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Child
I accept what you say about Librarians not being part of the literary establishment, but this isn't a poll of what's most popular among those who frequent their libraries (I accept that LotR would come near the top of that), but of what books they think people must read. After all, I don't see any books by Terry Pratchet, Catherine Cookson, Jeffrey Archer, Jackie Collins, et al.
So, if I went into my local library & asked for a recommendation, I can assume I would be told LotR after TKaM & the Bible (I'm assuming, maybe wrongly, that they're referring to the Authorised Version for the language as opposed to the message, as this is a literary poll not a religious one). I wonder what the reason is for this recommendation, & whether it is the same in all cases - are there different reasons, different 'messages' perceived by different librarians?
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