Branding

" I feel averse to listing what I consider the greatest books of all time, greatest novels of the twentieth century, 1000 books to read before I die ... well you get the picture. But I do wonder about our current obsession with book lists."
--urania1

"Maybe we make lists because it's easier than writing a densely allusive work of our own. Maybe it's ego-stamping... Branding for the literate. 'I've read this, see what this says about me.'"
--Tuirgin

(From a LibraryThing Discussion board)