MENTAL NOURISHMENT

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.” - Mark Twain

Do you like lists? Are you a compulsive jotter-downer, lister, organiser? Do you sit there religiously writing out your shopping lists, laundry lists, Christmas card lists, birthdays lists, invitation lists to parties, weddings, funerals? I must confess that I went through such a phase and then I grew out of it. Still, I do catch myself sometimes writing one or another list. Rarely, well not often, anyway!

For our Book Tuesday today, I give you the ultimate book of lists. It is a book of books. A must for the book lover, a perfect Christmas gift for yourself of any other special bibliophile in your life. It is Peter Boxall’s “1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die”. Now just a little simple arithmetic will tell you that if you read an average of two books a week, then it will take you 10 years and three-and-a-half days to read 1001 books! There you are, I’ve solved your “I-don’t know-what-to-read-next” problem for the next 10 years!

Dr Peter Boxall is a young English academic who together with his colleagues at the University of Sussex, chose the 1001 books and wrote 300 words about each in this book of “lists”. About 70 per cent of the editors’ choices are from the 20th century, but surprisingly there is also good representation of books written originally in languages other than English. The Australian contingent was rather under-represented with only 6/1001 being by Australians (Grrrrrrrrrr!). Of course any list of “favourites” is quite subjective and it is hard to find within the list all of one’s personal favourites. However, I was delighted by this list book and I was surprised by the gems of information that the editors have crammed into it.

It really is a book for book lovers and serves to give you a brief introduction to classic and cult books and authors, that you may have heard of but know little about. It contains more than 600 photos and book covers and is a good check-list of what you have read and what you are yet to read. Obviously, one would not read all that is recommended, but it really is a piquant menu for your mental nourishment and one delights in making up an elegant reading dinner party for the next month.

The ISBN for the book is 9780733321214 and in Australia it was published in July 2007. It follows the success of “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die” by the same author (also a good read!).