How many of the 1001 books have you read? Showing 101-150 of 1,912

[Silver]

I have now read 71 and I am currently reading 4

[akaellen]

I am up to 70 from the combined lists.

[Libby]

I’ve only read 57 from the combined list which surprised me because I was a literature major in college - however, my focus was on 19th century literature so I haven't read the majority of the more contemporary works. It’s a great list to keep handy for book shopping.

[Vanda]

10 :P
I'm a slow reader :D

[Vanda]

Mike wrote: "I have 14 that I have read, 3 that I am currently reading, and 49 that I have on my to-read list.
It's not impressive, but damn it I'm 16 and trying."

You're in the right track, you have lots of time to read them all ;)

[Chriss]

I have only read 33 from the list. I plan to change that. I was shocked because I'm an avid reader and took many literature courses throughout school. But I do throw in some brain candy novels for de-stressing purposes.

[Libby]

Updated the combined list and it appears I've read 62. Went to Half Price Books yesterday and found a bunch in the clearance area for $1. Hopefully I can start interspersing these with my regular reading. I'm an avid Fantasy fan and there simply aren't enough of those on the list to keep me happy :-)

[Debbie]

Kayla wrote: "I've just begun this list and so I'm starting at 24! I need to read less trash, clearly, heh."

Kayla,

It is a real eye opener, isn't it? But make sure you keep a little trash to satisfy the light side of life. Maybe every third book. The trash reads faster.

Debbie

[Kristin]

Deanne wrote: "Just reached 63% of the original list which is over 630 but having difficulty tracking down some books on the list."

I was just curious on which books you've read so far on the list so I looked at your profile. You "only" have 348 books marked as read from the list. Have you not had the time to add them all to your Goodreads profile yet?

[Olympia]

I only discovered this list a year ago and found the book at my local library. I think I have read 15 and with the one I'm currently reading I can say 16. Some of the books I will have to buy due to the library does not carry all of the list. =( sad, but in a city that is strapped for cash the libraries are suffering so much. It would be nice if all could help.

[Susan]

I am at 72 (working on 73,74, and 75) off of the old list.

[Dan]

I'm up to 77 with the completion of Girl With Green Eyes. Working on two more with an additional three sitting on the far side of the night stand.

[Kamvball]

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[Heidi]

I just got through with number 33. Not sure which one will be 34 yet

[Bill]

I just joined this group and then spent several hours going through the 1001 books (I own the book) and adding the books from it that I have read to my books read list and I have read 202 of them up until now.

[Bill]

P.S. It's a good thing because I'm 55 and still have 800 to go! And I've been reading a lot all my life...they should have brought this book out 30 years ago.

[Deanne]

Kristin would have replied sooner but I've been moving countries and starting a new job so I've been offline. I haven't put all the books on the list yet have to get round to it at some point.

[Denise]

Deanne-
Sorry to jump topics, but what new country? What's the job look like? Is this the kind of thing you do often?

[Nikki]

13 of the 2008 list and 4 that were delisted in 2006.

[Huda]

I've read 28 book of the 2006 edition :D

[Deanne]

Denise
I was born in the UK, moved to New Zealand in jan 2004 and stayed there until 2008. Then moved to Vancouver for a year from jan 2008 to feb 2009. Now I'm back in the UK in Nottingham, city of Robin Hood and sherwood forest. I work as a nurse in operating rooms and is a pretty good way of working all over the world.

[Lyn (Readinghearts)]

I finally got the spreadsheet and I have read 58 books on the 2008 list, and 9 of the books that were on the 2006 list, but are no longer on the list in 2008. In addition, I have 3 slated tbr in the near future, and of course the rest to go. I think I have to read about 50 books a year to make it, and that doesn't count the books that are not on the list. Whew!

[Mike]

At 20 now.

[[deleted user]]

My list would be higher if I counted high school reads.
I'm doing the same thing! I feel as an adult, I will appreciate them more.

[Gerald]

I have read 235. But then I'm 70 years old. Plan to finish the list by 2029, when I am 90. I only have to read a book a week to make it.
GerryC

[Lyn (Readinghearts)]

Wow - I am proud of you. That is a great accomplishment!! I hope to be in a similar place when I am 70. right now I am 53.

[Carly]

Just joined the group, but I've read 47 (on 48 right now). Looks like I've got a long way to go! :)

[Elke]

I've read 84 and really wish this list was around when I was younger! There are some great choices on the list that I just haven't gotten around to reading yet. It would be cool if there was a further analysis of the list with the number of pages in each book and approximate time committment for each of the books. That way I don't spend half a year trying to make it through Ulysses... One can dream though. Right?

[Gerald]

Elke,
I have many of the books on the list and access, through my work in our library, to many others. Feel free to write me for info about any books you are interested in. You can contact me off-site at smacasamilagro@yahoo.com.
Gerry Camp

[Elke]

Thanks Gerald! I just wish there was a simple search I could do where I put in the title of a book and it tells me whether the book is an easy read, medium, or difficult read. That way I can prioritize my reading depending on how I feel. Sometimes a deeply complex book is just what I need, and other times I'd like to avoid those like the plague. :)

[Dan]

Elke,

There are a couple of threads on this group that might give you a little help. One is Quick Reads and the other is Long Books. May not give you exactly what you're looking for but it'll at least give you a general idea and some of the posts include brief reviews of the books they mention. Hope you enjoy your time with us.

[Elke]

Oh Dan, that is EXACTLY what I needed! Thanks SO much! Off to read...

[Yrinsyde]

16 - wow, well done! I'm 38 and have just got 10. Admittedly I have read lots on the list already (some a long time ago), but I have decided to start from scratch.

[Everyman]

I admit that I haven't read the book, so I don't know what his criteria are for the selections he picked, but I must say that I find some of his choices rather unusual.

I started going down the list to answer the questoin of this topic, but I found myself more and more mystified at what was excluded. Maybe they explain that they are leaving out many of the books that traditionally would be on such a list and concentrating only on the ones that readers are less likely to know, but I still consider some of their choices inexplicable.

But since this is a thread on "how many have you read," I'll start there and say:

Of the 2000s: none of 69.
Of the 1900s: 77 of 716
Of the 1800s: 84 of 157
Of the 1700s: 27 of 46
Of the pre-1700s: 7 of 13

But I'm very disappointed that people who believe in this list apparently accept that it's okay to die without having read a single word of Homer, Plato, Aristotle, any of the Greek dramatists, Augustine, Cicero, Herodotus, Thucydides, Dante, Virgil, Milton, Wordsworth -- and it's not only the ancient writers. I Robot but not Atlas Shrugged or Fountainhead?

Ah well.

[Charity]

Everyman,

I haven't read the book myself (either version), but someone who has read it will probably respond soon to give insight into the selections on this list.

For now, here is a great blog entry written by a GoodReads member on the subject.

[Gerald]

Everyman,
Boxall's list is a list of novels (with a few weird exceptions). I don't think he would frown on your reading the authors you suggest. I read a lot of stuff that is not on his list as does everyone I know who is using the list. I've read all of the authors you mention,except Ayn Rand, whom I consider garbage. The one novel he's missing on both lists (2006 and 2008) that I think is essential is "Red Badge of Courage." But that's just my opinion; I could be wrong.
Gerry C in San Miguel de Allende

[Everyman]

If limiting it to novels was his intention, he should have called the book 1001 Novels, not 1001 books. As it is, it's very deceptive.

But as you note there are a few weird exceptions. He includes Metamorphoses and Aesop's Fables, neither even remotely a novel. And if he's going to include the Thousand and one Nights, how does he exclude the Decameron, which is far more influential, IMO, than the Nights? (An aside: how many people here have actually read the entire Thousand and one Nights? Hands up, please? Hmmm -- I don't see any. Mine isn't -- I've read the Modern Library Bennett Cerf selection, but not the whole collection, which I think Burton put out in eight volumes. )

I haven't thought about novels that should be on the list but aren't, but there are for sure a few (or more than a few) that are on it that I will be perfectly content dying without having read.

[Gerald]

Yeah, but you won't go to heaven :} You're right, of course, this list has few rules it doesn't feel ok breaking. No, I haven't read 1001 Nights either and don't think I will.
Gerry

[Everyman]

Gerald wrote: "Yeah, but you won't go to heaven :} You're right, of course, this list has few rules it doesn't feel ok breaking. No, I haven't read 1001 Nights either and don't think I will.
Gerry"

If I have to read his numbers 1-20 to get into heaven, I'll pick a different heaven to go to, thank you very kindly. :)

[Yrinsyde]

Yes - I was wondering the same thing re Aristotle etc. I think there is a Classics canon that has all those. However, the 1001 books is supposed to be a list of fiction that trace the development of the novel - from earliest times to contemporary times.

[Judith]

Everyman:

I have read the book, and one key point to note is that it is supposed to be a recommendation of novels only. There are exceptions- essays and short stories; but as far as I have found, no poetry (except one novel written in verse) or plays. The Greeks may have been left out because of this restriction....I couldn't say. I use Bloom's Western Canon for those genres which is pretty inclusive.

[Everyman]

I like Bloom's Western Canon -- sort of. [g:] I like his opening essay, and most of his selections, but I find some of his comments on the works to be less than helpful.

The book I like even better than Bloom is the original edition of Clifton Fadiman's Lifetime Reading Plan. It's been replaced by the not so good (IMO) New Lifetime Reading Plan, but the original is still available on alibris and abebooks -- look for a publication date of 1986 or earlier. Alibris has new copies of the 1968 printing for $20 and up, and several of the first edition, 1960, edition in good condition, for $1.99.

Judith wrote: "Everyman:

I have read the book, and one key point to note is that it is supposed to be a recommendation of novels only. There are exceptions- essays and short stories; but as far as I have found,..."

[Dan]

Up to 81 with my completion of To the Lighthouse.

[Gerald]

Everyman,
Here's my solution to the "books on the list I don't want to (or can't) read". In the 2008 edition, he added about 250 books. He also eliminated many of the books on his original list that I had read. I figure that I only need to read 1001 from both lists to get into heaven, and since I'm 70 and have read about 255, it isn't fair or reasonable to make me read "The Taeback Mountans" for example, a 9 volume epic only available in Korean. So since there are many books on the 2008 list that interest me, when I read one of those I give myself credit on the 2006 list for a book I'm sure I will never read. That way I can read 1001 books I find enjoyable, and insure myself a place in heaven. I figure I can finish 1001 by the time I'm 90 and include a number of great books that are not on either list if I keep to my average of one plus books per week. You know what worries me, though, is that there is also a book of "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" and since I live in Mexico, I'm making very slow progress on this list. Do you think both lists are required? :)
GerryC

[Everyman]

I like this approach. I'm going to feel free to substitute books I want to read for books on the list. I'll just give it slightly different title: 1001 books I desire to read before I die. Desire is much friendlier word than must anyhow.

So instead of reading, say, Duskland, I can read (well, reread; I'm not going to back and start substituting in retrospect, or I would be done already) Paradise Lost and count it as the substitute book for Duskland. Since I've read 195 of his books, I now have to read 806 books either from his list or substituting for books on his list, and I'm home free. Won't be a piece of cake at my age, since tend to prefer substantive books to fluff books -- Dombey and Son, near the top of my TBR shelf, will take more than a few days -- but I'll work on it.

But this approach has given me new hope that I won't die with my reading obligations unfulfilled. Just redefine the task and it becomes achievable!

Thanks for the great suggestion.

Gerald wrote: "...since there are many books on the 2008 list that interest me, when I read one of those I give myself credit on the 2006 list for a book I'm sure I will never read. That way I can read 1001 books I find enjoyable, and insure myself a place in heaven. I figure I can finish 1001 by the time I'm 90 and include a number of great books that are not on either list..."

[Everyman]

Gerald wrote: "...In the 2008 edition, he added about 250 books. He also eliminated many of the books on his original list ..."

Which raises an interesting question. If somebody had read the entire 2006 list (assuming, which I frankly doubt, that such a person actually exists) but died in 2007, now that there are other books they must read before they die, but they can't because they've died, do they get into book heaven anyhow? Or are they soomed to live forever in book forever in book limbo???

[Gerald]

My pleasure. I too go for the substantial titles. Recently finished "Anna Karenina" and I'm starting "Middlemarch" to be followed by "Midnight's Children." The apex of my reading life was spending much of 2006 reading "In Search of Lost Time."
Gerry

[Gerald]

To answer your second question: I think your obligation is 1001 from whatever list. And I think "The Odyssey" counts even if Boxall doesn't. I guess we won't know for sure until we have died.
Gerry

[Everyman]

Gerald wrote: ... The apex of my reading life was spending much of 2006 reading "In Search of Lost Time."

You're ahead of me. The first two volumes, plus Botton's How Proust can Change your Life have been sitting on my TBR shelf for longer than I care to admit, but every time I reach for them I realize that they will mean putting back quite a few of my other urgent TBR choices, and I sigh and move my hand to another volume on the shelves.

[Gerald]

I put off Proust until my retirement, but then decided in 2006 to take the plunge. I didn't read it straight through, however. After fininshing a volume, I would read a few shorter books before getting back to "In Search . . ." The burning question for me, reading Proust, was "Who is this narrator, anyhow? He keeps telling us he is a writer, but he never writes anything (except brief reviews and essays) and yet the book I am reading has clearly been written by this narrator." It is not until the last volume, of course, that we learn that he learned how to write the book we have just read at the late stage of his life, after all the events we have read about are in his past. So as we are finishing the book, he is about to begin to write the book (all 3000 plus pages) we have just finished reading. This was the mind-blowing cap on the journey which had kept the reader (well, me) enthralled with the most fascinating collection of characters I had encountered in any other reading (with the possible exception of Dickens). I really encourage you to go with it; the payoff is so far above that of any other writer (IMHO) that you will thank yourself for putting those others off for a while. Everything else is downhill from Proust, in my opinion. By the way, I read the Botton book also. It's fun, turning Proust into a self-help guide, but read it after you have finished ISOLT. Of course this is just my opinion; I could be wrong.
GerryC