Do you like lists?   I’ve stumbled upon the ultimate book list:  The 1001 books you must read before you die, courtesy of listology.com.   I saw the list and I wondered just how many books I’ve actually read that are on the list, especially considering that with my English degree, I’ve read a fair amount of the classics over the years.  Let’s face it though, 1001 is an awful amount of books; if I read two books a week (and that’s pushing it), then that’s ten years of reading.

So, I figured, if these are MUST reads, then I should probably make an effort to read them, although, to be honest, if there’s one thing my degree taught me, it’s that I’m not a very big fan of the classics.   Nevertheless I’m going to make an effort.   I’ve added a page to the blog with the list and I will link the books to reviews, once I get to reading them.   In the mean time it’s there for you to figure out how many you’ve read.

And just cuz I’m sure you’re curious (humor me), here are the books on the list I’ve read:

72. Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson

93. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden

209. The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul – Douglas Adams

210. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – Douglas Adams

242. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood

258.  Neuromancer – William Gibson

301. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

320. Interview With the Vampire – Anne Rice

427. Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut

456. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

494. The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien

496. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov

527.  Foundation – Isaac Asimov

529. The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger

579. The Outsider – Albert Camus

587. For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway

619. Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell

636. Tropic of Cancer – Henry Miller

649. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

689. The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway

736. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce

780. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

794. Dracula – Bram Stoker

808. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy

833. The Portrait of a Lady – Henry James

896. Moby-Dick – Herman Melville

897. The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne

902. Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë

904. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë

932. Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen

933. Persuasion – Jane Austen

936. Emma – Jane Austen

938. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

966. Émile; or, On Education – Jean-Jacques Rousseau (though, not all)

974.  Fanny Hill – John Cleland

Wow…35.   On one hand that’s good, on the other, that’s pretty bad considering the size of the list.  There were a lot more names that I recognized, and a handful of books that I couldn’t remember if I’d read or not.   All in all, I think it’s something admirable to aspire to, so I’m going to challenge you to do it to.   How many books have you read on the list?