1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

Cover

Cover of the first edition
Editor Peter Boxall
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Series 1001 Before You Die
Subject Best books
Genre non-fiction
Published 2006 (Cassell Illustrated)
Media type Print (paperback)
Pages 960 (first edition)
ISBN 978-1-844-03417-8
OCLC 906238342
Website 1001beforeyoudie.com

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die is a literary reference book compiled by over one hundred literary critics worldwide and edited by Peter Boxall, Professor of English at Sussex University, with an introduction by Peter Ackroyd.[1][2] Each title is accompanied by a brief synopsis and critique briefly explaining why the book was chosen. Some entries have illustrations. This book is part of a series from Quintessence Editions Ltd.

The list

The list contains 1001 titles and is made up of novels, short stories, and short story collections. There is also one pamphlet (A Modest Proposal), one book of collected text (Adjunct: An Undigest), and one graphic novel (Watchmen). The most featured authors on the list are J. M. Coetzee and Charles Dickens with ten titles each.[3]

The 2010 revised and updated edition of the book is less Anglocentric and lists only four titles from Dickens and five from Coetzee, who has the most of any writer on the list. It also includes a collection of essays by Albert Camus, The Rebel.

There have been two major revisions of 280 odd titles, one in 2008 and one in 2014. Minor changes of fewer than 20 books were made in 2010 and 2012.[4] Based on the existence of this 708 title core list after two major revisions have replaced close to 300 titles, it is clear that many of the titles added in the 2008 revision were replaced in 2014. In fact, the only title from the original 2006 list that was removed in the 2014 revision was Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

The clear shift within the list over time has been the initial removal of 300 works almost entirely by English language authors who have more than one title on the original list in favour of lesser known works, often by non-English language writers.[4] The replacement of nearly all of the new works introduced in 2008 by different works in 2014 strongly suggests the existence of a "core 700" work canon and a 300 work fringe.[4]

References

  1. Grimes, William (23 May 2008). "Volumes to Go Before You Die". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  2. Clark, Alex (26 February 2006). "Can you tick off Tolstoy?". The Observer. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  3. ukaunz (14 February 2006). "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die". Listology. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 Parker, Miz. "Differences Between the Original and Current “1,001” Lists". Bucket List Book Reviews. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
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