Comments on Best Books Ever - page 51

I find this list to be rather untrustworthy. I'll admit that many people find Twilight entertaining, but a literary work of art it is not... what is wrong with everyone...

Ah thanks Marla, I got excited when I saw this list and I didn't even think about the Book of Mormon until I saw that post. Hands down the best, you should give it a shot! :-)

Greg wrote: "Wow, some of these folks need to read more. Or age more. Or go to school, or something. I mean, really."

Haaaa! I totally agree! That's becasue you're an old fart like me!

I could not agree more. That fact that Twilight, Hunger Games, and Harry Potter are on the same list as Shakespeare makes me want to cry.

It's not that I have anything against any of those "franchises" (horrible word). I enjoyed the Harry potter series and haven't read the other two so can't comment - it's just that our hormonal teenage friends tend to get a bit tribal about everything, including their favourite books. I remember it well....

Amber wrote: "This list is a joke!"

I KNOWW!!

Jazmine wrote: "Twilight is the best book I've read in my entire life! It is awemazing! I love the whole saga and Edward Cullen!"

as much as you like the twilight saga, it has no literary significance, it's entertainment not literature

I agree that all the books on the list should BE on the list, but NOT in that order.

Lorena wrote: "I am rooting for "The Perks of Being a Wallflower."
I can understand how "The Book of Mormon," is on that list but before The Bible? No way..." Haha, but you must admit that the bible is a pretty good book, how can people have come up with all that stuff!?

seriously: anyone able to read the whole list? I've given up about 2000 and some. my eyes are so tired. I will not be able to read for minimum three days ...

Natalie wrote: "Marla wrote: "this is the second list--worst books was the first--and i'm done. this is madness. i mean, how many mormons congregated to vote the book of mormon as a top 100 book? really?"

nico..."

love your comment... that's exactly what I was thinking haha

"The Man in the high Castle" by Philip K. Dick. It is an existential masterpiece!

It's 1962, 15 years after America capitulated during World War II, and the strain of living under the rule of another culture is a daily fact of life in Japanese-administered California. Even a successful businessman like Robert Childan, a dealer in trendy American artifacts, worries about a misplaced word that will offend his slight-conscious customers. Like many others, Army veteran Frank Frink consults the I Ching, the ancient Oriental oracle, thankful he's not back in the German-controlled East where his fellow Jews are still enslaved. And trade attache Nobusuke Tagomi chafes over an upcoming secret meeting that could help Japan regain its technological edge.

Meanwhile, a bizarre book making the rounds explores what could have happened if the Allies had won the war. A furious German interdict only incites sales in the West, where the Japanese are merely bemused. Some, like Frank's estranged wife Juliana, become obsessed with the book; she sets off across the Rockies with the apparently like-minded Joe, intent on seeing the author, Hawthorne Abendsen, in his high castle.

scattered remains of American pride.
A Japanese America
Finally, the emphasis on the I Ching turns the book into something of a blank slate. The oracle's workings -- the distribution of stalks into patterns interpreted exhaustively in The Book of Changes -- can be seen as chance, unconscious manipulation, the passive workings of metaphysical forces, or the active intervention of the divine. Consequently, readers are free to absorb the story into a variety of contexts, based on mood or disposition -- a remarkably Zen result for a science fiction novel.

Some readers will enjoy, and others will be annoyed by, the extensive quotes from the book-within-the-book, called "The Grasshopper Lies Heavy." Though in some ways extraneous, its projection of the fallout of an Allied victory, imagined in a world where such was thought impossible, differs from our history in intriguing ways.
What is intriguing about this existential story is the term histrionic: What is "historicity"?''When a thing has history in it. Listen. One of those two Zippo lighters was in Franklin D. Roosevelt's pocket when he was assassinated. And one wasn't. One has historicity, a hell of a lot of it. As much as any object ever had. And one has nothing .... You can't tell which is which. There's no "mystical plasmic presence", no "aura" around it.
[The Man in the High Castle, pages 65-66]
If history is 'in the mind, not in the gun', then it is hard to establish the primacy of one timeline over another. The tendency when we encounter the 'alternate history within an alternate history' of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy is to assume that Abendsen has somehow stumbled upon 'the real history' of the twentieth century; but in terms of the fictive logic of the book the Axis victory is the 'real history', and Abendsen's version only 'in the mind'. Because the book links its meditations all along to Frink's difficulties in establishing himself as a maker of authentic American jewellery -- as a creative artist, in other words, like Abendsen -- Dick is actually exploring the ways in which the 'in the mind' reality of history is in fact creative.Memory is another form of history, and a notoriously unreliable one... The point, not laboured but explored thoroughly, is that, by extension, no form of history is reliable; all is relative.
But the greatest pleasures in Dick's novel are not to be found on the 'surface' level of thriller, on-the-run-from-the-Nazis adventure story or spy tale, well-handled as those elements are. Instead the balance of image, symbol and theme registers itself as a wonderfully modulated harmony throughout the text. Indeed, the semiological aesthetic of the book, the habit of 'reading' signs for their hidden significance, is at the heart of the novel's detailed underpinning by the I Ching. The basis of 'histirocity' m yelled.

These lists need to be weighted differently. I believe Twilight is on top, not because many people voted for it first, but simply because the most people voted for it somewhere on their list. The fact remains, that you cannot rate a book (accurately, at least) until you've read it, and Twilight is simply the most read book right now.

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "I'm pushing for The Yellow Pages."

You've got something there. A compendium of the kinds of businesses that could be valuable to researchers a thousand years from now, if we're still around. The white pages would be good, to see how many weird names you can find. Then make a story involving the 7 weirdest.

Robin wrote: "I find this list to be rather untrustworthy. I'll admit that many people find Twilight entertaining, but a literary work of art it is not... what is wrong with everyone..."

To me a great novel has to be very well written, use imagery but not too much, have a strong theme, as well as tell a good story. To mind comes "Huckleberry Finn", "The Left Hand of Darkness", and "Don Quixote". These have stood the test of time.

Fabiana wrote: "Natalie wrote: "Marla wrote: "this is the second list--worst books was the first--and i'm done. this is madness. i mean, how many mormons congregated to vote the book of mormon as a top 100 book?..."

hmm, a new conspiracy theory--are the mormons behind this site? recruiting new fodder for their cult

first of all, the bible is a connected series of books, not one book. probably the book of mormon is divided into books.

so what is a book? can there be a book of books?
anyway the bible shd be called the scriptures of the jewish-christian philosophy lol

Roisin wrote: "Twilight?! Really?"

Graham wrote: "Yes, WhyWould The Book Of Mormons Be There Before The Bible! No Way!"

Hmm, maybe the Mormons are controlling the voting. Maybe Twilight is compulsory reading for them. They have enough hackers to alter the voting list.

A great novel could be written about the Mormons, based on the true story of how J Smith was taking some opium or something, or was just schizophrenic when he wrote the Book of Mormon. Can you imagine an angel called Bony Moroni descending from a cloud with a tablet of gold?

I don't like Jehovah Witnesses, Scientology, or Crhistian Science either.

Gordon wrote: "To make these books the top 8 on the list is because the list is made by the entire American teenage group of heart lost girls.Who nearest they get to reading a classic is to read Mark Twain in hig..."

Who is Chekhov? A chess player? I think I've heard of him. I doubt if any "old classics" are taught in high school: who could read books with long words in them, nowadays. If the f word is in them, they can be understood, as it's the most used word for teens.

Aurélie wrote: "Not a hater, but never got the chance to talk about this so, here it is :

Even if you do like Twilight, which I decided to accept as a proof of "All tastes are in nature", how can you put it befo..."

If "Twilight" is still being read 200 years from now, it cd be a classic. But the odds are 1 in 8 zillion.

Kelcie wrote: "WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW this list is a complete joke. Twilight??????????!!?!?!? the best book ever???? im going to go slit my wrists now"

You can make a good buck writing books about vampires, zombies, or anything that takes people into not paying attention to the crap that's going on in the real world, because even zombie vampires are pretty tame compared to the awful crimes these days, and how we are destroying the world for profit.

The next big trend will be cannibal books, count on it.

This list is mostly an embarrassment to mankind.

Larry wrote: "If this list is any indicator, it appears that a lot of people on Goodreads don't read very serious literature. Plus, the Book of Mormon, come on, seriously, you might as well put Dianetics up the..."

Dianetics has changed my life. I read it 13 times. Just kidding tho it you have to give Hubbard an A for effort searching world religions and schools of psychology to combine into his book.

Greg wrote: "Wow, some of these folks need to read more. Or age more. Or go to school, or something. I mean, really."

I think this list was made up by kindergartners.

Al wrote: "I def wasn't saying anything about the Mormon book. I didn't know Twilight was a religious icon. Wtf...
"

Twilight is the scripture of the new religion called,

tum tum! Mindlessness. It will save your life.

Hannah wrote: "We "Mormons" don't gang together and say too ourselves "Why don't we go get the BOok of Mormon on the top book list!" We believe that it is another testament of Jesus Christ. It is the record of th..."

Man, you have been lobotomized by Mormonism.

Ammie wrote: "I could not agree more. That fact that Twilight, Hunger Games, and Harry Potter are on the same list as Shakespeare makes me want to cry."

I wdnt even read these books on the toilet.

Elisabeth wrote: "I think you people need to just relax!!! I think "you're just too high strung" and eventually the "strain will be more than you can bear.""

Haha. I can see you and I like at least some of the same movies. I have so many favorite quotes from that movie.

Twilight? Seriously people? What a craptastic list.

Twilight is #1 on this list at the time of this comment. Why?

I was wondering… Where's Jurassic Park? (Hey, if Twilight's on this list, then why not?)

No Chingiz everyone needs to know how to read....how they use the knowledge is then in their hands. This list simply shows that many people haven't read much beyond Twilight. Most of them still have time.

Are you kidding me? Lord of the Flies was awful!

Don't Let Me Go by J.H. Trumble is the best book I have ever read. I wonder why not many people voted for it, because it has a pretty high rating. Even higher than Twilight.

I like twilight but I do not believe it should be on this list.

Elana wrote: "I like twilight but I do not believe it should be on this list."

A person who believes exactly what I believe!

@#$$ how in the god names twilight was selected

Saravanan wrote: "@#$$ how in the god names twilight was selected"

And #1 as well? I mean, it kind of makes sense to be on this list, but #1? Really?

Just saying...it is slightly disturbing that "Twilight" is at the top. I have read it, I did enjoy it, but I wouldn't on any account say that it's the best book ever.

Henry wrote: "The next big trend will be cannibal books, count on it."

That could be reaaaally funny, especially if they try to mix romance in them. "Oh Edgar, eat my arm and I'll be yours!" - Crazy sh** are gonna happen with teens after that.

awful list. Twilight isnt even a book. Its the ramblings of a silly girl in love with a vaaaaaampiiiiire.... Ooooh. Wow. So pathetic. I am serious, this list is dead wrong. There should be books like, I dunno, Tom Sawyer, The Bible, or REAL classic books. Harry Potter I can understand. It's a classic.
If your going to make a best book ever list, actually put good books on it. Twilight? No! The Hunger Games? Not in second! Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix? Okay, that can stay in third.

Jazmine wrote: "Twilight is the best book I've read in my entire life! It is awemazing! I love the whole saga and Edward Cullen!"
No, it is not the best book. It isn't even good. I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but this list is wrong!

Jade wrote: "I agree with Becca and Elizabeth.

Endre:Is there a moderator that could eliminate the vulgar comments as above?

I don't see anything wrong with the Book of Mormon being in the list. I don't thin..."

Twilight is not a good book though. Sure it could be appealing to girls, but to the entire reading culture? These are supposed to be the best books ever! Add a real book as number one.

In my opinion the twilight books should not be anywhere on this list, let alone first.

Evan wrote: "Sure it could be appealing to SOME PEOPLE, but to most of the reading culture?"


There. Fixed.

If Twilight is the best book ever then civilization is lost.

I'm still pulling for the yellow pages.