Quick Review: 1001 Books to Read Before you Die

I bought this one second hand earlier this year and read it progressively up to yesterday.  It's a great idea, especially for someone who will not live long enough to read all these books: stretching from 1000+years ago to 2006 (there are multiple editions of this volume I think), listing the must-reads, with a brief summary and lots of illustrations.

Having said that, it could also be called "1001 Books to Make you Miserable."  The small flaw in the book is that the reviews seem to be written by literary critics, 90% of whom are allergic to happiness and, in some cases, to an actual story.  I don't want to overdo this, because it has been a fascinating read.  But I get the impression that for many of these critics there is a set of criteria that a book should contain in order to be worthy.

You get a hint of this when they are covering books up to 1900: every so often you realise they are waiting for Ulysses and 20th century literature to start, and much of what went before is just hanging around til it happens.  Older books are more likely to be approved if they contain elements that come to fruition in the last 100years.  Key words are: psychologising, sexual, bourgeoisie, conflict.  Psycho-sexual bourgeoisie conflict is a definite winner.

Reaching Hardy, James and eventually Joyce, one feels we have obtained the promised land.  From thence on it would appear that the main purpose of literature is to challenge taboos and overturn the conventions of the linear narrative (ie frequent swearing, sexual content and violence + can't tell a story in a straight line = not many happy endings.)

Another double-edged sword is this volume's evolution from previous editions so as to include more non-Western books.  This opens up the horizons and made me realise just how many nations are publishing works which we generally never hear of.  The slight downside is that because they have been chosen by similar critics they are frequently taboo-breaking, non-linear blah-de-blah.  So one is provided with a global picture but left with the impression that basically everyone in every culture is, ironically, part of a mono-cultural approach to literature.

That's probably too bleak an appraisal, but needs to be borne in mind.  The great value of the book is the way it gives brief outlines of many books which one would not necessarily ever have considered or even heard of.  My Amazon list has definitely grown.