Adding to the growing number of lists of things you must do before you die (and these books never seem to mention how you also have to, say, vacuum the floor another 4 million times too before you pop off--no, it's all running off to trek the Himalayas and dine in Paris and no mention of who's home feeding the dog), now fresh on the heels of yesterday's post on the death of the critic comes a book to evoke memories of required summer reading lists past: 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Or else what? I'm inclined to ask. "Must" read?).
In Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series, Granny Next can't die until she finishes reading the ten most boring works of literature ever written, and it's a hard task because there are so many dull books she must forge through to find the absolute dullest among them.
Back to the 1,001 Books That You Must Read or You Will Be Required to Stay After School and Write a 10,000-word Essay for All Eternity. Most, though not all, the books are novels. You can read the New York Times article by William Grimes (who hasn't read Moby Dick--hey, me neither!) on the subject of this book, which considers the merits and shortcomings of the list. At the moment, the article has generated 344 reader responses.
Or, here's the list itself. I've read (well, skimmed) exactly one from the list of post-2000 books. No surprise there. My average improves as we move backwards through the years, but it's apparent that my reading tastes lie generally elsewhere
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