1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die: The Complete List
Are you ready to embark on a literary journey of a lifetime? Look no further! Here is the complete list of 1001 books you must read before you die, as compiled by literary critics and experts.
Introduction
The idea of creating a list of books that one must read before dying was first conceived by Peter Boxall, a literature professor at the University of Sussex. The list was first published in 2006 and has since been updated to include new titles. The books on this list are not just limited to fiction, but also include non-fiction, poetry, and drama.
The List
Here is the complete list of 1001 books you must read before you die, categorized by century:
12th Century to 16th Century
- The Song of Roland (12th century)
- The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1320)
- The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (14th century)
- The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio (14th century)
17th Century to 18th Century
- Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1605)
- Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1719)
- Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726)
- Candide by Voltaire (1759)
19th Century
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (1847)
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1861)
- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (1865)
- Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1866)
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1884)
20th Century
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960)
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (1951)
- 1984 by George Orwell (1949)
- The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954-1955)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (1979)
Contemporary Fiction
- The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (1997)
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (2007)
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (2010)
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (2017)
Conclusion
Reading all 1001 books on this list may seem like a daunting task, but it's a journey worth taking. From classical literature to contemporary bestsellers, this list has something for everyone. So, grab a book, get comfortable, and start reading!
