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. 1.
    Never Let Me Go
    by Kazuo Ishiguro
  2. 2.
    Saturday
    by Ian McEwan
  3. 3.
    On Beauty
    by Zadie Smith
  4. 4.
    Slow Man
    by J.M. Coetzee
  5. 5.
    Adjunct: An Undigest
    by Peter Manson
  6. 6.
    The Sea
    by John Banville
  7. 7.
    The Red Queen
    by Margaret Drabble
  8. 8.
    The Plot Against America
    by Philip Roth
  9. 9.
    The Master: A Novel
    by Colm Toibin
  10. 10.
    Vanishing Point: A Novel
    by David Markson
  11. 11.
    The Lambs of London
    by Peter Ackroyd
  12. 12.
    Dining on Stones
    by Iain Sinclair
  13. 13.
    Cloud Atlas: A Novel
    by David Mitchell
  14. 14.
    Drop City
    by T.C. Boyle
  15. 15.
    The Colour: A Novel
    by Rose Tremain
  16. 16.
    Thursbitch
    by Alan Garner
  17. 17.
    The Light of Day
    by Graham Swift
  18. 18.
    What I Loved: A Novel
    by Siri Hustvedt
  19. 19.
    The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
    by Mark Haddon
  20. 20.
    Islands
    by Dan Sleigh
  21. 21.
    Elizabeth Costello
    by J. M. Coetzee
  22. 22.
    London Orbital
    by Iain Sinclair
  23. 23.
    Family Matters
    by Rohinton Mistry
  24. 24.
    Fingersmith
    by Sarah Waters
  25. 25.
    The Double
    by Jose Saramago
  26. 26.
    Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel
    by Jonathan Safran Foer
  27. 27.
    Unless: A Novel
    by Carol Shields
  28. 28.
    Kafka on the Shore
    by Haruki Murakami
  29. 29.
    The Story of Lucy Gault: A Novel
    by William Trevor
  30. 30.
    That They May Face the Rising Sun (Great Irish Writers)
    by John McGahern
  31. 31.
    In the Forest: A Novel
    by Edna O'Brien
  32. 32.
    Shroud
    by John Banville
  33. 33.
    Middlesex: A Novel
    by Jeffrey Eugenides
  34. 34.
    Youth: Scenes from Provincial Life II
    by J. M. Coetzee
  35. 35.
    Dead Air.Provoking Thriller.
    by Iain Banks
  36. 36.
    Nowhere Man
    by Aleksandar Hemon
  37. 37.
    The Book of Illusions: A Novel
    by Paul Auster
  38. 38.
    Gabriel's Gift: A Novel
    by Hanif Kureishi
  39. 39.
    Austerlitz (Modern Library Paperbacks)
    by Winfried Georg Sebald
  40. 40.
    Platform
    by Michel Houellebecq
  41. 41.
    Schooling
    by Heather McGowan
  42. 42.
    Atonement: A Novel
    by Ian McEwan
  43. 43.
    The Corrections
    by Jonathan Franzen
  44. 44.
    Don't Move
    by Margaret Mazzantini
  45. 45.
    The Body Artist: A Novel
    by Don DeLillo
  46. 46.
    Fury: A Novel (Modern Library)
    by Salman Rushdie
  47. 47.
    At Swim, Two Boys: A Novel
    by Jamie O'Neill
  48. 48.
    Choke
    by Chuck Palahniuk
  49. 49.
    Life of Pi
    by Yann Martel
  50. 50.
    The Feast of the Goat: A Novel
    by Mario Vargas Llosa

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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 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 14 15

adriana1000

Wow! — 3 weeks ago

Excited to add to my list. So many wonderful books out there.

Jan 19, 07:30AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

DamiTrice

changed list?! — 10 weeks ago

whoa! who changed the list?! again?! some of the books are now on here twice, some I had marked as read were unmarked – what the heck?

Dec 03, 05:48AM | 2 comments | Reply to this

Talia French

1% — 11 weeks ago

I’ve been working on this list (as well as the BBC Top 200) since March. So far I’ve really enjoyed the books I’ve read, especially Lord of the Rings, A Town Like Alice, and Jane Eyre. I’m currently working on Cryptonomicon and The Secret History.

Nov 21, 08:42PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

amaryann210

12% — 14 weeks ago

I’ve been plugging away at the list for a few years and have risen a few percent. I don’t read exclusively from the list, but a few of my favorites are Jane Eyre, Never Let Me Go, The Elegance of the Hedgehog (2010 list), A Fine Balance, Middlesex, and Great Expectations. I try to read a list book and a non-list book simultaneously so I don’t burn out on literature!

Nov 03, 11:43AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Wisconsin08

From 14% to 15% — 15 weeks ago

I read a number of books the past month going to 15%. The best were Tarzan, Rameau’s Nephew, and Portnoy’s Complaint. Two I would not recommend were Eugene Onegin and Story of O. Ones in the middle that were pretty good included Frankenstein, Notes from the Underground, and Pierre and Jean. In a Glass Darkly was accidentally counted in the last group and was in this group and was pretty good.

Oct 30, 08:09PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Wisconsin08

From 13% to 14% — 18 weeks ago

I reached this last month: The best of these ten were: The Good Soldier Svejk, The Day of the Triffids, and The Shadowline: A Confession. A step lower and very good were: Bunner Sisters, Diary of a Nobody, and In a Glass Darkly. Good works were: The House on the Borderland, The Life and Death of Harriet Frean, and A Tale of A Tub. One I would not recommend was The Man of Feeling, (which others like a good deal).

Oct 09, 09:50AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Eleitistscum

How many a year? — 24 weeks ago

I read constantly but at 24 and 10% (8% on the newer one) this list seems a bit daunting any suggestions?

Aug 26, 10:26PM | 4 comments | Reply to this

Gavin Malavolta

Keep up to date! — 34 weeks ago

get this list updated – the latest revision is for 2010 (and I’ve read more titles on that version ha ha)

Jun 20, 11:45AM | 2 comments | Reply to this

Wisconsin08

From 10 to 11 to 12 to 13%  — 44 weeks ago

It’s been a long time since I made an entry but I read a fair amount of books. I’m also reading from the 2008 list so I apologize if a couple of them sneek on here. The very best excellent reads were Schindler’s List, This Way for the Gas Ladies and Gentlemen!. A Clockwork Orange, Lolita, Dracula, and Like Water for Chocolate. Very good ones were A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Aesop’s Fables, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Enormous Room, Pricksongs and Descants, The Invention of Curried Sausage, All the Pretty Horses, Hideous Kinky, and Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. Others worth reading were A Room With a View, Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, Pnin, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, The Sorrows of Young Werther, Sexing the Cherry, Castle Rackrent, The Underdogs, Rashoman and other stories, A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy, The Thirty-Nine Steps, The Sea, The Castle of Otranto, and Prince of Abyssinia. Books I would not recommend that I read were The Dictionary of the Khazars, Nightwood, and Vathek.

Apr 07, 08:11PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Shannon

Just finished looking through the whole list — 49 weeks ago

I am surprised that so many authors are so well represented. Why not only list 1 or 2 books per author and therefore get a wider representation? Especially if you end up hating, say, George Eliot or Edith Wharton, and then feel like you have to read several of their books just to mark them off.

Mar 04, 02:05PM | 0 comments | Reply to this


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