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

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  3. 403.
    No Laughing Matter
    by Angus Wilson

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  4. 404.
  5. 405.
    ?
    A Man Asleep
    by Georges Perec

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  6. 406.
    ?
    The Birds Fall Down
    by Rebecca West

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  7. 407.
    ?
    Trawl
    by B. S. Johnson

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  8. 408.
    In Cold Blood
    by Truman Capote

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  9. 409.
    The Magus
    by JOHN FOWLES

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  10. 410.
    Le Vice-Consul (Imaginaire Ser)
    by Marguerite Duras

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  11. 411.
    Wide Sargasso Sea (Norton Paperback Fiction)
    by Jean Rhys

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  12. 412.
    Giles Goat Boy (The Anchor Literary Library)
    by John Barth

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  13. 413.
    The Crying of Lot 49
    by Thomas Pynchon

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  14. 414.
    ?
    Things
    by Georges Perec

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  15. 415.
    The River Between (African Writers)
    by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

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  16. 416.
    ?
    August Is a Wicked Month
    by Edna O'Brien

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  17. 417.
    God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
    by Kurt Vonnegut

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  18. 418.
    Everything That Rises Must Converge
    by Flannery O'Connor

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  19. 419.
    The Passion According to G.H. (Emergent Literatures)
    by Clarice Lispector

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  20. 420.
    Sometimes a Great Notion
    by Ken Kesey

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  21. 421.
    ?
    Come Back, Dr. Caligari
    by Donald Barthelme

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  22. 422.
    ?
    Albert Angelo
    by B. S. Johnson

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  23. 423.
    Arrow of God
    by Chinua Achebe

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  24. 424.
    Ravishing of Lol Stein
    by Marguerite Duras

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  25. 425.
    Herzog (Penguin Classics)
    by Saul Bellow

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  26. 426.
    V. (Perennial Classics)
    by Thomas Pynchon

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  27. 427.
    Cat's Cradle
    by Kurt Vonnegut

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  28. 428.
    The Graduate
    by Charles Webb

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  29. 429.
    Manon Des Sources (L'Eau Des Collines)
    by Marcel Pagnol

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  30. 430.
    The Spy Who Came in From the Cold

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  31. 431.
    The Girls of Slender Means
    by Muriel Spark

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  32. 432.
    ?
    Inside Mr. Enderby
    by Anthony Burgess

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  33. 433.
    Bell Jar (P.S.)
    by Sylvia Plath

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  34. 434.
    One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch (Signet Classics)
    by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

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  35. 435.
    The Collector (Back Bay Books)
    by John Fowles

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  36. 436.
    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
    by Ken Kesey

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  37. 437.
    A Clockwork Orange
    by Anthony Burgess

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  38. 438.
    Pale Fire
    by Vladimir Nabokov

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  39. 439.
    The Drowned World
    by J.G. Ballard

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  42. 442.
    Girl with green eyes
    by Edna O'Brien

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  43. 443.
    The Garden of Finzi-Continis
    by Giorgio Bassani

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  44. 444.
    Stranger in a Strange Land
    by Robert A. Heinlein

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  45. 445.
    Franny and Zooey
    by J.D. Salinger

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  46. 446.
    A Severed Head
    by Iris Murdoch

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  47. 447.
    Faces in the Water
    by Janet Frame

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  48. 448.
    Solaris
    by Stanislaw Lem

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  49. 449.
    Cat and Mouse (Danzig)
    by Gunter Grass

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  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

Didge

4% — 2 years ago

Finally! Slowly but surely…

Apr 20, 07:21PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

southernbohemian
Austin

Changes... — 2 years ago

It started out simply enough. I noticed that the book listed for #641 was a combo of both “Miss Lonelyhearts” and “The Day of the Locust.” Thinking there was a chance it was supposed to be “The Day of the Locust” only (and therefore giving me another to check off (11% is just pitiful), I checked it with the list source, only to find out that it was actually supposed to be only “Miss Lonelyhearts.” Changed that.

Then noticed that #326 (which I had checked off as read), was the First Movement of the Dance to the Music of Time series, instead of the entire series. This is a bit of a pet peeve with me because I one day will finish reading the series and want full credit then. So I changed that.

Then I noticed that the list surprisingly ended with Sophie’s Choice, instead of Aesop’s Fables. Very sneaky! Instead of just adding it on and easily getting caught, they had replaced it! So that was changed back. I like Sophie’s Choice a lot, but it just didn’t belong.

I’m not usually this anal, but I was comparing the list to the books I have in the house to read to decide if I’d like to work on this list a bit. After all this, I think I will…

Apr 19, 11:41AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

reesies
London

Untitled — 2 years ago

I’m pretty chuffed to be at 20%- but let’s face it, I’m not really going to read all 800 books left. But I still enjoy looking through it for ideas from time to time!

Apr 17, 08:40AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

surferelle
Manchester

Untitled — 2 years ago

I’ve read bits and pieces of a lot of books on this list, but I suppose I can’t mark them off:) My measley 2% is sad to me, but reading for anything but class these days is very unappealing. Will have to work on it during the summer….

Apr 09, 11:06PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

StellaOrbit
Sydney

wow 12% — 2 years ago

Who would have thought I’d have read that many?
Glad I have many of the fattest and hardest to read out of the way. Infinite Jest is a must read – don’t let the size put you off it is laugh out loud funny and you just can’t put it down. I’ve read it twice!

Next up Slow Man – we’ll see, I didn’t like Elizabeth Costello that much. Was disappointed that Seven Types of Ambiguity wasn’t on and nor was You Shall Know Our Velocity.

Apr 08, 02:34AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

ShesaRockStar
Karachi

ambitious — 2 years ago

a whopping 7% and i still feel feeble and ignorant! i think its the modern classics that i’m missing out on. but this list certainly encouraging …
what did you guys start with … i mean after going through this?

Apr 01, 01:05PM | 4 comments | Reply to this

The Subjected Reader

Hunger — 2 years ago

Someone added another version of Knut Hamsun’s Hunger – it was already on the list (#813), so I deleted it.

Feb 28, 01:03PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Cresida
St. Louis

4% — 2 years ago

Just found this community… I’ve already read 4% of the list, most of the rest I’ve intended to. I’m a bit puzzled by all th ]e late 20th century stuff.. and some must reads are omitted.

Feb 27, 07:29PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Slushmier
Denver

4% — 2 years ago

I finally hit 4%. Thanks Breakfast of Champions. At this rate I should be done at the age 575. Here’s hoping technology advances enough to keep me alive until then.

Feb 25, 09:57PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

starlagurl
Ottawa

Wow — 2 years ago

Thanks guys, I’m glad you like it. I am very excited to finally make it to the top five! I also love this list, and I’m only on nine per cent.

Jan 31, 11:59AM | 0 comments | Reply to this


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