The greatest 100 works of classical literature is, of course, arbitrary. For the purposes of this challenge, I have used the list from “The Greatest Books” list complied as it is from 116 other lists from multiple sources. There is a good chance I will add some other classics along the way that catch my eye, but this is the master list of the top 100. It changes, so if you seek out the page the 100 that shows might differ from this list in terms of the books included, as well as their position. However, these 100 will probably be as good a place to begin as any! This list is the version from July 6th 2018. Show Books in bold I have read and they will be reviewed here. I am a little behind on the individual reviews as I am starting this blog after I already began the reading challenge, but there still seems to be a long way to go! I drive a lot and there is a lot of time when I am carrying out routine tasks that could otherwise be taken up with reading. Those times I fill with audiobooks as a way to get through more of these great works that way. This may be cheating but it is a good way appreciate these works and audiobooks are typically read by great actors so they also come alive that way. [UPDATED January 4, 2022] One of my aims is to begin catching up on all the reading I’ve neglected for, well, the majority of my life. So, I started by googling several combinations of ‘books to read before you die,’ ‘100 most important books,’ ‘books everyone should should read in a lifetime,’ and so on. I discovered that quite a few reputable (and a few not-so-reputable) sources have published such a list. Nice, but it still leaves me at a loss for what to do next. Which list do I go with? After carefully reading through what was on offer I decided to take the collective wisdom from the various sources by painstakingly comparing (well, I hired ‘Vi’ from Vietnam via Elance to painstakingly compare) all of the lists to determine how much overlap existed between them. I used this information to create a new list of the top books based on the number of times the book appeared as one of the list’s recommendations. The more the book was referred to by the lists, the more the experts agreed, and the more securely that book’s place became in my new and improved books-to-read-before-you-die list. Here are the 8 lists I started with, amalgamated, and culled.
And now for the books. Surprisingly enough, there were 520 books from the 8 lists, which meant there was less overlap than I expected. 65 of the books were pretty straightforward as they were mentioned at least 3 times (with The Great Gatsby and Catch-22 being the only 2 making it on all 8 lists). To make up the remaining 45 books, since my list had to be 100 books long, I simply needed to choose those books that made it onto at least 2 lists. Unfortunately, 91 books were on at least two lists. So, I decided to further cull those 91 by focusing on the books that were mentioned at least twice by The Guardian, Amazon, Harvard, Time and The Telegraph. That left me with the right number of books and, voila, the greatest list ever created now lives. Lucky for me most are available on Audible ❤. Enjoy! The Ultimate List: 100 Books to Read before You DiePhoto credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/azrasta/Fiction novelsAll titles below are links to where you can grab a copy for yourself. You can also see an image of each book cover below.
Several people have requested, not just the list above, but the full list of 500+ works that were mentioned by the 8 lists. If you want to show me some love for all this work you can buy me a coffee or 20 ;) here. The spreadsheet with all 500+ books listed on it with their rankings and what list they appear on is here. How to get through the list of 100 books without taking a lifetime to do soIf you don’t have time to sit and read -I don’t- then you can ‘read’ on the go with Audible. I’ve made it through countless books this way and swear by it. Audible offers a free 30 day trial. I highly recommend giving it a try. There is a certain kind of snobbery that exists about ‘reading’ books, and while I think sitting and reading is a superb discipline, there’s also something to be said for hearing them. Not everyone learns the same way. I actually retain more information by hearing than seeing and therefore have loved Audible and have been using it for the better part of seven years. In addition to that, not all books are created equal and therefore don’t deserve the same attention. Audible allows you to do something about that. As such, with Audible you can listen to books at 1.25x, 1.5x, or even 2x the speed. Get inspired: How Bill Gates reads booksBill Gates on reading booksAll 100 books to read, browsable by book coverI thought I’d provide an additional resource: the list of 100 books, browsable by book cover. You can see all 100 book covers here. What is considered the greatest book of all time?The Greatest Books of All Time. 1 . In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. ... . 2 . Ulysses by James Joyce. ... . 3 . Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. ... . 4 . One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. ... . 5 . The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. ... . 6 . Moby Dick by Herman Melville. ... . 7 . War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. ... . What is the best classic book to read?Classic books to read at least once in your lifetime. Pride and Prejudice. by Jane Austen. ... . A Christmas Carol. by Charles Dickens. ... . Frankenstein. by Mary Shelley. ... . Orlando. by Virginia Woolf. ... . Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. by Frederick Douglass. ... . Great Expectations. ... . The Time Machine. ... . Women of the Harlem Renaissance.. What is a must read books of a lifetime?Must-read books include "To Kill A Mockingbird," "A Brief History of Time," "Americanah," and "How To Win Friends And Influence People."
Which book is No 1 in the world?Top 100 best selling books of all time. |