What’s with all the Roald Dahl books? I haven’t read a single one of them, and they list several. If they’re going to throw on kids books, why so many from one author? Any way, on the 1st list I’ve read a mere 17, and even less on the one that’s supposed to be more American, 9!(and of them, Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
is the only one I truly liked). On the reader’s list I read 19. Of the lists, though there are probably over a dozen I’ve read at least half-way through but didn’t count since I didn’t finish them.
18 of the original list. (Although if I adopt FNRFR’s strategy and include books I have on my shelf to be read someday, it’s well over 30.)
16 on The Board’s list.
17 on the readers’ list. (Lots of L. Ron at the top there suggests a motivated electorate)
23 on the Radcliffe list.
Jeez. I gotta stop reading so many comic books.
–Cliffy
I’ve read the following:
- The lord of the rings. J.R.R. Tolkien
- Animal farm. George Orwell
- Ulysses. James Joyce
- Catch-22. Joseph Heller
- The catcher in the rye. J.D. Salinger
- To kill a mockingbird. Harper Lee
- The grapes of wrath. John Steinbeck
- The great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The lord of the flies. William Golding
- The wind in the willows. Kenneth Grahame
- The colour purple. Alice Walker
- The hobbit. J.R.R. Tolkien
- The outsider. Albert Camus
- The lion, the witch and the wardrobe. C.S. Lewis
- The diary of Anne Frank. Anne Frank
- Of mice and men. John Steinbeck
- The name of the rose. Umberto Eco
- Brideshead revisited. Evelyn Waugh
- Slaughterhouse 5. Kurt Vonnegut
- The power and the glory. Graham Greene
- Paddy Clarke ha ha ha. Roddy Doyle
- The bonfire of the vanities. Tom Wolfe
- A day in the life of Ivan Denisovich. Alexander Solzhenitsyn
- Jurassic Park. Michael Crichton
- The van. Roddy Doyle
But frankly, I wasn’t much impressed by the list. I mean, I don’t feel like an uncouth philistine for having skipped “The Horse Whisperer”! And I don’t feel especially cultured for having read “Jurassic Park.”
From the 3 lists I’ve read 20, 11, and 18. Sheesh. I read a lot, but I guess I’m reading the wrong books.
I’ve only read 17 of the books in the first list, in my defense the list is mainly british and american, aside from Garcia Marquez there is no other ibero american writer. In fact the list is full of crap.
Dull similitary in numbers for me: 25 on the UK list, 22 on the board list, and 29 on the reader’s list. I’m surprised there wasn’t more slanting towards the American lists in my case.
I’ve read 34, and have probably another dozen from the list on my bookshelf, unread. I don’t see what is so wrong with this list. I much prefer this kind of listing to a “critic’s” list, which doesn’t have any children’s lit or science fiction or anything popular or written in the last 20 years.
I’ll check the US list now.
Waterstone’s: 67
Board list: 33
Reader’s list: 39
Radcliffe list: 65
I think what worked there was a high school obsession with Lawrence, taking classes from an American Lit teacher who loved Faulkner, a James Joyce focus on Ulysses, and several British, colonial and postcolonial courses in college and graduate school. That Ward list freaked me out.
Definitely a good idea. Once you enjoy the Portrait, try Ulysses ( and if you don’t enjoy Portrait there’s not much point). Once Ulysses seems perfectly comprehensible you can try Finnegans Wake.
Board’s list - 21
Reader’s list - 33 (think that vote got sent out on the Scientology listserv?)
I’m a 'merkin and I’ve read more of the English list than the others. Huh.
26 from the Waterstone list, 10 from the board list (I don’t like most American writers), and 30 from the readers’ list, primarily due to the preponderance of Charles de Lint books (that last list seems pretty skewed to me).
22 on the Waterstone list, unless we’re allowed to count stage adaptations (you only ruled out movies and cartoons). And I’m trusting that translations count, as well.
22 and a half on the Modern Library’s Reader’s list, including several I wish I hadn’t. Again, I can add one or two stage adaptations. Reassuring to see so much Heinlein, disturbing to see so much LRon, and depressing to see no Asimov.
Only six on the Board’s list. Most of them I’ve never heard of. But then, I don’t really give a darn about what some list that doesn’t even include Tolkien thinks of my reading habits.
19 on the Radcliffe list. Nothing particularly bad there, but a lot I don’t know.
Anthony Burgess obviously has very different tastes in literature than I. I’ven’t read any of his list.
Of Ward’s list, I’ve read 16 in full, and significant portions of 19 others (he has a lot of listings for “the complete works of…” and the like). And I am counting seeing Shakespear’s plays on stage: They’re not meant to be read. I notice, though, that he has very little from the 20th century there.
I have read 27 of them but seen many of the others as movies.
Waterstones: 33, with 7 of the Top 10 ( would be 8 but don’t think I finished LOTR)
Modern Library Reader’s: 40, with 7 of the Top 10 as well, thanks to a senior year infatuation with Ayn Rand 
All the Heinlein helped, too.
Modern Library Board: Only 15 
Guess I’m not as cultured as I thought.
Anyone care to list the common books from all 3 lists?
::sigh::
I started a Modern Library poll back when it belonged in IMHO.
Two years and I’m still working my way down the list, how pathetic am I?
are my insertions:
(a) They should be seen and read.
(b) Well, I count at least 141.
I sowwy.
Only 14 on the British list, but then again, I read for pleasure…
Speaking on behalf of American writers, may I add that we don’t think all that much of you, either.
19, I beat my age by one. I guess I’ll get them all in if I live to 101. My favorite has to be A Prayer For Owen Meany.