Just for my own amusement I thought I would take a look at the distribution of our reviews so far. Yes, it is geeky of me, but then I wouldn’t be here editing a list of book reviews if I wasn’t something akin to one.
Are you interested to know just where our Reviewers have been concentrating their talents?
To make it simpler I have broken our large list down into one hundreds, with the exception of the first and last “hundreds”.
Books 1 – 99: 14 reviews
Books 100 – 199: 7 reviews
Books 200 – 299: 9 reviews
Books 300 – 399: 7 reviews
Books 400 – 499: 6 reviews
Books 500 – 599: 2 reviews
Books 600 – 699: 2 reviews
Books 700 – 799: 10 reviews
Books 800 – 899: 9 reviews
Books 900 – 1001: 2 reviews
What I would like to know is, what’s wrong with the books between 500 and 669, and the last 101?
I am actually glad to see that we have reviews in each “hundred” at very least, but clearly we need to be encouraging more participation in those middle sections.
Any of our kind reviewers stuck for the next choice to read? How about you look for your next 1001 Book in the early to mid nineteenth century? There are some cracking authors in here – Dashiell Hammett, Dorothy Sayers, Hemingway, Mitford, Waugh, Steinbeck to name just a small handful.
And for those of you who maintain your own list, are you stuck in a particular “hundred”? Perhaps you could challenge yourself to move out of you “hundred zone” and in to a whole new world of reading. If you do take up my “Hundred Zone Challenge”, why not leave us a comment letting us know which hundred you love and which one you plan to try afresh.
Happy reading everyone.
1001 Books to Read Before You Die 
I’m currently reading Wuthering Heights which at #902 sneaks into the last bracket. I would guess some of the reluctance with that particular part of the list will be availability – particularly with the ones right towards the bottom. I’m surprised P&P, Emma, S&S etc are not done yet since I would suspect they would be quite well read?
I’ve done a couple of reviews so far and they are from varying time periods but I am more likely to make decisions based on availability. Small town – no real library to speak of. I’m more likely to take on books I can find on kindle or happen to have a copy of already (such is the case with WH and with the book I most recently reviewed). Your post has made me think on this though, once I get through my list I’ll have to have another look at the mid-late 19th C ones 🙂
Strangely I find my personal list to be fairly even, but then it is still quite a small sample of the 1200 books. There is only a slight leaning for the last 100, but then I have read all of Jane’s work so it does give quite a helping hand. My weak spots are the 100s, 400s and 700s. So I think I will be leaning in that direction for a bit. 😀
While I’m here and confessing my weak 100s, I thought I would look to see what I have sitting waiting or already in partial reading rotation.
#37 – The Book of Illusions – Paul Auster
#237 – Oranges are not the only fruit – Jeanette Winterson
#680 – Decline and Fall – Evelyn Waugh
#931 – Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
#989a – Monkey: A Journey to the West – Wu Ch’eng-en (A re-read for me.)
Oh dear, absolutely nothing in my weak 100s. But Oranges is certainly a quick, blackly humorous read. Shame about Frankenstein, it drags….
How about everyone else? What 100s are currently on your side table?
Currently reading
25 – The Double by Jose Saramago
and on the bedside/queued to listen to
38 – Gabriel’s Gift by Hanif Kureishi
846 – Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
789 – The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Hmmm, opposite sides of the list and not much in between! Think I’ll look at tackling some of the 500-699 lot in my next pick up from the library.
I’m going to random.org three numbers between 500 – 699 and then they will be my next three.
645 – A Day Off, Storm Jameson
514 – Lucky Jim, Kingsley Amis
629 – The House in Paris, Elizabeth Owen.
That’s me done then!
For sure I’m stuck in the first couple of hundreds. But that’s because I’ve already read many of the older classics that interest me already and it would feel like cheating to review a book that I read a long time ago. I’ve just waded my way through A Suitable Boy which I’ll review when I’m back from holiday next month if you want to cross it off the list and save someone else the wrist ache! I’m tempted to sign up for If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler because I liked it so much… But maybe it’s time to dig a little deaper on the list.