100 Books to Read in a Lifetime (That Are Older Than 200 Years)

Veilleur_de_nuit: Parce que ce long poème dit les horreurs de la guerre et les douceurs de l'amour, et parce qu'il a façonné l'imaginaire occidental.

Mapguy314: Means I have it in my library, not necessarily that I have read it, although I have read some of them

-pilgrim- : There is another version on page 1 of list

aulsmith : Definitely parts of it, but the whole thing? Nah.

: yawwwwwwn

karenb: Squeaking by, barely (published 1812)

lorax : Thumbing down just to counteract psdavid's proselytizing. I think parts are worth reading for basic cultural literacy, but nobody likes being preached at in a forum like this.

aulsmith : Again, parts of it. But the whole thing? Knowing some of it was done from unreliable manuscripts? Nah.

psdavid: A book in two parts, the old testament which is the new testament hidden and the new testament which is the old testament revealed. Every one of the 66 books (39 Old testament and 27 new testament) interlinks and joins with every other, written in original languages by 40+ authors spanning 2,000 years and many cultures. A book that attracts lively debate as to authenticity and yet every day sees more of its writings and dates confirmed by archaeological finds.

: Why not read one of the better translations, if you're going to read the whole wretched Bible in the first place?

cemanuel : Agreed. The purpose of this list is specifically for alternatives to Amazon's. Great book though.

aulsmith : I just read through them all and a lot of them are boring, repetitive and some of them are clearly drafts. Go with the ones that are anthologized.

karenb : Taking Chretien de Troyes instead.

camainc : A better choice would be Idylls of the King by Tennyson.

: boring and more white dudes

Betelgeuse: Idylls of the King is too recent: published between 1859-1885.

aulsmith : Not the whole thing. I took a seminar on Donne, and we didn't even read them all.

aulsmith : Awful. Instead of an adventure story, I got a White Man triumphs over nature with a sermon.

Betelgeuse: Wonderful. A gripping adventure and morality tale. More than a shipwreck story, it is also about repentance and humility. Defoe's novel has several Biblical parallels, including Adam and Eve's expulsion from Eden, the parable of Jonah, and the sufferings of Job. Lessons can be learned from this book, if one overlooks Crusoe's anachronistic imperialism. But Robinson Crusoe is not a dour sermon. It is surprisingly fast-paced, and the first-person narrative gives it even more immediacy. Everyone knows the basics of the plot: the shocking discovery of the footprint, the appearance of Friday, the threat of cannibals, Crusoe's mastery of the island and its elements. There are also lesser known action sequences, such as the exciting wolfpack scene near the end of the book. A great early novel.

Veilleur_de_nuit: Parce que Burke a une vision lucide sur ce que va devenir la Révolution Française, en particulier dans ses dérives.

malmorrow: This is an English polemic of the Enlightenment. 'Reflections' is unsurpassed in this, and equalled only by pamphlets by Paine and Wollstonecraft. Burke set an extremely high standard for sustained rhetoric, providing a foundation for the classic speeches and political writing of the 19th and early 20th Centuries.

aulsmith : I understand why it's important, but it certainly didn't hold my interest.

cemanuel : Not knocking the choice but there's another version of this on the first page of the rankings. I'd suggest switching your vote to that one so one edition gets all the votes. I did the same thing myself.