The
holidays are a great gift-giving time.
Many people run out of ideas of what to buy. Many will give the gift of books and others
will share a gift card to a bookstore.
How about wrapping up a classic and giving it to someone? Here are a few ideas on what to give:
·
Don
Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Published in 1605
Published in 1605
·
Robinson
Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Published in 1719
Published in 1719
·
Gulliver’s
Travels by Jonathan Swift
Published in 1726
·
Candide
by Voltaire
Published in 1759
Published in 1759
·
Confessions
by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Published in 1782
Published in 1782
·
Pride
and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Published in 1813
Published in 1813
·
Frankenstein
by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Published in 1818
Published in 1818
·
The
Count of Monte-Cristo by Alexandra Dumas
Published in 1845
Published in 1845
·
Jane
Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Published in 1847
Published in 1847
·
David
Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Published in 1850
Published in 1850
·
The
Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Published in 1850
Published in 1850
·
Moby
Dick by Herman Melville
Published in 1851
Published in 1851
·
Uncle
Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Published in 1852
Published in 1852
·
Walden
by Henry David Thoreau
Published in 1854
Published in 1854
·
Madame
Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Published in 1857
Published in 1857
·
Journey
To The Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
Published in 1866
Published in 1866
·
Crime
and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Published in 1868
Published in 1868
·
War
and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Published in 1869
I
know there are many other books worthy of reading and sharing. These are just some of the books listed in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, edited by Peter Boxall. Like all lists
or books dedicated to naming books to read, they are incomplete. In this case, it looks like more than 80% of
the book entries are from the past 150 years, through 2009. It only covers fiction and lacked classics
like Paradise Lost, Beowulf or anything from Shakespeare.
A
hundred international critics contributed to the book. It’s easy to see that one’s list of favorite
books can be large. If we picked the 10
best books in a year, based on sales, awards, critical reviews, and social
influence, we’d add 1,000 titles to such a list each century. If we look back to 1515 we would have a list
of 5,000 books – and it would by no means be complete. How do you even compare genres or books that
don’t neatly fit into any genre?
The
truth is our classics fade, getting replaced by more modern tomes. Why?
Because as many books age, time passes them by and the social
significance in which the book was first published remains far removed from the
relevance of the present. We won’t read
Jane Austen forever. Social mores have
changed and my bet is that books that survive the test of time will be the ones
that hold some kind of moral truth that still resonates. Books like Lord of the Flies, 1984, and A
Tale of Two Cities still hold meaning to us, but that could change.
Perhaps
if something radical changes we will then see classic books disappear – or
we’ll see them clutched even closer to our heart. It’s clear that technology, terrorism, and
the global economy will shape America and the world for decades to come. How these factors influence what we read
remains to be seen.
The
book highlighting 1001 books to read doesn’t clearly state what it used as a
metric to pick its hundred contributors nor how they selected the books they
put forth. I’m sure those contributors,
no matter how well-read they are, would agree that their methods employed were
highly subjective, somewhat political, or commercial, and not scientific in the
least bit. So why do we rely on such
books or lists?
We
believe they are better than nothing. In
fact, many of society’s standards are like this. What a university teaches, what a Supreme
Court chooses to hear, or what an elected government official chooses to
legislate on is often not based on merits alone. Nor is it based on being fully informed. They operate in a bubble and hope that they
contribute something that’s better than nothing.
This
past Thanksgiving I talked to 20 or so relatives about things like what TV shows
they were watching, which movies they recently viewed, and to a lesser degree,
which books they had read of late. I can
see just from discussing TV shows that people’s tastes vary widely and that no
one watches everything, so it gets harder to compare shows when talking to
people.
For
instance, my wife’s aunt and uncle enjoy Two Broke Girls. I told them I can enjoy idiotic humor but
this show leaned heavily towards dumb rather than funny. Can I take any advice on TV show
recommendations from them seriously?
Then there’s my sister-in-law who is bright but generally finds fault
with any movie or show that I like. I
learn more about people when they tell me which shows and movies they watch and
like, but I still couldn’t make a list of great show and movies given that I
haven’t seen all of them.
Why
don’t most people agree on the greatness of a book, show, or movie? It’s simple.
Here:
1.
No
one samples and sticks with enough shows or books to be in a position to
compare.
2.
People
are in different moods when they consume something, so far some, a thriller is
exactly what they needed so they enjoyed anything from that genre, whereas others
might need a comedy in their lives and thus, any crap put in front of them
sufficed.
3.
It’s
hard to compare genres or eras or things we enjoyed at different ages.
4.
We
have such diverse backgrounds – ethnic, religious, sexuality, age, economics,
education, etc. – that it’s almost impossible to find content that reaches
beyond our demographic barriers.
5.
Some
people just have bad tastes, a lack of referential experience or knowledge, or
have negative dispositions, mental disabilities, or scarred lives that simply
don’t permit them to be of the frame of mind or mood to appreciate or
understand what they are experiencing.
The
best we can do is break down these recommendation lists, with tons of
disclaimers. For instance, don’t do a
“Best Books of the Year” roundup, because it’s faulty. Instead, be specific and focused, like “Best
Mystery Books, Based On The Limited Number Of Books Our Underpaid, Under-40
Critics May Have Read.”
Very
little separates a thousand books from one another. Out of the 350,000+ books pumped
out by traditional publishers this year, we know that the average of 950 books
released daily will go vastly unread by the most educated, experienced, and
passionate book critics. Just the
process of dismissing 949 books each day could take more than a day.
So
many books, so many preferences, so few qualified critics with so little time
to do their jobs. This is what we must
remember when even prestigious publications like The New York Times spit out
lists and recommendations. No list is
comprehensive, definitive, or agreeable.
Still,
if you want to read 1,001 books before you die – based on ignorance, whim, and
limited experiences in life or with books, there is a starting point from which
to launch off. Enjoy your reading!
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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015
Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015
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