1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List

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

About this list

1,000 Books to Read Before You Die(Book), 969 Books

A list written by James Mustich, a bookseller, editor, and writer. Here's the publisher's description:

Celebrate the pleasure of reading and the thrill of discovering new titles in an extraordinary book that’s as compulsively readable, entertaining, surprising, and enlightening as the 1,000-plus titles it recommends.

Covering fiction, poetry, science and science fiction, memoir, travel writing, biography, children’s books, history, and more, 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die ranges across cultures and through time to offer an eclectic collection of works that each deserve to come with the recommendation, You have to read this. But it’s not a proscriptive list of the “great works”—rather, it’s a celebration of the glorious mosaic that is our literary heritage.

This list was originally published in 2018 and was added to this site about 2 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
17130 The Feast Of Love Charles Baxter 2000 American English
9582 American Prometheus Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin 2005 American English
5773 The Road from Coorain Jill Ker Conway 1989 Australian English
17130 Great Books David Denby 1996 American English
14232 The Sweet Hereafter Russell Banks 1991 American English
962 The Diary of a Country Priest Georges Bernanos 1936 French French
12939 Slaves In The Family Edward Ball 1998 American English
2249 The Physiology Of Taste Or Meditations On Transcendental Gastronomy Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin 1825 French French
128 The Stories of Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov 1900 Russian Russian
2523 The Passage Of Power Robert Caro 2012 American English
1782 The Wild Ass's Skin Honoré de Balzac 1831 French French
15903 Cronopios And Famas Julio Cortazar 1962 Cuban Spanish
2714 The Narrow Road to the Deep North Matsuo Bashō 1684 Japanese Japanese
17130 The Piano Shop On The Left Bank Thad Carhart 2000 American English
17130 Son Of The Morning Star Evan S. Connell 1984 American English
46 One Thousand and One Nights Unknown 800 Multiple Arabic
17130 How Buildings Learn Stewart Brand 1994 American English
14897 The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution Bernard Bailyn 1967 American English
17130 Pillar Of Fire Taylor Branch 1998 American English
3219 The Long Loneliness Dorothy Day 1952 American English
17130 The Faber Book Of Reportage John Carey 1987 British English
1165 The Horse's Mouth Joyce Cary 1944 British English
3311 Growing Up Russell Baker 1982 American English
8025 The Dew Breaker Edwidge Danticat 2004 American English
151 Molloy Samuel Beckett 1951 Irish French
1402 The Seagull Anton Chekhov 1896 Russian Russian
15903 The Decline And Fall Of Practically Everybody Will Cuppy 1950 American English
572 Three Sisters Anton Chekhov 1901 Russian Russian
371 History of My Life Giacomo Casanova 1822 Italian French
2674 Microbe Hunters Paul de Kruif 1926 American English
17130 Vacuum Diagrams Stephen Baxter 1997 British English
8523 The Outermost House Henry Beston 1928 American English
1035 Uncle Vanya Anton Chekhov 1897 Russian Russian
17130 At Canaan's Edge Taylor Branch 2006 American English
6407 In Xanadu William Dalrymple 1989 British English
16536 Akenfield Ronald Blythe 1969 American English
1624 The Mediterranean And The Mediterranean World In The Age Of Philip Ii Fernand Braudel 1949 French French
13543 Spartina John Casey 1989 American English
14984 Carrying the Fire Michael Collins 1974 American English
1871 Brief Lives John Aubrey 1898 British English
2501 Rebellion In The Backlands Euclides da Cunha 1902 Brazilian Portuguese
15903 Memoirs Of A Medieval Woman Louise Collis 1964 British English
2443 The Ascent Of Rum Doodle W. E. Bowman 1956 British English
5469 The Birthday Boys Beryl Bainbridge 1991 British English
17130 The Geography Of The Imagination Guy Davenport 1981 American English
14947 The Coming Of Age Simone de Beauvoir 1970 French French
6241 The Chaneysville Incident David Bradley 1981 American English
3547 Samuel Johnson Walter Jackson Bate 1977 American English
15903 Talleyrand Duff Cooper 1932 British English
3301 Baburnama Zahir Uddin Muhammad Babur 1530 Baburnama Chagatai turkish
15903 The Memoirs Of Hector Berlioz Hector Berlioz 1870 French French
15903 The Hills Is Lonely Lillian Beckwith 1959 British English
15903 The Wilder Shores Of Love Lesley Blanch 1954 British English
14984 Love, Loss, And What I Wore Ilene Beckerman 1995 American English
15903 A Fortunate Man John Berger 1967 American English
17130 The Fringes Of Power John Colville 1985 British English
15903 Slightly Out Of Focus Robert Capa 1947 American English
14879 No Picnic on Mount Kenya Felice Benuzzi 1947 Italian Italian
15903 Clementine In The Kitchen Samuel Chamberlain 1943 American English
4852 Melbourne David Cecil 1939 British English
11545 Enemies of Promise Cyril Connolly 1938 British English
15903 The Works Of Sir Thomas Browne Sir Thomas Browne 1686 British English
5759 Earthly Paradise Colette 1966 French French
14787 Instead Of A Letter Diana Athill 1963 British English
15903 Old Herbaceous Reginald Arkell 1950 British English
17130 Company Samuel Beckett 1979 Irish English
15903 The Journal Of A Disappointed Man W. N. P. Barbellion 1919 British English
15903 Study Is Hard Work William H. Armstrong 1956 American English
17130 The Emperor's Last Island Julia Blackburn 1991 British English
6451 Rome And A Villa Eleanor Clark 1952 American English
15903 A Personal Record Joseph Conrad 1912 American English
15903 Memoirs Of Lorenzo Da Ponte Lorenzo Da Ponte 1823 Italian Italian
2852 A Bullet In The Ballet Caryl Brahms &S. J. Simon 1937 British English
2751 The Worm Forgives The Plough John Stewart Collis 1947 British English
17130 Dawn of Art Jean-Marie Chauvet 1995 French French
17130 The Auberge Of The Flowering Hearth Roy Andries De Groot 1973 American English
17130 Memories Of The Great And The Good Alistair Cooke 1999 British English
7608 The Complete War Memoirs Of Charles De Gaulle Charles De Gaulle 1954 French French
17130 Conversations With Glenn Gould Jonathan Cott 1983 Canadian English
4291 Conversations With Igor Stravinsky Robert Craft 1959 American English
14984 Laughing In The Hills Bill Barich 1980 American English
12200 Memorial Ferdinando Camon 1983 Italian Italian
7807 Products Of The Perfected Civilization Sébastien-Roch Nicolas de Chamfort 1969 French French
16536 Torregreca Ann Cornelisen 1969 Torregreca English
17130 A Classical Education Richard Cobb 2009 American English
17130 Independent Spirit Hubert Butler 1990 Irish English
15903 Navigator Of The Flood Mario Brelich 1967 Italian Italian
17130 Giants And Heroes Dianne Tittle De Laet 1995 Belgian Unknown
119 The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
342 Notes from the Underground Fyodor Dostoevsky 1864 Russian Russian
14232 Founding Brothers Joseph Ellis 2000 American English
1625 The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch Philip K. Dick 1965 American English
654 The Praise of Folly Erasmus 1511 Dutch Latin
3014 The Game Of Kings Dorothy Dunnett 1961 British English
2138 The Worm Ouroboros E. R. Eddison 1922 British English
226 The Alexandria Quartet Lawrence Durrell 1957 British English
5862 Winter's Tales Isak Dinesen 1942 Danish Danish
185 U.S.A. Trilogy John Dos Passos 1930 American English
17130 This House Of Sky Ivan Doig 1978 American English
851 Essays, First And Second Series Ralph Waldo Emerson 1841 American English
7940 The Book Of Ebenezer Le Page G. B. Edwards 1981 British English
2160 The Immense Journey Loren Eiseley 1957 American English
17130 The Adventures Of Ibn Battuta Ross E. Dunn 1986 American English
17130 Bound To Please Michael Dirda 2005 American English
17130 Darwin Among The Machines George B. Dyson 1997 American English
17130 The World As I Found It Bruce Duffy 1987 American English
17130 Bright Air, Brilliant Fire Gerald M. Edelman 1992 American English
4074 Travels With Lizbeth Lars Eighner 1993 American English
15903 Bequest Of Wings Annis Duff 1940 American English
409 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2012 American Italian
307 Medea Euripides -431 Greek Ancient greek
1811 A Time Of Gifts Patrick Leigh Fermor 1977 British English
3106 Alcestis Euripides -438 Greek Ancient greek
943 The Bacchae Euripides -405 Greek Ancient greek
2199 Trojan Women Euripides -415 Greek Ancient greek
14787 The Chemical History Of A Candle Michael Faraday 1861 British English
709 The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan 1963 American English
830 The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Edward Gibbon 1776 British English
1484 Independence Day Richard Ford 1995 American English
14787 A Dictionary Of Modern English Usage H. W. Fowler 1926 British English