1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List (1000 Before You Die)

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Review ------ James Mustisch's book is ed at a society engulfed in words but desperately poor in the talents that reading can bring-judgment, taste, empathy, wit. The book is not a list of canonical works, though many classics are listed and lovingly described. No, 1,000 Books to Read is an invocation of the pleasures to be had from many kinds of books-genre fiction, journalism, poetry, history, and memoir, the good and the great, the illustrious and the semi-forgotten, all summoned by Mustich's taste. You open it at any point and jump from author to author; you follow his hints and read related works by other writers, and you find your own taste emerging, proud and strong, from Mustich's provocations. 1,000 Books is surpassingly useful as well as good. --David Denby, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf, and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World If you've ever doubted that books were the greatest invention of all time, and that they carry within them our collective memories and dreams, as well as any semblance of intelligence we have as a species, pick up James Mustich's 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die and start reading. --Ken Burns If I were as erudite, entertaining, inful, and articulate as James Mustich, I could come up with 1,000 reasons to get his book. But here's one: Whether you're looking for something to read for personal edification or fun, for escapism or relevance, you can survey the literary world with Mustich as an experienced, enthusiastic guide. His work is an essential resource for anyone anywhere plagued by that infernal question: What do I read next? --Bradley Graham, co-owner of Politics and Prose Bookstore About the Author ---------------- James Mustich began his career in bookselling at an independent book store in Briarcliff Manor, New York, in the early 1980s. In 1986 he co-founded, and was for two decades the guiding force behind, the accled book catalogue A Common Reader. He subsequently worked as an editorial and product development consultant for publishers and booksellers, and is currently Vice President for Digital Product at Barnes & Noble. He lives with his wife in Connecticut.