An absolutely stunning book has been recently published!

I’m generally very picky about the books I read. I think there are many books that are ok, there are even more books that are not, and there’s just a handful, just very few that are really stunning. The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt is like that.

Although I usually speak about things I liked and things I disliked in books, this time I liked absolutely everything and I have only positive things to say.

The story

“Aren’t memories a little like furniture of the mind?”

Miss Kratt lives in her large house with Olva who’s helping her around the house. They’ve known each other all their lives. Both of them are quite old now. They haven’t always lived alone in this house. When they were children there were other people around. Miss Kratt’s father was an influential person in the town, and his son although still very young was a key figure in keeping this influence going. Everything changed when a tragedy happened.

The characters

Absolutely all characters, regardless of their roles, are fully-developed and multilayered.

Miss Judith felt absolutely real to me and I sympathised with her a lot. Even when the book was over I still wanted to be there for her. Although she probably wouldn’t appreciate it.

There are some characters that I despised even though I could understand why they were acting that way.

None of the characters is perfect but they aren’t artificially flawed either.

The writing

The writing is perfect. I felt as if the story had been told by Miss Judith herself and not by the author. I highlighted so many quotes in my copy that it took me several minutes just to scroll through all of them. Here are a few:

“… she wore a gray dress that held the sad promise of once being black.”

“He was a small-town man who read big-city newspapers.”

“… conversations with siblings cannot be separated from all the conversations that came before.”

“We enter this world curling our tiny hands around our mother’s fingers, and we exit with those same hands cinched by arthritis. How could we pretend our grasp, clutching onto life from opposite ends, stays the same?”

I loved the fluidity of chapters, the two storylines, one in the past, one in the present, flowing two separate paths and then merging together.

I especially liked how the chapters were separated by Miss Judith’s list of inventory. After each chapter, new objects were added to the list. If you didn’t know the story behind the objects you wouldn’t pay attention to them but because you have read the chapter, you know what the objects mean, and so just a single mention of them could bring a whole wave of memories. That is pure literary magic.

What I liked most

I loved the stories themselves and the way they were told. There is no melodrama in them. The stories are deep and touching even when they are scary and sad.

Final thought

This book brought tears to my eyes just because of how perfect it is. I’m so grateful to the author for this book, and of course to the publishers for sending me the copy in exchange for my honest (albeit emotional) review. I hope Andrea Bobotis will write more books. I will be looking forward to her new works.

1. Classic fiction

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

I’ll never grow tired of recommending this book. It is actually a memoir, but it’s much more than a personal story. It tells you about the way Paris looked and lived in 1920s. A Moveable Feast has a complicated history. Read my post to learn more.

Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood

The book is a beautiful farewell to Berlin. The stories tell about people Isherwood met in Berlin in 1930s before Nazis came to power.

I don’t think anybody ever read my review of the book because I posted it in the very beginning of my blogging when nobody was reading my blog yet.

Daphne du Maurier’s short stories

I am starting to suspect that no works by du Maurier can disappoint. I’ve read only her short stories so far, but I can recommend all of them. Here are the posts where I talk about the short stories: Short Stories By Daphne Du Maurier and Reading Books In December. And here’s the post about Birds.

2. Modern fiction

Virgil Wander by Leif Enger

I really liked this book. I would prefer a more solid ending, but even with the ending as it is, it’s still a perfect book with well-developed characters and an interesting plot.

The Air You Breathe by Frances de Pontes Peebles

It’s a wonderfully written story about two women, and their lives and love to music. The story starts in Brazil in 1930s when both of them are still kids. In my personal rating this book is definitely among the best I read in 2018.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

If you are looking for something really kind and heart-warming, you will definitely like this book.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I wouldn’t call this book my personal favourite, but I do realise many other people will like it more. The book does entertain. It’s a gripping fast-paced story about an elderly movie star who decides to reveal all her secrets to a writer.

Melmoth by Sarah Perry

Melmoth is quite the opposite of the book mentioned above. It’s not an easy read aimed to entertain. It’s perfectly written and it has several interesting stories, but the main treasure of the book is its message which is thought-provoking and deep. I am in love with the book, but I know that some people found it disappointing because they expected it to be a gothic ghost story. Even though there’s such an element in the book, it’s merely a tool for delivering an idea. If you are looking for a book that will make you think, Melmoth is a good choice.

The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt by Andrea Bobotis

This book hasn’t been published yet but it’s the best book I read in 2018. You might like it less than I did, but I think you will still like something about it. It’s perfectly written, and perfectly made, with an intriguing start and a beautiful ending. It’s about a complicated history of one family from the American South. It will be published in July 2019. I definitely recommend pre-ordering it, or marking the date in your calendar so that you can read a sample when it’s out and make your choice. I can read my full review of the book.

3. Thrillers

I think 2019 will become the year when I’ll finally accept that thrillers are just not my genre. I love being thrilled, spooked and scared by a book, but unfortunately most of the thrillers I encounter are either horribly written or have silly plots (or both). Still, I was lucky enough to have found these two thrillers that I can recommend.

You Were Made For This by Michelle Sacks

This is a psychological thriller about relationships that look perfect on the outside, but in reality have some other, often sinister dynamics, and about disasters that such relationships can cause.

Force of Nature by Jane Harper

This is a crime thriller about a group of women who venture out into Australian wilderness as a team building exercise. And then, of course, something goes wrong…

4. A strange book

The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien

If you are looking for something surreal and crazy, this might be the right book. I was initially very confused by the book. But as time goes by, I’m starting to understand how deep and genius it actually is. In fact, chances are I will be re-reading it to discover more of its philosophy and craziness.

4. A book with good humour

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

I love the humour of this book. It’s funny but not dumb. Besides, the story is also kind and quite interesting. The Rosie Project is about one very special scientist on a quest to find a wife for himself.

5. A young adult novel

Bone Gap by Laura Ruby

I hardly ever read young adult novels but I really liked this one because of its deeper message. It’s a story about young people living in a strange town where people, animals and things keep mysteriously appearing and disappearing. It’s a story about friendship and love, but most importantly it’s about people who are learning to see the true nature of others and themselves.

6. Controversial

There’s actually nothing controversial about these novels. They are perfectly written and I find them very interesting but they focus on some taboo or traumatic topics and so I think some people might find them disturbing.

Patrick Melrose novels

There are 5 novels about Patrick Melrose. Patrick is a very troubled man. The novels are perfectly written (at least the first four, I haven’t started the fifth one yet), but they are hard to read because of the topics they focus on such as child abuse or drug addiction. Here are my reviews of the first two novels: Never Mind (Patrick Melrose novel #1) by Edward St. Aubyn and Bad News, Patrick Melrose novel #2 by Edward St Aubyn.

Everything Under by Daisy Johnson

The story is based on a myth. It’s a magical realism story about a river, a mother and a daughter. It’s so beautifully written, it brings a whole new world to life.

7. Memoirs

Miss Ex-Yugoslavia by Sofija Stefanovic

Guess what? That’s the book that finally got me into blogging! I loved the book so much that I just couldn’t keep quiet anymore. I wrote to the author to express my gratitude but I still felt like I had more to express. So I wrote a post about it, and this post became the first one on my blog.

When Sofija Stefanovic was a kid, her family immigrated from Belgrade to Australia. In her memoir she speaks about her experience of changing countries, cultures and languages. It’s exciting to see the world she then discovered from the perspective of a young child who was never before exposed to such education, entertainment or customs. You become aware of many things that are taken for granted nowadays, and you also become aware of the fact that there are often several truths all of which are equally real.

I understand that I liked the book so much because I’m from a similar background but I’m sure that this book will be interesting for many other people too.

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Even though Born a Crime describes so many horrible things that happened to the families in South Africa during the times of apartheid and later, I still think about this book as kind and often funny. It takes a great comedian to write a heart-warming book about something that is often heart-wrenching.

8. Non-fiction

What if? by Randall Munroe

This book is very funny. It’s scientific but it’s written in a language that everybody can understand. It answers many strange and silly questions in a clever and interesting way.

Bad Science by Ben Goldacre

It’s another book I often suggest to read, especially when some homeopathy or “detoxing” treatments arise in a conversation. It focuses on some popular wrong beliefs about medicine, pills and beauty products. It provides and explains researches for each statement. It also explains the mechanisms behind popularising these products. Although the book is based on science, it’s written in a fun and entertaining way, so it’s really interesting to read. Reading this book can save your money and health.

This will be it for now. Hopefully I’ll make another post like this in a few months. Meanwhile I’m very interested in what you would recommend, especially when it comes to Strange and Humour categories.

Were it a kinder world, this edition of Mikhail Bulgakov’s beautiful, strange, tender, scarifying, and incandescent novel The Master and Margarita would be commemorating its seventy-fifth rather than fiftieth anniversary…

About the book

The Master and Margarita is a unique book. In fact, I’m surprised it’s called “a book”, just like many other texts between covers. This creation is unlike anything else I’ve ever seen in literature. As this edition beautifully says:

Nothing in the whole of literature compares with The Master and Margarita. One spring afternoon, the Devil, trailing fire and chaos in his wake, weaves himself out of the shadows and into Moscow. Mikhail Bulgakov’s fantastical, funny, and devastating satire of Soviet life combines two distinct yet interwoven parts, one set in contemporary Moscow, the other in ancient Jerusalem, each brimming with historical, imaginary, frightful, and wonderful characters. Written during the darkest days of Stalin’s reign, and finally published in 1966 and 1967, The Master and Margarita became a literary phenomenon, signaling artistic and spiritual freedom for Russians everywhere.

I’ve never read this book in English, but I’ve read it in Russian many times. I know some parts by heart. I compared those parts to the English translation and I can say that the translation is absolutely amazing! Even the melody and the rhythm of the phrases are the same. Here’s an extract for you to enjoy the sound.

In a white cloak with blood-red lining, with the shuffling gait of a cavalryman, early in the morning of the fourteenth day of the spring month of Nisan, there came out to the covered colonnade between the two wings of the palace of Herod the Great the procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate.

About this edition

The edition is a work of art.

The cover

The front cover and the back cover are stunning!

There are quotes in Russian on the inner sides of the cover.

Deckle edge

A deckle edge is a type of edge that looks “feathered”. In the past, printing machines couldn’t cut the edges neatly, so all edges of old books looked this way. Nowadays this effect is achieved on purpose, by putting the book through a special machine after the edges were already nicely cut.

Extra information

There is a lot of information about the times the book was written in, and about its author. All terms and names are explained in the notes at the end of the book.

This is an absolutely stunning edition, the one that this book really deserves.

]]> /2018/12/07/the-master-and-margarita/feed/ 15 644 /2018/12/05/november/ /2018/12/05/november/#comments Wed, 05 Dec 2018 13:00:07 +0000 /?p=627 November turned into an accidental experiment. I suddenly grew tired of reading yet unpublished books. It’s harder to find worthwhile reads among them. It’s much easier to discover great books among those already tested by time and other readers. As a result, I had the most successful month. I liked most of the books I read, and now I can recommend them to you.

Here’s the list. The books I liked the most are at the top. If you click the titles of the paragraphs, you’ll get to the full reviews.

1. Short stories by Daphne du Maurier

They are dark, deep and atmospheric. They brought a lot of beauty and mystery into the colder days. I can definitely recommend all stories from this edition.

2. The Birds by Daphne du Maurier

Right, the second place is taken by du Maurier too. She is like those actors who jump on the stage and take all the prizes. She’s indeed that outstanding, as well as her novelette The Birds. I made a research about this book, looking into the accusations of plagiarism and comparing it to other works of the same name. Follow the link for more information.

3. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

I’m not sure if the shorter days are turning me into a reader of gothic or I just have a natural inclination to this genre, but my third most favourite book of the month is gothic again. The Little Stranger is a story about a noble family, a local doctor and a dilapidating creepy mansion. I had an audiobook version of the story and absolutely loved the narrator’s performance.

4. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

A contrast to all the gothic above, The Rosie Project is light, funny and heartwarming. It’s a modern story about an autistic scientist who’s setting off on a quest to find a perfect wife for himself.

5. Bone Gap by Laura Ruby

Bone Gap is an unusual item on this blog because it’s a young adult novel. This book showed me that young adult genre doesn’t necessarily mean simplistic or primitive. It’s a story about a small town with some magical powers. It’s about human nature, relationships and the ways people see each other. I liked the actual story and the bigger ideas of the book.

6. The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley

The Seven Sisters is the first book in the series about seven sisters (with a book per sister, I guess) who are discovering their true histories after their adoptive parent dies. The first book travels through time and continents and has several love stories in it. It’s well-written and interesting. Even though there’s not too much romance, there’s still too much of it for my personal liking, so I won’t continue with the series, but I’m sure many people will love the book.

7. Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller

This book takes the final position among the books I liked because I can’t say I liked it that much. It was beautifully written, with a very deep exploration of human mind and psychology but I didn’t like the aftertaste of the story and the personality of the characters.

There are two more books that didn’t make it to the list above because I didn’t like them. I’m happy I have read them as a part of my experiment and research.

1. The Birds by Frank Baker

This is the book that Daphne du Maurier was accused of plagiarising. There’s a definite similarity between the two books. Both have birds attacking people and changing the course of human history. Frank Baker’s work has much more philosophy in it. It’s full of deep ideas and contemplations but it’s unbearably boring to read. The style of writing is a torture. I’m glad I had a chance to compare the two works myself but I can’t recommend Frank Baker’s book to anybody.

2. Uprooted by Naomi Novik

It’s a much loved book among fantasy readers but I had to push myself to find things I could like about it. Even though I found some, they were still overshadowed by those I disliked. I’m glad I took this leap into fantasy because next time I will take a more careful step into this genre.

I also listened to a couple of curious programs that are not actually audiobooks but I found them awesome anyway. In order not to overload you with information, I’ll post about them in a separate post, so stay tuned.

Off to the final month of the year! Hopefully I will discover more fantastic books to tell you about.

If you are interested in more book lists, you can read:

1. The books I bought on Black Friday
2. The books I read in October
3. The books I read in September

Some of you might know that I’ve recently become a huge fan of Daphne du Maurier. She is now my second most favourite female author (the place of the first one is kept by Margaret Atwood. No, she took it long before the TV show).

My love to du Maurier is conditional. I admire her craft. What she does in her stories is not a product of a divine uncontrollable genius (although this, of course, played its part too). Daphne du Maurier knows what she’s doing in every single sentence. She chooses the rhythm, the words, the style. She knows where you’ll gasp, she knows how to scare you, she knows how to make you think. She is a true craftsperson and an artist.

Another curious thing about these stories is that most of her protagonists are male, and they are created perfectly. All of them are different. All of them feel real. They have their mannerisms, their ways of thinking, their accents. I’ve never seen a woman create a man’s voice so convincingly.

About the stories

I already talked about her novelette The Birds, the work for which she was accused of plagiarism and which, at least according to the official story, was the inspiration for Hitchcock’s movie. Now I want to focus on the short stories from this edition.

There are five of them. I loved them all. The only thing they share is du Maurier’s beautiful writing. Otherwise, they are all very different from each other. I’m not sure if this was achieved by a careful selection of the stories for the edition, or du Maurier just never repeats herself.

My most favourite ones are Monte Verità, because of how well Daphne conveys the atmosphere of the mountains, and The Old Man because of how loudly I yelled in the end.

Here’s more information about the stories.

1. Monte Verità

…what is a miracle to one becomes black magic to another.

This is a story about two friends who love mountains and understand each other very well. One of them falls in love with a very special girl. The mountains in the story are described so well that now I think either du Maurier was a climber herself or she very carefully listened to someone who was. The story is mystic and dramatic. It’s also written in such a way that you will want to read the beginning one more time, after finishing the whole story.

2. The Apple Tree

…the undercurrent of reproach, mingled with suffering nobly borne, spoilt the atmosphere of his home and drove him to a sense of furtiveness and guilt.

This story is about a man who recently lost his wife. Through his memories and his perception of the world you can start to imagine what their family life was like and what kind of person he is. I loved that it’s not possible to interpret the events in one way only. I will see one thing, you will see the other. If you ever read it, let me know what you thought.

3. The Little Photographer

This, then, was all that déjeuner on the terrace would bring her, day after day, the ripple of admiration, respect, and then oblivion.

It’s probably a very simplified description but I see this story as an illustration to the phrase “Karma will find you”. The story is about a bored rich housewife who finds a way to entertain herself, and who then has to face the consequences of her priorities and choices.

4. Kiss Me Again, Stranger

She turned those blue eyes in my direction, still fed-up they were, not interested, but there was something in them <…>, a kind of laziness like someone waking from a long dream and glad to find you there.

This story is about a young man who meets a very unusual girl. I liked how well her character was created, and I also liked the character herself. She’s so charming and strong. I also loved how spooky and suspicious everything seems almost from the start, and how it is all explained in the end.

5. The Old Man

I could see it rattled the old man to have such an oaf of a son. Irritated him, too, because Boy was so big. It probably didn’t make sense to his intolerant mind. Strength and stupidity didn’t go together.

This story is told by a person who suspects that something really bad happened in a family he’s been watching. This is a good read for anybody who wants to yell in the end.

Final thoughts on du Maurier’s stories

I can compare du Maurier’s work to some strong but beautiful perfume. You wouldn’t want to overuse it but it’s so nice to feel the scent from time to time. It’s not possible to read a lot of du Maurier at once because the atmosphere in her stories is really intense, but it feels so good to admire truly good writing. That’s why I would definitely recommend to read her stories.

Remember you can subscribe to my blog if you want to read more about different books.

General information about The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock

The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock is not a fantasy book. There’s an element of magical realism but it is not the focus of the plot. The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock is first of all about people, their fates and their lives. It’s about emotions, relationships, personalities and society. Although the novel is set in the 18th century England, its topics are not at all foreign to current days. In fact, if you peel away the surface layer of a very entertaining story, you will see that the setting serves as a lush frame for a modern picture.

The book is as beautiful and intricate as its cover. That’s actually how I discovered the book. I was looking for books that would be beautiful both inside and out. The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock is exactly what I was looking for.

I loved the book so much I was initially at a loss for words, which is a challenging situation for a reviewer. I took the book for a photo shoot, collected my thoughts and did eventually write the review. So here it is, together with the photos.

How good is The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock?

Do you remember the time when you were just entering the world of books, when every plot was an unpredictable story and characters were so real you imagined them to be your actual friends? The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock is that good. If you thought some magic of the books has been forever lost to you because you grew up, read The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock and rediscover the feeling. This doesn’t mean, though, that it’s a kid book. Even though there’s a mermaid in the title, the protagonist is a courtesan so it’s definitely not a bedtime fairy tale for kids.

Reading The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock feels like watching underwater life through a snorkelling mask. You dive deep where you can no longer breathe so you have to hold your breath in exchange for the chance to see the beautiful world below. Sooner or later the real life will pull you back in but for the meantime you will be completely immersed into another reality.

The writing in The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock

The writing is an undebatable treasure of this book. It’s hard to really illustrate how beautiful it is as it’s a part of a solid construction. It’s almost impossible to pull out a single feather in order to demonstrate it to you. You have to see the whole creation to really appreciate these details. Still, I managed to find some examples. Here they are:

In the landau, amongst a clutch of young ladies in white muslin, rides Mrs Chappell herself, the abbess of King’s Place. She is built like an armchair, more upholstered than clothed, her bolster of bosom heaving beneath cream taffeta and gold frogging.

All social gatherings have a riptide moving through them – some revellers joining the party as others melt away, some retiring to a quiet room, others emerging refreshed – and it is this unseen, unsought tide that nudges Angelica and the lieutenant closer and closer together without their even trying.

A loss is a presence all its own; a loss takes up space; a loss is born just as any other thing that lives.

Bawds are not, after all, the only mothers to profit by their daughters.

The characters in The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock

First of all, the characters outgrow their sole form of mere characters. They are completely real. They change, grow and develop together with the story. It’s mesmerising to watch them, and to imagine what is going through their minds, what makes them take their decisions and how they react to the situations they find themselves in. On a few occasions I expected them to act differently, exactly because I was expecting them to act like characters in a book, but they had their own plans. They rarely act according to your expectations.

The plot in The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock

The plot is another beautiful construction of the book. Where one part ends, another one starts. There are several storylines. Even if you don’t want to be distracted from one, you are given another one to follow. This way you are never bored and always have something to look forward to. The story is completely unpredictable. As soon as you think you know where it’s going, it takes another turn, which you didn’t imagine existed.

The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock will haunt me

The decisions that characters take will stay with me for some time. They are so human and believable even though their situations are so dramatic and often impossible.

I will not forget one of the final scenes. It shows what happens to one of the characters. It’s deep and horrible even though it doesn’t give you any horrid details. It’s the highest level of skills when an author is able to achieve such an effect without rubbing graphic details into a reader’s face.

I will also keep thinking about one character. It’s perfectly clear what happens to her but I wish I could stay with her longer. I hope she will find her warm milk for breakfast, one day. Even though I know she is trapped within the covers of the book, I keep imagining her getting out of her situation, somewhere else in another dimension.

Would I recommend The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock?

Of course, definitely. I would only warn those who hunt for fantasy plots. This is not a fantasy book. In any other case, I’m sure you will like The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock.

Continuing my talk on the best books ever here’s a new piece of information. After Book Depository had posted their list of best books of all time many readers wrote to the site team accusing them of wrong choices and offering their variants instead. Book Depository reacted by publishing a separate list of best books ever according to the readers.

The list is quite peculiar. As my husband noticed, “they are movies, not books”. It does feel that way. A big part of those books were made into movies. I wonder if the movies made people pay attention to the books or books with a bigger cinematographic potential originally draw more readers.

I’ve read only three books from this list, out of which only one was my personal choice. That book was Anna Karenina, and although I’m not sure it would end up on my best books ever list, it is definitely a very good book with believable well-crafted characters. Two other books, War and Peace and The Picture of Dorian Gray were on the list for required reading at my school and university which means I can’t judge them until the poison of required reading wears off. It’s been decades but this hasn’t happened yet.

Do you see the books that you like in that list?

My friend NeoWatercolour asked me this question. The first seemingly obvious answer was “no”. These are two different words, so they must mean two different things. Right? Apparently not.

I spent some time googling for the “goodness” criteria in Booker or Pulitzer prizes. Guess what? There’s none. It’s up to judges to choose the best book, and they choose the best book according to their personal opinions, i.e. they choose the one they like the most. Thus, the difference between “the best” and “favourite” comes to nothing here. The “official” best books are those that were simply liked the most by people who made books their profession. Thus, when it comes to best book lists the main question is who made those lists.

Human brain adapts to impressions. In 1896 a black-and-white silent movie about an approaching train horrified the audience in the theatre. Now they need a 3D system and surround sound to be that impressed. A similar thing happens in the world of books, although it’s not linear (Tolstoy wrote better than many modern authors). The more a person reads the more demanding she gets of characters, dialogues, language and plots. In Primary school a teacher asked me to speak about my favourite book in front of the class. I loved the book so much I accidentally persuaded the whole group of eight-year-olds, who hated reading, to line up to borrow my book. When I was eight that book was in my “best books ever” shortlist, but the list was indeed short. Today, the book wouldn’t get there.

Your personal experience influences your opinion too. People like the books that they can relate to. That creates a tricky situation when at one moment of your life you like the book and at another one you don’t.

Some best books were pioneers in a genre, so they stay in the lists out of respect to them or a habit. In the same way that the 50-second silent black-and-white movie about the train has 7.4 IMDb points.

Thus, there is no such thing as the best book ever. There are only lists of best books according to someone and then you have to choose whether to trust the source or not.

I, for example, stopped trusting Nobel Prize in Literature after it was awarded to Orhan Pamuk. I had only one encounter with his work but that was enough for me to never come close to his books again. It was a physical copy of Snow which I had to go and urgently discard, and wash my hands of it. The language was too primitive. It might have been a problem of translation but only if the translator had malignantly crippled the book.

In my experience I only once found the list that I could trust. I trusted the list because I tried several books from it and liked them all. The list was originally posted in a Wikipedia article called “100 best novels of all time” but then the article mysteriously disappeared. Only thanks to Reddit was I able to recover the list. Apparently, it has been posted in an article under a different name. I’d suggest to save the list in case it disappears again. It really has many worthwhile titles.

What about you? Which best books lists do you follow?