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

Light in August - Faulkner
The Clown - Heinrich Boll
Darkness at Noon - Koestler
Gilead - Marilynne Robison
The Hidden Wound - Wendell Berry

wait, is Blood Meridian on the list? Because that is a MUST!!!!!

Jenni,
While I agree with your must-read juvenile/ya novels, there are just too many others that could be added along with Wrinkle in Time, Narnia, Little House, etc. Although Pippi Longstocking is on the list...

Sorry! That is: "Ange of Repose", and "Crossing to Safety", both by Wallace Stegner.

Twilight
Harry Potter
The Chronicals of Narnia
A tale of Deasperaux
Little house in the big woods

Woah. Twilight with the likes of Faulkner & Vonnegut? I think no.

Personally yea the series is one of my favorites of all time, but in no way is it literarily credible. The grammar, syntax, and authorship are completely abominable and not worthy of a list such as this. That's equal to stating we need a Fabio covered trash novel on here, except that the Fabio book was edited better.

I'm going to have to agree with Sarah here...Twilight is not in the same category....

Wife of GR author: Michael J. Sullivan | The Crown Conspiracy (10/08) | Avempartha (04/09)

Linda wrote: "Jenni,
While I agree with your must-read juvenile/ya novels, there are just too many others that could be added along with Wrinkle in Time, Narnia, Little House, etc. Although Pippi Longstocking is..."

Pippy Longstocking for the win! :) I can't wait to read those to my daughter!

I don't believe Dante, Homer and the Bible fits the category of this list so I think it's fair enough that they are not on the list.
I think some authors have too many books on it so I think it's fair to take some of these away and put some others on the list.

If it's okay to put ya on the list, I do think that there should be a Harry Potter book on the list because as I see the list, it's about novels having influence, and Harry Potter definitely fits this description. Maybe Twilight will too, I'm not sure of that since I haven't read it, but I don't think it will.

I don't think the Brothers Karamazov should be taken off.

I was surprised these didn't make the list:
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Dune by Frank Herbert
and
Narnia by CS Lewis (or at least The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

I would argue that while Harry Potter had an influence, it wasn't a literary one. As far as the form goes, it contributes very little. One of the reasons it has had such power in popular culture because it employs classic archetypes - not because it's inventing a new structure, concept, style, etc. It does what it does quite well, but it's nothing new. I think it could be left out of the list and a reader wouldn't be missing some important aspect of the evolution of the novel. I think the key phrase here is 'seminal work key to understanding and appreciating the written word'.

Laura, you're right. The influence is more cultural and with the purpose of the book formulated like you mention, I stand corrected. :-)

I read Twilight and definitely do not think it belongs on this list. It's really nothing new, and literarily it's not great. Plus it's too new to know if it will last or if it's just a fad.

Twilight is a step above Danielle Steele. Please!

Danielle Steel kinda pioneered the romantic genre, though.

What about Barbara Cartland then? Isn't she earlier than Danielle Steel?
Not saying that I want her added though...

Stephenie Meyer has had great success in her market, but let's leave her completely OFF the 1000 books you must read. (unless you are a teenybopper, anyway)

I definitely think
Watership Down by Richard Adams should be on this list!!

Wow Alecia, Way to bring this thread back to life!

I'll put mine down. Echoing a lot of people on here.

1. Fahrenheit 451
2. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
3. Prodigal Summer
4. All the King's Men
5. The Canterbury Tales

HAH! I didn't realize this thread was that old! I was just looking through the list again and making sure I had marked the ones I had read. (some were in high school almost 20 years ago so I didn't have goodreads then!) I looked for Watership Down because it is one of my favorite reads and I was shocked it wasn't on there!
I really cant think of any others at the moment (I'm sure more will come to me at some point.)
I haven't read the 4 others you suggested (YET), but I agree that Fahrenheit 451 should be on the list for sure also!

At the moment:

Gate of the Sun: Bab Al-Shams - Elias Khoury
I Hotel - Karen Tei Yamashita
Near to the Wild Heart - Clarice Lispector
The Wretched of the Earth - Frantz Fanon
Eichmann in Jerusalem - Hannah Arendt

Alecia wrote: "HAH! I didn't realize this thread was that old! I was just looking through the list again and making sure I had marked the ones I had read. (some were in high school almost 20 years ago so I didn't..."

I actually have not yet read Watership Down. I do keep hearing how good it is. And I know it makes many lists. Perhaps someday....

Sean wrote: "Alecia wrote: "HAH! I didn't realize this thread was that old! I was just looking through the list again and making sure I had marked the ones I had read. (some were in high school almost 20 years ..."

I really do recommend it!

The ones I always assume are on the List and aren't-
1. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
2. The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck
3. The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane
4. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
5. The Heike Story, by Eiji Yoshikawa
6. My Antonia, by Willa Cather
7. The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder (I rechecked this one just now to be sure it is not on the List, actually.)
8. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
9. August 1914, by Alexander Sozhenitsyn
10. The Octopus, by Frank Norris

I also always thought that Atlas Shrugged(Ayn Rand), The Winter of our Discontent(John Steinbeck), Hawaii and Alaska (both by John Michener) ought to be on the List. Considering that the Boxall list was made up by British academics, though, it's not so surprising that many of the authors and books I think they should have included are from the US, and are possibly less obvious to British readers.

My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin should be on the list. She’s so significant an author in Australia that the major literary prize is named after her.
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith was a joy.
The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble should have stayed on.

IMHO before we add more we need to remove some - how about each author can NOT have more than 3-4 books on the list. There are so many authors that have way too many books on the list (ahem, Don DeLillo - who is he? ).

I'd like to see some Roald Dahl and Walter Tevis on the list.