The Wombat File Is Yours to Keep

Here's a lame question, but a question:

On Peter Boxall's "List of 1000 Books You Must Read Before You Die," two authors are tied for "first place" with the most entries in the list.

Name either author.

Bonus: How many entries does each author have in the list?

Double Bonus: How many works by Douglas Adams made the list?

Hemingway

Fitzgerald

Dickens

Faulkner

Douglas Adams = 1

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Happy New Year Everybody!

Dickens is correct for one of the authors (the other, of course, is J.M. Coetzee).

The bonuses are still up for grabs (your guess of '1' for Douglas Adams is wrong).

Right. I was thinking there were 100 books not 1000. Add another one to Adams (So Long and Thanks for All the Fish -- ?). Dickens would have Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol, possibly Hard Times, Nicholas Nickleby, Mystery of Edwin Drood, I'm sure I'm forgetting something major here. Let's Guess 7 (out of 1000). Who is J. M. Coetzee?

You mean YOU, an educated, intelligent citizen of letters, doesn't know who JM Coetzee is?

Yeah, me neither. However, 7 is not correct. I'll throw out "Our Mutual Friend" as one of the 1001 books YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU DIE.

I'm guessing Bleak House and or David Copperfield are on the Dickens list. Along with Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend (though it's a great book, I admit the choice surprises me). Long shot: The Pickwick Papers. If Drood or Oliver Twist make the list, I'll eat my hat before I die.

This list is, from what I gather, a list of books that most have shaped the evolution of the novel.

I don't understand why it's called '1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die,' but it is.

Let's see. I've asked for the number of books Dickens had on the list - Art guessed 7; Bill, I'll interpolate, guesses 5. Both are low.

The correct guesses so far:

Our Mutual Friend
Great Expectations
A Tale of Two Cities
Hard Times
Bleak House
David Copperfield
A Christmas Carol
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
Oliver Twist

(Sorry about Oliver!, wombat).

So the total is higher than 9.

Also, Douglas Adams - Art's inplied guess of 2 is ALSO LOW.

I agree the list is stupid.

OK. Add "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" -- I think that's what it's called, raising the Adams total to 3 (I'm sure this is a trick question and maybe there was a very late 4th book in the series, but I don't know it).

As for Dickens, well, let me guess 10. But I don't actually know a 10th book right now.

There is a similar list for movies -- the "before you die" adendum is creeping me out a bit.

Yes, on both counts.

Adams has 3 books:

The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Dickens (and Coetzee) each have ten. Dickens' tenth book you must read before you die is:

Martin Chuzzlewit.

John Steinbeck has 3 entries (East of Eden didn't make it).
HG Wells has 5.
Jeanette Winterson has 4 (you go, list! Sex that cherry!).

'The list' has really shown me how wrong my own relative rankings of literature has been.

Here's the list:
http://www.listology.com/content_show.cfm/content_id.22845/Books
Here's wikipedia's writeup:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1001_Books_You_Must_Read_Before_You_Die

Thanks Boxjam --

That was interesting. I think I've read about 70 to 75 with another 10 or 15 on my shelf, either attempted or purchased with intent. I guess I have a lot of reading to do...

Assuming I live to be 75.3, I have to read 30 books a year.

How's Australia, anyway? How's married life treating you?

You make me realize there are a whole lot of excellent movies I need to watch.

[Warning: homophilic content]: you introduced me to "It's a Wonderful Life" and I'll always remember it[/whc]