1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

Where is this list that you speak of? I am very interested.

I would love to do this. Can't say it would ever happen though. :sadface:

Good on ya!

The list is a book. Though I am sure you can find it transcribed online if you google it.

http://www.listology.com/list/1001-books-you-must-read-you-die

I want to read Don Quixote in it's original Old Spanish and understand every single nuance and metaphor and connotation.

Weird... I was just talking to someone about books last night or the night before and he was talking about Don Quixote and how great it is, but that its not nearly as good in English as it is in Spanish. He said, "If there is a good reason to learn Spanish, thats it"

So I'm not the only one...

Yeah, I find that a lot with foreign literature. The story is only as good as the translator. I can read Spanish pretty well, but not early late 16th century Spanish. Back in High School we had to read a few pages from Don Quixote in Spanish. I remember translating in my head and thinking "Quixote found the size of the windmills in La Mancha to be entirely too offensive to his particular taste, as he was used to energy from the sun to produce his potted plants". I was like "What the fuck? Did I read that right?"

I'm reminded of The Canterbury Tales (a book strangely not on the list). Sure, it's in English, but...

Speaking of which, I'm surprized by the very small sampling of books from antuiquity. No Heroditus? No Gilgamesh? I've wasted my time reading too many classics and not enough Toni Morrison, apparently.

I've read 62 of them, now that I've counted.

I have a friend, lovable but not bright. He relates EVERYTHING to hockey. There is no conversation without ice, puck, checking, or Ovechkin. He never read's books and probably only read 4 in his life and he is 23 years old. He knows I'm an avid reader and one day, while in Barnes and Noble, he starts to wander. Just by sheer chance he picks up The Canterbury Tales and starts to read some passage in the middle. He comes over to me and says "Dude, I don't know how you do it." Do what, I ask. "Read books."

I didn't explain to him that even I wouldn't read The Canterbury Tales because this moment was just too funny.

I've read 129 so far. Yes! Being a loner has finally paid off!

Sadly, I've only read 20 of the books on that list. However, I have bought but am yet to attempt many more of them, so I could probably double that figure as my collection currently stands.

No way does The Shadow Line deserve to be on the list, they were just throwing that in as filler because they've put, like, all of Conrad's other books in. And I don't understand how they can include fairly minor works by people like DeLillo, Banks and Murakami (Sputnik Sweetheart, wtf?!) but not a single book by Douglas Coupland.

Other than that I would say Pluck the Bud and Destroy the Offspring is a rather surreal choice, if I had to pick one book to represent Oe I don't think it would be that.

But overall, damn good list! There are some decent reads on there.

I'm surprised Choke is on the list but not Survivor or Fight Club.

I've read 125. And I'm with Tuffy, way too much emphasis on modern works. There's only been 10 years in this century and that list is almost as long as the 19th century list!

This does remind me I really want to read Iris Murdoch, however.

Absolutely nothing. I could have used anything else about him to show how one-dimensional he is. I used that one to show that he relates everything to only one thing because he's not very smart. He's never seen other perspectives on most things.

So Jane and Jack are ahead of me without trying. I think I hate you both. Okay, not you Jane, but I don't know Jack, so I might have to hate him.

I agree that there is too much focus on more recent books, but what can you do? If someone asks me to name a movie they must see before they die I'll probably name Shawshank before Spartacus. And likely more of my peers will agree with me on Shawshank than on Spartacus.

I really don't understand why the Canterbury Tales isn't there either. But then I agree with the choice of Choke over any of Palahniuk's others.

There are several authors that make me wonder how they were lucky to get so many listed... and then I look at Shakespeare and see only Hamlet.

Anyway. I'm not here to discuss what was chosen and why, but you are all free to continue as you like.

I started Ivanhoe last night. The print in my copy is tiny and it has pages like the bible, but I imagine I will finish it eventually. Its not bad so far, but it was definitely easy to put down to go to sleep.

There are lots of reasons to hate me, and that's as good as any. I vote yes on that.

So I thought I had ordered 27 books. The books came today and there are in fact 28. They range from Dickens, to Irvine Welsh and then there is the 28th. Hawksmoor by Aileen Armitage. I have never heard of it. It is obviously a cheap romance novel. I can tell that just by looking at the cover. I went back and checked my order and to my surprise, there it is. I have no idea how I ordered a book without my own knowledge....

I would really like to drop Ivanhoe for one of these others, but alas, I must be disciplined!

That's like Christmas morning!

I wish I could order 28 books at a time.

If I did though - I would read 2 of them. And then end up ordering more.

I always buy a bunch of books I'm interested in at that moment and read a few of them. A week later I buy a bunch of books I'm interested in in that moment...

It's a never ending cycle.

Well, I kind of lied...I'm actually coincidentally reading one of the books on that list, The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. So really it's like 124 1/2. So I hope you hate me incrementally less now. Just transfer it onto Jack so it all evens out.

Overall I think it's a solid list, but yeah, there are some obvious gaps. Like, why ALL of Jane Austen's books? I'm totally gay for Austen but I feel like if you read P&P and S&S you've basically gotten most of the good out of her work, and could move on to a different author. And like you said Melody, why just Hamlet? Obviously Shakespeare's best play, but it's not really representative of his body of work. Shit, most of us read more than just Hamlet in high school.

Oh, Hamlet's in there? 130.

$75 bucks for 28 books.

Oh Janey! No, you didn't! Persuasion was soooo great. It was by far my favorite after P&P, and so different from her other works. I think Mansfield Park sets itself apart as well. But then yes, I can agree with lumping, S&S, Emma, and NA together.

heh...i've read 14.

I've read 145. Where's all the big classics: Homer, Virgil, Horace, etc..?

Somehow, I missed that, too.

o.0

Sorry to be the bearer of bad literature-list news, but Hamlet isn't on that list.

The Hamlet by Faulkner is.

I guess they didn't include any Shakespeare (or Moliere, Ibsen, Checkov etc) as it's a list of novels, not plays.

Amend your totals immediately!!!!!

Having not ticked any Hamlet, I won't need to go back and un-tick.

"The" Hamlet... chuckle. That's... kind of a different thing altogether. I feel foolish.

No plays, but I did notice at least one book of prose poetry: In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan. To call that a novel is a hell of a stretch.

Someday I'm going to compose a list of nonfiction books you must read before you die. Lists like this are always novels.

Sorry to burst your bubbles but Hamlet IS indeed on the list. As is The Hamlet. I have the book in front of me, its most definitely on it.

I haven't hunted that hard, but I know off the top of my head that Waiting for Godot is another play listed.

And as far as Homer, Virgil and Horace being missing, I'm not complaining.

I've been surprised how much i've gotten into most of them.

And of course no one said "1001 books you must read before you die and ONLY these 1001 books.

I have a book called "1001 Paintings you must see before you die". It has pictures of all of them, so the book does it for you!

I'm shocked I've read 40 since I'm basically a functioning illiterate. I wouldn't have thought that I'd even read 40 books.
The list should've included non-fiction though.
There's a movie version of this and I've seen about half of them. So there.

Choke was the proper choice.

oh yeah, typos are absolutely hilarious and worth quoting.

"poir" or "pokr" would've been a typo, you typed "poor" on purpose since you would've noticed you'd hit the 'o' key twice in a row without moving your finger if it was accidental.

Hence, loll.

Is that list link posted earlier not the same deal then? Nothing play-wise in that.

It claims the same book as the source, but it is obviously incorrect.

let me rephrase that.

Accidental misspellings are absolutely hilarious and worth quoting. Do you point out every typing mistake made on the forum? I imagine that keeps you quite busy and makes me wonder how you even have time to bother this thread.

Oh, and you obviously typed 'loll' instead of 'lol' on purpose. oh its just so funny that you did that!!

I'll say "especially" while typing "expecially"

That's super.

I meant loll.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/netdict/loll

Finished #88 (Ivanhoe) and #89 (Hideous Kinky). I will be closing my eyes and picking my next book at random very shortly.

Did I spot Talk of the Town by Ardal O'Hanlon on that list? What the fudgery? That book is duff. I don't even think it's in print anymore. I read it and promptly forgot about it until now.

Also they have a few Poe stories listed, which is cheating I think.

Seems like a fun endeavour though!

It is interesting, I hope you finish it.

I can't imagine doing it myself, though. I see no point in reading things I'm not interested in, nor finishing every book I read if I'm not enjoying it.

Like i said, I have enjoyed just about every one of them. Its stuff I might not have picked out myself, but I am interested. And as far as finishing books i'm not enjoying... I can understand that. I have an odd ability to enjoy the act of reading enough that even if the book isn't fantastic I can keep going without minding. Regardless, I am sure there will be a few I won't want to finish. If its bad enough I may give in, who knows.

I finished #90 (War of the Worlds) the night before last. Wells has such an amazing imagination, but his style is just sooo dry. I picked up Trainspotting, but couldn't focus enough to read it so i'm reading A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham.

Ok, so you're really on a mission. Brava, girl, brava. What are you averaging, a new book every 4 days?

This reminds me of my endeavor to collect every foreign edition to FC. I even joined an Italian book club and they won't stop sending me info de unlibro.it!

It varies. Sometimes I read one every day. Sometimes its one every week or two. I am on a mission, but its a long mission and I'm in no real rush to finish.

Finished #91 just now. A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham. It was really good. I saw the movie after my surgery last year and it was one of the few in past years that really vividly stuck with me. It definitely did the book justice. I hate to say it, but I was reading the book the whole time looking for it to end differently. Well, not differently so much as more completely. Sadly, there was even less closure in the book than in the movie. I find myself extremely curious about what the characters did later.

I have 6 books on my shelf left before I'm allowing myself to buy a new one.

Also, I think Blue Highways should have been on that list.