Fifty Shades of Grey??? I stopped right there and said never mind.
^^ Twilight and the DaVinci Code did it for me.
It all made more sense once I read how they chose the 100. If you are baffled take a look at that.
Like @TatinG I’m surprised there is no Stegner. I would have been happy to see either Angle of Repose or Crossing to Safety. I’d also like to see Richard Russo on the list.
Based on what I do see I’d probably choose 100 Years of Solitude which made a huge impression on me as a student, but I fear I might feel differently if I read it now. My guilty pleasure pick from the list is Tales of the City.
I’ve read 34 of them. Hard to choose for me. I loved Little Women and Gone with the Wind and Outlander and To Kill a Mockingbird and And Then There Were None
“Like @TatinG I’m surprised there is no Stegner. I would have been happy to see either Angle of Repose or Crossing to Safety. I’d also like to see Richard Russo on the list.”
Angle of Repose!
I’ve gotten to about page 50 of A hundred years of Solitude and been so bored I put it down.
Read Lonesome Dove thanks to the CC bookclub and really enjoyed it. I agree the miniseries is very good too, though interestingly it hasn’t really stuck with me.
I liked Crossing to Safety a lot when I read it, but have never gotten around to reading anything else by Stegner.
I agree that some of the books on the list seem to be odd choices. Also, from the title I had assumed it was limited to American authors but that is not the case.
My favorite on this list is * A Prayer for Owen Meany *. For Jane Austen, I would have picked * Emma * instead of * Pride and Prejudice *. I would have added a LeCarre book and Neil Gaiman’s * American Gods *.
I’ve read 27 of the books on the list. It’s surprising to me it’s that many because for many, many, many years I was strictly a non-fiction reader.
Winnow that 27 down if we take off the books I read “by force”. Thank you, 4 Years of High School English, how I loathed ye.
I have a deep fondness for author Jean Craighead George (not on the list).
49–Couldn’t pick up Twilight it was so badly written. Voted for 1984.
Looks like most were made into movies at one time or another.
I honestly can’t decide which has worse writing - 50 Shades or Left Behind. Both are atrocious! Twilight, bad as it is, is marginally better.
Good question; where is Raymond Chandler? Where is Dashiell Hammett?
@fireflyscout – 50 Shades was worse than Left Behind. And Twilight was … I don’t have words.
I honestly don’t think that many of the respondents in the poll READ many of the books they mentioned. They only watched a movie made from the book. Or that’s all that came to mind when asked. Maybe it was the ONLY books that they’d read. Who knows?
It is certainly a “diverse” list.
And if “50 shades” and “Twilight” were your favorite books–you are limited in your literary experience. Quick read, and popular --yeah, but hardly a “best book”. You probably don’t “read” in my definition. That’s fine–but not a “best book” list candidate.
Jurassic Park? Super movie and a great summer read. We all saw the movie before we read the book, I’ll bet.
Moby Dick–great movie–whales and harpoons and tyranny–how many actually slogged through it? Ugh.
Some of these were both great books and great movies–“Gone With the Wind”, “God Father”, “Lord of the Rings”. “War and Peace”
PBS “Pride and Prejudice” was better than the book. The book didn’t have Colin Firth. I read the book after the series.
But really, unless you asked specifically for READERS–how many people made it through thick tomes unless required in HS or college?
P & P 4ever.
Everyone I know read Da Vinci Code in 3 days or less and promptly forgot it. That’s bad.
In hs, loved A Separate Peace. But Catcher in the Rye and Huckleberry Finn (not listed!) really made me aware of wacky, off the wall humor, an impact that stayed with me forever. (I’m one who didn’t find Catcher depressing or troubling. Probably because of some might bleak things we read in hs.)
About Hemingway, the trick is to get to love the spare writing style.
We had a thread a few years ago where so many of us noted reading Great Expectations early. For me, 9th. Loved it.
Agree the list includes silly nonsense. Maybe it’s an attempt to draw more who read popular light stuff.
BB, yes to Hammet and Chandler.
I also loved A Seperate Peace. Even named a new dog we got at the time (9th or 10th grade) Phineas.
And this: the shame in productions of P&P is Mr Darcy was supposed to be unattractive in so many ways, til the end. No Firth or the other pretty fellows.
DaVinci Code - 50 pages trying to figure out a 5 letter clue that had something to do with Newton. Could it possibly be, um, APPLE!
^no one would have watched it if Mr. Darcy was bleugh.
Lol, I can’t watch them, Emily, because the book was so amazing and unconventional. No comparison when he’s a dreamy actor.
I’m kind of surprised that some people are not aware of young-adult fiction and its vast popularity.
I was an early fan of Harry Potter when son was 12, and spoke to his English teacher about how it appealed to. Boys. When I realized Twilight was a fav of young gals, I read it. When I added it to our city bookclub list, we had the largest turnout ever. I did lots of research on the Mormon author, and her views of premarital sex, and presented it.
I haven’t stayed up with YAmfiction, But wish I did.