I agree. Although limited in scope to the US, the list of Pulitzer winners of fiction from 1918 through the 60's is replete with names now unremembered.
I absolutely love your videos and explanations of books. Having said that, any list of top books that doesn’t have The Count Of Monte Cristo is infuriating. How dare they😡😝
I haven't read that yet, but we read Bartleby the Scrivener in high school, and I absolutely loved it. I have to go back & read it to see why! You may want to check that out.
I rarely comment but I really appreciate your videos and they always encourage me to engage with some classics I wouldn't normally pick up for myself. Thank you for the effort you put into your videos and for your insights 🤗
This is a great video. I’ve read about 20 of these books. I think everyone needs to read Middlemarch-I think of that book often. I read the Bible daily. I would add the need for the Count of Monte Cristo to be on the list.
Thank you for all the hard work you put into this but I would much prefer a 'Tristan List' where you recommend books for us and read a little from them. That helps me more. ❤
Is this list of 50 alogarithmic based, please ? I ask because it is so difficult to believe that some books are hardly ever recommended and get here they are !
Thank you so much, Tristan. This was so enjoyable and I love how you give a synopsis of each book. Your passion is infectious. Both of your channels are a delight.
It should remain an opinion. I do not value the bible at all. It doesn’t deserve to be on anyone’s list of great literature at all. It is just a story of genocide, slavery, and misogyny. It is only popular because it was the only ‘approved’ book for centuries! It was written by men who would consider a wheelbarrow to be breakthrough technology and who never traveled more than 5 kilometers from their home.
@Tristan Just an observation as a viewer: It might be a good idea to pin a comment of your own as a reminder of where this list comes from. Many people, as shown by the comments, have missed that this list isn't your own ranking. This way, you clear up any confusion and you can gauge interest in avideo of your own 50 Greatest list, if you ever plan on making one. Either way, very interesting list. And congrats on the increased attention you're getting with the two channels!
This was a really good list and I enjoyed, very much, as always, your unique summarizing style. I would have found a place for Ovid’s Metamorphoses. A wonderfully innovative work that poses as an epic poem while, at the same time, defamiliarising epic poetry. It is, to me, the most sublime exposition of mock-heroic verse in which many of the divinities and heroes of Greco-Roman myth are made to look ridiculous, as are traditional masculine Roman values. This is a work that packs a great deal in a relatively small space. Not to mention, its exquisite language and imagery and its enormous influence on Western art and literature. I recommend Melville’s translation.
I loved this list! I'm currently reading The Great Gatsby (on Chapter 3) and I immediately knew, with its first sentence, that I was entering a masterpiece!☘
I really wasn’t a fan of 100 years of Solitude. I really think Persuasion by Jane Austen should have been on that list somewhere. I love P&P but I think Jane’s writing had matured and sharpened by the time she wrote Persuasion. Surprised Les Miserables wasn’t on there and also other French classics like Hunchback and phantom xx
I read Les Miserables about 40 years ago. It took me forever. I loved it but it was so realistic but so very sad. I was surprised it wasn’t on the list.
@@JoelleFromParis I would not be surprised, given that the presenter believes that 58 % of the best books in history come from the UK or the US, whereas the rest of the world contributed only 42 %. Germany, Italy, India, and Spain have only one book each on the list, and China and Japan have none.
Fun list. I've read all but 4.5 of them (I'm about halfway through In Search of Lost Time). This seems like a pretty good set of classics for folks wanting to start reading the most recommended core classic books. IN such a short list there will always be a lot left out, and it is too short a list to include much outside the mostly-male, mostly White Western literature, but that's a limitation lots of classics lists have.
I named a cat Albert after I had just finished reading that particular Camus novel. She was a stray that came up and let herself in and the other animals had zero problem with her and she was happy to see everyone. It was just so opposite of the usual experience of introducing a new cat to established cats it seemed fitting to name her in a way after a book about an unusual fellow. Also, before I decided on a name I had been calling her 'Stranger Kitty', so it was a natural development. Of course she is a girl cat, so she is mostly called Bertie, but that is where her name came from.
In the top three on my list would be Fyodor Dostoyevsky's book 'The Idiot'. I would also include authors: Auster, Calvino, Ishiguro, Saramago, Singer and Vonnegut.
I would argue that the Color Purple is not greater than Bleak House, or Les Misérables, or A Picture of Dorian Gray, or Dracula, or Sense and Sensibility.
@@jatrodai8921 It is an excellent example of Gothic Horror from the Victorian period. Full of atmosphere and delightfully scary. The science and technology portrayed in the book was cutting edge (like the technique of transfusions). Stoker codified many of the tropes we now think of when we read about vampires. Wonderful stuff. What were your thoughts?
Regardless of Les Miserables placement, I love your enthusiasm and your presentation of each book. Your love of literature is infectious and you inspire me to read more. I finished Les Miserables last year, and that was one of my life’s greatest reading experiences. I am now half way through The Brothers Karamazov. I am loving it. I love it’s Russianness and the way he flows through each of the characters and how they effect each others thoughts and actions. I have a craving for fish soup! Thank you for what you do. You truly brighten the world!
This is an interesting list and it’s made me consider reading several books I have not already read. Personally I would have liked to see more books from non-Western authors. Even just sticking to books which have English translations I’m guessing there are a number of books that really do belong on this list beyond the incredible One Hundred Years of Solitude. I also have a long frustration, not with this list but with all these sorts of lists, that genre fiction is vastly underrepresented. I suspect this is because most of the list makers are not genre readers but I could well be wrong. Anyway, yours is a thoughtful list, it made me consider what I believe makes a book influential, and I genuinely appreciate it. Hmm - perhaps I should clarify “non-Western?” I mean books like: The Mahabarata The Ramayana The Pillow Book The Tale of Genji The Story of the Stone Siddhartha Snow Country The Makioka Sisters Palace Walk (Naguib Mahfouz) Memoirs of a Woman Doctor (Nawal el Saadawi) The Water Margin The Romance of the Three Kingdoms Journey to the West The Dream of the Red Chamber A Fine Balance Malgudi Days The God of Small Things The Lion and the Jewel The Conservationist Sundiata I’ve read some of these (not enough by any means) and I know there are many more. I just think maybe we do ourselves a disservice as readers when we think about “top” or “best” or “most influential” and only think in terms of the books that are generally within our own cultural experience. I struggle with this so it’s top of mind for me. I understand it’s not that way for everyone. It would be the basis for a really fascinating book club though!
Well they would have to be read widely to be voted the “most influential” or best given these lists are compiled often by votes. Perhaps there should be a Top 100 brilliant but lesser known/underrated books.
@freudulant I was attempting to make the point that the language in which the book was initially published is nearly exclusively tilted toward English on lists like this when, in reality, books that have been read by millions more people, in some cases, are left off these kinds of lists on a regular basis. All of the books I listed in my initial comment above are extremely well known and have one or more English translations. As English speakers we are incredibly lucky that so many hugely significant world classics get translated into the language we speak. It’s a richness that I always hope to see reflected in summaries but rarely is that the case.
Thanks for your suggestions, and I agree about the usefulness and enjoyment of reading about other cultures. A Fine Balance was a great book, which I still think about. Also loved Palace Walk (the first of a trilogy.
"If one were to count the ten greatest novels of all time, five of them would have to be Russian, leaving only five for the rest of the world Before the Russian revolution, Russia produced the greatest novelists in the world. Before the revolution, Russia passed through an immense period of creativity; it was almost an explosion. Nowhere else, in no other time, were so many great artists born together: Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Turgenev, and many more."
@@tommurray6407 Nice! You might like this--- :"Just a single man, Fyodor Dostoevsky, is enough to defeat all the creative novelists of the world. If one has to decide on 10 great novels in all the languages of the world, one will have to choose at least 3 novels of Dostoevsky in those 10. Dostoevsky’s insight into human beings and their problems is greater than your so-called psychoanalysts, and there are moments where he reaches the heights of great mystics. His book BROTHERS KARAMAZOV is so great in its insights that no BIBLE or KORAN or GITA comes close. In another masterpiece of Dostoevsky, THE IDIOT, the main character is called ‘idiot’ by the people because they can’t understand his simplicity, his humbleness, his purity, his trust, his love. You can cheat him, you can deceive him, and he will still trust you. He is really one of the most beautiful characters ever created by any novelist. The idiot is a sage. The novel could just as well have been called THE SAGE. Dostoevsky’s idiot is not an idiot; he is one of the sanest men amongst an insane humanity. If you can become the idiot of Fyodor Dostoevsky, it is perfectly beautiful. It is better than being cunning priest or politician. Humbleness has such a blessing. Simplicity has such benediction."
The problem with lists like these (or rather the individual lists which it aggregates) are that they are far too parochial and focus on certain canons: English language (over half the entries); 20th century (over half the entries); Western civilisation (almost all); school and university set texts, etc. Thus we are led to believe that there has been no classics in Italian since the 13th century; none in Spanish since the 17th; nothing in Hebrew for 2 millenia; nothing at all from China, Japan, India, Scandanavia, South America (with one exception). This isn't plausible. Even the examples from authors that are in the list, I think the concensus would be that often these aren't even their best books. So the real benefit of such lists is that they are simply fun, stimulate debate and avenues to pursue; but are ultimately pointless.
Obviously, anyone making lists can only work with whatever language they know, and whatever books have been translated to that language. It's not possible to do the entire world since nobody knows every language in the world and every book in every language in the world, through all of history. He already stated it was a general list. Good grief.
I finished reading 'war and peace' in february. I'm reading 'Anna Karenina' now. I'm completely agree with you. I'd add 'the Count of Montecristo'. It is in my tbr list. It is considered a masterpiece by many readers.Thank you Tristan. 😊
It is hard to see Tender is the Night by Scott Fitzgerald out of the list. Especially when poorer books like Catcher in the Rye, or The Colour Purple, get so highly praised. The Castle by Kafka deserves a place as well. These are the ones I would swap personally. Great channel! Thanks for all the videos.
man, i wish i'd undestand better why Don Quijote is so relevant. And this is not a veiled critique, i literally mean i wish i was more educated in order to understand that. I have been reading it since last year, a couple a pages a day, which is my startegy for books i want to read, but i dont want to read, iykwim.
Many people consider it the first novel ever written. I think its staying power comes from the interplay between idealism & reality & the clash of the two. So many readers and writers are idealists at heart... sometimes pushed to cynicism then back again as the wheel spins around. I think that's what makes it intriguing for so many people who love reading. That said, I think translation matters & mine was brutal, sluggish & not an enjoyable read.... I'd like to try again with a better one... & maybe you should check your translation & see if there's something you'd like better out there?
@@cynthiabrown5456 thank you for your answer. i wish i could blame the translation, but I'm reading the original work, Spanish is my native tongue. I'll keep going a couple of pages a day hahaha. if it is an important work for literature as a whole, it's particularly relevant for literature in Spanish, as you may expect. :'(
I get it. My skill in reading Spanish is average, but as that book was written in the early 1600s, a few years before The King James Bible, the language is of that era. Four hundred years! (I have the “IV Centenario” edition that I got in Madrid in 2005.) I had to look up words on every page. There are tons of footnotes on each page explaining things that are no longer around. No fun. I haven’t picked it up in years. I have an old version of an English translation, but it’s much the same. Kind of tedious, I hate to say. I was looking for a more up-to-date English translation of it. Haven’t had much success. (I go by Elisa too!) 😊
there is a great quixote yale lecture series on youtube. it is very thorough and explains everything in minute details. it even explains why quixote is spelled with an x
Impressive video! If I were to leave a book out, I'd pick "Lolita". I would add a book by Jules Verne, probably "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea."
Boo. Boo on you. Boo. Lolita is a pretty damn good novel (and yes, I will say I say this because I'm a big fan of Nabokov - though my favorite book of his is Pale Fire). Nabokov has some of the best prose of the English language, and definitely deserves a spot - and Lolita, though there are others I liked better, is his most famous example.
I read it for the first time just this past year. I absolutely LOVED it! I read it on Kindle, listened to an audiobook (which I generally don't do), and then ordered a physical copy. I hope to be re-reading it forever.
Read it when I was 14 years old and found it sad ! Kept saying to my parents: " It isn't up to humans to meddle with God's work' Re-read it and still find it sad, particularly now with AI ....how far are we going ?
One not on the list but should be is: Watership Down. Beautifully written. I would also include Dorian Gray. Probably David Copperfield too which I am digging into for the second time. I might also suggest something by Ian McEwan -perhaps Atonement even this list is more focused on the classics. I also keep coming back to Chandler's The Big Sleep, and Lucky Jim by Kinglsey Amis is superb.
Another great video, thank you Tristan! The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath would be at the top of my list. I'm currently on Volume 3 of Proust's 'Recherche' and although it's early days still (7 volumes!) I can't imagine that anything will stand up to Proust once I've got to the end.
Some lnteresting choices...I have read a batch of these but certainly there are a lot more to add to by TBR. Thanks as always Tristan to make everything interesting!!
I am so glad I found this YT Channel...feel at home at last.... :) what I missed was "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint Exupery "The Rider on the White Horse" by Theodor Storm "Momo" and "Neverending Story" by Michael Ende... although I could imagine those to be seen as more contemporary literature.. I loooooove Pride and Prejudice...it is a timeless classic...always enjoyable ;) and...I am one of those who actually not only read "1984" but also compared it to other English Literature such as "2001: A Space Odyssey" by Arthur C. Clarke and H.G. Wells "The Time Machine" in a "Paper" I had to hand in for my A-Levels (German Abitur) in English. That was aaaaages ago ..but still...some books and their ideas..stick with you.. for life ;)
I'm nearly done reading Swann's Way for the first time. I'm in my 60s, and because my family moved every 18 months my whole life (military) I started reading from a young age-making friends was not the best investment of my time. I've read many classics over those years (many of them lost on youth, I will admit), but of Proust I must say: astonishing, his prose is astonishing.
I've tried to read Proust several times, but somehow, I just couldn't get into the story. Which is a pity because I love those long, lengthy reads. I've enjoyed reading 'My Struggle' from Knausgard enormously and, in Dutch, the books of J.J. Voskuil-5,200 pages/7 books about his years working as a clerk. But I'm not in my sixties yet, so I still have hope!
@@carmenl163 So far I have not found the story in Swann's Way, such as it is, very compelling at all. What grabs me is Proust's descriptions of places, they 're like he put a photograph in front of me, and his descriptions of emotions and motives, which are very insightful and which my experience confirms to me, "yep, it's just like that". The real icing is when he puts to words what I have felt but never thought.
@@liamtaylor4955 That's what the truly great writers do, they translate our deepest thoughts into words. I'm definitely going to give Proust another go! Thank you
So I respect the fact the Bible is on the list. Technically it is a book. It could be replaced with at least 10 other books - off the top of my head: (East of Eden, Watership Down, Wind & The Willows, Canterbury Tales, ATOTC, Lord of the Flies, Les Miserable…) And I’m sorry. But Lolita on this kind of list is truly bad form. Not Tristan - he is merely reporting the information- the those who make up these lists. And the fact that it’s listed in the top 10?? What? I’m nowhere near a banner of books. But for those book listers to keep this on a Best of ALL TIME List? Is insane to me. But as usual- TRISTAN rocked this list and this video. Well done!! ❤️
Your opinion of course but I thought Lolita was beautifully written. Disturbing? Yes. Engaging and thought-provoking? Yes. Slightly dull in places? Yes. But Nabokov can really inhabit a ( admittedly loathsome) character and spin a yarn.
Ok. So I have to add as the list was winding down- I was wandering where 100 Years was… so I was happy to see it place first. Astonished. But really happy. 😊
It’s very interesting reading everyone’s comments. Certainly there are a few here I did not like much (and others loved) and some I loved (that others seem to passionately hate!). I do agree it would be really interesting to compile a list of non-Western writers. It would provide a fantastic way to explore more of the literature of Africa, Asia and perhaps South America.
I have just found your channel....very impressed...wow...and you are so joyous with presenting those glorious books. New subscriber. Thanks for you sharing your love of books
I'm gonna quote from an accurate review of To The Lighthouse: The cliché that ends the book is perfectly in tune with those throughout the book, and it is larded with them. The characters are as banal as they come, their situations dull, and the resolution not resolved. Now, were there some great descriptions, or philosophic depth Woolf may have pulled it off, but there is not an original thought in the book. Some argue that it perfectly portrays the dullness of those folk’s lives, but one need not write a boring poem on boredom to make a point. Having recently read Betty Smith’s great A Tree Grows In Brooklyn the point is hammered home, as nothing earth-shaking occurs in that novel, but it is an absolute masterpiece in that everything it utters serves the novel’s purpose- be it the description of a store, the tang of a scent, or the look in a character’s mien. The everyday in that novel is vivid, intellectual, and breathing, while To The Lighthouse is a hermetic and aridly lifeless affair. The characters are unrelatable to most and even those who do know such people long to distance themselves from those types... That some fools believe this a great work only manifests how out of touch many writers are with the real world, and real art.
This is one of the few books I’ve given up on after trying a good 20%. Sometimes I wonder if I should give it another go but you’ve convinced me not to bother so I thank you for saving me several wasted hours! I’m not a fan of Woolf and struggled with Orlando but IMO it was more deserving to be on this list.
I clutched my pearls when you said Scarlett was the youngest of the sisters. As a girl raised in Georgia…that is close to blasphemy 🤭 I just found your channel this evening while working and love it. Thank you for making such wonderful content.
As a Malaysian, I have read some of the books and studied them too. But since we don't really have a book community here, or our tendency to read away from the Western canon, I feel that I need to read more from the list. Your passion in describing the books is amazing. Well done.
Wow so glad that David Copperfield made this list!! Those characters that you mentioned! Oh my goodness the way Dickens described all of them! Just pure perfection! Simply amazing!
My goodness, I was spellbound as I listened to this presentation. So well done! I feel like I still have so much to learn and to embrace, even at the age of 68. Thank you!
I wish more people would read the Bible all the way through. It is unlike any other book ever written. The Brothers Karamazov is sitting on my kitchen table, waiting patiently for me. I'm nervous, but I will be diving into it soon. But first I have to finish my Little Women re-read. I wish more people would read Gone With the Wind. It's one of my favorite books (and films) of all time. I've read it over and over since I was in 8th grade.
I read Gone with the Wind last month and absolutely loved it. I’ve not seen the film yet so looking forward to that. I’ve found an App that breaks lots of books down into around 15 minute daily chunks and it a great help reading the Bible which js spread over nearly 300 episodes. It’s called Serial Reader.
One Hundred Years of Solitude is on my TBR cart and I hope to get to it this year!! Some of my favorites are in the top 10 but I’m missing Little Women and The Scarlet Letter 😆
It is surprising that "Canterbury Tales" and "Gargantua" are not listed. I thought that maybe you would arbitrarily include "Tristan and Iseult" for an obvious reason. As for Steinbeck, it would be "East of Eden" for me. "Catch-22" is wonderful and it should be mentioned that Heller was inspired by Czech writer Jaroslav Hašek's "The Good Soldier Švek".
Ffs sake, another one. Color Purple, sure, maybe - not least of all because, from the portion that I read, Beloved did the slavery theme better. But enough of every other comment being some hipster who's now hating on Lolita and Catcher. I don't love every book on the list, but those are some of the better ones - certainly two of the most entertaining and accessible, the right mix of both literary quality and mass cultural appeal. Enough with the puffed-up snobbery. There's less deserving ones.
@@nl3064 Why does it bother you that people don’t rate these two in the Top 50 books? That’s a small number why would you presume people would exclude these titles out of “puffed up snobbery” and not simply the fact that they didn’t enjoy them or didn’t feel they stood out enough in excellence to make their Top 50?
@freudulant that's fair. It's just that every third comment here is knocking those two in particular, and many of them without even a good intellectual explanation (with Lolita especially, it's, "oh, our delicate modern sensibilities outweigh the crafted quality of the book!"). It's starting to get annoying. And no one said you have to like any of these books, but there's a gap between enjoyment, which is subjective, hence not really a valid argument, and acknowledging the skill on display. There's plenty I don't particularly find "fun", but that I acknowledge the quality and importance of.
@@nl3064 I suppose if you don’t love it though you probably wouldn’t recommend it. I certainly didn’t enjoy CITR in particular most likely because I read it in my thirties and then the protagonist was not a natural ally but rather irritating. It may have been quite difficult if I read it in my teens.
Les Miserables will never be out done. It is absolutely staggeringly great. Of all the classics I have read, none mean as much to me as this one. I’ll never forget it.
In search of lost tlme. The theory of everything. No eugene onegin, the good soldier, gorky trilogy etc. Books. Its amazing how much we differ. I read marquez and instantly forgot it.
I think a list like this can omit Bible, Illiad, and Odyssey, and Divine Comedy as they are in their own class. Otherwise omitting Paradise Lost would be unthinkable. I'd also recommend including only one work per author, as a reader who likes the one work would be incented to look for others. I don't believe David Copperfield is less of a work than Great expectations, or War and Peace vs. Anna Karenina. I've read 27 on the list. Of these, one's I was not a fan of include Sound and the Fury and Middlemarch.
Wonderful, wonderful as always! I would take out Middlemarch, which I found dull and dreary, and replace it with Silas Marner -a much more readable, entertaining and moving story by the same author.
I did not disagree with Charles Dickens personal view that it was his favourite child, BUT personally speaking Copperfield is my second favourite because my first favourite is Pip. 😊
I love Pope so will be up for a read of his translation this year.he is hard , but as you said "well worth it". I was surprised t how many of these books I had read, including the Invisible Man. I have had two goes at Midnight's Children when I was working, now I an retired I have more time and perhaps I should maybe try again. I was surprised that Middlemarch was below Conrad. Conrad is a great writer, but better than George Eliot?
Absolom, Absolom was one of the most challenging novels I have ever read. Whole chapters pass where I didnt really understand what I wasreading. Prefer As I Lay Dying.
BECAUSE IT'S HIS LIST NOT YOURS. WHY IS THIS SUCH A HARD CONCEPT TO GRASP? AND HE CAN'T INCLUDE EVERY DAMN THING EVER ON A LIST OF ONLY 50. AND OBVIOUSLY HE FELT THERE ARE BETTER THINGS THAN THE SAME OLD PRETENTIOUS BORES EVERY SNOBBY PROFESSOR HAS THUMPED FOR THE PAST 500 YEARS.
@n, Wouldn't it be boring if we all agreed ? The comments show our taste, mostly our subjectivity and allows for discussions. Btw: There is no need to use capitals for a while comment ! Why not ask Tristan if what you said are his views ? No need for polemics or confrontational responses, I love this channel and wouldn't like to see such hysterical attitudes that might put some of us off. As for Paradise Lost.....it should be in a !ist of 50 by dropping Lolita 😅
I'm perhaps in the minority but I'd pick East of Eden over Grapes of Wrath (or actually put both books on the list). More controversially I'd pick Animal Farm over 1984 for the reasons given in CS Lewis's review of Orwell.
I’m happy you included The Divine Comedy, a book largely overlooked for its appeal, humor and greatness. Recently, I visited Italy 🇮🇹 where Alighieri is cherished.
I think the most famous place Gulliver visits is Japan :) Actually I didn't rank Catch 22 as one of the best books I ever ead, because of countless repetitions. How many times can you read that doctor saw naked Yossarian on a tree? :) This is an extended novella, and I would probably enjoy the original more
I love this video. It is a wonderful guide to excellent literature. I have read probable about 60% of the books. I have decided to not read Lolita as I am disgusted by its theme. I have tried three times to read Ulysses but alas I just can't seem to get through it. I would like to see 'The Count of Monte Cristo' on the list.
It's amazing to me how you can give little snippets of each of these books! 📚 I've only read 12 on this list 🙄 and I strongly disagree with the placement of some; I mean how could they put The Great Gatsby ahead of The Divine Comedy or Frankenstein and where's The Count of Monte Cristo?! 🤓 I don't get it, but it's an interesting list, thank you for sharing.
Wilde's novel deserved a second reading and that is what I did over the weekend. No TV....peace and quiet with my book 😊 Next ? Notre Dame (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), but whether I can finish it in before attempting the brick-sized books on my TBR list at the end of the week is another matter !
You might be interested in the German silent film version of "Hamlet" from 1921. For the most part, it follows the play fairly closely, but the big difference is that Hamlet is born a girl and raised as a boy. Throughout most of the movie, only Hamlet's mother and Hamlet herself know the big secret which only is revealed when Horatio embraces her after she loses the swordfight with Laertes. [Hamlet's father knows but is soon murdered by Claudius.] An American named Edward Vining wrote that all the mysteries of Hamlet's behavior could be cleared up if we believe that Hamlet is really a woman, and a German film director and a Danish actress Asta Nielsen followed up on this idea. It does take a willing suspension of disbelief since Hamlet in the movie is so feminine looking, but this secret that is maintained throughout the film creates a tension that is not released until the final minutes. It also creates sympathy for Hamlet since she cannot behave like a woman (she covers up her passion for Horatio) and has so much trouble acting like a man.
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Video suggestion : the Nobel Prize Winners, which one became classics, which ones got forgotten
Superb idea. Thank you.
I agree. Although limited in scope to the US, the list of Pulitzer winners of fiction from 1918 through the 60's is replete with names now unremembered.
Bob Dylan's book - completely underwhelming
@@wahwahweewa he won for his total body of work. The song lyrics etc
Fantastic idea!
Tristan I must say you are one of my favorite book tubers. I enjoy all you do for those of us who enjoy the classics.
100%.
Here here 👏👏👏
Wholeheartedly agree!!
Tristan has such great gifts! He is a treasure!!
Yes 😊!
Excellent video. I really love your little guided tours around books. It inspires me to read books I wouldn't normally read. Thank you.
I absolutely love your videos and explanations of books. Having said that, any list of top books that doesn’t have The Count Of Monte Cristo is infuriating. How dare they😡😝
I second that. I can’t believe To the lighthouse is listed but not TCOMC.
Greatest novel ever!
Currently reading through Moby Dick for the first time and my god am I in love. Melville really is a genius
That book hates me. I must conquer it someday!
I haven't read that yet, but we read Bartleby the Scrivener in high school, and I absolutely loved it. I have to go back & read it to see why! You may want to check that out.
I’m working my way through it but always find something else to read instead. I really can’t get interested in all the different varieties of whale!
@@cynthiabrown5456 Yes! I have a collection of his shorter works that stares at me while it sits in my bookshelf lol
Ok ok. I’m going to give it a go! I have it - might as well!! ✌🏻😄
I rarely comment but I really appreciate your videos and they always encourage me to engage with some classics I wouldn't normally pick up for myself. Thank you for the effort you put into your videos and for your insights 🤗
This is a great video. I’ve read about 20 of these books. I think everyone needs to read Middlemarch-I think of that book often. I read the Bible daily. I would add the need for the Count of Monte Cristo to be on the list.
Yayyy Tristan!! I have my coffee, notebook & pen ready!! So excited to see your list!!
Thank you for all the hard work you put into this but I would much prefer a 'Tristan List' where you recommend books for us and read a little from them. That helps me more. ❤
Is this list of 50 alogarithmic based, please ?
I ask because it is so difficult to believe that some books are hardly ever recommended and get here they are !
Count of Monte Cristo should certainly be on this list!
I totally agree!
Me too!
Definite agree, I was actually waiting for it to be in the top 10!
So should "The Woman in White" AND "The Moonstone". Wilkie Collins was the greatest mystery writer of ALL TIME.
100%!
Thank you so much, Tristan. This was so enjoyable and I love how you give a synopsis of each book. Your passion is infectious. Both of your channels are a delight.
I’d love to see a “Tristan” list like this. I’m a new subscriber so I may have missed it if you’ve already done it, I’ll go and look for that.
I really enjoyed this video. Thank you. Its also a pleasure to see how happy you are in talking about these books. Its quite contagious 👍🏻
I’ve always believed John Steinbeck’s, “The Winter of Our Discontent” should be on everyone’s reading list. It’s a great book no one ever mentions.
I feel reading The Odyssey, The Iliad & The Bible is a great base for reading all literature. Just my opinion 😊
I agree😊
@flowersfantasy,
Agree with you 100%.
I agree!
Yes, I agree and it s a shame how our educating systems got lost in nonsense and ignore the great beauty of the classics.😊
It should remain an opinion. I do not value the bible at all. It doesn’t deserve to be on anyone’s list of great literature at all. It is just a story of genocide, slavery, and misogyny. It is only popular because it was the only ‘approved’ book for centuries! It was written by men who would consider a wheelbarrow to be breakthrough technology and who never traveled more than 5 kilometers from their home.
Thank you for bringing joy to every one of your videos!
@Tristan
Just an observation as a viewer:
It might be a good idea to pin a comment of your own as a reminder of where this list comes from.
Many people, as shown by the comments, have missed that this list isn't your own ranking.
This way, you clear up any confusion and you can gauge interest in avideo of your own 50 Greatest list, if you ever plan on making one.
Either way, very interesting list.
And congrats on the increased attention you're getting with the two channels!
This was a really good list and I enjoyed, very much, as always, your unique summarizing style. I would have found a place for Ovid’s Metamorphoses. A wonderfully innovative work that poses as an epic poem while, at the same time, defamiliarising epic poetry. It is, to me, the most sublime exposition of mock-heroic verse in which many of the divinities and heroes of Greco-Roman myth are made to look ridiculous, as are traditional masculine Roman values. This is a work that packs a great deal in a relatively small space. Not to mention, its exquisite language and imagery and its enormous influence on Western art and literature. I recommend Melville’s translation.
I love Ovid. Good call on that.
I loved this list! I'm currently reading The Great Gatsby (on Chapter 3) and I immediately knew, with its first sentence, that I was entering a masterpiece!☘
It’s a pleasure hearing your describing the great literature
I really wasn’t a fan of 100 years of Solitude. I really think Persuasion by Jane Austen should have been on that list somewhere. I love P&P but I think Jane’s writing had matured and sharpened by the time she wrote Persuasion. Surprised Les Miserables wasn’t on there and also other French classics like Hunchback and phantom xx
I read Les Miserables about 40 years ago. It took me forever. I loved it but it was so realistic but so very sad. I was surprised it wasn’t on the list.
I would also add Balzac to this list.
Persuasion is wonderful.quiet and escape into self
I was also surprised that no Victor Hugo was listed.
@@JoelleFromParis I would not be surprised, given that the presenter believes that 58 % of the best books in history come from the UK or the US, whereas the rest of the world contributed only 42 %. Germany, Italy, India, and Spain have only one book each on the list, and China and Japan have none.
Scarlett was the oldest of the O'Hara sisters, not the youngest! That's why it became her responsibility to take care of Tara and the rest of them.
Thank you for the correction 🙏
@@tristanandtheclassics6538 It IS my favourite book, I read it in three days when I was 12...
Fun list. I've read all but 4.5 of them (I'm about halfway through In Search of Lost Time). This seems like a pretty good set of classics for folks wanting to start reading the most recommended core classic books. IN such a short list there will always be a lot left out, and it is too short a list to include much outside the mostly-male, mostly White Western literature, but that's a limitation lots of classics lists have.
I'm new here... been following for a couple weeks - I'm hooked - so thought I'd join in. So I'd leave out Lolita and have A Christmas Carol instead
You wouldn't lose anything by omitting Lolita. Read other Nabokov's novels or short stories, they better represent his talent.
I named a cat Albert after I had just finished reading that particular Camus novel. She was a stray that came up and let herself in and the other animals had zero problem with her and she was happy to see everyone. It was just so opposite of the usual experience of introducing a new cat to established cats it seemed fitting to name her in a way after a book about an unusual fellow. Also, before I decided on a name I had been calling her 'Stranger Kitty', so it was a natural development. Of course she is a girl cat, so she is mostly called Bertie, but that is where her name came from.
So glad I found your channel, simply lovely! Thanks for the suggestions!
Thank you 😊 I'm pleased to meet you too.
There are so many great classics its impossible to read them all and with new classics emerging we are truly spoiled 😃
I apply 50-years-old filter. If a 50-year-old book is still valued by people then it may be worth reading.
In the top three on my list would be Fyodor Dostoyevsky's book 'The Idiot'. I would also include authors: Auster, Calvino, Ishiguro, Saramago, Singer and Vonnegut.
I would argue that the Color Purple is not greater than Bleak House, or Les Misérables, or A Picture of Dorian Gray, or Dracula, or Sense and Sensibility.
I agree. It was good, but 50 greatest good? Not for me, but it’s difficult to get everyone to agree 😅
I agree with you about that.
If you don’t mind i have a question. What was your opinion on Dracula? I have read it recently myself and have no one to discuss thoughts on it with.
@@jatrodai8921 It is an excellent example of Gothic Horror from the Victorian period. Full of atmosphere and delightfully scary. The science and technology portrayed in the book was cutting edge (like the technique of transfusions). Stoker codified many of the tropes we now think of when we read about vampires. Wonderful stuff. What were your thoughts?
Of course it’s not greater than any of those you mentioned. It’s absurd to think it is. Lol.
I would definitely replace 100 Years of Solitude with Les Miserable. Also I would argue East of Eden should be on the list. Maybe in place of Lolita.
Lolita is an amazing work. What's your issue with it?
Oh, I do so agree.
East of Eden replaces The Color Purple, Les Mis replaces Lolita, 100 Years of Solitude stays where it is.
@@crustywhitedog8724 you think LM is of greater literary value than Lolita? Seriously?
I agree. I couldn’t finish 100 Years of Solitude. So so so boring.
Regardless of Les Miserables placement, I love your enthusiasm and your presentation of each book. Your love of literature is infectious and you inspire me to read more. I finished Les Miserables last year, and that was one of my life’s greatest reading experiences. I am now half way through The Brothers Karamazov. I am loving it. I love it’s Russianness and the way he flows through each of the characters and how they effect each others thoughts and actions. I have a craving for fish soup! Thank you for what you do. You truly brighten the world!
I love Russian literature! Dead Souls by Gogol is another one of my favorites; you might want to check it out.
This is an interesting list and it’s made me consider reading several books I have not already read. Personally I would have liked to see more books from non-Western authors. Even just sticking to books which have English translations I’m guessing there are a number of books that really do belong on this list beyond the incredible One Hundred Years of Solitude. I also have a long frustration, not with this list but with all these sorts of lists, that genre fiction is vastly underrepresented. I suspect this is because most of the list makers are not genre readers but I could well be wrong. Anyway, yours is a thoughtful list, it made me consider what I believe makes a book influential, and I genuinely appreciate it.
Hmm - perhaps I should clarify “non-Western?” I mean books like:
The Mahabarata
The Ramayana
The Pillow Book
The Tale of Genji
The Story of the Stone
Siddhartha
Snow Country
The Makioka Sisters
Palace Walk (Naguib Mahfouz)
Memoirs of a Woman Doctor (Nawal el Saadawi)
The Water Margin
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Journey to the West
The Dream of the Red Chamber
A Fine Balance
Malgudi Days
The God of Small Things
The Lion and the Jewel
The Conservationist
Sundiata
I’ve read some of these (not enough by any means) and I know there are many more. I just think maybe we do ourselves a disservice as readers when we think about “top” or “best” or “most influential” and only think in terms of the books that are generally within our own cultural experience. I struggle with this so it’s top of mind for me. I understand it’s not that way for everyone. It would be the basis for a really fascinating book club though!
Darn it. I almost bought The Mahabharata this very afternoon. I’ll just have to go back to my local book shop tomorrow!! 😊
@LuvLuke,
Have you read Zac Sitchin's interpretation of the Mahabharata ?
Well they would have to be read widely to be voted the “most influential” or best given these lists are compiled often by votes. Perhaps there should be a Top 100 brilliant but lesser known/underrated books.
@freudulant I was attempting to make the point that the language in which the book was initially published is nearly exclusively tilted toward English on lists like this when, in reality, books that have been read by millions more people, in some cases, are left off these kinds of lists on a regular basis. All of the books I listed in my initial comment above are extremely well known and have one or more English translations. As English speakers we are incredibly lucky that so many hugely significant world classics get translated into the language we speak. It’s a richness that I always hope to see reflected in summaries but rarely is that the case.
Thanks for your suggestions, and I agree about the usefulness and enjoyment of reading about other cultures. A Fine Balance was a great book, which I still think about. Also loved Palace Walk (the first of a trilogy.
"If one were to count the ten greatest novels of all time, five of them would have to be Russian, leaving only five for the rest of the world
Before the Russian revolution, Russia produced the greatest novelists in the world. Before the revolution, Russia passed through an immense period of creativity; it was almost an explosion. Nowhere else, in no other time, were so many great artists born together: Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Turgenev, and many more."
Absolutely Mr willieluncheonette. We are sympatico!
@@tommurray6407 Nice!
You might like this---
:"Just a single man, Fyodor Dostoevsky, is enough to defeat all the creative novelists of the world. If one has to decide on 10 great novels in all the languages of the world, one will have to choose at least 3 novels of Dostoevsky in those 10. Dostoevsky’s insight into human beings and their problems is greater than your so-called psychoanalysts, and there are moments where he reaches the heights of great mystics. His book BROTHERS KARAMAZOV is so great in its insights that no BIBLE or KORAN or GITA comes close.
In another masterpiece of Dostoevsky, THE IDIOT, the main character is called ‘idiot’ by the people because they can’t understand his simplicity, his humbleness, his purity, his trust, his love. You can cheat him, you can deceive him, and he will still trust you. He is really one of the most beautiful characters ever created by any novelist. The idiot is a sage. The novel could just as well have been called THE SAGE. Dostoevsky’s idiot is not an idiot; he is one of the sanest men amongst an insane humanity. If you can become the idiot of Fyodor Dostoevsky, it is perfectly beautiful. It is better than being cunning priest or politician. Humbleness has such a blessing. Simplicity has such benediction."
The problem with lists like these (or rather the individual lists which it aggregates) are that they are far too parochial and focus on certain canons: English language (over half the entries); 20th century (over half the entries); Western civilisation (almost all); school and university set texts, etc. Thus we are led to believe that there has been no classics in Italian since the 13th century; none in Spanish since the 17th; nothing in Hebrew for 2 millenia; nothing at all from China, Japan, India, Scandanavia, South America (with one exception). This isn't plausible. Even the examples from authors that are in the list, I think the concensus would be that often these aren't even their best books. So the real benefit of such lists is that they are simply fun, stimulate debate and avenues to pursue; but are ultimately pointless.
A place to start, given there are other starting points as well outside the traditional western canon.
Obviously, anyone making lists can only work with whatever language they know, and whatever books have been translated to that language. It's not possible to do the entire world since nobody knows every language in the world and every book in every language in the world, through all of history. He already stated it was a general list. Good grief.
I finished reading 'war and peace' in february. I'm reading 'Anna Karenina' now. I'm completely agree with you. I'd add 'the Count of Montecristo'. It is in my tbr list. It is considered a masterpiece by many readers.Thank you Tristan. 😊
Yes!!! Count of Monte Cristo!!!!
It’s one of my all time favorite books ever.
It is hard to see Tender is the Night by Scott Fitzgerald out of the list. Especially when poorer books like Catcher in the Rye, or The Colour Purple, get so highly praised. The Castle by Kafka deserves a place as well. These are the ones I would swap personally. Great channel! Thanks for all the videos.
man, i wish i'd undestand better why Don Quijote is so relevant. And this is not a veiled critique, i literally mean i wish i was more educated in order to understand that. I have been reading it since last year, a couple a pages a day, which is my startegy for books i want to read, but i dont want to read, iykwim.
Many people consider it the first novel ever written. I think its staying power comes from the interplay between idealism & reality & the clash of the two. So many readers and writers are idealists at heart... sometimes pushed to cynicism then back again as the wheel spins around. I think that's what makes it intriguing for so many people who love reading. That said, I think translation matters & mine was brutal, sluggish & not an enjoyable read.... I'd like to try again with a better one... & maybe you should check your translation & see if there's something you'd like better out there?
@@cynthiabrown5456 thank you for your answer. i wish i could blame the translation, but I'm reading the original work, Spanish is my native tongue. I'll keep going a couple of pages a day hahaha. if it is an important work for literature as a whole, it's particularly relevant for literature in Spanish, as you may expect. :'(
I get it. My skill in reading Spanish is average, but as that book was written in the early 1600s, a few years before The King James Bible, the language is of that era. Four hundred years! (I have the “IV Centenario” edition that I got in Madrid in 2005.) I had to look up words on every page. There are tons of footnotes on each page explaining things that are no longer around. No fun. I haven’t picked it up in years. I have an old version of an English translation, but it’s much the same. Kind of tedious, I hate to say. I was looking for a more up-to-date English translation of it. Haven’t had much success.
(I go by Elisa too!) 😊
there is a great quixote yale lecture series on youtube. it is very thorough and explains everything in minute details. it even explains why quixote is spelled with an x
Este hombre te lo explica: th-cam.com/video/vh2_pM04KNM/w-d-xo.htmlsi=0hZwqIm1r7TQb9vs
Impressive video! If I were to leave a book out, I'd pick "Lolita". I would add a book by Jules Verne, probably "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea."
Boo. Boo on you. Boo. Lolita is a pretty damn good novel (and yes, I will say I say this because I'm a big fan of Nabokov - though my favorite book of his is Pale Fire). Nabokov has some of the best prose of the English language, and definitely deserves a spot - and Lolita, though there are others I liked better, is his most famous example.
I read Frankenstein, many years ago. Mary Shelley, wrote a masterpiece.❤
I read it for the first time just this past year. I absolutely LOVED it! I read it on Kindle, listened to an audiobook (which I generally don't do), and then ordered a physical copy. I hope to be re-reading it forever.
@@Yesica1993 You can find some good deals at, Abe Books.
@@CarolR-ub1fz Yes, I got a good deal!
I’ve read - I thought - Frankenstein a few years ago. I didn’t like it that much.. I’ve just figured out it was a children’s retelling 🙈.
Read it when I was 14 years old and found it sad ! Kept saying to my parents: " It isn't up to humans to meddle with God's work'
Re-read it and still find it sad, particularly now with AI ....how far are we going ?
I would love to hear what YOUR top 50 books are, Tristan… or did you already make that video?
Unless these are his favorites? Hard to tell, if this is a personal list, or if it's him trying to be objective.
@@nl3064 Thank you. Yes, you are correct
Doesn't he explain at the beginning where he gets this list from? It's certainly not his top 50 as it includes several of his least favourites
@@nl3064 Tristan stated at the beginning that this list was generated by outside sources.
@@stefashaler8340 if he did, I must have forgot. My bad.
Ever so inspiring ! I am so thrilled by the way you put it all
One not on the list but should be is: Watership Down. Beautifully written. I would also include Dorian Gray. Probably David Copperfield too which I am digging into for the second time. I might also suggest something by Ian McEwan -perhaps Atonement even this list is more focused on the classics. I also keep coming back to Chandler's The Big Sleep, and Lucky Jim by Kinglsey Amis is superb.
Love you passion for reading and well written books. Just happened upon your channel and so glad I did!
Thank you so much. Great list. I will do my best to put a check mark next to every title. Have a nice day.
Another great video, thank you Tristan!
The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath would be at the top of my list. I'm currently on Volume 3 of Proust's 'Recherche' and although it's early days still (7 volumes!) I can't imagine that anything will stand up to Proust once I've got to the end.
I am curious where Margaret Atwood would fall if the list was extended, and what book would be her best.
My thought, too! Her often overlooked short stories are incredible, as well as her novels.
Some lnteresting choices...I have read a batch of these but certainly there are a lot more to add to by TBR. Thanks as always Tristan to make everything interesting!!
I am so glad I found this YT Channel...feel at home at last.... :)
what I missed was
"The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint Exupery
"The Rider on the White Horse" by Theodor Storm
"Momo" and "Neverending Story" by Michael Ende... although I could imagine those to be seen as more contemporary literature..
I loooooove Pride and Prejudice...it is a timeless classic...always enjoyable ;)
and...I am one of those who actually not only read "1984" but also compared it to other English Literature such as "2001: A Space Odyssey" by Arthur C. Clarke and H.G. Wells "The Time Machine" in a "Paper" I had to hand in for my A-Levels (German Abitur) in English.
That was aaaaages ago ..but still...some books and their ideas..stick with you.. for life ;)
I think « The Old Man and the Sea » would be a better choice for a Hemingway book.
I'm nearly done reading Swann's Way for the first time. I'm in my 60s, and because my family moved every 18 months my whole life (military) I started reading from a young age-making friends was not the best investment of my time. I've read many classics over those years (many of them lost on youth, I will admit), but of Proust I must say: astonishing, his prose is astonishing.
I’m in my 60’s and reading Proust. I’m in volume 2 of the 7. It’s definitely something I couldn’t have read prior to retirement.
I've tried to read Proust several times, but somehow, I just couldn't get into the story. Which is a pity because I love those long, lengthy reads. I've enjoyed reading 'My Struggle' from Knausgard enormously and, in Dutch, the books of J.J. Voskuil-5,200 pages/7 books about his years working as a clerk. But I'm not in my sixties yet, so I still have hope!
@@carmenl163 So far I have not found the story in Swann's Way, such as it is, very compelling at all. What grabs me is Proust's descriptions of places, they 're like he put a photograph in front of me, and his descriptions of emotions and motives, which are very insightful and which my experience confirms to me, "yep, it's just like that". The real icing is when he puts to words what I have felt but never thought.
@@liamtaylor4955 That's what the truly great writers do, they translate our deepest thoughts into words. I'm definitely going to give Proust another go! Thank you
So I respect the fact the Bible is on the list. Technically it is a book. It could be replaced with at least 10 other books - off the top of my head: (East of Eden, Watership Down, Wind & The Willows, Canterbury Tales, ATOTC, Lord of the Flies, Les Miserable…)
And I’m sorry. But Lolita on this kind of list is truly bad form. Not Tristan - he is merely reporting the information- the those who make up these lists. And the fact that it’s listed in the top 10?? What?
I’m nowhere near a banner of books. But for those book listers to keep this on a Best of ALL TIME List? Is insane to me.
But as usual- TRISTAN rocked this list and this video. Well done!! ❤️
Your opinion of course but I thought Lolita was beautifully written. Disturbing? Yes. Engaging and thought-provoking? Yes. Slightly dull in places? Yes. But Nabokov can
really inhabit a ( admittedly loathsome) character and spin a yarn.
The Bible is so great.
The Bible is surely the most influential book ever written.
Ok. So I have to add as the list was winding down- I was wandering where 100 Years was… so I was happy to see it place first. Astonished. But really happy. 😊
It’s very interesting reading everyone’s comments. Certainly there are a few here I did not like much (and others loved) and some I loved (that others seem to passionately hate!). I do agree it would be really interesting to compile a list of non-Western writers. It would provide a fantastic way to explore more of the literature of Africa, Asia and perhaps South America.
I have just found your channel....very impressed...wow...and you are so joyous with presenting those glorious books. New subscriber. Thanks for you sharing your love of books
Gulliver’s Travels has been on my list to read for some time after reading Jane Eyre and finding out that it was one her favorite books.
I'm so excited for this!!!
So was I!😅
@TristanandtheClassics,
How about a list of those books that we consider "detestable", "unreadable" or plain "rubbush" ?
I'm gonna quote from an accurate review of To The Lighthouse:
The cliché that ends the book is perfectly in tune with those throughout the book, and it is larded with them. The characters are as banal as they come, their situations dull, and the resolution not resolved. Now, were there some great descriptions, or philosophic depth Woolf may have pulled it off, but there is not an original thought in the book. Some argue that it perfectly portrays the dullness of those folk’s lives, but one need not write a boring poem on boredom to make a point. Having recently read Betty Smith’s great A Tree Grows In Brooklyn the point is hammered home, as nothing earth-shaking occurs in that novel, but it is an absolute masterpiece in that everything it utters serves the novel’s purpose- be it the description of a store, the tang of a scent, or the look in a character’s mien. The everyday in that novel is vivid, intellectual, and breathing, while To The Lighthouse is a hermetic and aridly lifeless affair. The characters are unrelatable to most and even those who do know such people long to distance themselves from those types... That some fools believe this a great work only manifests how out of touch many writers are with the real world, and real art.
This is one of the few books I’ve given up on after trying a good 20%. Sometimes I wonder if I should give it another go but you’ve convinced me not to bother so I thank you for saving me several wasted hours! I’m not a fan of Woolf and struggled with Orlando but IMO it was more deserving to be on this list.
@@jennyaldridge4186 It's a very silly list in general. You'll see a masterpiece followed by some drivel or overrated piece of pop lit.
TTL has an atmosphere like no other novel.
I clutched my pearls when you said Scarlett was the youngest of the sisters. As a girl raised in Georgia…that is close to blasphemy 🤭 I just found your channel this evening while working and love it. Thank you for making such wonderful content.
As a Malaysian, I have read some of the books and studied them too. But since we don't really have a book community here, or our tendency to read away from the Western canon, I feel that I need to read more from the list. Your passion in describing the books is amazing. Well done.
Wow so glad that David Copperfield made this list!! Those characters that you mentioned! Oh my goodness the way Dickens described all of them! Just pure perfection! Simply amazing!
My goodness, I was spellbound as I listened to this presentation. So well done! I feel like I still have so much to learn and to embrace, even at the age of 68. Thank you!
Nice list ! I’ll try to read the ones I never read before 😊
I wish more people would read the Bible all the way through. It is unlike any other book ever written.
The Brothers Karamazov is sitting on my kitchen table, waiting patiently for me. I'm nervous, but I will be diving into it soon. But first I have to finish my Little Women re-read.
I wish more people would read Gone With the Wind. It's one of my favorite books (and films) of all time. I've read it over and over since I was in 8th grade.
Reading the Bible will really help you through your Brothers Karamazov read, I'll just say that. Dostoevsky loves his scripture.
I read Gone with the Wind last month and absolutely loved it. I’ve not seen the film yet so looking forward to that. I’ve found an App that breaks lots of books down into around 15 minute daily chunks and it a great help reading the Bible which js spread over nearly 300 episodes. It’s called Serial Reader.
One Hundred Years of Solitude is on my TBR cart and I hope to get to it this year!! Some of my favorites are in the top 10 but I’m missing Little Women and The Scarlet Letter 😆
It's exquisite! Hope you love it as much as I did!
@@cynthiabrown5456 excited to hopefully get to it soon!!
Excellent video, thank you so much! I expected Frankenstein to me so much higher on the list, haha!
It is surprising that "Canterbury Tales" and "Gargantua" are not listed. I thought that maybe you would arbitrarily include "Tristan and Iseult" for an obvious reason. As for Steinbeck, it would be "East of Eden" for me.
"Catch-22" is wonderful and it should be mentioned that Heller was inspired by Czech writer Jaroslav Hašek's "The Good Soldier Švek".
bocaccio's decameron
Best part of every Friday 😊
Thanks, Severian. That means a lot, especially after having to re-edit and upload this video after a lip-sync issue. Took 5 hours. 😀🥵
@@tristanandtheclassics6538 Oh no! Get some sleep my friend! It must be close to 3am in your neck of the woods
@@tristanandtheclassics6538 Yikes! Thanks for all your work!
I must say I wouldn’t include the following books in the top fifty:
The Colour Purple
The Catcher in the Rye
Lolita
Ffs sake, another one. Color Purple, sure, maybe - not least of all because, from the portion that I read, Beloved did the slavery theme better. But enough of every other comment being some hipster who's now hating on Lolita and Catcher. I don't love every book on the list, but those are some of the better ones - certainly two of the most entertaining and accessible, the right mix of both literary quality and mass cultural appeal. Enough with the puffed-up snobbery. There's less deserving ones.
@@nl3064 Why does it bother you that people don’t rate these two in the Top 50 books? That’s a small number why would you presume people would exclude these titles out of “puffed up snobbery” and not simply the fact that they didn’t enjoy them or didn’t feel they stood out enough in excellence to make their Top 50?
@freudulant that's fair. It's just that every third comment here is knocking those two in particular, and many of them without even a good intellectual explanation (with Lolita especially, it's, "oh, our delicate modern sensibilities outweigh the crafted quality of the book!"). It's starting to get annoying. And no one said you have to like any of these books, but there's a gap between enjoyment, which is subjective, hence not really a valid argument, and acknowledging the skill on display. There's plenty I don't particularly find "fun", but that I acknowledge the quality and importance of.
@@nl3064 I suppose if you don’t love it though you probably wouldn’t recommend it. I certainly didn’t enjoy CITR in particular most likely because I read it in my thirties and then the protagonist was not a natural ally but rather irritating. It may have been quite difficult if I read it in my teens.
Your book explanations are so clear. I'm currently reading Crime and Punishment, can't put it down :)
Les Miserables will never be out done. It is absolutely staggeringly great. Of all the classics I have read, none mean as much to me as this one. I’ll never forget it.
In search of lost tlme. The theory of everything. No eugene onegin, the good soldier, gorky trilogy etc. Books. Its amazing how much we differ. I read marquez and instantly forgot it.
For anyone who enjoys A Passage to India, I highly recommend reading the travel writing of Santha Rama Rau, who adapted his work for the stage.
I think a list like this can omit Bible, Illiad, and Odyssey, and Divine Comedy as they are in their own class. Otherwise omitting Paradise Lost would be unthinkable. I'd also recommend including only one work per author, as a reader who likes the one work would be incented to look for others. I don't believe David Copperfield is less of a work than Great expectations, or War and Peace vs. Anna Karenina. I've read 27 on the list. Of these, one's I was not a fan of include Sound and the Fury and Middlemarch.
Wonderful, wonderful as always! I would take out Middlemarch, which I found dull and dreary, and replace it with Silas Marner -a much more readable, entertaining and moving story by the same author.
Agreed
'David Copperfield' - "...my favourite child".- Charles Dickens.
My second favourite child because my favourite is Pip 😊
@@apollonia6656 the quote is from Charles Dickens himself. He once said that David Copperfield was, "my favourite child".
I did not disagree with Charles Dickens personal view that it was his favourite child, BUT personally speaking Copperfield is my second favourite because my first favourite is Pip. 😊
50 greatest books…jeez, I’ve been stuck reading Ulysses for 4 years now and still not done with it!
I feel accomplished. I've read most of these. One list will never please everyone , but I would say it is pretty comprehensive!
I love Pope so will be up for a read of his translation this year.he is hard , but as you said "well worth it". I was surprised t how many of these books I had read, including the Invisible Man. I have had two goes at Midnight's Children when I was working, now I an retired I have more time and perhaps I should maybe try again. I was surprised that Middlemarch was below Conrad. Conrad is a great writer, but better than George Eliot?
What a terrific video, thank you!
Absolom, Absolom was one of the most challenging novels I have ever read. Whole chapters pass where I didnt really understand what I wasreading. Prefer As I Lay Dying.
Faulkner can be a beast. I've not read As I Lay Dying.😀👍
As I Lay Dying is worth a read and yes, Faulkner is a beast…well put.
For a challenging but rewarding read, try INTRUDER IN THE DUST. For a far less challenging but equally rewarding read, try LIGHT IN AUGUST.
Great job on this video
Gone with the wind is my absolute favorite book of all time I was excited to see it on this list!!
If youve knocked this off without notes you sir are a genius. Impressive
Great video and many thanks. But where is Pilgrim's Progress one of the best selling books of the English language?
Where is "Paradise Lost", too ?
BECAUSE IT'S HIS LIST NOT YOURS. WHY IS THIS SUCH A HARD CONCEPT TO GRASP? AND HE CAN'T INCLUDE EVERY DAMN THING EVER ON A LIST OF ONLY 50. AND OBVIOUSLY HE FELT THERE ARE BETTER THINGS THAN THE SAME OLD PRETENTIOUS BORES EVERY SNOBBY PROFESSOR HAS THUMPED FOR THE PAST 500 YEARS.
@n,
Wouldn't it be boring if we all agreed ?
The comments show our taste, mostly our subjectivity and allows for discussions.
Btw: There is no need to use capitals for a while comment !
Why not ask Tristan if what you said are his views ?
No need for polemics or confrontational responses, I love this channel and wouldn't like to see such hysterical attitudes that might put some of us off.
As for Paradise Lost.....it should be in a !ist of 50 by dropping Lolita 😅
I'm perhaps in the minority but I'd pick East of Eden over Grapes of Wrath (or actually put both books on the list). More controversially I'd pick Animal Farm over 1984 for the reasons given in CS Lewis's review of Orwell.
I love the organization and summaries. Just subbed 👍🏽
I’m happy you included The Divine Comedy, a book largely overlooked for its appeal, humor and greatness. Recently, I visited Italy 🇮🇹 where Alighieri is cherished.
i visited where boccaccio is buried, a little hill on among the tuscan vinyards
I think the most famous place Gulliver visits is Japan :) Actually I didn't rank Catch 22 as one of the best books I ever ead, because of countless repetitions. How many times can you read that doctor saw naked Yossarian on a tree? :) This is an extended novella, and I would probably enjoy the original more
I got bored with Catch 22 a d never thought it would turn up here !
Great video, thanks, Tristan. I thought The Old Man and the Sea, by Hemingway,would be on the list.
Thank you. I'm looking forward to reading "The Invisible Man."
Excellent information.
Solid list, Tristan!
It's not the list that I would have made myself, but it is strong.
@@tristanandtheclassics6538 We all want to see the list you make yourself. This was such a fun one! Thank you!
I love this video. It is a wonderful guide to excellent literature. I have read probable about 60% of the books. I have decided to not read Lolita as I am disgusted by its theme. I have tried three times to read Ulysses but alas I just can't seem to get through it. I would like to see 'The Count of Monte Cristo' on the list.
It's amazing to me how you can give little snippets of each of these books! 📚 I've only read 12 on this list 🙄 and I strongly disagree with the placement of some; I mean how could they put The Great Gatsby ahead of The Divine Comedy or Frankenstein and where's The Count of Monte Cristo?! 🤓 I don't get it, but it's an interesting list, thank you for sharing.
Cant believe Picture of Dorian Gray was not on the list at all ... still enjoyed it and I always love the audience comments and suggestions.
Wilde's novel deserved a second reading and that is what I did over the weekend. No TV....peace and quiet with my book 😊
Next ? Notre Dame (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), but whether I can finish it in before attempting the brick-sized books on my TBR list at the end of the week is another matter !
No Les Miserables? That is a bit of a rather IMMENSE oversight! Wow.
I think it was further down the list in the 100-50 category. Like you, I think it should be much higher than that.😀❤️👍
Lower down the list ? 😮😥
Les Miserables should be in the top ten.
I absolutely love this channel
Thank you so much. That's so kind of you and makes the effort worth while.😀❤️
You might be interested in the German silent film version of "Hamlet" from 1921. For the most part, it follows the play fairly closely, but the big difference is that Hamlet is born a girl and raised as a boy. Throughout most of the movie, only Hamlet's mother and Hamlet herself know the big secret which only is revealed when Horatio embraces her after she loses the swordfight with Laertes. [Hamlet's father knows but is soon murdered by Claudius.] An American named Edward Vining wrote that all the mysteries of Hamlet's behavior could be cleared up if we believe that Hamlet is really a woman, and a German film director and a Danish actress Asta Nielsen followed up on this idea. It does take a willing suspension of disbelief since Hamlet in the movie is so feminine looking, but this secret that is maintained throughout the film creates a tension that is not released until the final minutes. It also creates sympathy for Hamlet since she cannot behave like a woman (she covers up her passion for Horatio) and has so much trouble acting like a man.
I've read 31 of these, so not too shabby. Several I thought should have been way higher, but so many greats on here and several I still plan to read.
You are an immensely intelligent man. Thank you for your wonderful knowledge.