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AOL's 10 BOOKS TO READ BEFORE YOU DIE

Did you see that list on AOL? It sounded like an advertisement because it certainly wasn't a list of must-reads. Supposedly it was from a popular opinion poll on Netscape. Once again we have proof that the general public is not well-educated

#10 on the list was The Bible which was explained as the best selling book of all time, all languages included. I once had a professor decades ago remark that college students did not know Biblical references the way they used to and that much of western literature has Biblical references central to its core meaning. Imagine that it's far worse today. I won't argue with that choice. In fact, people of faith will argue that it should be number one, not ten.
Number one was no doubt entertaining. Gone With The Wind may be historically accurate and have memorable characters. But it's hardly one of the best books.
The list also included two Dan Brown books, reputedly inaccurate and very faddish amongst people who don't know any better. Also on the list was Harry Potter, which is also an entertaining book, but not a must read.
It included a Stephen King novel and The Lord of the Rings. Personally, I thought The Hobbit better than the trilogy. I don't nomally like fantasy, but I was engaged by the struggle between good and evil. I've only read two books in one sitting in my whole life; one was The Hobbit and one was Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (the basis of a Steve Martin movie). Good but not top 10. Wharton was excellent but not top ten either.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand made the list--big surprise, but it probably belongs in the top 50. Same for Catcher in the Rye, a really good book.
Other than The Bible, the only one I would keep on the top ten list would be To Kill A Mockingbird.
How could The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, proclaimed as the greatest American novel, not make the list? Choosing others would be difficult as there are so many good ones from which to choose that are far weightier than the ones that did make the list.
Doestovesky's Crime and Punishment, Flaubert's Madame Bovary, Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, any Shakespeare play, Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, or Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Or books by George Eliot, or Bronte, or Hugo? Or Socrates, Aristoltle, or Bunyan?
I like to read Baldacci, Grisham and Nicholas Sparks, but they know they're not great literary writers who will stand in time. And I'd never put them on a list to read BEFORE YOU DIE.
Please, America, read a classic once in a while. It would be good for you.