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. 201.
    The Beautiful Room Is Empty: A Novel
    by Edmund White

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  2. 202.
  3. 203.
    The Satanic Verses: A Novel (Bestselling Backlist)
    by Salman Rushdie

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  4. 204.
    Swimming Pool Library
    by Alan Hollinghurst

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  5. 205.
    Oscar and Lucinda: movie tie-in edition
    by Peter Carey

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  6. 206.
    Libra (Contemporary American Fiction)
    by Don DeLillo

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  7. 207.
    The Player of Games
    by Iain M. Banks

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  8. 208.
    Nervous Conditions
    by Tsitsi Dangarembga

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  9. 209.
    Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul
    by Douglas Adams

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  10. 210.
    Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
    by Douglas Adams

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  11. 211.
    The Radiant Way
    by Margaret Drabble

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  12. 212.
    ?
    Afternoon of a Writer
    by Peter Handke

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  13. 213.
    The Black Dahlia
    by James Ellroy

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  14. 214.
    The Passion (Winterson, Jeanette)
    by Jeanette Winterson

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  15. 215.
    The Pigeon
    by Patrick Suskind

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  16. 216.
    The Child in Time
    by Ian Mcewan

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  17. 217.
    Cigarettes (American Literature (Dalkey Archive))
    by Harry Mathews

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  18. 218.
    The Bonfire of the Vanities
    by TOM WOLFE

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  19. 219.
  20. 220.
    World's End (Contemporary American Fiction)
    by T.C. Boyle

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  21. 221.
    The Enigma of Arrival: A Novel
    by V.S. Naipaul

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  22. 222.
    ?
    The Taebaek Mountains
    by Jo Jung-Rae

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  23. 223.
    Beloved
    by Toni Morrison

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  24. 224.
    Anagrams
    by Lorrie Moore

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  25. 225.
    Matigari (African Writers Series)
    by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

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  26. 226.
    Marya: A Life
    by Joyce Carol Oates

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  27. 227.
    Watchmen
    by Alan Moore

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  28. 228.
    ?
    Old Devils: A Novel
    by Kingsley Amis

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  29. 229.
    The Lost Language of Cranes: A Novel
    by David Leavitt

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  30. 230.
    An Artist of the Floating World
    by Kazuo Ishiguro

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  31. 231.
    Extinction: A Novel (Phoenix Fiction Series)
    by Thomas Bernhard

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  32. 232.
    Foe: A Novel (King Penguin)
    by J. M. Coetzee

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  33. 233.
    The Drowned and the Saved
    by Primo Levi

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  34. 234.
    Reasons to Live: Stories by
    by Amy Hempel

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  35. 235.
    The Parable of the Blind
    by Gert; Translated by Middleton, Christopher Hofmann

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  36. 236.
    Love in the Time of Cholera
    by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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  37. 237.
    Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (Winterson, Jeanette)
    by Jeanette Winterson

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  38. 238.
    The Cider House Rules
    by John Irving

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  39. 239.
    A Maggot
    by John Fowles

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  40. 240.
    Less Than Zero
    by Bret Easton Ellis

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  41. 241.
    Contact
    by Carl Sagan

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  42. 242.
    The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel
    by Margaret Atwood

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  43. 243.
    Perfume
    by Patrick Suskind

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  44. 244.
    Old Masters: A Comedy (Phoenix Fiction Series)
    by Thomas Bernhard

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  45. 245.
    White Noise (Contemporary American Fiction)
    by Don DeLillo

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  46. 246.
    Queer: A Novel
    by William S. Burroughs

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  47. 247.
    Hawksmoor
    by Peter Ackroyd

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  48. 248.
    Legend (Drenai Tales, Book 1)
    by David Gemmell

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  49. 249.
    Dictionary of the Khazars (F)
    by Milorad Pavic

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  50. 250.
    ?
    The Bus Conductor Hines (Fiction)
    by James Kelman

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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 5 7 8 9 … 12 13

avidreader60
San Miguel De Allende

Untitled — 1 year ago

Just read through all the past comments, and I note that many of you have reported your progress, so what the hell! I’m 68 and have been an avid reader for at least 60 of those years. After entering what I’ve read, I discovered that I’m at 20%-not too bad. I figured that if I averaged a book a week (which is what I did last year-not using the list, however) I could finish this list by the time I’m 86. I’ve done two this week, but I just started “Gravity’s Rainbow,” and I know that will take me a lot longer than a week! (I did all of Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time” last year, thank god!) Still have “Infinte Jest” to do this year though.

Mar 11, 09:08AM | 3 comments | Reply to this

rwhitney22
Golden

renumbered — 1 year ago

who changed all the damned numbers around?! FIX IT

Mar 09, 05:11PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Panzeranzi

What?!? — 1 year ago

Why do people keep on adding books to this list? It’s a list made up of the books in Dr Peter Boxall’s book 1001 Books You Should Read Before You Die and it is clearly stated in the text at the top: “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…”

I’m trying to keep track of the books in the original list, but it’s hard when people keep adding books that aren’t supposed to be there.

Mar 09, 03:05AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

parafinn

Too much 'oprah' — 1 year ago

...and far too many by Ian McEwan

Mar 07, 02:31PM | 2 comments | Reply to this

Kat
Gold Coast

Untitled — 1 year ago

According to arukiyomi’s spreadhsheet, number 33 is Middlesex, yet this is not listed on this list.

Feb 13, 06:32PM | 1 comment | Reply to this

LizaToad

missing books... — 1 year ago

i think a lot of ‘classics’ are missing from this list… atlas shrugged, nothing by pushkin, crime and punishment, etc… it also seems to heavily favor certain authors… where is ‘love in the time of cholera’? What about Balzac?

Feb 07, 07:36AM | 2 comments | Reply to this

rwhitney22
Golden

Harry Potter — 1 year ago

Some idiot added a Harry Potter book to the bottom of this list, making it 1002 books. I deleted it. FYI.

Feb 06, 04:37PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

gauloises

Untitled — 1 year ago

FINALLY made it to 28%!

Jan 29, 10:43AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

nikki22119

Untitled — 1 year ago

Was “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro deleted from the list?

Jan 20, 02:34PM | 2 comments | Reply to this

rwhitney22
Golden

no Watership Down? — 1 year ago

although I was glad to see my 4 favorite books of all time on the list. Not “working on it” but I have read 46 of the 1001. That only equates to 4% though. boo.

Jan 20, 02:07PM | 0 comments | Reply to this


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