Totally agree that their Murakami selection is an awful book, and nothing Murakami's written in years has been any good, but he used to (20+ years ago) be a bit better...
[The Amazon tagline, "From the Modern Japanese Master" is certainly pretty cringe-inducing. >< ]
In general the entire list seems very uninspired, like it was generated by someone tallying up blog posts and fan-favorite lists, rather than being an informed opinion by someone that's actually read and thought about a lot of books...
> In general the entire list seems very uninspired, like it was generated by someone tallying up blog posts and fan-favorite lists, rather than being an informed opinion by someone that's actually read and thought about a lot of books...
Yeah, I felt the same way. If that's what you got to read before you die, well you might as well die of boredom before you finish reading the books in that list :P
Considering this is a list of books written in English, the language descended from Anglo-Saxon, what did you expect them to do? Include foreign books that their English readers can't read?
(And no, just because a non-English book is great and worth reading does not automatically confer that same status onto an English translation based upon that book.)
> what did you expect them to do? Include foreign books that their English readers can't read?
I've spotted few translated books in this list, so I don't see why this is a problem.
>And no, just because a non-English book is great and worth reading does not automatically confer that same status onto an English translation based upon that book.
I disagree, I think good translations are pretty much transparent. Substance matters more.
I think the US slant is a shame (or does Amazon have multiple lists?) but...
There are some really good books classed as "young adult" that I think are done a big disservice just by being labeled as such. Many of them are very accessible and cover things that sometimes even "grownup" literature does a terrible job of.
Personally I wouldn't go for Hunger Games, but Harry Potter was in large part responsible for a huge resurgence in reading among children and not for no reason. It's an easy read into a possibly new genre for many readers, and I'd be surprised if there was anyone out there that couldn't relate on some level to something going on in the series. It's not the best example ever, but it's far from shabby.
Agreed, there is far too much English-language and US fiction from the 20C in this list for it to be taken seriously. It's like top 100 film ratings on imdb - too distorted by the list-makers' parochial (in time and space) viewpoint to be useful. Recent fiction written in English has far too much weight in this list.
A well-read life would start at the Iliad and the Meditations and other classics (all available for free) and work up from there, not Lemony Snicket!
They did a bad job on sci-fi, I think -- while I liked Dune, it certainly isn't the one SF book I'd include.
The Handmaid's Tale is far better, but is listed as "Feminist Speculative Fiction"; if I'd read the category first, I would have skipped the book, but the book is great, along with her other writing.
In a list of 100, I'd probably include 3. The Handmaid's Tale is fine; Snow Crash or maybe a Heinlein or a "golden age of sci-fi" choice.
I agree, and you made elsewhere the good point that Dune has one foot in the fantasy realm, without much hard science fiction backing it up.
The Hyperion cantos (Simmons) is sadly not taken seriously by very many authors of top-100 lists. It's usually Dune or Stranger in a Strange Land or Ender's Game or Forever War. And heaven forbid they include Neuromancer or Snow Crash or Altered Carbon, or an eco-scifi book like Stand on Zanzibar or Zodiac.
Dune could be a nod to the classic science fiction aficionados who don't care for any of the newer stuff, who love Asimov, Niven, Clarke, PKD, Bester. Is Heinlein too politically charged, perhaps?
Agree with The Hyperion Cantos (commented it as an answer to my post above,) it's been one of the books I've re-read most times. It's a very good book, but somehow a lot of people ignore it, probably due to the fact it's part of a tetralogy (and seems like the last 2 are rubbish... I stopped with the first two: Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, which is what I consider "Hyperion Cantos", though.) I'd rank Altered Carbon higher than Neuromancer. Neuromancer is great and all, but the plot of Altered Carbon was more inspired, almost a nod to classic "noir" writers I like. And I love Stranger in a Strange Land, as pointed above :) Historical note: when the first Spanish translation was commissioned, the publishing firm that did it went bankrupt. Back then (dictatorship) there was a strong censure of books... But editors had to print the books, whole edition and only then the censor would check them. It was deemed as objectionable material.
I think the Hyperion cantos would be a single book rather than 4, or a closely joined 2-part novel/sequel, if not for market forces demanding books in the <700-800 page range for popular consumption. There are series that are loosely connected, and then there are series that are practically a single work, like the LotR trilogy. The Hyperion cantos is similar to LotR that way.
It sounds like you heard the Endymion pair are rubbish and avoided reading them. Wherever you heard that, they're not. Look at the ratings on goodreads[1], for instance. You're talking about them as if the Endymion volumes fell off a cliff like Vinge did with Children of the Sky[2]. Not so. The amazon ratings distribution for Endymion is a bit lackluster compared to the other volumes, but still nothing that could be called "rubbish".
It seems more fantasy vs. "extrapolating from interesting science". The "Butlerian Jihad" was the core concept (and interesting), but all the stuff about folding space, neo-feudalism, etc. doesn't follow from that. You could get "rejection of technology, regression" in a cleaner book I think.
Actually, Vinge's True Names would be top on my list (and only 90 pages or so).
I just scanned the list while buying books for an upcoming long trip away from the Internet and other media (i.e. my annual Alaska boat trip: http://arachnoid.com/alaska2013). I might have selected two from the list.
The problem with the list is it's not a true list of classic, worthwhile books, it's instead populated by books that (a) sell well and (b) are available at the moment from publishers. Those who don't read much, or who are beginning as adult readers, shouldn't be misled by its contents.
Here is a slightly better list, one unfortunately also biased by what's available in the current mass publishing market:
But while searching online for quality "classic" or "essential" book lists, I am surprised to say that there's no such readily available list, at least that I can find. Obviously there's also the issue of taste -- one person's list of classics isn't likely to be another's.
It's basically a way to add an extremely thin layer of misdirection over what's fundamentally Amazon reminding you that you want to buy books on their site. (i.e. advertising). They're trying to catch as many different people in a carefully crafted "Hmmm, I always meant to read that, maybe I should buy it now to remind me" moment.
How is this is relevant to HN? It's probably not...
It's probably deliberately opaque, but my interpretation of "a bucket list of books to create a well-read life" is that they are all a.) good books and b.) books which will help the reader relate to other readers.
It's probably a bit too pithy to say that reading them all will give you something to talk about at cocktail parties, but I think that's kinda where they're going with it. Any list that has both David Sedaris and Charles Dickens on it is not meant to be taken literally as THE LIST.
I've only read 33* of them, so I've still got a ways to go.
Looks more like a popularity contest with an unsurprising correlation to recent screen adaptations.
I half expect Justin Bieber's biography to make the list.
Goodreads and Amazon have become as useless as IMDB when it comes to ratings. Both are prime examples of why the "wisdom of the crowds" is bull. Guess Nicholas Carr was right after all.
I know it's not meant seriously, but even so, the notion that everyone should read the same set of books in a lifetime is a strange one. If everyone actually did that, it would be a massive duplication of effort. Much better for people to read different books.
Surprised / pleased that I'm a quarter of the way there (well, 24/100).
Didn't expect quite that much young adult literature - Harry Potter, Limony Snickett, Golden Compass, The Giver (plus Lord of the Rings). All major film franchises (well, The Giver under production).
Was amazed to see The Phantom Tollbooth. One of my favourite books of all time, though I haven't read it since I was a child and honestly have never met another person who'd heard of it!
First, the expression "bucket list" always brings to mind Mr. Creosote.
Second, of the books that i have read, I have to say that Cutting for Stone isn't very good; Verghese's nonfiction The Tennis Partner is much better. The Connections has its moments, but maybe not enough for its length.
I get why they did this, but it seems like such a waste considering everywhere I've seen this posted people just bitch about a book or a section of books they like not being on the list. But it seems to be working as intended, because I've seen this posted a lot.
Although I'd change some books (actually, quite a lot,) I'm positively surprised by some choices, with books you usually don't see in "best of" lists but which rank high in my personal preferences.
For science fiction I'd change Dune... Even though it's a great book and I like it (I even read Herbert Jr.'s sequels... spoiler: don't) I'd pick something "shinier." Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, or 2001: An Space Odissey... or go with the weird and pick Rendezvous with Rama. Or just Foundation. Sci-Fi-wise you can't go wrong with Foundation.
Ninja-edit: How could I forget The Starmaker by Olaf Stapledon? Written in the late 40s, I didn't give much for it as Sci-fi goes. I read it in one sitting. Ended with a headache, dizzy and hungry. It was well worth it.
For Murakami, I'd pick instead a relatively unknown book by him: Hard-boiled Wonderland and The End of The World. An inception-esque plot-inside-plot book, set in an almost Neuromancer-like setting. I love it.
For Dystopian... Even though I have not read The Giver, just classification-wise I'd have to pick Shades of Grey (Jasper Fforde's book, not to be confused with another, numbered, similarly named book.) It was a thrilling read (I think it's the best novel I've read in the past 3 or 4 years, but well, I don't read that much fiction lately), sadly part of a trilogy waiting to be finished. Beware: once you are done with the book you'd want to go to Britain and tie Fforde to his desk until he is done with the next book.
The books that surprised me though are incredibly well-spotted. I like that Guns, Germs and Steel is there. It's been on my reading list for... 3 years already (I have it, but it's a heavy book so I'm always eager to pick an ebook or thinner material for a commute,) because the theme is so compelling. The Right Stuff is not the usual book you see in a best-of list, but for me, it should be in all these lists. Heck, writing from it is used as example of good writing in On Writing Well (which is surprisingly a very good read).
The Long Goodbye, by Chandler. Chandler is great, period. Having one of his books in this lists validates other books I'd never consider... Even though you can't have a Chandler and don't have a Hammett. You can't go wrong with a book by Hammett, I'd probably pick The Maltese Falcon. A classic.
Of course, there are some books that I'd personally treat to a Bradbury process... Catcher in the Rye and On the Road are two books I was looking forward to reading (not being English-based meant I didn't get to read them on high school) and found dull. I guess read in a different context would have made it different, but I couldn't see all the praise. Personal opinion, though.
> Catcher in the Rye and On the Road are two books I was looking forward to reading (not being English-based meant I didn't get to read them on high school) and found dull.
I feel the same way about Catcher in the Rye. I didn't grow up with it and when I picked it up as an adult I found it dull dull dull. I'm pretty sure that with enough digging one might find something interesting here, but it's buried too deep for me. Much like anything by James Joyce, this seems to be a book for Lit majors.
Catcher in the Rye is an adult book written for juveniles, and I mean that in the best possible way. It is about profound realization we all have at some point that adults are not the grown-ups we think them to be, but rather - as I've heard expressed well recently - adults are merely big children that have left the sandbox. Or in Holden's words, phonies.
I think this still is a profound and powerful book for anyone reading it at the appropriate point in their life, usually the last year or two of high school. If you are familiar with post-war American culture of the 1950's, then you can also appreciate on a literary and historical level its counter-cultural message.
But otherwise, if you're encountering Catcher in the Rye for the first time having already become a grown-up adult, I wouldn't expect much of it.
Stranger in a Strange Land was a bit too predictable for my taste although it was an entertaining read to some degree - but I found Dune much more interesting and worthy of praise.
First time I tried to read Catcher in the Rye I found it dull and didn't get far, but the second time I got into it and really enjoyed it. I ended up feeling a lot of sympathy for the main character.
Dune is more profound, but as far as predictability goes, it's almost a one-way street as a book. Which is not to detract that it is very good, and that Stranger in a Strange Land is similar, once the "church" is formed. I found SiaSL as giving interesting insights into what a completely weird alien species might be (much like Asimov's The God Themselves, a personal favourite.) I think that since these two are good, classic books picking one over the other is just a matter of preference, although Dune will be in far more antologies and SiaSL will be more an underdog. Do you have any SciFi recommendation, by the way?
Thas is one of my favorite books of all times. Thank you for recommending it, and I will echo your sentiment to others here on HN to read it. It's one of the few books I've actually reread after saying to myself "I should reread that.."
I think Murakami's writing has become repetitive and bloated in the last couple of decades (and even sort of creepy, in a bad way); he basically seems to have been writing on autopilot for many years. It's always a little annoying to see him trotted out as a great author by mentioning his recent stuff.
His early stuff, however, is much better: tighter, more subtle, more interesting, less overwrought. "Hard-boiled Wonderland and The End of The World" is my favorite. It's weird, thoughtful, and sad in way that doesn't feel manipulative or artificial.
I agree somewhat, but you should try out his latest book "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage: A novel", though apparently not yet available in English. I just started it and so far it feels very different from his other books, though still very great.
(And hard-boiled wonderland is indeed brilliant)
I'll keep it in hand for when there is an English translation. I can't read Japanese (except for a handful of go terms like black, white and "first to move".)
When I was a little younger (well, I'm only 31, so it's not like it was ages ago) I reread quite a lot, this one in particular got probably 4 re-reads. My most re-read book is probably Hyperion, by Dan Simmons (followed by HHGG). It's not for every sci-fi lover, but the first part of the Hyperion Chantos (that would be Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion) are incredibly good books, not only for the science fiction, but also have a thick, interesting plot full of the "I wonder how this turns out" sci-fi.
I found the list fascinating - though in a bad way, as it impressively shows how little Americans seem to be exposed to non-anglosaxon literature. That's a loss, really.
Well, I'm not American, and I am also exposed to lots of anglosaxon literature. The thing is, the market for translations is very limited, and usually larger for English->Spanish (or Catalan) than in reverse. My all-time favourite book was by a Catalan writer, homaging Hammett by writing a crime novel set in the Barcelona of the late 60s (IIRC, maybe it was early 70s) where the dictatorship was still in full swing and illegal goods were still a good deal (much like Hammett's setting during the Prohibition.) In case you can find an English edition, it's called "De mica en mica s'omple la pica," in Catalan (Drop by drop the sink fills up would be a rough translation, it's a typical Catalan saying.) A quick googling and amazon didn't turn up any translation, though.
By Jaume Fuster? Yes, I just checked and there don't seem to be any German or English translations available. That's a shame, would have liked to read it.
Coming back to the original topic, it is slightly weird that the market for translations is so small despite English probably being one of the most-read languages in the world. German, for example, is apparently the language that has the largest number of foreign language books translations despite being a comparatively small market. Maybe it is simply in a sweet spot with respect to size of market (large enough for translators to make a living) and number of domestic offerings (the supply is not so massive that it blocks all non-domestic offerings).
Well, I don't mean to sound derogatory, but Americans tend to know little about stuff happening outside of their own country (or the anglo-saxon world), except for a number of well-travelled people. There are reasons for that: having a 300 million+ people strong country where lots of stuff gets created and sold in a single language makes it a sufficient market for most people to focus on, plus as a culture the US is strong on the market worldwide: it has appeal beyond its borders, so you'd expect it to be particularly strong on its own territory as well.
I don't know, I've always thought it's one of those series that's worth reading just to be able to discuss with others given how many people have read.
It has "All the President's Men" and "A Brief History of Time", nonfiction. ... A quick scan shows that about 1/3 of the titles are either nonfiction or based on real events.
