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Original poster

100 books to read before you die. What's your score?

399 replies

CeceIsMyFave · 03/01/2019 22:50

I got a nice round 50 and I'm slightly freaked out- if I don't read the other 50 can I still alive longer?!

www.listchallenges.com/bbcs-top-100-books-you-need-to-read-before-you-die

I did cheat slightly and tick both the Bible and Shakespeare.... I've read the greatest hits, as it were.

OP posts:
User260486 · 04/01/2019 07:34

58, not including the Bible and Shakespeare as read only parts of it. Most of the classics were mandatory reading in school. The score a bit low because I did not read most of the children books on the list (Blyton, etc) and have no plans to catch up on them.

Santasshoe · 04/01/2019 07:41

7 and 3 of them I was made to read at school.

Bicnod · 04/01/2019 07:43

49 - one of my New Year's resolutions is to read Matilda's book list in 2019 so that should get me a few more...

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Redgreencoverplant · 04/01/2019 07:48

50 and I'm 30 so I should manage the rest :)

bookworm14 · 04/01/2019 07:49
  1. Living up to my username I suppose. I’m not convinced anyone needs to read The Da Vinci Code before they die, though!
fatpatsthong · 04/01/2019 07:50
  1. My hatred of Dickens and Hardy didn't help and I wasn't great with some of the more contemporary ones.

Also memoirs of a geisha? I've read it but wouldn't put it on my list in comparison with some others which are missing

VashtaNerada · 04/01/2019 07:54

I’ve read 90! Quite surprised by that actually (although I counted the Bible and Shakespeare as I’ve read a fair bit of both but not every page). Now to read the last ten...

HowlsMovingBungalow · 04/01/2019 07:56
  1. I don't like reading classics - I find them mostly, dull and waffly.

List is a bit stuffy for me and most of those read as a teen, or child ( Hobbit, Blyton, Watership Down ).

Interesting to read others experience of these books.

SquatBetty · 04/01/2019 08:02

I've read 67 but think there's a couple more of the children's books I probably have read and have completely forgotten about.

I also started Moby Dick and Ulysses but found them too hard going and watched the films instead.

In fact, has anyone actually grasped and enjoyed Ulysses?! I could not get my head around it at all

TeacupDrama · 04/01/2019 08:03

39 though have started a few more some , I wouldn't consider reading some of these. l have read the vast majority of the Bible and about 10 Shakespeare but to be honest I prefer non fiction would rather read history travel or art books just finished Levinson Wood about the silk road

YoureAllABunchOfBastards · 04/01/2019 08:08

Weird that some - HP, Shakespeare, Dark Materials - only count as one but Jane Austen gets separate entries

theredjellybean · 04/01/2019 08:15

53..i have read war and peace and ullysys.
I failed on quite a few "modern classics" never read capt corelli for example

ErrolTheDragon · 04/01/2019 08:27

Weird that some - HP, Shakespeare, Dark Materials - only count as one but Jane Austen gets separate entries

HP and DM are series, the Austens are discrete works, I think that makes sense.
Shakespeare, arguably, is misplaced in this list- it's playscripts, written to be watched not read.

InAPreviousLife · 04/01/2019 08:30

Only 19...but the complete works of Shakespeare shouldn't count as just one book! And frankly once you've read one Austen you know whether you can stomach another.

I'm happy to fail this particular reading challenge.

strawberrypenguin · 04/01/2019 08:36
  1. I cheated on a couple that I'd started but couldn't get through - LOTR and War and Peace.

To be honest there aren't many on there I haven't read that I want to read so I probably won't get many more. I don't get in with Austen and she has a few titles in there too.

There's so much I do actually want to read I don't want to start adding in books that don't really appeal as well.

Cedar03 · 04/01/2019 08:37

56 - not including the Bible or Shakespeare or Harry Potter (as I've only read half) or the Chronicles of Narnia (again, only half). Or books I've read a bit of but not finished.
Definitely odd that some are counted as series but others only one book. Harry Potter is a series but Swallows and Amazons is only one book.
Some I might get round to reading but I've no intention of wading my way through Crime and Punishment.

OneKeyAtATime · 04/01/2019 08:41

61 but some of the books are definitely not books worth reading before you die....

onemouseplace · 04/01/2019 08:43

76, but I would say I read at least 50 of those before I was 20 (including most of the classics on there).

fanomoninon · 04/01/2019 08:49

74 but was strict - so didn't count the Bible or Shakespeare as I haven't read all fully, and didn't count a few I've started but not finished... I can see a few are chosen for cultural impact rather than literary merit, but Dan Brown has no place for either reason!

SamSpade · 04/01/2019 08:49

83 but I do have a degree in English. I'm going to add the other 17 to my kindle list and work my way through them. Don't agree with Bridget Jones or Da Vinci code being on the list, like PP.

8FencingWire · 04/01/2019 08:51
  1. Bleak House was the main part of my Baccalaureate in English exam. I shuddered when I saw it on the list. Dickens, Shakespeare and Chaucer are a pain to read in English at the best of times. I got all three, but the main paper was on Bleak House.
OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow · 04/01/2019 08:52

60, which I'll take. No life is long enough to read Da Vinci code though. It'd be top in my "books I have thrown across the room because they are shite"
But the main thing? I beat my dh. (Though he did spend a year reading a book of the bible and some Shakespeare and Proust because he's a show off ever day before bed and getting up.)

JacquesHammer · 04/01/2019 08:53
  1. Probably should try the other 5 this year!
Sarahjconnor · 04/01/2019 08:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DisgraceToTheYChromosome · 04/01/2019 08:55
  1. I was pleased to see Possession on there, but enraged not to see any Discworld. Pratchett is as good a satirist as Dickens, and considerably better at character. Some of the list was "nah, life's too short".
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