<b>“The ultimate literary bucket list.” —<i>The Washington Post</i><br /> “If there’s a heaven just for readers, this is it.” —<i>O, The Oprah Magazine</i><br />         </b><br /> Celebrate the pleasure of reading and the thrill of discovering new titles in an extraordinary book that’s as compulsively readable, entertaining, surprising, and enlightening as the 1,000-plus titles it recommends.<br /><br /> Covering fiction, poetry, science and science fiction, memoir, travel writing, biography, children’s books, history, and more, <i>1,000 Books to Read Before You Die </i>ranges across cultures and through time to offer an eclectic collection of works that each deserve to come with the recommendation, You have to read this. But it’s not a proscriptive list of the “great works”—rather, it’s a celebration of the glorious mosaic that is our literary heritage.<br /><br /> Flip it open to any page and be transfixed by a fresh take on a very favorite book. Or come across a title you always meant to read and never got around to. Or, like browsing in the best kind of bookshop, stumble on a completely unknown author and work, and feel that tingle of discovery. There are classics, of course, and unexpected treasures, too. Lists to help pick and choose, like Offbeat Escapes, or A Long Climb, but What a View. And its alphabetical arrangement by author assures that surprises await on almost every turn of the page, with Cormac McCarthy and <i>The Road</i> next to Robert McCloskey and <i>Make Way for Ducklings,</i> Alice Walker next to Izaac Walton. <br /><br /> There are nuts and bolts, too—best editions to read, other books by the author, “if you like this, you’ll like that” recommendations , and an interesting endnote of adaptations where appropriate. Add it all up, and in fact there are more than six thousand titles by nearly four thousand authors mentioned—a life-changing list for a lifetime of reading.<br /><br /><b>“948 pages later, you still want more!” —THE WASHINGTON POST</b>