Upon further reflection...

A comment from a lurker (you know who you are) prompted me to re-think two of our choices. We opted to exclude William Shakespeare from consideration because he wrote plays, not books. But we included the Bible, because it is so deeply ingrained in our culture. On reflection, if one should read the Bible whether one is religious or not just because of it cultural impact, then one should also read Shakespeare for the same reason.

How on earth did we choose these books?

The comment we've been hearing most often is "How on earth did you whittle all the world's great literature down to a mere ten books?" OK-perhaps not worded exactly that way, but the gist is, what criteria did you use? So, here is our methodology.
First, we started with the titles that were submitted by staff. From those titles, we eliminated the few titles that have not yet withstood the test of time. There were not many, but those we eliminated. Then we looked seriously at the titles that had been submitted by more than one person. But even then, we were looking at more than 10 books. Some titles were favored by one or the other committee person, so we discussed and each gave in on a title or two. Finally, we metaphorically threw darts at all the titles pasted on a dartboard, and thereby decided the final choices. Very scientific, no?

Why 10 Books?

We were inspired to ask the Library staff for their choices for 10 Books to Read Before You Die by an article on AOL. When we read AOL's list, we thought "Hmm, wonder what our staff would come up with?" So, we asked, and we received a very enthusiastic response. So then we said 'Hmm, wonder what our patrons would come up with?". This is how we thought we could find out. Just post your picks as a comment-what could be easier?

Merrick Library Staff's Picks

We had 121 entries. Some titles had multiple votes. From that list the committee chose 10 books. There will surely be disagreements, and that's good. Discussion is what we aim for. If you have books you think are better candidates, please let us know by posting a comment. Meanwhile, our final list can be found to the right.

Links to the Catalog

In case readers would like to check the Merrick Library catalog for the Books to Read before You Die here are the links:

1984

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

The Bible

The Catcher in the Rye

Charlotte's Web

The Great Gatsby

The Jungle Books

Pride and Prejudice

To Kill a Mockingbird