13 Books "No One" Has Read
 

Did you see the list of novels people claim they've read but no one actually has? I thought it might be fun to run it down here.


The list:

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville

Ulysses by James Joyce

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

Don Quixote by Cervantes

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

I actually have read four of those.

I am only at three.

I haven't read "Hamlet", either
 

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

Yes and somewhere in my basement I have an old lp of highlights read in the correct pronunciation. You're so attracted to that, aren't you.

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville

Blech, no.

Ulysses by James Joyce

I should.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Yes but only once because it was assigned. Since I am practically contemporaneous with Bob Cratchitt, this was a really long time ago.

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

No and probably never will.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Life is too short to read this book.

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

Barely even heard of it.

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

No and I heart physicists but ... no.

Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust

YES! and en français as Dieu intended. All the volumes. I used to have a poster of a diagrammed Proust sentence in my office. That and the Chaucer record make you want me, don't they.

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

Yes. Loved it, loved the movie.

Don Quixote by Cervantes

Most unread classic there is. If it were from France, I would have read it. Since it is from Spain, I have not.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Not from France, either. Plus, three times I have tried to read Crime and Punishment and three times I have given up in boredom. No Russian novels.

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

No but I loved "The Sound and the Fury". I should read this one.

A lot of Canterbury Tales, about a third of Don Quixote, all of Christmas Carol, Moby Dick, The Name of the Rose and A Brief History of Time (which is short and painless, so there's no reason not to read it). Haven't read War and Peace yet, but I kind of want to. Same with Satanic Verses. Not on this list, but I've been through the unabridged Les Miserables twice.

I've always been a big reader and never read most of the above (though of course I am familiar with most of them from movie versions or via discussions elsewhere).

I've been through the not-on-this-list unabridged Les Miserables (back in junior high school!). I'm interested in reading the Satanic Verses (mostly because of the controversy, and because I just heard about it again on Christopher Hutchins' "God is not great:How religion poisons everything."

I've started Moby Dick but never finished. And you couldn't pay me to read A Christmas Carol or anything else by Charles Dickens. So boring. (Well, I take that back, you COULD pay me, lol).

Hawking's History of Time does not belong on that list. It is completely accessible, IMHO. If you're even partially interested, go for it.

I read Satanic Verses in high school. I was a library TA and someone donated the book to the library. The librarian didn't add it to the collection, mostly because we had very little room to add anything. My interest was peaked due to the controversy, so I borrowed it and sped through it without understanding one lick of it.

Christmas Carol was ok. Tried multiple times to read Quixote, couldn't get far. Read about half of Moby Dick but eventually realized I had no interest at all in continuing. The rest I never even felt like trying.

Call me Ishmael

I've read six, and parts of three others. (Satanic Verses, Remembrance and Ulysses). A Christmas Carol is one of my favorite stories, although it's not a not a novel technically.


Don Quixote, much like Candide, has a special place in my mind. Hardly a week goes by when someone or something happens that reminds me of either book. A lot of the books listed were required reading in HS and college, but Hawking and Tolstoy are both authors I very much enjoy reading, even if quite a bit of Hawking's material is difficult for me to truly comprehend. I also loved Carl Sagan, and have nearly all of his published works. I wish they'd been my science instructors- I would have liked science a good deal more in school.

Oh how I love Candide.