• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

1001 books you must read before you die.

PhilW said:
I still think all you 'listers' and 'TBR' types are nuts. But obviously I am the odd one out here. I can't help but think that time spent listing or sorting or thinking (agonising?) about what to read next is time that could be better spent....well, reading - maybe, just maybe?
Click to expand...

Personally, I don't list or agonize. My TBR pile is just a bunch of books I have that I have yet to read. Or books I've heard about and written down because they've sparked my interest.
 
Libra6Poe said:
This is all that I've read from that list...

301. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
311. Delta of Venus - Anais Nin
312. The Shining - Stephen King
320. Interview with a Vampire - Anne Rice
437. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
456. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
494. The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien (Actually, I've only read the first: Fellowship)
496. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
506. The Story of O – Pauline Réage
508. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
608. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
609. Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
794. Dracula – Bram Stoker
853. Middlemarch – George Eliot
868. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
873. Les Misérables – Victor Hugo
876. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
900. Mary Barton – Elizabeth Gaskell
902. Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
904. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
905. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
909. The Purloined Letter – Edgar Allan Poe
911. The Pit and the Pendulum – Edgar Allan Poe
916. The Fall of the House of Usher – Edgar Allan Poe
931. Frankenstein – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
956. Dangerous Liaisons – Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
983. Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
996. The Thousand and One Nights – Anonymous
Click to expand...

'Reader, I married him.'
 
Some of you people are doing really well with having read these books because I have only read about 13! LOL

Some of the books I want to read, but I find reading classical books really difficult - I prefer junk :) Does anyone have any tips for me so that I can improve on how many classical books I have read?

I seem to have read more classical books when I was younger! I find the writing to be too difficult to read now!
 
crawford said:
Some of you people are doing really well with having read these books because I have only read about 13! LOL

Some of the books I want to read, but I find reading classical books really difficult - I prefer junk :) Does anyone have any tips for me so that I can improve on how many classical books I have read?

I seem to have read more classical books when I was younger! I find the writing to be too difficult to read now!
Click to expand...

13 is a very good start. I have copied the list to an excel worksheet and I use it when I'm looking for something new.

If you're having problems with the classics, then you may want to consider some of the contemporary works at the top of the list.

The classics are usually more work because of the language, but they're more worth it. I'll bet even the best readers on the forum have to work harder to get through them. I find it necessary to keep an online dictionary open and I often find myself rereading paragraphs to ensure I understand what the author is trying to tell me.
 
Robert said:
I'll bet even the best readers on the forum have to work harder to get through them. I find it necessary to keep an online dictionary open and I often find myself rereading paragraphs to ensure I understand what the author is trying to tell me.
Click to expand...

I keep the dictionary handy as well, either online or paper copy, depending where I am in the house. I like to write the definition in the margins of some words I have been unfamiliar with, in pencil. I know many people cringe at writing in a book, and at one time in my life I was one of them, but after all, the book is not there to remain pristine, it is to be read, used, and treasured, but most of all understood.
 
Robert said:
**slowly raises hand** That's me. I never write in any book and if I find pencil marks in a book (I read a lot of used books) then I'm quick with an eraser.
Click to expand...
:lol: Well, the absolute kicker is this...I won't buy a book that has writing in it already. I dislike coming across something another reader has brought out. /shrugs/ I have no plans to get rid of my books, so the buck stops here for them.

And btw, I mostly buy used books.
 
Eeeek... Only 21. Oh well, I'm only 17, I've got a lot of life left ... hopefully ... and even more to read. Many of the books (mostly in 1900-1800s range) I've already purchased and have either yet to read, or started and then set it down for another book.

I know many people cringe at writing in a book
Click to expand...

I have to say that I do write in books, but not as much as I used to. I like to buy my books new because I really like how new books smell, but if I need to I'll buy it used
 
The funny thing is I am 42 years old and I found exactly 42 books I have read from this list.
So if I continue at this pace I will never finish my homework in this life.

On the other hand I have read many books that are not on the list.
For example one of my favorite authors - Isaak Bashevis Singer - is not represented with a single book, and some authors are represented with almost every book they wrote.
I don’t know who made this list but it’s his (or her) personal choice and we shouldn’t bother too much with it. Everyone should follow his own instinct and make his own list.
 
My TBR list SAVES me a lot of time, actually. Rather than stumble aimlessly into a library hoping to somehow come out with something worthwhile, I go in armed with printouts of catalog references for books that I've seen discussed on forums like this and looked up online. I spend 5 minutes inside the building and emerge with some real winners.

Robert said:
**slowly raises hand** That's me. I never write in any book and if I find pencil marks in a book (I read a lot of used books) then I'm quick with an eraser.
Click to expand...

I read a Toni Morrison book from the library recently, and it had clearly been used by some high school kid preparing an essay for school. His (her?) comments were funny to me -- not necessarily adding much insight, but I enjoyed seeing how someone else interpreted certain paragraphs.
 
Comeflyaway said:
My TBR list SAVES me a lot of time, actually. Rather than stumble aimlessly into a library hoping to somehow come out with something worthwhile, I go in armed with printouts of catalog references for books that I've seen discussed on forums like this and looked up online. I spend 5 minutes inside the building and emerge with some real winners.



I read a Toni Morrison book from the library recently, and it had clearly been used by some high school kid preparing an essay for school. His (her?) comments were funny to me -- not necessarily adding much insight, but I enjoyed seeing how someone else interpreted certain paragraphs.
Click to expand...


I also enjoy this and also finding names and dates of previous owners.
 
I have read about 40 of them completely. Many on the list I've started and given up on, or have read abridged versions (as a child). Quite a few I have on my shelves, sadly unread...
 
Lists are fun! As long as you don't let them ruin your life...

I've read 119 from this list and have another 17 already in my bookshelves waiting to be read.
There are many books and authors I had never heard of and quite a few I wish I never had... :D
 
Robert said:
Lists like this provide a good starting point when I'm
Click to expand...

Exactly, I like to compare multiple lists and books mentioned in posts here. If one keeps coming up, I sometimes give in and get the book to see for myself if the hype is well deserved. It's a good way to get out of your usual reading zone.
 
It's nice to see this thread again. It provides a chance for a personal sanity check. Actually, I now realize I haven't looked at even my shorter list of 300 until just now, prompted by this thread. Not sure what that says about my having made the list in the first place. But I have made some progress anyway -- a few more books or authors read from the list, only a few :sad:
On the other hand that's still progress, so :)
Lately I've slowed down quite a bit -- life has been asking for its share of my time, and I have deliberately been tackling more stubborn books that I might not otherwise get around to. These I of course keep on another list, much shorter. :lol:
And in that quest I have been reading what is almost certainly the most difficult book I have encountered to date: The Stream of Life by Clarice Lispector, with review to follow shortly. :confused:
So, overall, I'm happpy with the situation. Why not? :flowers:
 
I for one have purchases far more books on the list that I've read. If my list is up to date, then I have 31 of those books on my shelves waiting to be read. Perhaps I got a little carried away?
 
Robert said:
If my list is up to date, then I have 31 of those books on my shelves waiting to be read. Perhaps I got a little carried away?
Click to expand...
Not really. I've just went through which of those I own, and I've 228 of them on my shelves. Some are read, others - not counted - I've since given away.
 
Stewart said:
Not really. I've just went through which of those I own, and I've 228 of them on my shelves.
Click to expand...
Make it 229, I found one I'd missed. I've just went through the list to count those I've actually read. A measly 58. Poor show. But if I'd counted those I've at least started, we'd be over two hundred again.
 
According to LibraryThing I own 77 books of that list.

Here's the ones I've read so far:
The Lover by Marguerite Duras
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Of Love and Shadows by Isabel Allende
The crime of Father Amaro by Eça de Queirós

And I'm currently reading Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top