Books you must read to be considered well read

What does it mean to be "well read" today? Are there certain books that you must read to consider yourself well read? That can include classics, books that are popular enough to be culturally important or books that contain essential stories, ideas and/or characters that everyone who claims to be well read should know.
1

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4.27 avg rating — 142 ratings
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2

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4.26 avg rating — 6,736,634 ratings
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3

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4.20 avg rating — 4,103,324 ratings
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4

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4.20 avg rating — 5,287,231 ratings
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5

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4.29 avg rating — 4,677,512 ratings
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6

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4.33 avg rating — 2,400,375 ratings
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7

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4.22 avg rating — 1,981,645 ratings
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8

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3.89 avg rating — 998,990 ratings
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9

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4.62 avg rating — 4,035,313 ratings
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10

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4.01 avg rating — 4,405,807 ratings
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11

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3.74 avg rating — 2,781,910 ratings
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12

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4.02 avg rating — 1,427,458 ratings
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13

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4.17 avg rating — 2,409,732 ratings
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14

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3.88 avg rating — 1,262,198 ratings
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15

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4.61 avg rating — 142,192 ratings
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16

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4.09 avg rating — 900,936 ratings
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17

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3.89 avg rating — 1,788,793 ratings
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18

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4.16 avg rating — 2,275,930 ratings
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19

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4.43 avg rating — 611,636 ratings
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20

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3.94 avg rating — 570,833 ratings
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21

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3.88 avg rating — 1,000,687 ratings
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22

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4.24 avg rating — 3,082,911 ratings
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23

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4.10 avg rating — 509,128 ratings
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24

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3.90 avg rating — 1,975,222 ratings
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24

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3.93 avg rating — 5,777,294 ratings
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26

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4.13 avg rating — 1,806,676 ratings
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27

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4.31 avg rating — 270,066 ratings
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28

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 757,642 ratings
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29

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4.14 avg rating — 182,172 ratings
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30

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4.11 avg rating — 99,935 ratings
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31

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3.80 avg rating — 3,824,861 ratings
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32

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3.77 avg rating — 201,825 ratings
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33

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4.17 avg rating — 359,197 ratings
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34

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4.31 avg rating — 834,574 ratings
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35

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3.44 avg rating — 905,491 ratings
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36

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4.44 avg rating — 310,969 ratings
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37

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4.09 avg rating — 715,119 ratings
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38

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4.02 avg rating — 977,355 ratings
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39

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3.80 avg rating — 861,751 ratings
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39

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4.12 avg rating — 2,751,599 ratings
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41

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4.06 avg rating — 17,630 ratings
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42

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4.29 avg rating — 1,585,804 ratings
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42

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3.89 avg rating — 2,772,103 ratings
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44

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3.74 avg rating — 141,662 ratings
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44

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4.01 avg rating — 26,545 ratings
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44

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4.31 avg rating — 1,456,268 ratings
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47

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3.84 avg rating — 145,577 ratings
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48

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3.83 avg rating — 647,159 ratings
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49

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3.91 avg rating — 299,337 ratings
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49

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3.81 avg rating — 132,325 ratings
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51

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4.14 avg rating — 1,554,133 ratings
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52

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3.92 avg rating — 1,002,679 ratings
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53

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4.28 avg rating — 1,038,833 ratings
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54

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3.71 avg rating — 216,313 ratings
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55

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3.52 avg rating — 235,473 ratings
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55

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3.59 avg rating — 254,238 ratings
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57

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3.70 avg rating — 3,138,190 ratings
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58

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4.23 avg rating — 771,622 ratings
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59

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3.89 avg rating — 430,170 ratings
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60

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4.03 avg rating — 370,009 ratings
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61

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3.91 avg rating — 233,891 ratings
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62

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3.84 avg rating — 374,584 ratings
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63

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4.28 avg rating — 1,561,771 ratings
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64

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4.10 avg rating — 913,087 ratings
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65

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4.28 avg rating — 406,364 ratings
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66

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4.19 avg rating — 578,150 ratings
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66

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4.02 avg rating — 304,040 ratings
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68

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3.93 avg rating — 498,651 ratings
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69

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3.86 avg rating — 81,782 ratings
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70

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4.08 avg rating — 854,822 ratings
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71

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4.21 avg rating — 372,300 ratings
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72

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3.99 avg rating — 876,950 ratings
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73

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4.08 avg rating — 168,569 ratings
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74

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3.90 avg rating — 147,027 ratings
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75

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3.83 avg rating — 1,323,810 ratings
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76

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4.02 avg rating — 82,997 ratings
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77

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4.03 avg rating — 1,337,054 ratings
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77

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4.29 avg rating — 26,608 ratings
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79

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3.59 avg rating — 295,268 ratings
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80

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3.84 avg rating — 218,424 ratings
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81

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4.26 avg rating — 15,679 ratings
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82

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3.82 avg rating — 406 ratings
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83

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4.17 avg rating — 399,668 ratings
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84

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4.03 avg rating — 1,001 ratings
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85

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4.45 avg rating — 2,689,118 ratings
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86

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4.20 avg rating — 710,011 ratings
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87

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3.93 avg rating — 23,991 ratings
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87

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4.29 avg rating — 6,828 ratings
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89

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4.02 avg rating — 637,455 ratings
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90

by
4.30 avg rating — 321,920 ratings
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91

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3.08 avg rating — 84 ratings
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91

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4.13 avg rating — 209,054 ratings
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91

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4.39 avg rating — 2,820,966 ratings
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91

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3.78 avg rating — 9 ratings
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91

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4.20 avg rating — 2,445 ratings
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96

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4.19 avg rating — 20,555 ratings
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96

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3.95 avg rating — 176,299 ratings
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96

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3.59 avg rating — 9,227 ratings
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96

by
4.24 avg rating — 333,631 ratings
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96

by
4.35 avg rating — 1,030 ratings
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184 books · 48 voters · list created August 16th, 2014 by Rachel Eliason (votes) .
29 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Rachel 464 books
146 friends
Clare 8324 books
347 friends
Soumya 1374 books
38 friends
Victoria 442 books
3 friends
Stephen 6595 books
297 friends
Viktor 909 books
18 friends
Kathleen 1657 books
15 friends
Mitali 1445 books
31 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-4 of 4 (4 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Rachel (new)

Rachel Eliason I am thinking that if we can get more than a hundred books on here and say 30+ people voting, I might make this a reading challenge, to read the top one hundred. Anyone else interested?


message 2: by Stephen (last edited Aug 18, 2014 04:03AM) (new)

Stephen Rachel, two things...

First, The copy of Brave New World that you selected is different than the one others have selected. The list can be de-duped but (because of the way GoodReads works) your choice is considered a separate choice and will never be combined with the others. You might consider deleting your vote and voting for the one that the others did.

Second, There are already some similar challenges that you might want to check out. Since they're already established, the discussions there might be more lively and I'm sure that you could make that even more true.

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...


message 3: by Rachel (new)

Rachel Eliason The way Goodreads handles different editions of the same book drives me nuts at times. Thanks.
The second group looks interesting. I am trying to avoid prize winners or list made by an individual person or group, because what interests me is what sort of consensus will occur on this list over time. Of course it would be interest to compare which books make the list on a crowd sourced site like this with what, say, a literary professor might select.


message 4: by Mitali (last edited Aug 18, 2014 09:31AM) (new)

Mitali Nice list! Just FYI:
The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice and The Picture of Dorian Gray are on the list twice.
Also, you might want to choose an edition of Hamlet that is by Shakespeare instead of by Kenneth Branagh. ;)


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