Re: MLA's 30 Books Every Adult Should Read Before They Die
- From: Alan Hope <usenet.identity@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:59:19 +0200
Towse goes:
"a World Book Day poll conducted by the Museum, Libraries and Archives
Council (MLA), in which librarians around the country were asked the
question, 'Which book should every adult read before they die?' "
<http://www.listsofbests.com/list/2321>
I chucked the list across the proverbial room the moment I saw that
three out of the thirty spots were taken up by Lord of the Fairies,
which is simply preposterous. In the first place, it's a ghastly book
which has spawned an industry of even worse books. It's over-written,
far too long, and the plot is fundamentally stupid. As an allegory,
it's something a teenager would come up with, and be ashamed of by the
time he hit 21.
In the second place, no way is any single book worth 10 percent of the
books every adult should read.
They go on to commit the self-same error with Philip Pullman, which I
haven't read. But it's equally preposterous to allow him three places
on such a short list.
So they're saying that from the whole of world literature, throughout
history, one in five of the best books were volumes from two works of
fantasy. That's too insane to be even laughable.
A camp acquaintance says of goodreads.com, [she prefers]
listsofbests.com because it "actually gives you ideas of what to read
next, rather than working as a how-many-books have I read tallying system."
YMMV, but if you're planning what to read next, the lists at
listsofbests.com are interesting. e.g.
<http://www.listsofbests.com/lists/home/books/definitive>
--
AH
http://grapes2dot0.blogspot.com
.
- Follow-Ups:
- References:
- Prev by Date: Re: Apologies and sympathy to Hopeless
- Next by Date: Re: Dinner Heaven
- Previous by thread: MLA's 30 Books Every Adult Should Read Before They Die
- Next by thread: Re: MLA's 30 Books Every Adult Should Read Before They Die
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
