That is the question.
Obvious recency bias with some of the authors who made the list.
I’ve never heard of #3, Roald Dahl.
The schools probably don’t teach Shakespeare much any more, so how can he be a statistical favorite? Chances are they teach one work by Shakespeare, if that. Instead they bring in low-brow popularizing works. You know, the ones the students can or will or have seen on video. After all, they reason, “they have to keep the kids “engaged.” The truth is the teachers themselves have been schooled the same way, so this is all they know. If they do know different, the administrators present them with official, approved and dictated reading lists.
A sin to have left off Dickens, (and where is Kipling?).
Jane Austen, although deserving of high honor, I think rises and falls over the years - she has lately been "rediscovered" and a new generation has fallen in love with her - which is a good thing.
JK Rawling - great storyteller, not great literature.
Reminded me of rock stations that survey their listeners for best all-time albums. You will always get Allmans at Fillmore East and Abbey Road in the top ten, but No. 1 will be whatever is HOT that year.
1976 "Frampton Comes Alive" took the No. 1 slot, 5 years later it was AC/DC and Frampton had slid way down. Abbey Road and Allmans was still in the top ten (and always have been).
Austen, Shakespeare, CS Lewis will ALWAYS be top ten, no atter the generation, (but where the hell is Dickens!?)
Shakespeare’s problem might be that doubts have been cast about the authorship of some of his works.
An list made up by the profoundly ignorant.
England is dead.
ping
Reminds me of a on old quote from Steven King (he may be a liberal kook, but he gets it right on occasion). When an interviewer referred to him as the greatest American writer of all time. His reply was, "No I'm not. My work is the literary equivalent of the McDonalds Cheeseburger. People love McDonald's cheeseburgers; they purchase and consume billions of them every year. But the greatest meal of all time? Not even close."
In two hundred years no one will know who JK Rowling’s is - but they’ll still be reading Shakespear...
If Shakespeare is fourth, who is third?!
Shakespeare?
Conspiracy theorist and purveyor of fake news, unless you actually believe in a trio of witches.
What, no Ian Fleming?
Who at Amazon, voted? The board of directors? Is the word “voted” being morphed into something else? The article doesn’t say anything about how this outcome originated, other than “voted” and “Amazon”. If this is the result of book sales on Amazon, there are many easier and more informative ways of getting that point across. So far, all we know is that a decision at Amazon was made, and these are the results.
Jane Austen would top my list also. I have never much cared for Shakesphere, hard to read honestly.
And no mention of Enid Blyton ??? Oh that’s right. She wrote ‘racist’ books for children.
Jane Austin’s zombie book definitely has its place.