Recommending the "wrong" Jack London book

By moonafeared

I went and skimmed a bunch of those “top 100 classics” lists, and I was pretty shocked that the only Jack London book that shows up on almost all of them is *The Call of the Wild*. It really feels like everyone is treating it like his best work, like the lists all agree on that one thing for a reason. I’m not saying it’s bad—I’ve read it and I liked it a lot. The whole dog POV thing is fun, and it’s an enjoyable story. But to me it comes off more like a YA-ish coming-of-age adventure: breaking free, fairly simple plot, that kind of vibe. Jack London is an incredible writer, though, and in my opinion *TCOTW* doesn’t hit the same level as stuff like *The Sea-Wolf*, and especially *Martin Eden* (which I think is really special). It’s kind of like picking “Let It Be” as the song that best represents the Beatles. Sure, it’s catchy and popular, but they’ve got a ton of other songs that are better. Or “Creep” for Radiohead. And honestly I’ve heard a similar complaint about Hemingway’s *For Whom the Bell Tolls* too—it always shows up in these lists. So now I’m wondering… are these “top” lists actually useful for anything, or are they just kind of misleading and should be ignored most of the time? Am I just being a hipster about it?