Yes.
God, ~spoke, Cold Mountain left me, well, sorta cold. I mean, I liked some of it. Just not all of it. So for me, it wasn’t an “important” book. Just a matter of taste I guess.
I am tempted to second the nomination of Killer Angels (by Shaara) now that someone else has mentioned it. It’s an extraordinary book to read–at first I didn’t think it was “important” (just a damned good read) but when I realize its power to make someone like me appreciate military strategy–and the fact that Shaara managed to write a war story that has you rooting for people on both sides–makes the work one hell of an accomplishment and a potentially important book.
Yes, it is a pretty americanized list but it’s been mostly yanks doing the voting.
Thanks for the translations, spoke- and Adam P.. Ficciones and Cien años de soledad are both now on the List. And Cranky, is that a nomination, or just a tempt at a nomination?
Perhaps so. I do know that many of my friends who have read the book share my opinion of it.
It may be the history major in me that loves the book so much. The book gets so many little details right. Beyond the central storyline, there are many subtle references that students of history (particularly social history) will appreciate. I found myself smiling many times at such references in the text.
So if Cold Mountain didn’t do it for you, are there any books from the last decade of the century that you would nominate for the list? (I still think we’re short for that decade.)
Oh yes, and a question for debate:
How do we define “important?”
(And while I’m posting, is nobody going to second One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest? I’m kind of surprised that I can’t get a witness on that one.)
ok there are a few that are jsut obvious choices.
Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
Lord of the Flies - Golding
Brave New World - Huxley
Catcher in the Rye - Salinger
Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
And my personal choices
Shogun - Clavell
Ender’s Game - Card
The Painted Bird - Kozinsky
I am going to have to say
The Red Tent (unsure of the author) I haven’t read this one but it’s on just about everyone I knows bookshelf these days.
Erek
Lord of The Rings
1984
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Mein Kampf
I, Robot
Sophie’s World
Did we forget The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart?
I’d love to second Cuckoo’s Nest because I believe it’s deserving, but I never read it and I’ve restrained myself from voting for books I never read.
Regarding the criteria of “importance”… given Chronos’ OP seed list I interpreted “important” more as “impactful”. Normally to me, “important” would imply something like “influential” or “ground breaking”. “Impactful” on the other hand would include these aspects but also allow “popular” (Lord of the Rings) or just “widely read” (Catcher In The Rye).
I also considered asking for a clearer definition of what “important” meant, but decided that the voters themselves would make these decisions and the voting would sort out the unworthy. There could probably be a Great Debate thread regarding whether or not any of these books are “important”.
The Electric Kool-Aide Acid Test, Tom Wolfe
Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki
Winnie the Pooh, A. A. Milne
Johnny Got his Gun, Dalton Trumbo
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis
Chobits, CLAMP
The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien
The Eye of Argon, Jim Theis (If The Elements of Style is here, The Worst Story Ever Written deserves a spot: http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~susan/sf/eyeargon.htm)
We’re up to 80 on the List now, with 45 more awaiting one more nomination.
As for the question of what constitutes important or influential, I thought it would be best for individual posters to decide that, as Algernon said. I hope you weren’t going too much by my seed list, by the way… Being an SF fan, those were just the first things that came to mind.