Over at Feast on Books Peter is flagellating himself because of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die he has read only 60.
Always one to dive in, I scrolled down the list and counted 140. Of course the concentration lapsed here and there, and it could have been 80 or 160. I must admit many of them were compulsory reading in English literature courses done 40+ years ago.
Not a lot of crime fiction there, just a few titles, but a lot of "classics" from the 18th & 19th centuries.
So I'm laying down the gauntlet! Go on test yourself and come back here and confess.
Perhaps you can suggest more sensible lists for me to look at - 1001 murder mysteries or the like. Something where we can tick boxes would be good.
This is more my sort of Quiz: Bloomsbury Crime Fiction Quiz
although I only got 5!!
What about the Penguin 2008 Crime Quiz?
Drat! I'm usually good at these- got only 4 that time :-(
Last one: Mystery, Suspense, and Detective Fiction Quiz - you have to "mark" this one yourself
Ah.. that's better 24/28 - I think I'll stop while I'm ahead. Have fun and let me know how you went.
11 comments:
I've looked at the 1001 list before and I have only read under 100. But I don't really care because I think it's a dud list - they've included just about everything Ian McEwan ever wrote (including a shopping list or two I think) and he just isn't that good. Plus from memory there's 1 Australian book on the whole list - no Winton or McCulloch or Courtenay. So as far as I'm concerned it's just someone else's TBR list - not mine.
I was surprised by the number of authors who scored a number of books Bernadette - like Jane Austen. You are right that there were very few Australian authors - one by Patrick White I think, and one by Peter Carey.
Not a crime fiction lovers list at all. And far too many from the 19th century!
Read like a list compiled by someone who did an English literature major in a degree. Did you try any of the quizzes? - they are much more fun
I got 6 for the Bloomsbury quiz and the link didn't work for the Penguin-- looked around and couldn't see it. Don't have time just now to do the other two as they will take longer, will return if I can.
1001 books seems a bit high, though, most of these lists seem to be content with 101!
wow, I thought I had a decent literary exposure---the 1001 list left me in the dust, kinda told me I got gaps in my reading to fill. The quizzes were fun, and I scored 20 out of 28 on the last one. (we won't discuss the others--)Love your blog page and have taken the priveledge of adding it to my blog role. (will make my readers think I am somewhat educated you see)
I got 6 for the Bloomsbury Quiz so I quit while ahead.
I fixed the link for the Penguin Crime Quiz folks.
I did well on the quizzes 7 for the Bloomsbury, 7 for the Penguin and 26 on the last one. But when it comes to 1001 list, I have to admit I could only find about 60 that I'd read. There could have been more or less. For a lot of the titles, I kept getting confused over whether I'd read the book or only seen the movie. Anyway, what sort of list is it that doesn't have one Reginald Hill or Ian Rankin, not mention dozens of other exceptional crime writers?!
Well said Helen.
Someone stuck in the 19th century I suspect
I've read about 186 books from the 1001 list. However, its not a bad idea for someone to put together a "1001 mystery books you should read before you die" list. At least it would be fun creating the list even if we couldn't come up with 1001.
That's a challenging idea Violette
As Maxine said there are lists around and they always cause a lot of controversy
if you're interested, there's a free spreadsheet you can download to chart your progress with the 1001 books list. Visit Arukiyomi to get yours...
http://johnandsheena.co.uk/books
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