How many of the 1001 books have you read? Showing 851-900 of 1,913

[Colleen]

Wow - well done to everyone but especially those with those high numbers! I am in awe. I need to amend mine to 113 on the combined list (from 100):)

[Bucket]

On the combined list I've now completed 99. Getting ready to start The House with the Blind Glass Windows for number 100!

[Ginny]

Still mired in Proust,but have 210 of the list read.

[Deanne]

Started After The Death of Don Juan by Warner which brings the total up to 931.

[Mikela]

No way am I telling this right after Deanne. Will wait until the end of the year when I'm sure it will sound better. Congratulations-that's fantastic!

[Melissa]

Deanne wrote: "Started After The Death of Don Juan by Warner which brings the total up to 931."

Uh wow that is awesome. I feel like ur hair should be sticking straight up like Dragonball Z. Do you own most of the books?

[Deanne]

Most of the books I've borrowed from libraries or downloaded from The Gutenberg collection which is free.
Some of the books I've borrowed from friends or got secondhand. There are some difficult to find and I would love to go to Hay-on-Wye to visit the bookshops there.

[Ellinor]

I've read almost 100 of the books (from all 4 editions combined). The last one I read was Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.

[Maryellen]

Working from the three lists I am at 193.

[Liz M]

Looking at the combined lists for the first three editions, I've read 459 books from the combined list and am working on number 460.

[Lisa]

Working from all 3 lists, I haven't even PEEKED at the newest list yet, I'm currently at 164, & have 3 more I'm working on:

The Jungle
The Observations
Rabbit Is Rich

[Beth]

I'm new to the challenge and on 38, very impressed with all those high numbers out there!

Doesn't this list make you feel your mortality?

[Laura]

23!

[Deanne]

Just read 941, getting harder to find the last 60.

[Mikela]

I've only managed to finish 225 to date from the combined lists (100 of those were read this year) but continue plugging away. I too am in awe of the really high number of books that some members have achieved, which gives me faith that the goal is obtainable. The list has introduced me to some wonderful authors that I would never have found on my own.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Mikela wrote: "I've only managed to finish 225 to date (100 of those were read this year) but continue plugging away. I too am in awe of the really high number of books that some members have achieved, which give..."

I'm impressed you've been able to read 100 this year! Yes, as to the introduction of authors not found on one's own.

[Vanessa]

Deanne wrote: "Just read 941, getting harder to find the last 60."

Wow, well done Deanne!

[Kristine]

345 from the combined lists including the latest one - it seems to be slow progress, but its always so nice to tick another off the list.

[Tara]

Deanne wrote: "Just read 941, getting harder to find the last 60."

Amazing! Once you're done the 1001, do you think you'll go for all the others that have been added in the various editions?

I'm at 85 from the combined list - opposite spectrum! :)

[Deanne]

Tara
Already read the 2010 additions and just have 2 of the 2012 new ones, the 2008 list saw a lot more changes.

[Bucket]

On the combined list I'm now at 102. Working on number 103!

[Stephanie "Jedigal"]

137 on the combined list. I don't think I'll ever make the whole list, as I enjoy too many other choices, such as non-fiction and pulp fiction, and that middle-of-the-road quality fiction between pulp and literary. But the list has been a great way to expose myself to some high quality literature with something to say. On the whole, even if I don't "enjoy" a list book, I still am glad I read it, and feel that it's added something to my inner life.

[Theo]

Sadly I have only read 14 off of the combined lists, which means I have a lot more to go! I think the monthly reads will definitely help to motivate me. I was a little disappointed when I went through to see I've only read 14.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I polished off 100 upon completing The Hunchback of Notre-Dame earlier this month.

[Lisa]

I'm at 168 from the first 3 lists, haven't even TOUCHED the new additions yet...., & reading Silas Marner. I alternate between list reads & free reads. So I have a LOT more to go. Have a total of 272 on my 1001 bookshelf, the other 104 are books I'm shooting for to get read in the next calendar year.

[Grada (BoekenTrol)]

I've read 67 books of the combined lists. Progress is not as fast as I would like, because there are lots of others to read too....

[Maryann]

I'm at 167, and I don't read from the list exclusively. My TBR pile keeps growing... I think I need to stop working so I can read more.

[Annina]

I just marked number 50 read!! So proud of myself. Next could be 75.. it's nicely in the middle way to hundred.

[Danyellemastro]

I've finished 111 of them at this stage. I kind of like that number :)

[Judith]

Just realized that I started number 503 this morning.
Of course, as I'm reading from the combined list, that is not very close to half-way; but still, it felt like a milestone of some sort!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

500+ is excellent! Congrats!

[Ginny]

Judith wrote: "Just realized that I started number 503 this morning.
Of course, as I'm reading from the combined list, that is not very close to half-way; but still, it felt like a milestone of some sort!"

I hope you can see my "we're not worthy, we're not worthy' a la Wayne's World to both you and Deanne- only it would be "I'm not worthy!" There are surely a great deal of worthy readers in this group! I'm somewhere at 297...

[Deanne]

950 of the original list of books.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Deanne wrote: "950 of the original list of books."

A great milestone!

[Stephanie "Jedigal"]

Deanne, I'm so impressed! Really, I'm so impressed by so many of you. I'm with Ginny, who is not part of the "We're not worthy" club from where I'm sitting. So many well-read people out there. (Not that 1001-readers are the only ones, of course.) I feel a bit bad I've spent so many years on pulp fiction of various genres, only throwing in real literature now and then.

Speaking of which - 141 on the (all-4) combined list.

[Limey]

Well, I just went through this version of the list http://www.booklit.com/blog/1001-book... and I seem to have read 70 of them. It'll be interesting to see now if I have clicked 'read' on 70 in your list. Maybe this will show up some more of the books I've read that I don't remember.

A funny thing is how often you think "Damn, if I'd just read that book by that author and not chosen a different one I'd be a lot hipper".

But of course, it's not serious. The potential trouble with these lists, of course, is that they can distract you from what actually suits you better. That's why websites that have good algorithms to compare your ratings with others, in order to recommend according to your taste instead of some collective standard, or some critic(s) who is(are)n't you, are such good things. If you look at the 1001 Songs before you die list I'm sure you'll find, maybe as much as me, loads of stuff you don't agree with. I can clearly see on that list how so much weight is given to popularity, like, for example, Meat Puppets 'Plateau' is only there because they did it with Kurt Cobain on Nirvana Unplugged; many, many people wouldn't have heard it otherwise, and it wouldn't be known, but it existed in the underground there in the USA for years before that performance, and was great already, along with thousands of underground songs that will never be on that list.

But you know this anyway. Lists are a guide to things others think are cool, and are likely to contain lots of quality. Though I think maybe the lists of critics you rate, who seem to have similar taste, might be more relevant than a collective 'common denominator' list.

I'm not knocking the list, don't think I am. Just thinking about how there are always alternatives. Would be interesting to see them. Especially with a really international scope, not so centred on the western world. Though lists like that are cool too, like, for example Harold Bloom's list in The Western Canon, which has over 1500 books in it; though he himself warns there that 'best of' lists can only be guides and pointers at best, and shouldn't be slavishly agreed with.

I wonder if someone has that list somewhere.

Then also '1001 non-English and non-European books that you must read before you croak'

And maybe '1001 underground/overlooked books loved by fringe characters'

And maybe 'Banned Books'. Probably there are groups. I'll go and look.

Of course, there's this:100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature

[Ginny]

Stephanie "Jedigal" wrote: "Deanne, I'm so impressed! Really, I'm so impressed by so many of you. I'm with Ginny, who is not part of the "We're not worthy" club from where I'm sitting. So many well-read people out there. ..."

I had to laugh.. thanks for that! It's been a stressful day at work today, so thanks for saying that I might possibly be one of the worthy ones! : ) You are worthy as well! I think anyone who reads (or even tries to ) are pretty worthy. I tutored dyslexic readers/writers for six years and it was inspiring to watch these students try so hard and succeed to finish a book (even if it was a third grader trying to finish a Goosebumps mystery). Now I interpret for a deaf student who for a final exam told me that one kind of tobacco is a banana! My 1001 reads help me keep my sanity sometimes.

[Lisa]

I'm at 170, & came back with a haul from the local Salvation Army thrift store. All VINTAGE books, about half paperback & half hard cover :) I paid $5 total for ALL of them. Here's what I came home with :)

Wuthering Heights
Of Human Bondage
The Turn of the Screw
The Portrait of a Lady
Ivanhoe
Barchester Towers

Also came home with a neat book called Celtic Mysteries: The Ancient Religion :)

[Judy]

One of my favorite places to find books along with Goodwill.

[Bucket]

Finished War and Peace which puts me at 106. I'm hard at work on Cloud Atlas now!

[Stephanie "Jedigal"]

150!
Feels like a big milestone to me, even though compared to lots of folks here I feel like a beginner.

Since I started in 2006, I've read almost exactly half of those, the rest I'd already read previously. But now of course, the list has grown to 1305, so really I've just gotten further behind! I mean, I don't read IN ORDER to knock an item off the list, but still I REALLY ENJOY knocking an item off. Ah well...

[Genia]

With the last few books I finished, I finally hit 200.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Nice to see some milestones being reached!

[Elaine]

I've just joined the group and have read 57 when I just looked. I'm pleased I have at least another 20 on my book shelves just waiting for me :)

[Ed]

Wow...impressed by those who have read hundreds....and some who have fewer than a hundred to finish the list. I fear I'll never even get close.
I'm just up to #54.... and currently in the middle of three others...The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Room With a View and Infinite Jest. Will also be reading The Forsyte Saga on my tablet while on my vacation which starts next week.

[Bianca]

I have only read 10! oh my is that bad? and I thought the books I had been reading where good ones.. well today is the day that I start knocking of soe of these books, so here I go and wish me luck :)

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Bianca wrote: "I have only read 10! oh my is that bad? and I thought the books I had been reading where good ones.. well today is the day that I start knocking of soe of these books, so here I go and wish me luck :)"

Good luck, Bianca! Hope you enjoy your choices!

[Bianca]

Thanks ;)

[Stephanie "Jedigal"]

Bianca, welcome!

I started on this list at age 39, having read I think about 70ish of them. I still that other books are good and worth reading.

These are just apparently MORE worth reading in Boxall's opinion. There's a thread in our group here somewhere about books that some of think should have been on the list, and we're surprised they aren't.

And even books that I don't think really belong on the list - I still think were incredibly enjoyable and sometimes even profoundly meaningful - to me at least. (Richard Bach's The Bridge Across Forever has popped into my head from nowhere.)

I mostly just hope the list will point me to some good literature I wouldn't have found otherwise because I'm too distracted by all the cool book covers of whatever's popular....

I echo Elizabeth's sentiments - I really hope you find some choices that you enjoy.

[Ed]

Finished #58 today.