Why do this again?  Why take this list I made in August 1998 & revise it as well as shorten the content from 100 to 25?  For one thing, this feature of the site was perhaps the most popular part of the Pond of Peace, before that was frozen in time in January 2002.  Perhaps more pertinently, I really liked the idea of a reader-contributed list when I tried it out with Bob Dylan songs in February 2002.  The problem is, of course, that I probably won't agree at all with most of the site-reader submissions if this list catches on.  Which is the primary reason for displaying my own list here in full, just in case things go awry with the reader submissions & my point gets lost.  Not that I don't have faith in my readers.

Anyway, here it is, sort of again.  There's been some reshuffling since the post-high school list (I guess I read a fair amount in college, if not specifically for class), which mostly reflects which books from the old list stuck with me more (or less) than they had in 1998.  The top five is unchanged, though.  Ray Bradbury retains his post as my favorite author with 4 offerings for the top 25.  Huxley, Vonnegut, & Peter Hoeg also manage to repeat.  3 books are probably primarily classified as for children.  4 are short story collections.  Only 1 is non-fiction.  1 is a play.

This, as I said, is just my list.  To submit your own list, send an e-mail to storey@bluepyramid.org.  Then check the overall results here.  I encourage any & all submissions, but please follow the rules listed on that page.

-SWC, Waltham, Massachusetts, 4 July 2002

On to the Composite List.
Back to the Library.
Other Recommended Reading.
Am I Blue?