1,000 Books To Read Before You Die… That’s a lot of pressure!

What’s the deal with having to read certain books before you die?  When I found 1,000 Books To Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List by James Mustich (whoever he is) at the library, my first reaction was “This again?”

I immediately thought of a library book I had found a few years ago called 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die by Dr. Peter Boxall (whoever he is); I even wrote a blog post about it called 1000 You MUST Read Before You Die… Yeah, I’m not going to make it .

I admit that bringing death into the equation gives reading a sense of urgency.  When I think about my mortality too much, I wonder if reading for the sake of reading would be wasting my time.  I like a healthy balance of reading/writing/experiencing.  I’m not sure what that balance is, but reading all 1000 of the books in each of these books would probably make me hate reading.

I’ve always thought that there are NO BOOKS that everybody must read before he or she dies.  If I ever put together a book recommendation list, I’ll give it some bland title like 1000 Books That I Actually Liked Enough To Finish.

Even though I’m not going to read most of the books listed in 1,000 Books To Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List, I’m interested in knowing about them.  So maybe a better title for the less ambitious reader would be 1,000 Books That Are Worth Knowing About (even if you don’t ever read them).  

My book title wouldn’t set the reader up for failure.  Plus, it wouldn’t remind the reader about his or her mortality. 

James Mustich’s book suggests that everybody should read Ulysses by James Joyce.  To me, suggesting Ulysses disqualifies an expert from making any more recommendations.  Ulysses MIGHT be a great book for some people, a very few people, but it’s not for everybody.  It has too much insider knowledge that isn’t explained. 

So maybe Ulysses is great if you understand the references, but most people don’t have time to keep researching terms and references.  James Mustich suggests reading a guide while you read Ulysses.  I suggest just reading about Ulysses instead of reading Ulysses.

James Mustich also putThe Book of Common Prayer on his must-read list.  Don’t get me wrong.  I have three copies of The Book of Common Prayer.  It’s not because I read it a lot (though I do occasionally).  My family went to an Episcopalian church when I was a kid, and when I was confirmed I was given this book by several different people and each one has a personal note inside.  That’s why I keep several copies of The Book of Common Prayer.  I might not suggest it for everybody though.

I do suggest reading The Sermon on the Mount by Jesus. This speech is the foundation of what Christianity is supposed to be, yet I rarely hear it talked about.

Another recommendation that I’m familiar with is The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov.  I like The Foundation Trilogy, but it’s a little tedious (and it’s a trilogy), so I’d recommend I Robot instead.  It’s way shorter but just as relevant. with its depiction of the progression of artificial thought.

Sometimes I’m not sure how much I can trust experts, so when I can, I judge them on the topics that I know a lot about. I don’t know about all 1,000 of Mustich’s book recommendations, but I can tell from the books that I’m familiar with that we don’t have the same taste or perspectives.

I think the next time I look for book recommendations, I might choose somebody who writes a shorter list and who doesn’t mention death.

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What are some books that you think everybody must read before he or she… you know?

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Here’s a book you DON’T have to read before you die, but you might like/appreciate it.

Or you can read The Sunset Rises: A 1990s Romantic Comedy (sample chapter) here!