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Comment by printrrr | Hacker News Reader

This feels like a list of books that you tell people you read if you want them to think you have taste.

Obviously any top list is subjective, but what I think we have here is an aggregate of readers on a forum who are trying to impress each other. A circle jerk.

These books are great, but they are pretty standard canon. And the bible? No other religious text?

It's fun to compare it with the Goodreads top literary 100, for sure a lot of overlap, but some interesting deviations and substitutions.

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/13086.Goodreads_Top_100_...

And even more fun to compare it to their top rated of all.

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/153860

I guess it shows how you rate things if you don't think anyone is looking or judging you.

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I have read 17 books from that list, and 16 of them were totally solid.

The one I didn't like was The Great Gatsby, but it very well might have been my limitations.

Classics are dubbed so for a reason.

I got myself a list of ~180 books prepared by two lit professors and started going through them, along with books recommended in fora with low signal to noise ratio (not Reddit). Best decision re: choice of books ever.

I've read 20 and I'd say every one was very well written and worth my time. A few weren't for me, but for purely personal taste reasons, not quality.

I don't think that top rated list is worth much. Brandon Sanderson's The Stormlight Archive is the #1 highest rated series... with 250 votes.

I think it shows what people actually enjoy reading. I doubt Moby Dick is actually atop most people's favorite book list.

Also, I hadn't realized that Pierce Brown wrote the 6th installment of the Red Rising series. Worth it for me for that reason alone!

I really enjoyed reading Anna Karenina. Not only for the glimpses of life of 19th century Russia, but also for thoughts and progress of Levin in his spiritual/philosophical quest.

"People" are not a single block of monoculture, and taste varies wildly.

> "People" are not a single block of monoculture, and taste varies wildly.

Could not agree more! I really enjoyed A Brief History of Time.

My point was that it's a safer bet for most people, but I'm starting to realize that I'm surrounded by fantasy-heads, so my perspective may be biased.

Just an anecdote, but Moby Dick actually is one of the favorite books of most people I know who read it

Having been forced to read Moby Dick in high school, it's a great book if you're looking for a How-To guide on repurposing whale parts. That novel has entirely too much blubber and could be cut in half.

Well shoot. I always assumed it similar to other books read in school: good but not fun. I should read Moby Dick!

> No other religious text?

Bhagavad-Gita is number 96.

That's fair, missed that one.

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