Dr. Peter Boxall's "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2008 edition)"

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I have decided to take on the monumentally crazy task of entering the new version of the 1001 BYMR list. This list happens to go in chronological order, like the actual book, instead of reverse chronological.

There are 284 new books on the list – so this list is quite a bit different than the 2006 version. The entries tend to be more international, but also heavier on modern work. The pre-1700 and 1700s categories of the previous list have been lumped together into pre-1800.

Please please please do not make any changes unless it is to better follow the list source. Thanks!

Pages: 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 20 21

  1. 1.
  3. 3.
    The Tale of Genji
    by Murasaki Shikibu
  5. 5.
    ?
    Water Margin
    by Shih-Nai an
  6. 6.
    The Golden Ass (Penguin Classics)
    by Apuleius
  7. 7.
    ?
    Tirant Lo Blanc/ Tirant the White
    by Joanot Martorell
  8. 8.
    La Celestina (Spanish Edition)
    by Fernando de Rojas
  11. 11.
    Gargantua and Pantagruel (Penguin Classics)
    by Francois Rabelais
  12. 12.
    The Lusíads (Oxford World's Classics)
    by Luís Vaz de Camões
  14. 14.
  15. 15.
    Thomas of Reading; Or, the Sixe Worthie Yeomen of the West
    by Thomas Deloney
  16. 16.
    Don Quixote
    by Miguel De Cervantes
  17. 17.
    The Trials of Persiles and Sigismunda: A Northern Story
    by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
  18. 18.
    The Conquest of New Spain (Penguin Classics)
    by Bernal Diaz del Castillo
  20. 20.
    The Princess of Cleves (New Directions Classics)
    by Madame de Lafayette
  21. 21.
  22. 22.
    Robinson Crusoe (Modern Library Classics)
    by Daniel Defoe
  23. 23.
    Love in Excess (Broadview Literary Text)
    by Eliza Haywood
  24. 24.
    Moll Flanders
    by Daniel Defoe
  25. 25.
    Gulliver's Travels (Penguin Classics)
    by Jonathan Swift
  27. 27.
    Joseph Andrews (Dover Thrift Editions)
    by Henry Fielding
  29. 29.
    Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded (Oxford World's Classics)
    by Samuel Richardson
  30. 30.
    Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady (Penguin Classics)
    by Samuel Richardson
  31. 31.
    Tom Jones (Modern Library Classics)
    by Henry Fielding
  33. 33.
    The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle
    by Tobias George Smollett
  35. 35.
    Candide: Or, Optimism (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
    by Francois Voltaire
  36. 36.
  38. 38.
    Emile: Or On Education
    by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  39. 39.
    The Castle of Otranto (Classic, Modern, Penguin)
    by Horace Walpole
  40. 40.
    The Vicar of Wakefield (Penguin English Library)
    by Oliver Goldsmith
  41. 41.
    Tristram Shandy (Everyman's Library)
    by Laurence Sterne
  42. 42.
    A Sentimental Journey (Penguin Classics)
    by Laurence Sterne
  43. 43.
    The Man of Feeling (Oxford World's Classics)
    by Henry Mackenzie
  44. 44.
    Humphrey Clinker (Wordsworth Classics)
    by Tobias George Smollett
  45. 45.
    The Sorrows of Young Werther (Modern Library Classics)
    by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
  46. 46.
    Evelina
    by Fanny Burney
  47. 47.
    Reveries of the Solitary Walker (Penguin Classics)
    by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  48. 48.
    Dangerous Liaisons (Penguin Classics)
    by Pierre-Ambrois-Francois Choderlos de Laclos
  49. 49.
    Confessions (Oxford World's Classics)
    by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  50. 50.
    The 120 Days of Sodom
    by Marquis de Sade

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Created by buocl on Jul 15, 2008.
 

Comments

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Snarkattack

Gormenghast — 1 year ago

Titus Groan & Gormenghast trilogy are listed separately? Should Titus Groan be listed?

Jan 01, 10:33PM | 3 comments | Reply to this

Wisconsin08

From 12% to 13% — 1 year ago

I read alot the past few weeks and last month went up a percent. The books I read, from most to least favorite were: 1. The Good Soldier Svejk, 2. The Day of the Triffids, 3. Tarzan, 4. The Devil’s Pool, 5. Untouchable (by the Indian author), 6. In a Glass Darkly, 7. Diary of a Nobody, 8. The Life and Death of Harriet Frean, 9. The House on the Borderland, and 10. Eugene Onegin. The only one I would not recommend is Eugene Onegin, but others like that one alot. I just found it to be boring but you can tell the art of his writing is often great.

Oct 09, 10:10AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Wisconsin08

From 11% to 12% — 1 year ago

I was busy for a year and read other books than list ones, now I just read two more and and that (with the eight I had finished) puts me at 12%. From favorite to least they were: 1. Like Water for Chocolate, 2. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, 3. The Sea, 4. The Castle of Otranto, 5. The Thirty-Nine Steps, 6. The House on the Borderland, 7. Prince of Abyssinia, 8. Rashomon and Other Stories, 9. A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy, and 10. The Man of Feeling. The only one not good enough to recommend was The Man of Feeling.

Aug 03, 07:13PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

augustfae

Untitled — 2 years ago

I’m actually surprised that Carmilla or As I Lay Dying are not on this list or the 2006 one. Both are fantastic books.

Jul 29, 09:32AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

southernbohemian

1 Short — 3 years ago

Someone deleted a bunch off of the last page that I restored, but we’re still one book short. Can anyone figure out which one?

May 21, 11:36AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Wisconsin08

From 10% to 11% — 3 years ago

The books I recently read to go from 10 to 11% are (from most to least favorite): 1. Animal’s People, 2. Dracula, 3. The Summer Book, 4. Hideous Kinky, 5. The Underdogs, 6. Like Life, 7. Sexing the Cherry, 8. The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, 9. Castle Rackrent, and 10. Vathek (the only one I felt was not worth reading).

Apr 25, 05:25AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

clutteredcloset

Made it to 5% — 3 years ago

At this rate I’ll never finish this list, but it sure is fun trying.

Dec 28, 03:15PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Wisconsin08

From 9 to 10 Percent — 3 years ago

The books I read to go from 9 to 10% are, in order from most to least favorite: 1. The Invention of Curried Sausage, 2. A Clockwork Orange, 3. Lolita, 4. All the Pretty Horses, 5. The Enormous Room, 6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, 7. Pricksongs and Descants, 8. The Sorrows of Young Werther, 9. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, and 10. Nightwood (the only one of these I would not recommend reading). This was a very strong list so that number seven, Pricksongs and Descants, for example, would have easily been a number two or three entry for other groups of ten books read. I say again, this was a very, very strong list of excellent books.

Nov 01, 06:32AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Wisconsin08

From 8 to 9 Percent — 3 years ago

The books I read, a while back, to go from 8 to 9 percent are ranked from most to least favorite: 1. This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, 2. Schindler’s List, 3. The Handmaid’s Tale, 4. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, 5. The Sound of Waves, 6. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, 7. Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There, 8. Pnin 9. A Room With A View and 10. The Dictionary of the Khazars (the only one of the ten I could not recommend reading).

Nov 01, 06:24AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Wisconsin08

From 7 to 8 Percent — 3 years ago

The ten books I have read to go to 8% are, ranked from most to least favorite, 1. Silas Marner, 2. The Maltese Falcon, 3. The Things They Carried, 4. The Call of the Wild, 5. Around the World in 80 Days, 6. Their Eyes Were Watching God, 7. A Modest Proposal, 8. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, 9. Veronika Decides to Die, and 10. Kitchen. I would recommend every one of these books as worthwhile reads. This is rare as usually there is at least one or two that I would not recommend, but that was not the case this time.

Jun 12, 10:07AM | 0 comments | Reply to this


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