1001 Books to Read Before You Die

Thanks to Pickle Me This and Nik at Night for the discovery. If you're a lover of list-making like I am, click here to download the spreadsheet and find out how many of those books you've read. I clocked 135, without the "abridged" versions I read as a ten-year-old. And I guess seeing the movie doesn't count. . . (Dang!)

Most of the books I've checked off were read in India, when I could not be found without a book in my hand. Strangely, in North America (U.S. and Canada), I go through phases of reading nothing, or everything I can get my hands on. When I go back home, I fall into my old reading patterns, snatching a read in every free moment I have. I think it goes back to my childhood of lying to the parents that I was on the pot, when I was actually sitting on the bathroom floor and reading. Or hiding under the bed and reading, because I didn't want my mother to find me and confiscate my book. She was afraid that I was reading so much, and in such bad light, that I would go blind. (Thanks for caring mum!) But now this is my reference point for all the Haruki Murakami and Margaret Drabble and Don DeLillo (of which I've only read one) books that the editor of this list apparently has a preference for. I wonder how this list was constructed. And yes, please feel free to post your numbers in the comments below! I wish Whylah Falls was on that list. Everyone should read that book. If any book can be so sublime that it moves you to tears of joy, this is it. It's on my Top Ten List Of Favourite Books Ever.