Comments on Best Books Ever - page 68

You guys know what! This is just a list of good books. To YOU they might not be the best books but to other people they may be. Also, don't judge a book by it's cover. If you haven't read it give it a chance to be good. I will say one thing though. Twilight? But ok.

proof that voting shouldn't be a matter of arithmetic

Nathalie wrote: "I can't really bring myself to nag about the books in the top. They aren't bad.
However I think those volumes are a pice of art for the general rookie nowdays. They haven't yet come to terms with ..."

Nathalie wrote: "I can't really bring myself to nag about the books in the top. They aren't bad.
However I think those volumes are a pice of art for the general rookie nowdays. They haven't yet come to terms with ..."

The mind is very complex.

Nathalie wrote: "I can't really bring myself to nag about the books in the top. They aren't bad.
However I think those volumes are a pice of art for the general rookie nowdays. They haven't yet come to terms with ..."

Pat wrote: "proof that voting shouldn't be a matter of arithmetic"

That, too.

But on this site, it might and most probably has to do with the very scale of rating, as well. Users seem to award any book they like 5 stars, or at least 4 stars, whereas 2 stars is already Good, by the scale, which offers but one position (1 star) for Not (Very) Good.

So, 1 star means "did not like it"; 2 stars means "it was ok"; 3 stars means "liked it"; 4 stars means "really liked it"; 5 stars means "it was amazing". Which, in turn, means there`s no option for "Absolute Crap", 1 star for "Poor", 2 stars for "Worth Reading But Perhaps Not Recommending", 3 stars for "Very Good, Recommendable", 4 stars for "Excellent, A Must", and 5 stars for something like "One In A Million"...

Guys and gals, 3 stars is a very good evaluation here! Fives should be as scarce as hen`s teeth. Yet it seems to be the other way round.

I suspect it is the voters who rate just about anything 5 help books not bad still not the very best climb to the top of the list, as those who know One In A Million books happen extremely seldom are likely to "downrate" books really good still not "amazing" simply because there`s no other way to single out the few that really deserve 5 stars. I know I do...

The list is the most bias thing I've seen since global warming.

Really? Twilight? On the best books ever?

It is a shame that those books are rated higher than the classics. Such is the state of modern society.

Amber wrote: "This list is a joke!"

Finally, someone who makes sense!

What do you mean, "finally"?

*looks at the last 70 pages of comments and boggles*

j/k

Nikki wrote: "proof that the truth is not democratic =/

seriously, jane austen? errughhh."

Totally with ya. So overrated.

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

...interesting!

None of Agatha Christie?
Even leaving that aside this list pretty much sucks imo, too many tide books for example

Agv wrote: "None of Agatha Christie?

Again, have you perused the list from top to bottom?

Dodo wrote: "Agv wrote: "None of Agatha Christie?

Again, have you perused the list from top to bottom?"

like I am going to care so much, just did a control f, have you perused my post? even if there are any won't change much

Agv: and did you do Ctrl-F on all 335 pages of the list? :)

Good grief.

Too often on lists like these, their is an unabashed overlap from a person's "favorites" list to a "best" list.

This list lost all credibility with Hunger Games, Harry potter, and Twilight in the top 5...

That's pretty unoriginal, and I agree. They are good books (except mr. sparkly in Twilight and Mockingjay) but ... really?

the book of mormon. really? really?

The only reason I like this list is because it carries wonders like Atlas Shrugged and War and Peace! But there are books on here I would just consider bleh. (Mockingbird? The Fault in our Star?? More like it's the fault on this list.)

Wow, this list is batshit crazy.

Yeesh. I love how some people get ultra testy about these things. Good books, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

My goodness lol this is laughable.

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!"

don't like bella but Edward is cool

Was the subscript added later? "Fiction only" would let out a lot of the titles here, memoirs and poetry...and the people who most defended The Book of Mormon probably don't want it considered fictional.

I'd be happy to go in with my librarian's wand and make the changes, but I was surprised to see the subscript, which I hadn't recalled from last time. I had to change 10 of my votes, because I had voted for some memoirs.

Deleted for being nonfiction, according to the Goodreads page: Night; Diary of Ann Frank; The Glass Castle; King James Holy Bible; Bible study guide; Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants. Likewise, Autobiography of Malcolm X and Guns, Germs and Steel.

I think there is a lot more here, but I made a dent in it.

There is a lot of poetry--Shakespeare, Dante, Milton, Homer--but the catalog calls it "literature" rather than nonfiction, and when there is any dispute possible I keep my little mitts off it, so the poetry stays until/unless a superlibrarian says otherwise.

Matt wrote: "The War of the Worlds"

yes

The mere idea that this list would contain Atlas Shrugged or Twilight, regardless of rank, shows that there are too many narcissistic love-struck teenagers with access to the worldwide web.

This list...ehh...

Sean wrote: "The mere idea that this list would contain Atlas Shrugged or Twilight, regardless of rank, shows that there are too many narcissistic love-struck teenagers with access to the worldwide web."

I'm allowed to like twilight. oh and btw I am 19 not a minor teen.

I just noticed the subtitle "Only Fiction." I will have to adjust some of my votes I guess.

Fawn-laughing till our ribs get tough but that will never be enough wrote: "Sean wrote: "The mere idea that this list would contain Atlas Shrugged or Twilight, regardless of rank, shows that there are too many narcissistic love-struck teenagers with access to the worldwide..."

Of course you're allowed to like Twilight, but come on it's not the fourth best book ever written. I have not read the Hunger Games, but I have read Harry Potter and I think that they have touched on young people in a positive way. The main characters are underdogs who stand up against racism and nearly all seven books are the most readable and entertaining children's books. Though I think that Twilight and Atlas Shrugged represent views that are both juvenile and not worthy of the avid reader. Twilight makes women look weak and pretty much encourages the abusive relationship (that idiot Edward all but physically abuses her throughout the books and yet she sees him as her true love) and Atlas Shrugged represents the idea that capitalists are amazing superheroes and never do anything bad whilst socialists are evil. These books represent a simplistic view of the real world (even if Twilight is in a magical world like I said Harry Potter is hands down better as well as a few other fantasy series) with Twilight tackling love and the attitudes of women and Atlas Shrugged thinking that free enterprise is a gift from God. Sorry but there are far better works of literature that are not only popular but also tackle society or whatever other subject in a far more mature manner.

Donna wrote: "Was the subscript added later? "Fiction only" would let out a lot of the titles here, memoirs and poetry...and the people who most defended The Book of Mormon probably don't want it considered fict..."

I didn't remember the "Fiction only" part from my first trip to this list. I will try to cull out the Nonfiction in my votes. The poetical works you mentioned are indeed fiction, so glad you left them in.

I must admit I cannot understand the "Fiction Only" at all. Why, for crying out loud, many a non-fiction book is better than your average fiction! Boo...

I must admit I cannot understand the "Fiction Only" at all. Why, for crying out loud, many a non-fiction book is better than your average fiction! Boo...
I feel the same way Dodo. I note that both the Quran and On the Origin of the Species are on the list and fairly high in the rankings. And as someone implied earlier, when it comes to cosmology, one man's nonfiction is another man's fiction--good luck to the librarian trying to sort that out. I guess we'll have to create another list open to all books.

Why are not the present day novels in the list ,I wonder!

Ruth wrote: "Why are not the present day novels in the list ,I wonder!"

Because most novels gain popularity over the passage of time, for example Dickens' novels are really only classics because of the way people have analysed them as literature. To quote the Band Perry: "Penny for your thoughts, I'll sell 'em for a dollar, they're worth so much more after I'm a goner" Ernest Hemingway is far more famous now since his suicide, so a lot of novels are popular in the writer's lifetime, but their fandom needs to stand the test of time in order to become one of the best books ever.

Hunger Games is the best book ever? Really? The majority of voters on this list must be under the age of 20.

I agree with you, Sean. I am happy that young people are reading. Maybe there should be another list - Best Books Ever for Old Farts (I'm 60 years old). I hope there are many more books written like the Hunger Games that keep young people interested. I haven't read it yet but I plan on it. Maybe I WILL think it's the best book ever.

This list is biased. The hunger games is a pretty good book, but it's just really POPULAR RIGHT NOW, not THE BEST BOOK OF ALL TIME EVER. And how is twilight even in the top 100? I fear for humanity.

Pride and prejudice is on the list twice (at 30 and 34), when you add up the votes it gets over 10,000, meaning it's actually in 9th place.

I love unicorns

It's funny how some of the worst books i've read are on the "100 best books list". Haha

It's ridiculous some of these books to be in this list!!

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?"

The Bible is a much better word and more truth in a word than the Book of Mormon has in its entirety. I say this as an escapee from the Mormon Church :)

Summer-if at first you dont suceed, lie, lie again wrote: "I love unicorns"

Me too

Liquid wrote: "This list is biased. The hunger games is a pretty good book, but it's just really POPULAR RIGHT NOW, not THE BEST BOOK OF ALL TIME EVER. And how is twilight even in the top 100? I fear for humanity."

Look Twilight is very well written and an important peice of ya literature. I really want to say a lot more to you but it's stuff that wouldn't be said in front of parents so I'm just leavinh

Much of it is extremely overrated.