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The FBG Top 300 Books of All Time (fiction edition) | We are currently up to #50 | Running list in posts #3 and #4 (11 Viewers)

When people say they read on the tablet: do you mean you purchase them to read, you have a subscription, or you have an app through the library? I am truly ignorant about it - I tried it once and didn't like it at all.

What I am getting at, is I would agree depending on the titles. Many of these from Girl with the Dragon Tatoo to Lincoln on the Bardo are exactly the types of books see and have bought for 50cents at the library or found in the dollar racks at the used book store. Classics I find there all the time as well - often $2 or under for Dickens, Tolstoy, and the like. I am sure there are also a bunch that are harder to find to a little more expensive, but I am confident I could walk into our Half-Priced books with $20 and get at least 6-7 books I haven't read so far on this countdown.

I "buy" e-books per the terms and conditions of Amazon's EULA. I get most of them through Kindle daily deals and Book Bub and find enough interesting stuff for two or three bucks to keep my queue full. It's become part of my daily Internet routine and the joy of finding something unexpected is almost as good as browsing a bookstore. You can also always find classics that have entered the public domain for a buck or two.

I don't know how things are in your neck of the woods but the used bookstore scene in SF has fallen on hard times. There used to be lots of them 20 years ago but most have closed and been replaced by personal trainers and cannabis dispensaries. I was on Church Street yesterday and saw workmen taking down the neon sign for Aardvark Books which closed six years ago. I spent hours in that place back in the day and rarely left empty handed. The store cat Owen who wandered the aisles and sat in the window passed away in 2021.
As with other types of stores that were once about physical media (like the used games/bluray stores), they are drying up a bit here too. The more niche, mom and pop shops are closing up but there are still a few stores like Half Price books hanging around. There are a couple still down towards campus, the edges of Madison are seeing similar to what you described.

I think you would have more problems finding more niche books in the countdown in that format, but many on the countdown so far are exactly what I seem to find on the cheap in the few stores left and at the libraries - books people need for school or book clubs, best sellers, and award winners.
 
Another 3 in the latest round. Agree with @kupcho1 that Great Expectations is probably Dickens' best, though I think you could make an argument for Bleak House. I won't say much about Wizard and Glass because I'll save it for the King countdown, but it is one of my very favorite works by him.

I'll highlight my first graphic novel on the list.


The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller

Considered by many to be one of the greatest comic book stories every written, this is my favorite Batman graphic novel (and several got consideration for my list). A 55-year-old batman comes out of retirement to confront old enemies, while also training the new generation Robin. The story ends with a surprising and iconic confrontation. This comic played a big part in influencing the modern conception of Batman, one that has a much darker tone than previous iterations.
 
203t - Black Swan Green by David Mitchell (2006)

Black Swan Green was Mitchell's followup to his best known work Cloud Atlas. In contrast to the maximalism of his earlier book, Mitchell tells a lovely semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story set in the English Midland during the Falklands War. The book has thirteen chapters, one covering each month between Jan 1982 and Jan 1983. The activities in the life of 13 year old narrator seem insignificant: he's bullied a bit, smokes his first cigarette, finds a lost wallet at the fair and takes his initial furtive steps toward becoming a writer, but the boy's age and sensitivity coupled with the occasional intrusion from the adult world magnify the importance of the seemingly mundane into something very special.

I found my old copy of the book during the run up to this project. While thumbing through the 371 pages of impossibly tiny print today, I found two bookmarks: a ticket stub from a Frightened Rabbit concert in 2008 (admission price of $12) and a business card of someone I don't remember from a company that no longer exists.
 
The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller

Considered by many to be one of the greatest comic book stories every written, this is my favorite Batman graphic novel (and several got consideration for my list). A 55-year-old batman comes out of retirement to confront old enemies, while also training the new generation Robin. The story ends with a surprising and iconic confrontation. This comic played a big part in influencing the modern conception of Batman, one that has a much darker tone than previous iterations.

1986 was a great year for comics
 
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester

Facing the possibility of bankruptcy a business tycoon becomes obsessed with a rival. It leads him to grow unstable, he decides to kill his rival. The problem is murder hasn't been committed in a 100 years. Some people have the ability to become telepaths. This skill is used to stop crime before it happens. The tycoon must figure out a way to kill and a way to get away with it. A game of cat and mouse develops with a detective. If he gets caught he will go through demolition, a procedure explained at the end of the book. This won the first Hugo in 1953. It was crazy to me how modern the book felt.
This sounds really good. Added to the ever expanding library list.
If it stinks it's only 250 pages of stink.
 
I should note that I do have access to electricity and several lamps so reading in the dark isn't really required.

LOL I assume this is in reference to my comment. I used to drive my wife nuts staying up late with the light on while reading. Also, I was traveling a lot in my last job and lugging some of the books I was reading was getting annoying.
 
Phase 3: Books 200 - 101

It's Sunday. I don't want to skip the day entirely, but it will be a light one. Here's an 8-way tie for 193rd place.



193AnathemNeal StephensonTheBaylorKid
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant MessiahRichard BachPsychopav
Faherheit 451Ray BradburyDr_Zaius
The 42nd ParallelJohn Dos PassosMrsMarco
OutlanderDiana GabaldonBarry2
‘Salem’s LotStephen Kingturnjose7
Skeleton CrewStephen KingKeithR, shuke
Cat's CradleKurt VonnegutDr. Octopus, chaos34, shuke

2 more for King (back-to-back no less) and another for Stephenson, Bach and Vonnegut. There's some variety in who is picking them, but they're clearly admired.

Any guesses as to which author claimed the most spots in the top 300? Overall? The person with the correct guess wins a handful of old Scrabble tiles.
 
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Phase 3: Books 200 - 101

It's Sunday. I don't want to skip the day entirely, but it will be a light one. Here's an 8-way tie for 193rd place.



193AnathemNeal StephensonTheBaylorKid
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant MessiahRichard BachPsychopav
Faherheit 451Ray BradburyDr_Zaius
The 42nd ParallelJohn Dos PassosMrsMarco
OutlanderDiana GabaldonBarry2
‘Salem’s LotStephen Kingturnjose7
Skeleton CrewStephen KingKeithR, shuke
Cat's CradleKurt VonnegutDr. Octopus, chaos34,

2 more for King (back-to-back no less) and another for Stephenson, Bach and Vonnegut. There's some variety in who is picking them, but they're clearly admired.

Any guesses as to which author claimed the most spots in the top 300? Overall? The person with the correct guess wins a handful of old Scrabble tiles.
 
I still have We and A Man In Full to discuss and will do so when I’m feeling synoptic. Or sinister, if you’re a Belle and Sebastian kind of person (and I think there’s at least one of us who is).
 
Phase 3: Books 200 - 101

It's Sunday. I don't want to skip the day entirely, but it will be a light one. Here's an 8-way tie for 193rd place.



193AnathemNeal StephensonTheBaylorKid
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant MessiahRichard BachPsychopav
Faherheit 451Ray BradburyDr_Zaius
The 42nd ParallelJohn Dos PassosMrsMarco
OutlanderDiana GabaldonBarry2
‘Salem’s LotStephen Kingturnjose7
Skeleton CrewStephen KingKeithR, shuke
Cat's CradleKurt VonnegutDr. Octopus, chaos34,

2 more for King (back-to-back no less) and another for Stephenson, Bach and Vonnegut. There's some variety in who is picking them, but they're clearly admired.

Any guesses as to which author claimed the most spots in the top 300? Overall? The person with the correct guess wins a handful of old Scrabble tiles.
I thought I had Fahrenheit 451 on my list as well. Maybe I misspelled it?
 
Phase 3: Books 200 - 101

It's Sunday. I don't want to skip the day entirely, but it will be a light one. Here's an 8-way tie for 193rd place.



193AnathemNeal StephensonTheBaylorKid
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant MessiahRichard BachPsychopav
Faherheit 451Ray BradburyDr_Zaius
The 42nd ParallelJohn Dos PassosMrsMarco
OutlanderDiana GabaldonBarry2
‘Salem’s LotStephen Kingturnjose7
Skeleton CrewStephen KingKeithR, shuke
Cat's CradleKurt VonnegutDr. Octopus, chaos34,

2 more for King (back-to-back no less) and another for Stephenson, Bach and Vonnegut. There's some variety in who is picking them, but they're clearly admired.

Any guesses as to which author claimed the most spots in the top 300? Overall? The person with the correct guess wins a handful of old Scrabble tiles.
I thought I had Fahrenheit 451 on my list as well. Maybe I misspelled it?
Fahrenheit 415?
 
Any guesses as to which author claimed the most spots in the top 300? Overall? The person with the correct guess wins a handful of old Scrabble tiles.

Before your comment I would have said Stephen King so I'll stick with that answer but I'm guessing it's wrong.
 
Phase 3: Books 200 - 101

It's Sunday. I don't want to skip the day entirely, but it will be a light one. Here's an 8-way tie for 193rd place.



193AnathemNeal StephensonTheBaylorKid
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant MessiahRichard BachPsychopav
Faherheit 451Ray BradburyDr_Zaius
The 42nd ParallelJohn Dos PassosMrsMarco
OutlanderDiana GabaldonBarry2
‘Salem’s LotStephen Kingturnjose7
Skeleton CrewStephen KingKeithR, shuke
Cat's CradleKurt VonnegutDr. Octopus, chaos34,

2 more for King (back-to-back no less) and another for Stephenson, Bach and Vonnegut. There's some variety in who is picking them, but they're clearly admired.

Any guesses as to which author claimed the most spots in the top 300? Overall? The person with the correct guess wins a handful of old Scrabble tiles.
I thought I had Fahrenheit 451 on my list as well. Maybe I misspelled it?

I did also. I think Dr_Zaius might have had a typo there and it was counted as a different book? I had it at 16, which is way, way too high. (I just sort of listed books I'd read and the adjusted a little, but was up against the deadline which is something that is massively my own fault.)
 
Phase 3: Books 200 - 101

It's Sunday. I don't want to skip the day entirely, but it will be a light one. Here's an 8-way tie for 193rd place.



193AnathemNeal StephensonTheBaylorKid
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant MessiahRichard BachPsychopav
Faherheit 451Ray BradburyDr_Zaius
The 42nd ParallelJohn Dos PassosMrsMarco
OutlanderDiana GabaldonBarry2
‘Salem’s LotStephen Kingturnjose7
Skeleton CrewStephen KingKeithR, shuke
Cat's CradleKurt VonnegutDr. Octopus, chaos34,

2 more for King (back-to-back no less) and another for Stephenson, Bach and Vonnegut. There's some variety in who is picking them, but they're clearly admired.

Any guesses as to which author claimed the most spots in the top 300? Overall? The person with the correct guess wins a handful of old Scrabble tiles.
I thought I had Fahrenheit 451 on my list as well. Maybe I misspelled it?

I did also. I think Dr_Zaius might have had a typo there and it was counted as a different book? I had it at 16, which is way, way too high. (I just sort of listed books I'd read and the adjusted a little, but was up against the deadline which is something that is massively my own fault.)
Sigh

I'm just surprised it was The Faherheit 451. Or A Faherheit 451. Or ... well, you get the idea.
It should be up there with Fahrenheit 451.

I'll fix them later today and try and fix post #3 as well.
 
Sigh

I'm just surprised it was The Faherheit 451. Or A Faherheit 451. Or ... well, you get the idea.
It should be up there with Fahrenheit 451.

I'll fix them later today and try and fix post #3 as well.

Don't sweat it. It's the Mr. Show of the book world. Thankless job, huh?
 
Sigh

I'm just surprised it was The Faherheit 451. Or A Faherheit 451. Or ... well, you get the idea.
It should be up there with Fahrenheit 451.

I'll fix them later today and try and fix post #3 as well.

Don't sweat it. It's the Mr. Show of the book world. Thankless job, huh?
It's a labor of love, emphasis on labor. :biggrin: (This was the first major mistake that I didn't catch before posting. Long Walk vs. The Long Walk anyone?)

Seriously, it's not that difficult to fix. So Fahrenheit 451 was spoiled? You still don't know what it will appear (again). :sneaky:

However, there were some consequences as a result. Now 303 books made the top 300 (ties. Falling out were The Da Vinci Code (Dan, wait!) and Wool.

There will probably be more mistakes uncovered as we go along. I hope not, but there were a lot of books submitted.
 
Sigh

I'm just surprised it was The Faherheit 451. Or A Faherheit 451. Or ... well, you get the idea.
It should be up there with Fahrenheit 451.

I'll fix them later today and try and fix post #3 as well.

Don't sweat it. It's the Mr. Show of the book world. Thankless job, huh?
It's a labor of love, emphasis on labor. :biggrin: (This was the first major mistake that I didn't catch before posting. Long Walk vs. The Long Walk anyone?)

Seriously, it's not that difficult to fix. So Fahrenheit 451 was spoiled? You still don't know what it will appear (again). :sneaky:

However, there were some consequences as a result. Now 303 books made the top 300 (ties. Falling out were The Da Vinci Code (Dan, wait!) and Wool.

There will probably be more mistakes uncovered as we go along. I hope not, but there were a lot of books submitted.
You are doing great, no worries. A little adjustment here or there is no big deal at all. It was a huge task and we appreciate the work.
 
Sigh

I'm just surprised it was The Faherheit 451. Or A Faherheit 451. Or ... well, you get the idea.
It should be up there with Fahrenheit 451.

I'll fix them later today and try and fix post #3 as well.

Don't sweat it. It's the Mr. Show of the book world. Thankless job, huh?
It's a labor of love, emphasis on labor. :biggrin: (This was the first major mistake that I didn't catch before posting. Long Walk vs. The Long Walk anyone?)

Seriously, it's not that difficult to fix. So Fahrenheit 451 was spoiled? You still don't know what it will appear (again). :sneaky:

However, there were some consequences as a result. Now 303 books made the top 300 (ties. Falling out were The Da Vinci Code (Dan, wait!) and Wool.

There will probably be more mistakes uncovered as we go along. I hope not, but there were a lot of books submitted.
You are doing great, no worries. A little adjustment here or there is no big deal at all. It was a huge task and we appreciate the work.

Seconded. I don't even care about the ranks. It's when people talk about books they love that does it for me.
 
Phase 3: Books 200 - 101

It's Sunday. I don't want to skip the day entirely, but it will be a light one. Here's an 8-way tie for 193rd place.



193AnathemNeal StephensonTheBaylorKid
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant MessiahRichard BachPsychopav
Faherheit 451Ray BradburyDr_Zaius
The 42nd ParallelJohn Dos PassosMrsMarco
OutlanderDiana GabaldonBarry2
‘Salem’s LotStephen Kingturnjose7
Skeleton CrewStephen KingKeithR, shuke
Cat's CradleKurt VonnegutDr. Octopus, chaos34,

2 more for King (back-to-back no less) and another for Stephenson, Bach and Vonnegut. There's some variety in who is picking them, but they're clearly admired.

Any guesses as to which author claimed the most spots in the top 300? Overall? The person with the correct guess wins a handful of old Scrabble tiles.

I had Cat's Cradle at 50 on my list but I'm not listed in the table.
 
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

My parents were not avid readers. What little I remember my Mom reading was primarily King. When I was 13 or 14, she gave this to me after she read it. Outside of what was required for school I don't recall doing a lot of reading for enjoyment before this. This is a collection of short stories and novellas. It starts of with The Mist, which I assume many of you may know if not from this book then from the movie. I was instantly hooked, both on King and on reading.
 
We - Yevgeny Zamyatin (1920-21)

The ultimate and first dystopia that Ayn Rand's Anthem, Huxley's Brave New World, and Orwell's 1984 all borrowed from (Orwell neatly accused Huxley of borrowing from it in a book review that Orwell wrote in 1946, just before the publication of 1984). Zamyatin was witness to the October Revolution and the subsequent Russian Civil War that saw the socialist Bolsheviks and Lenin seize power in Russia. The experience prompted him to write the book as a reaction to the scientific atheism and totalitarian state that he thought the Soviets embodied and would implement. The totalitarian state in the novel is called One State and the main character in the novel is an engineer named D-503 who is in charge of designing a spaceship that will be used to conquer other planets. It is a novel that is in epistolary form, as it is D-503's journal that he hopes to send in the spaceship upon its completion and voyage that serves as the text of We.

The book is a precursor to the three aforementioned books. Much like Rand's Anthem, the first person singular doesn't exist, Huxley borrowed from it with the plot line and theme of the state's intervention in the sexual and procreative habits of its citizens, and Orwell borrows the premise of there being a lover beyond the state's approval that puts both protagonists at serious risk of running afoul of a state that brooks no dissent.

I won't go too into detail or spoil the work, but it's definitely one of my top fifty novels.

A Man In Full - Tom Wolfe (1998)

Wolfe once called Zamyatin's book "a marvelously morose novel of the future" in his book The Right Stuff. Once a dazzling new journalist and non-fiction writer, Wolfe had turned to fiction for his novel The Bonfire of the Vanities, a book that earned much praise and adulation from contemporary critics writing for mainstream weeklies even if he did not earn the same from the writer's vanguard.

His second novel, A Man In Full, was set in Atlanta, a city Wolfe picked because of the racial politics and tensions between upper-middle class Blacks and southern money. The main characters in the novel are Charles Croker, a real estate mogul and member of Atlanta's high society; Roger "Too White" White II, a prominent Black lawyer with political aspirations; and Conrad Hensley, a young man who is in the penitentiary for a trivial offense.

The book starts with a young Black football recruit who is accused of rape by a young white woman. The story proceeds from there and highlights racial tensions arising from this accusation, delves into Charles Croker's impending bankruptcy, and guides us through Conrad's newfound adoption of stoicism, especially the maxims of the Greek slave Epictetus. In the latter part of the book, Conrad gets out of jail (where he had suffered major tribulations at the hands of would-be rapists) and meets Croker when he works as an employee for him—and the book proceeds from there.

It's a sprawling epic that deals with many sociopolitical issues in Tom Wolfe's inimitable style, and Wolfe is up for the complex task of distilling a city's essence into a novel all while making trenchant observations about ways of living and places that Atlantans fear and aspire to. The simple choosing of Atlanta three or four years before it would blow up in the mainstream as a haven and repository of Black culture was prescient, and it undergirds the work when read in retrospect. Unfortunately, Wolfe delves into Black culture in reductive and silly ways sometimes, creating a rapper named "Doctor Rammer Doc Doc," and he writes imaginary rap lyrics attributed to the character that are, in a word, terrible. But those quibbles aside, Wolfe has his finger on the pulse of America and Atlanta, as is his wont, and the book shows his aptitude in capturing the zeitgeist through his physical and psychological descriptions of the city and its inhabitants.
 
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I went back and checked my list. I did spell it correctly.

If only I were a stickler. I do believe that I turned a list with “Alexander Zamyatin” written down as the author of We only to realize that his name was actually Yevgeny. I was thinking of another exiled Russian author whose books were banned and was himself imprisoned. Solzhenitsyn.
 
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Phase 3: Books 200 - 101 continued

I'm still trying to find the right pace to go through this section of the list. Let's see how two tranches, 12 books each works. Here are the first 12 for today:

190High FidelityNick HornbyEephus, krista4
The Tin DrumGunter GrassMrs.Marco, Eephus
RagtimeE.L. DoctorowMrs.Marco, Eephus
189World War ZMax Brooksguru_007, Frostillicus, shuke
188The IliadHomerturnjose7, guru_007
187Swan SongRobert R. McCammonshuke
The Dark Tower I: The GunslingerStephen KingPsychopav
The Public BurningRobert CooverEephus
The Man with the Golden ArmNelson AlgrenOliver Humanzee
TrinityLeon Uristimschochet
CirceMadeline MillerDon Quixote
A River Runs Through ItNorman Macleanchaos34

No, that's not a mistake (this time). @Mrs.Marco and @Eephus posted back-to-back books. Their respective scores for each were different, but the totals for the two books were the same.
 
I went back and checked my list. I did spell it correctly.

If only I were a stickler. I do believe that I turned a list with “Alexander Zamyatin” written down as the author of We only to realize that his name was actually Yevgeny. I was thinking of another exiled Russian author whose books were banned and was himself imprisoned. Solzhenitsyn.
I've fixed it on the spreadsheet. I know your view on the scoring (irrelevant), but it would help to know the author's real name if someone is interested in reading the book. :D
 
Circe by Madeline Miller (2018) (my #8)

I apparently enjoy books that take classic literature and do a re-imagining to them, as I have a number of books like that on my list. Circe is the witch from The Odyssey, known for turning men into pigs. This book is told from Circe’s perspective and gives her some backstory, describing her complex relationships with both other gods and mortals. It makes her out to be more of a good witch, trying to purse her own path in the world, but also not afraid to use her powers when in her interest, such as when needed to act in self-defense and self-preservation.

I see The Iliad showed up on the list this morning — Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles is a similar re-imagining for The Iliad.
 
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Phase 3: Books 200 - 101 continued

I'm still trying to find the right pace to go through this section of the list. Let's see how two tranches, 12 books each works. Here are the first 12 for today:



190High FidelityNick HornbyEephus, krista4
The Tin DrumGunter GrassMrs.Marco, Eephus
RagtimeE.L. DoctorowMrs.Marco, Eephus
189World War ZMax Brooksguru_007, Frostillicus, shuke
188The IliadHomerturnjose7, guru_007
187Swan SongRobert R. McCammonshuke
The Dark Tower I: The GunslingerStephen KingPsychopav
The Public BurningRobert CooverEephus
The Man with the Golden ArmNelson AlgrenOliver Humanzee
TrinityLeon Uristimschochet
CirceMadeline MillerDon Quixote
A River Runs Through ItNorman Macleanchaos34

No, that's not a mistake (this time). @Mrs.Marco and @Eephus posted back-to-back books. Their respective scores for each were different, but the totals for the two books were the same.
 
Phase 3: Books 200 - 101 continued

I'm still trying to find the right pace to go through this section of the list. Let's see how two tranches, 12 books each works. Here are the first 12 for today:



190High FidelityNick HornbyEephus, krista4
The Tin DrumGunter GrassMrs.Marco, Eephus
RagtimeE.L. DoctorowMrs.Marco, Eephus
189World War ZMax Brooksguru_007, Frostillicus, shuke
188The IliadHomerturnjose7, guru_007
187Swan SongRobert R. McCammonshuke
The Dark Tower I: The GunslingerStephen KingPsychopav
The Public BurningRobert CooverEephus
The Man with the Golden ArmNelson AlgrenOliver Humanzee
TrinityLeon Uristimschochet
CirceMadeline MillerDon Quixote
A River Runs Through ItNorman Macleanchaos34

No, that's not a mistake (this time). @Mrs.Marco and @Eephus posted back-to-back books. Their respective scores for each were different, but the totals for the two books were the same.

Thanks for doing this. At least it allows me to see the table, though I still can't see anything that kupcho types around it. Hopefully nothing important in there.

Anyway, "High Fidelity" is one of my "trash" selections, not that it is, but some might think so. However, I rated it all the way up at #40 because, with the possible exception of my #4 book (which has already been mentioned in the thread), I've never laughed so hard while reading. I bought this on a trip to London and read it on my flight home, laughing so much that I was literally crying. I was in the last row of coach smack dab in the middle (having not yet discovered the beauty of premium seating), so I was definitely getting some looks. :)
 
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Thanks for doing this. At least it allows me to see the table, though I still can't see anything that kupcho types around it. Hopefully nothing important in there.
Can someone let me know if simply turning on dark mode allows you to see the table and/or what I'm writing? You are able to turn it back on to light mode afterward. It's not a lifetime commitment. I know it seems like a lot of work, but I'd appreciate it.

TIA
 
Thanks for doing this. At least it allows me to see the table, though I still can't see anything that kupcho types around it. Hopefully nothing important in there.
Can someone let me know if simply turning on dark mode allows you to see the table and/or what I'm writing? You are able to turn it back on to light mode afterward. It's not a lifetime commitment. I know it seems like a lot of work, but I'd appreciate it.

TIA
Yeah, I'm not doing that. I'm already at the limits of my laziness :lol:
 
I did also. I think Dr_Zaius might have had a typo there and it was counted as a different book?
Argh, friggin typos! Sorry about that @kupcho1. I even tried to be careful and googled a few of the authors in an apparently vain attempt to try to prevent misspellings. You'd think as an engineer I wouldn't mess up on measurement units of all things. Although to be fair we use Celsius or Kelvin for pretty much everything.
 
Norman Maclean - A River Runs Through It

This novella is a highly recommended, beautifully written story about the relationships between two brothers, their father and the Big Blackfoot River. Being semi-autobiographical makes it deeply personal. Something the movie couldn't quite capture if you've seen it. I read some reviews, had AI review it, and it's all high praise, but for me not high enough, nor did it help me find the words to describe it. If you've loved someone brilliant, fun-loving and self-destructive, the dive into that dilemma stuck with me for decades. I ranked it in my top ten with a bunch of classics. When I finished it, I went back to page 1 and read it again.
 
Swan Song by Robert McCammon

This book is part horror, part fantasy. It takes place following a nuclear war. From Amazon:

In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth’s last survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity: Sister, who discovers a strange and transformative glass artifact in the destroyed Manhattan streets . . . Joshua Hutchins, the pro wrestler who takes refuge from the nuclear fallout at a Nebraska gas station . . . And Swan, a young girl possessing special powers, who travels alongside Josh to a Missouri town where healing and recovery can begin with Swan’s gifts. But the ancient force behind earth’s devastation is scouring the walking wounded for recruits for its relentless army, beginning with Swan herself.

The parallels to another post-apocalyptic book are undeniable, but this book stands on its own.

I can't necessarily remember why I loved it so much, just that I did.
 
Thanks for doing this. At least it allows me to see the table, though I still can't see anything that kupcho types around it. Hopefully nothing important in there.
Can someone let me know if simply turning on dark mode allows you to see the table and/or what I'm writing? You are able to turn it back on to light mode afterward. It's not a lifetime commitment. I know it seems like a lot of work, but I'd appreciate it.

TIA
There was the one time that it showed up properly when you posted, but it then went back to the light gray font. I’m not sure what you did then? Did you set the font to white and then it automatically showed up as black text for non-dark users? I think the issue is the gray font stays gray for everyone.

Maybe we need the test forum back.
 
Phase 2: Books 300 - 201

First up, a 12 way tie for 294th place (that actually pushes the total number of books in the top 300 to 305 but whatcha gonna do?)

294​
The Canterbury TalesGeoffrey Chaucer
2​
Ada, or ArdorVladimir Nabokov
1​
BeowulfUnknown
1​
DaemonDaniel Suarez
1​
Go, Went, GoneJenny Erpenbeck
1​
Motherless BrooklynJonathan Lethem
1​
The Confusion (Vol. 2 of The Baroque Cycle)Neal Stephenson
1​
Letters from EarthMark Twain
1​
Billiards at Half-Past NineHeinrich Boll
1​
From Russia With LoveIan Fleming
1​
The Complete Sherlock HolmesSir Arthur Conan Doyle
1​
Light YearsJames Salter
1​

With over 600 books only selected once there's bound to be a long tail. Perhaps not as long as Yah_Shoor_Youbetcha's back in 2003, but long enough.
There will be fewer "singletons" as we move up the ranks.

As Don Quixote mentioned, this one showed up so that everyone could see it. It was glorious.
 
Swan Song by Robert McCammon

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I can't necessarily remember why I loved it so much, just that I did.
Me either. I read it eons ago and thought it was great. I'd forgotten most of it, but the "reveal" at the end was kind of cool.
 
Phase 3: Books 200 - 101 continued

Here's the other 12 to close out today:

179A Canticle for LeibowitzWalter M. Miller Jr.guru_007, TheBaylorKid
The Bourne UltimatumRobert Ludlumchaos34, Barry2
178ReplayKen GrimwoodTheBaylorKid, Barry2, shuke
177Things Fall ApartChinua Achebeturnjose7, ilov80s, Dr_Zaius, krista4
171Go Tell It on the MountainJames Baldwinkrista4
DalvaJim HarrisonEephus
Salt to the SeaRuta SepetysDr_Zaius
X-Men: The Age of ApocalypseVariousturnjose7
TaipanJames Clavelltimschochet
Stranger in a Strange LandRobert HeinleinFrostillicus, Barry2, Dr_Zaius
170ChokeChuck PalahniukDr. Octopus, Barry2, shuke
169A Wrinkle in TimeMadeleine L'Englescoobus, Psychopav, rockaction

So this set has the #7 book for 5 participants as well as a couple of books I'd never heard of - Things Fall Apart and Replay - that multiple people enjoyed. I'm intrigued

Palahniuk's 2nd book in the top 300 is not the one I would have expected. I liked Choke; maybe the dueling movie versions (along with Fight Club) caused me to rate the other and not this one.
 
Norman Maclean - A River Runs Through It

This novella is a highly recommended, beautifully written story about the relationships between two brothers, their father and the Big Blackfoot River. Being semi-autobiographical makes it deeply personal. Something the movie couldn't quite capture if you've seen it. I read some reviews, had AI review it, and it's all high praise, but for me not high enough, nor did it help me find the words to describe it. If you've loved someone brilliant, fun-loving and self-destructive, the dive into that dilemma stuck with me for decades. I ranked it in my top ten with a bunch of classics. When I finished it, I went back to page 1 and read it again.
I've heard that it's one of those perfect books. It's been on my to-read list for a long time, so I guess I better get to it!
 
Replay by Ken Grimwood

I wish I could do a better write up, but it has been so long since I read it.
It made the list because it was about time travel but it wasn’t ground that I remember covering before in books or movies. I remember not being able to predict the ending, but everything that was revealed made sense. So it made my list because it was unique and had a good ending. I’ve read a lot of sci fi and fantasy and couldn’t understand why I hadn’t been recommend this book before. It was written in mid 80’s but it held up over time. Maybe it isn’t recommended much because Ken didn’t publish many novels before his death at 59.
 

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