1001 Books to read before you die

Avid book readers may well know of Peter Boxall's '1001 Books to Read Before You Die' where he takes a look at the history of the novel and recommends books from each time period.  I'd heard of the book, but it wasn't until last December, when I came across an online book group that is aimed at helping people read their way through the book list that I decided I had to focus my reading and maybe persuade myself to read some literary classics that have been forever on my 'to read later' pile.

I'm a bit of a list person in any case, when I discover an author I like, I prefer to read my way throug their back catalogue and I do enjoy 'The Guardian' newspaper's booklists; Richard and Judy's Book Club (oh the shame!); any books nominated for prizes etc, but I decided this would be a real challange.  

The only trouble is, it's a bit daunting to keep reading through the list, ticking of books and flicking back and forth to find something to read next, so imagine how pleased I was when I stumbled across a real gem of a website (see links).  Blogger Arukiyomi has designed a spreadsheet that not only lets you tick off the books as you read them, but it also works out how many you've read, how many you've left to read and (based on the average Caucasian lifespan) how many books you have to read in a year to complete the list.  I would recommend a visit to his site for any biblioholic!

Just in case you are wondering, I've read 112 of the 1001 (with 3 books in my tbr pile), so I've to read 17 a year if I'm planning on dying at the average age... just in case I'm aiming for 24 a year, well you never know!