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30 Books to Read Before You Die (Pt. 3)

Part 3: Numbers 61-90

By Annie KapurPublished 5 years ago 8 min read
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If you've not read this first part then, I suggest you do so here: Geeks: "30 Books to Read Before You Die" because now we are on part 3 and I want to say that I have so much more planned for these.

Some people have asked me "why 30 and not a round number like 50?" Well, I don't want to overload people. Thirty books seems more manageable than fifty and in sets of thirty, it is far smaller and you can get through the list quicker. It just makes you feel more accomplished when you finish one of the lists.

I love getting book recommendations and giving them, so if you want to discuss books and give me some recommendations (of any genre!) then please contact me, my handles are in my bio at the end of the article.

I feel like reading isn't a sport—it's not a competition to read as much as physically possible (even though I always try to read as much as physically possible due to habit). I think that if you're reading something you love and you've chosen your book properly then there shouldn't be any reason why you should read any faster. It's about taking in the words, inhaling all of the essences the book has to offer. It is such a good feeling when you finish a really good book—but so sad when you could never really relive or re-read that book for the first time. There are many many books I'd love to re-read for the first time!

I always make sure my writing comes from the heart, so I'll never recommend something I haven't read myself. I always love writing about things I've read and things I've loved reading so that others can find them as well. So, without further introduction we'll get into it!

Remember, a (*) means it's a favourite of mine and I'll talk about some sporadically so that you can get a look-in of how I felt and still feel about the book. I hope you enjoy it.

61-70

61. Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf*

62. Bleak House by Charles Dickens*

63. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

64. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett*

I used to read this series as a child and, when the TV show came on, I was still very young. I was obsessed with the books, I had the entire series! I also had toys and a map of Ankh-Morpork and, whenever the show came one I would sit on the sofa with all my merchandise, with my book, and watch the show whilst following along in my copy of The Colour of Magic. God, I loved it so much. When Terry Pratchett died, I was actually at work and everyone said not to tell me. My colleague broke the news to me and I just started crying really bad. I was so upset and to this day it is one of the saddest days of my life. I felt my childhood really die that day.

65. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

66. 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez*

Okay, so I have something to say about this book. For years I had put it off. I had known about it and thought that 'no, I'm not going to read it' because I had other stuff to read. I ended up putting it off for about five years and didn't read it until I was 19. It was one of the greatest and most magically tragic things I had ever witnessed. The writing was incredible and made me really fall in love with the bibliography of Marquez entirely. I freaking loved this book so much that at the end, I was just moved. My entire reality had been moved.

67. If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino*

I remember reading this book and telling a friend about it. I was about 18 or 19 and she said that the book was one of the things about post-modern literature that she hated. I proceeded to read it without high expectations and well, I absolutely loved it. I thought the book was designed very cleverly and the way the chapters work (which I'm not going to say because you have to read the book!) is really smart. It's just a brilliant puzzle of a book.

68. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy*

I love Tolstoy's books so much and War and Peace is no exception. When I first read it I was around 17 and I'm not going to sugar coat it—I didn't really feel like I understood the book fully. I came back to it when I was 18 and I felt like I was getting it a little bit more. Then, the BBC adaptation came on in 2016 and I was 20. I watched it whilst reading alongside it in my book and really felt like I could understand it. The adaptation still left out certain things and changed things to suit a different medium—but I felt happy that I really understood what I had read properly.

69. Faust by J.W.G Goethe

70. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck*

71-80

71. The Birds and Other Stories by Daphne Du Maurier

72. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy*

73. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

74. The Trial by Franz Kafka

75. The Maias by Eça de Queiroz*

Someone suggested this book to me online only quite recently as well. I am going to be honest, I had heard of it but had never read it—so I only ended up reading it for the first time this year. The boy, whom we call "Hop," recommended it to me as he was reading it at school in Portugal. Since we know each other online, he knew how much I love literature and recommended me the book. I bought the book from Amazon in a good English Translation and read it. We talked about the book and honestly, I can say that it has been the best book I've read in 2019 so far! This is why I love book recommendations—I never know how good the book is until I read it.

76. Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne*

77. The Cider House Rules by John Irving

78. All Quiet on the Western Front by EM Remarque*

I have an interesting story about reading this book for the first time. Well, it was World Book Day and as always, you get that selection of free books that are given to each school. A school can select which book they take from the list and can have enough copies for the class they're giving it to. My teacher, one year, chose All Quiet on the Western Front and it had a red flower on the front and a black spine. At first, I wasn't overly interested because I must have been around 12 or 13. Then, because I had nothing else to read—I ended up reading the book. To this day, I haven't been able to get some of those images of brutal war out of my head. I remember at the end of the book, when I had finally finished it, I kind of just sat on my bed with my head in my hands. I didn't sleep for a few days after that—it terrified me. I then found out that I was the only person in my class who actually read the book; my teacher guessed by judging the look on my face when I went to class the next day.

79. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

80. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

81-90

81. Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin*

82. Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

83. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill*

84. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

85. The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe*

86. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

87. The Hours by Michael Cunningham*

I was told to read this by a friend for around a year to a year and a half. I didn't read it. It was on a reading list for my MA and then, I had to read it. I couldn't get round reading it. I had scene the trailer to the film and decided I didn't like it. But then I actually read the book. I was 21 when I did so and well, I can honestly sit back and ask myself why I waited so long. I loved the book so damn much—each woman in the story connecting with each other in the smallest of ways. There was something very ominous in the tone of the book; it was like time wasn't linear anymore—everything in the universe was being challenged. It was such a brilliant book—it was beautiful to read. I still don't really like the film all that much (yes, I watched the whole thing, not just the trailer).

88. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

89. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

90. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

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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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