4 ms·

I've recently committed myself to reading all the books on that supposed "BBC book list" that has been floating around (largely as a facebook meme) recently. h

by hugh3 15y ago

I've recently committed myself to reading all the books on that supposed "BBC book list" that has been floating around (largely as a facebook meme) recently. http://fashionabroad.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/bbc-book-list-challenge/ http://fashionabroad.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/bbc-book-list-... I'd already read 32 of 'em, but I'm working my way through two more (Brideshead Revisited, which I'm enjoying, and The Wasp Factory, which I'm really not [and I don't think you're supposed to]). There's some absolute crap on the list as well (Bridget Jones' Diary? The Five People You Meet In Heaven?) but most of it is pretty good, and I think it'll expose me to a lot of good stuff that I wouldn't have read otherwise.

michael_dorfman 15y ago
I don't want to rain on your parade, but that list is a pretty crappy list. As you probably figured out, it has nothing to do with the BBC-- it is actually a list that was voted on by readers of the Guardian, and it shows some serious evidence of being a user poll; besides the absolute crap you mentioned, there is a lot of things that are there only because they are on the British school curriculum (like all of that Thomas Hardy, which is mostly awful.) There are some absolute gems on the list, don't get me wrong-- but if your goal is to read 100 good books you haven't read before, you could do a lot better. (And I say this as someone who has read 90 of the 100 titles listed.)
- luminarious 15y ago
  Is there a better list available that you'd recommend? Because the idea of a curated list of books to read appeals to the lazy side in me. I like reading but not researching what to read..
  - michael_dorfman 15y ago
    Well, here's a list proposed by Det Norske Bokklubben (who happens to be a competitor of mine, but I have to give credit where credit is due): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_Best_Books_of_All_Time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_Best_Books_of_All_Time You'll notice that it's much less heavily biased toward 20th Century English-language literature. If you want to stick to things originally written in English, the Modern Library list is a pretty good one: http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/ http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/ I mean "The Board's List", of course--comparing "The Board's List" to the "The Reader's List" is enough to make one cry.
    - loboman 15y ago
      The first link is a really good list. Much better than the original BBC list.
    - Apocryphon 15y ago
      The Reader's List is making me cry... tears of pure hilarity at Ayn Rand capturing not just first place but second place as well, at L. Ron Hubbard appearing not once but thrice on it, and at both Tom Clancy and Orson Scott Card each making an appearance. This is a breathtaking list.
  - tallanvor 15y ago
    I can't remember where I originally found this list, but I've been slowly working my way through these books over the years: http://www.hcpl.net/read/phobos-100-best-science-fiction-books http://www.hcpl.net/read/phobos-100-best-science-fiction-boo...
  - safeaim 15y ago
    The Browser-site is the best when it comes to curated booklists http://thebrowser.com/ http://thebrowser.com/ Check out their Five Books interviews, always good reads and great interviews :)
- hugh3 15y ago
  You're right, it's a pretty damn non-ideal list. Another problem is that some of the "books" are vast. I really have to read the whole goddamn Bible plus the complete works of William Shakespeare? But that's okay. My goal isn't to read one hundred books I'll really like, it's to complete an arbitrary set of tasks. If all of the books are enjoyable then there's no sense of achievement when I get to the end. I figure that whatever happens, I'll know a lot more when I finish than when I started. (Do you know what "Timon of Athens" is like? I sure as hell don't...)
  - michael_dorfman 15y ago
    "Timon of Athens" is a play by Shakespeare. It's not among his strongest, by any means, but still significantly better than a lot of the crap on the list. You'll definitely end up knowing a lot more when you finish than when you started, but I doubt that "Bridget Jones Diary" or a half-dozen separate works of Thomas Hardy are going to contribute much to that achievement.
arethuza 15y ago
For a first published novel The Wasp Factory is pretty amazing, but it hardly compares with the later works of Iain (M) Banks - particularly The Bridge (his personal favourite) and Use of Weapons. Then there is Espedair Street, which is worth it simply for the opening: "Two days ago I decided to kill myself. I would walk and hitch and sail away from this dark city to the bright spaces of the wet west coast, and there throw myself into the tall, glittering seas beyond Iona (with its cargo of mouldering kings) to let the gulls and seals and tides have their way with my remains, and in my dying moments look forward to an encounter with Staffa’s six-sided columns and Fingal’s cave; or I might head south to Corryvrecken, to be spun inside the whirlpool and listen with my waterlogged deaf ears to its mile-wide voice ringing over the wave-race; or be borne north, to where the white sands sing and coral hides, pink-fingered and hard-soft, beneath the ocean swell, and the rampart cliffs climb thousand-foot above the seething acres of milky foam, rainbow-buttressed. Last night I changed my mind and decided to stay alive. Everything that follows is . . . just to try and explain."

by hugh3 15y ago

michael_dorfman 15y ago

I don't want to rain on your parade, but that list is a pretty crappy list. As you probably figured out, it has nothing to do with the BBC-- it is actually a list that was voted on by readers of the Guardian, and it shows some serious evidence of being a user poll; besides the absolute crap you mentioned, there is a lot of things that are there only because they are on the British school curriculum (like all of that Thomas Hardy, which is mostly awful.) There are some absolute gems on the list, don't get me wrong-- but if your goal is to read 100 good books you haven't read before, you could do a lot better. (And I say this as someone who has read 90 of the 100 titles listed.)

luminarious 15y ago
Is there a better list available that you'd recommend? Because the idea of a curated list of books to read appeals to the lazy side in me. I like reading but not researching what to read..
- michael_dorfman 15y ago
  Well, here's a list proposed by Det Norske Bokklubben (who happens to be a competitor of mine, but I have to give credit where credit is due): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_Best_Books_of_All_Time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_Best_Books_of_All_Time You'll notice that it's much less heavily biased toward 20th Century English-language literature. If you want to stick to things originally written in English, the Modern Library list is a pretty good one: http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/ http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/ I mean "The Board's List", of course--comparing "The Board's List" to the "The Reader's List" is enough to make one cry.
  - loboman 15y ago
    The first link is a really good list. Much better than the original BBC list.
  - Apocryphon 15y ago
    The Reader's List is making me cry... tears of pure hilarity at Ayn Rand capturing not just first place but second place as well, at L. Ron Hubbard appearing not once but thrice on it, and at both Tom Clancy and Orson Scott Card each making an appearance. This is a breathtaking list.
- tallanvor 15y ago
  I can't remember where I originally found this list, but I've been slowly working my way through these books over the years: http://www.hcpl.net/read/phobos-100-best-science-fiction-books http://www.hcpl.net/read/phobos-100-best-science-fiction-boo...
- safeaim 15y ago
  The Browser-site is the best when it comes to curated booklists http://thebrowser.com/ http://thebrowser.com/ Check out their Five Books interviews, always good reads and great interviews :)
hugh3 15y ago
You're right, it's a pretty damn non-ideal list. Another problem is that some of the "books" are vast. I really have to read the whole goddamn Bible plus the complete works of William Shakespeare? But that's okay. My goal isn't to read one hundred books I'll really like, it's to complete an arbitrary set of tasks. If all of the books are enjoyable then there's no sense of achievement when I get to the end. I figure that whatever happens, I'll know a lot more when I finish than when I started. (Do you know what "Timon of Athens" is like? I sure as hell don't...)
- michael_dorfman 15y ago
  "Timon of Athens" is a play by Shakespeare. It's not among his strongest, by any means, but still significantly better than a lot of the crap on the list. You'll definitely end up knowing a lot more when you finish than when you started, but I doubt that "Bridget Jones Diary" or a half-dozen separate works of Thomas Hardy are going to contribute much to that achievement.

arethuza 15y ago

For a first published novel The Wasp Factory is pretty amazing, but it hardly compares with the later works of Iain (M) Banks - particularly The Bridge (his personal favourite) and Use of Weapons. Then there is Espedair Street, which is worth it simply for the opening: "Two days ago I decided to kill myself. I would walk and hitch and sail away from this dark city to the bright spaces of the wet west coast, and there throw myself into the tall, glittering seas beyond Iona (with its cargo of mouldering kings) to let the gulls and seals and tides have their way with my remains, and in my dying moments look forward to an encounter with Staffa’s six-sided columns and Fingal’s cave; or I might head south to Corryvrecken, to be spun inside the whirlpool and listen with my waterlogged deaf ears to its mile-wide voice ringing over the wave-race; or be borne north, to where the white sands sing and coral hides, pink-fingered and hard-soft, beneath the ocean swell, and the rampart cliffs climb thousand-foot above the seething acres of milky foam, rainbow-buttressed. Last night I changed my mind and decided to stay alive. Everything that follows is . . . just to try and explain."