Comments | celemon: (без темы)

celemon

(Untitled)

Feb 22, 2009 13:53

The BBC allegedly believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here:

How do your reading habits stack up? [bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish].

Does anyone understand the principle according to which these lists are compiled?

( List under cut )

Comments 13

silme February 22 2009, 15:43:50 UTC

I saw this meme last week and it made me giggle because I've read 97 of them and taught quite a few on the list. ;)

celemon February 22 2009, 16:47:25 UTC

I'm not quite up to 97, as you may have noticed - though I kind of wonder how well I'd do with an equivalent list of Swedish literature?

silme February 22 2009, 17:06:53 UTC

I'm sure you'd be way ahead of us native English speakers! :)

celemon February 22 2009, 17:41:52 UTC

Well, the current government wanted to compile a canon of mandatory Swedish literature, and got roundly told off by everyone who realises the problems with such a thing...

Thread 7

smarriveurr February 22 2009, 18:02:20 UTC

I can only honestly claim about 21 of those. (22 if you, like the beeb count Lion Witch & Wardrobe as well as the full Chronicles. I also note that there's the Complete Works for Shakespeare AND Hamlet. Padding the list, are they? Meh.) Then again, I'm a dirty science major.

celemon February 22 2009, 18:35:18 UTC

No, you're a nice clean science major. It's the arts majors who get all dusty digging around in archives - I think the book I am currently writing about hadn't been opened since about 1850, if then. Makes one wonder what kinds of interesting bacteria have (hopefully) died in the book and been preserved for posterity.
And I think the padding is a case of, if you haven't read all of Shakespeare (which no one but English majors who are also over-readers does) you should at least have read Hamlet.

maweisse February 22 2009, 20:36:26 UTC

I can almost double the number I've "read" if "having heard it read out loud" counts. I think it counts. Some people disagree. What, fundamentally, is the difference when it comes to experiencing the book?

On another note: Canons of literature? Somebody else can have Opinions about them.

celemon February 22 2009, 23:27:35 UTC

I have lot of Opinions on canons...

marcusstendahl February 22 2009, 23:13:07 UTC

Is there a reaason for those specific 100 books? Are they the pinnacle of different eras?

celemon February 22 2009, 23:26:54 UTC

I have no idea. And if they were, you'd think I'd know, after all. I think they might be bestssellers mixed with classics.