The 50 Worst and Best Books of the 20th Century

I am a sucker for book lists.  I go beyond bookworm to something approaching bookparasite.

I came across another book list at The Vermont Traditionalist: http://vttradcon.wordpress.com/ entitled Intercollegiate Review’s 50 Worst and Best Books (of the 20th century).  The list was created at the turn of the century (1999 – not what my generation would likely consider the turn).  You can find the article at: http://www.mmisi.org/ir/35_01/50worst.pdf   One fascinating aspect of this article is the placement of The Autobiography of Malcolm X on both the worst and best list.

Read the article and see what you think.

2 responses to “The 50 Worst and Best Books of the 20th Century

  1. BloggingChickie

    I love books too. What a list! I felt the comments were kind of mean. How about this one:

    A Catholic convert and Trappist monk, Merton’’s natural gifts as a writer enabled
    him to introduce tens of thousands of readers to the spiritual fulfillments of
    contemplative life – —a stunning achievement for an American.

    As an American, I found this dig annoying.

  2. And the dig was made by Americans. My assumption is that the authors assume Americans are not particularly contemplative – and it is hard to be so when there is such great TV available (tounge firmly in cheek).

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