1001 Books to Read Before You Die

There have been a few changes here on blog.  We added a button for easy access to the online book retailer Book Depository.  We editors adore this site for its accessibility, fantastic range and prices not to mention free world wide delivery.  You can read more about our update here.  We also made access to our reviewers a bit easier.  This blog is nothing without the wonderful contributions from our many reviewers.  So better access was necessary, particularly moving forward with more books and more reviewers joining us.  For more information please see this post.

We had another wide range of books read this month.  One of our new reviewers Ange P opened the month up with the sea-faring novel Treasure Island.  She must have been in the mood for adventure because she also reviewed the American classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  Co-editor Ms Oh Waily was also in a Stars and Stripes frame of mind.  She reviewed the Depression-era tale Of Mice and Men and the coming-of-age tale of four sisters, Little Women.

Science fiction had a good showing also but with two very different approaches.  If you like your sci-fi served with a humorous flavour, check out t’s review of The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.  Or if  a cautionary tale where genius turns to madness sounds your thing, then the review of The Invisible Man by inspirationalreads might be more to your liking.

Troubling female relationships were the theme for two books.  Beth’s review of the disturbing The Piano Teacher told us about a destructive mother-daughter relationship.   The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, read by inspirationalreads is about a teacher who tries to use her influence over her female students to further her own unsavoury ambitions.

April opened with a new reviewer and it closed with another new reviewer.  Kara read and reviewed the feminist classic The Bell Jar, where she compared reading this book at different times in her life and how her reception of the book changed.

As parents, the Editing crew believe a love of reading is one of the best traits we can pass on to our children.  Happily, our offspring are firm bookworms.  1001 books read is easily achieved in one’s lifetime, but being able to tick books off this list as early as possible not only makes the feat of reading the 1001 on this list a bit easier, but also sets the foundation of being able to identify what makes a truly great book.

Below is a list of young-people friendly selections.  Whether you choose to read them aloud with your young folk or suggest them to older children to read on their own, they still get to tick one off that list!

• 19. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
• 574. The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• 610. The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
• 747. Tarzan of the Apes – Edgar Rice Burroughs
• 823. King Solomon’s Mines – H. Rider Haggard
• 825. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
• 831. Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
• 848. Around the World in Eighty Days – Jules Verne
• 868. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
• 863. Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
• 872. The Water-Babies – Charles Kingsley
• 913. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
• 987. Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
• 983. Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
• 1001. Aesop’s Fables – Aesopus

Do you have any others that you would recommend for our younger readers from the list?  Or do you think we have included any that are unsuitable?  As always, your input is very valuable.

Happy reading everyone!