<p>Moby Dick?</p>
<p>The Crucible?</p>
<p>Sent from my X500 using CC</p>
<p>I think the OP meant that the book in question appears on lists other than literature lists, as well as literature lists.</p>
<p>That’s why I think it might be the Bible, or something else that is considered both literary and philosophical.</p>
<p>I wondered about that too, NJTheatremom, but my (eventual) interpretation of the OP was that the different lists contained books of many genres. Sticking with Gatsby but very curious to know the answer!</p>
<p>Yes, when do we get the answer? And what is the prize for guessing correctly?</p>
<p>If it is to include poetry, maybe The Rime of the Ancient Mariner?</p>
<p>I don’t care about the answer! I want to see Sylvan’s database!</p>
<p>Don Quijote? I say this only because it is the most translated book after the Bible.</p>
<p>I vote for Shakespear’s Sonnets. I would love to read the list!</p>
<p>Middlemarch</p>
<p>The three Musketeers</p>
<p>Romeo and Juliet</p>
<p>Hamlet</p>
<p>Dickens…Tale of Two Cities</p>
<p>
And we have a winner!! Performers mom in 20 posts - pretty impressive. </p>
<p>For the curious, the lists are Philip Ward’s A Lifetime Reading, the Collegeboard list mentioned above :), Time Magazine’s All-time 100 Novels, and a book of reviews of 100 books by American Authors. About a dozen books made 3 of the 4 lists, including many listed by other posters.</p>
<p>Thank you - this was fun. Off to look up your lists now. Go, performersmom!</p>
<p>Congratulations, performersmom!</p>
<p>I am embarrassed to admit it, but I have never heard of The Sound and the Fury …</p>
<p>Kelsmom dont be, I had to write a paper on it and certainly would NOT put it ib the top 100</p>
<p>I have tried to read Faulkner, but ugh. I just can’t.</p>
<p>^^I would never have guessed Faulkner :)</p>
<p>A good friend and I are re-reading the Snopes trilogy,* The Hamelet, The Town, The Mansion* for our own little weekly lunch and book discussion. These are some of my favorite books.</p>
<p>Sound and Fury - not so much</p>
<p>I freely admit that I’ve never succeeded in forcing myself all the way through The Sound and the Fury.</p>
<p>Late to the game, but I would have picked Gatsby or Pride and Prejudice, although any book by a female author is less likely to appear on older lists. Even Jane Austen.</p>
<p>The Sound and the Fury is difficult because its three different parts reflect the different perspectives of three of the main characters, and they happen at different times. Plus, the first part is told from the point of view of a young man with fairly severe developmental disabilities and a highly idiosyncratic view of the world, so it’s a little hard to get your bearings at the beginning.</p>
<p>It’s not surprising that it appears on lots of lists. In retrospect, it has been an enormously influential novel, not only in English-speaking North America, but also in Europe and Latin America. And it has the virtues of being sophisticated, challenging, and important, but actually pretty short.</p>
<p>Knowing that one of the lists consisted entirely of novels and another entirely of American authors makes this a very strong candidate.</p>