Smarti's comments (member since Oct 11, 2007)

Smarti's comments from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die group.

September: the book of Illusions
October: a clockwork orange
November: The Satanic verses (even though I have already read it, I would like to discuss some more)

Sorry for not taking part in the recent discussion but
A) I'm doing an internship and
B) I didn't care for any of the authors/books chosen

The fall selection, though, caters much more to my taste :-)

the latest one I finished was Eugenie Grandet by Balzac... another french classic, Aaron! I must say, I enjoyed it quite a bit but then, I usually fall for classics. I read Nana by Zola and I was really impressed by that book as well.

true, there are probably very few books one really HAS to read. I was just astounded by "The Swarm", which is, in my opinion only a mediocre thriller. But then, so might be Interview with the Vampire for anybody not into fantastic fiction!

I really like a lot of them, so those are only those that I discovered THROUGH the list:

1. Independent People by Halldor Laxness --> seriously one of the best novels I have encountered in my life!

2. Interview with the Vampire by Ann Rice

3. Eugenie Grandet by Honoré de Balzac

4. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell --> I never had a clue that the book could be even better then the phenomenal movie!

5. The Ground beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie --> I was totally absorbed by it in a hypnotic sort of way. I would never have read this without the book club!

..."the Swarm" by Frank Schaetzing, though, is really not a book one HAS to read. That would be like saying that one HAS to read "The DaVinci Code"

Hey! yes, my dutch version looks almost but not quite like this one! of course, it doesn't have the latest additions from the 2000s on it, those should be fun to check out and I already have "half of a yellow sun" at home!
Baically, as I said before, author's that are really overrepresented (Ballard, Rushdie, atwood) were cut. However, some single authors, like Neal Stephenson, whose Cryptonomicon book I definetely will check out, were also cut.
... So again, I'm kind of glad that I know both lists - gives you more variety and that is all good since I'm not really after completing one or the other list anyway!

I finished the book last week and I must say that I did not enjoy it all that much. I gave it two stars. It is very interesting to read something about the Asian side of the second world war - a side you don't come accross all that often. Still, the writing still did not appeal to me and I did not like any of the characters... nor did I dislike them though, I just stayed very detached throughout the book.

I think I mentioned beforehand that I own a different version of the book. That's right, for some reason, my dutch edition looks quite different and has a lot of different authors in there! Although it seems quite forced to put 40 (!) dutch books in there just for the heck of it, I actually appreciate the dutch version quite a bit. For me, there is more variety in that version. For instance, it only lists two Ballard's and twor Atwood's and introduces a lot of authors, especially from all over Europe, whose name I have never heard but who seem very worthwile to check out. I like to have both versions, actually. The "standard" one for checking off books from famous or semi-famous western writers and the dutch edition for the more obscure choices. I never thought about having to finish either one of them, though!

I just looked at amazon.com and it seems like most of Zweig's (he's really one of my favourits) are translated. I have read chess story as well as decisive moment's in history, which is a kind of short-story collection. both are HIGHLY reccommendable!
As for Hermann Hesse, I like "beneath the wheel" best but a lot of people adore Siddharta and Steppenwolf.
Yelena, did it seriously take you YEARS to get through Magic Mountain?? Oh my gosh!! For a fin-de-siecle impression of Thomas Mann I would also reccommend "Death in Venice". It is very short, very odd and ultimately very rewarding to have read.
I don't know if you all read plays as well (I don't but I like to watch them played out!). If you do so, you could read anything from Berthold Brecht (three-penny opera, for once!.
If you like movies, I'd say that you'll have to watch "Sophie Scholl", which was also nominated as best foreign picture at the oscars in 2006 (I think). It is about a resistance group called the White Rose during WWII and it is really impressive!

Hello! I am still not very far into the book. As you have already mentioned (I skimmed over the posts so as not to pick up any spoilers) I find Jim's voice detached. Maybe it's because the book is written in third person. I don't know if I am going to like it yet but I hope that I will. Actually, history + family story (sort of?) + far away country is a mixture that most often works for me.
Just curious: how many stars would you give for this book?

haven't read the magic mountain but I didn't hear too many good things about that novel though. However, I love Thomas Mann's "Buddenbrooks" for an insight into late 19th century Germany as well as the works of his more political brother Heinrich Mann, especially "loyal subject". And for Germany and WWII, I would read Anna Segher's "the seventh cross", Imre Kertesz (not a German but a czech) or Stefan Zweig's wonderful "chess novel" - I assume this to be the english title and I hope that it's translated. The last one is very short and definetely a favourite of mine!

I think it's alright for people to like the book. For sure, Schlink is a good writer and I enjoyed the book while reading it also.
I just don't like the fact that it is one of best known books by a German writer in the United States or even around the world. For that, I think it is definetely surpassed in quality by a LOT of other German books, most of which are barely known ín the 'outside world'.
And then again I, personally, still find the plot and Schlink's intention with it to be morally ambiguous. Hannah is not a by-stander or a mildly involved person in the holocaust but she is a female guard in a concentration camp. Those guards normally applied for the job in the full awareness of what that meant and eager to take it on. Most of them, the females in particularily, where known for immense inhumanity and crimes towards the prisoners.

Because of that, I could not like the book. Again, it is ok if you do I just whished some other books would be equally as famous!

July - Rosshalde

August - Homo Faber

( I would love to discuss a writer from my own native country for a change)

Great Expectations!

I am also quite amazed: thre to seven books a WEEK??? That sounds horrible, how are you guys even remembering what you have read!
Anyway, I don't really care for this obsession on having to read so and so many books or having to finish that and that list.
I do like the list but then I also like chick-lit and a bunch of other reads in-between. And, by the way, I really enjoyed the first Clan of the Cave Bear book :-)

unfortunately, I still haven't started reading this. I miscalculated myself by choosing Halldor Laxness' "independent people" first, which proves to be an interesting but rather slow read. I guess I'll have to jump into the discussion sometime in may.

Another one! I also finished The last temptation by greek Nikos Kazantzakis. Wonderful at times and at other times frustrating - at least to me. Still, very recommendable!

I just finished Tolstoy's Kreutzer Sonata. Sooo much shorter than War & Peace but also quite dense in philosophical ideas. I enjoyed it and was amazed once more by Tolsoy's genius and gave it 5 stars accordingly

I just finished Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. It was my third Jane Austen novel and I gave it 3 stars. I don't know though, there's something about her writing style that just bugs me and I cannot get too excited about any of her books.

Again, everybody his own opinion on literature. Personally, I really liked Atonement and especially Saturday. Very well written and also very interesting plot-wise!