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

hey everyone , i'm new in here and i'm trying as hard as i can to read those books in this list, the problem is i'm from morocco so English is not my native language,plus i only had classes for 4 years, 2 hours per week and 2 of that 4 years i won't even count because i had some really bad teachers who had even a poorer English than i had at that time,so in order to be able to satisfy my undying desire to read this books i need to start with easy ones (i already read 100 books in English so my English is not that bad) i just struggled so much while reading Aesop's fables because of all the new names of the animals, and then i suffered some more with the description in The Fall Of The House Of Usher, don't get me wrong i adore this books and i adore the writing , i just don't feel qualified enough to read them so i need to start with easy ones first.

I need books like Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro , it was an easy read for me..can someone please give me some advice..

Well, I haven't read that one yet, so I couldn't tell you if that one's easy or not. Congratulations on reaching 100 books in English! As a non native speaker with limited teaching, I'm really impressed that you pretty much taught yourself the rest! Here are a few that I would consider to be written in easier language that I've read & enjoyed.

If you like Poe, how about:

The Raven
The Pit & The Pendulum

Both are written in a fairly straightforward manner for him.

Little Women
The Life of Pi
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
In Cold Blood
The Black Dahlia
The Age of Innocence
Animal Farm
Lord of the Flies

Thank you so much for taking the time and pointing out those books to me , i'll start with them as soon as i can, you are really helping me :)

My first thought was Hemingway-- I did a year of high school in Switzerland and one book the English class read was The Old Man and the Sea.

I'm also very impressed! Good for you. :)

Thank you Cindy , thanks to both of you now i'll finally be able to pursue my way to this goal.

The Glass Key
The Big Sleep
The Long Goodbye
The Maltese Falcon
The Heart of the Matter
The End of the Affair
Invention of Curried Sausage (don't let the title put you off. It's not about the sausage. It's a novella and it's great.)
Deptford Trilogy
The Riddle of the Sands
The Cider House Rules
The Woman In White
Cold Comfort Farm
The Driver's Seat
The Summer Book
The G0-Between
Berlin Stories
The Moonstone
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Thank You, Jeeves
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Razor's Edge
The Nine Tailors
Sense and Sensibility
Perfume

Thanks Anne I've already read perfume and it was easy compared to other books I've read after it, so i trust your choices as well as the ones made by the others, Thanks to all of you ^^

Safaeita wrote: "Thanks Anne I've already read perfume and it was easy compared to other books I've read after it, so i trust your choices as well as the ones made by the others, Thanks to all of you ^^"

Enjoy.

Lisa wrote: "Well, I haven't read that one yet, so I couldn't tell you if that one's easy or not. Congratulations on reaching 100 books in English! As a non native speaker with limited teaching, I'm really im..."
Just a thought...but if you are unfamiliar with "Animal Farm" I'd recommend reading about it before you read it so that you can get the full benefit of the satire. It is an easy and short read though.

I will agree with Cindy on Hemingway as well. I loved Old Man & the Sea, & have read very nearly everything he's ever written. He's very easy to read, but some people don't like his writing style.

Another couple that I can add would be both of the Henry Miller books:

Tropic of Cancer & Tropic of Capricorn

I don't know how familiar you are with Rushdie as an author but I found him easy to read language wise, but his writing to me was very strange, almost surrealistic in some books. I don't "get" him, but someone who isn't from the US just might.

Alice Walker's books:

The Color Purple
Possessing the Secret of Joy
The Temple of my Familiar
are all beautifully written, easy to read books as well

Margaret Atwood is also pretty easy to read, but if you haven't read any of her books, 2 of the ones that might be good to begin with are:


Cat's Eye
Alias, Grace

I found them a little more reader friendly than the dystopian books she's most well known for, even though those are wonderful books as well.

Isabel Allende is a wonderful, almost lyrical writer. Her books just seem to sing , at least to me :) These are the ones of hers I've read so far and absolutely loved.

Daughter of Fortune
The House of the Spirits
Of Love and Shadows

I would say for easy English reads that are at a level easier than the Fall of the House of Usher read Pippi Longstocking, a juvenile (child book) entry on the list, Watchmen (a graphic novel), The Summer Book (by a Finnish or Swedish author with easy English), and A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (with a youthful, first person narrative). All are great books and are on the list.

Chel wrote: "I would say for easy English reads that are at a level easier than the Fall of the House of Usher read Pippi Longstocking, a juvenile (child book) entry on the list, Watchmen (a graphic novel), The..."

Thank you for your recommendations , i just want to ask you one question, is the book The Fall of The House of Usher really a hard one ? or is it because after all i'm not as good as i thought i am in English? because i'm used to reading YA books ,romance books and even some crime books, and i completely understand almost every single word in them, so i was wondering is it really a difficult book or should i improve my English and stop thinking that i'm good at it?

I think the more you read the books on the list, the more your English will actually improve on it's own. BUT, if you can do possibly an online English As A Second Language type class, that will help as well.

YA as a genre typically is not adult level English, & well, LOL, the romance genre is pretty limited, at the base level, all of the story lines are the same, boy meets girl(or girl meets boy), generally they don't like each other at first, then they fall in love, have issues, & get back together at the end.

I will admit to not yet having read Usher either, so I'm in no position to say how hard it is. I did read The House of the Seven Gables, & while the base story was good, even I got a bit lost in the "wordiness" of it.

Lisa wrote: "I think the more you read the books on the list, the more your English will actually improve on it's own. BUT, if you can do possibly an online English As A Second Language type class, that will h..."

yeah i must agree about romance , there is absolutely nothing creative about it, all the books are repeating and copying each other, that happens also in the fantasy YA books , there is always a mystery guy with some dark secret, the girl falls completely for him and for no reason , he happens to be a bad boy a vampire/werewolf/fallen angel/immortal..., and then there is the love triangle in the middle , no wonder i got really bored. And the language in this books is pretty basic, it contains very common words, so i guess do NEED to improve my English.
well thank you all for your help , i'll start with some of this books as i soon as i'm done with my exams.

A few I could recommend are:

Summer
A Town Like Alice (it's been awhile since I read this, but I think it fits the request)
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
The 39 Steps
Rebecca (not my cup of tea, but a lot of people like it)

When I was trying to learn Spanish, I found that the easiest books to read were those translated from English to Spanish. It seemed like there were fewer words I needed to look up but it did improve my reading. I don't know what languages you are fluent in, but I think there are books in most languages on the list.

Im fluent in Spanish and in french but i was actually planning to read the books in this languages in it original language.

"...........because i'm used to reading YA books ,romance books and even some crime books, and i completely understand almost every single word in them, so i was wondering is it really a difficult book or should i improve my English and stop thinking that i'm good at it?"

Hi, i don't really know about the specific book you asked, but i think i can relate to what you mean. I live in Pakistan and so, naturally, Urdu is my mother language and not English. I very much like to read English books because there is far more literature available on that language than on any other. I sometimes feel the same about where i stand as far as my english language is concerned, but i also have to say, the more you experiment with diversity in the "types" of books you read, the more you will realize that it isn't really a question of whether your English is good enough, it then becomes a question of whether or not you are used to reading those sort of books. Agreed, more scholarly books do use difficult vocabulary, but i still think it has more to do with how the author presents his/her views based on the subject being written on. Each genre has it's specific syntax, terminology and way of expressing the author's ideas. so sometime back, when i thought i was only interested in teenage stuff, i made myself read some books on politics and developed a little affinity for those sort of books.. Experimented again a couple of times and now i find myself interested in Comparative religion as well as some parts of history. My suggestion: If you really want to read that book you mentioned, keep it with you for a while, as you read books out of your current circle of interest...as you develop an interest in other "difficult" or "scholarly" books, you can come back to this one and really enjoy it. :D

Sundas wrote: ""...........because i'm used to reading YA books ,romance books and even some crime books, and i completely understand almost every single word in them, so i was wondering is it really a difficult ..."

well your comment gave me some peace of mind, i guess you understand more than anyone what i'm suffering, so i'll try what you said ^^tahnk you

Good for you for challenging yourself.

I think anything from the 19th century or early can be very tricky. The writers tended to use a lot of words and they also structure their sentences rather differently than how we do today. I have an English degree and I find Poe can be challenging.

I agree with the recommendations of Hemingway, the Color Purple, Margaret Atwood (I really liked The Robber Bride and Alias Grace), and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

I'll also suggest you try the writers:
John Steinbeck
Ian McEwan

and the books:
Return of the Soldier
Nineteen Eighty-four
The Shining
A Fine Balance
The Reader
After the Quake
Veronika Decides to Die
the Story of Lucy Gault
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Regeneration
Ghost Road

at least I remember those as having fairly straightforward language. Good luck!

I'm using this thread as my reference for what i'll read and i'm starting with Return of the Soldier it was randomly chosen , and i find it to be an easy and enjoyable read, thank you J

Even i am a newbie to reading. I will start with books mentioned in this thread. Let's see how good i am as a reader. I am starting with "A fine balance"... fingers crossed!!

Safae wrote: "Chel wrote: "I would say for easy English reads that are at a level easier than the Fall of the House of Usher read Pippi Longstocking, a juvenile (child book) entry on the list, Watchmen (a graphi..."

I'm thinking anything from the 19th century or before would be a bad choice for you to start with. American English hasn't changed too much in the last 150 - 200 years, but enough that it might trip you up. I like to read books in Spanish, which is a secondary language for me, so I understand how antiquated words and colloquial expressions can make a book really difficult.

You might have surprising success with books that weren't originally written in English. Examples of books that I've enjoyed and remember being easy:

So Long a Letter
The River Between
Embers
Fatelessness
The Summer Book
Things Fall Apart