50 books to read before you die discussion

Hello. I've read 14 of the books on the list, started a couple of others (The Picture of Dorian Grey and Don Quixote) without finishing them, and read parts of others (the Bible, Harry Potter and Gulliver's Travels). The one I would most strongly recommend is Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live Now. For British readers in particular - or those over 40 years old, at least - try substituting the name of Robert Maxwell for that of Augustus Melmotte and see how startlingly familiar the story is.

Nastasya wrote: "I've read 30 of the books on the list and plan on reading the other 20. Of the ones I've read, I'd recommend all of them with the exception of Ulysses. It's the only book I've never finished. I kee..."

I had the same problem with Moby Dick. While I love the story, there are just so many words telling it. I want to go back and try again one day, but will I fail again?

Janet wrote: "I had the same problem with Moby Dick. While I love the story, there are just so many words telling it. I want to go back and try again one day, but will I fail again?"

And that's how I feel about 'The Count of Monte Cristo'!! Haha.

Ah, but "The Count of Monte Cristo" is a great book. I have read it at least three or four times. I agree about Moby Dick. It can be a tough read.

Oh boy, then I guess those will be the last ones I get to lol

Oh, poor me! Although i have read some 30 odd books none falls in these 50 great books. I better hurry up now. But how come Bible got short listed in this list.

Rajesh wrote: "Oh, poor me! Although i have read some 30 odd books none falls in these 50 great books. I better hurry up now. But how come Bible got short listed in this list."

Maybe because it is really many books. It could possibly fill up much of list. And probably few have actually read entire set. Maybe there should be a litopia list or book club that lists the all the books of the bible. I wonder which would be voted number one?

It's interesting that people approach books in very different ways. I loved Moby Dick but that might be because I don't usually focus on plot (there's a very limited number of plots, after all) and have more interest in characters, descriptions and historical/philosophical digressions. Moby Dick has lots of the latter: the same is true of books such as The Magic Mountain (Thomas Mann), War And Peace (Leo Tolstoy), The Plague (Albert Camus) and, most overtly, Zen & The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert M Pirsig).

This is true. As I steadily become a more mature reader, a late bloomer I might add, I come to realize this. I tired of Moby Dick more because of the long descriptions of cetations and things (and me being a science teacher...) I do think it bears a reread now. Magic Mountain was difficult, but I did finish it. Was not liking it because the protagonist was not a sympathetic or particularly likable figure. His end, however, made you care--then you have to read it again! Les Miserable has several long digressions. This is because it was written in serial form for the French reader who would have, perhaps, been more interested in Paris's sewers. I loved Zen & Motorcycles, however, even though I read it when not so mature!

I've read 17 on the list so far, and I'm all about Lists! I have 14 lists I'm currently reading from, and it's really how I got started really reading. I'm not a big fan of the Bronte Sisters, or Jane Austen, but I read Jane Eyre so that should cover me for all those books, right? But I did read A Room with a View, so that should cancel out A Passage, and I'm looking forward to reading Albert Camus, but will probably read The Stranger before The Outsider. Anyways, Lists are always a lot of fun and everyone has their own opinion of what should and shouldn't be on said Lists.

Torie wrote: "@Mayra; Haha same here; I've read 9, then the 10th would be 'Catch-22', but I stopped reading that cuz it was so lame."

Did you call Catch-22 lame?

Janet wrote: "This is true. As I steadily become a more mature reader, a late bloomer I might add, I come to realize this. I tired of Moby Dick more because of the long descriptions of cetations and things (an..."

Tut tut. As a science teacher you should know it's 'cetaceans'. But Ishmael was convinced that whales are fish.

Sorry, I didn't bother to look up the spelling, and just don't keep that stuff in my head well. Now that I look at my spelling, I do appear a bit daft. I do know how to spell a lot of other fancy words, though! Back in the day, whales were considered fish, which seems silly to the average 4th grader now.

Hello!! I just found this group. What a great idea, this will inspire me to finish the list. I have only read 12 so far..... So many other books to read!!

I just joined today - where do I find the list? Must sound funny but I get a bit confused when I join a new group. Thanks

Welcome Erica and Nancy. The list of books is on the home page, click more and it will show you the full list. We also have a folder with some of our individual list so we can keep track of each others progress, feel free to posf your own, and we are currently reading catch-22, I hope u enjoy the group :!

Oops, it was suppose to be :) lol

I have read 32 of them, and to get going on another, I'll be taking a reading group at The Center for Fiction on Moby Dick starting next week. I'm very excited, as this is a book I started, but definitely need a group discussion to get through the entire thing.

I've only read 22, so I have a few more too tackle. And as for English being a useless major...count me in the club too. English major check and check.

Hi everyone! Just joined because this group sounds fun and shares my own goal. Of your list I have read 24 books:

LotR trilogy, 1984 (wonderful book), Pride and Prejudice, The Grapes of Wrath, To Kill a Mockingbird, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Lord of the Flies, Hamlet, The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, The Bell Jar, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Bible, The Cantebury Tales, Harry Potter series, The Wind in the Willows, Anna Karenina, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Heart of Darkness, A Christmas Carol, Huckleberry Finn, Catch-22 (also a wonderful book!), and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

I have added Gravity's Rainbow to my own personal life goal reading list, but that one is going to be a hard read. I tried reading Ulysses and gave up in frustration, so maybe this group can keep me going.

Welcome to the group, were just started Anna karenina. :)

Mayra wrote: "Welcome to the group, were just started Anna karenina. :)"

I am interest to know what other people thought of it. Can't wait to discuss!

Hi! I joined the group a few weeks ago. I just finished Uncle Tom's Cabin and am not sure if I'll get to read Anna Karenina by the date. I look forward to future books and discussions. I think Uncle Tom's Cabin would be a great addition to the books on the list.

I read like half of it for a literature class in school but I didn't finish it, it is a good book and hope to one day b able to read all of it

Katrina wrote: "Hi! I joined the group a few weeks ago. I just finished Uncle Tom's Cabin and am not sure if I'll get to read Anna Karenina by the date. I look forward to future books and discussions. I think Uncl..."

I read Anna 2 years ago. I really liked the story. There were some slow parts (like about agriculture and I'm an aggie person!), but that does not take away from its epic awesomeness. The characters are so well-developed that I began to really care for them. Have fun reading this truly good book...

I've read 31 - I think. Is "The Outsider" the same as "The Stranger" by Camus? I would think either one might result when you translate the French original title.
--> Richard.

Yes, The Outsider and The Stranger are both the same book. It was an interesting read.

Have you ever read "The Plague" by Camus? We had to read The Stranger and The Plague in Honors English in high school, I think I liked the Plague a bit more.

I think I have see 9 books of the list that I read... :) I try to read the other too....

I've read 8 of them and have about 9 of them on my shelf waiting to be read. The only one I wouldn't recommend is Ulysses

Hi all :)
So far I've read twelve of the books of the list. I'm in the middle of reading Red Mars at the moment, but thankfully I've read October's book already. Looking forward to joining the reading team in November.

Steven wrote: "Mayra, here are the seven that I haven't read:

Men without Women by Ernest Hemingway
A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
Money by Martin Amis
The Way We..."

Hi Steven
The Outsider is a great read. I recommend it!

"The Count of Monte Cristo" is one of the best books I've ever read. I read the abridged version the first time, loved it so much that I had to read the unbridged version as well, which of course was even more amazing. Having to read a 1000 page book that you might hate can be little daunting so I would actually recommend reading the abridged version the first time. This way if you don't care for it, you will be done in half the time, and it won't feel like a Tolstoy novel that will just never end! Don't get me wrong I'm a big fan of Anna Karenina, one of the more beautifully written books I have ever read, but my god did it drag at times!

I noticed that a couple people mentioned that they could not finish "Moby Dick". I too have tried to get though the book on two differnt occasions and failed both time. I always lost interested about half way through the novel realizing that almost every book on my book shelf was probably be more eventful then what I was reading. Did anyone see the the resent made for TV production of Moby Dick (I believe it was on starz) I watched it this summer and it was a great representation of the novel. One of the most boring three hours of my life! Three hours that I will never get back.
A few other novels from the list that I loved are "Brave New World","Lord of the Flies",and the "Portrait of Dorian Gray".

Hey all! I've just come across this group and joined up. I'd estimate that I've read 18 of the books listed. Though I'm not sure that counting Harry Potter as one book is fair. I've also read the first of the His Dark Materials Trilogy and I'm not really excited about reading further.

It'd be easier to come up with a better estiamte if someone put all 50 of the books on a group bookshelf.

For what it's worth... There's another group just starting to read Moby Dick. They have yet to finish the first week and the discussions should be interesting. Since that book is on this groups list I encourage anyone interested to check them out.

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/5...

Also I've been working to help keyword label all the quizzes that users enter. I was a bit appalled at the number of Harry Potter/Twilight/Hunger Games quizzes and the relative paucity of classics and literature quizzes.

So I created a Canterbury Tales Quiz that I'd love for you all to check out. Since Canterbury is on your 50 books list it might be fun.

I think that this link will work to take you there
http://www.goodreads.com/quizzes/resu...
I'd appreciate anyone's feedback on that or my other quizzes.

If anyone really wants to know more check out my profile. It's pretty open.

At work we used to play a game when we wanted to get to know new people called two truths and a lie here's my old standby...

Two truths and a lie:
Once had a pet crow
Twice escaped terrorist attacks
Favorite Ice Cream is Neopolitan

hi stephen welcome to the group :)

I've only read one of the books already (The Kill a Mockingbird) and I didn't like it much. I joined because there are a lot of books on the list that I've always wanted to read and I'd love to discuss them with someone as I go. :)

Just joined -- I've read 27 of these books. Who came up with this list? There are some notables not included, for example, A Tale of Two Cities! And others on here, Like Harry Potter and Curious Incident (which are primarily YA titles) just don't seem like they do not belong. What was the criteria?
Of the ones posted, I highly recommended Anna Karenina for simply a great read and 1984 and Brave New World for chilling reads. Happy reading!

I found the list on a bookmark at barnes noble, so I looked for it online and created the list :)

I have read three of the books on the list.

I am a new member and I have read 12 books on the list.I new I had joined the right group when I read others comments about seeing the bookmark with the list on it and feeling like they wanted to do it. So here I am an I am looking forward to finding out what book will be read next.

welcome to the group. theres actually a poll right now so we can decide on the book for jan.... so head on over and place ur vote :)

Has anyone read "His Dark Materials" and can tell me why it would be on the list and not "A Wrinkle in Time?"

I have to say the list is odd, but much of it I like. I've read at least 16. More I started and didn't finish. For instance I read most of "Money" by Martin Amis. I couldn't finish it because I hated the main character (sort of the point, I know,.... but still). His novel "Times Arrow" is so much better in my opinion.

Anyway, what about "Wrinkle in Time" versus "His Dark Materials"?

ive only read the golden compass and i hadnt really thought about the rest of the trilogy until i saw it on this list, it was pretty interesting though....

but i havent read wrinkle in time so im not going to be of much help :)

Jamie wrote: "Has anyone read "His Dark Materials" and can tell me why it would be on the list and not "A Wrinkle in Time?"

I have to say the list is odd, but much of it I like. I've read at least 16. More I st..."

I have read all 3 books. I did enjoy them, the first one the most. I didn't realize it was anti-religion until that hit the press. It is not--it is anti-topdown dogmatic religion, not anti-soul.

I just joined this group and I'm up for the task. My cousin recommended "good reads" and I can tell already that I'm going to enjoy the challenges ahead. I've read 12 of the books on the list, which I find a minor accomplishment. I look forward to meeting everyone.
Best,
Michele

welcome to the group, i have come across alot of challenges here on goodread and i love the site, i have discovered many new books.... hope u like it here :)

Hi everyone! I just joined the group today (well toniight).

I have completed two books from the list:
1. The Color Purple (wish I had time to read it along with you guys this month because it is one of my fav books!)
2. Memoirs of a Geisha

I am currently reading two books from the list:
1. Moby Dick
2. The Bible

Hopefully with my busy schedule and the other books I want to read this year, I plan to read at least 6-8 of them by the end of the year.

That's great, welcome to the group :)

Hello - I just joined this group, and was excited to see the 50 books list....one of my New Years' resolutions is to read more of what are considered "Classics", as I get in a rut of reading light, fluffy books. Glad to see this list, as many of the books I want to read this year are on it! I've read about 6-7 from the list so far, and look forward to diving in!

welcome to the group, we have a progress section and u can post ur copy of the list along with the ones you have already read...