Harris Poll - May 4, 2008

[jhanic]

My local paper (The Cleveland Plain Dealer) today published a Harris Poll of the all-time top 10 books as voted by Americans:

1. The Bible
2. "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell
3. "The Lord of the Rings" (series) by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. "Harry Potter" (series) by J.K. Rowling
5. "The Stand" by Stephen King
6. "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown
7. "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee
8. "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown
9. "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand
10. "Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger.

King made #5!!

John

[ladysai]

How did Dan Brown get in there twice?


Other than that, I am happy to find many of my own favorites in the list. :)

[Jean]

How did Dan Brown get in there twice?
he won't be there long. At least two slots in such cases are always taken by fashionable books that everybody has recently read.

[mia/susannah]

i am glad the The Stand is 5th but it should be first

[MonteGss]

I agree with Jean....unfortunately "pop culture" fiction like Dan Brown will inevitably be on these sorts of lists. Anyone who has read them will agree, though mildly entertaining, they certainly do not belong on any "all time" list. :)

[John Blaze]

How did Dan Brown get in there twice?
he won't be there long. At least two slots in such cases are always taken by fashionable books that everybody has recently read.

exactly!

[jhanic]

I agree with Jean....unfortunately "pop culture" fiction like Dan Brown will inevitably be on these sorts of lists. Anyone who has read them will agree, though mildly entertaining, they certainly do not belong on any "all time" list. :)

But in all objectivity, couldn't King also be considered "pop culture"? Just a thought.

John

[Jean]

I don't really know (or bother to know) what is or isn't pop culture; lots of books have always floated between "academic" and "pop" anyway. I only know that I find King good, entertaining, deep, enjoyable, re-readable, plausible, imagination-stirring, deeply touching, sometimes hilarious, often looking into the depth of my ursine soul; while none of that I could ever say of Brown, who is all the contrary: implausible, unviable, with flat lifeless dialogs and equally flat lifeless characters, unable to follow common logic, making ridiculous historical, geographical, logical and psychological mistakes, boring; all his popularity is suspended on one of the meanest instinct of human - scandal-based iconoclasm - thus he will quietly sleep into oblivion as soon as someone comes up with something even more sacrilegious (thus, more appealing to a specific type of intellectuals) and dealing with more half-baked cultural hieroglyphs (thus, more appealing to a specific type of middle-aged housewifes)

[jhanic]

You say true!

John

[NeedfulKings]

My local paper (The Cleveland Plain Dealer) today published a Harris Poll of the all-time top 10 books as voted by Americans:

1. The Bible
2. "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell
3. "The Lord of the Rings" (series) by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. "Harry Potter" (series) by J.K. Rowling
5. "The Stand" by Stephen King
6. "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown
7. "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee
8. "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown
9. "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand
10. "Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger.

King made #5!!

John

1. Read parts of
2. Haven't (nor likely will) read
3. Read The Hobbit and own the other three. Plan to read.
4. Am working my way through at the moment (through 3).
5. Read both versions
6. Read
7. Read
8. Read
9. Haven't heard of.
10. Will read

Re: Dan Brown, I agree that his inclusion must be based on his popularity at the moment. I did read both books and since I was able to separate truth from fiction, I enjoyed them for what they were. Everyday mystery/adventures that were somewhat thought provoking. Having been to Rome and Paris, it's fun (regardless of any geographical liberties taken) to read about those places in pop fiction novels.

:)

[MonteGss]

I agree with Jean....unfortunately "pop culture" fiction like Dan Brown will inevitably be on these sorts of lists. Anyone who has read them will agree, though mildly entertaining, they certainly do not belong on any "all time" list. :)

But in all objectivity, couldn't King also be considered "pop culture"? Just a thought.

John

Yes, I suppose so. :)
Maybe "pop culture book for people who don't normally read but everyone is talking about this book so I don't want to be left out" would have been a better description. :lol:

[MonteGss]

Oh, I've read all those books but The Bible , Gone with the Wind (probably will someday) and Atlas Shrugged (own and is on the "to read" list). :)

[LadyHitchhiker]

I preferred Fountainhead to Atlas Shrugged..

*shrugs*

[Jean]

2. "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell

2. Haven't (nor likely will) read
:)
why not? it's good, I mean real good

[NeedfulKings]

2. "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell

2. Haven't (nor likely will) read
:)
why not? it's good, I mean real good

I guess the term "never say never" should apply. :D I don't doubt that it's a great book-I just have SO many books that I want to read (many that have yet to be written, I suppose) that it may be a long time before I take that calling.