SoylentNews

One or more Anonymous Cowards write in with two related stories:

Firstly, eight science fiction classics, including Dune and The Lord of the Rings, have earned a spot on a list of "100 Books to Read in a Lifetime" as chosen by the book editors at Amazon.

"Over many months, the team passionately debated and defended the books we wanted on this list," explains their editorial director, noting that the "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams was a near miss. Other books included were "A Wrinkle in Time" and "The Hunger Games", as well as at least six free public domain classic books.

But one reporter notes that the list also includes both children's classics like "Where the Wild Things Are" and "House at Pooh Corner", as well as Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" ("We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold...").

Secondly, a related story notes that the popular meme relating to the BBC's "100 Books" list is a giant hoax.

"The BBC believes you only read 6 of these books" reads the headline on countless Facebook posts, forum comments, and web pages. But it's a hoax, conflating a 2007 list from Britain's Guardian newspaper (which had simply asked their readers to name which books "they can't live without").

The readers selected The Lord of the Rings trilogy and books from the Harry Potter series - but one reporter notes that the entertaining list is skewed heavily toward British authors. Six of the 100 books were written by Charles Dickens and four by Jane Austen - while not a single book on the list was written by Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, or William Faulkner."

From these lists it does seem clear that The Lord of the Rings remains popular.