. Too self-indulgent (literally - ew!)
43. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
44. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
45. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
46. Dune by Frank Herbert
47. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
48. Les Miserablesby Victor Hugo
49.The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern *My opinions on this book are: it was not so great.
50. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (13 votes) *This is SO MUCH BETTER than The Night Circus. SO MUCH.

The other two of mine that didn't make the list are: The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton and The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy. I KNOW how pretentious that sounds, but it's true.

Comments (19)

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BOOO IntenseDebate! What a dick that program can be. >.>

I definitely get the Book Thief hate, but I'd MUCH rather teach that to HS freshman than Night, which - while it has the benefit of being true - is soooooo hard for them to understand.

And TTW - just because a book makes you cry doesn't mean it's GOOD, okay Readerland?

Your science is profound and accurate. Maybe they all voted for the same 3 books in a giant Cabal of Snooty Readers.
*mutters about Pride and Prejudice being good but not THAT good*

Time Traveler's Wife is the worst. It was the book I ranted about before Twilight came along. I haaaaaaate it, mostly because it could've been great, but she took her awesome concept and just twisted it into an enormous ball of suck.

Also, read Ender's Game. No one doesn't like Ender's Game.
5 replies · active 646 weeks ago
BLASPHEMER! But yes, I agree. The older I get, the more distanced I become from our worthy Jane.

Uuuggghhhh just remembering that book makes me itchy. What a great concept! But what shitty execution. Plus, I *felt* manipulated at the end, which isn't really the goal. Good writing manipulates your emotions without you noticing.

Ender's Game is on my list even though Orson Scott Card is a nut bar and a dickbag: http://gawker.com/5031093/orson-scott-card-betray...
Noooooooooooooooo, I wish I had never clicked on that link. Ender's Game and its series is my favourite and aaarg how could the author be the same guy? Sadness.
I KNOW!! And apparently he also ranted about Obama winning the election yesterday. It's so upsetting when a good author turns out to be a bad person.
I try to ignore everything OSC says so I may enjoy Ender's Game. I haven't yet been able to bring myself to read his other Ender books because of his dickbag comments.
I've read them up to and including Children of the Mind and they are just so, so good. I really love them. This is the worst development. I'mma go ahead and assume OSC's been infiltrated by an alien brain parasite. One of the ones with tentacles.
Everyone loves lists!! And I heart your comments for each book. The best.

I agree so much with your Tolkien comments because why was there are 2 page description of smoke coming out of a random chimney, that was not necessary JRR
Ulysses is a lie. No one loves Ulysses.
6 replies · active 646 weeks ago
Ugh Tolkein. And the movies weren't much better with their endless walking -across-the-screen. I get that it's a long way from Here to There, but really? I don't even think I saw the last one.

You are correct. It's possible to *like* Ulysses, but not to love it. It's not a lovable book.
I have to call shenanigans on the LotR movies not being much better than the books cos the movies? Amazing.
WHO names nearly all of their (very few) female characters all names that start with "A"? And then names the two Big Bads "Saruman" and "Sauron"?!? I can't even deal. Mr Tolkein, Charles Linnaeus you are NOT.

But I could probably watch Viggo Mortenson again. Mmmm.
I think all of the details like "names" and "character development" were low on Tolkein's priority list. Making up songs was very high.
Accurate. I am definitely looking forward to the actual singing of songs in The Hobbit.
Fuck those fucking songs. *DIES* (Having said that, I do like the LOTR books. As long as I skip the songs and forget that Tom Bombadil exists.)
LISTS! BOOKS! Good things.

And yes to "I get extra points for having read this as an adult." re: #1 because I also read it as an adult and points are good things to have.
2 replies · active 646 weeks ago
I will now arbitrarily double your points.
I have read TKAM about 4 times as an adult, can I have points too?!
I enjoy your list comments for they are less mean and more proper opiniony than mine. Nice work! Now, let's see... *cracks knuckles*

IT IS NOT OK THAT YOU LIKE THE BOOK THIEF
PERKS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL
Yessssssss Gone With The Wind. I BADLY need to reread.
Slaughterhouse 5 was ok. I kind of need to reread that too.
YOU CAN'T HATE JO FOR NOT BEING IN LOVE WITH LAURIE!!! I just hate that he married Amy. Who is the WORST.

I should stop now. Cause this is bad. But... Read The Handmaid's Tale, ok?!

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