Sean’s Comments (group member since Jan 30, 2019)

Sean’s comments from the Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die group.

Yrinsyde wrote: "I recently read an article titles "Canon formation, library collections, and the dilemma of collection development" by M Cyzyk College & Research Libraries 1993 54(1) 58-65.
It had an interesting p..."

Makes perfect sense to me. And I align it with music charts. Sometimes I am listening to music and I just know the only reason a particular song is so popular is because of the amount of airplay. It's inclusion on top 40 charts, that'll put it on the end of the year "best of charts". Then the decade charts.... snowball effect.

To some extent, they make these charts (booklists) because they are good, and to some extent, the thought is, "they must be good, look at all the charts (lists) they are on".

I also think that people tend to rate a book higher when it belongs to a certain "canon" thinking that if they rate it too low people will think they are not "sophisticated", "knowledgeable", or "well-read" enough to "get it".

I started our next group read, Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters.

I finished A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz.

This was a very deep and dark memoir. heartbreaking and yet still light enough that I laughed a few times. A totally new Jewish perspective in my reading career. A part of history I think I should know more about.

MelC wrote: "Just finished my very first book from the scavenger hunt, task 12: most irritating person. I have said Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights but its kind of tragic. Although he was irritating, I do und..."

That's awesome. Hope you win it. But, ahem, you might wanna pick up the pace... :P

Irem wrote: "H - Highlands - Kidnapped"

That's a great one!

Karen wrote: "I added it to the bookshelf and to Listopia. Is there a way to change the Homepage on Listopia to indicate the list is now at 1316?

Thank you, Rosemary for updating the spreadsheet. I think you ar..."

I think a librarian or the owner has to make that change. I think the best we can do is make a comment.

That's fantastic. Thank you for updating the spreadsheet!

Ian wrote: "I had a look in a bookshop in Cambridge yesterday and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is definitely in the most recent edition, proudly on page 305.
Back at home I checked my copies to see what occupied ..."

IAN!!!

I think you have solved our mystery. I did a look inside to two different versions of the 2012 edition. One had Gentlemen Prefer Blondes on page 305 and one had The New World on page 305. I think you nailed it. At some point, between the 2012 and the 2018, the former replaced the latter without the publishers declaring a whole new edition. That's why LIST compilations all over the internet do not include the former nor eliminate the latter... nobody knew...

I liked your use of the word "surreptitiously." That's exactly the way I see it.

So in reality, The New World should be shown as deleted in 2012.

Jo wrote: " if anyone can recommend anything that was originally Hebrew I’m all ears cause I’m really interested to see what there is on offer, hadn’t even considered there might be successful books written in Hebrew (Bible & Torah aside obviously haha)..."

I'm still in the middle of it, but even still, I'd recommend A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz.

Originally published as סיפור על אהבה וחושך

Jo wrote: "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time - Mark Haddon. I’ve read books with longer titles but any chance to mention what is, to my mind, the only high profile book that deals with autism ..."

That really is a fantastic book. And I didn't know about the dual release... very cool!

Jo wrote: "I’ve read as many as I could get my hands on through the years, but something I reread recently which is also incredibly timely (reading the back cover synopsis in 2017 gave me the willies) Parable..."

Here is a list of Boxall's books that fit into this category...
https://www.goodreads.com/group/books...

Jo wrote: "China Mieville - Railsea. Love this book centred around a…well sea of railways with a rather huge nod to Moby Dick in the shape of a giant, mutated, albino mole."

Railsea is not a LIST book. But Moby-Dick certainly is. This challenge is designed to be done with books from Boxall's book, 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.

Try this link if you need a copy of the list.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Jo wrote: "Almost every Stephen King novel, that man writes some of the most irritating bad guys I’ve ever read. Rhea of the Coos from the Dark Tower: Wizard & Glass actually made me put the book down so I co..."

I'd have to agree with you. But what about The Shining? Since that's the only King book on Boxall's list.... Do you feel the same way about Jack Torrence?

I had been watching and waiting for this milestone. And I thought I hit 50 female authors just recently with The Dispossessed. But when I went back and checked, I missed a few tick marks. Turns out #50 was Reasons to Live and I'm now at 52.

I finished I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. Amazing the things Mr. Asimov thought up. Still relevant and only somewhat anachronistic.

Last night, I started A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz

I was really glad when I saw that this book was voted in to be read this month. I had yet to read anything by Robert Louis Stevenson. Of course I have heard of Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (which I always forget is Stevenson, idk why). But, until Kidnapped showed up on the poll, it was in the same category for me as The Master of Ballantrae; basically, unknown. I had not realized that Stevenson had other books on the list. I had not ever browsed these titles to know who wrote them or what they were about.

Then, upon reading, what a fun little adventure I discovered. An adventure novel for sure. All the elements are there. Swashbuckling swordplay, mutiny, shipwrecks, gunplay, crawling through heather, eating raw snails.... the works.

One thing I have to admit, though. I have to give a certain amount of credit for my understanding the archaic and Scots language used throughout this book to Diana Gabaldon and her Outlander series. This book was just filled with historical fiction that I really had zero background on before I read Ms. Gabaldon. I am not sure I would have enjoyed it nearly as much as I did. For a children's book, this would have went right over my head. Maybe the children of 1850 were in a better place to grasp this. But I needed more background.

My only disappointment was the ease in which some of the situations were resolved. The quarrel solved by "piping" made me think of an inner-city gang conflict solved by a rap-off. Sounds like Hollywood to me....

Overall it was fun. Good, old fashioned, snail-eating fun!

Time to discuss!

Thanks to society's more acute aversion to sick people being in the office, I had an extended weekend. I was able to finish The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin and the group read, Kidnapped.

I can totally see why Dispossessed was picked as a list book. More about Kidnapped in the group-read thread.

I just started I, Robot by Isaac Asimov.