Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion
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I might suggest reading The Sorrows of Young Werther before Anton Reiser: A Psychological Novel since reading Werther has quite an impact on Anton, but I wouldn't call it a requirement.Also, definitely read The Hound of the Baskervilles before The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time! If I remember right the whole plot INCLUDING the solution of this Sherlock Holmes mystery is given away in The Curious Incident. I would have been so annoyed had I read these in the wrong order!
I'd recommend reading The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe before Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (it spoofs M of U). Both are list books.Reading some Gustave Flaubert (many choices on the list) before reading Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes is also a good idea.
Some authors, starting with another of their books might be helpful. Roberto Bolano for example. Only 2666 and The Savage Detectives are on the list, but it might be helpful to ease into his style and interest area by reading the much shorter and more sensical By Night in Chile.
In the same vein, don't introduce yourself to Thomas Pynchon with Gravity's Rainbow. Try Vineland or The Crying of Lot 49 first.
Don't dive into Salman Rushdie with The Satanic Verses - try Midnight's Children first.
My main rule of thumb is to do my research before I start reading. Many books on the list I read in translation (I only read in English and German), and some translations are better than others. For example, I'm nearing the end of Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time and my research led me to a newer translation (here's the first volume: Swann's Way) over the old Moncrieff translation.
The Thousand and One Nights is another one where your reading experience could be super affected by what version/translation you choose. :)
I like the recommendation above to read Pamela before Joseph Andrews - I'd also recommend reading Don Quixote before Joseph Andrews, and all of them before The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling.
There's a great book to read after/while reading Moby-Dick called Why Read Moby-Dick?.
Wow, I had a lot more little tips that I anticipated!
Sandi, thanks for that tip! I've been wanting to read Dog in the Night Time, but I've never read Holmes. I would have been highly annoyed to have read spoilers!Bucket, that's a lot of tips! Thanks!
LOL, I jumped right into Rushdie with Verses, thought it was bizarre, & have systematically read every one of his on the list since trying to find one that was NOT bizarre. Glad I'm done with him, personally couldn't STAND him.So far as Northanger Abbey, I read that one & appreciated it for itself, I'm going to have to definitely read Udolpho now :) I have not yet read either Jane Eyre or Sargasso Sea, now I'm interested in reading both.
So far as Flaubert, what would you recommend? I haven't tackled anything of his yet...
As for Flaubert, you can really read anything by him to get a sense of his work before reading Flaubert's Parrot. Madame Bovary is where I'd guess most people start.If you want to read the short story that the parrot of the title comes from, it's called A Simple Heart and is in Three Tales. I checked, and it's also available on Project Gutenberg. I haven't actually read the short story, but it sounds like a good idea!
Do not read Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being unless you are prepared to have the entire plot of Anna Karenina thrown in your face early on.
These are great tips. I did hear that Richard Burton's "1001 Nights" are very orientalist in perspective; I wonder if anyone encountered any of that if they've read that translation? (That was the reason I preferred to get the Husain Haddawy translation of the stories... but wondering now if some stories might be missing from his side?! Mmmm) As for Flaubert, "Salammbo" is another recommendation but it's more of a 'war' novel set in Carthage.
Bucket wrote: "I'd recommend reading The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe before Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (it spoofs M of U)."Thank you for that tip. I've actually ordered Udolpho from amazon now, since I have Northanger Abbey waiting on my shelf already.
Ian wrote: "Do not read Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being unless you are prepared to have the entire plot of Anna Karenina thrown in your face early on."actually I'm not sure you should read The Unbearable Lightness of Being at all ;-)
Arukiyomi wrote: "Ian wrote: "Do not read Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being unless you are prepared to have the entire plot of Anna Karenina thrown in your face early on."actually I'm not sure you should ..."
Sacrilege, surely!
Halfway through and beginning to wonder if you are not correct though......
I got lucky with this one and blindly just so happened to read The Unbearable Lightness of Being fairly soon after Anna Karenina. Really enjoyed both books!Arukiyomi wrote: "Ian wrote: "Do not read Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being unless you are prepared to have the entire plot of Anna Karenina thrown in your face early on."
actually I'm not sure you should ..."
Arukiyomi wrote: "Ian wrote: "Do not read Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being unless you are prepared to have the entire plot of Anna Karenina thrown in your face early on."actually I'm not sure you should ..."
Boo. You do a great spreadsheet but give Kundera his horny, philosophizing due.
This was very helpful, thank you.I suggest reading The Purloined Letter before any of the Sherlock Holmes stories because it was interesting to compare Dupin and Holmes. I also thought having read Borges' Ficciones or Labyrinths made House of Leaves more understandable.
The Hours by Michael Cunningham is based off of Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf.
Bucket wrote: "I'd recommend reading The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe before Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (it spoofs M of U). Both are list books.Reading some Gustave Flaubert (many choices on the ..."
Thanks for the suggestions. I will definitely come back to these posts as I make my way through the list. I am in the middle of Northanger Abbey right now, but now that you mentioned Radcliff, I'm headed to the library to check it out. I have a feeling I will understand Austen's wit so much better once I've read Udolpho first.
I'd suggest reading the Odyssey before the Aenied and the Aenied before Devine Comedy. Oh wait, none of these are on the list... how could that be?
Jeremy wrote: "I'd suggest reading the Odyssey before the Aenied and the Aenied before Devine Comedy. Oh wait, none of these are on the list... how could that be?"It's because those are epic poems and the list is supposed to be all about novels. That's also why there's no Shakespeare.
er... not so. Pushkin's Eugene Onegin is a loooong poem (not sure how long it has to be to gain the epithet "epic")
Arukiyomi wrote: "er... not so. Pushkin's Eugene Onegin is a loooong poem (not sure how long it has to be to gain the epithet "epic")"Yes, well, I think they made exceptions - or forgot their rule. Also not supposed to be any non-fiction on the list. I can't remember this second the one or two that are on the list.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Arukiyomi wrote: "er... not so. Pushkin's Eugene Onegin is a loooong poem (not sure how long it has to be to gain the epithet "epic")"Yes, well, I think they made exceptions - or forgot their rul..."
There are memoirs on the list, which are non-fiction, but for some reason memoirs are in that grey area between fiction and non-fiction. Not sure why that is.
Arukiyomi wrote: "er... not so. Pushkin's Eugene Onegin is a loooong poem (not sure how long it has to be to gain the epithet "epic")"Didn't Pushkin himself consider Onegin to be a novel in verse?
In the intro to the 2008 edition, Peter Boxall states that "there is no definite boundary that separates a novel from a short story, from a novella, from a prose poem, from autobiography, witness testimony, or journalism, from a fable, or a myth, or or a legend".So, they've given themselves a fair amount of latitude in determining what is a "novel".
Liz M wrote: "Didn't Pushkin himself consider Onegin to be a novel in verse?"not the last time I spoke to him he didn't, no.
Looks like we'll be reading 1Q84 late this summer. The blurbs mention it as an 'ode' to Orwell's 1984. Anyone think we should read 1984 first?
Andrea wrote: "Looks like we'll be reading 1Q84 late this summer. The blurbs mention it as an 'ode' to Orwell's 1984. Anyone think we should read 1984 first?"I've recently read 1Q84. I think the title is more an homage, and the connection content-wise to Orwell's book is tenuous at best.
There are some good tips on here, some I knew, some I didn't. Glad to know in particular about The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, as it is my goal at some point to sit down and actually read every single Holmes story and I would hate to have any endings given away.
The Curious Incident won't spoil Holmes for you (though being familiar with Holmes will probably enhance your enjoyment of TCI).
I don't remember the spoiler for The Hound of the Baskervilles, but there is a spoiler for the Sherlock Holmes short story Silver Blaze. The title “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time“ points to Silver Blaze for sure.Inspector Gregory and Sherlock Holmes in "Silver Blaze" (Doubleday p. 346-7)
"Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
"To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."
I can't find my copy right now, but I think it was somewhere at the beginning where Christopher explains that he's going to do some detective work like Sherlock Holmes. He says something about Hound of the Baskervilles being his favorite book and then he tells us all about it, what Holmes did, what Watson did, and who was found guilty of murder in the end. If that's not a spoiler, I don't know what is.
Unless you read either of those Holmes books immediately after The Curious Incident, I'm not sure they'd be spoiled for you later. If you already know them well, then of course, the spoilers are more noticeable.
If you don't remember details well, then perhaps. Absolutely everything that happens in The Hound is summarized in The Curious Incident. But oh well, I won't repeat myself. I'm just glad I read them in that order by coincidence. You don't have to read Silver Blaze though, as there is no other reference to it besides the book's title.
Andrea wrote: "Looks like we'll be reading 1Q84 late this summer. The blurbs mention it as an 'ode' to Orwell's 1984. Anyone think we should read 1984 first?"I'm reading 1Q84 now as part of another reading group and i've found alot parallel themes in 1Q84 that correspond to themes in 1984.
Also 1984 is a great book, if you never read it before. You might not want 1Q84 to spoil it for you.
Mekki wrote: "Andrea wrote: "Looks like we'll be reading 1Q84 late this summer. The blurbs mention it as an 'ode' to Orwell's 1984. Anyone think we should read 1984 first?"I'm reading 1Q84 now as part of anot..."
Thanks for your input. I think I'll try to grab a copy at my library next week. Even if it's not necessary to read beforehand at least it'll give me something to do while reading the lengthy 1Q84.
There's a book out by bookriot.com (and a second on the way) that helps with some of the list authors Start Here: Read Your Way Into 25 Amazing Authors. I refer back to it every time I'm about to start one of the classics just to see.
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Also, it would be good to have some knowledge of Sherlock Holmes, especially of A Scandal in Bohemia (one of the stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes).
And last but not least, The Name of the Rose. There are quite a few allusions to this one. The Club Dumas won't spoil you anything here, but you won't understand the paralells if you haven't read the book (or at least watched the movie).
I am reading Memoirs of Hadrian, and was wondering if anyone would have suggestions for a companion book, or a book to read before I start. Thanks!
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I had that same reaction during and after reading The Newton Letter. I think you can read it without having plunged into Elective Affinities but I definitely felt like I was missing and missed something.
I think it's a good idea to read both The Odyssey and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man before tackling Ulysses.I got really lucky and managed to read Amadis of Gaul before Don Quixote and was really glad I did. It turns out the entire first half of Quixote is a parody of Amadis. I also wish I had read Orlando Furioso and the Song of Roland before reading Quixote.
Jonpaul wrote: "Arukiyomi wrote: "Ian wrote: "Do not read Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being unless you are prepared to have the entire plot of Anna Karenina thrown in your face early on."actually I'm no..."
I read The Unbearable Lightness of Being long before Anna Karenina. I loved both. Guess I'll have to re-read Kundera again. Or watch the movie--which was also really good, starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Juliette Binoche.
Robyn wrote: "Tej wrote: "I think it's a good idea to read both The Odyssey and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man before tackling Ulysses.I got really lucky and managed to read Amadis of Gaul before Don Qu..."
Good to know I didn't miss out on anything then! I also read some of the Chretien de Troyes romances a few years ago.
Thanks to this, I'm now reading the first volume of Amadis of Gaul and I hope to read it all before Don Quixote! It's very hard to find though, had to get this sent via my library in Scandinavia from a US library! So I might not be able to get the next volume. Those of you who've actually read the whole thing: How important would you say vol. 2 (book 3 and 4) of Amadis are to understanding the parodying of it in Don Quixote?
For those really committed I think it would be beneficial to know more culture and Koran than I did before reading Season of Migration to the North, which by the way is an exxellend underread list -book!
Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
Books mentioned in this topic
Elective Affinities (other topics)The Newton Letter (other topics)
Memoirs of Hadrian (other topics)
Start Here: Read Your Way Into 25 Amazing Authors (other topics)
1984 (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Virginia Woolf (other topics)Michael Cunningham (other topics)
Roberto Bolaño (other topics)
For example, I would highly recommend that one reads Jane Eyre before reading Wide Sargasso Sea.
I also read King, Kaiser, Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led The World To War and have found it has been very informative for list books from Europe in the early 20th century.
Anyone else have suggestions? Also, do list books in series need to be read in order (especially if some books in the series aren't on the list)?