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

What is your strategy to conquer the list? In other words, how do you choose which book you will read next? Mine is to try to go chronologically through all combined lists starting with the oldest. I do this in conjunction with the Lifetime Reading Plan and the Well Educated Mind List. I alternate with reading one book from each list. Plus now that I've found this site, I'm tackling the book discussion selections, therefore adding some books out of order for vareity. So on average I get through about two books a month. Needless to say not much progess...
Does anyone find a different strategy more productive?

Hmm.. to be honest I don't think I have a strategy...I look at the list and just pick a title, then I check if I can get it on my kindle - if not I get the DTB version.

At the present, I don't have a strategy. But completing the list isn't my goal. I'm using it to help find books I'd like to read, but I have other means of finding books I'd like to read, too, like friends and group reads. In addition, Goodreads is about to launch a recommendation system - don't know how I'll ever get to everything!

I go chronologically. I am tracking the books in my blog 1001everything.blogspot.com. It is a great way to get to know the time period.

Some of the reading groups are starting to read more of the classics. I have joined these. Some I am reading ...some I am listening to.

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert 1857 368 pages
July - August

The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy 1922 912 pages
June - December

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo 1862 1463 pages
August - ???

The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope 1875 800 pages

August - ???

Librivox has so many classics... audio for free.

I stream because my computer doesn't like downloading.

I like having a group to keep me reading.

Have to say Shirley ..Libravox is a great source for audio books...when i was struggling to sleep at nights I loaded up my ipod shuffle with camille.

I don't have a real strategy in mind, I tend to read whatever is on hand at my local branch library that is on the list, but I've lately been drawn to the books on the list that are also on the Banned/Challenged book lists as well just to see why they ended up there. So that gives me 2 lists to conquer at the same time :)

Other than when a list book is the BotM here or in another group I stick to random number generation. It helps me branch out from the things that might be my normal inclination.

I'm part of the 1001 library over at bookcrossing - you donate books to the 'library' and you're allowed to take others out. The library isn't a real place, you keep the books at home and send them out if anyone requests them.
There are several little groups which focus on the 1001 list, so many of the books are ones that come from there. I often pick the titles I haven't heard of.
I also aim to read 40 a year and that keeps me on track.

I like the idea of the chronological list but worry I would get bored. Maybe next year I'll focus my 40 books on a specific time period.

I just open a random page of the book and choose whatever is on the page with the exception of Anna Karenina....can't go there yet. SO LONG!

I'm kind of leaning towards the books that are shorter, quicker reads & the books that are on the banned/challenged books lists first. I figure if I can knock those out first, I'll get more done in a shorter time frame, then take my time with some of the rest. I've also leaned away from books I'm "afraid" to read, LOL, or those that I have my personal reservations about :)

I just try to vary my reading selections, skipping around between genres and time periods. I keep my eyes open for used books that are on the list, then put any that I own on my TBR list.

Is it only me or is the pleasure of wondering what to tackle next almost as great as the joy of what you are reading at that moment?
Having a pile of great literature just waiting to be explored is a wonderful comfort and debating whether to try a classic or something modern, something enriching, something deep or something gripping, a new author or a trusted favourite is one of life's little personal sources of happiness. A bit like picking a pastry from the window of a Parisian patisserie.
I have to jump about: spending too much time in the 19th century makes me feel guilty for neglecting more current treasures.

I totally agree! Ever since I was a kid I got all excited whenever I would go to the town library in anticipation of what was going to be my next adventure!!

Ditto Ivan's and Sue's comments for me!

I admire those who are reading chronologically as I think that is the way to learn more about the development of the novel and perhaps enhance one's knowledge and understanding of history as well. I struggle with more of the older titles (language, style, sometimes length, subject), so I don't think I could stick with that approach even if I tried though.

I alternate between the earlier works and more current titles much of the time; but since I read from at least four other lists as well as this one (some of which are only 20th century in scope), I end up reading many more 20th and 21st century authors.

What I find available either free for my Kindle or in a good used copy also plays a role in my selections, unfortunately.

I am new at this book club and I was wondering where is the easiest place to view the list? Thanks!

Sue wrote: "I am new at this book club and I was wondering where is the easiest place to view the list? Thanks!"

Check out this thread for the various editions of the list.

Sue wrote: "I totally agree! Ever since I was a kid I got all excited whenever I would go to the town library in anticipation of what was going to be my next adventure!!"

Agreed - as soon as I finish a book I get excited about starting a new one, and I also feel part of the excitement is the process of deciding which one to tackle next.

Nicole wrote: "I just open a random page of the book and choose whatever is on the page with the exception of Anna Karenina....can't go there yet. SO LONG!"

I can appreciate the intimidation factor regarding long books like that. Right now I am working my way through Les Miserables (1400+ pages!). One approach I have found that works for me for long books is to download the audio book and listen to it on my Ipod when I am cooking, cleaning, walking, etc., while having other books that I am reading as well. Maybe you could try that for long books.

I usually read a long, old book (Anna Karenina, Les Miserables, etc.) and a short, contemporary book (The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Delta of Venus, etc.) at the same time. I read the old one casually and the new one analytically. It keeps both halves of my literary self satisfied.

These are good points as well. I have been debating whether to try tackling some of the works I'm hesitating about just so I can get them out of the way, like some of the other Rushdie books on the list, because I really just don't like him, or Anna K because it's such an epic tome, & to say I got through it would be a major accomplishment, LOL, or another one of Vonnegut's books because my initial exposure to him was Slaughterhouse Five, which I hated, so it makes me wary of jumping back into him. Initially I wasn't fond of Atwood, but I've read enough of her books now to where I can admit she's grown on me, LOL. I took a break from her for a bit though so I could read some of the older ones. I loved Lady Chatterley's Lover, so I'll have no problem jumping back into DH Lawrence. I'm finding myself fascinated by Tropic of Cancer, & still have The Secret History, Lolita & Fear of Flying in my library stack to get through before I can load up again, & will have to renew those tomorrow, LOL.

I'm sort of new to the list, and there are so many things on my to-read list that aren't on the 1001 list that I don't think I'll finish either list in my lifetime! My idea in starting the 1001 list was to try to pick up some (recommended) classic literature that I've missed along the way, find some new favorite authors maybe, read some things outside my comfort zone. So I don't have a strategy really. My current list book, Lolita, was pure serendipity: My husband came home from the library with a Nabokov anthology. I imagine I'll just pick titles as they strike me or I happen on them on the bookstore or library shelves.

One good suggestion is for two or more books to be combined in one volume, i.e., the so-called "Combo Books." The titles, of course, will have to be re-written, for example:

1. Lake Wobegon Days of the Locust
2. The Old Man in the Gray Flannel Suit and the Sea
3. Romeo and Juliet and Franny and Zooey
4. 101 Dalmatians Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
5. Tender is the Night of the Iguana
6. The Wings of the Lonesome Dove
7. War and a Separate Peace

You'll be able to finish more books this way.

(source: Laugh Off by Bob Fenster)

Now the 1001 combo books in my wish list:

a. As a Man Grows Older Before Night Falls
b. Blind Man with a Pistol By the Open Sea
c. Extinction of Excellent Women
d. Fear and Trembling and Loathing in Las Vegas
e. Kiss of the Spider Woman in the Kitchen
f. the Adventures of Caleb Williams, Simplicissimus, Sherlock Holmes, Maqroll, Alice in Wonderland and Huckleberry Finn.

I kind of just started from the bottom up. Prior to discovering the list, most of the books I already read were in that section of the list.

I find that I have read a number just because they were interesting books but when I'm ready to start a new one I begin at the top, check the reviews and see if I am ready for that one. Keep up this process until I find one I want to read!

Joselito wrote: "One good suggestion is for two or more books to be combined in one volume, i.e., the so-called "Combo Books." The titles, of course, will have to be re-written, for example:

1. Lake Wobegon Days..."

Ooh! I can cut my reading time in half if I pick up these titles;

The Call of the Wild Boys
The Life of a Good-for-Nothing Soldier
The Man with the Golden Notebook
The Blind Side of the Heart of Darkness

My "strategy" is I usually read two books at a time. I usually try to keep up with what this group is reading and another book on the list that I own. I've accumulated many books that I have not read so I pick from there. But I also try to read a book that isnt't on the list just to keep things interesting.

Lisa wrote: "I don't have a real strategy in mind, I tend to read whatever is on hand at my local branch library that is on the list, but I've lately been drawn to the books on the list that are also on the Ban..."

LOL me too! Banned Books Week ends today. I've been reading some controversial books this week, such as Lord of the Flies, 1984, The Great Gatsby and His Dark Materials series. Oh, and I don't really have a strategy right now. I'll try finishing the 1001 Children's Books lists first before growing up, then try this one. But I sorta keep both of them going together, and some of the Children's Books from the other list are also on this one.

Tayyab/Killer of Mockingbirds/Eggman Walrus Taxman wrote: "Lisa wrote: "I don't have a real strategy in mind, I tend to read whatever is on hand at my local branch library that is on the list, but I've lately been drawn to the books on the list that are al..."

I just finished Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, & have 1984 on the pile on the dresser. I am hacking my way through Dirk Gently, & I just can't get into it. It's like Hitchhiker in that in jumps around SO randomly I am having problems "connecting" with it. I'm also reading Isabel Allende's Of Love & Shadows, which I am definitely connected to, my husband popped his head in the bedroom door last night & asked me if I was actually going to bed or if I was going to sit up all night reading, because it was after midnight! I had just gotten caught up in the story & couldn't put it down & didn't even know what time it was, LOL.

Just a random thought: if you start from scratch and read only one book per month it will take you 83 years to read 1,000 of the books. So tell your babies time's a wasting!

Jenny wrote: "Just a random thought: if you start from scratch and read only one book per month it will take you 83 years to read 1,000 of the books. So tell your babies time's a wasting!"

This is why I gave up the idea of tackling them chronologically...I am probably too old to read the whole combined list now (especially as they will probably keep bringing out new editions with more books in them). I could read the books that are on all of the lists, since there are less than 1000 of those, I've already read quite a few, and the number will only decrease with new editions. But I just tend to pick up used copies of any book from the combined list, which gives me a TBR to read from. Plus the monthly books on here.

Reading or listening to books on the List that are being discussed in a group here on Goodreads is keeping me busy. There are usually several at a time. For example, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings starts here tomorrow, as does Daniel Deronda in Victorians. I find that discussion adds a lot to my enjoyment and understanding of the books.

I usually fill in with short List books or humor and/or mysteries of my own choosing during any gaps.

P.S. I am most of the way through I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and loving it. I know I would not have picked it up without the List. I am squeamish about books that I think will feature a lot of cruelty. There's cruelty here all right, but even more humor.

I used to be a chronological reader (limited by the availability at my local library). The four consecutive Jane Austen's I read a year or so ago nearly killed my interest in the list. But I soldiered on, dutifully discovering the gems amid the slag, all the while pretending not to hear the messages from my subconscious ("I'm really not enjoying this book", "that next book sounds really dull", etc), believing that forcing myself to read the classics was for my own good.

But I've had a revelation recently that changed all this. At my current pace, it'll take me 30-40 years to read these 1001-1290 books. Am I going to like the same sort of books when I'm 70 as I do today? Not likely! Maybe at some point in the next 35 years I'll want to revisit Jane Austen's world of spoiled aristocratic whiners and will gladly read her remaining two books on the list. Or, more likely, maybe I'll lose interest in using the list as a reading guide (after all, I have no intention of learning Korean or French just to be able to read The Taebek Mountains). Or, also more likely, maybe I won't even live long enough to read all 1290 books in the time I allot to reading.

I'm determined from here on out to choose my books according to my current attractions, be they pure pleasure, intellectual interest, cultural education, unexplainable hunch, or whatever. At this time, that means scanning the list, reading an outline of any book that catches my eye until I find one that I'm excited about reading. Using this method since the mid-summer I feel like I've rediscovered the joy of reading after having unwittingly sacrificed it on the altar of classic literature.

When I first found out about this list I was not really thinking about actually trying to read all 1001 books, but I was surprised by how many books I had already read from the list and how many I already own, or were already on my TBR anyway, and so I did sort of get addicted to wanting to read at least as many of the books on the list as possible.

I do not know if I have an official strategy, but a couple of things I have been doing to help my reading of the books, is that for one I told myself that I would commit to the list I initially started with and not worry about keeping up with all the newer editions of the list.

I also use the book discussions here in this group to help me read the books from the list, and I often nominate books from the list in other book groups I belong to. And whenever I am out shopping for books if I come across books I know are on the list I always pick them up. So many of the more recent books I own are list books.

I often end up reading a few books a month from the list.

Does anyone have a spreadsheet version of all 3 lists they would be willing to share with me?

Jenny wrote: "Just a random thought: if you start from scratch and read only one book per month it will take you 83 years to read 1,000 of the books. So tell your babies time's a wasting!"

On the other hand, if you read ten a month it would only be 10-15 years depending on which/how you list the books. Either way, not sure bet it will ever get done

Sandy wrote: "I used to be a chronological reader (limited by the availability at my local library). The four consecutive Jane Austen's I read a year or so ago nearly killed my interest in the lis..."

Sounds like an intelligent plan, Sandy, which I second.

I am a moderator on another group, and I have a group discussion on the 1001 books...I just get the group to pick a number, and that's the book we read...some books are harder then others, but so far it is working well. The first number chosen is the book we read!!

Teri-lynn wrote: "I am a moderator on another group, and I have a group discussion on the 1001 books...I just get the group to pick a number, and that's the book we read...some books are harder then others, but so f..."

That's kind of neat, Teri-Lynn!

I'm a student, so I don't have much free time to devote to reading. Oh all right, honestly, I have to ration my reading or I'll fail everything. So I've worked out that I finish a book of about 500 pages in 5 days, and have used a random number generator and the combined lists to pick a book for each of those 5 day sections for the rest of the year (having made sure I own those books). That should get me to 200 by the end of the year (I'm on about 115 books read)... So far so good.

I'm also using Goodreads to sort them by approximate length, so if I finish something early I can sneak in a short one as a bonus.

Doing some quick maths - about 1290 on the combined lists, 73 5 day sections in a year... This strategy should take about 17 years. But this is my last year of being a student, so maybe in future years I can double up. :)

Somebody mentioned combining a shorter book and a longer book and I think that's key. I think I've figured out the approach to the longer books and it works for me:

1. Select a longer book (anything over 500 pages will do).

2. Set a certain amount of pages you'll read each week. (While 100 pages may be do-able on something like Mason and Dixon, where the typeface is bold and the pages aren't long, it's more difficult on something like Infinite Jest, where each long, tall page is crammed with text.)

3. Look at a calendar and see how long it'll take, at that pace. e.g. I started the aforementioned Thomas Pynchon tome last week and at 50 pages per week (I said 100 was do-able, I didn't say I was doing it.) I'll be done in mid-April.

Voi-freaking-la.

Tend to browse through the library bookshelves, although the fewer the books left to read the more I go on line to order books from the library. Currently reading In Search of Lost Time, volumes 4,5 and 6 are on the shelf to read.
I also go to secondhand bookshops, charity shops, project Gutenberg and my kindle.

I just read whatever sounds good. I read 101 of the books without knowing about the list, and when I joined the group, I happened to be reading my 102nd. I certainly don't plan on finishing the list. I'm just using it to find interesting reads.

My new strategy is two fold. Firstly i read whatever arrives in the post - okay so i have a back load - and secondly I am trying to knock over multiple tales at once. This has lead to some ridiculous combinations - for example I'm currently reading Blood Meridian with Pippi Longstocking - clearly not a natural fit!

Kristine wrote: "My new strategy is two fold. Firstly i read whatever arrives in the post - okay so i have a back load - and secondly I am trying to knock over multiple tales at once. This has lead to some ridiculo..."

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

I'm reading one book by every author on the list.

I found that just reading one book on the list by each author doesn't give me a true sense of how I feel about his/her work. When I find a book that really impresses me I try to read other works whether on the list or not. This slows me down on progress getting through the list but at least I feel I understand their work better. Mind you, finding an author that you love who has multiple books on the list (like Coetzee) helps.

I live in a fairly large city with a fairly large library, but I don't plan on living here forever. I made a list of all the books they have, and am reading my way through those. I try to select books that seem rarer.

I'm also planning on reading at least one from every author because I am pulling from all three lists. Any authors I especially enjoy, I seek out their other list books.

At this point in life, I make a list based on subjects and/or authors that I may be drawn to at that particular moment--which obviously sometimes changes over time. I've learned long ago that 'classics' can definitely be disappointments to me in terms of reads, not because they are badly written or useless, but because everyone has different tastes. As such I probably knew from the get-go that I wouldn't really enjoy a given read, but it may have been a school requirement or me trying to challenge myself as well. I think the lists can be real fun to browse through and lead you to other finds as well. But personally, it boils down to an 'educated impulse,' if that's what you can call it?! :)

When I first decided to start reading the list seriously, I used a list randomized to mix up the titles, and have been working through them that way. I don't strictly stick to this, though. When I can, I read the books in the monthly club, and I will also read books that I find at the library and think might be interesting, even if they're on the list. Breaks from the list are completely OK as well, which is what I seem to be doing right now.