Curious results from a reading poll

[tree_and_leaf]

Reuters have a poll which claims to show that the Bible is America's favourite book, followed by The Lord of the Rings. Gone with the Wind does very well too, as does Harry Potter and The Stand.

I'm inclined to put down the high rating of the Bible either to people thinking that's the answer they ought to give, or possibly to polling people who don't actually read all that much. Which is possibly overly cynical of me, and possibly also related to the fact that I don't actually think of the Bible as a single book, and thus picking it strikes me as a bit of a cop-out (I'm not also sure I'd think of picking it; it seems odd to put it in that category. I wouldn't think of picking the BCP or Common Worship, either, even though they, like the Bible, are things I read most days - and really ought to read every day, except I struggle to do so).

The breakdowns of second place are actually more interesting. LotR is the second favourite among men, and also comes out top for Easterners. For women and Southerners, it's Gone With the Wind (actually, that worries me a bit, though it also reminds me of Hermann Kant's Die Aula, where there is a running gag about the protagonist, a thirty-something intellectual Communist who likes to think of himself as a Tough and Manly guy, but who nevertheless is mildly obsessed with GwtW); Westerners like The Stand, the under thirties tended to list Harry Potter

Me? My mind goes blank when asked to pick a favourite book. How can you have one favourite?

Actually, that may also explain why the Bible rates so highly. If put to me in terms of 'you can only read one book for the rest of your life', then I'd probably pick it, too. Though I'm not entirely sure life would be worth living on those terms!

ETA: Aargh! Closes tag.

Comments

[azdak.livejournal.com]

Lord, two Dan Brown books in the top ten. I have to admit, though, that I find it hard to quarrel with the inclusion of To Kill a Mockingbird.

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes, the popularity of Dan Brown continues to boggle me. I dare say there are people who would say the same thing about Tolkien, but they're wrong (it's my journal and I shall be rude if I want to!)

... I am ashamed to admit that I've never read "To Kill a Mockingbird". I really must do one of these days.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Hm. Gone with the Wind and Lord of the Rings, together with the Bible, all contributing to the United States's underlying foundation myth?

[azdak.livejournal.com]

To Kill a Mockingbird is wonderful, absolutely wonderful. It's an amazing evocation of childhood, and of a vanished way of life, and although the trial scenes are very over-simplified (necessarily, given the child's perspective), the rest of the book is marvellous.

[trude.livejournal.com]

Yes, the popularity of Dan Brown continues to boggle me.

In a similar British poll a couple of years ago, one of Jeffrey Archer's novels made the top hundred. That...did bring out the book snob in me.

[sangerin.livejournal.com]

I'm actually surprised LotR is that high. I suspect the movies influenced that: Tolkein really is terribly British... (I still haven't managed to get through it). But I may be wrong there.

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

I imagine that lots of people say the Bible because they feel they *should*, and I wonder how many people have actually read Gone with the Wind rather than seeing the film. I was interested that people were allowed to choose the Harry Potter series, in the same way that they were allowed to pick the Northern Lights trilogy in other polls.

[mrstater.livejournal.com]

I'm one of those cynics who thinks people always pick the Bible because they should. Probably because I feel guilty that I've never listed the Bible on a favorite books list, lol.

[prelud.livejournal.com]

I think very few of those people ever actually read the whole Bible. Do they really love Leviticus or Deuteronomy so much?
Me, I can only name my favorite books of the Bible: Psalms, Job, Ecclesiastes, the Gospels.
There are some OT books I would hate to read again and again for the rest of my life, if I was sentenced to that.

And Dan Brown? DAN BROWN? *screams, weeps*

I loved LotR since I was 14, read it first in Czech translation, later in original. But to choose it as the one favourite? How can one have one favourite book?

If I could read only one hundred books for the rest of my life, maybe I could come up with a list.
Wait, one hundred authors - that would be better...
I`m rambling. Sorry about that.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Check what I said below. The most overwhelmingly succesful cartoonist in the history of comics clearly did in fact "love Deuteronomy or Leviticus that much". To argue that something does not happen because it seems unlikely to you is rather unwise.

[rustica.livejournal.com]

I guess that, to anyone who is Christian, the Bible is the Haines manual* of life. So, even if you didn't intend to read it cover to cover for fun, you'd still need it for the day you get that nasty clonking from under the bonnet...


*Haines manuals are *the* technical guides to cars. Everything from how to check the oil to the different sizes of spanner you need to strip it down to the chassis. Every piece of technical info you could ever need, in one place. So I'm told.

[el-staplador.livejournal.com]

It strikes me that three of those are very... long. Now, I would be tempted to go for The Count of Monte Cristo because it's so long that there is an awful lot of good stuff in it. On the other hand, I gave up on Gone with the Wind because it bored me to tears, so maybe that's not the reason long books make the list. Perhaps it's just that they look impressive to have hanging around.

At the moment I'm very keen on Antony and Cleopatra, having just reread it. Depends on circs methinks.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Where the Bible is concerned, you underrate a certain kind of American. Have you ever read a few volumes of Charles M.Schulz's Peanuts? If you read it through - which is much the best way of reading it, as Mort Walker realized long ago - you will find after a while that Biblical quotations, imitations and situations are constant, and they tend to outnumber non-biblical ones by a significant factor. The only figure quoted as extensively as the Bible is Beethoven, and there is an evident underlying irony in Schulz's use of him, however admiring, that is never there when he quotes or comments on Biblical passages. What is more, it is done with a kind of quiet convinction, an underlying assumption that everyone will just understand what he is talking about - that normal people read the Bible as they read their newspaper, perhaps more often. Schulz claimed to have read the Bible cover to cover at least four times, and, on the evidence of his work, I believe him.