Okay, I did not need this. My book stack is giraffe high! But, what a fabulous resource. Thank you.

An amazing resource for any avid, or burgeoning, reader to add to their collection. I especially enjoyed the referencing of like titles offered at the end of each book’s description.

This is a great resource to have on your shelf as a reference/a way to pump up your TBR List!

This is a useful list, but as all such lists it’s subjective. It will be particularly useful as a starting point for people who want to get serious about their reading as well as to voracious readers eager to fill in gaps in their reading knowledge.

If there is anything better than a book, it's a book about books. The joy of reading is suffused with the anticipation of reading the amazing titles put before you. Wishlists and bookshelves fill along with our literary hearts.

There are similarly titled books-on-books out there, sure, but I'm really liking this one. Let me list the reasons why:

- Other tomes list what you *should* read, like literary brain veggies. Mustich takes a different tack: if he had a bookstore that held exactly 1,000 books these would be the ones he includes. There's something for every reading mood - books to ponder over, books to gulp down whole, books for children, books for when you need an escape, and more.

- Most people will likely dip in and out as the mood strikes but, me being me, I blew through the entire thing front to back. It holds up! The books are in alpha order by author, perfect for brushing up against a writer you've never heard of.

- Unlike many of these lists about half of the selections are non-fiction of the well-wearing sort - memoirs, travelogues, nature writing, history, food writing, etc. A large part of the TBR I assembled is nonfiction, to my pleasant surprise.

- Each entry has a bevy of info attached - bibliographic details, related works, recommended editions and translations, adaptations, and more. And if you've already read a book there's several more by different authors to try.

- As a result the one thousand main entries are the tip of the iceberg - six thousand more books are referenced throughout. The index, it is epic.

- While some picks are obvious, some are not. Mustich will name check an author's most famous work while highlighting another that he feels is underappreciated or a better entry point into their oeuvre.

- Instead of espousing why the content of a book is important, we're told why it's a good read. A touching memoir, thrilling mystery, a book that will stay with you for the rest of your life - hearing the why makes the selections even more alluring for me.

All of that being said, as you'd expect with any arbitrary selection of books, I have some quibbles.

- The author is a well-meaning white guy and the list reflects that in many ways. First, he obviously made an effort to include women and people of color, as well as dip into world literature, which is much appreciated. And I want to say up front - it's hard to hold one thousand books in your head and I may be missing a few. However.

- By my estimate women only make up 20-25% of the authors listed in the thousand. Out of the 45 authors with more than one book I only see six women, or 13%. Better than the "expected" 8% mentioned in How to Suppress Women's Writing but still well short of half. Boo.

- Looking at the books written by people of color, most by Western authors are squarely centered on the POC experience (James Baldwin's Collected Essays, Alice Walker's The Color Purple, Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me, etc.). These are all great and worthy books, but it perpetuates the myth that non-white people are only qualified to write about themselves. I would have liked to see a larger range, maybe by throwing in fantasy like The Broken Earth series by N.K. Jemisin or a book by Octavia Butler. (No, Butler is not on this list. There are two Butlers but not her. I know.)

- In the same vein, LGBTQIA+ folks don't get their full due. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel is here, huzzah, but that's about it. Other than classic authors whose Queerness gets a passing mention (Virginia Woolf, Oscar Wilde, etc.) I have a hard time remembering another book related to the gay experience. With all the nonfiction how about And the Band Played On, about the AIDS epidemic, or Columbine, by a gay author? Again, I may be missing a couple, but even then it's slim pickings.

- There are so. many. books. about. war. The history of war, soldier memoirs, the politics and tactics of war... ugh.

- Many of the travel books about a white dude traveling to a place populated by black or brown people. I just... no thank you.

- While some genres are lovingly included (sci-fi, mysteries, thrillers), others are largely ignored. There is precious little fantasy (and most is sword and sorcery at that), and there's only one romance. Huzzah for Georgette Heyer but considering the attempt at inclusiveness it made me sad.

Laid out like that my criticisms may look harsh but overall I really liked 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die. I'm planning on getting a hard copy and marking it up (in pencil!) with notes about the books I've read. There are also illustrations and pictures on almost every page, making the already impressive volume an attractive gift.

Curating a selection like this is an incredibly hard task and Mustich does better than many. Perfect for readers who love books about books.

I am not usually someone who would normally choose a book with a title such as ‘1,000 Books to Read Before You Die’. I have seen many different iterations of books along the same lines and have been disappointed.

But not this time.

This book is phenomenal. The author has clearly thought about absolutely everything they could possibly consider including and then presented it in a truly accessible format.

There is a wide breadth of genres included and this book does not suffer from ‘book snobbery’. It includes classics, contemporary fiction, children’s fiction, and many more.

The descriptions of the books struck me as being carefully considered and are in plain, simple language. The end of each description also includes the following information:

What (Genre), When, Award, Also by, Further reading, Try, and Adaptation.

This allows the reader to explore other books in the same area or watch an adaptation. The inclusion of adaptations made me incredibly happy as although there are some terrible adaptations out there, there are also some fantastic ones. (I’ll forgive the author for neglecting to mention that Alan Rickman featured in Ang Lee’s adaptation of Sense and Sensibility…).

In the acknowledgments, the author mentions that this book is a culmination of fourteen years’ of work and it shows.

I could go on about this book all day but I’ll stop here. But one thing I will say is that I never buy physical copies of books I review on NetGalley - however, this is my exception. I have a copy on pre-order and I cannot wait to receive it.

An easy and solid five stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Workman Publishing for providing a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! What a great resource! My TBR has grown twofold! I love the way the book is organized. Discussing books as well as authors and the specialty lists in the back of the book are very useful. I just wish I could print the checklist off so I had it in my purse all the time. This will be one my book loving friends will debate and reference for years to come.

A great collection of books to read before you die. Naturally, when it comes to such a selection, we shall all have our preferences, but I think this book has managed to include works to please everyone to a certain extent: there are classics, there are books you always meant to read but haven't got to do so yet, and there are titles you've never heard of.

You might not read all the 1000 books mentioned but you can certainly find a lot to put on your TBR list!

I'm really glad that I read in a digital format, though, as due to the length, a physical copy could be really heavy and thus tiring to hold.

1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List by James Mustich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

1,000 Books to Kill You.

I don't know if this list is quite as life-changing as it purports, but I will grant it this: It is very eclectic and a wide-reaching list of true classics interspersed with the best of the best B-List books you've probably never heard of or you might have heard in passing before they slipped beneath the waves of all the other books on the high seas.

That being said, this book is a beautiful doorstopper. Enormous, picturesque, fully annotated and researched, and each book is picked with love.

Do I have any issues with this tome? Perhaps. There is a pretty obvious bias to it that may not be fully realized because of the preponderance of outright classics herewithin.

The unknowns are generally packed to the gills with 30's to 50's popular books.

It wasn't obvious to me until fairly late into my reading, from first to last page, alphabetical by author, because the old classics were heavily represented and the new modern classics are also there like quota victims. You know, like the random science text, a book or ten on travelogues, or ones that kind of surprised me like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Quicksilver, and Underground Railroad. Others are a gimmie like Hitchhiker's Guide and Harry Potter... even Among Us!

But for the most part, the heaviest weight of the books belong to the beginning of the Baby Boomers. The kinds of books that might have been on the shelves of that generation's parents. Growing dusty and perhaps picked up right at the time that those children hit their 20's.

I'm not saying this is wrong or that this list of a thousand books to read before you die ought not to be targeted to this aging population. Indeed, that sounds about right. They might pick this up and be proud of themselves as they go, "Hey! I read that!"

I know I did. I've probably read around a 1/3 of these books, myself. I also made a huge list of books I want to read, too, sinking my To Read shelf to new and unplumbed depths.

Alas.

Still, I'm quite happy to have read this. Even with the reservations. And not all books tickled my fancy... by a long shot... but it was very fun to browse.

I just ask one thing... Did SF just peek it's head out during the 30's and 50's and then just GO AWAY or something? So silly. There are only a FEW SF books in here. Definitely a major failing.

This is a must-read for every bookworm, written by an acclaimed bookseller and avid reader who suggests a vast number of books, covering a wide variety of genres. The categorization of the titles is simple as it follows the alphabetical order and proves that Mustich's aspiration was not to introduce just one more book list but to give the reader an initiation in order to explore further his own reading interests and preferences. This is not a book that you can read in one sitting but rather acts as a helpful companion volume for all those who are ''obsessed'' with quality reading.

I liked the recommendations that were made, It was an easy, and nice book to read. I had read a few of the suggestions that were made and completly agreed with the presence of these books to read in these pages

This is an excellent resource and unmissable for any real bibliophile! I already have a ridiculous amount of books on my to-be-read list (both on Goodreads and on the bookshelves in my bedroom) but I am always looking for more. There are a lot of interesting titles featured here.

I very much appreciated the way it was set out too. There are books from across the genres and era's meaning it will appeal to a multitude of people. Each title has information about the plot and the author and are arranged alphabetically which is appealing.

I have no doubt that I will refer back to this time and time again. Recommended.

Many thanks to Workman Publishing Company for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

I am going through this slowly and getting sidetracked with some of the suggestions.... I like to keep books like this around when I am on the hunt for something new to read.

I absolutely love everything about this book! I am addicted to "books you must read" lists so this was a natural choice for me, but it also stands out beside the others for its colorful images, easy-to-navigate formatting and the extra info at the end of each entry. After every book on the list, we are presented with a short section with info on editions,sequels and further reading (etc.). Even the most prolific reader could find a lifetime of reading suggestions in this book. Ah, if only there was more time to read...

As I said before, books about books are some of my favorite because they gave me the opportunity of finding new titles to add to my never ending "to read list".

Come ho giá detto in precedenza, i libri sui libri sono tra quelli che prediligo, perché mi danno l'opportunità di allungare la mia giá infinita lista di libri da leggere.

THANKS NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

I am drawn to lists, especially to lists of books. Usually 85-95% of the titles on a 'must read' list are present on other 'must read' books, but it is always interesting to see which ones receive special attention, who is left off, and how the list makers explain their preferences.

This list hit most of the standard classics, and included some titles that are not so much in the public eye. I liked that similar reads were suggested, although often I did not understand or agree with that classification.

Bonus (!) Georgette Heyer is included for her shockingly descriptive account of the Battle of Waterloo in An Infamous Army.

The author's goal was to make this book "expansive in its tastes, encompassing revered classics and commercial favorites, flights of escapist entertainment and enlightening works of erudition." I think he succeeded, in that his list of 1000 books is much more eclectic than similar lists I have seen. I loved that about this book, because I am always looking for books about which I have never heard. The book covers both fiction and nonfiction, and a wide range of genres, including: children's , adventure, travel, poetry, gardens, diaries and letters, art, nature and history.

I have a PDF ARC of this book which, unfortunately, will vanish into the ether in a few days, but I'd like to own a copy of this book. It has over 900 pages and is beautifully illustrated with covers, pictures of the authors and illustrations from some editions of the books. In addition to the main 1000 books, it also references over 6000 additional titles and 3000 authors. Each book is accompanied by a brief section that lists other books by that author, further reading on the topic, similar books to try, and TV and film adaptations.

Each book is introduced by a brief essay. For example: The Collected Essays by James Baldwin "...are, and will remain, acute inquiries into the moral and political quandaries of our being, regardless of the age in which they are read." About Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac "In the portent of things to come, Goriot's private tragedy is given greater resonance by the reverberations of the teeming milieu that surrounds it." About Simone de Beauvoir "She possessed a prodigious ability to synthesize matter and meaning across disciplines in ways that prove revelatory and profound." The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin "If you can imagine a plot that has imbibed too much champagne, you'll have some idea of the giddy pleasures of this classic 1946 mystery...." Philip K. Dick "A fellow with one foot in the pulp literature that he loved and the other in esoteric tracts from the great savants and seekers of Western and Eastern traditions." Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis "In fluent prose enlivened by his splendid eye for the physical characteristics of his protagonists, Ellis renders each episode with a dramatic flair and keen insight into the characters of the players." and
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton "... it stands among the best novels ever written about the unraveling of individual destinies in the seductive—and enduring— bear pit of New York society."

At the end of the book is a complete checklist of the main 1000. There are also shorter specialized lists with titles that tend to be too cute and often not descriptive enough like: Animal World, Mind Expanding, Soul Food, War Stories, A Long Climb, But What a View, and Offbeat Escapes.

I really liked this book a lot.

What I liked most about this book was the eclectic nature of the selections, which encompassed everything from classic fiction to non-fiction to graphic novels. Many of the titles you'd expect to see were present, but there were also a number of books and authors of whom I'd never heard. Perhaps there was a slight slant towards American history on the non-fiction side of things, but that aside, it was a broad selection of literature from around the world, and I would defy anyone not to find something that interests them within the picks. I came away with a list of around 55 books I would like to read in the future. Although the title is 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die, there are actually more than 1000 recommendations when you factor in the additional notes attached to each book. There is even a handy checklist at the back, so you can tick off the books as you read them. All in all, this is a thought-provoking selection I would recommend to anyone looking for their next great read. A solid 4.5 stars from me.

Anyone who loves lists, books about books, essays about books - ANYTHING about books will not want to miss 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die. Excellent for your nightstand, and for your family and friends' birthday gift.

Do you ever struggle to find the perfect book to read? Overwhelmed with all the wonderful reads out there? If so, this is the book for you.

Arranged in an easy to access format, with a short entry introducing each suggested title, this book is the ultimate guide for bibliophiles. Also makes a great gift!!

Even-Handed and Nicely Annotated

If you're a sucker for lists, and especially book lists, this strikes me as a very nice choice. It passed my first two tests - the foreword wasn't a Little Jack Horner what-a-good-boy-am-I celebration by the author of his admirable bookishness. It was modest, informative, and rather amiable. So already I was willing to trust this curator, (who wrote the "A Common Reader" mail-order book catalogue for decades, so was already sort of pre-approved).

The next test was to read one of his descriptive essays. (Each listed book comes with a brief essay and a load of background information about the book, including date of publication, other books by the author, similar books, and so on.) The first book on the list is Abbey's "Desert Solitaire". (The list is alphabetical by author.) I think Abbey is a great nature writer, but also a condescending sourpuss with a NIMBY problem and dismissiveness of anyone who doesn't fit his idea of an eco-warrior. Most reviews of "Desert Solitaire" rhapsodize about Arches National Park and overlook Abbey's kvetching. Mustich's essay, though, notes Abbey's "crankiness... and mordant quirky vehemence", while still giving him full marks as a nature writer and observer. O.K., I thought, Mustich isn't just a sugar coated sycophant, and appears to be trustworthy.

The next books on the list are Abbott's "Flatland", Achebe's "Things Fall Apart", Ackerley's "My Dog Tulip", Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", and Henry Adams' "Education of Henry Adams". This tells you that the net here has been spread wide indeed, and it practically invites readers to argue about how this particular thousand was chosen. Since that's all part of the fun of books like this, that's all fine with me. (For what it's worth, I think these life list things should be organized on an ages of man theme, listing books in the order in which they should be read as the reader ages. A book that's just right for a teen might not tickle the fancy of an octogenarian, and I amused myself by trying to plot the books here into where and when I should have read them, if ever.)

The selection is about evenly split between fiction and nonfiction, which is a bit unusual, but welcome. And there are certainly some unexpected choices. I would challenge any reader to skim through this book and not find at least a few enticing and previously unknown volumes. (Reginald Arkell's "Old Herbaceous" anyone?) As you might expect, the Western canon is heavily represented, but Mustich makes a credible attempt to cover what is available in translation.

Anyway, this is a game and fair effort; the author is above board regarding his methods and his predilections, and the essays are enough to give the reader at least a brief taste of those books with which he is not familiar. Mustich is witty in an unforced way and enthusiastic, and as surveys and lists go, this one struck me as fun and engaging.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)