NEW YORK has always been a multitasker’s paradise. The fast pace of the city demands that you do about 50 things at once – after all, who wouldn’t want to have brunch at Pastis while simultaneously texting your manager, working on your book proposal, maintaining two serious relationships, chatting with your stepmother and purchasing a condo in the West Village?
But the latest book fad is pushing it, even in terms of Manhattan standards. It’s the ubiquitous “1,001 things to (see/do/eat/listen to/experience) before you die” category.
It’s Chicken Soup for the Crazed Urbanite soul.
There are “1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die,” “1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die” and “1,001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.”
We’re not quite sure how it was possible that “Sports” by Huey Lewis & the News was left out of the “Albums” book, but let’s move on.
Then there’s “1,001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die,” (we can currently think of only about nine!) and “1,001 Gardens You Must See Before You Die.”
There’s also “1,001 Natural Wonders You Must See Before You Die,” which weighs about 10 pounds and is filled with glossy color photos of places we haven’t been, like the Salto Grande Waterfall in Chile, Mount Meilixueshan in China, and an excitingly named place called Bull’s Party Rocks in Namibia.
These books, stocked in the checkout lanes at home furnishing stores and littering the Amazon.com best-seller lists, are headache-inducing testaments to all the things you haven’t done.
Oh, the pressure. Remember the good old days of the Top 10 list? Now, with 1,001 lists, the clock is always ticking. If you’re not reading Thomas Pynchon’s “V” while watching the surreal short film “A Trip to the Moon” while strolling through Romania’s Jargu Jui Sculpture Park before the Grim Reaper comes calling, it’s a life unfulfilled.
Take “1,000 Books to Change Your Life,” which is not to be confused with “1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.”
The book runs the gamut, from “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing” to “The Great Gatsby,” from “Fast Food Nation,” to “Anna Karenina” and “The Bonfire of the Vanities.” Have you read “Bliss” by Peter Carey? No? Then what about “The Diaries of Samuel Pepys,” “Reflections on the Revolution in France” or “What Maisie Knew”?
We’re going to get cracking on “The Making of the English Working Class,” ourselves. And we were miffed to discover that reading “1,000 Books” did not count toward the 1,000 books.
But take solace in one thing: Chances are not even the person who wrote the book has actually accomplished all 1,001 things he or she lists.
“I certainly have not read all these books,” says Peter Boxall, author of “1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.”
“There is nothing scientific or comprehensive about it. What I wanted to do was generate some enthusiasm about some good books and generate debates about what we read, and why.”