10 books to read before you die

[pbray]

There have been a few book memes running around, and today AOL jumped onto the bandwagon with their list of 10 Books to Read Before You Die. I've been too busy to go through the 100 books links, but 10 seemed like a reasonable number, so I clicked on the story.

Here's what they came up with--

1. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
2. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (Ha! Cheating already, listing a trilogy as a single 'book'. But I can't disagree with the recommendation).
3. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (Cheating again, they recommend all 7 novels)
4. The Stand by Stephen King
5. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
6. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
7. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (What? Dan Brown rates two entries on this list?)
8. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
9. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
10. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

What struck me most about the list was the number of SF&F genre titles. It looks to me like someone listed their personal favorite books, and then threw in a few literary titles at random to "class up" the list. It would have been more interesting if they'd stuck to their guns and simply gone with their personal favorites.

So what books would be on your list?

ETA: lnhammer points out that the Lord of the Rings was written as a single novel and broken apart for publishing reasons. So in that sense, it counts as a single book.

Comments

[larryhammer]

Nah, Lord of the Rings isn't a cheat -- it really is one novel broken into book-sized chunks for commercial reasons.

---L.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

You are correct, as always!

[madkestrel.livejournal.com]

In addition to numbers 1,2,3,4,6,8,9 and 10, I'd have to insist on Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates, Frank Herbert's Dune and The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allen Poe.

In fact, I could probably survive on a desert island with just the Poe, and be okay.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

The Anubis Gates is one of my favorites as well, though when it comes to Tim Powers I'm torn between that and The Drawing of the Dark, where the plot revolves around the sacred properties of beer.

[madkestrel.livejournal.com]

I'm right there with you! I don't even like beer, but that book always makes me wish I did. *smile*

[quietselkie.livejournal.com]

Interesting list. I've read all except the Rand, which I have no plans for ever. But honestly...Dan Brown? The criteria must have been something like "which books caused a lot of talk over the years?"

[pbray.livejournal.com]

One title I could see, given how much buzz they generated, but two? It smacks of Brown's friends & family behind the list, or blatant product placement.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

The general plots of Angels and Demons and DVC are twins--the similarities leap out if you read them one after the other. DVC's puzzle was better.

[kenley.livejournal.com]

Having read The Da Vinci Code, I don't quite understand how it rates to be on that list; I am glad that I read it, though. There are so many other books that could make it.

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

As soon as I saw two Browns on the list I ignored it. I mean, come on. One book from before 1950? This list is idiocy, even though some of the books are great.

[sparta5.livejournal.com]

They have Dan Brown on that list twice, but no Wells, Verne, Bradbury, or Orwell? Also missing: Crane, Fitzgerald, Golding, Shakespeare, Vonnegut, Huxley, ... [throws hands up]

I think your observation - it was someone's personal list - is probably correct.

[diamondreads.livejournal.com]

The only one on the list I haven't read is Atlas Shrugged. I'll have to get it, I guess. I liked all of the others, some quite a bit. I've read The Stand three times, and just realized none of those were the uncut version. Gone With the Wind is on the list to read again after I've read Rhett Butler's People.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I haven't read Atlas Shrugged either-- it was such a cliche in college with everyone reading it, that simply to be contrary I was always reading something else.

[dea-zinn.livejournal.com]

I've read all but Atlas Shrugged.....

And I agree. This reads as a favorite SF&F list with a couple of titles added.

I can't be trusted to limit myself to 10 titles, along with the fact that I read anything that stands still long enough....

[cedunkley.livejournal.com]

I've read everything on that list except for Gone With The Wind and Angels and Demons, neither of which I am interested in reading. While The Da Vinci Code was an entertaining read under no circumstances does it belong on this list with these other authors. The story was fun and Brown made each chapter end on a cliffhanger to keep the pace up, but it was seriously flawed (and I'm not talking theology) and just doesn't rate. Brown cheated the reader a couple of times and it really annoyed me that I had to wait page after page for these supposedly brilliant minds to figure out the code, which was so hit you over the head obvious.

Anyway, for those who haven't read Atlas Shrugged I highly recommend it. In what other book will you find a 50 page uninterrupted speech by a character? The very end of the book is a little bit of a letdown for me but only because of the grand scale of the whole novel itself.

So, looking at the above list, I'd extract the two Dan Brown books and replace them with (in keeping with the SF&F theme):

Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
Dune by Frank Herbert

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Nice choices!