Book Meme of the Month

In truth, I'm opposed to the whole idea of "best book" lists. They are part of the conspiracy to turn books into fossils. We should only read those books that are useful to us right now.

Ah, but anyway, the meme. This appeared on a couple of book blogs I admire. I don't know who came up with the list, but I would not be shocked if it turned out to be viral advertising cooked up by the folks at Barnes & Noble. The rules (abbreviated here) are as follows: Bold if you've read it, italics if you want to read it, asterisk if you've never heard of it.

Finally, I am going to add a twist that is not an official feature of this book meme: Among the books I've read, I will rank them from best (1) to worst (37), in my humble opinion. My only hope is to demonstrate the absurdity of such an activity.

The list:

1. The Da Vinci Code

2. Pride and Prejudice (1)

3. To Kill a Mockingbird

4. Gone With the Wind (29)

5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (26)

6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (15)

7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (19)

8. Anne of Green Gables (14)

9. *Outlander

10. *A Fine Balance

11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (20)

12. Angels and Demons

13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (22)

14. A Prayer for Owen Meany

15. Memoirs of a Geisha

16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Sorcerer's Stone (25)

17. *Fall on Your Knees

18. The Stand

19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (21)

20. Jane Eyre (10)

21. The Hobbit (18)

22. The Catcher in the Rye (28)

23. Little Women

24. The Lovely Bones

25. Life of Pi

26. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (16)

27. Wuthering Heights (12)

28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (24)

29. East of Eden

30. Tuesdays with Morrie

31. Dune

32. The Notebook

33. Atlas Shrugged (37)

34. 1984 (11)

35. The Mists of Avalon

36. The Pillars of the Earth

37. *The Power of One

38. I Know This Much is True

39. The Red Tent

40. The Alchemist

41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (33)

42. The Kite Runner

43. *Confessions of a Shopaholic

44. *The Five People You Meet in Heaven

45. Bible (5)

46. Anna Karenina (6)

47. The Count of Monte Cristo

48. Angela's Ashes

49. The Grapes of Wrath

50. She's Come Undone

51. The Poisonwood Bible

52. A Tale of Two Cities

53. Ender's Game (31)

54. Great Expectations (9)

55. The Great Gatsby (8)

56. *The Stone Angel

57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (23)

58. *The Thorn Birds

59. The Handmaid's Tale (13)

60. *The Time Travellers' Wife

61. Crime and Punishment

62. The Fountainhead (36)

63. War and Peace

64. Interview With The Vampire (34)

65. *Fifth Business

66. One Hundred Years of Solitude (2)

67. *The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants

68. Catch-22

69. Les Miserables (27)

70. The Little Prince (17)

71. Bridget Jones' Diary

72. Love in the Time of Cholera

73. Shogun

74. The English Patient

75. The Secret Garden

76. *The Summer Tree

77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

78. The World According to Garp

79. *The Diviners

80. Charlotte's Web (7)

81. *Not Wanted on the Voyage

82. Of Mice and Men (30)

83. Rebecca

84. Wizard's First Rule

85. Emma (3)

86. Watership Down

87. Brave New World (35)

88. The Stone Diaries

89. Blindness

90. *Kane and Abel

91. *In the Skin of a Lion

92. Lord of the Flies (32)

93. The Good Earth

94. The Secret Life of Bees

95. The Bourne Identity

96. The Outsiders

97. White Oleander

98. *A Woman of Substance

99. The Celestine Prophecy

100. Ulysses (4)

Comments

[nub]

Hold on, I'm confused. What exactly was this list supposed to represent originally? Somebody's favorites? Best sellers? Explain.

[Avery Palmer]

No idea. Hence its mystique.

[Cheryl]

Avery, for a moment I thought that you were ranking THE DA VINCI CODE as your number-one book, ahead of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, and I issued a mental unladylike shriek. But then I figured it out.

[Avery Palmer]

No, No! -- But whoever started the list might be doing just that. Or maybe it's the results of a vote on people's all-time favorite books.