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Original poster

Books to read before you die

107 replies

BlackFlyChardonnay · 26/07/2023 13:07

Slightly dramatic and morbid way of phrasing it, but these lists always seem to conclude with a reminder of our own mortality.

Anyway, I'm an avid reader but tend to read a lot of popular genre fiction/whatever Richard & Judy are recommending. I read a lot, but I recently saw one of these lists and realised that I've only read 22 out of these 55 "must read" books - pretty poor? So I have started reading books from the list, Lord of the Flies first and now The Great Gatsby.

Do you think it is important to have read what are considered to be important works of literature? I'd be interested to know why you think yes/no.

I have to say, I read Lolita, Jane Eyre & Catch 22 over a decade ago, and can only remember scant details of each. Even Little Women, which I probably read at least 4 times as a child (and watched 2 movie adaptations) I can only remember the highlights of. This suggests me working my way through the list is more of a tick-box activity than something that will enrich my life or mind, because my memory is so appalling.

How many of these books have you read? (Watching the movie doesn't count 😏)

Any books missing from the list that you think should absolutely be included?

Books to read before you die
OP posts:
gallop17 · 26/07/2023 20:55

And on reflection the ones I have read are nearly all ones I was made to read at schol Grin (I did English lit at A level believe it or not ha)

gallop17 · 26/07/2023 20:55

*school Blush

neonjumper · 26/07/2023 20:59

Kite runner
Buddha of suburbia
Veronica decides to die

Have to say Thousand Splendid Suns is a book that I still think about many years later .

Surprised The Alchemist is not on there .

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Books
NannyGythaOgg · 26/07/2023 21:07

I don't think it is necessary, or even desirable, to read something just because someone says you should - and certainly not to read anything that you are not enjoying.
Having said that I've read all but 4 of those books so suspect they are (mostly) there because they are good writing. I say mostly because I love JKRowling for who she is but from my reading, the HP books are abysmal. Repetitive and ... well, I tried but they didn't engage me at all.

So, read what you enjoy reading. If you don't enjoy reading then don't (but I do think you are missing out).

I do think reading can broaden horizons and can help you understand different lifestyles, cultures and perspectives - well, that, at least, is one of the reasons I enjoy reading.

I do look at books on this kind of list and will often try something/some genre I haven't previously. Sometimes this works and sometimes I think WTF and drop it. (As I get older I won't waste time reading something I am not enjoying)
Do your own thing - and look at these lists to see if there is anything on them that you fancy

Izzy24 · 26/07/2023 21:16

I’ve no idea which, if any, of those books I have read because I haven’t read the list.

The books I should be reading are the ones piled up on my bedroom chair which I was unable to resist when in bookshops/charity shops.

I cannot resist. But apparently I can’t read them either 🙄🤷‍♀️.

Lilacshade · 26/07/2023 21:41

I've read a fair number of those.
I actually quite like a book list just to measure whether there are gaps in my reading.
As to saying books are " problematic ", I think an intelligent adult can see what is a product of it's time. In fact it's actually useful to read historical texts to get that perspective. I read GWTW when I was a teenager in the 70s but only came to Steinbeck more recently when DC were doing it at school.
I don't like children's books being included on these lists, fine for lists of childrens books to be read but not taking up a place on adult's books. Having said that I loved LOTR when I read it aged 18. I expect I'd hate it now.

Q2C4 · 26/07/2023 22:14

@Rogue1001MNer well you can't start on #4. You need to read 1-3 for context.

MMorales · 26/07/2023 22:19

I truly believe if you havent t read any manga then you've missed out completely.

I've read a few on the list and also seen adaptations of most of the others.

I think it's a very western centric list

catsnhats11 · 26/07/2023 22:24

frozendaisy · 26/07/2023 19:32

I think I would rather die than read Gone With the Wind!

Oh I loved GWTW even though I was sure I'd hate it, makes me want to read it again though now sure if I'd enjoy it as much now..

devildeepbluesea · 26/07/2023 22:30

D’you know, I hate reading “worthy” books. Tbh since having DD I struggle to read anything, but I do consumer audiobooks voraciously. I’ve read / listened to very few from that list but I read for pleasure, so I’m probably not the target market for this list. Also agree with PP - if someone says I must read a book, it turns me off.

Give me a Susan Hill or an Elly Griffiths over that lot any day. And yes, I know I’m a philistine.

Rogue1001MNer · 26/07/2023 22:35

Q2C4 · 26/07/2023 22:14

@Rogue1001MNer well you can't start on #4. You need to read 1-3 for context.

My issue was that ONLY book 1 of the HP series was on that list, despite having the LOTR trilogy (which is described as a "boxed set")

Are you perhaps responding to the poster I was commenting to? In which case, wrong @ !

WeAreTheHeroes · 26/07/2023 22:37

Read what you enjoy. Over the years I've tried to read certain books because I thought I should and I've given up. Books I've enjoyed which aren't on the list include Half of a Yellow Sun and Brick Lane.

MMorales · 26/07/2023 22:39

BlackFlyChardonnay · 26/07/2023 20:22

Interesting mix of responses. The poster who said "is that it?!" about Gatsby - that's what I'm feeling so far, but I'm only halfway through so I'll reserve judgement for now.

Re To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men - I can see why you'd say they're problematic, but are absolutely deserving of a place on the list imo. They are both great books (and I can actually remember the plots and characters in detail, so that's good going for me) and are of their time. We shouldn't ignore or censor history, and can read with modern eyes and perspectives.

I'm never going to read Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, or Lord of the Rings, and that is the literary hill I'll happily die on. Put a dragon in a book or tv show, and I dissociate. I don't know why.

I think there are some classics I feel i should have read. I'm definitely going to read 1984 and Grapes of Wrath after Gatsby. I'd pondered Anna Karenina and Frankenstein, but now thinking I'll swerve after hearing they're hard going. Thanks to the poster who suggested Sherlock Holmes. You reminded me I read one of those in my teens and really enjoyed it. Definitely going to read more of those.

This list is one that circulated on twitter. There are other lists of top 100 that tend to be more classics and literary fiction. I guess has a more populist slant.

That weird.

I like Sci-fi and fantasy and have read of the sci-fi fantasy books on that lists.

It's the ones that are set in the real world in find most mundane.

WeAreTheHeroes · 26/07/2023 22:46

I read The Great Gatsby because I thought I should. I enjoyed it, but thought, "Is that it?" and I really don't get its status as a literary classic. Plus, it's slim, like a GCSE revision guide rather than a novel.

lavenderlou · 26/07/2023 22:50

I've read 33 and started at least another 5 that I couldn't get into. I was an avid reader as a child and teen but can barely get my own DC to read anything.

RashOfBees · 26/07/2023 22:51

Ugh, no. These lists (100 places to see before you die! 50 films to watch before you die!) always come across rather greatest hits and therefore bland. To use the album analogy, we all know that it’s good to be exposed to a wide range of music, but when you find an artist you really love, it’s the other tracks on the album and the b-sides that are the real gems.

I also agree that all cred is lost with A Little Life among others. The list appears to be mix of classics that would have appeared on a similar list 50 years ago and recent lightweight hits. It doesn’t really inspire.

crossedwood · 26/07/2023 22:51

I've read 75% of the books on that list and enjoyed maybe 5 of them. Catch 22 I could read over and over

Canidoitreally · 26/07/2023 22:54

Read 26 of them. I started working my way through a list like this a few decades ago, and after ploughing my way through The Catcher in the Rye (loathed it), The Grapes of Wrath (soooo depressing), and Les Miserables (needed editing to half the length) decided to abandon it.

Otoh, it did give me A Prayer for Owen Meany and Anna Karenina, both of which I loved.

Literature preferences are too personal for lists like this.

0021andabit · 26/07/2023 22:55

I have read almost all of those books but it’s quite a random list… Some they might be guessing will become modern classics…? Read the books you enjoy not the ones you feel you should.

Canthave2manycats · 26/07/2023 23:00

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 26/07/2023 19:42

Eng Lit graduate and I've read 15. No Trollope, no Eliot, no Woolf, no 18c literature (is Austen on there?) nothing pre 18c like Chaucer, and no poetry or drama.

Same here. I've read about 20 of them.

However, a lot of the classics are missing? There's one Jane Austen. What about D H Lawrence, Thomas Hardy, Virginia Woolf, George Eliot??? No 'The Day of the Triffids' or 'The Age of Innocence ' (first woman to win the Pulitzer prize)? Iris Murdoch (unless I missed something)?

Plus they're a majority of US/English writers. What about Sarte, Camus, Hugo, Cervantes?

How you can have a list of 'must reads' that doesn't include Shakespeare, Chaucer, T S Eliot, Homer, Virgil or any of the war poets etc etc.?

It's a pretty rubbish list.

Original poster
BlackFlyChardonnay · 26/07/2023 23:02

Canidoitreally · 26/07/2023 22:54

Read 26 of them. I started working my way through a list like this a few decades ago, and after ploughing my way through The Catcher in the Rye (loathed it), The Grapes of Wrath (soooo depressing), and Les Miserables (needed editing to half the length) decided to abandon it.

Otoh, it did give me A Prayer for Owen Meany and Anna Karenina, both of which I loved.

Literature preferences are too personal for lists like this.

Ooh I genuinely love Catcher in the Rye. I feel maternal towards Holden Caulfield.

Agree about les miserables needing a heavy edit. I read it because I love the musical. You know the Bishop in the musical has like half a song and is gone? I knew I was in for a long slog when his bit in the book was a 100 odd pages.

OP posts:
User3826 · 26/07/2023 23:03

I choose what to read based on if I like the title and the blurb seems reasonably ok so I probably wouldn't take my recommendation for books. I don't enjoy many of the so called classics either

babybythesea · 26/07/2023 23:05

I’ve read 33 of those.
I love Rebecca and Jane Eyre and I listen to them a lot on Audible, as well as re-reading. Love Jane Austen, and The Hobbit and LotR. And Harry Potter. And Anna Karenina and Sherlock Holmes and Dickens.
I quite enjoyed several others on the list, like Life of Pi, Animal Farm and Never Let Me Go.

But I cannot stand Lord of the Flies. Had to do it at school and loathed it with a passion. Thought maybe I’d been unfair because I was made to start it so tried again in my 40s. Still no. Not interested in even trying GoT. And I’m not really fussed about Clockwork Orange.
Some of the others I’d try. Water ship Down is on the list to read, and so is Wonder. And Flowers for Algernon.

I do like looking at lists like that but I use it to either remind myself of books I haven’t got round to or for new ideas. I don’t decide I must read them all.

Original poster
BlackFlyChardonnay · 26/07/2023 23:06

@MMorales yes, it is weird. I know those are very popular, I just don't get it. I love horror and can suspend my disbelief enough to read some supernatural things (Stephen King is my favourite author), but fantasy is just a real turn off for me.

OP posts:
Canidoitreally · 26/07/2023 23:06

BlackFlyChardonnay · 26/07/2023 23:02

Ooh I genuinely love Catcher in the Rye. I feel maternal towards Holden Caulfield.

Agree about les miserables needing a heavy edit. I read it because I love the musical. You know the Bishop in the musical has like half a song and is gone? I knew I was in for a long slog when his bit in the book was a 100 odd pages.

Show quote history

Lol, it was the 50 chapters on the Battle of Waterloo that killed it for me! Just why?!?!!!

This is what I mean by it being so personal. I thought Holden was a selfish prick and didn't care about him at all. But then, a pp hated Anna Karenina but I loved it!