The Costa Book Awards have issued a list of the top books that us bookworms like to read again and again. The Harry Potter series tops the list and i can proudly say that i have never read as much as a sentence from any of JK Rowlings seven books. Neither have i ever read the book that came second, Lord of The Rings. No particular reason why i haven't picked up either of these two from a book shop or library, i just never really fancied them. The top ten are:
1. The Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
4. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
5. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
6. 1984 - George Orwell
7. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
8. The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
9. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
10. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
The only one i have re-read out of that selection is 1984. I do think that there are so many great books that i have to yet to read that i would rather plow through them rather than revisit the classics.
The fact that nothing by Shakespeare puts in an appearance while Eric Blair is sitting proudly at number six only strengthens my belief that rather than teach students outdated Shakey tales, they should be replacing him with the much more relevant to today Orwell.
8 comments:
I've read no. 3 and 5-9. I started the first HP and found it a horrible bore. Same with LOTR.
Who the hell are these people and how did they compile their list?
I think you should give The Hobbit a try. It's a great, fun read. If you like it, the Trilogy That Follows is another one, IMO. But the Hobbit can be read on its own without further commitment, and sets the stage for the rest should you choose.
I'm doing Hamlet for school right now, and don't find it irrelevant. Bastards still exist, after all. Ones that talk too much, none the less.
I share your love for 1984.
I love Shakey, and would also argue in favour of his relevance - but I agree he's not for everyone.
I'd never read Harry Potter myself, but a kid who I'm being a 'reading partner' for is currently reading one of the books to me... and it's definitely not floating my boat just yet. And I'm not sure that this is purely down to the rather stilted delivery...
LOTRs I read when I was in my early teens. It's not really my genre but I thought it was OK... although I recall thinking Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy was a little better.
As for Orwell, I love his work but there's not a huge amount of it (novel-wise anyway)... I guess dying young of TB didn't help.
Wow.
My top-10 would look very, very different.
Ook ook
I feel an Orwell or Shakey most relevant today post coming on.
My top 10 would be different also Fez, as it is a Costa poll i would think far too much coffee being drunk when questioned.
While most adults are proud of the fact that they haven't read Harry Potter, I've read them all and loved the series. 'Course, if you're not prone to liking fantasy, you aren't going to like them. That said, I don't see myself ever going back and re-reading them.
Books on that list I have read more than once, however, are the LOTR books, the Hobbit, 1984, the Chronicles of Narnia books and Catch 22.
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