As with most Listopia's, it's all a matter of opinion. I noticed Fanny Hill on this list, a title I personally can't possibly agree with as being 'The ultimate in trash/pulp/lurid fiction'. But as I said, it's all a matter of opinion :-)

Hi Booklovinglady! I developed the chart and I'm DELIGHTED to have feedback. Would you say Fanny Hill is a classic or that it's too sleazy to be in an ultimate. Would love your views. Keep talking and I'll keep reading.

PS: I started with 20 and people can add, so it's like a bring and buy trash one-for-all.

Adrian wrote: "Hi Booklovinglady! I developed the chart and I'm DELIGHTED to have feedback. Would you say Fanny Hill is a classic or that it's too sleazy to be in an ultimate. Would love your views. Keep talking ..."

I would definitely say it's a classic. Views in the 18th century were completely different from ours today and even today there is a huge difference in views if one looks at the opinions in different countries. The book can't possibly be compared to nowadays smut, which can be fun at times, but will be forgotten straight after reading it :-)

Besides, I can't be the only one who thinks it's a classic, as my own English edition of Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure was pulbished as a Penguin Classics :-)

But as I said earlier, it's all a matter of opinion :-) Fanny Hill is the only title of your current list that I own, although I know several of the other titles and recognize several of the author names, and would agree.

One exception though: I don't know the books by Ian McEwan on the list, but other books of his definitely wouldn't qualify, so I admit I have my doubts about these being on the list. Ian McEwan has been shortlisted for the Booker several times, and has won the Booker with his book Amsterdam. But as I said, I haven't read the ones on the list, so I can't/won't judge/have an opinion. And after all, I can't say it enough: As with all readers who vote, it's just a mattter of opinion.

Some good points.

Although, I have to say, I found Fanny Hill completely vulgar and shocking. I consulted 2 people who sort of agreed so I went ahead and trashified it.

The early McEwan novels are particularly unsavoury, to the point where he became known as Ian Macabre. The Cement Garden is a sort of precursor to the misery lit/poverty porn style novels that have come about from the noughties onwards (don't know if you're British, if not, some of these terms may not hold weight). Just as people ok'd Fanny Hill they were very pro-McEwan not being deemed trash. I found this annoying as his subject matter and characterisation in The Cement Garden (and The Comfort of Strangers) were perfect. A trashy treasure. :)

I wrote a small review of the first 6 of the 18 I'm curating which you can read if you like: https://greatbritain1989.wordpress.co...

If you have a trashy number to consider for this chart you can add and tell me about if you like. This project was designed to find silly throwaway/slightly unsettling trashy reads purely to escape reality!

Adrian

Adrian wrote: "...don't know if you're British..."

I'm not :-) I'm Dutch.

As to Fanny Hill, I've read both the Dutch (borrowed) and English (bought) editions and don't see it as either vulgar or shocking (probably has something to do with me being Dutch...). It is an excellent example of the time it was written in though.