1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List

by James Mustich

Celebrate the pleasure of reading and the thrill of discovering new titles in an extraordinary book that’s as compulsively readable, entertaining, surprising, and enlightening as the 1,000-plus titles it recommends.

Covering fiction, poetry, science and science fiction, memoir, travel writing, biography, children’s books, history, and more, 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die ranges across cultures and through time to offer an eclectic collection of works that each deserve to come with the recommendation, You have to read this. But it’s not a proscriptive list of the “great works”—rather, it’s a celebration of the glorious mosaic that is our literary heritage.

Flip it open to any page and be transfixed by a fresh take on a very favorite book. Or come across a title you always meant to read and never got around to. Or, like browsing in the best kind of bookshop, stumble on a completely unknown author and work, and feel that tingle of discovery. There are classics, of course, and unexpected treasures, too. Lists to help pick and choose, like Offbeat Escapes, or A Long Climb, but What a View. And its alphabetical arrangement by author assures that surprises await on almost every turn of the page, with Cormac McCarthy and The Road next to Robert McCloskey and Make Way for Ducklings, Alice Walker next to Izaac Walton. 

There are nuts and bolts, too—best editions to read, other books by the author, “if you like this, you’ll like that” recommendations , and an interesting endnote of adaptations where appropriate. Add it all up, and in fact there are more than six thousand titles by nearly four thousand authors mentioned—a life-changing list for a lifetime of reading.

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, Reference, Essays, Literary Criticism, Literature, Writing

948 pages, Hardcover

First published October 2, 2018

About the author

James Mustich began his career in bookselling at an independent book store in Briarcliff Manor, New York, in the early 1980s. In 1986, he co-founded the acclaimed book catalog, A Common Reader, and was for two decades its guiding force. He subsequently has worked as an editorial and product development executive in the publishing industry. He lives with his wife, Margot Greenbaum Mustich, in Connecticut.

Reviews

[Leonard Gaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the quiet delights of any bibliophile is to wander between the shelves of a library (sometimes one’s private collection, and sometimes more extensive public libraries or bookshops), examine the backs of books, feel the grain of their covers and, more often than not, read the back cover blurbs, in careful search of the next read. Making lists of books to read is a hopeful by-product of this obsession. James Mustich’s book provides a sort of blurb orgy, with a blend of “to read before you die” list fetishism, so pervasive on the internet (see right here: Popular 100 Books To Read Before You Die Shelf).

A few of the books in this selection are unavoidable highbrow, no-brainer classics: Homer, Dante, Montaigne, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Goethe, Dickens, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Hugo, Flaubert, Proust, Joyce, Mann… But Mustich, a man who made his career as a librarian and publisher in Connecticut, also has some surprises in store, from a wide variety of genres, times and places: illustrated children books, contemporary political or historical essays, graphic novels, cookery books, poetry, travelogues, memoirs, spirituality, crime fiction or philosophy. Some of these choices or omissions are indeed questionable and might well become a bit outdated in quite a short time. But all in all, there you have it: a full library to keep you reading all the way to the grave. The full list is available on the companion website: 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die.

As for me, I have picked up a shorter and probably less impressive list, which are patiently waiting on the shelves of my library to be opened, either again or for the first time: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

1,000 Books to Kill You.

7/2/18 - By request, I counted how many of these I've actually read.
The number, as of today, sits at a modest 205.

This is NOT a challenge for me. I have cherry-picked about 20-30 books out of this reference book to look into at a future date, and I am NOT planning on finding all the rest. :)


Original Review:

I don't know if this list is quite as life-changing as it purports, but I will grant it this: It is very eclectic and a wide-reaching list of true classics interspersed with the best of the best B-List books you've probably never heard of or you might have heard in passing before they slipped beneath the waves of all the other books on the high seas.

That being said, this book is a beautiful doorstopper. Enormous, picturesque, fully annotated and researched, and each book is picked with love.

Do I have any issues with this tome? Perhaps. There is a pretty obvious bias to it that may not be fully realized because of the preponderance of outright classics herewithin.

The unknowns are generally packed to the gills with 30's to 50's popular books.

It wasn't obvious to me until fairly late into my reading, from first to last page, alphabetical by author, because the old classics were heavily represented and the new modern classics are also there like quota victims. You know, like the random science text, a book or ten on travelogues, or ones that kind of surprised me like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Quicksilver, and Underground Railroad. Others are a gimmie like Hitchhiker's Guide and Harry Potter... even Among Us!

But for the most part, the heaviest weight of the books belong to the beginning of the Baby Boomers. The kinds of books that might have been on the shelves of that generation's parents. Growing dusty and perhaps picked up right at the time that those children hit their 20's.

I'm not saying this is wrong or that this list of a thousand books to read before you die ought not to be targeted to this aging population. Indeed, that sounds about right. They might pick this up and be proud of themselves as they go, "Hey! I read that!"

I know I did. I've probably read around a 1/3 of these books, myself. I also made a huge list of books I want to read, too, sinking my To Read shelf to new and unplumbed depths.

Alas.

Still, I'm quite happy to have read this. Even with the reservations. And not all books tickled my fancy... by a long shot... but it was very fun to browse.

I just ask one thing... Did SF just peek its head out during the 30's and 50's and then just GO AWAY or something? So silly. There are only a FEW SF books in here. Definitely a major failing.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

1000 Books to Read Before You Die by James Mustich is a 2018 Workman Publishing Company publication.

I didn’t immediately grab this book when it was originally published- but I was curious about which books would make it onto the list. Knowing the books I tend to navigate towards, I figured this list probably wouldn’t appeal- or maybe apply to me, is a better way to say it, because I knew that no matter how badly someone tries to shame me, I'm not going to read books I know I will not understand or will bore me to tears.

But each year this book tends to make its way onto a library ‘suggestion’ board somewhere, as the new year often prompts people to make the standard resolution to ‘read more classics’ or branch out more.

Reading the blurb, this book promises to mingle in some popular books, some lighter fare, and would cover a wide range of subjects and genres, including poetry, plays, etc.

I was skeptical- but there was only one way to find out…

So, was the list as stuffy and highbrow as I feared?

Well, there were precious few mainstream or modern mysteries- only ONE Agatha Christie- and I’m struggling to remember ANY modern romances- at least not what I call romance, at any rate, and yes, it was heavy on ‘classics'.

To be fair, though, there was an interesting mix of genres, children’s books, poetry, and yes, a smattering of the dreaded ‘pleasure’ reads.

For me, personally, this book was like browsing through a gourmet cookbook. I love looking at all the fancy recipes, and the lovely presentation of the food, and respecting the time and energy it took to complete such a task. But I know that once I’ve finished flipping through the glossy pages and oohing and awing over those delectable, mouthwatering main courses and rich desserts, that I’m going to head straight to the kitchen and whip up some loaded cheese nachos- and those nachos are going to be heavenly!!

And that’s pretty much what happened with this book. I flipped through the alphabetical list- by author- not by book title, by the way, and enjoyed learning about these books, the authors, the plays and movies that were adapted from them, etc.

But, once I’d finished browsing through the book, I found that I’d added exactly one book to my TBR pile from this list-( I actually had read more of these books that I would have thought- though many of them were the children’s books- or required high school reading- but still), and then I’d promptly returned to my book in progress, which happened to be a tawdry psychological thriller that would have made a good Lifetime movie- but, like those heavenly nachos- it was absolutely delicious!!

Empty calories? Perhaps- but remember gourmet foods and rich desserts are often laden with calories, fat, salt and sugar- so- not necessarily healthy or nutricious... just sayin'.

Okay- while I’m being a little cheeky- the truth is- this is a very good reference book. It is well-organized, and thoughtful… and more than a little addictive. I was often surprised by how long I’d been browsing through it sometimes.

It is never a bad thing to broaden one’s reading experiences, to occasionally step outside one’s comfort zone, to take on a book you know will challenge you- and it is never too late to start. I do that from time to time- and read more serious books than I used to- I just didn't find many books listed here I felt an urgent need to read right away.

So- while the book did not change my life, as promised, and I did not feel the obligatory need to begin working my way through this list- instead preferring to spend my remaining days reading books I know I’ll enjoy- I will certainly refer to it again, over time.

I do feel Mustich was sincere and put a great deal of thought and work into this book. It sounded like a monumental task- and he did an amazing job putting the list together.

3.5 stars

[Paul Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

The breakdown of what’s in here is roughly as follows

Novels – 382
Memoir/autobiography – 154
Short stories – 40
Religion – 10
Children’s – 47
Plays – 36
Travel – 33
History – 72
Biography – 32
Essays – 35
Poetry – 38
Other including all the sciences – 118

It doesn’t add up exactly, because of my bad counting!

SOME OTHER RANDOM OBSERVATIONS :

This is a gorgeous book – it’s so diverse one’s little head is spinning. I think you probably need it!

It is true that Mr Mustich’s enthusiasm for each and every one of the thousand-ish books here often sounds like a publisher’s blurb :

Unique in the genre when it appeared, Stranger in a Strange Land compels immersive reading with its suspense and grace, and had immense cultural fallout during the 1960s. It continues to absorb, entertain and jostle readers today

The force of Rushdie’s prose is so propulsive, the currents of story-within-story so transporting, that each page is a further winding of the crank on an enormous jack-in-a-box that explodes again and again with the wonders of living that history can never contain.

Philosophical profundities and everyday realities, petty jealousies and pregnant poetry are conjured one after the other with subtle intelligence and art. Forster’s masterful absorption of the colours, tones and shadows of life and language provides an almost symphonic literary score that lifts the details of his characters and their actions into some new dimension that sets this book apart – in manner, mood and mystery – from any other you have read.

There are so many memoirs/autobiographies, 95% of which I had never heard of, some are by people who played sports, and those I will not be reading! I wasn’t expecting that.

There is a lot of science, food and gardening.

As we can see from the almost 50 children’s books, like The Secret of the Old Clock, Little House in the Big Woods, Little Bear, Goodnight Moon, etc, this is not a big list for all adults to plough through religiously.

I’m a bit suspicious about whether James Mustich has really read all of this stuff – I know, heresy! But ignoring the easy peasy lemon squeezy stuff, there is a LOT of big fat fundamentals-of-human-thought type material here. Has JM really read All the Bible, ALL the Koran, ALL of Proust, Ulysses, The Magic Mountain, The Tale of Genji, War & Peace, Black Lamb & Grey Falcon, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, Godel Escher & Bach, Freud, Marx, the complete stories of Clarice Lispector….? (sound of reviewer slumping to the ground).

Of the 380 or so novels, I have read 131 and only disliked 13 so that’s a good hit rate. There are a great number of oddball choices here. I noticed no Handmaid’s Tale, no James Baldwin (except his essays), no Last Exit to Brooklyn, no Martin Amis, no Paul Auster, no George Gissing, no Bernhard, no Pilgrim’s Progress, but he does have room for House Made of Dawn by N Scott Momaday, All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West, Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout and The Spare Room by Helen Garner, none of which I had heard of. Well, I could go on like this.

There are also some pulpy choices he includes companionably, so we can have a good laugh now and then. So in these pages you will find The Da Vinci Code, The Firm by John Grisham, The Silence of the Baa-Lambs and From Russia with Love. So, The Da Vinci Code but no Last Exit to Brooklyn, hey? What a joker.

But this is nit-picking. I will be finding why-didn’t-I-already-know-about-this books in here for a long while to come. Brilliant.

[Paul Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this might be useful for those who like lists but have been condemned to live only one life. (That’s a tough break.) In this beautiful 1000 Books volume there are included about 380 novels. Now some of them are monstrous, like A Glastonbury Romance by John Cowper Powys – 1100 pages! But I spotted a handful that are actually under 200 pages each. I mean, to make it into a guide like this they must have something going for them, you would think, so it’s a new year revolution of mine to read these quickies because I, too, have been condemned to live but one single life.

A Lesson Before Dying – Ernest Gaines
The Quiet American – Graham Greene
The Haunting Of Hill House – Shirley Jackson
The Pursuit Of Love – Nancy Mitford
Einstein’s Dreams – Alan Lightman
Heat And Dust – Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
A Rage In Harlem – Cheter Himes
The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
The All Of It – Jeanette Haien
The Spare Room – Helen Garner
Offshore – Penelope Fitzgerald
Clear Light Of Day – Anita Desai
The Moving Toyshop – Edmund Crispin
O Pioneers – Willa Cather
Navigator Of The Flood – Mario Brelich
The Bridge Of San Luis Rey – Thornton Wilder
The Loved One – Evelyn Waugh

Some famous names that I never did get round to, maybe because I thought they were all 700 page epics. But they aren't.

[Jill H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, bibliophiles, drop everything you are reading and grab this massive reference of the greatest books ever written according to the author. You will probably find some of your favorites missing but you will also agree with many of his choices. It may also surprise you that some are totally unfamiliar.

He covers everyone from Aristotle to Virginia Woolf to James Thurber to Rex Stout to Jane Austen. The book is arranged alphabetically by author, with a short description (but not necessarily the plot), other books by the author, other authors' books which are similar and might be of interest, and, in some cases a couple of lines describing something unusual/interesting about the author.

It is a huge book (900+ pages) but you will fly through it. Naturally, you will skip over some of the choices which are of no interest to you whatsoever (for me it was mathematics and ancient Greeks!!). But it just flows so smoothly that you will suddenly find yourself on page 400 and wonder how you got there so fast.

A must for the avid reader......highly recommended.

[Carol]

E-galley generously provided by the Author, James Mustich, Netgalley and workman Publishing. Pub date October 2, 2018

Are you a bibliophile? If the answer is a resounding yes, then this book is a must for you. From the opening quote by Virginia Woolf, “How Should One Read a Book?” to its last pages acknowledgments, of indexes and checklist for you track your progress if you wish, 1,000 Books To Read Before Your Die: A Life-Changing List is the best I've read of its ilk. James Mustich's introduction provides a fine blueprint as to purpose and organization of its pages. Even at 1000 books readers will wonder at what is chosen and what is not. You'll find old favorites and hopefully new gems to add to your reading pleasure. Citing the genre, date of publication, edition, awards, other titles by the author, further reading, adaptations; I particularly found valuable the what to try if you liked this title feature. First addition TBR list, Eric Ambler's A Coffin for Dimitrios.

1,000 Books To Read Before Your Die: A Life-Changing List could be read straight through but can also be dipped in and out of, savoring the offerings in any way you choose. Though I listed this as finished reading on August 2nd, I certainly will be picking it up again. It is a book that will grace my shelves for reference when in need of a good read. Will it change my life? Perhaps not, but I'm willing to let it try.

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author's goal was to make this book "expansive in its tastes, encompassing revered classics and commercial favorites, flights of escapist entertainment and enlightening works of erudition." I think he succeeded, in that his list of 1000 books is much more eclectic than similar lists I have seen. I loved that about this book, because I am always looking for books about which I have never heard. The book covers both fiction and nonfiction, and a wide range of genres, including: children's , adventure, travel, poetry, gardens, diaries and letters, art, nature and history.

I have a PDF ARC of this book which, unfortunately, will vanish into the ether in a few days, but I'd like to own a copy of this book. It has over 900 pages and is beautifully illustrated with covers, pictures of the authors and illustrations from some editions of the books. In addition to the main 1000 books, it also references over 6000 additional titles and 3000 authors. Each book is accompanied by a brief section that lists other books by that author, further reading on the topic, similar books to try, and TV and film adaptations.

Each book is introduced by a brief essay. For example: The Collected Essays by James Baldwin "...are, and will remain, acute inquiries into the moral and political quandaries of our being, regardless of the age in which they are read." About Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac "In the portent of things to come, Goriot's private tragedy is given greater resonance by the reverberations of the teeming milieu that surrounds it." About Simone de Beauvoir "She possessed a prodigious ability to synthesize matter and meaning across disciplines in ways that prove revelatory and profound." The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin "If you can imagine a plot that has imbibed too much champagne, you'll have some idea of the giddy pleasures of this classic 1946 mystery...." Philip K. Dick "A fellow with one foot in the pulp literature that he loved and the other in esoteric tracts from the great savants and seekers of Western and Eastern traditions." Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis "In fluent prose enlivened by his splendid eye for the physical characteristics of his protagonists, Ellis renders each episode with a dramatic flair and keen insight into the characters of the players." and
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton "... it stands among the best novels ever written about the unraveling of individual destinies in the seductive—and enduring— bear pit of New York society."

At the end of the book is a complete checklist of the main 1000. There are also shorter specialized lists with titles that tend to be too cute and often not descriptive enough like: Animal World, Mind Expanding, Soul Food, War Stories, A Long Climb, But What a View, and Offbeat Escapes.

I really liked this book a lot.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent resource and unmissable for any real bibliophile! I already have a ridiculous amount of books on my to-be-read list (both on Goodreads and on the bookshelves in my bedroom) but I am always looking for more. There are a lot of interesting titles featured here.

I very much appreciated the way it was set out too. There are books from across the genres and era's meaning it will appeal to a multitude of people. Each title has information about the plot and the author and are arranged alphabetically which is appealing.

I have no doubt that I will refer back to this time and time again. Recommended.

Many thanks to Workman Publishing Company for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me say what already should be obvious: 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die is neither comprehensive nor authoritative, even if a good number of the titles assembled here would be on most lists of essential reading. It is meant to be an invitation to a conversation – even a merry argument – about the books and authors that are missing as well as the books and authors included, because the question of what to read next is the best prelude to even more important ones, like who to be, and how to live. Such faith in reading's power, and the learning and imagination it nourishes, is something I've been lucky enough to take for granted as both fact and freedom; it's something I fear may be forgotten in the great amnesia of our in-the-moment newsfeeds and algorithmically defined identities, which hide from our view the complexity of feelings and ideas that books demand we quietly, and determinedly, engage.

Near the end of 2012 I made a bold goal for myself: read and review one hundred books per year for ten years, thereby releasing into the world one thousand examples of what I thought about something, available to those who do and do not know me, for as long as there's an Internet. Starting at the beginning of 2013, I read my thousand titles a little more quickly than anticipated, taking more like seven years to complete the project, and to memorialise the effort, I chose 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List to mark the 1000th book. Turns out, this was an interesting choice to have made, forcing me to consider whether I had chosen the “right” books to have spent my time with; would I have somehow benefited more from following a list like James Mustich's “life-changing” one? And ultimately, I think the answer to that is no: I followed my own interests over the years, finding recommendations here on Goodreads and elsewhere – such a lovely warren of rabbitholes and serendipitous stumblings – and even where the books I read were less than satisfying, I have enjoyed wording those opinions, too. And as for 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die itself, I really enjoyed Mustich's scholarship and enthusiasm regarding his own personal list, and while I appreciate that he writes that this list is “neither comprehensive nor authoritative”, I found quite a few titles that I will be adding to my own TBR list. Totally intriguing and worthwhile.

In his introduction, Mustich writes that his guiding principle while assembling his list was, What if I had a bookstore that could only hold 1,000 volumes, and I wanted to ensure it held not only books for all time but also books for the moment, books to be savored or devoured in a night? Declaring his metaphorical bookstore to be “a browser's paradise”, this quite long work (882 pages of very fine print; ach, the eye strain) might better suit a dipping in and out approach, but even reading straight through as I did, I never found the material to be dull or plodding. Mustich includes everything from children's books to philosophical treatises, and while I was interested to read each entry, his interests don't quite match my own; my personal list wouldn't be so heavy on celebrations of life in small English villages, definitive accounts of this and that war, old comic travelogues, odes to French food and Italian culture, the “ratiocination” brought to bear by great detectives on unsolvable murders, or biographies of American presidents. On the other hand, I was fascinated by the many books Mustich features on storytelling and art and how they shape (not only reflect) both culture and consciousness. In that vein, I hope to get to the following:

Study Is Hard Work by William H. Armstrong. Although schoolwork in this digital age may require new generations to pursue the spirit rather than the letter of Armstrong's directives, there is no doubt that the qualities of mind that his book fosters will be relevant to readers for as long as thought remains the currency of learning.

The Geography of the Imagination by Guy Davenport. Reeducating our eyes, metaphorically speaking, is Davenport's program precisely, as he wends his graceful way through the ideas of writers, thinkers, and artists in essays that are discursive, witty, learned, and bold, filled with enough ideas per page to keep one thinking for a week. (This) is the kind of book that makes us better readers, more curious, more perceptive, and more likely to discover connections ourselves.

Adam's Task by Vicki Hearne. Hearne's pages are alive with an exhilarating intellectual energy. They bring T. S. Elliot, Wittgenstein, and Dickens together with an Airedale named Salty, a “crazy” horse named Drummer Girl, and a bull terrier named Belle to enhance our understanding of morality, authority, responsibility, orthodoxy, dignity, courage, and, not least, language itself.

Cultural Amnesia by Clive James. This massive, sprawling, quirky exploration of one man's humanistic vocation leaves us not only with a remarkable reading list, but with a thinking list as well. In its idiosyncratic way, it's a book you can't put down, and will never exhaust.

The Art of the Personal Essay, Edited by Phillip Lopate. Each piece is alive with the confidences and consolations of an ideal of imaginary friendship, the kind in which another's predilections and perceptions illuminate and expand upon our own.

The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli. The underlying subject of Luiselli's book is how value and meaning attach themselves to art and literature – in other words, how stories shape significance – and its overriding spirit is one of invention, exhilaration, and delight.

Of Mustich's one thousand titles, I have read one hundred and sixty-three in their entirety, read portions of another ten or so (collected works and holy books), and read other works from some of his selected authors (from Agatha Christie and Albert Camus to Sinclair Lewis and Ali Smith). Some of his choices would not be on my own curated list of essential reading (The Da Vinci Code or Gone Girl) and some that I treasured in my youth (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance or On the Road), I suspect, might not be as meaningful to me today. But, this variety does reflect Mustich's aim to have in his imaginary bookstore something for everyone. There are many books here that I've always meant to read (The Second Sex or The Gormenghast Trilogy]), and to indulge myself further, I'll list a few more books I hope to get around to:

Possession by A. S. Byatt.
Eyewitness to History, Edited by John Carey.
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes.
The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard.
Conversations With Glenn Gould by Jonathan Cott.
Brazilian Adventure by Peter Fleming.
The Spare Room by Helen Garner.
Forests by Robert Pogue Harrison.
Independent People by Halldór Laxness.
Confessions of a Philosopher by Bryan Magee.
At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien.
A Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell.
All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West.
Landscape and Memory by Simon Schama.
The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead.
The Quest for Corvo by A. J. A. Symons.
Hermit of Peking by Hugh Trevor-Roper.

That ought to get me well on my way to my next thousand reads.

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I do have quite a few and major issues with how generally glowingly and also often rather uncritically positive the reviews for James Mustich’s 2018 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List tend to unilaterally be. For yes and definitely, while I do of course appreciate that James Mustich’s list is extensive and that he not only features novels but also presents plays, poetry, memoirs, science, history, economics, critical theory etc., I do both personally and academically have some major bones of academic contention with what has (in my humble opinion) been ignored and not sufficiently included in 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List. And indeed, because my academic background is literature and in particular German and children’s literature, I of course was paying most attention in and for these particular areas and was also and frustratingly very quickly realising that for me, the holes and shortcomings of 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List with regard to literary non inclusions and focuses do certainly and without a doubt far outweigh what I have enjoyed and what I have found interesting and enlightening about 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List.

For one, with regard to children’s literature, although I do find it cheering that in 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List James Mustich does indeed present very many children’s authors, I also find it rather strange and infuriating (and actually almost inappropriate) that aside from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince, ALL of the examples are English language and most are in fact based in the United States (except for a few select British children’s novels such as for example Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons, and yes, that I as a Canadian do like the inclusion of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables). But really, Mr. Mustich, where are authors like Erich Kästner, Otfried Preussler, Michael Ende, Tove Jansson and Astrid Lindgren, all of whom are talented and beloved authors and have also had their respective oeuvres repeatedly translated into English?

And for two, with regard to German literature, albeit I do definitely appreciate that James Mustich has not included in 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List just Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Thomas Mann (as well as listing some more recent German language authors authors such as Nobel laureate Herta Müller) sorry, but a reference manual on global books to read (and supposedly before one dies) that does NOT include German Enlightenment icon Gotthold Ephraim Lessing or Goethe’s friend and fellow author Friedrich Schiller, well, that is not a book on books I personally will ever consider worth the paper on which it is written, not to mention that it is ridiculous for John Mustich to label Goethe as the author of the German Enlightenment, when he is actually the poet of German Classicism (and in particular, since Johann Wolfgang von Goethe only started his literary career when the Enlightenment, when the Aufklärung was basically almost over and done with anyhow).

But well, I only decided to finally rate 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List with only two (hugely generous) stars instead of a low three star ranking when I realised that while John Mustich does list a number of Canadian authors (although a pretty ridiculously sparse number), he basically has TOTALLY ignored the literature of French Canada, he has not included even one Québécois novelist, poet or dramatist. And considering that the French speaking areas of Canada have always had a very rich literary tradition (and one that has also existed longer than for English Canada as well), yes, I totally find this completely unacceptable. And no, I will thus not be recommending 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List either, as what is missing and what is being ignored by John Mustich has simply been too personally infuriating and massively frustrating.

[Arupratan · Rating 5 out of 5]

যারা গপগপ করে বই ভক্ষণ করতে ভালোবাসে, তাদের কাছে আরো আরো আরো নতুন নতুন বইয়ের সন্ধান পাওয়ার চেয়ে তৃপ্তিদায়ক বিষয় আর কিছু নেই। যদিও, Goodreads-এর পাবলিকদের কাছে এইসব কথা বলার অর্থ, মায়ের কাছে মাসির গল্প ফাঁদা। তারচে সরাসরি এই বইটার ব্যাপারে কিছু কথা বলে ফেলা যাক!

ধরাধাম থেকে বিদায় নেবার আগে অবশ্যপাঠ্য ১০০টি বই।
পটল তুলবার পূর্বে যে ১০০টি ক্লাসিক আপনাকে পড়তেই হবে।
অক্কা পাওয়ার আগে এই ১০০টা বই পড়ে ফেলুন।
যদি আপনার ডাক শুনে কেউ না আসে তবে এই ১০০টি উপন্যাস পড়ুন।
চমকে চৌত্রিশ হতে চাইলে যে ১০০টি বই আপনাকে পড়তে হবে।
জিভে জল আনা ১০০টি বইয়ের ফর্দ।
মানুষ নামক জন্তুর লেখা সর্বকালের শ্রেষ্ঠ ১০০টি কেতাব।

ইন্টারনেটের অলিতে গলিতে এরকম লিস্ট দেখে দেখে চোখ ব্যথা হয়ে গেছে। মোটামুটি সব লিস্টেই ১৫০টা বইকে ঘুরিয়ে ফিরিয়ে ঢুকিয়ে দেওয়া হয়। নামিদামি পত্রপত্রিকারাও এরোম লিস্টি বের করে মাঝেমধ্যে। সেখানেও সেই একই মাল। যারা নিজেদের একটু "অন্যরকম" দেখাতে চায়, তারা লিস্টের পয়লা র‍্যাঙ্কিং বইটার নাম লেখে প্রুস্তের "হারিয়ে যাওয়া সময়ের খোঁজে"। যারা নিজেদের আরো বেশি অন্যরকম দেখাতে চায় তারা লেখে জোসেফ হেলারের "ক্যাচ-বাইশ"। এই যেমন আমি নিজেকে অন্যরকম বোঝানোর জন্যে বইগুলোর নাম বাংলায় লিখলাম। ব্যাস, ক্যারদানি এটুকুই। বইক্ষুধার্তরা অ্যাদ্দিনে ভালো করেই বুঝে ফেলেছেন, এইসব থোড়-বড়ি-খারা লিস্ট ঘেঁটে বিশেষ লাভ নেই। এই বইটার নাম দেখে প্রথমে আমিও ভেবেছিলাম, হায় রামচন্দ্র, এরা ইন্টারনেট থেকে বাইরে বেরিয়ে লিস্টি-বিষয়ক গোটা বই লিখে ফেলেছে রে!

তারপর দেখলাম ১০০০টা বইয়ের লিস্ট বানিয়েছে এই বইতে। এট্টু লোভ হলো। বইটা হাতে নিয়ে দেখলাম ক্কি সোন্দর পৃষ্ঠা! ক্কি সোন্দর বাইন্ডিং! কত্তো চ্ছবি! আরো এট্টু বেশি লোভ হলো। কিনেই ফেললাম।

আশি, নব্বই এবং শূন্য দশকে "আ কমন রিডার" নামক বই-বিষয়ক একটা মেইল-অর্ডার ক্যাটালগ খুব জনপ্রিয় হয়েছিলো আমেরিকায়। এই ক্যাটালগের সাবস্ক্রিপশন নিলে, বাড়িতে বসে প্রতিমাসে প্রচুর নতুন এবং পুরোনো বইয়ের খবর পাওয়া যেত। ইন্টারনেটের (এবং Goodreads-এর) আগেকার যুগে, বলাই বাহুল্য, এমন ক্যাটালগের চাহিদা থাকাই স্বাভাবিক। প্রায় তিন লক্ষ ক্যাটালগ বিক্রি হতো প্রতি বছর। এই বইটি যিনি লিখেছেন, সেই জনপ্রিয় ক্যাটালগটার সম্পাদক ছিলেন তিনি। বই বিক্রির ব্যবসাও করেছেন দীর্ঘসময়। সবচেয়ে বড় কথা, ইনি নিজেই একজন বইবুভুক্ষু বইউন্মাদ মানুষ। সুতরাং লেখকের বায়োডেটা দেখে বেশ ভরসা হলো।

বইটা খুলে তো আমি একদম ঝুপ্পুশ ডুবে গেলাম! দিনচারেক পরে বই থেকে মুখ তুলে, বেশ জোরেই বললাম, হেব্বি লিস্ট বানিয়েছে মাইরি! মা আমার গলা শুনে বললো, কীসের লিস্ট বানিয়েছে মাইরি? গত কয়েকদিন তোর কোনো খোঁজখবর নেই ক্যানো মাইরি?

একহাজারটা বইয়ের মধ্যে অনেকগুলোই আমার পড়া... ইয়ে মানে, অনেকগুলোরই নাম শুনেছি আগে। বিষয় সেটা নয়। লিস্টে থাকা প্রতিটা বইয়ের সঙ্গে পরিচয় করিয়ে দেওয়ার জন্যে একটা করে নাতিদীর্ঘ রচনা লিখেছেন লেখক। সেই রচনাগুলো অতি উপাদেয়। আর একটা ব্যাপার হলো— বৈচিত্র্য। বাচ্চাদের বই, উপন্যাস, ছোটোগল্প, নাটক, কবিতা, ভ্রমণকাহিনি, রহস্যরোমাঞ্চ, ফ্যান্টাসি, সাইফাই, প্রবন্ধ। কোনো গোত্রই বাদ দেননি। কত নতুন বইয়ের নাম যে জানতে পেরেছি! নামের পাশাপাশি সেইসব বইয়ের ইতিহাস-ভূগোল-জীবনবিজ্ঞান-ভৌতবিজ্ঞানও জানতে পেরেছি। সঙ্গে আছে অজস্র ছবি। তাছাড়া, শুধু ১০০০টা বইতেই শেষ নয়। প্রতিটা বইয়ের ব্যাপারে আলাপ করার সময় একই ধাঁচের আরো চারপাঁচছয়সাত��া বইয়ের খবর দিয়েছেন। কোনো বইয়ের ভালো অডিওবুক থাকলে, সেটাও জানিয়েছেন। সিনেমা থাকলে, খোঁজ দিয়েছেন। সবমিলিয়ে, চমৎকার একটা বই! এরকম বই তো আগা থেকে গোড়া একনিঃশ্বাসে পড়ে ফেলা সম্ভব নয় (বইটার পৃষ্ঠাসংখ্যাও প্রায় ১০০০)। মাঝেমাঝে উল্টেপাল্টে দেখি। প্রতিবারই নতুন কিছুর খবর পাই। প্রতিবারই পুলকিত হই।

শুধু পুলক নয়, একটু আফসোসও হয়। ইশ, বাংলা বইয়ের ব্যাপারে এমন একটা বই যদি কেউ ল���খতো!

[Ellinor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book probably is not life-changing but it clearly sticks out among others of its kind. It doesn‘t exclusively list novels as does Peter Boxall‘s work with the very similar title. It also describes books from a great variety of other genres and types, including dramas, poems, philosophical texts, history and science books, reports on recent events (e.g. 9/11), etc. I liked this combination because I clearly missed many of these works on other lists. However, I sometimes found that Mr Mustich‘s book put a little too much emphasis on the non-fiction works and should have focused a bit more on fiction. Of course many of the non-fiction works were (and are) life-changing, but does that really mean I have to read them all? A lot of the historical works I‘d rather leave to the historians and scientists.

Another thing which makes this book special are the suggestions for further reading and the hints for books with similar topics, listed for each single work! In his preface Mr Mustich says that it took him years to compile this book and this is clearly visible. I have great respect for him for putting so much effort into this work.

Mr Mustich‘s book is a great alternative to Mr Boxall‘s list, epecially for all those looking for more than just novels.

[Ginger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, I actually read every single word of this.

I’m not sure it’s intended for a straight read, and that’s not what I set out to do. For months, I dipped in and out, it lived on my coffee table and I’d pick it up and peruse, read the entries on books I had read or books that caught my eye.

But I found I enjoyed James Mustich’s writing so much, I eventually sat down to read every article I had skipped, front to back. Over the course of the last couple years, marking each entry I’d read, I finally came to the “end.” And I’m sorry I have.

He’s a fantastic writer himself, brilliant at adjectives and alliteration. And his taste is exquisite. I’ve discovered new-to-me books I would never have come across that will pay dividends in my reading life for years to come (a highlight so far has been an entire book on Oranges by John McPhee—a delightful volume I never knew I wanted).

I would take another volume (or two or three...) from Mustich and I’m only sorry I never knew about A Common Reader when he was writing the catalog.

[Literary Redhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

MY TBR PILE HAS GAZOOPLED!

1,000 BOOKS TO READ BEFORE YOU DIE is a gorgeous compendium by James Mustich, co-founder of the acclaimed book catalog, A Common Reader. This must-read guide to must-reads features a rich eclectic mix, each title described as only the most enthusiastic reader would recommend a beloved book to a friend.

Following each entry are endnotes with pub dates, preferred editions, other books by the same author, related books, and adaption listings that include movies and audiobooks. In all, 6,000 books titles by 3,500 authors are included.

Finally, A Miscellany of Special Lists gives entry points into the collection, such as Books to Read in a Sitting and Offbeat Escapes and for the most inveterate, A Long Climb, but What a View with such page-monsters as “In Search of Lost Time.” Highly recommended!

Pub Date 02 Oct 2018

Thanks to Workman Publishing Company and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are fully mine.

#1,000booksToReadBeforeYouDie #NetGalley

[Ashraf Bashir · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author stated that recommendations are equally distributed between fiction and nonfiction, this is not true, most of the recommendations are novels! Also, some of the reviews are not matching the contents of books, which flags a high probability the author reviews something he didn't read. Descriptions are very brief and not giving the real message of each book! A suggestion to the editor, to group recommendations by genre not alphabetically. & My suggestion to you as a reader: Use Goodreads or AmazonCharts for better recommendations where you can have those who really read books with diversified opinions

[Udit Nair · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are an avid reader then this book is like a must read for sure. Atleast it will be a great asset to your library. The scope of the book is huge and it does manage to cover diverse fields. If all the recommendations are mentioned then the total number of books rises up to 5000 or 6000. This is the case because the author also mentions about other works of the mentioned author and also other recommendations which are from the same category. This book has surely increased my tbr list by huge margins.

Apart from this it was like a therapeutic journey while I was going through all the descriptions and other things. It was a page turner for me and I am sure that I will keep going back to this book. Ofcourse there are some misses and some unexpected titles but that's completely understandable. To compile a list of books is indeed a tedious task. More tedious is to get consensus on that list. Overall this book was a life enriching experience.

[Mila Reads Alot ☕ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great selections of books to choose to read next.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've renewed this book 6 times!!! And then, best ever gift exchange happened, and a very thoughtful friend bought me my own copy!! Hot Damn, that's a great gift. AND, at the back of the copy is a poster/chart one who is obsessed could actually post on a bedroom wall!!! That has been done, and to my utter shame I have only read 87 of the 1000. So begins my journey in 2020 to mend my ways. I've actually read more than 87, those 87 are ones I count as read, and will not be re-reading. You know, like Lord of the Flies. Who needs to revisit that one? ARGH.

But all the revisitable ones are left unchecked so I can skip through their pages once more. So ths is a read book, but now is my own personal reference as I happily tip-toe-through-the-to-reads again!

[Dawnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful book!
such a book lovers dream book!
so many recommendations, such fantastic reviews for the books and basically every genre in covered with at least one book in here!

Lets start with the "negative":
- Of course not every book in here is for every reader!
And not every recommendation/review is what every reader thinks about the books mentioned. For example at least 20 books in here are books i read and didn't like and so i actually don't think the same as the author of this book says. But when isn't it that way if you look at reviews or recommendations?

- i am a bit disappointed to not have found Joyce Carol Oates as one of the recommended authors in here. She is mentioned as one of the people where a book should be tried from. But not as an individual recommendation which i find quiet sad. She is one of those authors that has so many books and so many different genres she writes. So i was a bit surprised to find her not included.
There are of course other authors as well that i personally would have included in my own list - for example Astrid Lindgren (Her children's stories are so wide ranging and wonderful that i believe that every child should read at least a few of her books) -but it is not my personal list! So i won't complain about that too much!


Now lets talk about the positive!

- There are a lot of books in here -way, way more than 1000!

- I love how the author talks about each of the book.
He doesn't try to share is personal option and push it on the reader. Which is lovely. I have read quiet a few books of this kind and a lot of them are written in the way of "you HAVE to read this or you are not a real reader!" kind of way.
Not my personal favourite way of getting recommendations.
I rather hear what makes the book special, or why i should read it -what makes the book worth reading? Why is it worth my time? What does it give me that others book don't have? Why is this book on that topic the book i should read?

And this book does exactly that.
It tells you why it is special and why it should be read.

I love it that way!

- I also really love that this book shares the genre of each book talked about, suggestions of further readings. Sometimes "just" similar books, a lot of the times books that are actual further reading in a way especially with classics!

- I am also a fan of the way that with some authors there is not just one book listed. Some authors there is not just that ONE book everyone should give a try. Dickens for example one of the authors in here that has basically his entire novels listed as books to read. Which i think is wonderful since not every Dickens book is for everyone. For example i prefer his "family" stories over the "law" stories - at least so far. So if i would have only ever been told to read one of his "law" based books i am sure i wouldn't have learned to appreciate his writings!
So i think that if you want to actually get someone else to appreciate an author especially for classics? You need to give them a bit more options than just one specific book!

- I also love the "checklists" at the end of the book.
There is one where all the books reviewed/recommend in this book.
There is also a list that puts the books into specific sub-categories so that if you want to read a specific genre or avoid a specific one, it is all right there.

- its also lovely that all the authors mentioned in this books are listed at the end. The ones which books are specifically talked about as well as those that are "Just" mentioned as books that should be tried as well.


Overall?
Highly recommend this book!
If you are in search of a wonderful book that shares other books? Give this one a look and see if it is too your liking!


*Thanks to Netgalley.com for providing me with a free e-copy of this book in exchange for a free and honest review!*

[Kazen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there is anything better than a book, it's a book about books. The joy of reading is suffused with the anticipation of reading the amazing titles put before you. Wishlists and bookshelves fill along with our literary hearts.

There are similarly titled books-on-books out there, sure, but I'm really liking this one. Let me list the reasons why:

- Other tomes list what you should read, like literary brain veggies. Mustich takes a different tack: if he had a bookstore that held exactly 1,000 books these would be the ones he includes. There's something for every reading mood - books to ponder over, books to gulp down whole, books for children, books for when you need an escape, and more.

- Most people will likely dip in and out as the mood strikes but, me being me, I blew through the entire thing front to back. It holds up! The books are in alpha order by author, perfect for brushing up against a writer you've never heard of.

- Unlike many of these lists about half of the selections are non-fiction of the well-wearing sort - memoirs, travelogues, nature writing, history, food writing, etc. A large part of the TBR I assembled is nonfiction, to my pleasant surprise.

- Each entry has a bevy of info attached - bibliographic details, related works, recommended editions and translations, adaptations, and more. And if you've already read a book there's several more by different authors to try.

- As a result the one thousand main entries are the tip of the iceberg - six thousand more books are referenced throughout. The index, it is epic.

- While some picks are obvious, some are not. Mustich will name check an author's most famous work while highlighting another that he feels is underappreciated or a better entry point into their oeuvre.

- Instead of espousing why the content of a book is important, we're told why it's a good read. A touching memoir, thrilling mystery, a book that will stay with you for the rest of your life - hearing the why makes the selections even more alluring for me.

All of that being said, as you'd expect with any arbitrary selection of books, I have some quibbles.

- The author is a well-meaning white guy and the list reflects that in many ways. First, he obviously made an effort to include women and people of color, as well as dip into world literature, which is much appreciated. And I want to say up front - it's hard to hold one thousand books in your head and I may be missing a few. However.

- By my estimate women only make up 20-25% of the authors listed in the thousand. Out of the 45 authors with more than one book I only see six women, or 13%. Better than the "expected" 8% mentioned in How to Suppress Women's Writing but still well short of half. Boo.

- Looking at the books written by people of color, most by Western authors are squarely centered on the POC experience (James Baldwin's Collected Essays, Alice Walker's The Color Purple, Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me, etc.). These are all great and worthy books, but it perpetuates the myth that non-white people are only qualified to write about themselves. I would have liked to see a larger range, maybe by throwing in fantasy like The Broken Earth series by N.K. Jemisin or a book by Octavia Butler. (No, Butler is not on this list. There are two Butlers but not her. I know.)

- In the same vein, LGBTQIA+ folks don't get their full due. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel is here, huzzah, but that's about it. Other than classic authors whose Queerness gets a passing mention (Virginia Woolf, Oscar Wilde, etc.) I have a hard time remembering another book related to the gay experience. With all the nonfiction how about And the Band Played On, about the AIDS epidemic, or Columbine, by a gay author? Again, I may be missing a couple, but even then it's slim pickings.

- There are so. many. books. about. war. The history of war, soldier memoirs, the politics and tactics of war... ugh.

- Many of the travel books are about a white dude traveling to a place populated by black or brown people. I just... no thank you.

- While some genres are lovingly included (sci-fi, mysteries, thrillers), others are largely ignored. There is precious little fantasy (and most is sword and sorcery at that), and there's only one romance. Huzzah for Georgette Heyer but considering the attempt at inclusiveness it made me sad.

Laid out like that my criticisms may look harsh but overall I really liked 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die. I'm planning on getting a hard copy and marking it up (in pencil!) with notes about the books I've read. There are also illustrations and pictures on almost every page, making the already impressive volume an attractive gift.

Curating a selection like this is an incredibly hard task and Mustich does better than many. Perfect for readers who love books about books.

Thanks to Workman Publishing and NetGalley for providing a review copy.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so glad I had listened to a podcast interview with the author before I read this book. He said his intention was for a reader to open the book, find a favorite author, read his brief essay about their work, and look at the recommendations for similar titles that the reader may enjoy. He would hope that everyone could peruse at leisure and not feel compelled to read all the books or even read his book cover to cover because he had gone to exhaustive lengths to make sure there were suggestions for every type of reader (from picture books to psychology), meaning that few would find pleasure in all of the suggestions. The cross references and multiple indexes make this book an amazing resource for any bibliophile. The tag line of a life changing list is quite ludicrous, however, and obviously an unveiled marketing ploy. As with any list with a cap on it, there are many great books and authors that were missed. He didn't bother to give a paragraph to Wendell Berry, Brian Jacques, Dorothy Sayers, or George MacDonald, which made me a little skeptical of his taste and a little leery of his advice. I did, however, find many books that I want to try which I might not have otherwise encountered, and I am thankful for the enlightenment of lesser known-to-me works.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found some interesting books to add to my tbr list.

[Missy LeBlanc Ivey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm going to love this book. It's not just a book you can sit down and read through. It is one you would want to refer to before embarking on a classic, which I find, for the most part, harder to understand. If there is any underlying meaning to gather by reading between the lines of any of these chosen books, this author will give meaning to the work so maybe you read with better understanding.

This is a book to markup, date, highlight, and to fully participate with. There are 1,000 books with really good, thoughtful information about the books and authors that were chosen to be included, much the way Turner Classic Movies (TCM) gives introductions before each movie on television. I'm impressed with the variety and choice of books, with exception of only a few. But who knows, maybe I will read those as well, one day...when there is nothing left in this world for me to read.

The best part about this book, my favorite part, is "the list". I'm all about lists, and there is a checkoff list at the back of the book. Upon receiving the book, I've read 22 books of the 1,000, which means I also now have read 22 reviews in this big, big book and the info on the authors.

As of 5/17/2021, I've read the following books:

- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- The Arabian Nights
- Pride and Prejudice
- A Walk in the Woods
- The Good Earth
- Silent Spring
- Rebecca
- Absalom, Absalom!
- The Great Gatsby
- The Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank)
- One Hundred Years of Solitude
- Lord of the Flies
- Theie Eyes Were Watching God
-To Kill a Mockingbird
- Angela's Ashes
- Lonesome Dove
- Gone with the Wind
- Lolita
- 1984
- Where the Wild Things Are (children's)
- Walden
- The Color Purple

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have nothing but admiration for this compendium and especially for the author who not only selected a thousand books but also wrote essays for every book. He covers fiction and nonfiction from Dante to Shakespeare to Bill Bryson to Anne Tyler and includes books for all ages.

This book is recommended to anyone who wants to organize a reading list of literary titles and is also perfect for every home library. Book groups will also want a copy for future reading selections. Plus with the holidays coming, it would make for a great gift.

The following comment is based on the advance reading copy so the finished copy could well include what I would like to see and that's an easily read list of titles included in the book. And while the author included a few interesting lists such as Off-Beat Escapes, Mind-Expanding, 12 Books to Read Before You're 12, and others, some basic lists would have been helpful, e.g. Philosophy, Memoirs, Historical Novels, et al.

I also understand the finished copy has nice full-page illustrations.

A huge thanks to the publisher for the advance reading copy.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Mustich is truly an avid reader! He’s loved to read since he was a child. One of his first jobs was at a bookstore where his love of reading was encouraged and enhanced. He ultimately became the cofounder of The Common Reader, a mail order catalog which provided commentary on books.

His idea of writing about “1,000 books to read before you die” was a challenge to say the least! It took fourteen years for him to finally publish his list. It contains book titles that range from children’s books to adult fiction and nonfiction, and from classics to bestsellers and everything in between. He doesn’t presume to leave the impression that his list of books is the standard by which most people should choose their titles. He admits that he wrote and rewrote his list many times. The list is meant to pique readers’ interest and to call attention to books that, in his (humble) opinion are well worth reading. He readily admits that there are many more books that others would add as well.

The book list is alphabetical by author and gives a brief commentary about each book. This book is a joy to peruse and definitely achieves its intent! Avid readers, whether you agree or disagree, would be absorbed in its recommendations!

Thank you to Net Galley, author James Mustich, and Workman Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read the ARC of this fascinating book.

[Margaret Gerberding · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have always considered myself a fairly well read person, but I have only read 51 books on this list. Challenge accepted! Honestly though, some of the books are ones I tried to read and abandoned. Life is too short for books you don't like.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I swear we like reading books about lists so we can quibble over the lists. Mustich is the man behind the Common Reader book catalog, which went out of business in 2006.

This actually is a pretty good list of books to read before you die. Unlike other books of similar titles, with a few exceptions, Mustich confines it to one book per author. There are 71 exceptions to this, including Shakespeare and Dickens. 58 of the 71 are male, 13 female. The list breaks down to roughly 663 men and 204 women, with only 3 Native American authors. The books run though various genres, and while some choices are no suprise, there are quite a few surprises.

There is attention paid to fantasy and sci-fi (though the writers chosen in those genres are primary male) as well as sports writing. Children's books are present as are graphic novels (most of those chosen are by women, so that's nice)

The best part are the notes section under each volume - listing other works, further reading, and the odd factoid. The Try feature actually makes this a list of over 1,000.

Of course, there are some things that don't quite make sense. Why no mention of Angela Carter? Why no mention of the editorial work of Datlow and Windling whose fairy tale series paved the way for the rich retellings we have today? Why no Terry Pratchett has an offical entry, but only a try?

Still a lovely well crafted volume.

But who would be on your list?

[Fred Forbes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a good book to pick up in your office if you are trying to get something done. What a fabulous job of selecting books, fiction and non, classic and modern and writing a quick summary of the work, a bit about the author and the possible social significance of the work. Really well written and well done.

Last paragraph of the introduction - "To get lost in a story, or even a study, is inherently to acknowledge the voice of another, to broaden one's perspective beyond the confines of one's own understanding. A good book is the opposite of a selfie; the right book at the right time can expand our lives in the way love does, making us more thoughtful, more generous, more brave, more alert to the world's wonders and more pained by its inequities, more wise, more kind. In the metaphorical bookshop you are about to enter, I hope you'll discover a few to add to those you already cherish.

Happy reading."

Probably as good an explanation why so many of us are hooked on books! Grab this one and enjoy - just don't expect to get much work done!

[Donald Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful reference book about books. I have added a shelf with these books. I will see how close to death I can come to this list. It will be fun. This is a well researched list of its author, a book seller for his working years. It is as good a compilation for an American as I can find. It is well organized with lots of useful information besides just a listing of the books.