EmperorCaesar:


Do u even know my tribe or am I a citizen of England?

I never talked down on Achebe's works, I only stated what i saw on Quora and what other literary institutions think about Williams works

Not even the Greek could boast of such a great writer that can rival Williams despite their advance years of civilization over England. I would be cool with Achebe ranking by williams side but not above him

Guy no mind them. Reserve breath. Achebe ke. No be only Achebe.

jamesversion:


I am a Child of God. All day long.

Naso

Read, 'A stone for Danny Fisher' by Sydney Sheldon and you will be in a trance.

I clicked on this thread expecting to see Chinua Achebe, and I wasn't disappointed. Of only people understand how great this man was.

These are novels

EmperorCaesar:
Shakespeare books no even dey here

Went to quora to read up on this and they are there arguing about mark twain, ralph emerson but for here, even achebe dey ahead of Williams shakespeare

DARLINGTON869:
Black boy by Richard wright

This brings back memories... I remember reading this as a kid, I should be less than 9 or so. I couldn't understand the hate... Man, memories!

Some novels or fiction books plots, settings and captivating stories so good that,you wonder how the BRITANNICA arrived at this list

TESS OF THE DURBAVILLE by Thomas Hardy

MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE by Thomas Hardy

ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell

HARRY PORTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN by J K Rowlings（the movie developed according to the novel）

THE LORD OF THE RING by J R R Tolkien （the movie developed according to the novel）

THE GOLDFISH HAS NO HIDDEN PLACE by J Hardley Chase

THERE'S ALWAYS A PRICE TAG by James Hardley Chase

NO ORCHIDS FOR MISS BLANDISH by J Hardley Chase

GAME OF THRONE.......by George R Martin （the movie developed in line with the novel）

【will update later】

[color=#000099][/color]

9jaBloke:
Virginia Woolf

For those disputing the inclusion of Things Fall Apart, this list is actually from a reputable British website: britannica.com

https://www.britannica.com/list/12-novels-considered-the-greatest-book-ever-written

I wonder why the OP didn't state the source.

Things Fall Apart is more than just a novel written by a Nigerian. You need to understand the literary significance and impact on African literature.

One of the first African novels to receive global critical acclaim. It is widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world. The novel was first published in the United Kingdom in 1962 by William Heinemann Limited, and became the first work published in Heinemann's African Writers Series (most of which I binge-read).

It is regarded as a milestone in Anglophone African literature, and for the perception of African literature in the West. It has come to be seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, and is read in Nigeria and throughout Africa.

It is studied widely in Europe, India, and North America, where it has spawned numerous secondary and tertiary analytical works. It has achieved similar status and repute in Australia and Oceania.

It has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005. It has been translated into more than 50 languages, and is often used in literature, world history, and African studies courses across the world.

The publication of Achebe's Things Fall Apart helped pave the way for numerous other African writers. Novelists who published after Achebe were able to find an eloquent and effective mode for the expression of the particular social, historical, and cultural situation of modern Africa.

Before Things Fall Apart was published, most of the novels about Africa had been written by European authors, portraying Africans as savages who were in need of western enlightenment.

This book helped convince the world that African Writers have something to offer and publishers paid attention.


The comment below is needless.
Wole Soyinka is one of the greatest literary icons in the world and last time I checked, he is still the only Nigerian with the Nobel prize in Literature. Rare feat!



Achebe & Soyinka were founding members of Ulli Bier's Mbari Club, together with J.P Clark, Chris Okigbo, Demas, Mabel and Pa Bruce Onobrakpeya and they all maintained maximum respect for one another.

It's sad to see this generation of youngsters, most of who do not know literary s**t from chocolate denigrate their legacy.


It's high time we switched off our tribal antennae

Wisdom personified!

brain54:
I have only read about 6 from this list…


But who made them the greatest?

What was the criteria used for selecting them and making them the greatest?

Personally I have read some really good books… some by relatively “unknown “ authors.

There are Books I would pick anytime and any day over the ones listed here as greatest…

… at least the 6 I have read from the list!

You are right.
These books seem rated on sales volume

I just came to check how many i have probably heard of, or known or better still read.....

Where's Professior Q's Secret by Dorothy Wimbush?

EmperorCaesar:
Shakespeare books no even dey here

Went to quora to read up on this and they are there arguing about mark twain, ralph emerson but for here, even achebe dey ahead of Williams shakespeare

I just tire.

TKVick:
This are my top 5
1. War and peace by leo tolsoy
2. The first blade trilogy.
3. The da vinci code by dan brown.
4.

Da Vinci code, Angels & Demons .. Your head is there

I have 3 of them in my personal
collection..📚📖📘

Where is The Day if the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth.
The return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
No novels from Hardly Chase either

EmperorCaesar:
Shakespeare books no even dey here

Went to quora to read up on this and they are there arguing about mark twain, ralph emerson but for here, even achebe dey ahead of Williams shakespeare

did Shakespeare ever right any novel?

For those denigrating Soyinka because he isn't one if the greatest writers according to op's list, he is not a novelist. Soyinka is a poet cum dramatist. Achebe was a storyteller par excellence and each of them is a king in his domain. Period !

jamesversion:
What books did Wole Soyinka even write that even one of them cannot feature in world greatest books?

did you miss the part they said novel?

Achebe is a novelist
Soyinka is a playwrighter

only if you want to be myopic would you say such...

These are novelists. Shakespeare was not a novelist.

EmperorCaesar:
Shakespeare books no even dey here

Went to quora to read up on this and they are there arguing about mark twain, ralph emerson but for here, even achebe dey ahead of Williams shakespeare

A literature post manages to grace the front page and the empty headed tribalists find a way to ruin it. Why can't you people put your stupidity on hold for once?

Anyway, most of the books on that list are classics and it's surprising to see 1984 missing, it is worth the hype. My top 10 would probably have an Agatha Christie though, she was amazing.

Fake list, the number one on the list should have been Alexander Solzhenitsyn Gulag archipelago

Great list. This would have been a very beautiful thread if not these stvpid people commenting.

Some of the greatest books I'll recommend:
The Odyssey by Homer
Count of Monte Cristo
Davinci Code
Lord of the Rings
The River Between

Okolo3662:
1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
2. To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee. Hardcover book first published July 11, 1960. Novel won 1961 Pulitzer Prize. Later made into an Academy Award winning film.
3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
4. One Hundred Years of Solitude Garcia Marquez, 1982.
5. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster.
6. Things Fall Apart by Chinualumogu Achebe.
7. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.
8. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.
9. Beloved by Toni Morrison
10. Mrs Dalloway by Vagina Wolf.
11. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
12. The purple color by Alice Walker.

No links?



These are all novels. Literature is not all about novels.




Some of the finest writers in the history of literature wrote plays and poems.





For example, William Shakespeare, Rabindranath Tagore, Bernard Shaw, T.S. Elliot, W.B. Yeats, Pablo Neruda, Wole Soyinka and many others.

9jaBloke:
Virginia Woolf

For those disputing the inclusion of Things Fall Apart, this list is actually from a reputable British website: britannica.com

https://www.britannica.com/list/12-novels-considered-the-greatest-book-ever-written

I wonder why the OP didn't state the source.

Things Fall Apart is more than just a novel written by a Nigerian. You need to understand the literary significance and impact on African literature.

One of the first African novels to receive global critical acclaim. It is widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world. The novel was first published in the United Kingdom in 1962 by William Heinemann Limited, and became the first work published in Heinemann's African Writers Series (most of which I binge-read).

It is regarded as a milestone in Anglophone African literature, and for the perception of African literature in the West. It has come to be seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, and is read in Nigeria and throughout Africa.

It is studied widely in Europe, India, and North America, where it has spawned numerous secondary and tertiary analytical works. It has achieved similar status and repute in Australia and Oceania.

It has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005. It has been translated into more than 50 languages, and is often used in literature, world history, and African studies courses across the world.

The publication of Achebe's Things Fall Apart helped pave the way for numerous other African writers. Novelists who published after Achebe were able to find an eloquent and effective mode for the expression of the particular social, historical, and cultural situation of modern Africa.

Before Things Fall Apart was published, most of the novels about Africa had been written by European authors, portraying Africans as savages who were in need of western enlightenment.

This book helped convince the world that African Writers have something to offer and publishers paid attention.


The comment below is needless.
Wole Soyinka is one of the greatest literary icons in the world and last time I checked, he is still the only Nigerian with the Nobel prize in Literature. Rare feat!



Achebe & Soyinka were founding members of Ulli Bier's Mbari Club, together with J.P Clark, Chris Okigbo, Demas, Mabel and Pa Bruce Onobrakpeya and they all maintained maximum respect for one another.

It's sad to see this generation of youngsters, most of who do not know literary s**t from chocolate denigrate their legacy.


It's high time we switched off our tribal antennae

Omo.. I would like to make an acquaintance of you if you don't mind.. Mehn.. There are very few people on nairaland who still make any effort to be coherent in their reading, understanding and reply. Mehn, I love this..

You can reach me here: 07032237692 (Whatsapp)

ONNYX:


At the bolded.....I can tell you there is nothing funny about Achebe in global literary circles. The man is an iconoclast who keeps rising like a phoenix even after his death.

I have been to a few literary events and I can tell you that the very mention of Achebe always lightens the room.

By the way, perhaps Google will help you appreciate Achebe and his exploits better. Why not try finding out how many languages his work has been translated into. That should give you a general idea.

Pls I am not Igbo. Just a Nigerian who appreciates accomplishments.

Truthfully, "Things Fall Apart" is overrated.




In fact, Achebe himself never shied away from saying he loved "Arrow of God" better.





For me as well, Arrow of God is Achebe's best novel.





Many students who are forced to read Things Fall Apart abroad complain about the book, that it sends them to sleep because it is boring.





However, it is regarded as Achebe's finest novel even though it is not even one of his best. His best works came later.




1. Arrow of God


2. A Man of the People


3. No Longer at Ease



4. Anthills of the Savannah



5. Things Fall Apart (his worst novel, in my opinion, yet his most praised work).




I have a lot of respect for Achebe, but for me, he is not even top 5 in Africa. That man was not even top 7 sef. The man was a storyteller, not a writer. His books sold well, but were not evidence of deep, powerful writing.




In my opinion, the best writers in Africa by depth in work and their proclivity to take risk with styles and subject matters.




1. Wole Soyinka.


2. Naguib Mahfouz


3. Nadine Gordimer



4. J.M Coatzee



5. Ayi Kwei Armah



6. Christopher Okigbo (Didn't live long)



7. Niyi Osundare

1. Around the world in 80 days
2. Robinson Crusoe
3. King Solomon's Mines.
4. Gulliver's Travels

Bro, you are really wicked ooooo.
So funny!
Truly, imagine Shakespeare gat no space but Achebe slotted easily?
Chai!

EmperorCaesar:
Shakespeare books no even dey here

Went to quora to read up on this and they are there arguing about mark twain, ralph emerson but for here, even achebe dey ahead of Williams shakespeare

aremubabs:





Truthfully, "Things Fall Apart" is overrated.




In fact, Achebe himself never shied away from saying he loved "Arrow of God" better.





For me as well, Arrow of God is Achebe's best novel.





Many students who are forced to read Things Fall Apart abroad complain about the book, that it sends them to sleep because it is boring.





However, it is regarded as Achebe's finest novel even though it is not even one of his best. His best works came later.




1. Arrow of God


2. A Man of the People


3. No Longer at Ease



4. Anthills of the Savannah



5. Things Fall Apart (his worst novel, in my opinion, yet his most praised work).




I have a lot of respect for Achebe, but for me, he is not even top 5 in Africa. That man was not even top 7 sef. The man was a storyteller, not a writer. His books sold well, but were not evidence of deep, powerful writing.




In my opinion, the best writers in Africa by depth in work and their proclivity to take risk with styles and subject matters.




1. Wole Soyinka.


2. Naguib Mahfouz


3. Nadine Gordimer



4. J.M Coatzee



5. Ayi Kwei Armah



6. Christopher Okigbo (Didn't live long)



7. Niyi Osundare

You must be an Afon. Ja clown
No cap

AareGaa:


Achebe is not a complete writer.

He tried his hands on poetry and drama, but failed woefully

He did only prose and poetry and last time I checked his poetry won international awards.
You Yorubad are just envious of the man
He's in a class of his own

olodo plenty for Nairaland oh....
For those who don't know (especially the tribal bigots) are wandering why Wole Soyinka's books did not appear here, be informed that

Firstly, Literature is divided into three genres (categories) namely
Prose (novels)
Poetry (poems) ; and
Play (drama).
In Nigeria, we have three Literary luminaries in each of these genres
Achebe - Prose
JP-Clarke - Poetry
Soyinka - Play
These men are well respected both at home and abroad, this is evident in the numerous prestigious awards won by these men

Secondly, this might be difficult for some people to comprehend but the works of these trio has greatly contributed to our economy and national life [ (Prose -Print and social media), (Poetry- the music industry) and (Play - Nollywood) ] .

Thirdly, the article is talking about novels (prose) not poems (poetry) and drama (play).

Finally, these men, Achebe, JP-Clarke and Soyinka, made me fall in love, the more, with Nigeria.

Who made this list without any of Dan Brown's books?

Airlord2030:
Another bullshit

soyinka nobel prize really pain igbos no be small

Chinua achebe is the best thing to happen to Nigeria after crude oil

How many copies and translations has soyinka books?

Soyinka will ever be inferior to the greatest African after Mandela (achebe of Anambra).

Yolubas are known for hooliganism only

Herdsmen:
The family.. Puzo.

Mario puzo is a good writer.
Have read is books - The Sicilian, the godfather, Omerta, the last don etc