Meme: top unread books at LibraryThing, or I guess I should use shelves instead of stacks.

[oddharmonic]

These are the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing’s users. As in, they sit on the shelf to make you look smart or well-rounded. Bold the ones you've read.

Comments

[popcornoblivion]

I agree with Middlesex and Middlemarch - I hated both. I really enjoyed Freakonomics, and you might, too.

[oddharmonic]

I started Middlesex but didn't finish it.

Freakonomics is on my Amazon to-buy queue. I read an excerpt online and it's perpetually checked out at my local library branch, so I figure I'll buy it after my to-read queue's a little shorter. I read a lot more during the summer so I hope to get to it this fall.

[polyhymnia]

I've only read 37 (which includes 2 I read half of - Zen & The Art and the Aeneid which we were only assigned the first part of) so you've got me beat, but most of the ones I haven't read I mostly don't have on my shelf to make me look smart. :) The only one I have and haven't read is A People's History of the US, which I Keep Meaning To Read. Maybe I will soon. My HS English classes tended to the "modern classics" and other obscure literature for some reason (although I avoided Beloved which is the classic T.M. to have read because we read Sula instead).

I love Jared Diamond too. And Neal Stephenson, though it doesn't surprise me that Quicksilver and The Confusion both made the unread list. Someone ought to have edited, as in Cut Down in Length, that series. It was great but incredibly hard to get through.

Any particular recommendations from the true classics?

[moon_orchid]

I would say it depends on what you like to read the most; because I don't know Jared Diamond and Neal Stephenson, I can't particularly offer something based on that. However, the "classics" I enjoyed on this list include:

Les Miserables (very dense with random French Revolution history; feel free to skim a bit in those parts)

The Grapes of Wrath (will leave you feeling...something)

The Count of Monte Cristo (an awesomely done novel of intrigue and revenge)

but I am also a big fan of the Dune series (read them in order) and The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver is one of my favorite authors)

The Rand works (Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead) are fascinating novels, but don't get too wrapped up in her philosophy, unless you...like it. Interesting take on capitalism and the view/value of human life compared to others.

The Bronte novels (Sense & Sensibility, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights) are good trashy English novels...the kind to read in the bathtub or poolside, but with a decent vocabulary. However, I immensely enjoyed Vanity

[polyhymnia]

Thanks! I've actually read Grapes of Wrath, Dune (whole series), Poisonwood Bible (and many other BK works), and Jane Eyre. Couldn't get into Wuthering Heights when I tried but I should try again. (Psst...S&S is by Austen, not one of the Brontes.) Don't think I'll ever read Ayn Rand because the philosophy would just be too exasperating. But I'll put the others on my library list.