Bokklubben World Library ( no, Verdensbiblioteket) is a series of classical books, mostly novels, published by the since 2002. It is based on a list of the hundred best books, as proposed by one hundred writers from fifty-four countries, compiled and organized in 2002 by the Book Club. This list endeavors to reflect world literature, with books from all countries, cultures, and time periods.
Each writer had to select his or her own list of ten books. The books selected by this process and listed here are not ranked or categorized in any way; the organizers have stated that "they are all on an equal footing," with the exception of ''
Don Quixote
is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...
'' which was given the distinction "best literary work ever written."
Fyodor Dostoevsky is the author with the most books on the list, with four.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
,
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ty ...
, and
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
each have three.
Breakdown of voters and list
The writers surveyed included 69 men and 31 women. 85 of the books included on the list are written by men, 11 are written by women, and four have unknown authors. 26 of the 100 voting writers had English as their first language,
[See table in article. 22 come from Ireland, UK, US, and Trinidad and Tobago; four come from India but are all from the minority of Indians with English as their primary language.] which may be a factor in the list having so many (29) books written in English.
List of books
List of authors surveyed
See also
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Classic book
A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cl ...
*
Larry McCaffery's list of the
20th Century's Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books of Fiction
*
''Le Mondes 100 Books of the Century
*
Lists of 100 best books
*
List of books banned by governments
*
Marcel Reich-Ranicki's anthology of exemplary German literature
Der Kanon
''Der Kanon'' (, "The Canon") or more precisely ''Marcel-Reich-Ranickis Kanon'' is a large anthology of exemplary works of German literature. Edited by the literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki (1920–2013), he called the anthology, announced on ...
*
Modern Library 100 Best Novels
*
Modern Library 100 Best Nonfiction
The Modern Library 100 Best Nonfiction was created in 1998 by the Modern Library. The list is what it considers to be the 100 best non-fiction books published since 1900.
The list included memoirs, textbooks, polemics, and collections of essays. A ...
*
Världsbiblioteket
Världsbiblioteket (''The World Library'') was a Swedish list of the 100 best books in the world, created in 1991 by the Swedish literary magazine '' Tidningen Boken''. The list was compiled through votes from members of the Svenska Akademien, Swed ...
, a Swedish "100 best books" list from 1991
*
Western canon
The Western canon is the body of high culture literature, music, philosophy, and works of art that are highly valued in the West; works that have achieved the status of classics. However, not all these works originate in the Western world, ...
*
World literature
References
External links
*
*
''The Guardian'''' The top 100 books of all time''
* The list's page a
with bibliographic information for each work
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bokklubben World Library
Top book lists