Comments on The Book Bucket "Top 10 Books" Challenge Compilation - page 1

See my facebook post on this for more detail:

https://www.facebook.com/Riku.Sayuj/p...

Among 3 forty year chunks starting from 1900, the least populated one is the one that is 1940-80?

Tanuj wrote: "Among 3 forty year chunks starting from 1900, the least populated one is the one that is 1940-80?"

How did you measure that?

Just just felt so. But it would be amazing to know.

Tanuj wrote: "Just just felt so. But it would be amazing to know."

Let it stabilize. I will try to make an approximation.

Misses: one hundred years of solitude, chronicle of a death foretold; nothing by Roth, Updike, McEwan, amis, kadare, murakami (I am surprised he doesn't swamp this list), Rushdie's others.

Tanuj wrote: "Misses: one hundred years of solitude, chronicle of a death foretold; nothing by Roth, Updike, McEwan, amis, kadare, murakami (I am surprised he doesn't swamp this list), Rushdie's others."

let us give it some time. soon overlaps will be more than new entries.

The top 10is like the essential lit list. Bravo!

Tanuj wrote: "The top 10is like the essential lit list. Bravo!"

I am eager to see the ones that will end up in the Top 10/20 of the compilation.

Oh NO! Ayn Rand made the list.

Riku wrote: "Oh NO! Ayn Rand made the list."

I guess that would be me, Riku. :)
And this is waaaay better than seeing such lists on FB. Plus so much fun too. Nice initiative!

Riku wrote: "Oh NO! Ayn Rand made the list."

She adds to the minority pool of female authored lit on this list. I'm not complaining.

Aubrey wrote: "Riku wrote: "Oh NO! Ayn Rand made the list."

She adds to the minority pool of female authored lit on this list. I'm not complaining."

feminism and Rand. Oh my.

Solidarity is solidarity, Riku. Give me 50/50 representation in terms of gender, and then I'll start parsing my praise.

Aubrey wrote: "Solidarity is solidarity, Riku. Give me 50/50 representation in terms of gender, and then I'll start parsing my praise."

I get the sentiment. I just revolt against the Ayn Rand mentality - rape the planet, worship the human.

Anyway, this is a mostly lit based list, so I will refrain from further comment on Rand. :)

Riku wrote: "I get the sentiment. I just revolt against the Ayn Rand ment..."

Rudyard Kipling coined the term "white man's burden". I save my hate for the starting line.

Aubrey wrote: "Riku wrote: "I get the sentiment. I just revolt against the Ayn Rand ment..."

Rudyard Kipling coined the term "white man's burden". I save my hate for the starting line."

I don't see Kipling on the list! wow

Aubrey wrote: "Riku wrote: "I get the sentiment. I just revolt against the Ayn Rand ment..."

Rudyard Kipling coined the term "white man's burden". I save my hate for the starting line."

I don't see Kipling on the list! wow

It's not as popular to hate him as it is to hate Rand, so no one would kick up a fuss if he did in fact appear.

Aubrey wrote: "It's not as popular to hate him as it is to hate Rand, so no one would kick up a fuss if he did in fact appear."

umm, it is, over here. Plenty of academics in India rail against him, esp subaltern studies. I had gone through a phase too, until I made peace with his openness.

thanks for the invite, Riku, and sorry that I couldn't stop at only ten books.
I wonder if I can change the order of my list after I voted, because the books I added last should be closer to the top.

Ayn Rand is female...?

Is there biological evidence of this?

Riku wrote: "Aubrey wrote: "It's not as popular to hate him as it is to hate Rand, so no one would kick up a fuss if he did in fact appear."

umm, it is, over here. Plenty of academics in India rail against him..."

That's good to hear. If only it were so here in the US, where many also love to hate on Rand.

Petergiaquinta wrote: "Ayn Rand is female...?

Is there biological evidence of this?"

literary evidence would suggest that it is a doubtful proposition. more of an exuberant phallic worshipper, who tried to pass the religion off as some sort of rational philosophy.

Algernon wrote: "thanks for the invite, Riku, and sorry that I couldn't stop at only ten books.
I wonder if I can change the order of my list after I voted, because the books I added last should be closer to the top."

Yes you can. just look at the left side of the list and your own votes will be visible. Just type in new numbers against the books and click anywhere, the new order will be saved.

Riku wrote: "more of an exuberant phallic worshipper, who tried to pass the religion off as some sort of rational philosophy."

There are thinkers taken seriously in academia whom couldn't be characterized as such?

There is no Tolstoy here. I haven't read him, but thought he would make it. Also no Vasily Grossman.

Not many of the books I voted for "changed my life" in a significant way, though some did I suppose. I was unhappy that almost all the books were fiction. So I added many non-fiction, which are so far down the list no one else will ever see them.

Thanks for the invitation. Some of the books I added are ones I read quite a while ago while others are more recent. I added the first graphic novel i read, The Complete Maus. I think only one of the books I voted for was already on the list. I didn't realize I was that far out of the norm but then I think this is not a group of "norms".

Turning a bit ridiculous when fountainhead beats infinite jest in ranking. The world is meh.

Tanuj wrote: "There is no Tolstoy here. I haven't read him, but thought he would make it. Also no Vasily Grossman."

I wanted to list Tolstoy, but the list imposes constraints. Tolstoy, to be honest, changes your life more subtly - he is not a porcupine. He is a fox - he touches too much of life to leave a single impact crater on your soul, like FMD does.

Sue wrote: "I didn't realize I was that far out of the norm but then I think this is not a group of "norms". "

It is not. Your Top books are bound to be highly individual.

Ted wrote: "So I added many non-fiction, which are so far down the list no one else will ever see them.
"

Again, people tend to think in terms of stories. We need a story to have a lasting impact. The non-fiction that affects us most are those that touch themes for which we already have our own stories.

Tanuj wrote: "Turning a bit ridiculous when fountainhead beats infinite jest in ranking. The world is meh."

I am willing to bet the votes it gathers will mostly be Indian. Blame the training institutes like TIME and the street vendors who stock the pirated copies for the most ridiculous rates. It tends to the first exposure for many to a fiction book that challenges them to think - unfortunately most just accept the ideas, instead of challenging them.

Aubrey wrote: "Riku wrote: "more of an exuberant phallic worshipper, who tried to pass the religion off as some sort of rational philosophy."

There are thinkers taken seriously in academia whom couldn't be chara..."

OK I concede. I am just prejudiced. As an economist and an environmentalist, I just can't digest Rand, esp when her followers pretend that her thought is "rational".

The fact that a woman wrote so fiercely and was lionized by a mostly male readership is commendable I guess.

@people who have listed Light in August.

Do I need to read the first four books of the Sin and Salvation series before I can take this up?

Riku wrote: "@people who have listed Light in August.

Do I need to read the first four books of the Sin and Salvation series before I can take this up?"

Nope. I wasn't even aware of the series till now.

Lolita is the only book in the top 10that has not been rated #1 by anyone.

Tanuj wrote: "Lolita is the only book in the top 10that has not been rated #1 by anyone."

that means it had to rely on more votes to get there. weight is assigned based on position in indiv lists

A single #1 vote can make a lot if difference - I think.

Tanuj wrote: "A single #1 vote can make a lot if difference - I think."

yes it does. 1984 has so many top 3 votes.

Riku wrote: "Ted wrote: "So I added many non-fiction, which are so far down the list no one else will ever see them.
"

Again, people tend to think in terms of stories. We need a story to have a lasting impact..."

Nonsense. (Speak for yourself.)

Ted wrote: "Riku wrote: "Ted wrote: "So I added many non-fiction, which are so far down the list no one else will ever see them.
"

Again, people tend to think in terms of stories. We need a story to have a l..."

I thought it made some sense :(

By the way, I know a person for whom Ayn Rand's books, read in high school, probably set the course of his life and political thinking - though not because she was a philosopher (she thought she was, but she wasn't). And there are many like him I'm sure.

Ted wrote: "By the way, I know a person for whom Ayn Rand's books, read in high school, probably set the course of his life and political thinking - though not because she was a philosopher (she thought she wa..."

I know many like that. Esp among people who stopped reading around college age. I was an Ayn Rand fan too, for about a year. Then I read Atlas Shrugged and realized what she was really talking about.

See Mohit's Explanation for adding the book:

"Because you are 18 when you read it and you think here's the hero, here's the philosophy, here's the greatest masterpiece on Earth."

Ted - agreed about the non-fiction. It's interesting that others see this this mostly in terms of stories. I think of non-fiction as being more likely to inspire courses of study other than literature, career choices, political opinions, leisure interests etc. All the fiction I count as having changed my life is from my teens - knowing I did / do something because of what's in those books, enduring friendships with with people I first saw as having a similar ethos to characters etc.

Antonomasia wrote: "Ted - agreed about the non-fiction. It's interesting that others see this this mostly in terms of stories. I think of non-fiction as being more likely to inspire courses of study other than literat..."

Antonomasia, your comments about non-fiction are very much what I thought. As to fiction, I think for me I added works of fiction because I felt they introduced me to something important about literature, or to a great writer, or to a mode or style of fiction, things like that. Not so much because I felt I "learned something about life" from them, though I admit that is very possible with fiction.

I guess it's just that at my age I have a certain set of beliefs about "life" or "people" that for the most part it's impossible to trace to a source.

I'm confused about the statement above that the order of one's list makes a difference in how the books are scored. (A) I see nothing in the intro to the poll which indicates that. Is that true of all book polls here on GR? Certainly news to me. (B) I also can see no way of changing the order of a list. Does one simply type a different number into the box beside the book? But doing that, it will of necessity be a number that a different book already has. What happens then? Just call me dense I guess.

PS. If others vote on these lists like I do (just start at the top and work down, adding books to my own list as I go) the order of the books in my list will be the same order these books already had in the list, from previous voters. So if my order as well as my selections affect the subsequent tally for the list as a whole, then to an extent I am reinforcing the current ordering unwittingly by adding books in the way I do? This results in a pretty silly way of scoring the books, IMHO.

Ted wrote: "Is that true of all book polls here on GR? Certainly news to me. (B) I also can see no way of changing the order of a list. Does one simply type a different number into the box beside the book? But doing that, it will of necessity be a number that a different book already has. What happens then? Just call me dense I guess."

Yes that is how it works.

Yes, you type in the number, say you type in 2 for a book currently at 6, then the 6th book goes to 2, 2 goes to 3, 3 to 4 and so on.


PS. If others vote on these lists like I do (just start at the top and work down, adding books to my own list as I go) the order of the books in my list will be the same order these books already had in the list, from previous voters. So if my order as well as my selections affect the subsequent tally for the list as a whole, then to an extent I am reinforcing the current ordering unwittingly by adding books in the way I do? This results in a pretty silly way of scoring the books, IMHO.

People familiar with lists usually take care to also order the list. SO then it works out.

In any case, in this particular list, you are supposed to ignore the compilation and just add your own personal favorites.