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30 Books to Read Before You Die (Pt. 20)

571 - 600

By Annie KapurPublished 5 years ago 5 min read
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I really never ever thought in my life that I would make it to part 20, but yet here we are! I have to admit I'm trying not to get carried away, but I think that ship has already sailed. I hope, whether you've been here since Part 1, joined up in Parts 10 and above, or whether you're completely new here, that you enjoy the 20th list of thirty.

I always thought that as a child, I was really strange for wanting to read rather than do other activities. We didn't have laptops and iPads, we didn't have smartphones or portable games consoles. We had television, the gamecube, and we had books. Now think about it. Children's television in my day was pretty educational and yes, I did watch it occasionally. Did I play the gamecube? No. It wasn't fun. I would've rather read a book because then, I could really get lost in something. Plus, my eyesight didn't allow me to stare at a screen for the length of time you'd need to complete several levels of a video game. (I would later get glasses, which allowed me to see screens better and, by that time the Kindle had come out so... I guess video games never really caught my attention).

When it comes down to it, I'm glad I would've rather read a book than do a bunch of other things, because now I can explore the realms of other fiction rather than just sitting around reading all the popular things before I get started. I mean things like Charlotte Bronte and Charles Dickens. The kinds of stuff you see on every "best books" list on GoodReads. I can now explore every other realm of fiction, knowing all the great books have been read, stored and most likely when I'm feeling down, re-read, especially books like Jane Eyre.

I love sharing my taste for books with people, and never think it should be limited to the classics. The classics are like the starting point, or the key that opens many doors. Each of the doors leads to horror, true crime, fantasy, and every other genre of fiction and non-fiction you can think of. For several years, I've been seeking out new fictions and non-fictions like a literary explorer. I keep developing a taste for new and exciting things!

I seriously hope that is the same deal for you as well. I never expect anyone to limit themselves to one type of literature. There's so many out there to explore and life is far too short to read the same type of book over and over again, unless the book itself is of some sort of sentimental value. There's so many genres, authors, time periods, cultures, countries, philosophical movements, wars etc. to explore out there, and you can't hide from them forever.

As always then, I have said it a million times that I will never ever put anything I haven't read for myself on the lists. If you can think of something that you haven't seen on the lists yet, then you can recommend it to me by following the social media handle to Instagram in the bio at the bottom of the page. I would love to hear from you. I will proceed to mark my personal favourites with a (*) and any books that have some sort of memorable experience behind them will be spoken about intermittently. I hope you enjoy the twentieth article on "30 Books to Read Before You Die"—there will be more to come—it has been an honour serving you.

571-580

Malcolm X

571. The Penguin Book oF Caribbean Verse in English

572. A Parisian Affair and Other Stories by Guy de Maupassant

573. The Penguin Book of Modern African Poetry*

574. The Penguin Portable Malcolm X Reader*

575. The Penguin Portable Book of Nineteenth Century African American Women Writers*

576. The Pan Book of Horror Stories

577. Marc Bolan: Beautiful Dreamer by John Bramley

578. Being Elvis by Ray Connolly*

579. His Way by Kitty Kelley

580. Mythos by Stephen Fry

581-590

Jack Kerouac

581. The Kennedys: American's Emerald Kings by Thomas Maier

582. Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow

583. 'Going Clear' by Lawrence Wright*

This book scared the hell out of me. Going Clear is a book about getting in and out of Scientology, and what really goes on behind closed doors. Not that we could ever really know the extent of what those weirdos do back there, but this is some seriously messed up stuff already. The amount of research and information divulged by this book is actually so good and so thorough that I began fearing for the safety of the author. If Scientology is really as dangerous as it is made out to be, then I am seriously worried about the safety of the author.

584. The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

585. 'Raven' by Tim Reiterman*

This book scared me more than Going Clear and I was glad to get rid of it when I sold it online. This book is about the infamous Revered Jim Jones of Jonestown. It's a massive book that goes into deep details I didn't ask for. I read it specifically because I'd finished reading Jeff Guinn's Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple: Road to Jonestown. This book was completely messed up and he was a completely messed up human being. This book just ended up making me damn angry, I almost tore it up. The fact that such a human could actually exist is beyond disgusting. I can't even believe that anyone listened to that (let's keep this PG)... there's only so many words you can use when your articles are suitable for all ages. But if I've said it once, I've said it a million times—there's not enough swears or insults in the dictionary to explain how much I hate Jim Jones and everything he did. Be that as it may, the book is very well written—painting Jim Jones as a violent, manic villain. It's a brilliantly researched book and you should all read it.

586. Grown Up Anger by Daniel Wolff

587. Nightmare Alley by WM Gresham*

588. Visions of Cody by Jack Kerouac

589. 12 Rules For Life by Jordan B Peterson*

590. The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen

591-600

David Foster Wallace

591. Hindu Myths by Wendy Doniger*

592. Junky by William S. Burroughs

593. The Big Gold Dream by Chester Himes*

594. Clock Without Hands by Carson McCullers

595. Brief Interview with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace

596. The Bourbon Kings of France by Desmond Seward

597. The End of Eddy by Edouard Louis

598. Baudolino by Umberto Eco

599. The Lonely City by Olivia Laing*

600. The Soul of a Man Under Socialism and Other Selected Critical Prose by Oscar Wilde*

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About the Creator

Annie Kapur

190K+ Reads on Vocal.

English Lecturer

🎓Literature & Writing (B.A)

🎓Film & Writing (M.A)

🎓Secondary English Education (PgDipEd)

📍Birmingham, UK

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