On being well-read

Posted on Categories Personal

Phil points to the recently released list (by some NPR show) of the 100 best characters in fiction since 1900 and claims to have read 26%. My count comes up at 23 and I note that the score is only that high because some books (To Kill a Mockingbird, for example) have multiple characters on the list. Phil suggests the Random House list of the 100 Best Novels is more relevant since people generally read for the totality of a book and not just characters. I did much worse on the Random House Board’s list: 13 read, a couple not sure, and a few I started and couldn’t finish. Did much better on the RH Reader’s list with a score of 27. Of course, the reader’s list was apparently targeted by Ayn Rand followers and Scientologists with the top three and seven of the top 10 titlese having been authored by Rand and LR Hubbard. And I have read the three books not by these two in the top 10 (plus two of the Rand titles, when I was young).

I would point out that:

  • All three of these lists are generally confined to titles written in English plus a few that were popular with the literati when translated into English.

  • Much of my reading has been of science fiction and there was no SF on two of the lists.

  • I would like to see sworn affadavits that people who voted for the James Joyce and similar LitPop titles actually read them from cover to cover.