Gauloises's comments (member since Sep 25, 2007)

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

Last week it was Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais - very dense, but the sheer exuberance of Rabelais' prose and his anarchic humour makes it worth it - reminded me somewhat of the Maquis de Sade ...

Also put away The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe. Loved this, it's absolutely chilling and heartbreaking, and the slow transformation of Francie from Dennis the Menace to Jack the Ripper ... *shiver* Talk about a slow burn. Couldn't sleep all night after I finished this one.

Taking a break to read The Second Sex again, not sure when I'll come back to the list, maybe with Don Quixote which has been sitting on my shelf for months now.

To be honest, I buy most of my books from charity shops or second-hand book stores, and I've yet to walk into one and not spot at least one title from the 1001 list. If you live somewhere with decent book shops and aren't set on necessarily reading through the list in chronological order (which I wouldn't recommend), just wander into a charity shop or second-hand book shop and pick up what you see.

Of course, if you like new books that's not appropriate, but amazon.co.uk has most of the titles, I'm fairly sure.

I think I related more to each of the brothers - Ivan's tortured relationship with God, especially in the Grand Inquisitor sections, Alyosha's grief for the Elder, and Mitya, convinced he's a monster - than I did to any of the characters in Crime & Punishment. I also liked how ultimately, redemption and salvation remained totally ambiguous - more true to my view of the world than the cathartic resolution at the end of Crime and Punishment.

"I punish myself for the whole of my life, for the whole of my life I punish." - Mitya's suicide note.

I read it last year, it took me about a week I think but I was reading it during a very long daily commute. I absolutely loved it, some of the sections dealing with the invasion of Russia are quite hard to get through, but stick with it, it is totally worth it.

Just finished this and absolutely loved it, it beats out Crime and Punishment for my money and now I can't wait to read more Dostoevsky.

Has anybody else read this? What did you think?

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. On to Gargantua and Pangruel next, taking a quick detour for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha on the way ...

I love this list! I've read #273 so far - that breaks down to #194 before I discovered the list, and #79 afterwards, mostly as a result of this list. So far none of the recommendations have really led me wrong. I just finished "The Brothers Karamazov" and I'm starting "Gargantua and Pangruel" today ...

Loved it too, although The Remains of the Day is still my favourite Kazuo Ishiguro.