100 Best Books of All Time: The World Library List
List of 100 best books of all time, as voted on by 100 writers in 54 different countries. List reflects works from multiple countries, cultures and time periods. Compiled in 2002 by Norwegian Book Clubs.
Per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokklubb....
Per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokklubb....
List Challenge
The average Goodreads member has read 10 out of 100 books on this list — how many have you read?
The average Goodreads member has read 10 out of 100 books on this list — how many have you read?
Get Results & Compare With Friends »
Ben
1082 books
71 friends
71 friends
Ellie
11667 books
713 friends
713 friends
Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large)
546 books
366 friends
366 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads
3370 books
864 friends
864 friends
CT
1029 books
188 friends
188 friends
Jessica
7953 books
1359 friends
1359 friends
Judy
882 books
8 friends
8 friends
ダニエーレ
631 books
27 friends
27 friends
More voters…
Comments Showing 1-50 of 161 (161 new)
message 1:
by
Ben
(last edited Mar 21, 2011 06:56AM)
(new)
Mar 18, 2011 07:34PM
![Ben](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1329008721p1/4249546.jpg)
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![Maxine](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1333118765p1/5208303.jpg)
![Ben](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1329008721p1/4249546.jpg)
مثنوی معنوی = Masnavi by Rumi
أولاد حارتنا= Children of the Alley by Naguib Mahfouz
Romancero Gitano = Gypsy Ballads by Federico García Lorca
Grande Sertão: Veredas = The Devil to Pay in the Backlands by João Guimarães Rosa
![Linda](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1550467698p1/1367242.jpg)
![Dr. Zyllihapping I-Don't-Have-A-Last-Name](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1334245092p1/2822328.jpg)
Agreed, it's a great list! Especially because it has "Pippi Longstocking"..........now that book should be on more "best books" lists like this one!
![Kate Giever](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_25x33-d79c46f9428d2aea1444d67c091766a6.png)
![Ben](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1329008721p1/4249546.jpg)
Swann's Way by Marcel Proust should be In Search of Lost Time by the same author.
Franz Kafka's The Castle by David Fishelson should be The Castle by Franz Kafka.
Sorry for the confusion!
![Jain](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1181249285p1/116697.jpg)
The Franz Kafka's The Castle mistake seems much worse, though: a different author's adaptation of a work is very different from the work itself. There are only three voters (besides you) who've voted for The Castle so far. I'd argue that correcting that mistake--and perhaps sending the other three voters a private message letting them know of the correction and inviting them to revote on this list?--might even make the final order of the list more accurate in the end, since who knows how many voters aren't reading your clarifying comment and, in their confusion, are choosing to not vote for the work when they might if it were listed correctly.
![Ben](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1329008721p1/4249546.jpg)
The ..."
Jain wrote: "The Swann's Way/In Search of Lost Time error doesn't seem at all problematic to me; many Listopia lists follow the convention of the first book in a series standing for the series as a whole.
The ..."
Good idea! That's what I'm going to do. Thanks for the suggestion!
![Jain](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1181249285p1/116697.jpg)
![Jain](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1181249285p1/116697.jpg)
![Ben](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1329008721p1/4249546.jpg)
![Jain](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1181249285p1/116697.jpg)
I can't be certain, but I'd guess that the auto-change occurred as a multi-step process: 1) a voter added Swann's Way to the list; 2) a librarian did an automated search for duplicate volumes on the list to clean it up; 3) the Goodreads database happened to interpret In Search of Lost Time and Swann's Way as different editions of the same volume and combined them into the most popular (most frequently rated) of the two, i.e. Swann's Way.
And, yeah, unfortunately there's no way to switch the work represented on this list back to In Search of Lost Time without losing the votes currently attached to Swann's Way.
![Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1465505934p1/1746024.jpg)
![Ben](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1329008721p1/4249546.jpg)
I don't know what happened... just one day I came to this list, and there was Swann's Way instead of In Search of Lost Time.
![Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1465505934p1/1746024.jpg)
![Juniper](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1687694505p1/11557375.jpg)
![Ramesh](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1511415080p1/5016107.jpg)
![Ben](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1329008721p1/4249546.jpg)
There are books from each of these continents on the list. I've listed what I think are all of them below, as well as the country of origin for each.
Things Fall Apart, Nigeria
One Thousand and One Nights, India/Iran/Iraq/Egypt
Ficciones, Argentina
The Stranger, Algeria
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Colombia
Love in the Time of Cholera, Colombia
Shakuntala, India
A Madman's Diary, China
Children of the Alley, Egypt
The Tale of Genji, Japan
Masnavi, Persia/Iran
Midnight's Children, India
Bostan of Saadi, Persia/Iran
Season of Migration to the North, Sudan
Mahabharata, India
The Devil to Pay in the Backlands, Brazil
Epic of Gilgamesh, Sumer and Akkadian Empire/Modern-day Iraq
Book of Job, Achaemenid Empire/Modern-day Israel
The Sound of the Mountain, Japan
Ramayana, India
![BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1675876559p1/5986596.jpg)
With me it was the opposite. I was surprised to see how many I'd read :-)
![Mr.book expert PATIL.](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1370336716p1/20875941.jpg)
![BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1675876559p1/5986596.jpg)
It clearly says "...voted on by 100 writers in 54 different countries. List reflects works from multiple countries, cultures and time periods. Compiled in 2002 by Norwegian Book Clubs. So you can hardly 'blame' the creator of the Listopia.
![David Meijer](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1311592668p1/5875216.jpg)
this list is not about the most popular books at the end of the 20thcentury, but the BEST (read: quality) of all times. maybe you think again about how the books you named qualify in this regard. (LotR might be close, but twilight? seriously?)
![Mr.book expert PATIL.](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1370336716p1/20875941.jpg)
![Susanna - Censored by GoodReads](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1208973046p1/1109068.jpg)
Also, no need to shout, as I don't think any of us are deaf.
![Bettie](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1628585304p1/1108123.jpg)
Also, no need to shout, as I don't think any of us are deaf."
Profile seems to suggest that no books read/currently reading.
Join up to shout?
Maybe it is just the films he/she is alluding to.
![David Meijer](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1311592668p1/5875216.jpg)
most experts of literature would surely not regard twilight as a work of exceeding or even average quality. it belongs to the fastfoodsection.
![Mr.book expert PATIL.](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1370336716p1/20875941.jpg)
![David Meijer](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1311592668p1/5875216.jpg)
actually trolling makes me sad, mostly. if you cant see how a cheap novel starring sparkling vampires didnt make it to a list of the hundred best books of millenia of human writing and storytelling, too bad. but im sure twilight is really masterpiece of language, character and plot only left out because the list was finished before the series came out.
![Susanna - Censored by GoodReads](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1208973046p1/1109068.jpg)
Sometimes the names of translators get put first, in the author slot. This is a known database problem.
![Susanna - Censored by GoodReads](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1208973046p1/1109068.jpg)
Take it up at the GR Librarians group. I believe they will disagree with you.
![Bettie](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1628585304p1/1108123.jpg)
*sigh*
From wiki: The work was collected over many centuries by various authors, translators, and scholars across West, Central, South Asia and North Africa. The tales themselves trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Indian, Egyptian and Mesopotamian folklore and literature. In particular, many tales were originally folk stories from the Caliphate era, while others, especially the frame story, are most probably drawn from the Pahlavi Persian work Hazār Afsān (Persian: هزار افسان, lit. A Thousand Tales) which in turn relied partly on Indian elements
![David Meijer](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1311592668p1/5875216.jpg)
yes, you frighten me. this statement is (like the last one) without any sarcasm. really. i wonder why you havent added any books yet.
![Mr.book expert PATIL.](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1370336716p1/20875941.jpg)
![Loquar](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1675876559p1/5986596.jpg)
I have taken the liberty of removing the four books by Tolkien. The list now consists of the original 100 books again.
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