MLA's 30 Books Every Adult Should Read Before They Die
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Created by Misty on Mar 28, 2006.
Balkonskiy_a
Boulder
Untitled — 32 weeks ago
Well, Bible is number one bestseller of all times so that one should stay, but how did Lord of the Rings or Gone with the Wind made it on the list over so many others I can not understand.
whollycrusader
Harrisburg
Religious texts? — 35 weeks ago
If the Bible is going to make the list, I don’t see why the Koran, the Torah, or the Bhagavad Gita aren’t on here as well.
Untitled — 39 weeks ago
Dostoevsky, Nabokov and Gogol are all well and good but actually if you asked people nowadays which ones they have read, Lolita or the curious incident, the diary of a madman or the time travellers wife then chances are it would the the latter.
Yes, they are classics but curious incident is a modern classic and is actually a very good book.
Although I agree this list isn’t that good at all.
JD Salinger, DH Lawrence, Nick Hornby...where are they? Ok I'll admit Nick Hornby...not so much but you know.But it was the majority that claimed these are the top 30 so who are we to question really?
Could be better (:
The Alchemist. — 50 weeks ago
My one word review of the Alchemist: Trite.
It was not the worst book I have ever read, but it was certainly in the bottom one or two percent. I could list several thousand books that I have read that i would recommend over reading The Alchemist. Makes me wonder if the librarians that selected these books ever bothered to actually read any of them.
llull
Shambhala
MLA — 1 year ago
I prefer other acronyms: TLS for one. I betcha they would have a more adventurous list. Also, what’s with the morbidity? Are we not allowed to read some “in the next life (and don’t be late)”*?
- Jimi Hendrix et al.
brunswickian
Brooklyn
Fixed ... again — 1 year ago
As noted in the description, “Some selections are trilogies, so there are actually more than 30 works on the list.”
I fixed the list so that it reflects 30 selections instead of 36 books.
Yes, I know the title of the list given here is “MLA’s 30 Books Every Adult Should Read …” I was unable to find an official list from the MLA, only a press release stating the following:
In answer to the question “Which book should every adult read before they die?” the librarian survey received an eclectic response. ...
The press release uses the words “top 30.” I guess you’d have to take it up with the MLA or their public relations agency if you think they should have been more specific.
countingpulses
Toronto
Untitled — 1 year ago
Somebody keeps changing the list. There are 34 books on the list.
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