Bronchitis has squelched whatever World Book Day celebrations I might have planned for March 1st. (Ermmm, right...my big World Book Day celebration plans...yeah.) But if decreased lung capacity hadn't done the trick, this list of "The ten books you can't live without" would've stomped the party spirit right out of me:
Our survey to find the ten books the nation cannot live without has revealed that classics are still the most essential reads, with Pride and Prejudice topping the poll, and the Brontë sisters appearing, along with Charles Dickens and George Orwell. JRR Tolkein's fantasy trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, came in second, with The Bible also shown to be still relevant to people - coming in at sixth.
The full ten is as follows:
1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen 20%
2. Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkein 17%
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 14%
4. Harry Potter books - J K Rowling 12%
5. To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee 9.5%
6. The Bible 9%
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 8.5%
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell 6%, tied with:
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman 6%
9. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 0.55%
So much for the fabled high culture of the British. (Aren't they supposed to be holding it down as the country of great readers? I fuzzily recall reading an article earlier this year pointing to the superior reading habits of the British people, both in number of books read and in the "literariness" of said books, but alas! I can't find the article.) Of course, a predominantly American poll would've probably anointed The Da Vinci Code as the pinnacle of written genius, so I shouldn't talk.
The full "top 100 books you can't live without" list is equally cheering (which is to say, not cheering at all). At least Middlemarch scrapes in at #20. Frankly, I'm surprised it makes the list at all, given that Harry Potter beats out the complete works of Shakespeare by ten places. And at least The Da Vinci Code doesn't show up 'til #42. Plus, half of the top ten are written by women--a mildly surprising silver lining.
But Bridget Jones's Diary (#68)? The Five People You Meet In Heaven (#88)? No Henry James? No Faulkner? Sigh...it's enough to send me straight back to bed.
2 comments:
I personally think Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is a far better done example of a Distopian novel than either of the Orwell books that made the list.
And what about Kerouac?! This list is totally jacked up.
Never mind, I'm stupid. Kerouac was on the list... 2 spots ahead of Bridget Jones.
Yikes.
(but I will say this, Bridget Jones was a good movie.)
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