Lists of Bests: Pour une Bibliotheque Ideale http://www.listsofbests.com/list/59708 In the early 1950s Raymond Queneau asked several dozen French (or living in France) authors and critics to list the hundred books they would choose if they had to limit themselves to that number. He reproduced all their responses in the book Pour une Bibliothèque Idéale (Gallimard, 1956), along with the overall top 100 list reproduced bellow. The list of respondents can be seen at http://web.archive.org/web/20010223073820/w3.tvi.cc.nm.us/~rswigg/BIAuthorsPolled.html I'm not sure if all of them have a list in the book, or just an answer explaining why they did not vote. On the above page you can also find a link to Queneau's own list. Two more individual lists from the book are also online Henry Miller's: http://web.archive.org/web/20001021225726/literarycritic.com/miller.htm and Marianne Moore's: http://web.archive.org/web/20001022025805/literarycritic.com/moore1.htm Other famous names include Jean Anouilh, Andre Breton, Paul Claudel (the only one who had a book included in the overall top 100), Jean Cocteau, Paul Eluard, and Georges Simenon. Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:47:42 GMT en-us 0 50 100 50 0 Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Royals Series) (Wordsworth Royals Series) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/969675 <div id="position">1</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/969675"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/185326895X.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by William Shakespeare</div> The Bible http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/68804 <div id="position">2</div><div class="place-image-placeholder"><span class="qm">*</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by </div> In Search of Lost Time: Proust 6-pack (Proust Complete) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/43707 <div id="position">3</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/43707"><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/0812969642.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Marcel Proust</div> Montaigne: Essays http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/2750 <div id="position">4</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/2750"><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/014017897X.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Michel de Montaigne</div> Gargantua and Pantagruel http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/5275864 <div id="position">5</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/5275864"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XfHChbKUL._SL75_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by François Rabelais</div> The Flowers of Evil (Wesleyan Poetry) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/1721296 <div id="position">6</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/1721296"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/081956799X.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Charles Baudelaire</div> Pensees http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/447652 <div id="position">7</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/447652"><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/087220717X.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Blaise Pascal</div> Five Plays (Methuen World Classics) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/517127 <div id="position">8</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/517127"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0413497607.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Moliere</div> Confessions (Oxford World's Classics) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/5275951 <div id="position">9</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/5275951"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51vrhWVKB9L._SL75_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Jean-Jacques Rousseau</div> The Red and the Black (Modern Library Classics) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/380647 <div id="position">10</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/380647"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0812972074.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Stendhal</div> The Dialogues of Plato (Bantam Classic) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/1003640 <div id="position">11</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/1003640"><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/0553213717.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_V1130194744_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Plato</div> The Charterhouse of Parma http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/114594 <div id="position">12</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/114594"><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/0330483978.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Stendhal</div> Francois Villon's The Legacy & The Testament http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/906361 <div id="position">13</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/906361"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/1885266995.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_V1056535004_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Francois Villon</div> Rimbaud: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/594662 <div id="position">14</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/594662"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/067943321X.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_V1057192788_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Arthur Rimbaud</div> The Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz (Complete) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/5275953 <div id="position">15</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/5275953"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/410YARy6cbL._SL75_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Cardinal de Retz</div> War and Peace http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/2760601 <div id="position">16</div><div class="place-image-placeholder"><span class="qm">*</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Leo Tolstoy</div> Memoirs: Duc de Saint-Simon (Lost Treasures) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/1423499 <div id="position">17</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/1423499"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/1853753521.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div> Don Quixote (P.S.) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/1359 <div id="position">18</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/1359"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0060934344.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Miguel de Cervantes</div> The Complete Plays of Jean Racine, Volume I: Iphigenia, Andromache, Britannicus http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/552274 <div id="position">19</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/552274"><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/0615124755.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_V1075232913_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Jean Racine</div> Collected Works of Aeschylus http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/3824189 <div id="position">20</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/3824189"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51pzdw8KCvL._SL75_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Aeschylus</div> The Brothers Karamazov http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/8646 <div id="position">21</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/8646"><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/0374528373.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Fyodor Dostoevsky</div> Collected Poems and Other Verse (Oxford World's Classics) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/1708100 <div id="position">22</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/1708100"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/019280362X.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_V41062795_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Stéphane Mallarmé</div> The Fables of La Fontaine http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/2302817 <div id="position">23</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/2302817"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0863155715.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Jean De La Fontaine</div> Faust (Bantam Classics) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/15603 <div id="position">24</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/15603"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0553213482.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_V42372268_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe</div> Alcools http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/5276629 <div id="position">25</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/5276629"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Xz0feN5EL._SL75_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Guillaume Apollinaire</div> A Sentimental Education (Oxford World's Classics) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/5257851 <div id="position">26</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/5257851"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QzOwF9UwL._SL75_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Gustave Flaubert</div> The Odyssey http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/2962 <div id="position">27</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/2962"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0140268863.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_V1056420501_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Homer</div> Corneille: Three Masterpieces (Absolute Classics) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/1059293 <div id="position">28</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/1059293"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/1840021241.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_V1056526486_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Pierre Corneille</div> The Divine Comedy http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/13699 <div id="position">29</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/13699"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0451208633.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Dante Alighieri</div> Memoires d'Outre Tombe http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/906812 <div id="position">30</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/906812"><img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0785911820.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Francois­Rene de Chateaubriand</div> THE NOVELS OF HONORE DE BALZAC (45 VOLUMES)The Human Comedy http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/5290639 <div id="position">31</div><div class="place-image-placeholder"><span class="qm">*</span></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by HONORE DE BALZAC</div> The Complete Plays of Sophocles http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/128761 <div id="position">32</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/128761"><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/0553213547.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Sophocles</div> Ulysses http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/970318 <div id="position">33</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/970318"><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/1404336877.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by James Joyce</div> Dangerous Liaisons (Penguin Classics) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/906548 <div id="position">34</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/906548"><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/0140449574.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_V39751849_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Pierre Ambroise Francois Choderlos de Laclos</div> Gulliver's Travels http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/2151788 <div id="position">35</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/2151788"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/1400102723.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Jonathan Swift</div> Poems of Paul Verlaine http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/4100099 <div id="position">36</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/4100099"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/211CbUS2IJL._SL75_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Paul Verlaine</div> Madame Bovary http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/2052774 <div id="position">37</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/2052774"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/1587263920.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Gustave Flaubert</div> A Season in Hell http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/25868 <div id="position">38</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/25868"><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/0821224581.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_V35462117_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Arthur Rimbaud</div> A Discourse on the Method (Oxford World's Classics) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/735401 <div id="position">39</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/735401"><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/0192825143.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Rene Descartes</div> Manon Lescaut http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/5277312 <div id="position">40</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/5277312"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51e7K4rBb9L._SL75_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Francoise Prevost</div> Selected Poems (Penguin Classics S.) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/906409 <div id="position">41</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/906409"><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/0140424245.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_V1110578349_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Pierre Ronsard</div> Aristophanes: The Complete Plays http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/139243 <div id="position">42</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/139243"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0451214099.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div> The Annals & The Histories (Modern Library Classics) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/428777 <div id="position">43</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/428777"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0812966996.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Tacitus</div> Ethics (Penguin Classics) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/88532 <div id="position">44</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/88532"><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/0140435719.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Benedict de Spinoza</div> Selected Poems http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/3945711 <div id="position">45</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/3945711"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/11Z1VVATV6L._SL75_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Friedrich Holderlin</div> Les Filles Du Feu / Les Chimeres (Garnier-Flammarion) http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/5290732 <div id="position">46</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/5290732"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51S55WJ4XFL._SL75_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Nerval</div> Robinson Crusoe http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/38133 <div id="position">47</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/38133"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0689844085.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Daniel Defoe</div> The Confessions of Saint Augustine http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/56945 <div id="position">48</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/56945"><img src="http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/1591094003.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by St. Augustine of Hippo</div> Maldoror http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/25093 <div id="position">49</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/25093"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0811200825.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Comte de Lautreamont</div> Les Miserables http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/41096 <div id="position">50</div><div class="item-image" style="padding:3px;float:left;"><a href="http://www.allconsuming.net/item/view/41096"><img src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0449300021.01._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 12px;"> by Victor Hugo</div>