I Must Surrender

First was "501 Must See Movies" (2004). Next - "1000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die" (2008). And now, the coup de grace: "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2nd edition)" (2010). Notice the subtle but unmistakable escalation in the stakes as each successive tome entered my library.
* First book: "501...must...".
* Then: "1000...before you die". But, the parental "...must..." was absent.
* And now? "1001...must...before you die."

It will surprise no regular reader of this blog to know these three doorstops are a dream and a curse for an unrepentant list maker such as I. The first two were gifts from loved ones and each obsessively occupied me for weeks because, obviously, they required full annotation; I'll spare you my tallies. But what strain of masochism took hold of me as I bought the third for myself late last year? Non list makers: Of this type of book, have many have you browsed through while in a book store? Have you ever done unofficial counts of the recordings, films, books, etc? List makers: How many of these have you fully annotated?

My request of all sane people and list makers reading this: Please remind me regularly to steer clear of "1002 Places To Visit Before The Grim Reaper Pays You A House Call".