• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

100 Decade-Defining Books

Wow! I feel like a non reader...I have only read 4 from this list:

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

Seems to be quite a few cookbooks on this list...
 
I have read:

A Short History of Nearly Everything
The Dangerous Books for Boys
The Road
The Da Vinci Code
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows


5% :sad:
 
Persepolis: the Story of an Iranian Childhood
A Short History of Nearly Everything
The Little Friend
The Night Watch
The Fifth Woman
Half of a Yellow Sun
Kafka on the Shore
The Plot Against America
The Road
The Amber Spyglass
A Million Little Pieces
Brick Lane
The Corrections
Atonement
White Teeth
The God Delusion
The Da Vinci Code

Among those, there are only a couple I would consider approaching :star5: status (Persepolis, Plot Against America, The Road, Atonement, possibly The Night Watch) but I suppose that's not the point. It's not supposed to be the best books of the 00's, after all.

Funny how some of these decade-defining books were written before 2000. Clearly, they didn't define the decade until they were translated into English.
 
I have read:

The Time Traveler's Wife
The Road
The Amber Spyglass
The God Delusion
Twilight
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows


The best out of this list was The Amber Spyglass, and I would only give that about 4 stars.
 
Decade defining? :eek:

Looks like a pretty blah decade, if so. :sad:

Or maybe I lived a different decade. :confused:
 
I have read 8 of them:

Da Vinci Code
The Road
The Kite Runner
We need to talk about Kevin
The Lovely Bones
Freakonomics
Never let me go
Eats, shoots and leaves

I am so happy to see 'We need to talk about Kevin', but 'Never let me go' and 'Freakonomics' shouldn't be on this list.
 
Or maybe I lived a different decade. :confused:

Just out of curiosity, what were the defining books of the decade you lived in? I think this looks like a fairly accurate list of the books that were talked about, were big news, and were influential over the last 10 years. That doesn't necessarily mean they're the best books (or the worst, for that matter).

Anyway, the New York Times have one-upped the Telegraph:

100 Notable Books of 2009 - The New York Times

...featuring a grand total of two translated titles, one of which came out in 1947.
 
Just out of curiosity, what were the defining books of the decade you lived in?

My point of departure for such an answer, BeerGood, would start with the decade, rather than the books published, and with the question "What does it mean to 'define a decade'?" Based on the recollections of the decade which stand out in my mind, the decade I have lived has been defined by:

>the September 11 attacks on territorial US
>the consequent US military involvement elsewhere in the world
>my sudden awareness of militant Islamic terrorism, worldwide
>the controversial re-election of President Bush
>the hysterically vitriolic attacks upon President Bush by the left-liberal wing, (predicting Gestapo marching down Pennsylvania Avenue, and suppression of minorities by a dictatorial right-wing Christianity ascendant, for example)
>the rise of anti-Christian expression on the Web following Richard Dawkin's book
>my retirement from full-time professional employment
>the beginning of my participation in Internet discussion forums and blogs
>my broadening interest in literature toward more challenging authors
>my growing interest in poetry, both reading and writing,
>my banishment from an online forum
>a number of significant events and changes in my personal and private life

So-o-o, the defining books of the decade I lived would be the books I read, from whatever decade, relevant to the above.

As you see, it depends on what one is trying to define, and that was the thought leading to my comment.

Were the books on the list indeed "the books that were talked about, were big news, and were influential over the last 10 years," Beer Good? I take your word for it. Based on casual perusal, though, not that many interested me.

Hope that answers. :flowers:
 
Hope that answers. :flowers:

It does indeed. I suppose that's why the Telegraph didn't call the article "100 books that defined Peder's decade." :flowers:

ETA: Though I do think there's a bunch of books on the list that deal with some of the issues you bring up.
 
Peder you should write a diary and read it.:flowers:

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky
Austerlitz by WG Sebald
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
Platform by Michel Houellebecq
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

I'd say there are the most talked about, but not very good representatives.
Like while on earth Austerlitz?????
 
Of the Telegraph list, I have read:

A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
Labyrinth - Kate Mosse
The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Bad Science - Ben Goldacre
The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
Atonement - Ian McEwan
White Teeth - Zadie Smith
The DaVinci Code - Dan Brown

I've read none on the NY Times list; in fact I haven't even heard of most of them. :whistling:
 
Telegraph -
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

New York Times -
I have read none but would like to read The Lost City of Z (almost did a few months ago but never got around to it).
 
Back
Top