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Post by bjd on Mar 8, 2013 20:10:34 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 10, 2013 5:20:30 GMT
Hmmmm. Interesting list, but very odd as well. I enjoyed the précis, but wonder if the list itself was generated by votes? committee? a bunch of friends during a night of drinking?
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Post by bjd on Mar 10, 2013 7:58:41 GMT
God knows. Maybe a bunch of journalists during their coffee break?
I always wonder whether these lists are supposed to build up to number 1. I studied Middlemarch at university and certainly wouldn't make it number 1 -- mostly because I can't remember much about it.
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Post by joanne28 on Mar 10, 2013 20:46:52 GMT
Loved how Tom Jones was sewing his wild oats. ;D
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 11, 2013 1:51:47 GMT
;D Hee hee ~~ I missed that!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2013 12:43:24 GMT
Hmmmm. Interesting list, but very odd as well. I enjoyed the précis, but wonder if the list itself was generated by votes? committee? a bunch of friends during a night of drinking? My sentiments exactly. The previous list posted on here way back when seemed to have more books that I personally felt worthy on literary merit alone.
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Post by nycgirl on Mar 26, 2013 18:25:28 GMT
I read about 20 of these. Interesting mix of classics and recent novels, but I would hesitate to include anything from the 21st century as a "must-read" when it hasn't had a chance to stand the test of time. I always wonder whether these lists are supposed to build up to number 1. I studied Middlemarch at university and certainly wouldn't make it number 1 -- mostly because I can't remember much about it. Yeah, and To Kill a Mockingbird at #99?
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 27, 2013 23:30:00 GMT
One thing about that list -- if a neophyte reader set out to read all 100 without thinking of them as best books, but rather maybe-should-reads, he or she would learn a great deal about reading and what makes quality writing as opposed to only telling a good tale.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2013 10:57:01 GMT
I find it quite embarrassing for a British newspaper to misspell Tolkien, the very first (British) author on the list.
Lists of what you should read -- probably not of as mas as 100 novels -- are good when you are in school and need to be exposed to all sorts of literature so that you can determine what your tastes are. However, once you are a mature adult, if you have decided that your favourites are historical novels for example, I will not bother to recommend reading Crash or A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
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Post by bjd on Mar 28, 2013 12:37:52 GMT
There's nothing wrong with enlarging your horizons even when you are an adult. On the contrary, that's when we become more rigid in our ideas and our thinking.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 28, 2013 16:06:09 GMT
Hear, hear, Bjd!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2013 17:44:28 GMT
Enlarging one's horizons is wonderful. When was the last time that you recommended a book to somebody when you knew the subject and style were something they hated?
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Post by bjd on Mar 28, 2013 20:23:48 GMT
Well -- there is a difference between hating something and just not being interested enough to bother reading a book about it.
I do sometimes recommend detective stories to my husband. ;D
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2013 20:48:24 GMT
I probably like too many different styles, from Agatha Christie's Miss Marple to El Señor Presidente by Guatemalan author Miguel Ángel Asturias to the graphic novel Silence by Didier Comès or the gritty Australian novels by Helen Garner, such as Monkey Grip... It is one of the principal reasons that I rarely recommend anything I read to anybody else.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 29, 2013 3:02:33 GMT
Well, the people I know to whom I recommend books are all confirmed & discerning readers who are open to recommendations from me because they trust my taste and recommendations.
One of the best books I ever read was forced on me by one of those readers, after I said I refused to read it because of the theme. He insisted & insisted until I finally read it. I am grateful!
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