Comments on Best Books Ever - page 60

Jonathan wrote: "David wrote: "best books according to who?"

According to 13 year old girls spontaneously googling "best book ever".

"
I asked my 13 year old daughter which was better of the Twilight series books and movies. She's experienced both, and said "they're both awful". There's hope yet for our youth.

I had to sit through one of the movies with her. A bad story, bad script, and bad acting all add up to, well, awful.

How can Pride and Prejudice and Emma be up but not Persuasion? P&P is overrated...

this list should be "most popular reads". i've read my fair share of the classics, modern lit and even some chick lit and i'm disappointed to see the amount of sub-par novels on this list.

Does anyone know what number Paper Towns by John Green is right now?

i"ll go for "Odyssey" its cool and should be da first

What on earth is this list!!! There's practically NO good books!! And Anne of Green Gables!? Seriously!?

Twilight and the Host? Really?

Waiting For YouLydia: The Woman You Must Know

a very intresting and eclectic list (:

like this

i am rooting for Artemis Fowl Collection

Kat wrote: "This is nonsense. There are writers who are so great they enriched the human history with their existence!! there are books that are priceless and literary masterpieces that are timeless.. and you ..."

I COMPLETELY AGREE!!!!!

Now that I`m through with the Best Books Ever list (I`d rather not start on the rest of them) I must admit I`m really disappointed...
Yes, there are some of the Best listed, yet those that deserve to be politely named Crap seem to be much more numerous.
And I`ve found not a single Piet Hein here... :(

I was also cheering my head off at message 3062: by Kat. THIS IS NONSENSE.

This just goes to show the gaping divide between great and popular. I will read just about anything, and enjoy a good page turner as much as the next guy. I didn't think I was that big of a book snob. I must be though, as some of these entries had me fuming.

Its not that I don't like a lot of the books on this list (although there are some I loath), but there should be some distinction drawn between great books and just good reads.

Also, just because a book supports your own religious beliefs or ideology does not make it a towering work of literary genius. I am committed Christian myself, so this view is not based on objections to religiously inspired content, but rather literary merit.

If you disagree with me, go read the "Left Behind" series and argue its literary merits with a straight face.

Not a single Ian McEwan or Edith Wharton?

Бтбяр wrote: "I was surprised to find "War and Peace" at 90. Should be one of the top five."

Not quite top five, but certainly not 90. What I mean is "Война и мир", of course, not "War and Peace". With translations, one can never be sure. I neither rated nor voted for "War and Peace" (goes for most other translations too), because that`s a translation, and I have never seen any good translation from RU, or PL, or LT, to EN, as yet...

The top five amaze me, too. The complete works of Shakespeare? Nope. Poe? Nope. The ancient Greeks? Not there. Dante? Sorry...and oh mfg, the lack of nonfiction represented! It's not the best literature, it's the best books! Even given how literature enriches our lives, I would have expected to see more extremely important works of nonfiction here.

The good thing about the list: nobody can remove anything, unless it's just not a book (say, a map not found in an atlas, or a pamphlet), or because the computer admits to the librarian that there are no actual duplications. So it is entirely democratic, and if people choose to vote first for something they just read, they can do that.

I looked for the best of each genre I read at all--the best sci fi, the best memoir, the best historical fiction, the best American history, the best European history, and so on---and try to get them all up there before I fill out my 100 votes.

That said, I have to say this: Go Dog, Go before The Maltese Falcon? Really? Guess so.

Donna wrote: " I would have expected to see more extremely important works of nonfiction here."

There`s more non-fiction than one can bear here, in fact. Alas, not the best but the most popular, of the "How To ..." kind, mostly.
Only "Most Popular" does not necessarily mean "The Best"... Wrong title?

Are you kidding me with this Twilight BS? Talk about the worst books EVER written.

There isn't much choice a lot of classics.

Twilight books are on this list?


*innocently waves to all twi fans*

Kirsten wrote: "I'm annoyed with Twilight. Extremely

And where is The Shack?"

lulz, I hear you.

little women. One of my favorites. Charlotte's web as well

Hunger Games at #1? Fangirls.. smh
And 'The Da Vinci Code' before Jane Eyre, 1984, Crime and Punishment, etc..? That just doesn't seem right.

loved jane eyre

Man, is 90% of the population of Goodreads 12 year old kids? I am getting so sick of every list I find on this site having "The Hunger Games" at the top of the list!

I wouldn't be surprised if there were "Best Horror Books" or "Something Involving Unicorns" and for no reason The Hunger Games is at number 1 or near that!

This is just plain crazy. Lol.

Anne wrote: "Hunger Games at #1? Fangirls.. smh
And 'The Da Vinci Code' before Jane Eyre, 1984, Crime and Punishment, etc..? That just doesn't seem right."

We need more members of Goodreads that have more intelligence and wisdom. :)

And yes I don't understand or care much for The DaVinci Code either. I agree with ya, Anne.

This list is obviously voted on mainly by kids. I'm sure since The Host movie came out it will start climbing up into the top 10.

If you want a true list of the best books ever written just google top 100 classics, top 100 fantasy books or whatever genre you want to look for.

Now if the people voting on this list had actually read at least 50 of the really good classics I'm sure it would look completely different however most have only read what you see in the top 10, To Kill a Mocking Bird is required school reading in the 9th grade, so that places the average voter at 14.

to kill a mockingbird, of mice and men . gapes of wrath, jane eyre

Most of the 'classics' on this list are painfully boring... list mainly consists of teen serials or please kill me now I can't read another word 'classics'.

WHY IS CITY OF BONES SO LOW ON THE LIST???!!!

*angry Shadowhunter noises*

Andrew wrote: "Now if they people voting on this list had actually read at least 50 of the really good classics I'm sure it would look completely different however most have only read what you see in the top 10, To Kill a Mocking Bird is required school reading in the 9th grade, so that places the average voter at 14. "

Not necessarily.
See, there`s this about good classics: for quite some time now, various... um... dunno how to put it mildly... well, The Righteous, perhaps... demand that some classics should be either banned or rewritten on the grounds of Politically Correct. I believe some classic books, Mark Twain included, have already been maimed because of that, which must surely have made them unreadable.
Another thing is Must Reading makes books unpleasant. Even good books. I`ve certainly downrated books from the Required (both school and University) list simply because reading because you have to is not quite the same as reading because you want to. Besides, once analyzed, a thing (a book) is dead.
And me a readaholic, too!
:(

Dodo wrote: "Andrew wrote: "Now if they people voting on this list had actually read at least 50 of the really good classics I'm sure it would look completely different however most have only read what you see ..."

You have obviously only read the books required in school to make such a statement. And I said really good classics, and I must say calling a book written 100 years ago politically incorrect is just ridiculous, many of these classic books have contributed to the evolution in human thought we have seen, like Uncle Tom's cabin and To Kill a Mocking Bird (but I will agree there are some real lousy books masquerading as classics as well). However to vote on the best books ever, I would assume one would have read many books from many genres before voting. I if that where true Hunger Games and Twilight would not top out the list.

Andrew wrote: "You have obviously only read the books required in school to make such a statement."
Wrong. As a readaholic and because of my line of work, I have most probably read more books (classics included) than you have ever seen (no offence intended, really and truly), and books you have not even heard of. Like the LT and PL and perhaps RU from http://readaholicme.weebly.com/books-...
Andrew wrote: "I must say calling a book written 100 years ago politically incorrect is just ridiculous"
Right. Still, they do. Alas. A mild case: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162...

Dodo wrote: "Andrew wrote: "You have obviously only read the books required in school to make such a statement."
Wrong. As a readaholic and because of my line of work, I have most probably read more books (cla..."

I think you are missing my point, as someone that has read many books do you consider The Hunger Games, Twilight and Harry Potter as the best books ever written? (If this where a Best YA Books Ever, one could make a case for it however.)

Andrew wrote: " do you consider The Hunger Games, Twilight and Harry Potter as the best books ever written?"
Certainly not. Neither do I consider them classics, though Harry Potter will probably be, sometime.
I do find the Best Books Ever list a strange list, yes. I can but repeat: "most popular" does not mean "Best".
:D

Yes, this list really needs to be renamed, "Books with the Best Marketing Campaigns in the Last 10 years."

And Potter is probably the only book out of those 3 series that people will be reading 20 years from now.

If you took the books people thought where best in 1983, most people today would probably never have even heard of the vast majority of what was popular with the YA crowd at the time.

I'll never win this but I'm on a list with Frankenstein! Even if I got one vote. Go me!

Idle Hippo wrote: "Les Miserable! Les Miserable! Les Miserable!

Did I mention Les Miserables?"

I've read this opinion more than just yourself (four times here) so I can't wait to dive into my book that's sitting here on my coffee table waiting patiently for me to pick up. This is good to "hear"!

My absolute favorite book is 'The Host' :)

HOW IS HARRY POTTER NOT IN HERE?

Twilight still remains a magnificent book but my heart goes out to the host..

Leslie wrote: "Twilight is number 4? Give me a friggin break people!!! Entertaining? Slightly. A classic piece of literature? Absolutely not! "

They never said they were going to be classics. They only said what is in many people's opinions the BEST books. The best books aren't always classics.

This list, i thought was serious. LoL, Twilight>Lord of the Rings? LOL. XD

Twilight is the best book ever, if you are teenager and have mainly read YA books. As far as I'm concerned all YA books should be taken off this list because they always make it to the top of every list, but are never the best book in any category but YA. And they only make it high because more young people have read them, and this site is composed largely of young people.

Lord of the Rings is actually quite well written, I personally don't think it was the best book ever or even in the top 10, but it's better than Twilight (by a long way), Harry Potter and The Hunger Games.

How are the Hunger Games on this list? I liked them, but they ARE NOT some of the best books ever written! In my opinion, they were very poorly written.

Laura wrote: "I hope my novel doesn't end up on this list!"

:)

Andrew wrote: "Yes, this list really needs to be renamed, "Books with the Best Marketing Campaigns in the Last 10 years."

Ditto!

I will stand by little women but that is a book every one should read. It talks about loss, family, and the future.That is the one book I would take with me on a desert island.

TWILIGHT??? BEST BOOK??? AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!