Reading Lists for Cambridge Classes
Cambridge Supplementary Reading List
Pre-Cambridge Reading List
Faculty Favorites
GENERAL READING LISTS / Order from the Cambridge Book Store
Barnes & Noble.com Books in the News – Top 100
Bartleby.com thousands of works of western literature in full text; areas of specialty: fiction, verse, non-fiction and a reference works section that includes, among others, Roget’s Thesaurus, Bartlett’s Familiar Quotes, Gray’s Anatomy, Strunk and White’s Elements of Style and Emily Post’s Etiquette
An Index to Online Great Books (Home Page and Author List)
An Index to Online Great Books (List of Authors and Titles)
Great Book List
Great Books of the Western World collection Mortimer J. Adler’s monumental set of books tracing western thought from Homer to the present day presented in several full text formats for reading on one’s home computer; does not include “The Syntopicon”
The Harvard Classics (full text): in the 20th century, this was considered the high watermark of literature collections; perhaps rendered obsolete by the Kindle and other services, nevertheless, having these works available for free in full text is very helpful
The Internet Top 100 SF/Fantasy List
Labyrinth Library Middle English Bookcase
The Lifetime Reading Plan by Clifton Fadiman this is merely the list of books that Fadiman recommends every literate person should read before they die. If you want to know why these works are worth reading, get a copy of his book, The Lifetime Reading Plan. The book also contains a supplementary list of noteworthy 20th Century works and an appendix that guides readers to the best English translations of works from other languages and the best editions of works in English
The Latin Library
Modern Library 100 best nonfiction
Modern Library 100 best novels
Project Gutenberg thousands of books available in full text for the home computer, Kindle, Android and other portable devices; specializes in classics of western literature
GENERAL VIEWING LISTS / Order from the Cambridge Book Store
AMC’s 100 Greatest Films American Movie Classics Network’s Top 100 List
AFI’s Top 10 Top 10 Lists The American Film Institute has prepared 10 Top 10 Lists of films in various genres
BFI Critics Poll – Top 10 Films of All Time every 10 years (since 1952) The British Film Institute has conducted a poll of the top 250 world film critics to determine a consensus about the 10 greatest films of all time; this link shows the 2002 results; new list in 2012!
BFI Critics Poll – All Films Voted For once you have watched the BFI Top 10 (see above), you may want to dig a bit deeper; this link shows every film that was voted for; a great starting point for your “lifetime film literacy” education
Box Office Mojo tracks the box office performance of films in theatrical release
IMDb Viewers’ Top 250 Films even though it is comprised of laymen, Internet Movie Database viewers tend to be more discerning than average movie audiences; this list will help you select first-rate films
Movie Times Box office: Top 100 Grossing Movies Ever
Netflix: Viewer’s Picks: Best 100 Films more current and popular in spirit than IMDb, but helpful in monitoring contemporary tastes in pop culture film
Roger Ebert’s List of Great Movies Roger Ebert has been a reliable film critic for the past 30 years; his strengths include a healthy balancing of popular and art-house cinema
ROTTEN TOMATOES unpretentious, up-to-the-minute film reviews by informed laymen
TCMDb Turner Classic Movies Network Database for searching currently available films for purchase
GENERAL LISTENING LISTS / Order from the Cambridge Book Store
Billboard Charts Billboard Magazine charts the radio airplay and commercial sale of music in 8 categories every week; site also includes searchable database of past charts
Dave Marsh’s 1001 Greatest Rock and Roll Hit Songs, Pt. 1 Dave Marsh argues the importance of “the single” as a measure of great music and demonstrates his thesis with 1001 carefully chosen songs from the Billboard charts to tell the history of rock and soul
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
Rolling Stone Magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
The Telegraph List of Best Classical Music Recordings
VH1: The Greatest