Ok -
So here's my "Top Ten" favorite books ever read. This was a much harder challenge than I expected. It seems there's quite a few criteria that must go into the selection of a top ten, especially when a person knows the difference between quality and cute, with quality being a major source of enjoyment.
Here's how I figured out my rankings: 1. The book has to "speak" to me in some way. The philosophy, historical setting, themes, or characters must "say" something to me that is deeply personal, or inspiring. 2. The book must be of exceptional quality, meeting all of the criteria of what I consider "great" literature (I'm not listing them here). 3. The book must have been read during a special time (phase) in my life that I can recall when I think of, peruse, or re-read the book (the "romance" of my life is important). 4. The book had to have made me excited to keep reading, and immensely impressed with its story/characters/narrator or what have you. 5. The book had to make me feel like I was know "in the know" or part of a special club. 6. The book must be able to be re-read many times, and never grow stale.
I guess that's it. I'm sure that I could think of a few more.
Oh, also, there's a few books that couldn't make the list that I really wanted to include, because they've meant so much to me and I'd hate to ignore them. For this reason I've included a "Runners Up" list.
And, I've "cheated" a little by failing to select ONE play by Shakespeare - I could just pick his entire works but I haven't read them all yet - and ONE book by Charles Bukowski (they're really all the same story). In these two cases the play/book I like the MOST comes 1st.
Here they are (drumroll please):
1a. To Kill a Mockingbird
1b. All of The Great Brain books, by John D. Fitzgerald
2. The Importance of Being Ernest
3. Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Comedy of Errors
4. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
5. For Whom the Bell Tolls
6. Henderson the Rain King
7. One Hundred Years of Solitude
8. The Hobbit
9. Woman, Ham on Rye, and Factotum
10. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Runners Up (in no particular order):
Great Expectations, the "Incarnations of Immortality" series by Piers Anthony (with "For Love of Evil" being the absolute BEST of the 7), The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, Absalom, Absalom, Lust for Life, The Sun Also Rises, A Moveable Feast, Atlas Shrugged, The Age of Innocence, East of Eden, The Brotherhood of the Grape, A Farewell to Arms, More Die of Heartbreak, The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Middlemarch, The Lord of the Rings, Love in the Time of Cholera, and The Grapes of Wrath.
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2 comments:
Very interesting list … I like the fact that there are some that I’m not familiar with. Henderson the Rain King, for example. I should read more Bellow. The Adventures of Augie March has been on my “To Read” list for many years, but it’s always one of those books pushed to the back burner. I did read Herzog and really enjoyed it.
I’m wondering about your number three pick. I’m no Shakespeare expert, but that seems like three plays to me. Those must be romance picks, as you put it. I’d be curious to know the story. I’ve read The Comedy of Errors and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but I’ve always been more into the tragedies. King Lear almost made my list.
On the note of three books on one line, which of those Bukowski books would you recommend to a virgin? I read up on Ham on Rye and it seems intriguing, but The Most Beautiful Woman in Town got some really good marks on Amazon. I’m going to add one of those to the “To Read” list.
Anyway, yeah, like I said, nice list. Diverse. Cool. Intriguing. I like your criteria, too. The “romance” of the books was something that I never consciously thought about, but when I look back over my list now, all of my choices have that quality to them, too.
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