Facebook has discovered its users 100 most influential books by analyzing data from a viral meme.
The year-old meme was a simple request: Ask friends to list, in their status, 10 books that have "stayed with [them] in some way."
"Don't take more than a few minutes and don't think too hard. They do not have to be the 'right' books or great works of literature, just ones that have affected you in some way," the directions specified.
Thousands of users participated, giving the social media site access to more than 130,000 status updates from the last two weeks of August 2014.
Facebook employees Lada Admaic and Pinkesh Patel detailed their research through a Facebook post, published Monday.
The demographics of those posting were as follows: 63.7% were in the US, followed by 9.3% in India, and 6.3% in the UK. Women outnumbered men 3.1:1. The average age was 37. We therefore expect the books chosen to be reflective of this subset of the population.
Unsurprisingly, the Harry Potter series topped the list, having sold more than 400 million copies worldwide and catapulting a cult-like fan base. Other fantasy novels dominated, including Lord of the Rings (3) and The Chronicles of Narnia (10). Several classics made the cut, from Little Women (13) to Catch 22 (68), as well as a few children's classics like Matilda (96) and Where the Sidewalk Ends (77). And, of course, best-selling Young Adult novels like The Fault in Our Stars (42) made the list.
Interestingly enough, George R.R. Martin's series A Song of Ice and Fire only snagged spot 79, despite the enormous popularity of the TV show. And (thankfully) 50 Shades of Grey was nowhere to be found...
Check out the list below and the Facebook post for the final 50 books and additional data.
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11. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
12. 1984 by George Orwell
13. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
14. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
15. The Stand by Stephen King
16. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
17. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
18. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
19. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
20. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
21. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
22. The Giver by Lois Lowry
23. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
24. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
25. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
26. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
27. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
28. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
29. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
30. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
31. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
32. Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
33. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
34. Animal Farm by George Orwell
35. The Book of Mormon
36. The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
37. Dune by Frank Herbert
38. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
39. The Autobiography of Malcolm X
40. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
41. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
42. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
43. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
44. Lamb by Christopher Moore
45. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
46. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
47. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
48. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
49. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
50. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
BONUS: 16 Books to Read Before the Movie Versions Come Out
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