Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion

Can I get some input on what you all do when you come across an author with multiple books. 1001 books is a lot of books to read. I've read and listened to quite a few but I just can't see reading or listening to 5 books by Anthony Trollope, for example. I haven't looked at a recent list but this is just my current example. I have read every Dickens book so it is not that I don't enjoy reading multiple books by one author. There are other authors who I like very much who I will probably read more than one but I think I will just listen to Barchester Towers and call it done.

The answer is dependent on which list you're using. I've elected to use the Complete Edition and don't mind reading multiple books by the same author. You mentioned Trollope and I haven't read Barchester Towers as of yet, but I've read the first three books in the series and he's a very good writer.

Of course a lot of this is a matter of personal tastes. I have a deep penchant for British literature and enjoy pastoral settings and plots centered around upper class social customs. Needless to say authors like Austen, Eliot, and Trollope have been right up my alley. And I adore Dickens. Sometimes stepping outside of your comfort zone introduces you to something new and in other instances it draws a line in the sand that you didn't notice before the jaunt. In any case have fun! :-)

Thank you for your response. I believe Barchester Towers is the 2nd in that trilogy. I could be wrong. I'm not a fan of that genre, generally speaking, but I am always up for trying something new. It is a good idea to make it a point to step outside one's comfort zone from time to time :)

I try and space out authors, so far I've liked everything I've read by Virginia Woolf or Margaret Atwood for example, but I don't keep reading them one right after another. Likewise, I'm not a fan of Joyce Carol Oates, so I split up her books, too. (Coincidentally I just picked up Them, but she's on a short leash!)

You may be surprised at some point. I read Broken April by Ismail Kadare and thought it was one of the worst books I've ever read. I gave him another chance with Spring Flowers, Spring Frost, and I loved it.

I actually gave Them 4 stars. I love Virginia Woolf and Margaret Atwood. Haven't read anything by Ismail Kadare.

Dianna wrote: "Thank you for your response. I believe Barchester Towers is the 2nd in that trilogy. I could be wrong. I'm not a fan of that genre, generally speaking, but I am always up for trying something new. ..."

No you're not wrong, Barchester Towers is the second book in that series. The actual 1001 inclusion is the last book The Last Chronicle of Barset but it can easily be read as a stand alone.

Dianna wrote: "Thank you for your response. I believe Barchester Towers is the 2nd in that trilogy. I could be wrong. I'm not a fan of that genre, generally speaking, but I am always up for trying something new. ..."

My pleasure. It's okay not to like something. I did not enjoy Notes from Underground. It was just too negative and I've never been one to glorify gloom. And while I have enjoyed several of the modern titles I've read from the list, I have a decided bias towards things of old.

Who are your favorites thus far?

I just listened to Cloud Atlas on CD and it was really good. I also watched the movie, which I also enjoyed. It's hard to say what are my favorites because there are so many different styles and time periods represented.

I have no issues reading multiple books by the same author. I don't think I'd want to read them back - to - back, but spread out is fine. I've read almost 200 from the combined lists and I've only duplicated a few authors. I'm actually currently reading my 5th Ian McEwan list book, but I have really enjoyed all of them so far.

If I like an author I tend to binge-read all of their books that I can get my hands on within a few months. So I finished all of the Graham Greene and Muriel Spark books on the Boxall combined list mostly in the same year. I absolutely hated the first 2 Hollinghurst books I read from the list, though, so I am letting the 3rd of his books on the list languish till I either find it free somewhere or till I really start running out of books on the list I haven't read yet. Most of the classics' authors that have lots of titles on the list find their way to my reading queue a few at a time. I'll eventually read all of them on the Boxall list (and the Guardian's 1000 list) as well as most of the other novels by authors on the list that I happen across.

Sometimes I spread them out and sometimes I read them back to back. For November's group read of Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett my library only had a volume that was a compilation of 5 of his books. I checked it out with the original plan to only read Red Harvest but I enjoyed it and it was a quick read AND I had others from the list just sitting there in my hand so I binge read all of his on the list.

I read somewhere in the group, I can’t find it now, that there is a core list. I assume these are titles that have made all the cuts? Assuming that is correct, I only found three authors that have made the core list with 5 titles intact: graham Greene, JM Coetz and Emile Zola. Thinking they must be pretty important. Any thoughts?

Linda wrote: "I read somewhere in the group, I can’t find it now, that there is a core list. I assume these are titles that have made all the cuts? Assuming that is correct, I only found three authors that have ..."

I think, Linda, that any author who has even a single text appears quite significant; more than one, increasingly so. To have that many seems very significant to me :)

Linda wrote: "I read somewhere in the group, I can’t find it now, that there is a core list. I assume these are titles that have made all the cuts? Assuming that is correct, I only found three authors that have ..."

Regarding the core list -- you can find it on the Spreadsheet
You need to scroll over to column J to find which books are on the core list.

Graham Greene is one of my favorites. I've read all of his books on the list and really enjoyed them.

J. M. Coetzee is an acquired taste, but his books are short and very readable. I started reading them in chronological order and have 3 left to go. Personally, I enjoyed his autobiographical novel, Youth, the most. It helped me understand Coetzee a little better.

Emile Zola was a rather prolific writer. I have only read Therese Raquin, a stand-a-lone novel. The other 4 books on the list are part of the "Les Rougon-Macquart Series" -- Zola's 20 volume account of the Second French Empire. I plan to read the whole series, so I have not started them yet. The books on the list are 13, 15, 16, and 17 of Zola's recommended order for reading the books which is found in the last volume. However, I understand that the novels can be read alone.

I've been pretty hit or miss with Zola--I've read four of them, mostly from the list, and I've enjoyed them so I know you can read them as standalones, but I always have this feeling that I'm missing some of the continuity. The main character in one book might be the son or daughter of the main character from another, and even though their story is completely separate, I still feel the need to place them in the larger context.

Germinal tends to be the one I see of his that hits most of the lists, but I felt that L'Assommoir was the most well rounded of all his books I've read yet. Zola is going to present a bleak world--especially when he's portraying the Macquart side of the family, so you have to be prepared for a bit of a downer. But in some of his books, I felt like he was really piling it on. L'Assommoir (also known as The Drunken Den or The Drunkard) seemed like realism without stretching the bounds of believability to me.

I'm also not usually a big fan of description, but Zola's description of the slums of Paris at this time was fascinating--almost like another character.

Which list author or authors have you read the greatest number of list books? (sorry, can't figure out how to ask that with correct grammar).
Some of the comments suggest this. For me it's Charles Dickens- have read seven of his (3 to go), then Margaret Atwood, Graham Greene and Ernest Hemingway with five each. Hemingway was my big favorite when I was younger.
For five authors- Dostoevsky, Hardy, Vonnegut, Welles, Woolf- I've read four list books.
I've read 300 different list authors now, and am trying to focus now on reading more authors whom I haven't read before and am keeping a spreadsheet for this; for example I'm reading a Tabucchi and a Perec now, both new authors for me. By the way, I counted 767 different list authors in all editions as of the 2018 edition.

I've read all of Welles on the list and then some. What's nice and easy about his works is that you can usually find a collection that contains all of his works on the 1001 list plus a few others that are fun reads but not listed here. The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, The First Men in the Moon, and The Food of the Gods can easily be found together. Sometimes those 6 are joined by 1 more called In the Days of the Comet. All of those are worth a read because they all contain interesting ideas and situations.