1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

Firstly I would just like to say this is a beautifully aesthetic book that highlights some amazing novels, so it’s great to dip into to find your next read. The summaries highlight important context to be aware of whilst reading, as well as key themes to think about as you delve into each new pursuit.HOWEVER, I would like to make some important criticisms that I wish I’d known when ordering the book:1) Whilst this book is almost 1000 pages in length, it only lists 60 pages of novels pre-1800. Thus omitting some really key pieces of literature I’m surprised weren’t included.2) This book includes a couple of memoirs, but it is largely a list of novels. Poems, Plays, Diaries, and important Non-Fiction books are discounted. So don’t be surprised to find no Shakespeare, Homer, Ovid, Aristotle, Plato, Machiavelli or Anne Frank.3) Whilst the summaries are helpful, they seem to give away A LOT of plot in each book. I read the summaries of several books I had read, and was grateful I’d not stumbled across them before reading, because they completely ruined the ending of the novels. Be wary when reading these!4) Often the summaries don’t explain why these books MUST be read before you die. So you’ll probably find quite a few books you’re confused to see on the list with no explanation for their appearance.I would recommend this book if you’re stuck for finding your next reading endeavour, particularly if you are interested largely in relatively contemporary fiction. It’s also a lovely coffee table book, but please be aware of the points made above!

This is a great book for "dipping into" rather than reading from start to finish. One of the members of the reading group I belong to brought it along to one of our meetings and I knew I had to buy my own copy. Like many people I had to do a count of how many of the 1001 books I had actually read - it was about 140. So I have a long way to go......However I don't think the purpose of the book is to spur us on to competitive reading or to demoralise us if we haven't read a lot of the books selected. What this book is great for is to alert you to works you may want to read at some time in the future but have simply never got around to - such as To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf or The Idiot by Dostoevsky (both sitting on my bookshelves gathering dust).It is also a good reminder of some books read long ago - The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell, Germinal by Zola and The Razor's Edge by WS Maugham.Obviously any list of this type is contentious and we all bring our own prejudices to such a venture. (No William Boyd? Shame on you! Six Margaret Attwoods....hooray)And it is beautifully illustrated throughout with pictures of writers and original book covers.

So excited about this book! It has books from a bunch of different countries and it goes in order of publications. Many of them I'd never heard of before. I look forward to reading a bunch of them :)

A beautiful book with amazing international books. It educates us in what we need to read from the pre-1800's to present days.

Very informative book. Not the kind of book to read in bed as it`s very heavy!