In honor of the forums' redesign and reorganization back into a more trivia-based site, I thought we could start a thread with some trivia about either books or authors! Help me find some really obscure or interesting facts about the world of literature.

For instance, did you know that the novel, "Atlas Shrugged" (by Any Rand) is, according to an American Library of Congress survey from 1991, the book which had most influenced American lives after the Bible?

This one is not necessarily about a particular book or author, but I believe it is relevant nonetheless.

The most influential person over the last 1000 years, according to a list compiled by the US cable network A&E, is Johann Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press in the 15th century.

When I heard who was #1, I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it myself.

Makes complete sense, though, doesn't it?! I heard the same list and was pleasantly surprised at who was #1. When, you think about it, his contribution is what made all of what we know as literature come into being!

I was shocked---and I can't remember who compiled it---that the greatest book of all time was "Ulysses" by James Joyce. I guess it's all a matter of a group opinion but I couldn't get beyond page 10 of that one. The rest of the list seemed OK. I think they even had "The Great Gatsby" on there .

Vist the following site and it gives lists upon lists of the "best" science fiction, the "best" children's books etc. I love lists myself, and use them as future ideas for books to read.

http://listsofbests.com/lists/1/

This is a pretty obscure factoid:

Of the top 10 books on the ALA's list of most banned between 1990 and 2000, I read 7 of them while I was school-aged, 6 for school projects. An 8th is actually a series of books, several of which I also read during that time. The other two are children's books that were published after I graduated from high school. It's interesting to me the books which people want banned, and it interests me even further that so many of the books on this list are ones which, when I was in school, (not that long ago, really,) were required reading. Scrolling further down the list, I see an astounding collection of names, and this list actually causes me to think fondly of all the great books I read as a child. Judy Blume, Lois Lowry, Roald Dahl and Shel Silverstein (?!?!?) all make the list. And wouldn't the do-gooders who are succeeding in banning these books have a fit if they knew that #23, a personal favorite of mine, I read to my daughter when she was 3 months old. (A Wrinkle in Time is a great way to start corrupting young minds early.)

But seriously. Ok, probably not that obscure to most of you, but the same artist who created the opening theme to Mystery! on PBS also designed the jacket artwork and illustrations for a large number of children's books by John Bellairs. I'm sure most of you know I'm talking about Edward Gorey, who's name, I always thought, was apropos.

Well, I live in America, and I can't say I see much influence from Atlas Shrugged...we're still headed inevitably toward socialism, and the book was all about the danger of socialism.

Skylarb, I've got to agree with you there. I'm so little influenced by Atlas Shrugged that I haven't even been able to finish reading it.

Lothruin, do you have a link to that list? I'm interested to see what's on it.

Here ya go

Wow, it seems that all a book needs to do to get on that list is to actually address real topics. There are a few there that I wouldn't like (as a parent) to see on an elementary school's shelves, but not many. Any that I know anyhting about, I'd have no problem with in a high school. My own kids have read a fair number of these books.

It also comes down to own personal opinions. What is an excellent book to one person could be the next person's trash. I remember working at a bookstore and doing display windows of the banned books, especially the children's books and it would get a huge response. People could not imagine why such and such would be banned, they loved it as a child. Stephen King books were very big, but I remember in Washington State schools actually petitioning to have books like "Snow Falling on Cedars"; "Bridge to Terabithia" etc banned, two books I've read and loved.

The thing about lists, I think, is that they are all formed by a usually specific panel (or person) with a general intention in mind. I used to run bookstores and we always had, as per my directive, a "Banned Book" display. Most were just stunned at what was there on it. And that was what I wanted to spark. It's not OK to talk about slaves in "Uncle Tom's Cabin"? It's not OK to talk about troubled youth in "Catcher In The Rye"? It's not OK to talk about someone mentally challenged in "To Kill A Mockingbird"? I found that all incredibly sad because those characters represented something so I thought my display was just fine. Read it and if you don't want your children to that's up to you. But the chance should be given to learn.

Here's another interesting tidbit I've picked up...

Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book published in each category of the dewey decimal system (i.e. the 100's, 200's, 300's, etc...)

The one that really gets me is Harry Potter. Banned because it has "pagan" themes! Never mind that the series is teaching a new generation of children (and some adults) what the wonderful world of books contains! Would they rather kids didn't read at all?

Couldn't help but notice that Tolkien wasn't on that list. His wizards must be acceptable. Either that or the people deciding what books to ban have actually read Tolkien

Either THAT or Tolkein hadn't quite reached it's peak in recent popularity yet. I'd be interested in seeing what lists since the release of the movies have to say. Tolkein has forever been popular among certain sets, but hasn't enjoyed threateningly public popularity until covers of the books had Elijah Wood on them.

But were kids interested in Tolkein before LOTR's recent blockbuster? I don't know about Europe, but here adolescents were hardly even aware it existed before the movies, so there was hardly a reason to ban it. (Within the schools, at least). In fact, my friends and I probably would have hunted it down to read if we'd heard of the unfamiliar title's banning.

My church youth group is actually beginning a unit on parallel themes in LOTR & the Bible. Apparently they've got enough material to expand the curriculum over the course of a full year! Quite a contrast from how you might expect a church to react...at least in the traditional sense. Practically blasphemous.

I don't read a lot of sci-fi (and don't want to interrupt or change the subject) but I was reviewing those lists again and there was one about books written by women. Just had to add that I read it and was shocked again! "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" by Betty Smith didn't make the list! And "Rubyfruit Jungle" DID? They were both enjoyable books but I thought "Brooklyn" was simply a classic. Lists. They make me crazy .

But, anyway...back to the sci fi dialogue .

Peg, you seem to have taken some insult from my statement. I live in the US, and that list is from the American Library Association, so the relative popularity of the book in the states has everything to do with it. Please don't misconstrue my statement as a slight against Tolkien or his works. I'd be the last person to do that. But, at least in the US, Tolkien's works have never enjoyed the popularity they do now, or, as near as I can tell, anywhere near it. Where the banning of books in the US is concerned, Tolkien, rarely a part of public school curriculum and only recently enjoying wide-spread popularity among younger readers, probably was not much of a threat during the years in which that list was compiled, even if one DID choose to find something threatening in his works, which many people do not. (Though I do know several fundamentalist Christians, close friends of mine, who DO think LOTR is sinful, but they do not like ANYthing which has ANY reference to anything that might even be mistaken for occult, and are, I think extreme in their views.)

I myself am a great fan of Tolkien. My mother read me the Hobbit and the trilogy when I was three, and by the time I hit highschool (I graduated in 1994, in the middle of the decade during which that list was compiled,) I had read them for myself at least five times, and had expanded (how can you not?) to having read quite a few of his other works. I have an extensive collection, and have even begun reading stories like Farmer Giles of Ham to my toddler. Many of my close friends in high school had read them as well but they were like-minded people, and a lot of other people I know either hadn't ever even heard of Tolkien or had no desire to read anything by him because of the genre and the weight of the books. And more of the people I know now, in my work and elsewhere, have seen the movies than have read the books. I am, like you, a purist and, like you, find it sad that so many people are only now discovering his works, and worse yet, that the movies may be their only experience with them. But in the states, it seems, that is just the way it is.

You probably haven't heard of Eugene Sue, but back in the 19th Century he was a bestseller in his native France. And here's a macabre anecdote about him: his mistress wrote in her will that he was to bind a book in her skin after she died. AND HE DID!!!!!

tjoeb};>

Lothruin, oh no, no that is not what I meant, I mean I didn't take offence or thought you meant something bad or anything like that ... keep in mind English is not my native language, sometimes I muck up with the "tone" of my posts ... what I meant was that over here he is a regular read, that's all. Well more than regular really, it is more like a part of your growing up, your education in a way, it is rare that people haven't read it. I know all of my English friends have and I think most of them are even insulted if you ask them if they have, they take it for granted.

Ah lovely, another JRRT fan ... I am a huge fan, read pretty much everything there is, including HoME, lost count of how many times really. I do feel sad indeed that people will actually settle for watching the movies, rather than reading, I cannot understand how movies can be a better experience ... their loss but a big one.

Interesting that you mention that people do find fault with LotR ... you see here every Christian I know, even some very very, how do you say that, strong believers (?) think it is a very pro - Christian work, and love it very much. I guess one can get carried away sligtly when they see magic and wizards and all but when they dig a bit deeper it is obvious it is not the kind of magic like in HP. I suppose that angers me in a way, thinking the worst right away, a priori to any kind of real thought and reflection.

Anyway, sorry if I sounded a bit out there ... I guess I am passionate about Tolkien ... plus I was waiting for soccer!