# Amazon's 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 23, 2014, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032 "2014-02-23T20:15:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/61 "2014-02-24T23:35:00Z")
> [@psychobunny](#):
>
> Does it count if you listened to the unabridged audiobook? Because I’ve not technically _read_ the Harry Potter or the David Sedaris but I feel as if I have.
[Sure, why not?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=450771) In the case of David Sedaris, I’d almost be tempted to say it _only_ counts if you listened to the audiobook.
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### Author:  [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2014, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/62 "2014-02-25T02:34:58Z")
41, and I have to say that that was an odd list. I get the feeling they are more interested in selling slow movers or something.
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2014, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/63 "2014-02-25T03:00:03Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> I would read the _shit_ out of _Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1860._
No kidding. I assume HST would have happily invaded a rally of the Younge Constitutional Unionists.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/64 "2014-02-25T03:16:43Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> 1. But not being a teenage girl, I’m not going to read _The Hunger Games_.
>
> And while I never read the graphic novel _Persepolis_, I did see the film, which I would think would be almost the same thing. And if they’re including graphic novels, why no _Maus_?
Didn’t realize there were two lists. Now I don’t remember which list I counted on.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2014, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/65 "2014-02-25T03:36:44Z")
Twelve of the hundred. I guess that makes me a Philistine, by Amazon standards. ☹
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2014, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/66 "2014-02-25T04:04:22Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> Twelve of the hundred. I guess that makes me a Philistine, by Amazon standards. ☹
No, it just makes you someone who has more to look forward to. The list is “books to read in a lifetime,” not “books to check off as having already read.”
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2014, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/67 "2014-02-25T04:07:05Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> No, it just makes you someone who has more to look forward to. The list is “books to read in a lifetime,” not “books to check off as having already read.”
Dude, I turned 59 in January. How much longer am I gonna live?!? ☹
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2014, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/68 "2014-02-25T04:13:36Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> Dude, I turned 59 in January. How much longer am I gonna live?!? ☹
I am mid-50s and fully expect another 50 years. At least.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2014, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/69 "2014-02-25T04:47:42Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> I am mid-50s and fully expect another 50 years. At least.
Reminds me of an exchange on _ **My Family** _:
**Ben:** After all, we are a middle-aged couple.
\*\*Susan: \*\* “Middle-aged”? Since when do people live to be 110?!?
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### Author:  [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2014, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/70 "2014-02-25T05:08:16Z")
I’ve read nine and a half of those (my Kindle says I’m 63% of the way through _Lolita_).
The other nine:
1984\*
Catch-22
Charlotte’s Web\*
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (haven’t read any of the rest)
Slaughterhouse-Five
The Diary of Anne Frank\*
The Great Gatsby\*
The Lord of the Rings
Where the Wild Things Are
- Books I read because I had to (school).
ETA: On second thought, I’m not entirely sure if I actually read _1984_. I remember watching a high school stage production of it during my senior year of high school (class of 1984), and I have a vague memory that I may have read it, but now I’m not sure. Alternatively, I may or may not have read Bradbury’s _Fahrenheit 451_, but I can’t remember. I kept a list of every book I read between 1979 and 2000-something, but the book containing that list was amongst the stuff I lost when my ministorage unit was robbed a couple years ago.
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### Author:  [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/71 "2014-02-25T20:31:38Z")
With this list, I feel as though they were trying to do everything at once: get the classics, the bestsellers, the iconic non-fiction, all the genres, etc. etc. It makes the selection very weird. If you approach it with a “100 books that you should think about trying” attitude instead of “the greatest 100 books humanity has ever produced,” it’s more palatable.
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2014, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/72 "2014-02-25T21:45:38Z")
> [@Octarine](#):
>
> With this list, I feel as though they were trying to do everything at once: get the classics, the bestsellers, the iconic non-fiction, all the genres, etc. etc. It makes the selection very weird. If you approach it with a “100 books that you should think about trying” attitude instead of “the greatest 100 books humanity has ever produced,” it’s more palatable.
Well not everyone wants to read the 100 greatest books humanity has produced. I’m reluctant to dive into Joyce’s _Ulysses_ for example and I’d really rather just read the Cliff Notes version of Dante’s Inferno. So yes, I think you are correct about the intention behind the list. If you want Greatest Works, a discussion of [Harold Bloom’s list](http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtbloom.html) might be apt.
I’d be interested in getting a sense of which books I might consider looking at. Among graphic novels, I’d substitute in something from the _Sandman_ series by Neil Gaimen. If you want superhero, the best IMHO is Frank Miller’s Daredevil: Born Again.
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2014, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/73 "2014-02-25T22:33:47Z")
I think the Amazon list varies by user, because I saw FIVE Harry Potter books, and did not see some books others mentioned. I am not logged in to Amazon, nor on a computer where I have been previously logged in. Wonder if it makes a difference?
Of the Amazon list I have read 10 1/2 ( threw away Catch 22 halfway through. I don’t see what y’all see in that book). I noticed the Bible was on my list.
Of the CNN list I have read 8 1/2 (Catch 22, same half).
To me, complaining about it being an English-language centric list is kind of wrong. The Average Doper might be fluent in five languages, but many people (including me) are not. It is not possible for me to read books in languages other than English. There were a lot of translated books in both lists.
I guess I should get started on my list. Shouldn’t take too long to read “Where the Wild things Are” or “Goodnight Moon”.🙂
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### Author:  [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/74 "2014-02-26T01:28:55Z")
I’ve read 77 of the ones on the Amazon list and started three others, but I don’t feel like I’m being snooty saying that, because this really isn’t a terribly high-brow list.
Unless it is, and I can now score points with the literary set by showing off my ability to quote extensively from “Goodnight, Moon.”
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/75 "2014-02-26T02:35:30Z")
> [@Octarine](#):
>
> With this list, I feel as though they were trying to do everything at once: get the classics, the bestsellers, the iconic non-fiction, all the genres, etc. etc. It makes the selection very weird. If you approach it with a “100 books that you should think about trying” attitude instead of “the greatest 100 books humanity has ever produced,” it’s more palatable.
I had a History professor who would sometimes mention a book – _Don Quixote_ is one that I recall, which I have read – that he would refer to as “one of those books you have to read to be considerer a human being.” I always meant to stop by and ask him for a list but never got around to it.
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### Author:  [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/76 "2014-02-26T03:36:13Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#):
>
> Unless it is, and I can now score points with the literary set by showing off my ability to quote extensively from “Goodnight, Moon.”
“But you see, the sheer _power_ of that famous line - “Goodnight red balloon” - in it, it symbolizes the eternal struggles of mankind. Love, hate, war, peace - all forever straining, stretching for the sky, yet bound forever to the cruel earth . . .”
Actually, the last line, “Goodnight nothing” is pretty deep. 😃
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### Author:  [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/77 "2014-02-28T21:44:33Z")
39, but it is hard to see what the list has in common.
Regards,
Shodan
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/78 "2014-04-23T20:11:07Z")
I’m reviving this thread because Amazon has just released a companion list of [100 Mysteries and Thrillers to Read in a Lifetime](http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=8994558011).
On a quick look-through, it looks like a good list; I can’t off the top of my head think of any glaring mistakes they made either in what they included or in whom they omitted. (Though if they were going to throw in Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew, and the Hardy Boys, I personally wish they would have included The Three Investigators as well.)
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/79 "2014-04-23T21:10:07Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> I’m reviving this thread because Amazon has just released a companion list of [100 Mysteries and Thrillers to Read in a Lifetime](http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=8994558011).
>
> On a quick look-through, it looks like a good list; I can’t off the top of my head think of any glaring mistakes they made either in what they included or in whom they omitted. (Though if they were going to throw in Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew, and the Hardy Boys, I personally wish they would have included The Three Investigators as well.)
Some of my all-time favorite books are on there: _Gaudy Night_, _The Westing Game_, _The Daughter of Time_, _Dance Hall of the Dead_, _And Then There Were None_, etc. Great list.
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### Author:  [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-100-books-to-read-in-a-lifetime/682032/80 "2014-04-23T22:21:23Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> I’m reviving this thread because Amazon has just released a companion list of [100 Mysteries and Thrillers to Read in a Lifetime](http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=8994558011).
>
> On a quick look-through, it looks like a good list; I can’t off the top of my head think of any glaring mistakes they made either in what they included or in whom they omitted. (Though if they were going to throw in Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew, and the Hardy Boys, I personally wish they would have included The Three Investigators as well.)
15 1/2 (Sherlock Holmes I have read a lot of, but not everything)
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