>From Publishers Lunch Today
Poll Asks, Name Your Favorite Book
Harris Interactive surveyed American adults to find out “What is your favorite book of all time?”
The answers:
1. The Bible
2. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
3. Lord of the Rings (series), by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
5. The Stand, by Stephen King
6. The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
7. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
8. Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown
9. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
10. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
Are any of your all-time favorite books on this list? What makes a book stand the test of time? Obvious to me, the BIBLE has stood firm because it is as relevant today as it was in its original Hebrew and Greek. People still need the Lord.
What about the other books? Will they be relevant in fifty years? A hundred? What about the classics—Homer, Hemingway, Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Jane Austen, The Bronte sisters? Do people read those anymore? Have they been left behind on dusty library shelves? Just wondering. . . Feel free to chime in and tell me what you think.