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. 251.
    The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
    by Jose Saramago

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  2. 252.
    The Lover
    by Marguerite Duras

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  3. 253.
    Empire of the Sun
    by J. G. Ballard

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  4. 254.
    The Wasp Factory: A Novel
    by Iain Banks

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  5. 255.
    Nights at the Circus
    by Angela Carter

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  6. 256.
  7. 257.
    Blood and Guts in High School: A Novel (Acker, Kathy)
    by Kathy Acker

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  8. 258.
    Neuromancer
    by William Gibson

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  9. 259.
    Flaubert's Parrot
    by Julian Barnes

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  10. 260.
    ?
    Money: A suicide note
    by Martin Amis

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  11. 261.
    Shame: A Novel
    by Salman Rushdie

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  12. 262.
    ?
    Worstward Ho
    by Samuel Beckett

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  13. 263.
    Fools of Fortune
    by William Trevor

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  14. 264.
    La Brava
    by E. Leonard

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  15. 265.
    Waterland
    by Graham Swift

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  16. 266.
    Life and Times of Michael K: A Novel
    by J. M. Coetzee

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  18. 268.
    The Piano Teacher: A Novel
    by Elfriede Jelinek

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  19. 269.
    The Sorrow of Belgium (Tusk Ivories)
    by Hugo Claus

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  20. 270.
    If Not Now, When? (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)
    by Primo Levi

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  21. 271.
    A Boy's Own Story (Vintage International)
    by Edmund White

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  22. 272.
    The Color Purple
    by Alice Walker

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  23. 273.
    Wittgenstein's Nephew: A Friendship (Phoenix Fiction Series)
    by Thomas Bernhard

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  24. 274.
    A Pale View of Hills
    by Kazuo Ishiguro

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  25. 275.
    Schindlers Ark (Coronet Books)
    by Thomas Keneally

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  26. 276.
    The House of the Spirits
    by Isabel Allende

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  27. 277.
    The Newton Letter
    by John Banville

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  28. 278.
    On the Black Hill
    by Bruce Chatwin

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  29. 279.
    Concrete (Phoenix Fiction Series)
    by Thomas Bernhard

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  30. 280.
    The Names
    by Don DeLillo

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  31. 281.
    Rabbit Is Rich
    by John Updike

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  32. 282.
    Lanark: A Life in 4 Books (Harvest Book)
    by Alasdair Gray

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  33. 283.
    The Comfort of Strangers
    by Ian Mcewan

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  34. 284.
    July's People
    by Nadine Gordimer

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  35. 285.
    Summer in Baden-Baden
    by Leonid Tsypkin

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  36. 286.
    Broken April
    by Ismail Kadare

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  38. 288.
    Midnight's Children
    by Salman Rushdie

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  39. 289.
    Rites of Passage
    by William Golding

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  40. 290.
    Rituals (Harvest Book)
    by Cees Nooteboom

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  41. 291.
    A Confederacy of Dunces (Evergreen Book)
    by John Kennedy Toole

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  42. 292.
    City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit
    by Elmore Leonard

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  44. 294.
    The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
    by Milan Kundera

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  45. 295.
    Smiley's People
    by John le Carre

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  46. 296.
    Shikasta.
    by Doris Lessing

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  47. 297.
    A Bend in the River (Vintage International)
    by V.S. Naipaul

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  48. 298.
    Burger's Daughter
    by Nadine Gordimer

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  49. 299.
    ?
    The Safety Net
    by Heinrich Boll

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  50. 300.

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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 3 4 6 8 9 10 11 12 13

javert
Arlington

No. — 1 year ago

You may not add Atlas Shrugged, because it is not in Boxall’s book.

Jan 06, 08:14PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Nogoodpunk42

Atlas Shrugged? — 1 year ago

I added Atlas Shrugged. How could a book that started a school not be on a list of books to read before you die?

Jan 03, 06:54PM | 1 comment | Reply to this

Lou17

Long way to go — 1 year ago

I’m reading my 14th book from the list at the moment… and im actually kind of proud of myself. I know 14 isnt many but im only 17 and when i discovered this list about 6 months ago i had only read 4!! And two of them were in english lit! Hopefully one day I’ll b able to reach a percentage of double figures!

Dec 20, 08:47PM | 2 comments | Reply to this

lilybriscoe

SELECTIONS — 1 year 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... — 1 year 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% — 2 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
Canberra

Changed — 2 years ago

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

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

Perlle
East Hampton

Missing books — 2 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
Seattle

Untitled — 2 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
San Francisco

Goodreads Group — 2 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


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