Yrinsyde's comments (member since Jan 05, 2009)

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

Just finished 2001 this morning on my way to work. Well, I don't know why this novel is on the 1001 Books To Read Before You Die list. Maybe because it has had some impact on SciFi literature. There was a lot of detail and description throughout the novel. Then suddenly, it rushes down towards the end faster and faster with less description and ends inexplicably back at earth. I was going ????? in my mind. This is bad writing! I've never seen the film 2001 - I've just put it in my queue at Quickflix. I discovered through reading other reivews that it was written in tandem with the film production, so when I see the film, the novel may make more sense. Who knows? I was talking to my husband about this book and he said that it was boring as there isn't any human character development at all - they are all pretty much one-dimensional. So I couldn't identify with any of them. The character of the computer HAL was given more development in my view. So - computers are more human than humans?

Buddenbrokks and Things Fall Apart. Wow - both are so powerful and moved me for different reasons. I'd recommend both.

I'm excited to learn that there is a new Buddenbrooks movie to be released in Germany next month!

Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann. About 1/3 way though now. It started off stodgily for me, but I'm really getting into it now. Fascinating portrayal of a family in Germany starting in the middle of the 19th century. Interesting fact - this book was banned by Hitler.

Just started Love in a Cold Climate. I've read it before and it is a fun read - I love it! I'm re-reading all the ones I've already read on the list - just for the fun of it. Next 2 on the list are Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope and Cold Comfort Farm.

Monkey! What a fun read! I recommend it!

Monkey! It's Monkey Magic!

I've just finished reading Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. What a sweet story! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I plan to read Monkey, Gone with the Wind (a favourite - I've read it a few times already) and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

I've just finished reading Don Quijote and it took me 3 months! It was a difficult read for me as it was long and rambling, and there were parts in it that were fillers and could have been left out (especially in the sequel). All in all, Don Quijote is a thinly veiled admonition to Spain to - get with the times! By the time this was published, the age of the Renaissance had begun and the influence of the church was waning. Spain was still a feudal country and the Catholic church had it in a strong grip. His message? If you live literally by tales of chivalry and by the bible, your friends and neighbours will think you strange, if not insane. Get with the times people!!

I'm reading Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow and I was enjoying it lots until a strange sex scene which put me off a bit. However, the story has got me into it again. Strange thing: I chose this book to take with me to Singapore - which I went to recently for business. On the plane home I read a mention of Index Medicus (which was talked about at the conference), x-raying Egyptian mummies (which was in the local Singaporean paper) and Singaporean medical/scientific studies (I was given a copy of the latest issue of the local medical/scientific society journal). Amazing!!! I was gobsmacked!!

Mentioned this novel to a friend of my husband - he and his wife lived in Denmark in the next street that the story is set in! They have both read the novel and thought it ended weakly. I'm 1/2 through it.

I'd be interested in reading the western canon! I've read Suetonius' Lives of the 12 Ceasers (some parts very funny!) and bits of The Canterbury Tales in middle English (very difficult for me, but I learnt a lot). The Ancient History Sourcebook and the Medieval Sourcebook should point people in the right direction re canon
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/a...
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1r.h...

Quite a few texts should be on the Project Gutenberg site. Or there is the Harvard Canon list on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Cla...

What ever is decided, I'd to join!

Yes - I was wondering the same thing re Aristotle etc. I think there is a Classics canon that has all those. However, the 1001 books is supposed to be a list of fiction that trace the development of the novel - from earliest times to contemporary times.

I've just started Cranford and I am loving it so far. Have any of you read that yet?

16 - wow, well done! I'm 38 and have just got 10. Admittedly I have read lots on the list already (some a long time ago), but I have decided to start from scratch.

I finished reading Mansfield Park last week. My husband suggested I try something different from Austen and he picked The Naked Lunch by William Burroughs. I started this a few days ago and I am half way through. I'm reading it on public transport to and from work and I wonder if that is appropriate! It is very 'in your face' but very blunt and honest.

I finished reading Sense and Sensibility last week and finished Pride and Prejudice yesterday. I've now started on Mansfield Park (it helps that these are all in a 'collected works' anthology. I haven't read Austen for years and I was amazed at how fresh and delightful they still are. Now I am older (I first read Austen when I was a young teen) and have a greater understanding of emotions and relationships between men and women, Austen's books have more strength and understanding than I received from them the last time I read them all. I laughed aloud too at some scenes - what a sense of humor she had!!

I started reading Sense and Sensibility last Tuesday. I've read a lot of the classics on the list already - Jane Austen quite a few times, but I am re-reading them all, especially the ones I haven't read in awhile. Reading S&S again now that I am much older and have more life experience is resonating more with me now than when I first read her when I was a young teen. It is delightful!

I've just finished Huckleberry Finn. A very entertaining read, but also sobering. I wasn't shocked by the references to 'nigger' - this is probably because I am not of North American origin. What I was shocked about was the cruelty shown towards animals (and I'm including people in here as humans are animals). It seemed that if a person, dog, cat, etc didn't 'belong' somewhere, wasn't anyone's property, then people felt free to torture them and kill them. What interested me about the slave situation was how they were conditioned to think of themselves as products, and not as individuals ... it was only when Jim escaped was he able to articulate his feelings freely. Well worth reading and I'm glad I did.

I'm reading Huckleberry Finn and Sherlock Holmes (the latter is a very large heavy tome that I can't carry around on public transport). I'm reading more north american literature than I have every read in the past - previously, my choices have been UK or Australian authors.

Hey Jessica! You beat me to the post! Yes, I'm reading Sherlock Holmes too now and came across that line.