18 Jul 2015

NOT HARRY POTTER!

What am I?
  • I've been translated into 50 different languages
  • There are approximately 400 different editions of me
  • Over three billion copies have been printed
  • My closest runner-up is the King James Bible.
Yes, I'm the Koran.

Ranked by lovereading.com as the most popular book of all time, The Koran is followed by ...

(Number of copies in brackets, book I've read in red)
  • The King James Bible (2.5 billion) 
  • Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, Mao Zedong (800 million) 
  • Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes (500 million)
  • Harry Potter series, JK Rowling (450 million)
  • A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens (200 million)  
  • The Lord Of The Rings, JRR Tolkien (150 million)
  • The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery (140 million) - Read my review here
    Alice In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll; Dream Of The Red Chamber, Cao Xueqin; The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien (100 million).
To view the rest of the top thirty books of all time (of which I've read the below) click here.

(Positions on the list in brackets prior to the book title)
  • (14) The Lion, The Witch And the Wardrobe (85 million)
  • (15) The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (80 million)
  • (16) The Catcher In The Rye, JD Salinger (65 million)
  • (18) Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, Jules Verne (60 million)
  • (22) The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle; (23) To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee (30 million)
  • (25) Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell (25 million)
  • (27) The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain (20 million)
  • (30) Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe (9 million).
Hmm, 15 out of 30. Not too bad. What about you, which have you read?

14 comments:

brandileigh2003 said...

Interesting, I thought bible would be top? Maybe if not just counting one translation?

LL Cool Joe said...

Yeah I read this in the newspaper yesterday. I thought the Bible would be top too.

Kelly said...

Add me as one who would have thought the Bible was at the top, too.

A couple on the list I can't remember if I read (years ago) or not, but I'm afraid I can only claim about a third of them.

Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...

Hi Tracy,

There must be something sadly lacking in my education, as I have only ever read a few titles off of this list and that mostly the children's classic titles, which I read way back in my youth :)

I do keep promising myself that I will check out a few more of the vintage classic titles, but then another review request lands on my desk and that idea gets put onto the back burner yet again! My top three Must Reads' from the list would be 'To Kill A Mockingbird', 'The Catcher In The Rye' and 'The Tale Of Two Cities'

I don't think I am that surprised that the Koran is more popular than the Bible. Personally, I am not of any religious persuasion, however I have come to the conclusion that just maybe some of the moral and cultural issues we seem to have as a society, might benefit from a resurgence of religious faith, or some cohesive ideology which will unite us as a population and we should all definitely be more patriotic than we are!

Have a good Sunday and I hope that the terrible reports of rain and flooding we have been hearing about up north, haven't made it down as far as you :)

Yvonne

anilkurup59 said...

The very reason that the Koran has such a huge print in comparison to real literary treasures you mentioned shows that man is still lacking something that is vital for intelligence.
While honestly saying that I'm not prejudiced , there is nothing in Koran that is not flicked, and repacked from the Old Testament and the Bible besides perhaps oriental religions.
It is man's insecurity and the promise of something fantastic in after life that beelines so many to Koran.

Anne@HeadFullofBooks said...

I;ve read 19 of the 30 except I didn't read the King James version of the Bible, I read a different translation.

Revd. Neal Terry said...

OOohhh courting controversy Anil!
I'll go one step further and anger the Potterite worshippers of the blessed St. J.K.. The fact of Harry Potter being anywhere near this list is my sadness. Such trite plagiarised writing amongst classic works of literature indicates nothing but the triumph of marketing over quality. Is this our intelligence Anil? To be sucked in by the tenets of free market economics and be defined by our capacity for consumption?

Brian Joseph said...

I love these lists. I have only read 12 of the 30.

I was kind of surprised that She: A History Of Adventure ranked so high. I guess it was a really popular book at one time.

Barbara said...

Hi Tracy, I've read 13 of them so a little way to go yet. Some of my favourite books are included in the list so that's nice. Hope you are having a good weekend. Barbara x

Alexia561 said...

How interesting! I would never have guessed the Koran, but it makes sense if you think about it. Sadly, I haven't read very many on the list either. High School English class really soured me on reading the do-called classics and I much prefer my urban fantasy! :)

Shooting Stars Mag said...

I was thinking The Bible, but the Koran makes sense too. I haven't read a lot of these, I have to admit...

Harry Potter series
The Hobbit
The Catcher in the Rye
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Adventures of Huck Finn

-Lauren

Literary Feline said...

Let's see . . . I have read 14 from the list. :-)

Gina said...

Surprising yet not. Religion has a further reach than most things. As for the other fab reads on the list, I've read 12. ^-^ I'm good with that...for now.

Bo said...

I ended up with 10 on the list. I've never been a gig fan of The Classics, although I do love Jane Austen. Hubby is always trying to get me to read more literature, but I prefer reading as a means of escaping to somewhere fantastical or fun. So, I've read most of the fantasy titles on the list. I was a little surprised by The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but I have read it.