# Observer: LotR #64 of "The 100 greatest novels of all time"



## Walter (Oct 12, 2003)

The Observer asked their readers about the greatest novels of all times, _The Lord of the Rings_ ranked as # 64.


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## Rhiannon (Oct 13, 2003)

Hey, LOTR is the _most read_ book, after the Bible. 

Books on the list that I've read: 15. Ouch. I gave myself half credits for _Anna Karenina_ (which I gave a solid 400 pages to get interesting, and it never did), and _Ulysses_, which I tried but gave up on 1/3rd in when I realized I had absolutely no clue what was going on. 

Books on the list that I can _fake_ having read: 25. I've never actually _read_ _Charlotte's Web_ or _Lord of the Flies_, but I know enough about them vicariously to fake it.

Books on the list that I've never heard of: 59. Aiee! I chalk it up to being British lit.

Books on the list that I violently hated: Only three. _Wuthering Heights_ (SHUDDER, that was an awful book), _David Copperfield_ (booooooring), and....I think it was _Anna Karenina_ (half the book, that was 400 pages, and I _still_ hated all the characters and didn't give a hoot what happened to them, they were all idiots anyway).


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## Aulë (Oct 13, 2003)

Number of books that I haven't even heard of before: 79  
Number of books that I have read: 8...

Damn lecture notes take up far too much of my reading time


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## Lúthien Séregon (Oct 13, 2003)

I've only read 7 of those books, and only heard of a few more than that.  

I do think that Lord of the Rings should have been higher up on the list...at least in the top fifteen, surely?


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## Legolam (Oct 13, 2003)

I've read 12 of those books! That's pretty impressive I reckon!

BTW, the BBC are doing a "Top 100" and you can vote for LOTR (or your favourite!). Here's the link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/index.shtml


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## Ithrynluin (Oct 13, 2003)

I heard of about half those books, but I'm not into 'the classics' too much. 

I loathed 'Madame Bovary' and disliked 'Don Quixote' and 'The Great Gatsby'. 

'Wuthering Heights', 'The Scarlet Letter' and 'The Picture of Dorian Grey' were a-ok compared to some of the other junk up there. Oh well, maybe I just can't appreciate classics like they should be.  

I loved 'The Call of the Wild', 'The Wind in the Willows' and 'The Catcher in the Rye'.

I have yet to read Moby D-i-c-k, and that's actually one of the few books from the Top 100 I'm looking forward to reading.

Of course, for us Tolkien fans, there is no doubt that Tolkien's masterpiece is number one.


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## Rhiannon (Oct 13, 2003)

I wasn't 'into' classics, until someone pointed out to me that they're just _books_ like other books. Some you'll like, and some you won't.


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## DGoeij (Oct 13, 2003)

Gosh, I even read several of those. My english teacher should be proud. Funny to see the BFG amongst those.

And the name Dorian Gray I've heard somewhere before recently..... Oh yes, he was a character in the League of Extrodinary Gentlemen. Silly movie with Sean Connory, which I ended up seeing because my girlfriend adores him on the big screen. (you should hear her when I forgot to shave).


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## Eliot (Oct 13, 2003)

Well, I've heard of 29 of them, and I've only read _The Lord of the Rings_ and _1984_.


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## Samwise_hero (Oct 16, 2003)

It was listed as number one is Australia........ strange........ and The Hobbit was at 7...


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## Arvedui (Oct 16, 2003)

I've actually read 8 1/2 of those books! (The 1/2 being _Ulysses_ )
But why isn't _The Silmarillion_ on either of the lists? It definately belong there more than does _The Hobbit._


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## Gandalf White (Oct 16, 2003)

> I have yet to read Moby D-i-c-k, and that's actually one of the few books from the Top 100 I'm looking forward to reading.


 Not to spoil your anticipation, but ick!  

I've heard of many of the books on the list, read several, and am planning on reading several more.


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## Aulë (Oct 16, 2003)

Don Quixote certainly doesn't deserve to be #1. 
Clarissa shouldn't be there at all- all it is, is a lot of letters tacked together.


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## Snaga (Oct 16, 2003)

Clarissa is an epistolary novel Aule. A quite common form in the 18th century I believe.

Anyway I've read 19 of the Observer list, and have read something by most of the other authors so I'm feeling pretty smug.

I didnt count on the BBC list. Probably more cos its a more populist choice IMO.

Arvedui: the Sil isnt going to make any list of this sort. These lists were compiled based on readers/viewers choices, and the Sil is nowhere near as popular as LotR and the Hobbit.


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## Rhiannon (Oct 16, 2003)

I just realized I've read another book on the list: Philip Pullman's _Northern Lights_ is called _The Golden Compass_ in the states. At a quick count, I've read a different book than the one listed by about...7 or eight of the authors.


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## Zale (Oct 17, 2003)

I've read only 13, and I've heard of just about all of them. It says a lot about the Observer's readers, that Charlotte's Web is above LotR... It's a child's book! I read it when I was five!


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## Celebthôl (Oct 17, 2003)

I have read. . . . are you ready for this?. . . . a whole massive "1"  no prizes for guessin which one that was 
Man im unliterate. . . (if thats a word)


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## Dark_Glamdring (Jun 4, 2004)

Well, I have read only a few, my favorites:
Don Quijote de la Mancha I read it long time ago, in school, don´t remeber anything  
Frankenstein de Mary Shelly!!!
The Count of Monte Cristo!!!
The picture of Dorian Grey!!!
The Lord of the ring!!!For sure  

But I think The Iliad, The Odissey and so should be there


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## Snaga (Jun 4, 2004)

Just realised this (I'm slow!), but LotR doesn't rank 64th in the list. Its just that the list is compiled in the order they were written or published. So LotR is the 64th oldest; ie its comparitively young!


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## Rhiannon (Jun 4, 2004)

Ooooh. I would never have figured that out


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## HLGStrider (Jun 6, 2004)

I don't know why I look at these lists. They just depress me. I realized a while back that as much as I like to read, I will always be a stickler for one genre more than others, and that genre is children's picture books. Give me "Make Way For Ducklings!" and the "Cat in the Hat!"

1. Do we count severely abridged badly translated versions? No. ..
2. Do we count comic book versions? I can claim basic knowledge. I'll get around to it someday.
3. Read half. Got bored.
14. I ADORED this one.
16. GO AWAY DICKENS! I'M NOT SPEAKING TO YOU!
2O. I loved this one though I'm not sure why.
24. Who doesn't like Alice in Wonderland?
25. read it
32. I felt this one wasn't all it was cracked up to be. ..but it only took me a few hours one afternoon to read which is a plus. I spent six months on War and Peace.
40. I didn't understand parts of this considering it is a children's book.
63. I adore children's books
64. We all know which this one is.
73. This is my sisters' favorite novel. . .and I was assigned it by my mother. I would've read it if she hadn't assigned it, but since she assigned it she made me take notes.
88. I adored this one too. More children's books! HURRAY!


I did better than I thought I would. 11. . .not bad.


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## Niniel (Jun 6, 2004)

I read only 5 of them (Ulysses, LOTR, the BFG, the great Gatsby, and Frankenstein), and I haven't heard of more than half of them. I think there are lots of classic books that should've been on the list, but aren't.


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## Inderjit S (Jun 6, 2004)

Hmph...I have read about 40 of them....I will compile a list of my faves later. I also see a lot of books that are on my reading list there, in a couple of months it could go up to 50 or higher.

Books that I REALLY want to read; U.S.A, Catcher In The Rye, Dangerous Liasons, Oscar and Lucinda, that Rushdie book that was chosen instead of 'Midnight's Children', The Black Sheep....and many more.

Dark Glamdring-the only texts that are allowed are novels, not verse, plays etc, hence the absence of Homer, Virgil, Goethe, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Dante, Boccacio, Chaucer etc.


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## Inderjit S (Jun 6, 2004)

1.Don Quixote-a fantastic, funny and fabulous book.
2.Pilgrim's Progress-Nice moral message methinks, well nicer then the Divine Comedy.
3.Robinson Crusoe-good book, not my favourite.
4.Tom Jones-great book, does drag at times though.
5. Emma-typical Austen, pretty average, dry even, with boring characters.
6. Frankenstein-read this a long time ago for my English courswork.
7. Charterhouse of Parma-the first 100 pages are captivating-the rest of the novel is anything but. Not even better then Lampedusa's 'The Leopard' for tales of Italian aristocracy.
8. The Count of Monte Cristo-Brilliant, brilliant book.
9. David Copperfield-Beats 'A Tale of Two Cities' as my fave. Dickens.
10. Wuthering Heights-raging physcos in rural England-does it get any better?
11. Jane Eyre-average, not as good as her sister's aformentioned effort.
12. Vanity Fair- nice satire by the contributor to Punch, the hilarious satrical magazine/pseudo-group.
13. Moby ****-never will get over the scene where Ishmael finds Que-Queg's (sp?) arm loving wrapped over him. Nice book, though a bit fastidious when it comes to stuff I don't care about like details about the ship etc.
14. Alice in Wonderland-nice childrens book.
15. Anna Karenina-great book-but is it better then War and Peace?
16. Brothers Karmazov-Dostoevsky's best, better then C&P IMO.
17. Huck Finn-great book-but not as good as Tom Sawyer.
18. Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde-not my favourite book.
19. Three Men In A Boat-a very funny book.
20. Nostromo-not a big fan of Conrad, and this novel didn't really change that.
21. Ulysses-I have a strong antipathy to this book-utter tripe.
22. A Passage to India-good book.
23. The Great Gatsby-average, and IMO over-rated.
24. The Trial-deserves it's place here, a great book and better then the Castel Bohemia.
25. Brave New World-good, but not as good as 1984.
26. The Plague-another good book, but not better then The Stranger.
27. 1984-better then Brave New World, and most the novels on this list.
28. Charlotte's Web-I am sure I read this when I was a kid.
29. LoTR-simply the best.
30. Lolita- a great book. 
31. The Tin Drum-a brilliant novel and ome of the best magic realism novels.
32. Things Fall Apart-another superb title.
33. Catch-22-my fave. satire.
34. One Hundred Years of Solitude-better then Love In the Time of Cholrea, and a superb novel.
35. Song of Solomon- great book, a lot better then other african-american novels.
36. If on a winters night a traveller-you have gotta love Calvino.
37. The BFG-Nice, but not Dahl's best.
38. The Periodic Table-a good book.

So that's 38 off the list, so far, there are a hell of a lot of books which i would like to read from that list, and some I wouldn't touche with a bargepole...Clarissa is one of them.


36.


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## Inderjit S (Jun 8, 2004)

Well, make that 40, I have now read 'Dangerous Liasons' and 'The Good Soldier' by Laclos and Conrad's buddy Ford. Dangerous Liasons was great, the Good Soldier was pretty good too. Both quite erotic, which is er...great. 

There is also a list by some authors from a couple of years back, Authors List and LoTR, which is anathema to the intellectual snobs, does not feature.


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## 33Peregrin (Jun 8, 2004)

I have read 11 of those books, some for school, and some for fun. Many of them I have never heard of, and there are plenty that I hope to read in the bear future. It kind of disgusts me though, to see The Great Gatsby and Brave New World before LOTR. I despise both of those books strongly, having to read them both in the last two years for school. Yuck!


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## Inderjit S (Jun 9, 2004)

They were not voted, but published before LoTR. The list is in the order of publication.


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## Beleg (Jun 12, 2004)

I have read 34. Off the last 30-40 I have read only 4-5. Shows how far I am on current reading.


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## 33Peregrin (Jun 12, 2004)

Inderjit S said:


> They were not voted, but published before LoTR. The list is in the order of publication.



Wow.... I just read that above. Thanks for telling me, though. It's good to know that Brave New World is not really considered better than LOTR....  

And I feel stupid again.....


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## Inderjit S (Jun 13, 2004)

> I have read 34. Off the last 30-40 I have read only 4-5. Shows how far I am on current reading.



Huzzah, I am still "winning" with my record of 43 out of 100. I've ordered like 12 of those books off Amazon so excpect my number to rise. 



> Wow.... I just read that above. Thanks for telling me, though. It's good to know that Brave New World is not really considered better than LOTR....



Brave New World wasn't too bad, better then The Handmaids Tale but not as good as 1984. Though reading books in school does make them seem a lot worse then they actually are. Personally, I didn't like The Great Gatsby much either.


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## 33Peregrin (Jun 13, 2004)

Inderjit S said:


> Brave New World wasn't too bad, better then The Handmaids Tale but not as good as 1984. Though reading books in school does make them seem a lot worse then they actually are. Personally, I didn't like The Great Gatsby much either.



Yeah, probably what made it so bad was having to talk about it everyday with a group of people I did not like very much. And then our Final Exam was to talk about the book to the class for about ten minutes. I also agree that 1984 was much better than Brave New World. Actually, other groups in my English Class had to read it, and do their presentation on it. I actually thought it sounded interesting, so I read it.


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## Niirewen (Jun 13, 2004)

I've only read 15 of the books on that list....

I was a little surprised that some of those books were listed in the top 100. Like _The Picture of Dorian Gray_-- I know it's a classic, but one of the 100 greatest books of all time? I didn't think it was that great. Oh well.




33Peregrin said:


> I also agree that 1984 was much better than Brave New World. Actually, other groups in my English Class had to read it, and do their presentation on it. I actually thought it sounded interesting, so I read it.


I haven't read _Brave New World_, but I did read _1984_ a few years ago. I actually did a research paper on it (paralleling it to Stalin's regime, I think). I suppose it was a "good book," but I couldn't say I enjoyed it. It was very depressing.

Btw, I didn't particularly like _The Great Gatsby_, either.


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