1001 Books...

I borrowed a book from the library called 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. I didn't really borrow it to find out what books I really must read, so much as I did to see what books on their list I HAVE read.

I do think they mis-titled this book, though. It really should have been called 1001 Novels You Must Read Before You Die. "Novels" was what they were listing, but their definition of "novel" was a bit obscure; there were short stories, memoirs...no plays or epic poems, though. I was surprised at that. I think that leaves a lot of "books" out that should be considered: Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Tennessee Williams...

They have the book broken down in century time periods, so I thought I would post a little at a time...by time period. I made two lists for this: what I've already read and what's still on my "To Read" list of life. I'll start with the first two time periods today because I really didn't have much in either, and they actually didn't have very long lists in here either, so it will include everything from prior to and including the 18th century:

I've read: Aesop's Fables, Metamorphoses (Ovid), Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes), Gulliver's Travels and A Modest Proposal (both Jonathan Swift).

What I'd still like to read some time: Pilgrim's Progress (John Bunyan) and The Thousand and One Nights (Anonymous).

See, not much for the beginning of time. If I was creating this list, I would have included Shakespeare, Dante, Homer...probably some Arthurian literature like Perceval. But, it isn't my list. So...

Happy Reading!