What would be your number 1? Did you agree with my assesments? let me know down below and we'll talk the best books some more!

@michellehyland3675

Ай бұрын

Pride and Prejudice.

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

@@michellehyland3675 At least it was in there already :p

@michellehyland3675

Ай бұрын

@@cafeaulivre Yes indeed. Anna Karenina number one. Wow.

I agree with your criticism of this list. However, something you may not know about Reader's Digest is that it panders to a very low class of readers which is bereft of sophistication. I am not surprised by the low number of serious works of literature here.

Nice to know you'll be staying in KZread!!!

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had been on there though 😬

Poor Bart! It was painful watching you go through this! 😆 It is a most perplexing list!!!

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

It is…something 🤣

These lists always baffle me, but I generally just put it down to all of us having different tastes. I’ve read and enjoyed a few of these but don’t feel overly enthused by the list as a whole. I know it’s a very controversial opinion, but Pride and Prejudice was one of my least enjoyable reading experiences of all time. I hated it 😂

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

Emma! Try Emma 😉

@aiscahill

Ай бұрын

@@cafeaulivre I will. Thanks, Bart ☺️

I looked at the complete 100 title list. Some inspired choices and some puzzling choices. All over the map. War and Peace is superior to Anna Karenina , IMHO. To use a phrase that is probably a bit outdated, I think the creators of the list were smoking crack.

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

If they were, Dr Seuss would have been high up on the list ;)

Don't forget that Reader's Digest is geared toward those that haven't master staying within the lines when colouring

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

🤣

Your reactions are priceless. 😀 Don't like the list either. Also, I finished Claire Keegan - Small things like these. It was absolutely amazing. Short story but amazing. Best book? No 1 for me? Karamazov Brothers.

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

That’s a great contender for the first spot. And I think Small Things Like These might be one of my next reads

When you hit #5! 😅😂😅

@cafeaulivre

10 күн бұрын

I’m still shocked 🤯

@starlasell5698

10 күн бұрын

@@cafeaulivre I would have to agree!

Victor Frankel's book is not a memoir. He actually wrote his book before the Holocaust. But, it was taken from him and destroyed when he was taken to the camp. So, he rewrote it while there and after survivng, thus proving his theory correct. He was already a psychologist prior to the N a z i s control in Vienna.

Completely agree with your The little prince statement , but what's wrong with this list I'm unable to digest it😭

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

It feels like they were having a meeting and then an editor walked in and said: ‘make sure to include some non-fiction as well’ , then five minutes later, they did the same for poetry 🤣

I don't know why people still refer to Cold Blood as the first true crime book actually the real first true crime book ever was Operation Massacre by Argentine journalist Rodolfo Walsh (1957). Don't get me wrong, I think both works are great but I think that Walsh's work did not get enough recognition. This list should be name popular books not best books and still be controversial cause the lack of international names from differents country, most of the books are from Europe and USA (not much from Latin America, Asia, Africa, etc). The list didn't mention a lot of Classic (which time they are talking about 🤔).... Great video

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

I think they could have done a better job in getting the brief right: are we talking fiction or non-fiction, prose or poetry, … It’s a bit of a mess 😳

Was this list actually voted for by readers? Or just compiled by one person etc? For me only 4 of the top 15 would make my top 100! And although absolutely love Stephen King, I completely agree with you re The Shining being there

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

I don’t think it was voted…I so hope it was not voted 🤣

Your comments about 50 shades made me laugh😂😂😂

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

I was genuinely afraid it was going to pop up in the list 🤣

According to Readers Digest, only 7 of the top 100 books were written before 1900. 12 between 1900 and 1950. And 81 have been written in the past 75 years. So, in the first 2500 years, mankind produced approximately one of this quality every 360 years. Then from 1900-1950, the rate increased to one every four years. And over the last seventy five years, it’s a bit more than one per year. But it’s worse. The only “book” to make the cut before 1800 was Hamlet, which is just after 1600. So, for the first 2000 years, literature produced nothing in the same league as Valley of the Dolls. Then one from 1600 to 1800. Then, from 1800 to 1900, there was one such ‘top 100” book every 18 years or so. Not only pro-American bias, but tremendously strong recency bias.

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

I suspect a ‘marketing target audience group’ bias myself tbh…or a very drunk editor 🤣

I always wonder what criteria are used in creating such a list. I looked this list up and they don't talk about their methodology. It seems so random. (And putting nonfiction and fiction, poetry and prose, children's and adult books all on the same list is weird.) I would put Valley of the Dolls on a "best trashy reads" list, but not on a best books list!

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

It would be a great list to make though 🤣

Who the heck came up with this list!!! I agree possibly the list is more American biased, BUT.,.. Valley of the Dolls, you have got to be kidding!! Also, if American focused , where are Steinbeck or Hemingway ??? I am not sure I would pick Tolstoy as number one ? It was a great novel, but the best of all time, I am not sure. I can’t think of which novel would be at the top of a list, maybe Don Quixote?

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

Exactly, Steinbeck, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Kerouac, Angelou, … you could make a top ten purely out of US authors alone already!

The Readers Digest does not think and caters for those who do not think. That explains their list.

@cafeaulivre

13 күн бұрын

🤣

I love Stephen King and I think The Shining is a pretty great haunted house story but the 5th greatest of all time? I think Shirley Jackson and The Haunting of Hill House beats The Shining.

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

I agree: Jackson absolutely beats the Shining and even then I’m not sure she would score as high in the list for me.

@Jordan-calver1993

Ай бұрын

@@cafeaulivre Oh no, I totally agree that 5th is a very high position for either work as great as they both are.

The placement of Valley of the Dolls is ridiculous.

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

That was the silliest one for me too 😋

Reader's Digest used to have more class. They used to publish classic books, and those titles didn't include the junk on this list. I understand American cultural bias, but this is nuts.

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

I have no idea how they even came up with with this list

For the record I would have told you to avoid the Readers Digest list. I feel your pain and it is more than justified. The list is garbage and I'm sorry it was inflicted upon you.

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

At this point, Im just glad there was no 50 shades or twilight on there 🤣

@VTimmoni

Ай бұрын

@@cafeaulivre Fair point. I tried to read the Twilight books for a bet. I barely finished the second book and happily lost the bet.

This is the strangest list ive seen. Wish i knew what the methodology was.

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

I don’t think there was one tbh 😋

If one were to count the 5 best novels of all time, 5 would have to be Russian, leaving only 5 for the rest of the world.

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

Which five Russians would you pick then?

Definite American bias. Even then they missed many good American works. There also seems to be some confusion about the difference between “best” and “important.” All the President’s Men is important from a historical viewpoint but hardly great literature. Even then, there are more important history books by American authors, such as Richard Hofstadter or Perry Miller.

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

I was indeed thinking about how would I make such a list and the first things I came up with was to split fiction and non-fiction, as well as poetry and prose. I’d rank them by literary merit (whatever that means in the end)

This rather dispiriting list only really reveals to us the reading tastes of Readers Digest readers, who are in all honesty a middle-brow, commercial, American bias readership. It's a piece of silly nonsense, forget about it.

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

I wasn’t going to allow it to dictate my next reads 😉

This is obviously some sort of woke-influenced list. Could not watch beyond 3:51 minutes.

@cafeaulivre

Ай бұрын

It’s just a bad taste list…nothing to do with woke