How I Came Up with My
List
(And my confession of blatant bias)
Here's my 100 Must-Read Books: An Inclusive List
STEP 1. Choose the lists to compile my own list off of.
I know most ‘best of’ lists tend to be biased towards books written in English by white men. In order to try to balance it out a bit, I decided I would base my list off of 5 lists of 100 in 3 areas.
General (biased towards white men writing books in English):
*500 book suggestions
-100 Best Novels – Modern Library
-100 Must-Read Classic Books - Penguin
-The Greatest Books of All Time – thegreatestbooks.org
(And my confession of blatant bias)
Here's my 100 Must-Read Books: An Inclusive List
STEP 1. Choose the lists to compile my own list off of.
I know most ‘best of’ lists tend to be biased towards books written in English by white men. In order to try to balance it out a bit, I decided I would base my list off of 5 lists of 100 in 3 areas.
General (biased towards white men writing books in English):
*500 book suggestions
-100 Best Novels – Modern Library
-100 Must-Read Classic Books - Penguin
-The Greatest Books of All Time – thegreatestbooks.org
(I only counted the first 100 as of Jan
2022.)
-100 Life-Changing Books – National Book Award
World (lists of World Literature, non-white authors, and books in translation):
*500 book suggestions
-Top 100 Works in World Literature – Norwegian Book Clubs
-The 100 Best Books of World Literature – ABC.es
-Top 100 World Literature Title – Perfection Learning
-The 100 Best Novels in Translation – Boyd Tonkin
-100 Must-Read Classics by People of Color – Book Riot
Female (lists of books by female authors):
*502 book suggestions in 6 lists – Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, I had a hard time finding lists of 100 for female authors.
-The 107 Female Authors Everyone Should Have on Their Bookshelf - Stylist
-102 of the Greatest Books by Female Authors – List Challenges
-100 Must-Read Classics by Women - Book Riot
-The Best Female Authors of All Time (100) - AbeBooks
-Must-Read Books by Women (53) - Penguin
-40 of the Best Books for Women Written by Female Authors – rd.com
STEP 2. Compile a list of all the books and tabulate an initial order.
I went through all the links above and typed the books into a spreadsheet. Each book got 1 line and I kept a tally of how many of the links listed it. Out of the 898 books from the 16 lists, 130 of them were mentioned in 3-10 of lists.
To come up with the order, I first looked at which books were mentioned by the most links. Within those that had the same amount, I marked a 1-3 rank based on how many of the 3 ‘types’ of links it had (General, World, and Female). Then, within those that were the same, I went off the averaged rank from links. That’s how I came up with my initial list – but there were still edits to be made.
STEP 3. I took books off the list for various reasons.
This is where my own bias started to take part. As this is my own list that I’m not being paid to make nor am I doing this as a school assignment, I am taking the liberty to remove books that I don’t think should be on the list. Unless otherwise noted, the book was simply removed from the list and the next book took its place. Click the links to read my reviews.
1. Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Bronte (English, 1818-1848) – The ONLY book mentioned on 10 links – all other books were 9 or fewer.
28. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) by Mark Twain (American, 1835-1910)
I couldn’t even finish the book – that’s how bad Huckleberry Finn is/was to me. I respect Twain as an author and wanted to include another of his books in place of this one. The next one on the extended list was The Prince and the Pauper, which I added to the end of my list of 100 – even though it was only mentioned by 1 link.
36. The Bible
I do not feel comfortable including scriptural texts in this kind of list.
40. The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J.D. Salinger (American, 1919-2010)
I did not like this book.
72. White Teeth (2000) by Zadie Smith (English, 1975- )
For a book to be on a ‘best of all-time’ list, it has to be around for a while. I decided to have my list be from the 20th century and earlier – which this book just barely missed.
95. The Possessed (1872) by Fodor Dostoevsky (Russian, 1821-1881)
He had 4 books on the list; I decided I wanted to give another author a chance instead.
97. A Room of One’s Own (1929) by Virginia Woolf (English, 1882-1941)
She had 4 books on the list; I decided I wanted to give another author a chance instead.
STEP 4. Check the diversity of the list.
I wanted to have at least 25 books in translation, 25 books written by females, and 25 books in the ‘World’ category. I met the mark in both translation and females… but was still short (by 11!) in my World category. I also realized I didn’t have any Australian authors on my list. I expanded the meaning of this category to include any author who does NOT live in North America or Europe – except if they are a person of color.
I found several more links in order to add tallies to my existing book list. Then I retabulated my list to make sure 11 additional ‘World’ books were put onto my list.
Additional links:
-100 Best African Books of All Time – Short Form
-100 Life-Changing Books – National Book Award
World (lists of World Literature, non-white authors, and books in translation):
*500 book suggestions
-Top 100 Works in World Literature – Norwegian Book Clubs
-The 100 Best Books of World Literature – ABC.es
-Top 100 World Literature Title – Perfection Learning
-The 100 Best Novels in Translation – Boyd Tonkin
-100 Must-Read Classics by People of Color – Book Riot
Female (lists of books by female authors):
*502 book suggestions in 6 lists – Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, I had a hard time finding lists of 100 for female authors.
-The 107 Female Authors Everyone Should Have on Their Bookshelf - Stylist
-102 of the Greatest Books by Female Authors – List Challenges
-100 Must-Read Classics by Women - Book Riot
-The Best Female Authors of All Time (100) - AbeBooks
-Must-Read Books by Women (53) - Penguin
-40 of the Best Books for Women Written by Female Authors – rd.com
STEP 2. Compile a list of all the books and tabulate an initial order.
I went through all the links above and typed the books into a spreadsheet. Each book got 1 line and I kept a tally of how many of the links listed it. Out of the 898 books from the 16 lists, 130 of them were mentioned in 3-10 of lists.
To come up with the order, I first looked at which books were mentioned by the most links. Within those that had the same amount, I marked a 1-3 rank based on how many of the 3 ‘types’ of links it had (General, World, and Female). Then, within those that were the same, I went off the averaged rank from links. That’s how I came up with my initial list – but there were still edits to be made.
STEP 3. I took books off the list for various reasons.
This is where my own bias started to take part. As this is my own list that I’m not being paid to make nor am I doing this as a school assignment, I am taking the liberty to remove books that I don’t think should be on the list. Unless otherwise noted, the book was simply removed from the list and the next book took its place. Click the links to read my reviews.
1. Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Bronte (English, 1818-1848) – The ONLY book mentioned on 10 links – all other books were 9 or fewer.
28. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) by Mark Twain (American, 1835-1910)
I couldn’t even finish the book – that’s how bad Huckleberry Finn is/was to me. I respect Twain as an author and wanted to include another of his books in place of this one. The next one on the extended list was The Prince and the Pauper, which I added to the end of my list of 100 – even though it was only mentioned by 1 link.
36. The Bible
I do not feel comfortable including scriptural texts in this kind of list.
40. The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J.D. Salinger (American, 1919-2010)
I did not like this book.
72. White Teeth (2000) by Zadie Smith (English, 1975- )
For a book to be on a ‘best of all-time’ list, it has to be around for a while. I decided to have my list be from the 20th century and earlier – which this book just barely missed.
95. The Possessed (1872) by Fodor Dostoevsky (Russian, 1821-1881)
He had 4 books on the list; I decided I wanted to give another author a chance instead.
97. A Room of One’s Own (1929) by Virginia Woolf (English, 1882-1941)
She had 4 books on the list; I decided I wanted to give another author a chance instead.
STEP 4. Check the diversity of the list.
I wanted to have at least 25 books in translation, 25 books written by females, and 25 books in the ‘World’ category. I met the mark in both translation and females… but was still short (by 11!) in my World category. I also realized I didn’t have any Australian authors on my list. I expanded the meaning of this category to include any author who does NOT live in North America or Europe – except if they are a person of color.
I found several more links in order to add tallies to my existing book list. Then I retabulated my list to make sure 11 additional ‘World’ books were put onto my list.
Additional links:
-100 Best African Books of All Time – Short Form
-Africa’s
100 Best Books of the 20th Century – ASC Library
-10 Essential African Novels – Publishers Weekly
-100 Must-Read Books by Asian Authors – Book Riot
-35 of the Best Books by Asian Authors – Woman’s Day
-25 Books That Will Transport You Through Asia – Lonely Planet
-100 Must-Read Australian Books – Book Riot
-Top 50 Australian Books – List Challenges
-100 Must-Read Latin America Books – Book Riot
-Top 20 Latin American Books to Read Before You Die – Latin Times
-10 of the Best Latin American Novels – The Guardian
STEP 5. Double check the diversity of my list.
At this check, I now had at least 25 books in translation, 25 books by females, and 25 books by world authors. I decided to check how many books originally written in English by white men were on my list… and there were fewer than 25. So, I decided to finagle the list once again, playing with the books numbered 80-120 and… I finally had my official list of 100!
100 books total by 86 authors
39 books by female authors
36 books in translation (not originally written in English)
26 books by world authors
25 books written in English by white men
-10 Essential African Novels – Publishers Weekly
-100 Must-Read Books by Asian Authors – Book Riot
-35 of the Best Books by Asian Authors – Woman’s Day
-25 Books That Will Transport You Through Asia – Lonely Planet
-100 Must-Read Australian Books – Book Riot
-Top 50 Australian Books – List Challenges
-100 Must-Read Latin America Books – Book Riot
-Top 20 Latin American Books to Read Before You Die – Latin Times
-10 of the Best Latin American Novels – The Guardian
STEP 5. Double check the diversity of my list.
At this check, I now had at least 25 books in translation, 25 books by females, and 25 books by world authors. I decided to check how many books originally written in English by white men were on my list… and there were fewer than 25. So, I decided to finagle the list once again, playing with the books numbered 80-120 and… I finally had my official list of 100!
100 books total by 86 authors
39 books by female authors
36 books in translation (not originally written in English)
26 books by world authors
25 books written in English by white men
5 books in translation by female world authors:
23. The Tale of Genji (1012) by Murasaki Shikibu (Japanese, ~973-1031)
27. Like Water for Chocolate (1992) by Laura Esquivel (Mexican, 1950- )
51. The House of the Spirits (1982) by Isabel Allende (Chilean, 1942- )
66. So Long a Letter (1979) by Mariama Ba (Senegalese, 1929-1981)
98. Half a Lifelong Romance (1948) by Eileen Chang (Chinese-American, 1920-1995)
Check out: More fun statistics!
