The List of Books

by Frederic Raphael, Kenneth McLeish

Edited and compiled by a writer and a scholar, this book recommends an "imaginary library" of over three thousand works, which if assembled would provide balanced, varied, enjoyable and instructive reading on the whole spectrum of subjects - from Anthropology, through Fiction, Medicine and Poetry to Travel and Exploration. Each book is described briefly, though not always reverently, and awarded symbols to denote relative merit, type of content, etc. The editors' intention is to answer the questions "Where shall I begin?" and "What shall I read next?" with candour, without condescension and without concealing the fact that some subjects are more difficult (and rewarding) than others.

Genres: Books About Books, Nonfiction, Reference, Academic

159 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Writer, critic and broadcaster, Frederic Raphael was educated at Charterhouse School and at St John's College, Cambridge. He has written several screenplays and fifteen novels. His The Glittering Prizes was one of the major British and American television successes of the 1970s.

Reviews

[James Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an invaluable guide to more than 3,000 books organized by subject area. Each listing includes a brief precis and indications for books that are of particular value or interest in a particular field. It is a good starting point for anyone interested in expanding his reading into unfamiliar territory. The ratings, while sometimes controversial, provide a way to focus on the best of each genre. The breadth of the listings make it a worthwhile reference work. The co-author, Kenneth McLeish, has also written The Prentice Hall Good Reading Guide, another favorite of mine that is a great reference for authors and books.

[Mark Dickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before the "1001 whatevers you must experience before you die" series, this was the list for readers.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

It changed my reading habits forever and definitely gave me an education

[Sue Dounim · Rating 5 out of 5]

As many others have pointed out, this is an infinitely fascinating, and to me, indispensable guide to the most important works of fiction and non-fiction up to the year 1981. This includes major world literature originally written in other languages that have English translations. The only reason I can think of that anyone would rate it as less than 5 is that it naturally can't include books newer than that.
To me, goodreads.com is the second best choice; but of course here reviews are naturally of widely varying quality. Raphael and McLeish, even when I disagree with them, are always thoughtful, pungent, sassy, and amazingly penetrating in their analyses and reviews, even when they amount to only a couple dozen words. I don't know of any comparable resource to the serious reader, and it's a great regret to me that their work had to stop at 1981.
If I could only keep 10 books from my whole library this would probably be one of them.

A note added 4/19/2022: I went back to the Introduction, and noted with sadness that the editors, in their enthusiasm, realized the changing landscape of literature and planned to update and revise the book in some way on a biannual (every two years, right?) basis. Alas, as far as I can tell nothing like that ever happened. Too bad the internet didn't exist then.......

[Whiskey Tango]

In this stunningly smart and deceptively capacious little volume, we’re given an annotated guide to key reading in more than forty subject areas. The authors’ discrimination pinpoints the volumes and the writers and thinkers we need to know about—and even what we need to know about them. The latter is all the more remarkable since Raphael and McLeish limit their commentaries generally to less than five short lines per book entry; their terse annotations display an epigrammatic erudition that is astonishing—and amusing.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember well reading this book about forty or more years ago. It's a list of books recommended to create a library of good books.

Some of the categories are not necessary these days---reference, for example---and other categories contain books that are wildly outdated.

I found a few books to add to my Must Read Before I Die list.

[Troy Soos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a terrific resource. It steered me toward many books that I would have never found otherwise.

[Ric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this book could use some updating it is an invaluable guide to great book.

[LInda L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great great list -- but who has time to read any of the recommended ones??

[Mer · Rating 4 out of 5]

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