I think all my high school and college literature teachers did the voting.

Oh I missed the question - How many have I read? Only 4 and they were probably assigned....Nancy Drew books were the last novels that I read willingly. I am not adverse to reading. Just not into fiction. How did I ever get A's in literature?

Those are are mostly all books assigned in high school and college. I think everyone has read most of them. There are lots and lots of other books out there just as great.

From that list, the first book I had read was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott when I was about 10 or 11 y/o. I found it confusing. I could not understand the intense worry about needing to wear white gloves to a party nor being so loopy as to stand so close to a fireplace that you set yourself aflame.

The most recent book on that list that I have read is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon when it came out a six years ago. Great book. I am surprised that such a recently published book made the list of the 'greatest of all time'. I just happened to pick it up at a bookstore because it looked so intriguing. I rarely waste money on books, preferring to use the library whenever possible. I do highly recommend it. It is written in 'British English' so sometimes it reads haltingly like him writing having to study his maths.

The book that had the most impact on me was The Stranger by Albert Camus. I devoured existentialist literature after that.

I'm currently reading Dracula by Bram Stoker. Its pretty good

#s 1,2,3,5,6,8,9,11,12,13,14,16,19,21,22,25,30,33,34,
41,42,46,61,62,63,66,81,89 and 100.

I may have read others but I don't remember because so many have been made into film. I do need to go back and read Anna Karanina. Saw the movie and always meant to read the book.

LOL. I guess I missed the question too. I counted 32 that I have read with most of them being assigned. (Who would have the time to read Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon with a busy lifestyle now days. I think the paperback was like 680 pages.)

I remember now that I first read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain in first or second grade. I remember arguing with the teacher that "Dat" was a real word. (It appeared in the book all the time.) Of course she called me stupid and wouldn't even listen.

I am not really into reading fiction either and prefer books of facts.

Forgot to add the link. If you liked Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes you'll like this type of book.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curious_Incident_of_the_Dog_in_the_Night-time

Here is a link that might be useful: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

I read around 68-70 of them. I kept losing my place. One of my favourite books was the Count of Monte Cristo. I could read Alexander Dumas's books over and over.

Anne

I have read some of them and a lot of them I have no desire to read I think. When I went to school we were never assigned certain books to read. We just went to our school library if we wanted to and picked out what ever we wanted to read, it was not a part of our lessons. I made a trip to that library every day and brought home books. I still love reading but can't find the time. Too slow getting my work done I guess.

Sue

"Poisonwood Bible"?????????? I think not, so am very dubious about the rest!

I used to have a stack of Classics Illustrated when I was a kid. Do they count? They were like Cliff's notes in comic book form.

Geez, only 15. I had a hard time because some of them I'd seen the movie and had to think "movie or book?"

I didn't see Dr. Zhivago on the list and it's one of my favs.

As far as I can recall, I've read 19 1/2 of the ones listed.
Time to catch up!

I read many of them between junior and senior high school. Does it count if I've seen the movie?

I've read 30 of them. Don't forget these lists are highly subjective. I bet you can find dozens of "100 best novels of all time" lists out there. And I loved "Poisonwood Bible", thought it was great (but in the top 100 of all books ever written, probably not, as with a lot more on the list).

Oh, and I didn't read many of them in high scnool, only 4 or 5 of them were assigned reading. I read them because I wanted to.

The book that had the most impact on me was The Stranger by Albert Camus. I devoured existentialist literature after that.

Dilly Dally, you brought back a vivid memory. I was a big Camus fan in my youth. I remember reading the play Caligula on the subway going to work.

I read much heavier stuff when I was young than I do now. These days I'm more likely to read facts than fiction, although since I like to write fiction I really should read more of it. Does it count that I almost always have a mystery audio book playing in my car? :-)

Where is the Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, The Winds of War by Herman Wouk and Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt? I also liked The Poisonwood Bible, but don't think it should be on the list. I have read 27 of them.

Oh wow - I have read lots of them. I would move
"To Kill A Mockingbird" to #1, and move "Little Women"
way up the list too. :)

Quite a few I would remove from the list though.

I always wondered who thought they had the right to tell
us which were the best, though, just because "they"
thought they were. LOL

I just skimmed the list. Surprised to see The Time Traveler's Wife on there, but since I haven't read it, maybe it's not as chick-lit as it sounds.

The website says it asked "people" to come up with their lists. Doesn't say how many "people," or who the "people" were.

Ronnie, I don't think Angela's Ashes was a novel, was it? (I haven't read that one either, but it's sitting next to my bed.) :-)

Exactly half the list.......50. And..like Karen...I read them by choice. As a matter of fact...I've read some of them more than once throughout my growth...always amazed at the innuendo that I missed the first time around.

Of late I've pondered what I'd do if I ever lost my sight as my father did. In his last years...he suffered with macular degeneration...to him...a fate worse than death. The thought terrified me before this digital revolution. I'm sure that I could handle any other physical imparement...but to lose my ability to read would devastate me.

Throughout my earlier life, I was fortunate to travel and meet/greet some of this world. However...the travels I've taken through the pages of books far exceeds my actual travels and has provided far more enjoyment. Every time I see a bored youngster these days...I want to give them a ride to the nearest library.

Anne

I've seen more of the movie versions. lol I've read maybe 4 and like soxxxx, those were assigned. I rarely read fiction am am usually reading spiritual or medical books.

"Where is the Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, The Winds of War by Herman Wouk..."

Oh my...YES! I agree!

Add James Clavell's books to that list, as well. I was devastated when he died a few years ago. I had read everything he'd ever written and was patiently looking forward to his next literary contribution. Sadly...there will be no more.

Anne

I've read 16 of them. Some were assigned while I was in high school. Some of the newer ones I really enjoyed, such as:
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
When I was in HS I had to read The Old Man and The Sea. I was running late so my Mom said she would read some of it and tell me what it said. This was the first time she had ever done that. She was shocked at some of the language in the book and marched to the school and demanded that they take the book out of the library. LOL

Thanks Sephia, I'm going to try to read more of them. I've read thirty seven. I think Sophie's Choice should be on there too.

nine.. don't think any of them were assigned reading for me

I think I hae read about 30 of them...not sure and not recounting them. I too think The Good Earth should be there, that book was one of the first serious novels I ever read. It changed the way I looked at literature.

31 for me. I agree though there are some glaring omissions to this list. Only two from John Steinbeck but the whole Harry Potter series makes it in? I have to disagree with that. Nothing from James Michener?

Ron

I've read 54 of them...my all-time favorite book is Of Human Bondage and one of my least favorites is A Prayer for Owen Meany.

Around 60. But, really...Dan BROWN? (Yes, I did read them.) He has great plotting ability, but his prose is awful.

Who's actually completed Proust? Were you sick in bed at the time? (Did it make you worse?)

I slipped "Madame Bovary" out of a relative's bookcase when I was about twelve. After all, I'd just completed "Gone With the Wind"; how different could this book be? Hah! Now I put it in the category of so many novels written for women in an effort to keep women in their place.

I've been listening to folk songs from the film, "Songcatcher" -- more 'morality lessons' for young and old!

The books on this list may have been 'popular', but too many are far from being great literature.

I have read 34 of them. Of that list, I'd have to say A Prayer for Owen Meany and The Handmaid's Tale were my favorites. I am surprised that Lonesome Dove didn't make the list, as it so often appears on lists of people's favorites.

I agree with chisue: Dan Brown? Commercial success, maybe, but not "great" literature!

And I did read Remembrance of Things Past--the whole seven parts. It did take a while, but someone had suggested it was something I should read, so I did. It did give me an idea of the workings of French society back in the day, but that's about all.

I've read a majority of books on the list--anything too recent, I've probably not read.

I've read about half titles from that list. A very "western" point of view list, I might add.
Dostoevsky & Tolstoy are classics, no argument about it,... but there are other (better, IMO) works of russian literature. Were are any works of eastern european authors?

Some of the books on the list are "nice" reading, but not the 100 BEST of all times (Hobbit, Narnia, His dark Materials etc). Brown?.. truly? it's a popular read, detective novel, something to read in the airport or train (and I liked "map of bones" much better, but i digress),
I wouldn't put much in that list, might take up as suggestions maybe.

This is a list of the 100 most "popular" novels, not the best - no matter what the author says. It was a survey of readers on their preferences - list your top 10 favorite novels.

It has nothing to do with literary merit.

And I agree about Dan Brown - he spins a great tale, but his writing is nothing to write home about, LOL.

Posted by anne_ct: I've read some of them more than once throughout my growth...always amazed at the innuendo that I missed the first time around.

I agree. Although it is a great thing to be exposed to literature in high school and in college, re-reading them again as an adult with some real life experience behind one, gives a whole different perspective and forms new opinions.

I am surprised that books that were landmarks for their time like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll did not make their list. There had been nothing written like it before. For a good read of the book get The Annotated Alice: "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" AND "Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll, with annotation by Sir John Tenniel, Martin Gardner. It is the original work in it's entirety with explanations and codes broken in the annotation. Very intriguing.

Read sections from Annotated Alice here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=-blJhrfvouUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=subject:%22Literature%22The+Annotated+Alice:+%22Alice%27s+Adventures+in+Wonderland%22&as_brr=3&rview=1&cd=2#v=onepage&q=&f=false

There is also no Chick Lit on their Top 100 list. Anyone from out generation will find The Women's Room by Marilyn French a good read. There are plenty of great works out there that just never got popular with men as a good read since it did not involve a war or something, like most of those books on the linked list do. There are a huge number of great books by women authors that deal with history with a woman's perspective on the matters and NONE of them made the list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Women%27s_Room

Here is a link that might be useful: Annotated Alice

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I went back to review the book list and noticed this message at the top. I missed it the 1st time. Curious me wants to know who would gets the dnation and for what.

I liked the Poisonwood Bible.
Several of my favorites are on the list.
I really enjoyed The Stand by Stephen King.

I went to their blog and found my own answer They (whoever they are) get a percentage on Books sold by Amazon through them and want donations as well. A little bit of commercialism...........

Hi, Nicki, are you really liking Dracula? That is too scary for me.

Good to see you posting.

Sue

I'm just glad "The Scarlet Letter" isn't on the list. I was forced to read it in 9th grade, and how I hated it. I consider it the worst classic book ever written. My favorite on the list is The Great Gatsby.

How stupid of me! The Scarlet Letter IS on the list, number 100. What a dummy I am! But I still hated it!

Atwood is very feminist -- not chick-lit though.

IMO it's a mistake to assign a lot of 'great literature' to high school students. I know *I* was too young and unwordly to 'get' most of it, and it seems to me that today's kids are even farther removed from an adult state.

It takes a devoted teacher to help a 9th - 12th grade reader appreciate what's at play in many of these novels. The kids just don't have a life experience to help them relate. Instead of developing some taste, they get turned off, or mistakenly think they've grasped the whole when they've only taken in a small portion.

I missed that [Donate Now] thing at the top of the page too. The site is useless. While any top 100 list is going to differ depending on who they poll, this one just accepts any reader's Top 10 submissions without any screening. I suspect that most of these submissions weren't even books that the submitter read and enjoyed, but just books they remember reading back in school or even books that they had "heard of" in school and felt "smart" by submitting them titles.

Check out their Top 100 Authors of all time.

Coming in at #1 is William Shakespeare! LOL. Wow. Just wow. Has anyone ever read him by choice?

Hunter S. Thompson comes in on the list somewhere between Plato and Homer and a bit down on the list from Virgil.

Dr. Seuss makes the list way ahead of Jean Paul Sarte. Puleeez.

Check out their list of the Top 100 Authors. ROTFLMAO.

http://www.thebest100lists.com/best100authors/

Here is a link that might be useful: Top 100 Authors

I've read the following.
Most o the others I am familiar with a having read reviews and/or plots
I don't consider all otf them the best Novels

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Stand by Stephen King
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Persuasion by Jane Austen
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Emma by Jane Austen
I, Claudius by Robert Graves
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Think I counted 6 that I've read, and I love to read. Only two were required in high school; The Lord of the Flies, and To Kill a Mockingbird. Other required books aren't on the list.

And I have read Shakespeare by choice.

I read one Shakespeare play-The Merchant of Venice. I liked it at the time. You'd think I would have read more, since I was an English major in college. But I did read a lot of them via Cliff Notes.

"Coming in at #1 is William Shakespeare! LOL. Wow. Just wow. Has anyone ever read him by choice?"

Actually yes, I believe I have read all of his plays, by choice.

alisande, you are correct Angela's Ashes is not a novel. I just got side tracked on books I enjoyed. Thanks.

Sorry I did not mean to offend anyone's taste here. I just found it hard to believe that Shakespeare would come in at number one in their random poll. It would be different if they were polling "Class of 2009 graduates" or Comp Lit professors or some esoteric sampling they put together.

With such a broad class of respondents in their poll I guess I am more than surprised that Shakespeare comes in at #1.

Check out their 'Top 100 Songs of All Time'..

Guess what! Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana coming in at #7 beat out Clair De Lune by Claude Debussy trailing at #52 and Fur Elise by Ludwig Van Beethoven at #55. Yup.

At least Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven narrowly beat Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry and London Calling by The Clash. Phew.

And they do have greats like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Dylan, and Pink Floyd at the top ten where they would belong (depending on who is voting).

I've read 16 of this list. To Kill A Mockingbird is my all time favorite novel and movie! Happy to see it up at number 2.

39, and I was an English major.
I enjoyed Poisonwood Bible. But DaVinci Code... really? That one made me laugh. Only in a popularity contest, not based on literary merits.

I would add "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and probably a bunch of others that will come to mind later.