Asking a scholar or avid reader of John Updike to name Updike’s “best” will likely lead to a longer list than any superlative can contain. But Most Recommended Books took on the task, using an intuitive three-step process that involved searching “best john updike books,” studying the top five articles that came up in the search, and adding only books mentioned two times. Then they ranked the results, though we’re not told who “they” is or how they determined rank order. To quote Casablanca, the usual suspects are here, plus a few surprises in this somewhat suspect ranking:

Rabbit, Run
Rabbit Redux
Rabbit Is Rich
Rabbit at Rest
The Witches of Eastwick
The Early Stories
The Centaur
Bech: A Book
The Widows of Eastwick
Self-Consciousness
In the Beauty of the Lilies
Hugging the Shore: Essays and Criticism
Couples
Bech at Bay