It was created by NPR two years ago after over 75,000 people voted for their favorites.
Check out the whole list here:
Here are the top 50---
- Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
- Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
- The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
- The Catcher and the Rye by JD Salinger
- The Lord of the Rings series by JRR Tolkien
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- Looking for Alaska by John Green
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
- The Giver series by Lois Lowry
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams
- The Outsiders by SE Hinton
- Anne of Green Gables series by LM Montgomery
- His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman
- The Perks of Being Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- The Princess Bride by William Goldman
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- Divergent series by Veronica Roth
- Paper Towns by John Green
- The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare
- An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
- Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
- Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
- Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
- Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer
- Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld
- The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare
- Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
- The Call of the Wild by Jack London
- Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
- Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
- Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
- Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
- A Separate Peace by John Knowles
- Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead
- Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- Discworld/Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett
- My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
- The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
- Graceling series by Kristin Cashore
- Forever by Judy Blume
- Earthsea series by Ursula LeGuin
- The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini
- The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot
- Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce
See the whole list here at NPR of the 100 most popular books and brief descriptions of each.
What do you think? Do you agree with 75,000 people that voted for this list? Do you think all the books will last the test of time? If they created the list today, what books would you add?
(I'm going to answer my own questions on the comment section. So think through your answers first before you read my comments.)
I couldn't believe that this list was two years old. There are very few books from the past two years that I think would make the list that aren't already on it. I would add books by Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Boys series and would move up the Shiver series higher on the list. I would also add some Neil Gaiman, AS King, and Benjamin Alire Saenz books onto the list. 0f the top 20 books I think that most of them (17-18) will pass the test of time (since most of them already have.) I doubt that that all of John Green's book will stay in the top 50, but who knows? He is by far the most popular author in my library now.
ReplyDeleteHard to say which ones will still be on the list in 50 years, but I'm guessing the HP books will, along with some of the earlier classics. I've read a fair number of these but would like to read more!
ReplyDeleteAnne, I'm thinking of tagging you in the "Book Blogger's Test" - not a test but a get-to-know-you list of questions with no time limit and no obligation to particpate. Are you at all interested? If you're not, I'm happy to tag someone else - but I had fun answering the questions and thought you might, too. Please let me know at jkpekar AT crosslink DOT net. Thanks!
Lark, I'd be happy to take the Book Blogger's Test. Send me the link.
DeleteI have read 26/50 of the books on this list. I think that many will stand the test of time, as some of them already have (LOTR). The books that I think are missing are the Chronicles of Narnia (an oldy but a goody). And if the list was made now, I think that Rainbow Rowel would make the list with Eleanor and Park and also with Fangirl, both made such a splash this past year.
ReplyDeleteGood call, Carly. I went back and looked at the comments on the NPR story and three books were mentioned over and over again that should have been on the list: Ender's Game; Percy Jackson series; and The Chronicles of Narnia series. Glad you mentioned it. I also agree with you. If the list were made today I think that Rainbow Rowell's book would deserve a spot. BTW- I think I've read 34 of the 50 books I listed (I didn't count up the list of books read off the list of 100), so I am ahead of you on books but you are ahead of me on time since I am so much older than you.
DeleteYoung adults read Dune? Flowers for Algernon? The Call of the Wild? I'm not saying they aren't wonderful books(I've read them all) but Dune is very dense and Flowers for Algernon makes me cry every time I even think about it. Lord of the Flies,ugh. In my day(without YA lit), we read the Anne of Green Gables series and Little Women, as well as Jane Austen. Sad to see so few classics on the list. I think it's difficult to predict which books will survive the test of time. Tastes change, so I'm not sure that the dystopian ones will remain as popular as they are today.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about Flowers for Algernon and Call of the Wild. Some kids, not many, do read Dune, however. The NPR site didn't say, so I don't know, who answered the poll so many of the respondents were likely adults thinking back on their favorite books as teens.
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