Welcome to my blog, 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die! Some time ago I discovered that there was such a thing as a book titled "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die", by Peter Boxall. Being an avid reader, the idea that I would someday start this project seeped into my mind. However, being busy with finishing my undergrad and other things, this idea did not develop further. Until recently that is. Upon talking about it with my best friend, I decided that I would add this project on my bucket list, as she will also.
Tomorrow is my 23rd birthday, so I have decided to embark on this journey on that day to better appreciate how long it will take me. There are various versions of this book, so to specify, I will be completing the original list of these 1001 books: the 2006 version. I made a spreadsheet to help me keep track, as well as keeping this blog to write a short summary and my impressions of each book I read. At first I estimated that I could do this in 20 years, if I read one book every week. A friend made me realize that, sure, at the beginning I could pull it off, but later on in my life that would be quite a demanding feat to keep up. As such, I am not giving myself a specific deadline to complete this challenge, but I would like to make a guess. Considering that I would be working for the next couple of decades and that I have other books (not on the list) that I would want to read, I would like to have finished by the time I am 50 years old. That would mean 27 years to read 1001 books. I think I can do it, but the concept is not that. The concept of this project is to read every single book from the 2006 version to expand my literary universe and discover new authors and forgotten ones.
From the list I discovered, much to my surprise, that I had already read a few. Not many, but some. Here is the list of the books I once read, although I plan on re-reading them for this challenge:
Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe
Red Harverst, by Dashiell Hammett
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
From the list of books I noticed that many where made into movies, several of which I saw, such as "The Shining", "I, Robot", "Jane Eyre" and many more. That being said, I will begin tomorrow this decade-long project of mine, starting with "The Scarlet Letter", by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Let's see where I'm at September 24th, 2038.
