Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion

Just curious -- your top 5 books that were missing from the list?

The Narnia Chronicles -- C.S. Lewis
Dune -- Frank Herbert
Shogun -- James Clavel
Little House series -- Laura Ingalls Wilder
My Antonia -- Willa Cather
Roots -- Alex Haley

Interesting that there were 69 books already from this decade, and only 157 from the entire 1800's (?!?).

Oops -- just noticed I listed 6 books, not five... Ok, skip the Little House series.

I don't know about 5 that aren't on there - but I would say:

Harry Potter
At least one Tom Robbins (probably Fierce Invalids for a first choice)
Fully agree on Shogun
Orson Scott Card's Ender series (at least the first two)

Macy, which first two? Ender's Game and Speaker For The Dead or Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow? I always forget what a fantastically crafter work of fiction Speaker for the Dead is, but it was highly deserving of it's Hugo Award.

Sorry, Logan! I always forget that there are different strings of the story. I was referring to Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. I think Speaker is one of my all time favorite books. It really shows the possibilities of compassion in a world troubled by societal differences. (And of course, we wouldn't know anything about that....)

I completely agree with "Harry Potter" and the Ender's series!

I know a lot of people don't like Stephen King, but "The Stand" and "The Shining" are excellent reads...but I could be in the minority there. :)

"Left hand of Darkness" by Le Guin is missing, too!

tess

Chronicles of Narnia- C.S. Lewis
Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami (instead of The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and Spuntik Sweetheart)
Divine Comedy - Dante
Dreams of the Red Mansion - Cao Xue Qin
The Giant Eagle and Its Companion - JinYong

I am also curious as to why Narnia, Dune, Roots, Shogun and Little House novels are not listed here.

Tess - I agree about The Stand.

I went through a huge Stephen King phase in high school, about the same time as several of his books were made into movies (Carrie, Salem's Lot, etc), so I knew that the books were always FAR better than the movies. I have therefore NEVER read The Shining, as the movie is one that ALWAYS gives me nightmares. I'm too afraid to pick up the book.

As for The Stand, I didn't know about this story until I saw the TV mini-series in grad school. I truly enjoyed the TV series, so found the book, and now The Stand is one of the books I re-read every few years.

Okay, this is 10 not 5, but I find them all shocking. My list was longer until I removed all nonfiction, poetry, and plays. The word "books" in the title of this book is misleading - it ought to be "novels".

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
Blindness by Saramego
All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren
The Metamorphosis by Kafka

I think Cry the Beloved Country is on the list. I just got the actual 1001 Books... book at the library and was flipping through it this weekend. It's very interesting to read the reviews of some of the books that I didn't like - it really gives me a different perspective.

The Shining by Stephen King is on the list, so there is at least some recognition for him!

Marcy, I agree that looking at the actual book of "1001 Books" is more helpful than just looking at the list. And whether or not you agree with the selections, the book itself is a mini-work of art with all of the illustrations and the way it is set up. I bought a copy for my library but it hasn't made it's way out of my office yet...

I second (or third) Macy - the great thing about the book is the reviews, rather than the list, per se. There are so many books in there that I hadn't even heard of - it's great to be exposed to so many unfamiliar novels.

I also get that the list couldn't include everything, so I can deal with the omission of many 20th century works (there are just too many). And the list is a subjective list of books that were important for the formation of the novel (not actually a list of 1001 books you really should read before you die - I'm sure that's the publishers' title) - considering this, I think intelligent minds may differ regarding whether to include some contemporary works.

But I have some issues with the beginning of the list. For example, the list includes Aesop and Ovid, but not Homer? Waaaa? Similarly, no Dante? What could be more formative to the novel than these early works of fiction?

So I would have included these and knocked a few McEwans and Oates off the list, personally. They double and triple up on some of these authors when they could have just included one really representative work.

But let's face it, criticizing the list is half the fun, right?

Christophe0808, I think The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles well deserves to be on the list simply by dint of its sheer imagination and creativity. It's a pretty good representation of Murakami.

The one that I'm simply baffled over of is the lack of Goethe's Faust.

Also, I know people really seem to like Harry Potter a lot, but I just don't think that Harry Potter is something that anyone needs to read before they die. I certainly feel no desire to. It seems to me that things on this list should be books that will give a new perspective, or make one think differently about the world around them. From what I've encountered of Harry Potter, that just isn't the case. Plus, its very much a buzz-book of the moment--those kinds of things don't always hold in the long run.

As Carin suggested, I also think both Blindness and The Metamorphosis would fit nicely on this list.

I think, without a doubt, that

C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia (Hello!!!)
Watership Down (Richard Adams)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)

should be included. There are several others that surprised me in their exclusion, but not that necessarily feel that they MUST be on there. These are

Little House Books (Wilder)
Phantom of the Opera (Gaston Leroux)
Any other Mark Twain (McEwan gets 5 and Twain gets 1???)
East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
Among others. Some I think could have been excusable in exclusion if there were not so many contemporary novels on the list. I have nothing against modern writers, but their books have yet to stand the test of time against so many classics that I feel have earned their place on a list like this.

Oh well, though. No one is telling us we can't read those classics, so why complain?? lol

In regards to Harry Potter, perhaps it won't change each individual life, but you must admit that it has changed the way people read this type of literature. There's no question of that, and that's a pretty damned impressive feat! Besides, you just can't knock it if you don't try it.

And regarding Murakami, although the Wind-Up Bird Chronicles was a WONDERFUL book, I was personally more affected by Hard Boiled Wonderland et al.

The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies should be there. To me, this almost voids the list that Stephen King and Douglas Adams are on there while this one isn't.

Winter of our Discontent by John Steinbeck should be there.

The Gallery by John Horne Burns

The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer. Another list voider.

Cormac McCarthy - All The Pretty Horses

I agree that Tree Grows in Brooklyn and The Good Earth should be included. Also, why no Ayn Rand? Certainly Atlas Shrugged is one of thos books that people always put on "most influential books" type of lists. Ok, for my other two choices, I'd like to see Barabbas by Par Lagerfest and The Red Tent by ANita Diamante.

Mcgyvers--

I think All The Pretty Horses was included on the "updated" list.

And Jessica--

I totally agree about Ayn Rand. I forgot that one on my list I posted before, but I was quite surprised to not see Atlas Shrugged or the Fountainhead on here.

I agree with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

My other four
-Clan of the Cavebears; Jean M. Auel
-The Red Tent; Anita Diamante
-A Wrinkle In Time; Madeline L'Engle
-The Princess Bride; William Golding

The main book missing is The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Anything by Jayne Anne Philips. It is incredibly sad that not one of her works is on the list. Shelter is possibly my favorite novel of all time

I'll second Becca on the Time Traveler's Wife.

Here are two books I was imidieately dissapointed to not find on the list, and that I think everyone should read.

Still Life With Woodpecker by Tom Robbins

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

I find it a rather gross oversight that Arthur Koestler's "Darkness at Noon," easily one of the best political novels I've ever read, didn't make the list. Also, where's Butler's "The Way of All Flesh," McCullers' "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," and ANYTHING by Bradbury? Also, even though I don't really like her books, I find it odd that Ayn Rand didn't make the list.

But you know, with such limited space, I guess there had to be some sacrifices. After all, why include these books when you can include the entire output of Jane Austen and books like The Taebek Mountains and Professor Unrat, since, you know, that last two are so easily available to English speakers (i.e., the people this book is marketed to).

Ayn Rand is something of an aquired taste. Personally I think The Fountainhead is absolutely fantastic but I know a lot of people that hate it and her wiritng.

Though I do like Jane Austen, I agree with you about her works on the list. Persuasion really was not that good, not as good as some books that were excluded from the list. I could see Pride and Prejudice, but her entire works did not really kneed to be there.

Not particularly a big Rand fan but Darkness at Noon does seem like it should be on there. Same with Heinrich Boll's "The Clown" and maybe not some of the others of his on the list.

Though perhaps it is too much of a short story for the list, I think The Metamorphisis by Kafka would be deserving of a place. I could think of some of the novels I would rather see replaced by this story.

I was shocked to read that The Metamorphisis wasn't on the list. I thought that it was such an obvious selection, and that since Kafka has two other books on the list, this would be there as well. Wow. I mean, it's longer than many of the shorter books on the list, like The Garden Party, The Nose, and those Poe short stories.

Yet another one to grill the editor about!

Yeah, The Metamorphosis should absolutely be on the list!

I have to agree, having just read The Metamorphosis for the first time. It is classic and essential, regardless of length! :)

I was also surprsied to fine The Stranger, by Camus not on the list

The Stranger is on the list...it is just probably listed under its other title The Outsider. The Stranger/The Outsider...same book.

oops my bad. Yes I think it is listed as The Outsider, and I just did not realize that was the same. Thank you

No prob. There are a few books that have more than one title, so it becomes confusing (i.e. Demons/Devils/The Possessed by Fyodor Dostoevsky).

Some of my choices are already listed, but here goes:

1. All the King's Men - Robert Penn Warren
2. A Separate Peace - John Knowles
3. The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck
4. A Dry White Season - Andre Brink*
5. The Heart of a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers

And because I can never seem to follow the rules
6. Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain



Also, I believe that Blindness, All the Pretty Horses, Barabas and The Wind Up Bird Chronicles were added to the 2008 version. Someone mentioned that one earlier.

*added to the 2008 version

Several by Ian McEwen, Joyce Carol Oates, Jane Austin and Peter Ackroyd were dropped from the 2008 list. Sounds as if some of you will be glad to hear that!

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle was on the old list.
If both of Henry Miller's tropics have been dropped I'll be happy.

For classics, I agree with adding 'The Metamorphosis' - definitely a must-read.

Also Kenneth Roberts, one of my all time favorite authors; shouldn't 'Northwest Passage' (at least) and 'Rabble in Arms' be included in the list?

As for newer books, the two that come to mind for me are 'Out Stealing Horses' by Per Petterson and 'Evening is the Whole Day' by Preeta Samarasan.

So many are missing. But if I had to pick five--

1. The City Boy OR The Caine Mutiny - Herman Wouk

2. The Bible -- Talk about a "must read before you die"; it's also essential for understanding most English literature; and it has some of the oldest short stories, epic, closet drama, etc.

3. The Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

4. The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand

5. Night OR Dawn - Elie Wiesel

I'd replace Stephen King's The Shining with The Body or The Stand. I'd replace Cat's Cradle with Player Piano (Vonnegut). I might replace one of the Waugh with The Loved One.

I agree The Stand is an excellent book, and though I enjoyed the Shining, it almost seemed likt they just randomly picked a Stephen King book to put upon the list, The Stand would have been a more deserving choice.

After having just finnished Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson I am surprsied it was not mentioned on the list. I think it deserves to be there.

I'm going to go with

I'll have to second Dune and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and The Bible

For Twain, I have to vote for A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

The one whose absence I was most struck by was Grace Paley's Enormous Changes at the Last Minute which I think had a profound effect on feminist ideals and is simply wonderful and unique writing.

It seems like works such as A Wrinkle in Time, Chronicles of Narnia and The Little House series are not included since they fall into the basically juvenile lit. category. If those are included, there are many other juvenile works that should also be added. (We just need to make our own list of children's/teen novels!)

Since this is supposed to be "Books" it seems to me that anything in verse as well as plays should also be excluded in order to be consistent, which would leave out Dante and Goethe's Faust. And although I agree that the Bible is a must-read, it technically is a collection of 66 books, not just one!

So with those comments in mind, here are my picks that should be on the list:

1. The Good Earth (what, no Pearl Buck??)
2. Fahrenheit 451 (what, no Bradbury??)
3. The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis (at least that gets him onto the list!)
4. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
5. Metamorphosis by Kafka
and just a couple more:
6. My Antonia by Cather
7. Tom Sawyer, because I also think Twain deserves more than just the one on the list.

I believe the following two should definitely be on the list. A McEwan or two could easily be sacrificed.

Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates
The Invention Of Morel, Adolfo Bioy Casares

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (JULES VERNE)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (JK Rowling)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (CS Lewis)
The Voyages of Dr Doolittle (Hugh Lofting
The Call of the Wild and White Fang (Jack London)

I checked and doublechecked the list, looking for Atlas Shrugged. I couldn't believe it wasn't on there.

Also, they removed Brothers Karamazov for the 2008 list, which is just insane.

And I haven't yet read Watership Down, but until someone mentioned it in this thread, I definitely would have assumed it had made the list!

Here are mine:

The Chronicles of Narnia
Shogun
The Princess Bride
A Wrinkle in time
Little House on the Prairie series

Even if a few of them are considered juvenile literature, they're still classic-type books that everyone should read. :)

Angle of Repose
Crossing to Safety
both by Wallace Stegner