[FRIAM] The 10 Best Literary Works - the envelope please!

[Robert J. Cordingley]

What a terrific response! Thanks to everyone who shared their recommendations. I've closed the list because with 119 candidates we now can see 10 clear winners. Here are the top 10 Titles with Author and (No. of Recommendations) that were recommended 3 or 4 times.

   * Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha (Don Quixote) by Miguel
     de Cervantes (4)
   * Moby Dick or The Whale by Herman Melville (4)
   * Ulysses by James Joyce (4)
   * The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (3)
   * The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse (3)
   * Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life by George Eliot (3)
   * Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse (3)
   * Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (3)
   * Siddartha by Hermann Hesse (3)
   * War & Peace by Lyev Nikolayevich (Leo) Tolstoy (3)



I compiled the list from the posted emails using these guidelines:

   * I only included the first 10 mentioned if you went over the
     limit.  Thanks to those who stopped at 10 or less.
   * I didn't include any series, tho' I allowed one trilogy to remain
     on the list
   * I didn't follow up on any referred lists because I wanted FRIAM
     list members' recommendations, not someone else's, sorry.
   * I tried to exclude non-fiction.
   * I've sorted them by recommendations then alphabetically on title
     to help you find your choices (with 'A' and 'The' at the end of
     their titles).



Thanks again.
Robert C

17 titles were recommended by 2 people, the remaining 92 only by 1. 25 people sent their recommendations. I believe I've actually read 7 of the recommended titles but none of them made the top 10, so I do have a long way to go with my literary education! The complete list is in the attached .xls file. Let me know if you have any problems opening it.

10 Best Literary Works Results.xls
Description: MS-Excel spreadsheet

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