Comments on: The Best Lists of The Best Books

By: bitpusher

bitpusher — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:30:29 +0000

Blatantly missing are any books by Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged is consistently ranked just below the Bible in public opinion polls).

These lists seem to forward some agenda ala Stalin / Mao / Hitler.

By: JT

JT — Mon, 28 May 2007 04:12:19 +0000

Woah, chill out, Cat.

By: Gale Siegel

Gale Siegel — Sat, 26 May 2007 16:36:16 +0000

I took the comment to be “book” vs. “play” which perhaps should be a different catagory. But, then, I could be “stupid!”

By: Sarah W

Sarah W — Sat, 26 May 2007 01:05:07 +0000

What’s with calling people stupid, Cat? Kelly wasn’t asking if “Hamlet” is a book or not. She was comment ing on it’s inclusion in a best book list. That’s how I read it anyway. Get off your pedestal.

By: Cat

Cat — Thu, 24 May 2007 16:25:55 +0000

How stupid is someone who asks if ‘Hamlet’ is a book? I suggest anyone who doesn’t know this needs to return to school and get a proper education before inflicting herself on society any further.

By: Ishmael

Ishmael — Thu, 24 May 2007 10:13:35 +0000

“Time Magazine’s All-Time 100 Novels”, as mentioned by Kate, is a great list (and can be found at Time magazine’s web site with a quick Google search — why can’t we post links here?), but the name is pretty misleading: Time describes the list as the 100 best *English-language* novels from *1923* to the present. The “all-time” best list just disqualified most or all of the works of Herman Melville, Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain, Jules Verne, and H.G. Wells (among many others). Even without the time constraints, the language barrier kicks out authors like Miquel de Cervantes, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Leo Tolstoy as well.

That said, kudos to Time for having the guts to include a graphic novel on the list: Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s classic graphic novel Watchmen was not overlooked in this case (as it would be on almost any other list).

Speaking of, check out Time’s supplementary “All Time Top 10 Graphic Novels” as well.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 22 May 2007 16:28:30 +0000

Since when is Hamlet a book?

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 22 May 2007 15:57:42 +0000

Time Magazine’s All-Time 100 Novels, which is actually two lists – the 100 ranked by Time critics, and the 100 ranked by reader votes.