The updated Whitcoulls Best 100 Books list is out, and I suppose I shouldn?t be too surprised that Dan Brown?s holy pot boiler, ?The Da Vinci Code?, emerged at the top of the heap.
What the people in these polls don?t seem to realize is that they are supposed to be voting for their favourite books of ALL time, not the latest to catch their eye in the last ten minutes or so.
Yes, the Da Vinci code is immensely popular (though widely observed to be a load of claptrap) but I strongly suspect it will be nowhere near the top of the list in five year?s time.
Now, to completely turn that argument on its head, a genuine timeless classic, The Lord of the Rings, is at the number two spot ? pushed off the top of the list by the upstart but it will be back, mark my words. Devotees of Tolkien will remain devotees long after more fickle readers are scratching their heads and wondering who Dan Brown is, even if he does also sneak in at number four with something called Angels and Demons.
The Hobbit stands very well positioned on a 22 nd place, very nice to see that the book still scores this high. Maybe if a Hobbit movie is made it will do even better.
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What the people in these polls don?t seem to realize is that they are supposed to be voting for their favourite books of ALL time, not the latest to catch their eye in the last ten minutes or so.
Yes, the Da Vinci code is immensely popular (though widely observed to be a load of claptrap) but I strongly suspect it will be nowhere near the top of the list in five year?s time.
Now, to completely turn that argument on its head, a genuine timeless classic, The Lord of the Rings, is at the number two spot ? pushed off the top of the list by the upstart but it will be back, mark my words. Devotees of Tolkien will remain devotees long after more fickle readers are scratching their heads and wondering who Dan Brown is, even if he does also sneak in at number four with something called Angels and Demons.
The Hobbit stands very well positioned on a 22 nd place, very nice to see that the book still scores this high. Maybe if a Hobbit movie is made it will do even better.
More...
