The Best Books Of All Time?

 

😬 I consider myself an avid reader. Having noted that, there are very few books I have read from The Guardian's best 100 books of all time. My list is less than a dozen, even counting a few I started and never finished. 174 prominent writers participated in creating brain food for your pleasure. They each contributed ten of their favorite reads and someone somewhere somehow tabulated the favorites. Without further ado, the number one book of all time is ......

Middlemarch.

The fucking hell it is. Lol.

Like art, what you like is subjective. Some people believe Manga is good stuff. Others prefer historical novels, blah, blah, blah.

I suppose the list is supposed to be taken more seriously because actual writers who make a living writing books have listed what they deemed the best read. I'm not a writer. I suppose like a musician who reads notes, understands the structure, the form, the timbre, they can recognize the whole. I just want a book that will entertain me and not try to be word snobby. I could not explain compound - complex structures. I suppose it's the same for a mechanic who creates a list of the best cars because of torque and horsepower and valve trains. (I looked that up)

I think I would go nuts if I looked at music or a book in that light, always judging, noting errors and/or the perfectly perfect sentence. 

Again, just tell me a story. I do listen to people who recommend books they have liked. I have found some terrific stories that way, but a list proclaiming the greatest of all time is a fail at the very beginning. It's bold, daring- and stupid. 

I won't make my own list of suggested reads. People don't give a hoot. Read the back of a cereal box. Read street signs. Don't let anyone tell you what you should be reading. 

Middlemarch!?

Lol.