Here’s one of those big, fat books that seem designed to either shame you or make you feel daunted, if not entirely stupid. The title is a scold, really, masquerading as a title—is that “Must” truly necessary? And an idiot can do the math: Are you realistically going to find the time to read 1,001 books before you die, let alone these 1,001 books? But book geeks are, of course, entirely helpless to resist such challenges—particularly when the list includes some doorstops (The Man Without Qualities), some dogs (American Psycho), and some books no sane person should have even heard of (The Albigenses). Still, that’s all part of the fun, and at the very least, the entries for each selection provide intellectual fake-book fodder for cocktail-party boors and dilettantes of every stripe.
Peter Ackroyd (Foreword) and Peter Boxall (Editor)
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