What makes a great novel? Or better, what criterion do we value such a novel? In almost all cultural periods there are lists of the best books of all time. Of course, such lists are subjective, but we all like to read them, even to challenge them.
The latest list? That of modern writers, who express their preferences to previous colleagues.
Norman Mailer, Ann Patchett, Jonathan Franzen, Claire Messud and Joyce Carol Oates. Have expressed their appreciation of those who consider the best books of all times.
To get back to the beginning question, it's important to understand what makes an excellent book.
If you try to make a list of the best books you should consider what it means good, excellent:
1. books that are good to me;
Books that are considered excellent by most people;
3. none of the foregoing; A book is great when it resists years, regardless of whether you like it or not.
Authors have made a score of points for books between 544 titles made available, making a time division of literature. Thus, authors with the highest number of points-scored books are as follows: 1. William Shakespeare - 11
2. William Faulkner - 6
3. Henry James - 6
4. Jane Austen - 5
Charles Dickens - 5
6. Fyodor Dostoevsky - 5
7. Ernest Hemingëay - 5
8. Franz Kafka - 5
9. James Joyce, Thomas Mann, Vladimir Nabokov, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf - 4
While the most collected authors for each book, with score systems from 1 to 10, are as follows: 1. Leo Tolstoy - 327
2. William Shakespeare - 293
James Joyce - 194
4. Vladimir Nabokov - 190
5. Fyodor Dostoevsky - 177
6. William Faulkner - 173
Charles Dickens - 168
8. Anton Chekhov - 165
9. Gustave Flaubert - 163
10. Jane Austen - 161
5 favorite books of the 20th century?
1. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
2. Big Getsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. Looking for lost time - Marcel Proust
4. Ulysses - James Joyce
5. Dubliners - James Joyce
And the 5 favorite books of the 19th century:
1. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
2. Lady Bovari - Gustave Flaubert
3. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
4. The Adventures of the Finisher - Mark Twain
5. Stories - Anton Chekhov