Mein Kampt 56th lmao. Seems like some people were trolling a bit.

Aside from this, seems like 4chan keep their love of the classics. Good for them, they're classics for a reason.

I tried to read mein kampf and it was boring af couldn't finish it but other than that it's an okay list

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Even Mussolini thought Mein Kampf was shit. Granted, Mussolini hated Hitler in general.

Mein Kampf aside… Atlas Shrugged? Also, The Odyssey at 20 but Iliad at 4? Shouldn’t they be close together?

Other than that, the rest are mostly shit you see on regular top 100 books of all time lists.

> Most of your favorites shouldn’t be on this list

Eh I meant if you polled acknowledged writers of what books they considered to be their top books, it would probably look similar to those (minus the meme picks and more women representation for 4chan and minus some YA and recent Fantasy picks for r/books). See this poll for reference

Edit: [This site has a lot of top books list and they look similar with those two lists] (http://sonic.net/~rteeter/greatbks.html)

The rest are just dumbasses calling each other trannies and also somebody at the end complaining about women being on the list which is peak comedy. 4chan really is a cesspool.

It's a solid but most predictable list. That's why I find more interesting top lists of books published on said year, instead of all time.

OP you should probably link the list image from the archive link instead of the board link since the latter link will expire later on.

Also Ted Kaczynskis manifesto which I don’t even know counts as a book

Most people don't read books that just released, especially a crowd like that which loves the classics so much. Most people wouldn't even be able to participate, and some would just put books by default that they didn't even like. The only interesting thing about a top list of the books released that year would be to see the marketing impact.

Apart from Atlas shrugged I see no female writers.

I’m rolling my eyes so hard at The Bible at number one

(Mostly) great taste

lol look harder

I think there’s 6 women - Brontë, Elliot, Shelley, Rand, Plath, Woolf. Mostly right at the end, these lists stay predictable 🙄

Done. Thanks for the suggestion

I think the posts on booklist threads are much more revealing than the lists themselves.

I was expecting The Turner Diaries

No one reads Proust.

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Looks like standard 4chan fair - relatively safe list of good and probably “deserving” books outside of the meme stuff, but obviously underrates women and non-white men.

The second half of Swann's Way, sometimes published separately as Swann in Love, is a genuine masterpiece.

The Unabomber is the hipster’s murderer; the reluctant killer with the heart of gold. Honestly, people’s obsession with this guy is really disappointing. I think the whole serial killer fascination is awful but people love excusing him, “he was dosed . . . he’s not wrong” etc.

I think a true /r/books list would actually look drastically different than this.

Infinite Jest is far too high and there are numerous omissions but that is certainly a list of 100 books that are mostly very good.

What, five books by women? The Bible at #1? Awfully boring.

Have you read it? I'm not religious but the bible is an incredible book. Of course it's many books stitched together, but the amount of literary value held within its pages is remarkable. David's saga in the old testament, Job, Ecclesiastes, and the Gospel of John are my favorite parts

Which books written by women would you place in the top 20?

Gone With the Wind and Pride and Prejudice are both in my top 5.

My absolute favourite part of the bible is the bit where Moses is leading his people through the desert for years. Due to lack of food, water and because of sickness a lot of them start dying. They petition Moses to go and have a word with God for some relief which he duly does. Following their conversation God is so angry at the ingratitude of the people that he sends a load of fiery serpents to smite even more of them.

I found that bit hilarious. As if people who were dying in agony from the fiery serpents would die thinking, “Remember the good times when we only died from thirst, hunger and disease?”

I can’t say I’ve read it cover to cover, but I’ve read enough of it to know that I don’t think it’s incredible. Like long lists of lineage? No thanks.

They really do like Japanese Novelists tho

Job and Ecclesiastes are the best stand-alone and not-too-long books in my opinion. But if you don't like philosophy and/or mythology, you're not gonna get as much out of the bible

Lotta safe picks. Pretty unremarkable. You could get the same answers with all the tripe removed just looking at just about any undergrad literature curriculum.

Lotta Latin Americans and Japanese novelists, but yeah, one of the top comments is someone celebrating the lack of black authors.

I already told you I’ve read a lot of it. There’s a lot of useless garbage in there that isn’t even interesting from a mythology or philosophy standpoint. Hardly THE greatest book of all time.

How to Beat Your Wife, or Any Woman

Faust... but Marlowe!

Even hitler thought it was shit if the forward is anything to go off

I mean we heard you say that you read it, it's just your synopsis makes you sound like... A liar. I mean, the lineage stuff is even right near the beginning.

But I digress, The Bible is read, re-read and talked about a million times over daily. Why it may not be the greatest piece of literature, it's certainly one of the most influential, regardless of what captainhowdy thinks he read.

Disappointingly uncontroversial. A few surprises for me, e.g. Knut Hamsun??

I’m not disputing that most of the books on this list are “great” (except The Great Gatsby, that book is trash) but I’ll go downvoted to hell if anyone thinks this is a comprehensive list. I see people talking about the lack of representation of women (which is true) but it’s so much greater than that. This list is so westernized and for the few non-English original languages highly dependent on the existence of a quality English translation. This list completely ignores many epic African, Asian, and Middle Eastern works, probably due to a lack of awareness. I spent my youth reading “great” books to make myself educated, but found that I learned so much more from reading books that taught me to think in a way different than what mainstream literary critics applaud. I would love to see a list put together of the greatest books western culture has never even heard of.

Anyone here read The Savage Detectives and have an opinion on it?

If you've never enjoyed metaphysics, philosophy, religion, ethics, mythology, or the esoteric, then you're not gonna get much from it. If you are into those themes, it's great.

The rediscovered Book or Enoch is a trip that I highly recommend everyone check out. If The Bible usually brings to mind dry, bland, and rambling 'be good boy or smite and hellfire', Enoch is like the Hunter S Thompson side tale.

There are at least two books in the top 20 that most people never finished--Gravity's Rainbow and Infinite Jest.

​

Edit: the list lacks women and reads like a grad student's bucketlist. It overvalues "intellectual fiction" and ignores some amazing books written in the 21st century.

> Unabomber, Ayn Rand, Hitler

-3pts

> Nietzsche, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky

+3pts

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My eyes are heavily drawn to a very specific part of that image...

It’s 4chan so I doubt Mein Kampf was trolling.

Rebecca should be there imo, loved every second of it

Would you be so kind and recommend some of your favourites?

> baseless accusations of lying

> ad populum

Average Bible enjoyer.

Who cares what 4chan thinks? It’s the garbage pit of the internet and that is insulting to garbage.

Isn’t it fair and honest? Men wrote far more than women in history so it’s fair that they wrote more better books

Do you believe that a westerner (or anyone who come from a place on earth) can accurately make a list of the best books without being biased? We can only perceive others culture by the lenses of ours. We should acknowledge it and stop trying to be above everyone else.

Pride and prejudice is not that great.

Eh, yeah I hate these sorts of lists in that in reality, a lot of these books are terrible to read and unenjoyable for most.

They're classics sure, but I've read a number of the top 10 for example and they're a very painful slog that is completely unenjoyable.

As others have stated, once you know your reading preferences I doubt most of these will ever be in your top 100.

I am willing to bet that they haven’t actually read half of the books on that list but just put them there to sound neck beard clever

You know, I used to be one of those people who constantly read and discussed the Bible. I never said it wasn’t influential. Obviously millions of people have been brainwashed into believing God Himself inspired it. Doesn’t make it a good read.

I enjoy those themes and I still disagree that it’s “great.” Like it’s literally not enjoyable to read for long stretches.

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Do you think there’s a reason that women were published less?

Odyssey is miles better than the iliad

All of my top 10 are classics, they're amazing books and have survived for a reason

The list includes Mein Kamf, Ayn Rand, and several other white supremacist titles. I doubt we should be taking this list seriously.

I think the other way around. To each his own.

This looks a lot like the book list PBS had, except for Mein Kampf and a couple of others.

According to you. Not everybody is going to agree. Pride and Prejudice is a classic of romance and social satire literature. If you don’t like romance, you probably won’t like the book.

That’s a safe bet. It’s a 99% chance that it’s true.

I prefer Odyssey to the Iliad but I just preferred the subject matter more in general.

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That’s the problem with ‘100 Best Books of All Time’ lists in general. Most people do not read all the classics, and most people do not read classics that their culture isn’t familiar with. Most Westerners haven’t read Journey to the West or other literature from Asia and other continents that greatly influenced the culture.

You're gonna have people voting in edgy/ troll titles on 4 chan. That happens every year afaik.

What were some of the other white supremacist texts, if u don't mind me asking?

Lol. That's a list of books that people think are supposed to be good books, but they never read.

Sure, there are some foundational texts in there that are important for understanding the development of western literature, but having the Holy Bible as #1 is just do dumb it makes my head hurt. What are they even trying to accomplish?

Absalom, Absalom! Why? Have they read that shit?

Literature and art are some of the only places where human ingenuity somehow stalled hundreds of years ago. Was the best car ever the fucking Model T? Was the best TV ever full of tubes and offering three channels? Seems like not.

But some dude lays down some tortured prose in a mind-bendingly complicated series of narrations, offering zero guide for the reader to follow, almost purposely making the book difficult to read, and we've got to genuflect for centuries to come? Stop that shit.

It's a good example of early-20th-century American literature. That doesn't mean we've got to keep it up there on a pedestal for the rest of time. If you like that stuff, guys like John Irving and Paul Auster and so many others have moved the genre forward.

Gah. Why did I post? No idea. But by no means should anyone lend any credence to this nonsense. It's nonsense! Ill informed! Trolling!

Sometimes it's worth reading "icky" books to get a sense of where other people get their ideas from. I like to know what echo chambers other people are living in.

I agree, but I also think a lot of my dislike for it comes from being unable to detach from all the awfulness. I can love The Illiad and The Odyssey but they didn't directly contribute to millennia of war and death and destruction. The Bible did, and continues to do so. I can't read it as a story because it's just way too loaded. I knew it was BS (in terms of being "the truth") by the time I was like 7, so thinking I can let go of all that brainwashing via Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and Confirmation that I was forced into just isn't realistic. I want to be able to read it from a clean slate. Just not possible.

Neckbeards trying to do art is how we get NFTs...

r/truelist has done it for last year and it looks similar to /lit/ one, with less meme submissions (still has Harry Potter included and some fantasy/sci-fi books being rated too high, imo) and more non-western, non-male representation. But you could also argue that the demographics of r/truelit is more similar to /lit/ than r/books. True r/books list will probably combine some of popular books on r/truelit list with this list from r/fantasy, with some sprinkles of YA, and still predominantly western-centric imo.

Stoner as one of the top 10 books written in all of human history, above things like The Divine Comedy, is certainly an opinion

Instead of comparing them, consider this take espoused by some Classicists: there are two types of people, Iliad people and Odyssey people.

A colleague shared that with me (I also prefer the Odyssey).

Same, but I don’t know that this list is worth quibbling over the placement of infinite jest.

It's one of the first comments but not per se a top comment. 4chan doesn't have a rating system

I agree to the most part with you but I have to say that /pol/ is vastly different then specific boards like /lit/ or /mu/. Reddit has also some subreddits which are really garbage worthy

Infinited Jest is a long time inside joke on /lit/, that's probably why it's so high. The same with Mein Kampf and the other questionable picks

Besides this troll picks, the list is actually useable. I read several books which were in the previous top 100 list and liked them for the most part. For example Stoner, the sailor who fell from grace with the sea, 2666, Siddhartha, Metamorphose, the Stranger and some more. I wouldn't disregard it completely because of some edgy picks

You can't deny the impact the book had

Wrong. You should be ashamed of yourself.

I mean hey that's the way of opinions. I am able to enjoy the ideas and themes of the content itself regardless of the quality of the medium to a degree. But not everyone is wired like that. Some people can enjoy reading it for long stretches and some don't have the patience or time. The Bible is regarded as it is because of what it carries, not for the dissonance of writing styles millennia apart. To each their own!

Yeah that's understandable. I've noticed that people who grow up with the same kinda deal as you (the shitty aspects of Christianity/religion/Bible), if they want to rebel against their upbringing or culture, will be attracted to memes (in the technical sense) that're antagonistic towards it (mall goth Satanism, Instagram occult), which is fine but the tragic part is that people are conditioned in a way to not be able to enjoy what value it does have.

Well first, enjoyable isn't great, enjoyable is enjoyable. Second. A lot of times if you aren't used to a specific style or genre, you won't like it. I am not a religious person, but the bible was the go to book for oh, fifteen generations of people. It is surely, along with Shakespeare, the book that's influenced writers in English the most. And its ethics are pounded so deep into the bones of our society we don't notice how deep they go.

Since it’s appeal are not only understood by its niche we shouldn’t place it that high. Or I can say:

• The bible is the best book ever written. Oh.. you don’t agree? You have to be Christian. If you don’t like Jesus you won’t like the book.

(I believe the appeal for the bible transcend religion but just for the sake of the argument )

Everything have a cause

Even if you do read every book on earth, your taste will be shape by your culture no matter what. So don’t try to be objective! You can’t. This is the best book list from a western point of view. Point blank.

Where would you put it?

But you can say this for all genres. I’m saying that people who dislike most romance probably won’t like Pride and Prejudice, however it’s still a classic of literature. I dislike most romance in general, but I like Pride and Prejudice. Although I prefer some of her other books.

If someone doesn’t agree with Nietzchean philosophy, they would probably dislike Beyond Good & Evil. It’s still a classic book.

I agree, but that’s why I don’t put too much stock into lists like this. Your list might be different, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less valid from a cultural and literary point of view. Unless it includes something insanely bad like the 100 Days of Sodom.

I think it's his writings way more than the fact that he killed people, I wouldn't excuse the acts but his writing does have merit

Were would you put pride and prejudice on this top? Or you can make one?

Same argument can be used for Mein Kampf. Oh look it’s on the list, too.

Im from the francophonie (country that speak french) and it pain that’s most of the book I love are not here. But I do understand why!

I wouldn’t put it in my top 10 but maybe around top 20/30 because of it’s influence not only as a classic novel but also on the romance genre as a whole. I know some people prefer The Brontës more ‘grim’ work than Jane Austen, and I actually agree.

I’m not deny the impact. I’m saying it’s not a good book.

Really? From both a mythological and philosophical standpoint, the Bible is extremely influential. Solomon, David, Moses, Judith, Esther, Jesus himself etc have all been portrayed and referenced countless times throughout art and literary history. The philosophy within the book sparked the most influential and largest religion of all time (currently).

I don’t believe in a lot of stuff within the Bible, but it definitely earned it’s place.

I’m not denying that it’s influential. Of course it is. I’m saying it’s not great. It’s full of bullshit.

You are all confusing “influential” with “good” or “great.” Yes, it was the ONLY book available to read for many people for a long, long time. Yes, millions of people have been brainwashed into believing it’s real. Is it actually a good book? Nope.

16 These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,

19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

20 My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

21 Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.

22 When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.

That wouldn't make said icky books the top books of all time though.

The Odyssey and the Iliad are joys to read. Besides a handful of the old testament, the plot isn't interesting and the prose is specifically proselytizing which is unenjoyable to most ppl

I would be on 4chan if it wasn't for all the porn and weird shit people spam, you get much better discourse on there

Which translation would you recommend?

I’m just shocked that people discuss books on 4 Chan. I’ve been to the site twice and was promptly traumatized both times lol

I'm flummoxed by Emily Bronte at 22, surprised by the Soseki book making the list.

The rest is kinda expected.

I'm kinda surprised Asimov didn't make the list but I'm glad Tolkien and Herbert did

Good taste, e Pretty much everything is eternal classics with surprising amount of Russian classical authors. Also not surprised by the lack of new books, 4chan does not believe modern authors being able to write anything worthy.

Agreed. Mistborn is much better

I meant impact on literature

Lots of books about alienated men, super predictable

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Gravity’s Rainbow is a tough read. Took me six weeks and it’s a 2 out of 5 stars book.

The only reason I completed that book was I had to read it for a graduate class.

I too am able to be amazed at the greatness contained in those pages. I'm not overly religious but the words and the symbols just the weight of the story that's trying to be told is heavy. There are many like us.

Yes I also of the mind that whoever put some of these stories together didn't see a time when killing the people that you called your own because they're not in the best of moods, walking through the desert and all. Kinda looks bad. Just saying. And he does some more dick moves. But in the New Testament he's mostly silent or not so smitey. What gives.

Yeah we've long long long long LONG past the age of white middle-class-suburbanite 'ironic' racism.

IDK I think literature/art generally can and often does have value outside of just being entertaining, enjoyable, or even accessible. I feel like being involved in the arts is good for you, like, on a soul-level pretty much so when I hear takes like this it just sounds like an adult say they refuse to eat vegetables or something

I'm surprised Pablo paramo is on this list. I rarely see him on top 50 list.

Wait a second… are you saying that because I don’t think The Bible is a good book, that means that I don’t like “the arts” and I’m therefore not a real adult?

I mean, bad reading comprehension might

Bible 2, we’ve taken the bits you like and made more of those and the bits you weren’t so fond of, out they went.

If you didn’t have religion basically beaten into you from your earliest days, no-one would fall for any of it.