The Sydney Sun-Herald newspaper has published a list of what it considers the “Top 100 Books of All Time.” There is no indication of how this list was arrived at, or whether it represents the results of a poll or a simple editorial opinion. Â
Upon reading the list, my first reaction was to be rather disappointed in myself. Â I have read in their entirety only four of the listed books, which doesn’t bode well for my literary background. Â
Moments later, reason asserted itself and my dismay was softened when I realized that the list was ridiculous. Â Many of the books that I consider important and good in a literary sense are notably absent from the list; War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy is an example. Â Other, more modern books seem to hold places on the list purely due to their public appeal, such as works by Stephen King, Patricia Cornwell, and Dean Koontz.
The top of the list made me feel completely vindicated. Â What literary critic would name the Harry Potter books as the best books of all time? Â They’re entertaining, they’re popular, and they’re certainly trendy, but can they possibly be the best books of all time? Â I hope not.
Here’s the list.
1 Harry Potter series – J.K Rowling
2 Twilight – Stephenie Meyer
3 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
4 The Obernewtyn Chronicles – Isobelle Carmody
5 My Sister’s Keeper – Jodi Picoult
6 To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee
7 The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
8 Breath – Tim Winton
9 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
10 Break No Bones – Kathy Reichs
11 The Power Of One – Bryce Courtenay
12 Fight Club – Chuck Palahniuk
13 Magician – Raymond E. Feist
14 The Bronze Horseman – Paullina Simons
15 Mao’s Last Dancer – Li Cunxin
16 Memoirs Of A Geisha – Arthur Golden
17 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
18 Cross – James Patterson
19 Persuasion – Jane Austen
20 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
21 The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
22 The Secret – Rhonda Byrne
23 Marley and Me – John Grogan
24 Antony and Cleopatra – Colleen McCullough
25 April Fools Day – Bryce Courtney
26 North & South – Elizabeth Gaskell
27 In My Skin – Kate Holden
28 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
29 A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini
30 The Other Boleyn Girl – Phillipa Gregory
31 Nineteen Minutes – Jodi Picoult
32 Atonement – Ian McEwan
33 Shantaram Gregory – David Roberts
34 Pillars Of The Earth – Ken Follett
35 The Pact – Jodi Picoult
36 Ice Station – Matthew Reilly
37 Cloudstreet – Tim Winton
38 Jessica – Bryce Courtenay
39 A New Earth – Eckhart Tolle
40 The Princess Bride – William Goldman
41 Running With Scissors – Augusten Burroughs
42 Anybody Out There? – Marian Keyes
43 Life Of Pi – Yann Martel
44 Seven Ancient Wonders – Matthew Reilly
45 People Of The Book – Geraldine Brooks
46 Six Sacred Stones – Matthew Reilly
47 Memory Keeper’s Daughter – Kim Edwards
48 Brother Odd – Dean Koontz
49 Tully – Paullina Simons
50 Tuesdays with Morrie – Mitch Albom
51 The Catcher in the Rye – J.D Salinger
52 Eragon – Christopher Paolini
53 Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert
54 It’s Not About The Bike – Lance Armstrong
55 A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
56 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
57 The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
58 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
59 A Fortunate Life – A.B. Facey
60 The Mists of Avalon – Marion Zimmer Bradley
61 The Notebook -Nicholas Sparks
62 Water For Elephants – Sara Gruen
63 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
64 The Host – Stephenie Meyer
65 Dirt Music – Tim Winton
66 Eldest – Christopher Paolini
67 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
68 It – Stephen King
69 World Without End – Ken Follett
70 Emma – Jane Austen
71 Temple – Matthew Reilly
72 Little Women – Alcott Louisa May
73 Lean Mean Thirteen – Janet Evanovich
74 Scarecrow – Matthew Reilly
75 American Gods – Neil Gaiman
76 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
77 P.S, I Love You – Cecelia Ahern
78 All That Remains – Patricia Cornwell
79 The Last Lecture – Randy Pausch
80 Past Secrets – Cathy Kelly
81 The Persimmon Tree – Bryce Courtenay
82 Husband – Dean Koontz
83 Plain Truth – Jodi Picoult
84 Wicked – Gregory Maguire
85 Spot Of Bother – Mark Haddon
86 Always And Forever – Cathy Kelly
87 The Road – Cormac McCarthy
88 Cents & Sensibility – Maggie Alderson
89 Me Talk Pretty One Day – David Sedaris
90 The Shifting Fog – Kate Morton
91 We Need To Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver
92 Everyone Worth Knowing – Lauren Weisberger
93 Hour Game – David Baldacci
94 Darkly Dreaming Dexter – Jeff Lindsay
95 The Woods – Harlan Coben
96 Half of a Yellow Sun – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
97 Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
98 Scar Tissue – Anthony Kiedis
99 Infidel – Ayaan Hirsi Ali
100 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
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Don’t worry about that list too much matey: If you don’t count any aboriginal work, Australia is a cultural desert anyway. I’m quite frankly amazed there are as many as 100 books in the list! 🙂
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Not heard of any of them, bar one or two. Surely need to add “contemporary” and “what we have heard of in Australia”and remove “of all time”
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I’ve only read four of them as well (and none of them are Harry Potter!). Most of them I’ve never heard of.
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I have read seven of them not including Harry Potter and I have seen quite a few of the films of the books, which I think is the key. If this list had been compiled a couple of years ago I would bet that ‘The DaVinci Code’ would have featured. The one that made me laugh was the Lance Armstrong Autobiography.
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I have read several of them (not including Harry Potter which I consider good entertainment but not a masterpiece). I understand that literature like Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre is an acquired taste. You have to enjoy period writing. It is slow moving by today’s standards. Those are, however, landmark literary works for a number of reasons. Before anyone thinks I am paying the list maker a compliment, those books are only on the list because they have been made into contemporary movies. I doubt if many have read the original text. Personally I am insulted that Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein (1812 version) was not on the list. It is a cornerstone of science fiction and even more remarkable that a woman of that time wrote it and was given credit for it. There are other works I would have included and many many I would have excluded as pop trash but I guess I am a bit of a snob. I spent most of my heavy reading years enjoying ancient Greek literature, political philosophy, a small sampling of “classical” literature and a salting of medium to light weight science fiction. I absolutely love Anne McCaffrey but would never mistake her work for any sort of literary landmark. I enchanted and amused every time I read selections from Canterbury Tales (I cannot read the middle English version no matter how hard I try). Chaucer’s political satire was masterful.
Any list like this is purely subjective. No one reads classics any more unless they are assigned in a class somewhere. I am mildly interested in some of the books that Scott loves and he has no interest in my science fiction. I haven’t tried any of the Greek comedies on him yet even though some of them are hysterical. I did manage to corrupt him with a few samples of adolescent literature I use with my students. One book anyone with a sense of humor NEEDS to read is “Harris and Me” by Gary Paulsen. Scott gave me a phenomenal book called “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night” which I loved. Of course it focused on a child with autism.
Oh well, I seem to be writing my own book. The list is crap. Even among well educated, well read people you would have a hell of a time getting a consensus on what should be on such a list. Someone just needed to fill space.