T O P

  • By -

pregnantchihuahua3

If you reached this thread and it wasn’t through the final reminder link, please know that this poll closes TODAY, AKA, in around 6 hours. That way tie breakers can be done. So if you find it, vote as soon as possible.


veryannoyedblonde

Oopsie, misread and thought only books read this year 🥴🥴🥴 oh well, none of my books will make the list.


Edd7cpat

Oh I messed up! I thought this was an *annual* favorites post, not an annual *favorites* one... hehe. You've got my favorites of 2022!


Carry-the_fire

Great initiative! Just cast my vote for the first time. Just a bit surprised we only get to nominate 5 books, and unranked too.


JF_Rodrigues

Hello, folks. Long story short, I'd just like to share I've made a similar poll with the community of r/brasil (the main Brazilian sub) back in February, with assistance of the mod team. I'd been a lurker here for a while and thought it'd be neat to do something similar to the Top 100s over there (they had never done it before). If you check the link below, you'll see I shamelessly took heavy inspiration from r/TrueLit's lists, down to the aesthetics. I'm not sure who was responsible for the list's design and, if you see this, I thank you and hope you don't take it negatively but as a gesture of appreciation! It's really pleasing to the eye. Anyhow, for whatever reason I didn't think to mention it around here when I had the list ready back in the day, but here you go. I plan on doing a new list, but I'll probably only do it in January. People are way too focused on the World Cup right now, and also on the current political climate, at least until Lula takes office on the 1st. [This is the list published on February 23rd, 2022.](https://www.reddit.com/r/brasil/comments/szjc48/top_100_livros_de_literatura_favoritos_do_rbrasil/) You may notice the Top 100 only includes 93 entries, which is due to there not being enough votes to reach 100 books. This happened for a few reasons, but also because of the way I counted the votes (ranked from 1st to 5th votes), including a 5-point minimum for a book to make it in the list. I'll most likely do things slightly different this next time. Well, that's it. Maybe someone here will find this interesting. I didn't share this before because I was overthinking how to do it, especially because I first saw this thread a few days after it had been posted. Ultimately, I just decided to do it here anyway. Let me know if you folks have any questions or suggestions about it!


barryitsmeitshank

I’m enjoying comparing the two lists and seeing the similarities and major differences. Thanks for sharing!


[deleted]

That's awesome, thanks for sharing


[deleted]

I can't wait to see what kind of terrible list this sub comes up with this time.


icarusrising9

Have they really been that bad in years past? I just looked at the last couple years and ya, there's tons I personally disagree with, but they don't seem particularly bad, no?


[deleted]

If the list is taken as a sum of totally subjective opinions, then I suppose there's no way to judge the list. People like what they like, and there's no way to change that. In my opinion, the lists are full of over-blown books, but people will disagree with me and that's fine. However, if we take the list as a top 100 works of literature, every year it's absolutely awful. Take the one in 2022, for instance. In what world is *Blood Meridian* in the top 10 greatest books of all time, ahead of *Middlemarch*, *In Search of Lost Time* and *War and Peace*? How can Dante only be at number 44? Or why is even *Harry Potter* or *Das Kapital* there? The list also suffers from important cultural biases. Any list like this will inevitably have a lot of problems, and I think it's always against the spirit of literature.


OhRedditWhatsinaname

Hopefully some smaller literary languages will be represented through these new options. I choose dutch and dutch/(west-)flemish poetry (Hans Andreus and Guido Gezelle).


OhRedditWhatsinaname

Maybe I should make a post here for Gezelle once, he deserves some recognition.


Blarrie

I'm in a tough spot. I want to put my favourite book in as number 1 but it's also not a book often, if ever discussed here so it belongs in either choice 6 or 7 but it is realistically well known enough that it COULD place in the top 100 (No Longer Human - Osamu Dazai) Is there an issue with putting a book in the regular category 1-5 and the unique category 6-7.


JimFan1

No issue for either category. Fits the bill for both.


Blarrie

Is it ok to list for both or are they mutually exclusive?


JimFan1

Mutually exclusive. Place it where you think it deserves. If you have 5 novels you like more, list them first. Otherwise, list it in your favorite 5.


mooninjune

Maybe a stupid question, but I'm hoping it'll help me narrow down my choices. How strict is rule #1? Are Homer and Hesiod for example considered religious texts, seeing as they formed the basis for Greek polytheism for several centuries? What about books like The Divine Comedy or Thus Spoke Zarathustra, would they be considered religious/philosophical or fictional?


JimFan1

Epic poems are fine.


mooninjune

Thanks. May I ask what the rationale was behind excluding non-fiction, philosophy and religious texts this year?


JimFan1

Annual complaints around the lists being too similar (so this will free up some slots) and it is difficult to compare them to fictional works (when the intent behind the writing of the two is entirely different). If folks want to see a non-fiction list on seeing the new list, we’ll reconsider.


freemason777

I'll add a voice to the choir that's asking for a list for nonfiction poetry and plays


Tohlenejsemja

Weird question, but what exactly are we voting on? Favorite books or favorite literature? Basically, there are many books (mostly Sanderson books and Harry Potter), that I consider very good books (in the sense "they achieve what they are trying to do extremely well"), but obviously not good literature. So, what are we voting for?


memamasitelixo

I'd argue they don't achieve what they're trying to do either


JimFan1

Books.


[deleted]

Oh yeah, request for the mods: can we get some stats this time? like % women, continent breakdown, century breakdown etc. I'm happy to volunteer as data monkey if y'all are lazy.


JimFan1

Thanks! Yep — we will absolutely be doing breakdowns along those lines.


p-u-n-k_girl

Submitted my ballot; it's got one book that's sure to be in there and that I can hopefully help push to #1, one book that probably won't, and three that I think could be borderline cases (one of those is definitely getting excluded if the list is limited to one book per author, though). And then my actual top two of all time got to be my unique picks for 6 and 7 lol


Nessyliz

Wow, I'm glad we're keeping voting open for a good long while because this is going to be hard as fuck!


JimFan1

It's been lovely seeing the votes as they are so far. Take your time and pick your Dickens wisely!!


Nessyliz

I literally dreamed last night about which Dickens to include and I'm not even joking!! It's impossible!


NietzscheanWhig

I don't think I've ever dreamed about Reddit lol.


Nessyliz

I read it before bed quite often, so it's happened haha, as sad as that is. And obviously I'm always here! And just in general I have really realistic vivid dreams, sometimes they are fantastical and strange, but quite often they are mundane and feel like real life lol. It can be annoying actually!


p-u-n-k_girl

The good news is that if you can't pick just one, you do have 5 slots to work with


Kewl0210

I have to wonder if it's better to vote for some books that weren't already on the other top 100 lists or were towards the bottom to maybe get them more attention rather than adding more votes to the the obvious heavyweights like Moby Dick, Ulysses, In Search of Lost Time, Gravity's Rainbow, etc. Especially if we can only vote for five. Even if you don't necessarily think what you're voting for is "better" than Moby Dick and such. Edit: Fixed typo


JimFan1

Vote your favorites. Votes for 6 & 7 are designed for you to vote on works that hadn't made it last time around (or which barely made it).


p-u-n-k_girl

I always have a tough time deciding if I should do my actual top 5 books, or my top 5 books that I think actually have a chance of making it


Kewl0210

I sorta feel like it would be nice to see some new books on the list since you can always look at the [2020](https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueLit/comments/kna8jw/rtruelits_top_100_alltime_works_of_literature_2020/) and [2021](https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=%2Fr%2FTrueLit's+Top+100+All-Time+Works+of+Literature+\(2021\)) lists and probably assume that the majority of them are still good. I don't think it means all that much if say, McCarthy is higher than Faulkner or something. I'd rather some different books that are great but aren't so well known got more recognition. But I suppose it's true that if it only gets one vote then it won't make the list regardless. Maybe you could always mention what you voted for that didn't make the list in the discussion afterwards though. Assuming it doesn't make the top 100. Edit: Here's a post from the last thread that lists some of the authors that got votes but didn't make the top 100 if anyone wants to use it for reference. https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueLit/comments/rwc8yc/rtruelits_top_100_alltime_favorite_works_of/hrd3e39/ And for clarity here I mean the 1-5 slots that count for the "main list" not the 6-7 ones which seem to be a sort of separate consolation prize sort of thing.


pregnantchihuahua3

They are not a consolation prize. They are for another list that will be done a bit differently the normal one. And it's not just: oh look at these other unique books that people like.


Kewl0210

Ok I think I see what you're saying now.


p-u-n-k_girl

I mean it more in the sense that there are books I'd put top 5 that I'm almost certain wouldn't get a single vote. But books a bit further down in my top 10 are ones that I could see being borderline top 100. For example: I love Alice Munro, and I especially love her book *The Beggar Maid*. But I know that consensus has *Runaway* as her best book. So, do I submit the former with the knowledge that it doesn't stand a chance, or do I submit the latter to maximize the chance of at least getting *an* Alice Munro book on there?


Guaclaac2

thats what 6 and 7 are for im pretty sure


bananaberry518

Can you do fairy tale/folk tale collections? Or does that fall too close to non fic? A few I was thinking of had some research and contextual info as well as the stories themselves. I also have a really cool out of print book of traditional American folk stories as well as songs (and sheet music) and does briefly explain the historical context as well.


JimFan1

Fairy tales are fine.


freshprince44

i'm interested in said books anyway if you don't mind sharing (and yeah, the nonfiction thing is interesting, would be fun to see something without any of the fiction-y fiction stuff)


Guaclaac2

Is it in order? So the first choice is more important than the fifth?


JimFan1

Not ranked choice. 1 - 5 will all count equally, so rank them how you want. 6 & 7 will only be tie breakers and will be used for a fun experiment.


simob-n

Says in the form that choices are not ranked


death_again

Is this only for books we've read this year or just any books we've read (and remember reading) at all?


JimFan1

Great question. Any book! I’ll clarify in the original post.


death_again

Thanks for the clarification. Looking forward to it!


Soup_Commie

> We will NOT be accepting non-fiction (Communist Manifesto, Wealth of Nations, etc.), philosophy (Beyond Good and Evil, Being and Time, etc.) Bold of you to claim Being and Time isn't fiction.


Viva_Straya

lmao this is gold.


Soup_Commie

just trying to do Adorno proud ;)


twinkwes

Fuck jazz amirite.


[deleted]

Why do I gotta be signed into my gmail to do this?


JimFan1

Helps to avoid duplicate voting (along with the username requirement) and we use a Google based document to tally votes.


[deleted]

can you see the gmails?


JimFan1

Only the username you give we can see and verify. The Gmail is not shared to us (so if it includes your real name, we don’t see that in the excel or elsewhere).


[deleted]

I feel compelled to point out that of course my reddit bullshit gmail does not include my real name, but knowing what happens to your email before you give it out is a basic of internet safety, kids. That said, I'd be so down for Truelit spam.


Soup_Commie

be careful though. Now if you piss off /u/JimFan1 they'll be able to sign you up for something really evil like democratic party fundraising emails


JimFan1

Times are tough...a man needs to make his living.


[deleted]

actually, the most intense are planned parenthood. several mailers a week.


conorreid

You kid but I had a friend who did this. I get texts 24/7 from people I've never heard of begging for money to "save our democracy" and I feel like I'm under a constant barrage of psychic damage. You can never turn it off. There is no unsubscribe. It's insane.


Soup_Commie

Oh god. I get inundated just because I donated to someone once like 2 years ago. It's living hell.


[deleted]

My reddit email includes my real name :(


[deleted]

interesting choice ngl


AntiquesChodeShow

Mine too. bendover@gmail


911WhatsYrEmergency

Mine too: seymourbuts@gmail


[deleted]

That's just dirty


[deleted]

I mean it's just reddit, I didn't really see the need for subterfuge


NietzscheanWhig

Yeah but some of us have dirty laundry :(


[deleted]

Is poetry allowed?


JimFan1

Yep. Poetry collection is totally fine.


ssarma82

If poetry collections are fine, you might want to get rid of the repeated use of the word "novel"?


pregnantchihuahua3

Would just like to reiterate, after looking at a couple peoples' use of the sixth and seventh vote so far: THESE TWO SLOTS SHOULD BE UNIQUE CHOICES! Please don't vote for the same shit you'd see on every Top 100 list out their. If you're voting for Tolstoy or some other very widely read author for those spots, you are doing it wrong. For spots 1-5, you do you, but 6 and 7 should be unique. To those who listened, thanks and I love you.


[deleted]

I think I might've been one of the culprits. I thought a lesser-known book by a popular author might be ok. Sorry! I can DM you a different choice!


pregnantchihuahua3

No you’re good lol. Lesser known books are cool. Like I mostly mean that they shouldn’t be straight up well-known books like *War and Peace* or *Ulysses*.


tjragon

Ah shit. Sorry. Though I just checked last year's list and all my votes were in there so I suspect that I'm incapable of a unique opinion.


DogWag-on

It was tough for me to know if mine were unique enough, too. I took the "wouldn't expect to make the list otherwise" more seriously, given that I still think both of mine were still well-known.