,

Compilation of books that got listed under "The Book Bucket Challenge", started as a response towards the Ice Bucket Challenge.

The idea is to list the Top Ten books that "changed your life", that influenced the way you see the world and has stayed with you for a long time.

So go on, add your Top Ten to the list. It is going to be a tough choice! Ignore the compilation itself and just add your own personal favorites (in order of importance), independent of what others have done. Do try to keep it to as close to 10 books as possible, so that we have a great compilation at the end - made up of the best books each of us can think of.
1

by
4.26 avg rating — 6,767,215 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.20 avg rating — 5,325,352 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.28 avg rating — 1,048,133 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
3.80 avg rating — 3,839,864 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.20 avg rating — 4,122,745 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
3.97 avg rating — 2,767,172 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.54 avg rating — 722,716 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.33 avg rating — 2,416,630 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
4.08 avg rating — 859,607 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
4.01 avg rating — 4,436,745 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
4.22 avg rating — 1,989,362 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.15 avg rating — 2,365,565 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.12 avg rating — 1,085,305 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.47 avg rating — 11,203,565 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.35 avg rating — 3,440,481 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
3.93 avg rating — 5,805,993 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
4.39 avg rating — 377,304 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
3.87 avg rating — 930,684 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
4.29 avg rating — 4,706,521 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
3.89 avg rating — 335,433 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
3.70 avg rating — 3,151,180 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
4.16 avg rating — 67,225 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,350,654 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
4.02 avg rating — 981,328 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.28 avg rating — 409,773 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.05 avg rating — 1,183,992 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
4.06 avg rating — 602,731 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
3.56 avg rating — 608,364 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,375,195 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
4.45 avg rating — 1,705,927 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
4.19 avg rating — 78,238 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
3.94 avg rating — 384,548 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,990,848 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.31 avg rating — 1,250,169 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
4.22 avg rating — 252,613 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
4.38 avg rating — 158,325 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.39 avg rating — 2,833,314 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
3.94 avg rating — 540,871 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
4.20 avg rating — 773,239 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.81 avg rating — 210,749 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
3.71 avg rating — 368,871 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.99 avg rating — 118,046 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
4.02 avg rating — 109,775 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
3.94 avg rating — 1,738,873 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
3.86 avg rating — 193,977 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.23 avg rating — 324,548 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,032,119 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
3.92 avg rating — 3,489,177 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
4.23 avg rating — 776,880 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
4.03 avg rating — 57,634 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
4.25 avg rating — 99,940 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
3.77 avg rating — 139,515 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
3.98 avg rating — 131,700 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
4.12 avg rating — 5,638,067 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
4.14 avg rating — 310,465 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
4.11 avg rating — 533,549 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
4.37 avg rating — 851,037 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
4.02 avg rating — 306,813 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,286,134 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.97 avg rating — 482,707 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
4.15 avg rating — 432,256 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
4.14 avg rating — 52,253 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
4.14 avg rating — 37 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.21 avg rating — 836,440 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
4.28 avg rating — 744,077 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.13 avg rating — 210,514 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
4.05 avg rating — 27,404 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
4.13 avg rating — 59,909 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
3.99 avg rating — 2,043,071 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
4.10 avg rating — 95,282 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
4.40 avg rating — 77,324 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
3.77 avg rating — 202,409 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
3.69 avg rating — 404,651 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
4.40 avg rating — 36,637 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
3.99 avg rating — 879,363 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
4.38 avg rating — 11,989 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
4.40 avg rating — 157,108 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
4.22 avg rating — 64,390 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
4.40 avg rating — 3,092,378 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
4.30 avg rating — 4,392,656 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
4.17 avg rating — 3,408,710 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
4.11 avg rating — 511,707 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
4.73 avg rating — 301,041 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
4.43 avg rating — 617,962 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
4.10 avg rating — 1,465,082 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
3.83 avg rating — 1,328,521 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
3.86 avg rating — 269,626 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
4.34 avg rating — 13,862 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
4.20 avg rating — 1,173,596 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
3.92 avg rating — 5,390 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
3.93 avg rating — 136,615 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
4.44 avg rating — 33,525 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
4.28 avg rating — 117,465 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
4.24 avg rating — 72,359 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
4.15 avg rating — 563,290 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
3.98 avg rating — 45,148 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
3.88 avg rating — 151,640 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
4.40 avg rating — 457,897 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
99

by
4.27 avg rating — 1,573,876 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
3.89 avg rating — 1,003,516 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
1,082 books · 370 voters · list created September 2nd, 2014 by Riku Sayuj (votes) .
121 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Riku 5334 books
676 friends
Rohini 289 books
129 friends
Brian 4205 books
569 friends
Richard 5823 books
957 friends
Matt 2003 books
372 friends
Tanuj 665 books
522 friends
Jonathan 7496 books
994 friends
Rakhi 1286 books
569 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-50 of 134 (134 new)


message 1: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj See my facebook post on this for more detail:

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


message 2: by Tanuj (new)

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


message 3: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj 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?


message 4: by Tanuj (new)

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


message 5: by Riku (new)

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

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


message 6: by Tanuj (new)

Tanuj Solanki 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.


message 7: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj 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.


message 8: by Tanuj (new)

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


message 9: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj 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.


message 10: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj Oh NO! Ayn Rand made the list.


message 11: by Himanshu (new)

Himanshu 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!


message 12: by Luke (new)

Luke 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.


message 13: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj 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.


message 14: by Luke (new)

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


message 15: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj 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.


message 16: by Riku (new)

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


message 17: by Luke (new)

Luke 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.


message 18: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj 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


message 19: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj 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


message 20: by Luke (new)

Luke 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.


message 21: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj 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.


message 22: by Algernon (Darth Anyan) (last edited Sep 02, 2014 02:14PM) (new)

Algernon (Darth Anyan) 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.


message 23: by Petergiaquinta (last edited Sep 02, 2014 02:45PM) (new)

Petergiaquinta Ayn Rand is female...?

Is there biological evidence of this?


message 24: by Luke (new)

Luke 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.


message 25: by Riku (last edited Sep 02, 2014 05:26PM) (new)

Riku Sayuj 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.


message 26: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj 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.


message 27: by Luke (last edited Sep 02, 2014 05:41PM) (new)

Luke 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?


message 28: by Tanuj (new)

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


message 29: by Ted (new)

Ted 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.


message 30: by Sue (new)

Sue 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".


message 31: by Tanuj (new)

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


message 32: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj 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.


message 33: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj 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.


message 34: by Riku (last edited Sep 02, 2014 11:11PM) (new)

Riku Sayuj 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.


message 35: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj 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.


message 36: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj 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.


message 37: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj @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?


message 38: by Luke (new)

Luke 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.


message 39: by Tanuj (new)

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


message 40: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj 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


message 41: by Tanuj (new)

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


message 42: by Riku (new)

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

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


message 43: by Ted (last edited Sep 02, 2014 11:09PM) (new)

Ted 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.)


message 44: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj 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 :(


message 45: by Ted (new)

Ted 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.


message 46: by Riku (last edited Sep 02, 2014 11:17PM) (new)

Riku Sayuj 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."


message 47: by Antonomasia (new)

Antonomasia 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.


message 48: by Ted (new)

Ted 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.


message 49: by Ted (last edited Sep 03, 2014 08:02AM) (new)

Ted 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.


message 50: by Riku (new)

Riku Sayuj 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.


« previous 1 3
back to top