1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

The Book, 1001 Books

A book edited by Peter Boxall, and written by over 100 hundred international critics.

This list was originally published in 2006 and was added to this site about 7 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
1790 The Master Colm Toibin 2004 Irish English
4507 The Book about Blanche and Marie Per Olov Enquist 2004 Swedish Swedish
232 2666 Roberto Bolaño 2004 Chilean Spanish
723 The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst 2004 British English
2487 Measuring the World Daniel Kehlmann 2005 German German
4468 The History of Love Nicole Krauss 2005 American English
2966 The Sea John Banville 2005 Irish English
7811 The Elegance of the Hedgehog Muriel Barbery 2006 French French
9191 Carry Me Down M. J. Hyland 2006 Australian English
5006 Against the Day Thomas Pynchon 2006 American English
2957 The Inheritance of Loss Kiran Desai 2006 Indian English
1158 Half of a Yellow Sun Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2006 Nigerian English
2244 The Gathering Anne Enright 2007 Irish English
396 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz 2007 Dominican English
7811 The Blind Side of the Heart Julia Franck 2007 German German
9191 Kieron Smith, Boy James Kelman 2008 Scottish English
1876 Home Marilynne Robinson 2008 American English
2972 The White Tiger Aravind Adiga 2008 Indian English
9191 Cost Roxana Robinson 2008 American English
5991 The Children's Book A. S. Byatt 2009 British English
9191 American Rust Philipp Meyer 2009 American English
1723 1Q84 Haruki Murakami 2009 Japanese Japanese
7811 Cain José Saramago 2009 Portuguese Portuguese
6459 A Gate at the Stairs Lorrie Moore 2009 American English
2002 Freedom Jonathan Franzen 2010 American English
9191 Nemesis Philip Roth 2010 American English
7811 The Marriage Plot Jeffrey Eugenides 2011 American English
2218 The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes 2011 British English
421 A Visit From The Goon Squad Jennifer Egan 2010 American English
3889 There But For The Ali Smith 2011 British English
5249 The Art of Fielding Chad Harbach 2011 American English
1934 Corelli's Mandolin Louis de Bernières 1994 British English
1593 Good Morning, Midnight Jean Rhys 1939 British English
357 At Swim Two-Birds Flann O'Brien 1939 Irish English
257 Finnegans Wake James Joyce 1939 Irish English
3481 The Trusting And The Maimed James Plunkett 1959 Irish English
2284 Smiley's People John le Carré 1979 British English
1839 The Child Of Pleasure Gabriele D'Annunzio 1889 Italian Italian
1032 In The Heart Of The Seas Shmuel Yosef Agnon 1938 Israeli Hebrew
695 Boys Alive Pier Paolo Pasolini 1955 Italian Italian
5699 Fear And Trembling Amélie Nothomb 1999 Belgian French