The 50 Greatest Books of All Time - Reaction

Ayn Rands The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

For me Upton Sinclairs "the Jungle" is the best book ever written up till now.

Great work. You may be interested in talking about Elizabeth Paradiso Urassa's books. They are very good for university students and may help the loved ones not to drop out of their studies. I appreciate what you are doing. Thank you very much.

I audibly gasped when I saw your notes in your copy of Moby Dick. I don't write in any of my books, but I do have personal digital thoughts in the cloud - never in my personal collection.

Would add The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck to maybe top 50 or at minimum top 100. Excellent character study and excellent writing.

Very interesting list. As it is an amalgamation of several lists composed by others (my guess is mostly of English origin) it couldn't be better. I wonder how this list would look like if it was composed from every top list from every country in the world?

Some of my personal favourites are missing here, but I didn't expect to see them anyway. I'm not native English speaker and I'm really interested in English literature outside of fantasy and SF, so my top list would probably include much more foreigners.

I was surprised at the omission of " Cider With Rosie " by Laurie Lee perhaps it was classed as autobiographical rather than fictional. Although I have read most of the books on the list I mainly read children's fiction and found that Alice in Wonderland a strange inclusion. This book although influential in its day seems a little dated now. A more interesting representative of children's fiction ( or at least teenage fiction) would, in my opinion, be The Owl Service by Alan Garner. As a personal choice I would have placed Hamlet at number one with its brilliant storyline of the prince's procrastination, family tensions, the supernatural, insanity and murder thrown in as good measures.

Blood Meridian should be on here

Great list indeed! My high school English literature years certainly remind me of Charles Dickens Great Expectations and the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Recently read "The Brothers Karamazov " an absolute master piece of Russian Literature!!

The Virginian by Owen Wister

I know everyone has their opinions but, The Count of Monte Cristo has to be on this list.

Number One for me would always be Dostoievski's Crime & Punishment. I have read it throught my life at least five times. Dostoievski's number one because the writer did not interfere. He opens the window for us to see, to feel and experience. Only now, as a mature reader, I can feel the writer, and you know what? He doesn't bother me.
Number Two East of Eden by Steinbeck. Steinbeck said "This is my book." I simply agree with him. I was spoiled by Dostoievski and couldn't enjoy reading any other author for a long time until Steinbeck came along.

Ulysses-head and shoulders above any novel ever written.

Great list. I wish we had Tao Te Ching in this list ❤

Phedre de jean racine et l’éducation sentimentale et le père goriot l’explicit est si beau

The Hobbit!!

Great list but missed classics such as the Bible

Great job band great books but , the vast majority of list such as this one (i.e. made by somebody speaking English) , are largely biased towards English speaking authors. This is not a bad thing but half of the world is somewhat missing. I am looking for a more inclusive list of novels from all over the world that are translated into English: any suggestions? More precisely, individual lists based on novels written in a given language is what I am looking for.

if you class great Novels by the lasting impression they make. Crime and punishment has got to be Number 1

This list is total bullshit and an insult !

I am joyful that Marcel Proust made number 1, as I am on a journey to start reading In Search of Lost Time for my 70th birthday, and will read it slowly with a journal next to my side to write all my thoughts about this incredible masterpiece of Marcel Proust.