Amazon's 100 books to read in a lifetime

[habernac]

10. I need to read more books that aren't sports biographies.

[fatso]

21. A number of authors on there that I've read, but not the particular book listed (Chandler; Atwood; Rushdie; Roth).

Kind of an odd list. Agreed that no Dr. Seuss is a failing. No Joyce or Faulkner is a glaring omission as well. No Alan Moore or Pynchon? No Freud of Marx? For shame.

A number of the books can't possibly be considered top 100 contenders. For example, I'm cynical 'Gone Girl' is a novel that is in the 100 books to read before I die, but maybe it is given the film of it is coming out soon...

[BigBrodieFan]

Thanks for posting this. I read 47.

My favourites on the list in no particular order:

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Unbroken (This is not fiction)
Valley of the Dolls
Poisonwood Bible
Gone Girl
The Fault in Our Stars
Cutting For Stone ** One of the best books I ever read
The Handmaid's Tale
Breath, Eyes Memory
The Shining
Pride and Prejudice


My least favourites on the list:

The Road (I loathed that book)
Great Expectations (boring)
Beloved (Not a Toni Morrison fan)

[Mike F]

13 for me.

After being completely underwhelmed and disappointed by The Great Gatsby and Crime and Punishment, I'm done with basing my reading choices on Best Ever / Must Read lists.

[Bmuzyka]

I read 15, I was surprised The Godfather wasn't on that list. As great as the movie and Part II were, the book is so much better.

[sun]

Originally Posted by Mike F

13 for me.

After being completely underwhelmed and disappointed by The Great Gatsby and Crime and Punishment, I'm done with basing my reading choices on Best Ever / Must Read lists.

If you didn't like those books, then you probably have the right idea. Nothing wrong with that either.

Both of those books blew me away.

[Northendzone]

how is flowers in the attic not on this list?

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by getbak

12. Mostly the children's books.

same for me

but if we add movies i've seen it at least doubles

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by habernac

10. I need to read more books that aren't sports biographies.

Nah. Speaking of though, if you can handle the very dry, scholarly nature of it, Harper's book is actually quite fascinating.

[bosox_fan05]

16.

Also, the list caused me to go on another book buying spree. I picked up Angela's Ashes and Me Talk Pretty One Day as part of the order, so I'll soon be up to 18.

[Finny61]

I am at 11. The scope of literature is too much, they should have picked a category like classics, modern classics, non fiction, etc. Lots of glaring omissions.
It does look like some of the choices were more on impact to the book buying market versus whether the book itself stands out. Hunger Games to me is not an amazing piece of literature but its impact on the YA market has been huge. At least they had the common courtesy to keep Twilight and 50 shades of grey out.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Nah. Speaking of though, if you can handle the very dry, scholarly nature of it, Harper's book is actually quite fascinating.

It is criminal that there isn't more than one sports book on this list (Ball Four? The Game?)

I have the Harper book on my nightstand, just getting around to reading it. there aren't too many hockey books that I've been disappointed with.

[Wormius]

Made it to 24:

1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 19, 23, 25, 28,30,31,40,44, 47,49,65,66,68,74,77

Curious that they separated out the Harry Pottery, Hunger Games, Narnia seriess, but not the LOTR

[cDnStealth]

16. What an odd collection of literature. I read many of those books a long time ago. I'd highly recommend The Road and A Long Way Gone.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by sun

Great book.

I have to follow up with this because, at the time, I was only about 30 or 40 pages into the book and my mind was occupied with other things.

I started reading it just during my morning/afternoon commute (25 min on the train) and have gotten through about a 1/3 of the book in what amounts to only a few hours of reading. It's been excellent.

[Daradon]

Nineteen books here, but that's including the classics of Goodnight Moon and The Very Hungry Catapiller, hah! Which while probably iconic until you're about 6, I don't know belong on a list like this.

Actually I was probably a bigger reader as a kid, had done a bunch of those Roald Dahl's very early in life.

Surprised there weren't a few more classics on there like War and Peace, but they did say they didn't want to include 'homework' books. I dunno, I think a lot of people could get something very worthwhile out of that book.

There's a few on there I can admit I would probably never read. Like the truth behind the Watergate scandal. Although, I do like politics. Hmmmm...

[PsYcNeT]

An even 20, mostly children's books.

Happy to see a Murakami book in there.

[kermitology]

16 from the Amazon list and 27 from the Goodreads list.

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by bosox_fan05

16.

Also, the list caused me to go on another book buying spree. I picked up Angela's Ashes and Me Talk Pretty One Day as part of the order, so I'll soon be up to 18.

There is a chapter where he discusses Easter with his French class and describes it in the English equivalent of broken French. It has me in tears every single time I read it. "But a ####ing bell.. that's messed up."

[FlamesAddiction]

Where did "Garfield" At Large" come in on the list?