The Telegraph has a feature on the “50 Best Cult Books” (via So Many Books). I thought the comments on the feature were interesting, given I had never heard of most of the books mentioned by commenters, and as they are supposed to be cult books, it stands to reason I’d have heard of at least some of them. I don’t pretend to be up on the latest all the time, but I’m no slouch when it comes to books. Of the books mentioned in the article, I have read the following:
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
I find it peculiar that the Harry Potter series and Lord of the Rings were not included. I should think that both fit the article’s rather vague definition of cult books.
In non-related news, I increased the font on this blog slightly, but found that doing it too much broke my template. It would seem that the font size would need to be tweaked in a number of places, which is a project that will have to wait for the summer. If you have trouble reading the font, you can try increasing the font in your browser. I apologize for the inconvenience, but it would seem the creator of my template or theme didn’t take eyestrain into consideration. Look for some improvements in a couple of months.
Image credit: Nick Today.
That was interesting that Lord of the Rings wasn't on the list. Harry Potter, very popular to be sure, but I'm not certain that he has reached cult status yet. I think we have to give it a few more years.