1000 Books Everyone Should Read

Post by **drmoss_ca** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 12:29 pm

According to the Guardian, that is. The list has a bit of an English bent, as might be expected. There are some on it that make you wonder what they were thinking (Hardy's The Woodlanders, and not The Mayor of Casterbridge? Anthony Burgess' End of the World News but not his Enderby trilogy? Vidal's Williwaw, but neither Julian nor Lincoln?), and some authors over-represented (five Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine, but only two Sayers and one Reginald Hill).
Making sure I'm not counting those I know as movies, but only those I have actually read, I have consumed a mere 268 of these. Must try harder!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/ja ... ks-fiction

Chris

Trumperman · Post by **Trumperman** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 12:49 pm

After careful perusal of the list I was disheartened that "The Art of The Straight Razor Shave, A Basic Guide" was not included. Balderdash I say!

Regards,

Bill

wenestvedt · Post by **wenestvedt** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 12:54 pm

What a weird collection. Four by Tobias Smollett, plus "Ballet Shoes"? This smells strongly of several individuals being polled and their lists combined. Good to see Jerome K. Jerome & Sterne, though. Delightful coincidences abound: the two Fieldings, for example, or seeing both "Lonesome Dove" and "Moby-Dick" in the "travel" section.

I think I'm going to save this in a text file and mark them off as I read them. Thanks for the pointer, Doctor Chris.

i_shaved_something · Post by **i_shaved_something** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 1:39 pm

I don't have time for 1000, too busy surfing SMF and other important endeavors...
Can someone narrow it down to 5 for me? Gimme your picks...

Post by **ichabod** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 2:59 pm

Trumperman wrote:After careful perusal of the list I was disheartened that "The Art of The Straight Razor Shave, A Basic Guide" was not included. Balderdash I say!

Regards,

Bill

Well I do spot "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House" which was of course made into a movie with a Cary Grant shaving scene...the connections are everywhere.

I've read some of the books listed, others I have not.

Trumperman · Post by **Trumperman** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:10 pm

Well of course "Mr. Blandings builds his dream house" was included because of the scene where Mr. Grant shaves with a Schick Injector. I guess it was more proper than including a book that mentions a cut-throat.

Regards,

Bill

MrSmooth · Post by **MrSmooth** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:46 pm

Pfui! Only one Rex Stout novel, and 5 Agatha Christie? Nuts to this list.

Laage · Post by **Laage** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:11 pm

Well, I've been reading from this list/book: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

As I said in another thread, I easily fall into the trap of reading only genre fiction, so I've been using it to, as it were, expand my horizons. This list does have flaws too, primarily is the fact that the authors/editors chose to write Books in the title when they should have written Novels in stead. There are a few books on the list that probably should be considered short stories (H.P. Lovecraft comes to mind) and there's a True Crime book; In Cold Blood. No plays or poems (epic or otherwise).

It also seems to be very American, there are a number of translated books, but the sections 2000 to Present and 1900 to 2000 are primarily American as far as I can tell.

A blogger made a spreadsheet for the 2006 and 2008 versions of the book (the 2008 version changes about 300 titles from the 2006 book and more of these are translated/non-american), where you can write in your age and mark the books you've read from the list, then it calculates how many books you need to read per year if you wish to complete the list. You can find the spreadsheet (2008, but there's a link to the 2006 version too) here: Arukiyomi

jthomas60506 · Post by **jthomas60506** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 5:09 pm

I'd also recommend picking up Michael Dirda's "Classics for Pleasure," which is an engaging and thoughtful presentation of forgotten/neglected/under-appreciated classics. I've always enjoyed books about books, and Dirda's is at the top of my list.

jt

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 10:28 pm

Chris, I refuse to look at the list. It will only make me feel guilty and depressed.
Regards,
Gordon

wenestvedt · Post by **wenestvedt** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 7:21 am

Gordon, there's no need to feel bad at all: many of the choices can be dismissed with a sniff! As my brother pointed out, "And really just how different are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There?"

I don't feel guilty, I feel superior!

- Will
P.S. No David Irving? He's a fiction writer for sure.

Dexterous · Post by **Dexterous** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 9:47 am

MrSmooth wrote:Pfui! Only one Rex Stout novel, and 5 Agatha Christie? Nuts to this list.

No Mickey Spillane! No credibility!

GollyMrScience · Post by **GollyMrScience** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:00 pm

If they come out with a book titled "1001 Books you must read or you WILL die" they might get my attention. Otherwise I will be enjoying whatever I care to read in a guilt free manner absent from expectations set by others and nuts to them.

Hraefn · Post by **Hraefn** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:19 pm

no c.s. lewis? nuts to them

Blades · Post by **Blades** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 1:58 pm

How about a list of just 10 books I should read??
That would be more manageable and feasible.

fallingwickets · Post by **fallingwickets** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 12:51 pm

http://www.flashlightworthybooks.com/

for those that might be interested, flashlight is a half decent book site.

clive

Bargepole · Post by **Bargepole** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 4:46 pm

I've just emailed their lit. ed. suggesting "1000 Books You Wish You'd Waited Until You Were Dead So You Wouldn't Have Had To Read Them."

stubblebum · Post by **stubblebum** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 12:14 am

My friends and I are working through our sets of the Great Books of the Western World. They are much farther along that I am. I'm such an under achiever.

It's not for everyone and it's not very easy at times.

Here's a link. http://www.thegreatideas.org/greatbooks.html It looks like most of their links are dead, but they have some info on the Great Books of the Western World and some school programs built around it.

I love it. Basically, it's supposed to represent the most significant writings in the western world, the writings that essentially formed what we are today.

Very cool concept.

The books are on Amazon and sometimes Craigslist. I got mine at a book fair. All worth reading.

My background is mostly science, so this was out of my world, but I'm happy I'm filling my gaps.

wenestvedt · Post by **wenestvedt** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 6:47 am

Stumblebum, if your enthusiasm ever flags, read "The Western Canon" by cranky old Harold Bloom. He's perhaps the most passionate person about literature I've ever read (and enjoyed), though he' a bit of a curmudgeon. This book explains why certain authors -- Shakespeare being his chief love -- are in the canon and why the canon matters.

It's not a quick read, running to several hundred pages, but it certainly rekindled my love of literature after a few years of second shift work had almost snuffed it out. :7)

Here's the list of books Bloom includes: http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtbloom.html

And here's a review of the book: http://www.reason.com/news/show/29694.html

stbdtack · Post by **stbdtack** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 2:42 pm

Michael,
You're a hoot!! Unfortunately, I've read, or at least started, quite a few of these already. . . .

Bargepole wrote:I've just emailed their lit. ed. suggesting "1000 Books You Wish You'd Waited Until You Were Dead So You Wouldn't Have Had To Read Them."