1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die edited by Peter Boxall is a book all bibliophiles and bookaholics will adore. And less experienced readers who'd appreciate a guide to what's well worth spending their precious reading time on, will find it here.

There are excellent short reviews of each of

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the books, all of which tell stories, most of them novels. (The novel as we know it originated in the early C18th, but Boxall includes the best of what went before. )The list starts with Aessop's Fables and ends with books which made it to last year's Booker shortlist.

Of course "best" must always be subjective, but I was so delighted to find most of the fiction I would have included if I'd been compiling such a list, I can forgive the omissions. (Hey, this is an impossible task Boxall has set himself anyway!)

And it isn't a stuffy list only embracing boring "classics" either, - there's plenty of lighter fare (though no less deserving of a place) and the best genre fiction is also included. Steven King, Douglas Adams, John Le Carre, Anne Rice and Patricia Highsmith all make it in.

The illustrations - author photos, book covers, movie posters - are wonderful. The cover illustration brings back happy memories of reading yet another favourite novel: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.

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I just love a book that can be used as an attractive book end; and when not used as such allows me to surreptitiously dip my toe amongst its reading proposals.

The fun doesn’t end there; “What no - Whatever book I adore” or “What, that junk, you’ve got to be kidding” and I laugh to

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myself as I image most everyone else having a similar internalised tennis match.

I find the quality of the entries variable, the length perfect to tempt and the associated pictures charming and the overall quality of the tome impressive. Not a literary genius I find lots of little gems that will keep me interested for years.

No, its not perfect, but it sits proudly at the head of my bookcase just as my red box of Swiss chocolates sit at the other, both tempting me now and then.........Obese or another book, Ho Hum

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Hardcover: 960 pages
Book Description
For discerning bibliophiles and readers who enjoy unforgettable classic literature, 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die is a trove of reviews covering a century of memorable writing. Each work of literature featured here is a seminal work key to

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understanding and appreciating the written word.The featured works have been handpicked by a team of international critics and literary luminaries, including Derek Attridge (world expert on James Joyce), Cedric Watts (renowned authority on Joseph Conrad and Graham Greene), Laura Marcus (noted Virginia Woolf expert), and David Mariott (poet and expert on African-American literature), among some twenty others.Addictive, browsable, knowledgeable—1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die will be a boon companion for anyone who loves good writing and an inspiration for anyone who is just beginning to discover a love of books. Each entry is accompanied by an authoritative yet opinionated critical essay describing the importance and influence of the work in question. Also included are publishing history and career details about the authors, as well as reproductions of period dust jackets and book designs.

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I purchased this book on impulse as I was walking through a Barnes & Noble. I am now reading through the list and having a marvelous time doing it. Personally, I feel that all the debates this book has spawned about which books belong on the list was inevitable as well as desirable. It stimulates a

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lot of discussion, makes you rethink some of your personal favorites and introduces you to works you have never heard of before.

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I have mixed feelings about this compendium. On one hand, I've read many of the books listed here, and agree with the editors' assesment of them. On the other hand, some of their choices are puzzling. If this is supposed to be a compendium of novels, then why is Rousseau's Confessions on there? A

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Modest Proposal is more like a pamphlet, and Cider With Rosie is a memoir. Death in Venice and the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes as well as several others are short stories.

Why all those cult classics like The Shining, Interview with the Vampire, Gone With the Wind, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Tarzan of the Apes? Why A Passage to India (its a book that hasn't aged well and you'd think the PC editors of 1001 Books would be sensitive to the racism discussed in it). Why all of George Gissing except for The Odd Women? Why all of Maria Edgeworth except for Belinda? That novel essentially paved the way for several other novelists, including Jane Austen. There are also some extraordinarily long books on this list: Victor Hugo's Les Miserables comes to mind immediately. The editors' selection of mysteries is also perplexing: Why did they choose The Murder of Roger Ackroyd instead of The Body in the Library or Ten Little Indians?

And more importantly, the stuff they left out: Grace Metalious (to be sure, a novel of its time, but no more so than some of the books on this list). Boccaccio's Decameron. Ayn Rand. Twain is under-represented. Where's The Magnificent Ambersons? Or The Rise of Silas Lapham? Where's James Fenimore Cooper? What about An American Tragedy? I could go on.

But all that said, the illustrations are pretty nice, though some of the information given on some of the books is incorrect. You can tell that the selection of some of the books here was influenced by the movie version. Gone With the Wind is hardly a great book, but somehow it made it into this compendium. In all, I think its hardly worth buying and investing much time in, but in the same breath its a good guide for picking books you might want to read. This book introduced me to a number of gems, including Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and The Go-Between. I was impressed, for example, that Radcliffe Hall's The Well of Lonliness made it onto the list--it seems like I'm the only person who's ever heard of her.

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I should normally stay away from these books, as I spend time reading about books when I could instead be reading the books themselves, but I liked the structure here. It's broken down by era and then has a good variety of types of books, not just what was on a list of classics.

Great fun to peruse this compendium of great authors and their books. A good reference for future reading choices. I love "Lists" and this one is a whopper.

I'm on about 56, so at this rate I would have to live to the age of 400.

I'll be a bit more generous and say that I have read most of my 56 in the last five years, ten years tops. Which means I will only need another 40-80 years.

The various reviews are brilliant, I will look to it when I am in the

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market for buying another book.

On the other hand, there are some very big omissions, and some random inclusions. For a start, where is Beowulf? (In Seamus Heaney's translation)

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The idea of a book about books is hugely appealing to me. I love to hold this heavyweight and read the varied entries, or simply browse for ideas, or smell its thick pages, or peruse the quality art. I've used this book often and will continue to do so; I've garnered reading suggestions that will

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long outlive me. A keeper of a reference book.

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In his introduction, Peter Boxall writes about the difficulty of compiling such a finite list. As many books as it contains, it covers hundreds of years of fiction (and some nonfiction) writing, and could hardly cover all books you ought to read, ever. The chosen titles are organized

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chronologically by publication date. Each summary begins with the author's birth and death dates, the date of publication, and the publisher. Depending on the book and author, we are also told other information, such as the author's real name or an award the book won. Then, one of the 100 contributors summarizes and offers a bit of literary criticism in approximately 300 words.

Of the completed offering, the editor writes, "this book reflects a set of priorities that are shared by today's readers, a certain understanding of where the novel comes from, a particular kind of passion for reading" (9). Though I haven't read many on the list, I found it interesting to read with this in mind. I kept reflecting on what each choice had to say about the world we live in now and the worldview of the contributors. Especially in the largest section - the 20th century - many of the choices seem to question authority, religion, government, or push the boundaries of fiction itself. . One thing I found extremely frustrating was that many of the summaries summarized to the end of the book. If you are planning on reading all the 1001 books, I recommend that you use the book mainly for reference and read the summary after reading the book so you don't accidentally come across spoilers.

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There's a lot of so-so books that were made into better films on this list. Call me suspicious, but it makes you wonder about how many books were read by the compilers, and how many only watched the movie ...

This is an absolute must for any bibiliophiles. Isn't the anticipation just very nearly as good as the real thing? Here you can anticipate so many years of engrossing, engaging and stimulating reading, and know that at the end of it you will be truly well read. Then there is the imaginings of how

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to start, at the beginning, at the end, from your favourite author and work outwards, oh the possibilities.
The colour pictures are great, of the authors or covers of each book, just like browsing a virtual bookshop in your very own lounge room.

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any book like this is of course subjective--but when i coworker had it come in on hold i knew i had to buy it. It really should be called 1001 NOVELS you should read before you die as it seems to exclude non-fiction which is a particular pet-peeve of mine but it is an excellent list--and annoyingly

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increases my own list--also includes many books i have never heard of (and i thought i was such a well-read librarian :)--i also love the illustrations

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This is a beautiful book, fun to look at even if you can't read a letter. I've never been a huge fan of book lists. I always start them, check off one, get distracted and read a zillion other books before remembering the list. The editors/writers of this book have done their homework. They can tell

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you why each book is worth a try, can convince you even if you've never heard of the books. (This happened to me with 90% of the 20th century entries.) Just don't try to read it in bed. It's big and fat and heavy and nearly as thick as it is tall.

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I find this book endlessly fascinating. Yes, it's silly. Yes, it's a weird list, Yes, I don't need anyone to tell me what to read. It's all about fun and I don't take it seriously. But what it has done is expand my reading horizons--I've read a wide variety of books I would never have read

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otherwise, and enjoyed most of them. Even the ones I didn't like were at least interesting on some level. And it's just fun to discuss the merits and demerits of the books with others here at the 1001 Books group here at LT.

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Nearly all fiction with a smattering of memoirs and a very few kids' books.

Too many books by some authors. There has been some adjustment over later editions, but that also means that the full list currently stands at 1315 books.

The summaries in here are a little short for my taste but it is a humongous book as it is, so I guess they cant physically make it bigger or the binding would fall apart.

If you read a lot of books, "serious" books or not, you should own this book. Before purchasing this book (special order at FULL price!) I read a lot of reviews from people who didn't like the choices among the 1001 -- the books that were chosen. The books that weren't. The authors who were

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selected, but had a lesser book selected.

These are all valid claims -- you can't please everybody! But with 1001 books, it appears that the author (editor?) appears to be doing just that. Without the lean and mean restrictions of a top 100 list, a lot of sloppy works make it onto the list.

Still, I recommend this book. It is a handy reference to quickly find a good read with handy summaries; hardly any will outright disappoint. Is it actually the list you should strive to complete before you die? I personally don't think so but think this a fine book nevertheless.

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Attractive. Short reviews, some better than others, certainly entertaining. I love lists, and this is a list. Whether or not it has any authority beyond that is beside the point. I'm sure that it has lead me to some things I wouldn't have otherwise discovered, and will again.

I've noticed a lot of people doing the 1001 books challenge, so I got this out of my library in the hope that it would yield some good recommendations. I needn't have bothered. I certainly don't recommend it to others. It's long and unbalanced really - 12 books by some authors, none by others, and

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very much focusing on popular books, classics... Nothing obscure or interesting really.

I did get a lot of ideas for my reading list, though not necessarily books I'll like - more like books I will try. I like the style of the book - how it gives small descriptions of each of the 1001 books. However, many of the descriptions are more inclined towards what the contributor thought, rather than details of the actual book or a synopsis. Educated-looking critical essays are all very well, but not particularly helpful for me to choose what I might like to read. Also, this tome hardly mentions any books pre-19th century. All in all, I'm disappointed. Don't buy this book - borrow it if you want to read it.

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I agree with many of the reviewers that the title of this book is quite misleading - given that it is a list of novels (loosely defined) only, and quite an unbalanced list as well. One would think "1001 books you must read before you die" would select the most thought-provoking and heart-stirring

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works in the whole of humanity's several thousand years of literary endeavour - including not just classics such as Homer's Odyssey or The Iliad, but books on breakthroughs in scientific thought, such as Charles Darwin's "The origin of species" or books of significant historical impact such as Thomas Paine's "The rights of man", Karl Marx's "Capital", or Mary Wollstonecraft's "A vindication of the rights of women". Even books of relatively low literary achievement have had enormous impact on our understanding of the world and human experience - such as "the diary of Anne Frank". None of these works are included of course.
Perhaps one of the aims of the book is to draw attention, not to the obvious classics of literature, but to a long list of relatively unknown authors and titles that deserve to be read. In any case it is an impossible task to satisfy everyone - as made clear by Jennifer Byrne in the Preface. Fair enough!
However I was annoyed that this fiction list is still so unbalanced, with virtually all the titles by some authors, such as J. M. Coetzee, Philip Roth, Samuel Beckett (not his plays however), Paul Auster, etc. - but only three by John Steinbeck, only one by Annie Proulx, one by Barbara Kingsolver, and none at all by many other distinguished writers. For all its faults though, I found this book introduced me to an amazing number of authors that I would now like to read - though may never have time to of course..
Checking the list against my own library, I discovered that I own only 53 out of the 1001, and have read only 56 titles out of the list. So many to catch up on!

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I did a very naughty thing today. In fact I'm still hiding the evidence from my husband. I bought a book. Not any old book. An expensive "do I really need another?" book, aptly named "1001 books you must read before you die" - Preface by Peter Ackroyd, and general editing by Peter Boxall.

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Advertised as a comprehensive reference source, chronicling the history of the novel and it's an absolute beauty.

For a smallish book it's thick, weighing the equivalent to two, or three 1lb bags of sugar. (I don't know, I'm useless at things like that - they either heavy or they're not!) By the way, as it's so weighty it's
definitely not for reading in bed when you are sleepy, unless you want to knock yourself out for a week!

Not only does it look good with a cover designed (in primary colours) by David Pelham for A Clockwork Orange, written by Anthony Burgess (1972), it's smooth, shiny and smells good, too!

I plan to go through the book and read every single novel the two Peter's recommend, and share my findings on my website. Starting from Aesop's Fables, (4BCE), which I own and have never read - to Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005) that I admit to avoiding when it first came out because it sounded too pepped up by those wealthy critics I love to hate.

It's going to cost a fortune if I can't these recommended books in any of my local libraries, however, I'm a bibliophilist and it's the price I'm (almost) willing to pay! Anyway, I'm a reviewer. It's my job!

From what I have read so far, this is worth every penny.I'm not bothered if I do or don't ag
ree with the two Pete's findings - it will be fun testing each and every book out.

This book alone gives a bibliophile a sense of direction, a new chance to discover critically acclaimed masterpieces, cult classics, and an introduction to some contemporary fiction titles that may have passed you by.

Featuring over 600 full-colour images of books covers and frontispieces, posters and other contextual images, this is a dream come true for me. It also supplies you with quotes from authors and their novels, which makes this even more of delight to read, considering this is a reference book. I gave this book five stars because just the thought of it gets me excited!

Incidentally, as I rushed out of the shop with my book clutched tightly to my chest, scanning the car park for my car (wishing I'd taken more notice where I parked), I couldn't help but wonder how ironic it would be if I died in a car crash on the way home, and they discovered this book "10
01 books you must read before you die" in the boot of my car...

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(Original Review, 2010-04-18)

I found this list rather heavy on very recent fiction. There is also no way of knowing whether books published a few years ago will withstand the test of time, and I suspect many won´t. This is a reason why, apart from a handful of favourites, I tend to restrict my

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(sadly limited) reading to more established authors. 4 times out of 5, when I believe the "hype", I end up disappointed.

I also found this list astonishingly weak on works not written in English. I certainly didn´t keep count, but it seemed as if about 2/3 of the books on this list were - this is a pretty arrogant and unbelievable figure - especially as many English-language writers appeared multiple times. As someone fortunate enough to have grown up bilingual, I know that some of the best books don´t translate well, but the real problem is that fiction in translation simply occupies not only a very limited market but also a low-status in the English-speaking world. In this respect, Boxall, a Brit, has definitely much to learn from us Continental Europeans.

Along this line, the book I’m glad Boxall didn’t miss the most was Fernando Pessoa´s “The Book of Disquiet.” This Portuguese writer may be largely unknown among Anglophones, but the Spanish, French, Italians and Germans have long since caught on. And not just them. Harold Bloom, who many would argue “knows a great deal” (he has read a lot) about literature, included Pessoa in his "canon" of the 10 (only 10!) writers everyone should have read! But I suppose the fact that this book has neither a definable plot nor belongs in any known genre would mean it's be too much for Boxall to handle. Still, please read it! (And when you do, choose the Richard Zenith Penguin translation, which in my opinion, is far superior to the Margaret Jull Costa one, which even translates the title as the far more awkward “The Book of Disquietude.”) This collection of notes, written around the 19-teens and twenties and published posthumously in no particular order, is by far the most philosophical and prematurely postmodern reflection on the self any of us are likely to come across. (Who else could imbue a sensation we all know with so much poetry - even in translation - and metaphysical weight as Pessoa, when he writes, for example, "... this was denied me, like the spare change we might deny a beggar not because we´re mean-hearted but because we don´t feel like unbuttoning our coat.") Anyone I know who has read it begins to integrate the adjective "Pessoa-esque" into their reflections on life, and I always say, if I had to choose one book to last me the rest of my life, this and certainly not the Bible, would be it. Shame on you Guardian books staff, for ignoring one of the undisputable (but tragically, non-English-language) masterpieces of the 20th century!

Having said this, and to be honest, this whole idea of a "thousand novels to read before you die" is so bloody middlebrow and offensive; it just cannot be taken seriously, especially when the list that resulted from it is so tedious and slapdash. To read through a 1,001 novels just because some bugger says they're important, but with no real and based explanations given as to why they are, nor any idea as to why this particular list of novels should be read, is silly.

I'm sure there are worthy authors missing on this list, but it won't be improved by their inclusion. The whole idea is just patronising.

1,001 books to read... at my age, I don't know if I'd get through them all unless I live till my early 100s (by which time there'll be others on the list). And reading only a handful of novels a year? Please!! That's slacking. I’m reading around 100 a year and I want to read stuff not in this book… 2 stars for the inclusion of Pessoa…wait, wait…No Shakespeare, no Dante, no Marlowe, no Virgil, no Homer, No Plato, no Socrates, …, forget it, 1 star! Boxall is crazy!

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I give up. I bought myself this edition in 2017 as an birthday gift to myself. Thought it would be fun to try. I think I had read 100-150 books already from the list (several that were required school readings, so thought it'd give me a good head start. Ha!

It was fun at first -- but mostly the

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part of picking up cheap copies of suggested books from used bookstores. Nowhere did I get anywhere close to amassing the 1001 books, and even less so regarding actually getting to read, or even enjoy reading them. I bailed on several. What's more, I downloaded the app (which I believe is no longer available) which constantly reminded me that I was expected to live to 81 years old and that I'd need to read 4 books from the list *per month* for the rest of my life. Forget that! I'd rather spend the rest of my years reading books I actually enjoy :-) . I will say, though, that some books from this suggested list were ones I enjoyed -- just not enough of them to make this a project of mine anymore.

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