I’m a sucker for a book like The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books. J. Peder Zane collects the lists of favorite books by Norman Mailer, Annie Proulx, Stephen King, Jonathan Franzen, Claire Messud, Margaret Drabble, Michael Chabon, Peter Carey, and others. Then, Zane takes the results and comes up with a master list: THE TOP TOP TEN LIST of the “best” books from all the selections. I love browsing books like this because you never know what you’ll find. Although the THE TOP TOP TEN LIST is a bit bland and safe, there are some surprises in the individual author selections. There are also summaries of 544 books identified by the writers. Here are the top ten books according to Zane:
THE TOP TOP TEN BOOKS
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
Collected Stories by Anton Chekhov
Middlemarch by George Eliot
I’m like you in that this is exactly the kind of book I’m most likely to read. I tend to make lists of books recommended in things like this for future reading. Glad to see the Chekhov stories made the top 10.
The Chekhov stories are worthy of the TOP TEN, Jeff. But I’m not sure Tolstoy deserves two slots. Where is Jane Austen? Thomas Hardy? I could list a dozen books that are TOP TEN contenders.
I know these are probably our best books as western society–notice how few are from other areas.
But I do get tired of seeing the same ones listed. It’s like desert island discs. Everyone picks the same pieces of music.
I do like these books despite of it though.
I’m with you, Patti. I’d prefer more variety. And more women writers.
As you said, George, bland. Any college teacher of Literature 101 would pick the same stuff. It’s about as adventurous as a bowl of corn flakes.
But the reason to browse THE TOP TEN is for the summaries of the 544 books nominated, Rick. The individual author lists are interesting, too.
I notice my library does have this so will put it on hold.
You’ll enjoy browsing through THE TOP TEN, Jeff.