Dr. Peter Boxall's "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006 edition)"

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Each work of literature listed here is a seminal work key to understanding and appreciating the written word. These 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. (Description from Amazon.com)

This is a community list. You can contribute, edit, or help maintain it by adding it to your lists. Please do not remove or add titles that will change this list from how it appears in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die edited by Peter Boxall with an introduction by Peter Ackroyd.

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  2. 402.
    The Joke (Definitive Version)
    by Milan Kundera
  3. 403.
    No Laughing Matter
    by Angus Wilson
  4. 404.
    The Third Policeman
    by Flann O'Brien
  5. 405.
    ?
    A Man Asleep
    by Georges Perec
  6. 406.
    The Birds Fall Down
    by Rebecca West
  7. 407.
    ?
    Trawl
    by B. S. Johnson
  8. 408.
    In Cold Blood
    by Truman Capote
  9. 409.
    The Magus
    by John Fowles
  10. 410.
    Le Vice-Consul (Imaginaire Ser)
    by Marguerite Duras
  11. 411.
    Wide Sargasso Sea: A Novel
    by Jean Rhys
  12. 412.
    Giles Goat Boy (The Anchor Literary Library)
    by John Barth
  13. 413.
    The Crying of Lot 49
    by Thomas Pynchon
  14. 414.
    Things
    by Georges Perec
  15. 415.
    The River Between (African Writers Series)
    by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o
  16. 416.
    ?
    August Is a Wicked Month
    by Edna O'Brien
  17. 417.
    God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater: A Novel
    by Kurt Vonnegut
  18. 418.
    Everything That Rises Must Converge
    by Flannery O'Connor
  19. 419.
    The Passion According to G.H. (Emergent Literatures)
    by Clarice Lispector
  20. 420.
    Sometimes a Great Notion
    by Ken Kesey
  21. 421.
    ?
    Come Back, Dr. Caligari
    by Donald Barthelme
  22. 422.
    Albert Angelo
    by B. S. Johnson
  23. 423.
    Arrow of God
    by Chinua Achebe
  24. 424.
    Ravishing of Lol Stein
    by Marguerite Duras
  25. 425.
    Herzog (Penguin Classics)
    by Saul Bellow
  26. 426.
    V. (Perennial Classics)
    by Thomas Pynchon
  27. 427.
    Cat's Cradle: A Novel
    by Kurt Vonnegut
  28. 428.
    The Graduate
    by Charles Webb
  29. 429.
    Manon Des Sources (L'Eau Des Collines)
    by Marcel Pagnol
  30. 430.
    The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
    by John le Carre
  31. 431.
    The Girls of Slender Means (New Directions Classic)
    by Muriel Spark
  32. 432.
    ?
    Inside Mr Enderby
    by Anthony Burgess
  33. 433.
    The Bell Jar
    by Sylvia Plath
  34. 434.
    One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch (Signet Classics)
    by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
  35. 435.
    The Collector (Back Bay Books)
    by John Fowles
  36. 436.
    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
    by Ken Kesey
  37. 437.
    A Clockwork Orange
    by Anthony Burgess
  38. 438.
    Pale Fire
    by Vladimir Nabokov
  39. 439.
    The Drowned World
    by J G Ballard
  40. 440.
    The Golden Notebook: Perennial Classics edition
    by Doris Lessing
  41. 441.
    Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings
    by Jorge Luis Borges
  42. 442.
    Girl with green eyes
    by Edna O'Brien
  43. 443.
    The Garden of Finzi-Continis
    by Giorgio Bassani
  44. 444.
    Stranger in a Strange Land
    by Robert A. Heinlein
  45. 445.
    Franny and Zooey
    by J.D. Salinger
  46. 446.
    A Severed Head
    by Iris Murdoch
  47. 447.
    Faces in the Water
    by Janet Frame
  48. 448.
    Solaris
    by Stanislaw Lem
  49. 449.
    Cat and Mouse
    by Gunter Grass
  50. 450.
    The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Perennial Classics)
    by Muriel Spark

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This is a community list. You can contribute, edit, or help maintain it by adding it to your lists.
Created by starlagurl on Mar 27, 2006.
 

Comments

Pages: Pages: 1 2 … 5 6 7 9 11 12 13 14 15 16

lilybriscoe

SELECTIONS — 5 years ago

I think the name of this list should be “1001 suggestions to choose from while you are alive”. And I’m not sure how I feel about certain authors’ WHOLE catalog on the list—all of Virginia Woolf, Faulkner, etc. Glad a little comedy made the list though. :)

Dec 18, 11:25PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

mdnotquite

1% and counting... — 5 years ago

I took this up primarily as a platform from which to fill in the holes in my reading list…rather than shying from the literature Jeopardy category I’d like to be able to confront it with a semblance of confidence lol.

Curious about a few of the entries i.e. Agatha Christie’s Roger Ackroyd audio version? Or was this simply the only available Amazon link? Likewise the Hobbit is mentioned twice, albeit once as an inclusive boxed set with the trilogy…a few I’m fuzzy on and being anal, I chose not to check off (most of the Poe that I probably read in High School but can’t recall and figure thats a good enough rationale for re-reading).

Dec 15, 12:27PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

DPenn1965

5% — 5 years ago

I started reading this list and got real discouraged at first then I noticed that many of the books I have read toward the end of the list. Anyway, I have read about 50 of the books and it seems like a good group of books. I am always happy to have another goal.

Dec 09, 08:34PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

dt123

Changed — 5 years ago

Cider with Rosie (459) to an edition with the correct author.

Nov 28, 03:12PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Perlle

Missing books — 5 years ago

Someone deleted two books from the list. I put Aesop’s Fables back but the other isn’t so apparent. Anybody have an idea which one is missing?

Nov 07, 09:19AM | 2 comments | Reply to this

Inditra

Untitled — 5 years ago

I started out as only 2% which was pretty discouraging considering I’ve been an avid reader all my life, but I’ve read hundreds of books that are not on this list but that are still excellent so I’m not too downtrodden.

Nov 05, 02:40PM | 1 comment | Reply to this

kimbobo

Goodreads Group — 5 years ago

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/970.1001_Books_You_Must_Read_Before_You_Die

Sep 10, 02:02PM | 1 comment | Reply to this

nixo42

Jacques the Fatalist — 5 years ago

Moved to correct position ie from page 20 to page 19 between Burney’s ‘Camilla’ and Diderot’s ‘The Nun’. Otherwise checking through 1001 books the list is accurate.

Aug 18, 03:36AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Deanne Beech

Now I know why — 5 years ago

The list goes from 138 to 140 with no 139, still only 1001 books

Aug 17, 03:57PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Deanne Beech

1002 — 5 years ago

How come the list now goes up to 1002?

Aug 16, 05:50PM | 0 comments | Reply to this


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