1001 Books You Must Read

[Suzanne]

I feel like I'm the only one who liked, The Sound and the Fury...

Don't feel lonely, I liked "Sound and Fury" too.

[Genocide]

"Then there's a pair of us! Don't tell! They'd banish us you know!" :]

[bleachededen]

Hey, I didn't say I didn't like it, I just haven't read it. Have hope!

[Genocide]

I was hoping you'd catch my Dickinson. :]

You should read it! Don't let what President Camacho said (along with many others in the world...) turn you off from it.

[ellasaro]

Odd list...no Faust? no Divine Comedy? they should be in the 10 books you must read!

[arukiyomi]

Most people who say "Hmmm, they didn't include X" and cite some literary classic usually haven't looked at the actual 1001 books book itself but judge the work simply from the list online. The 1001 book explains clearly in its introduction that the list is a collection that attempts to trace the history of the novel with each work contributing something important to the development of that genre.

Thus, plays, religious texts, poetry etc, with very few exceptions (Eugene Onegin being a notable one, but the only one I can think of off the top of my head) are not included in the list. Hence, Goethe's Faust and the Divine Comedy do not feature. You may, of course, be critical of this focus on novels and I think there's weight behind the argument that it should be called 1001 Novels... and not just books. But I hope that explanation explains what seem like glaring omissions.

[Chris OConnor]

Yeah, that list is a bit depressing. It's hard to not feel like an illiterate loser when comparing your own list of books to that 1001 list. I think a better list would be the "100 Greatest Books Ever Written" by Easton Press. I'll create a thread for that list to see what you guys have read.

[Znake]

Interesting list indeed, a few of those books have made it onto my blog as well, at www.ratemybooks.com

[Aqueda_Veronica]

Oh my gosh, I've only read 36 so 3.6% :O

[Sal_McCoy]

It is an interesting list, especially how it has changed over the years.

I've read 41 books from the most recent list and am interested in reading only 50 of the remaining books.