Random booky ramblings

I find lists of "must" see/visit/do/eat/drink/listen to/etc things rather curious and usually end up reading them. Most of the time, these sort of lists tend towards the pretentious bollocksery side of things, because obviously you haven't really lived until you've sipped holy water from Lourdes while walking the Great Wall of China reading War and Peace in its original Russian, accompanies by a child prodigy on a zither.

The most recent list I've read was this morning's 100 novels everyone should read in The Telegraph.

Of the 100 novels on that list, I've read 30 and there are a handful I've wanted to read, but never found a copy of - something I'll be rectifying when Penguin releases their next lot of Popular Penguins, which includes Cold Comfort Farm. Additionally, I'm puzzled by the inclusion of some novels by certain authors when they have other novels that are far superior (such as having Dumas's The Three Musketeers, but not The Count of Monte Cristo, which in my opinion, is a far greater novel in content, themes and understanding).

Then there's the books on the list I've attempted/started to read.

I found Middlemarch so boring my eyes wished to pack a suitcase and move to Siberia for something a little more interesting (obviously, I didn't get far with it). Anna Karenina is a book I've been forcing myself to attempt to read for years. Every now and then I pick my copy up, read a few pages and remember why it would take me approximately the same amount of time as a nuclear winter to finish because I find it so interminably dull. Crime and Punishment was more punishment than anything. I've almost finished 1984, but it's not as scintillating as it's sold as. Ulysses was... is that a shiny thing over there..? Tess of the D’Urbervilles was about as exciting as Wessex on a wet day.

Anyway.

There's the other issue - the rest of the books on the list are ones I have no interest in. Which is akin to admitting to being a book heathen, because these are all of the kind of books you should read when wanting to not sound like a total philistine. There are some books that are just meant to be read to be discussed in certain ways in certain circles. They're not meant to be enjoyed. You're just meant to enjoy the feeling of satisfaction when you tell people you've read them and they either look awed or puzzled.

All of this aside...

There's no point to making a list of the best books or films or anything ever made. It'll change all the time because new things are constantly being made to fill the needs of the masses. Tastes change all the time and there aren't that many books that will remain constant. Unfortunately, there are many, many texts that have disappeared over time (although there are more companies working to bring them back to "life" - such as Persephone Books).

If I had to compile a list of the 100 books I think people should read before they shuffle off this mortal coil, I'd probably want to update it every now and then as I come across other books that make books on the list seem less important or relevant (but my top 10 would definitely include The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Martin Chuzzlewit and Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens and fairytales by George MacDonald (in particular The Golden Key)). I'd probably want to just make a list of books I've enjoyed, rather than books I feel I should have enjoyed.

No list will ever please anyone, let alone everyone - personal tastes and whatnot. But it's interesting to see what interests others and what they feel are important novels.