{"id":544,"date":"2024-04-16T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timothypatrickbrown.com\/?p=544"},"modified":"2024-08-08T02:11:18","modified_gmt":"2024-08-08T01:11:18","slug":"200-essential-books-personal-and-provisional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timothypatrickbrown.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/16\/200-essential-books-personal-and-provisional\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 200 Books Of All Time: Personal And Provisional"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>My favourite books of all time. These 200 books would be worth anyone&#8217;s time to read. It&#8217;s personal: it&#8217;s just my opinion and my only qualification to write this list is that I love books. It&#8217;s provisional: the list changes all the time. New books come come in. Old books get reread and re-evaluated. I change. The world changes. The list changes. What doesn&#8217;t change is that every one of the books on these lists are superb (in my provisional and personal opinion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Top 200<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Not every book on the top 200 list is an easy read. Not every book on this list has universal literary merit. Not every book on this list is well written. But I love each and every one of them, in their own special way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" media=\"screen\">\n\n        #top-200 .gr_grid_container {\n          \/* customize grid container div here. eg: width: 500px; *\/\n        }\n\n        #top-200 .gr_grid_book_container {\n          \/* customize book cover container div here *\/\n          float: left;\n          width: 39px;\n          height: 60px;\n          padding: 0px 0px;\n          overflow: hidden;\n        }\n      <\/style>  \n<div id=\"top-200\">  \n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/grid_widget\/172435467.Tim's%20top-200%20book%20montage?cover_size=small&#038;hide_link=true&#038;hide_title=true&#038;num_books=200&#038;order=a&#038;shelf=top-200&#038;sort=random&#038;widget_id=1710038218\" type=\"text\/javascript\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"clear:both;margin-top:10px\" >&nbsp;<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>At the time of writing there are 139 fiction type books split into these genres<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>42 Science Fiction<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>25 Contemporary Fiction<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>24 Literary Fiction<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>16 Fantasy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>12 Historical Fiction<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>9 Romance<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>4 Women&#8217;s Fiction<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>3 Thrillers<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2 Graphic Novels<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2 Poetry Collections<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>And the rest are non-fiction, split into these categories<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>15 Religion<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>15 Biography <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>7 Science<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>6 Psychology<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>5 History<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>3 Philosophy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>3 Business<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>3 Politics<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>3 Essay Collections<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1 Travel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The large number of science fiction books reflects my love of fifties and sixties sci-fi. I read a lot less sci-fi now. Increasingly it&#8217;s contemporary and romantic fiction, with historical and literary fiction thrown in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Top 50<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Every book on the top 50 list is either hugely enjoyable, personally significant or wonderfully thought provoking. Many of them are all three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" media=\"screen\">\n        #top-50 .gr_grid_container {\n          \/* customize grid container div here. eg: width: 500px; *\/\n        }\n\n        #top-50 .gr_grid_book_container {\n          \/* customize book cover container div here *\/\n          float: left;\n          width: 98px;\n          height: 160px;\n          padding: 0px 0px;\n          overflow: hidden;\n        }\n      <\/style>\n      <div id=\"top-50\">\n      <script src=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/grid_widget\/172435467.Tim's%20top-50%20book%20montage?cover_size=medium&#038;hide_link=true&#038;hide_title=true&#038;num_books=200&#038;order=a&#038;shelf=top-50&#038;sort=random&#038;widget_id=1710038343\" type=\"text\/javascript\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"clear:both;margin-top:10px\" >&nbsp;<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Top 10<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>It was super difficult to winnow out all the books I\u2019ve read into the final top 10. Many superb books were left out, and I\u2019m still undecided about the list &#8211; I suspect I\u2019ll be tinkering around with it for months, if not years. What I\u2019m not undecided about is how amazing each book on this list is. They are timely, touching and have stayed with me long after I\u2019ve read (and reread) them. All highly highly recommended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" media=\"screen\">\n        #top-10 .gr_grid_container {\n          \/* customize grid container div here. eg: width: 500px; *\/\n        }\n\n        #top-10 .gr_grid_book_container {\n          \/* customize book cover container div here *\/\n          float: left;\n          width: 147px;\n          height: 240px;\n          padding: 0px 0px;\n          overflow: hidden;\n        }\n\n#top-10 .gr_grid_book_container img {\n width: 147px;\n          height: 240px;\n\t\t}\n      <\/style>\n      <div id=\"top-10\">\n      <script src=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/grid_widget\/172435467.Tim's%20top-10%20book%20montage?cover_size=medium&#038;hide_link=true&#038;hide_title=true&#038;num_books=200&#038;order=a&#038;shelf=top-10&#038;sort=random&#038;widget_id=1710038874\" type=\"text\/javascript\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"clear:both;margin-top:10px\" >&nbsp;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My favourite books of all time. These 200 books would be worth anyone&#8217;s time to read. It&#8217;s personal: it&#8217;s just my opinion and my only qualification to write this list is that I love books. It&#8217;s provisional: the list changes all the time. New books come come in. Old books get reread and re-evaluated. I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-reviews-and-recommends","entry","has-media"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timothypatrickbrown.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Top-200-Books-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timothypatrickbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timothypatrickbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timothypatrickbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timothypatrickbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timothypatrickbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"https:\/\/timothypatrickbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":649,"href":"https:\/\/timothypatrickbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544\/revisions\/649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timothypatrickbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timothypatrickb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