posted September 12, 2013 10:48 AM              

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books

I am truly beyond speechless. With the exception of The Lord of the Rings (and its prequel the Hobbit), Gone With the Wind, famous works of classic American and British literature such as Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and A Tale of Two Cities, recent mega bestsellers such as The Da Vinci Code and Twilight, and many books with more famous movie adaptations such as Jaws and To Kill a Mocking Bird, less than half of the books I listed I NEVER HEARD OFF BEFORE.

And this includes at least 75% of the things originally published in English on the list. Not once have I ever knew of the existence of The Eagle Has Landed or Kane and Abel before I glanced the list.

And I am by today's standards a well-read person (esp. when you consider I am neither an intellectual nor well-educated and I actually HATE READING). I have on my Goodreads account over 100 Books in my Read List, including classics such as Gone With the Wind and the Red Badge of Courage. I even read that long doorstopper The Lord of the Rings (now my favorite book of all time <3).

But to realize I don't even know most of the Bestselling works of all time in English was alreadya shock to me. Nevermind all the foreign works. It just truly shocked me beyond words that the bestselling French book of all time is a children's book called Little Prince and its not any of Dumas' classics or Victor Hugo's works or any other French novel that has gained fame to a limited extent in English circles such as Larteguay's Les Centurions. A CHILDREN'S STORY! And France is so famed and appreciated all over the world for its sophisticated classics...........

Even what left me further more speechless was the fact this French children's book is listed as the 3RD BESTSELLING BOOK OF ALL TIME after A Tale of Two Cities and The Lord of the Rings!

The only foreign-language work of literature on the list I have heard of are War and Peace and Don Quixote. All other listed foreign works to my shock are not books that are frequently stated by Americans as classic masterpieces of literature or with an even more famous American movie adaptation such as The Count of Monte Cristo or Doctor Zhivago or Les Miserables and so forth.

Is anyone here who reads more the general populace shocked as I am that we never heard of even half of the listed English-language bestsellers of all time on Wikipedia's list?

posted September 12, 2013 01:44 PM            

I recognize A LOT of these books, sure there's some that I don't know but I'd say at least 75% I've heard of if not read....