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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  1. 101.
    Silk
    by Alessandro Baricco

  2. 102.
    Cocaine Nights
    by J. G. Ballard

  3. 103.
    Hallucinating Foucault
    by Patricia Duncker

  4. 104.
    Fugitive Pieces: A Novel
    by Anne Michaels

  5. 105.
    The Ghost Road (William Abrahams)
    by Pat Barker

  6. 106.

  7. 107.
    Infinite Jest: A Novel
    by David Foster Wallace

  8. 108.
    Clay Machine-Gun
    by Victor Pelevin

  9. 109.
    Alias Grace
    by Margaret Atwood

  10. 110.
    The Unconsoled
    by Kazuo Ishiguro

  11. 111.
    Morvern Callar
    by Alan Warner

  12. 112.
    The Information
    by Martin Amis

  13. 113.
    The Moor's Last Sigh
    by Salman Rushdie

  14. 114.
    Sabbath's Theater
    by Philip Roth

  15. 115.
    The Rings of Saturn
    by W.G. Sebald

  16. 116.
    The Reader (Oprah's Book Club)
    by Bernhard Schlink

  17. 117.
    A Fine Balance (Oprah's Book Club)
    by Rohinton Mistry

  18. 118.
    Love's Work: A Reckoning with Life
    by Gillian Rose

  19. 119.
    The End of the Story: A Novel
    by Lydia Davis

  20. 120.
    Mr. Vertigo
    by Paul Auster

  21. 121.
    The Folding Star: A Novel
    by Alan Hollinghurst

  22. 122.
    Whatever
    by Michel Houellebecq

  23. 123.
    ?
    Land
    by Park Kyong-Ni

  24. 124.
    The Master of Petersburg: A Novel
    by J. M. Coetzee

  25. 125.
    The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel
    by Haruki Murakami

  26. 126.
    Pereira Declares: A Testimony
    by Antonio Tabucchi

  27. 127.
    City, Sister, Silver
    by Jachym Topol

  28. 128.
    How Late It Was, How Late
    by James Kelman

  29. 129.
    Captain Corelli's Mandolin
    by Louis De Bernieres

  30. 130.
    Felicia's Journey: (movie tie-in edition)
    by William Trevor

  31. 131.
    Disappearance
    by David Dabydeen

  32. 132.
    The Invention of Curried Sausage
    by Uwe Timm

  33. 133.
    The Shipping News
    by E. Annie Proulx

  34. 134.
    Trainspotting
    by Irvine Welsh

  35. 135.
    Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War
    by Sebastian Faulks

  36. 136.
    Looking for the Possible Dance
    by A. L. Kennedy

  37. 137.

  38. 138.
    Complicity
    by Iain Banks

  39. 139.
    On Love: A Novel
    by Alain de Botton

  40. 140.
    What a Carve Up! (Essential Penguin)
    by Jonathan Coe

  41. 141.
    A Suitable Boy: A Novel (Modern Classics)
    by Vikram Seth

  42. 142.
    The Stone Diaries
    by Carol Shields

  43. 143.
    The Virgin Suicides
    by Jeffrey Eugenides

  44. 144.
    House of Doctor Dee
    by Peter Ackroyd

  45. 145.
    The Robber Bride
    by Margaret Atwood

  46. 146.
    The Emigrants
    by W. G. Sebald

  47. 147.
    The Secret History
    by Donna Tartt

  48. 148.
    Life Is a Caravanserai (Middlesex University World Lit)
    by Emine Sevgi Ozdamar

  49. 149.
    The Discovery of Heaven
    by Harry Mulisch

  50. 150.
    A Heart So White
    by Javier MarĂ­as

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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

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Must be a good read... — 2 years ago

Madame Bovary is on the list at least 6 times – luckily at the end!


No Alice Munro? — 2 years ago

Thanks for a comprehensive list of books, many of which I have fond (and not so fond) memories of from my Ph.D. in English literature. But I was surprised not to see anything by Alice Munro! As I was reflecting in my blog last night (www.the-reading-list.com), Munro is the author who has uplifted my spirits at crisis points in my life….


Suggestions — 2 years ago

Ballpark, let’s see, I’ve read about 12 of the books I saw listed, some more than once. I have also tried to read about 5 of them but couldn’t finish. Still working on The Sound and the Fury. Starting Mrs. Dalloway. So I would say about 1.5%. Pretty bad for an English major. A lot of these books are contemporary though. Glad to see Joyce Carol Oates on there. Sorry there were not any Walter Mosley books. Also, Ruth Rendel/Barbara Vine. And another thing Why wasn’t Pillars of the Earth on the list? I will definitely try to work on this list however. Oh, and why wasn’t Saramago’s Blindness listed. Maybe someone should take a few off and add a few.


Definitive — 2 years ago

What part of this do people not understand.


Untitled — 3 years ago

I’m starting off with 3%, but I’m young, so I have a long way to go…


??? — 3 years ago

Someone messed up the list. “Fear of Flying” is certainly NOT #1001.


where is? — 3 years ago

where is east of eden? thats a great book! there are many good books missing as well ones that are only included because everyone says they are good but are really just boring


Untitled — 3 years ago

interesting list, i am going to try to read some of the books on this list. I read Atonement, that was such a great book. Even though, i cried so much. I’m still young and i am trying to read as much as possible.


Starting the list — 3 years ago

I’m still young, so I’m starting now.


Untitled — 3 years ago

I’m starting out on this list with 10% and on the 2008 list at 8% I will update every few books like some of the other posters here…happy reading



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