The book meme revisited
The one book meme continues to make its way through cyberspace. And in a fascinating piece of blog-research, Kevin Stilley has analysed 275 posts from this meme, and he has come up with a list of the most popular books. Of the 275 posts that he viewed, one book was mentioned positively 48 times (can you guess which book?). And I was especially pleased to see that Augustine’s Confessions was also among the ten most popular books.
The Lord of the Rings as Number One was as inevitable as it is lamentable When I first read it in the early seventies I enjoyed it immensely. I am sure I still would. But Numero Uno among the all-time greats? Give me a break! In that context, "Winnie-the-Pooh posing as an epic" (Michael Moorcock, 1987) and "Faërieland's answer to Conan the Barbarian" (John Goldthwaite, 1996) become forgiveable critical hyperboles.
Indeed the entire Top Ten is woefully thin. Only the Confessions merits a place - and perhaps Pride and Prejudice (though, personally, I think Jane Austen is over-rated). But Harry Potter? Oh dear.
By the way, when, in 1997, Waterstone's did a survey of its readers in the UK, more than one-fifth of them placed The Lord of the Rings as first choice.
Only in Wales (I live in Swansea) was it beaten into second place by - Joyce's Ulysses. The Welsh are clearly a discerning people.
GK Chesterton has responded to the meme.
Fred
Post a Comment