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.

Welcome Sabrina. Gotta start somewhere. Lots of information here to help you if you want to continue the journey. We have a lot of fun doing it to. Check out our group reads if you want some ideas of what to read. It's fun to read then talk about it together.

EJ wrote: "Which list contains all books that have been on the list?..."



This thread is probably your best resource to answer that question.

Update

W- Warsaw - Promise at Dawn - 5/18/21
F - Flanders - The Once and Future King - 5/24/21

I just finished The Once and Future King by T.H. White. It started off silly but was quite the adventure story by the end.

Lianne (The Towering Pile) wrote: "Haha yes that's exactly what I did. I have a copy of the spreadsheet and have a column for marking if the library has a copy. I searched for each book in the library catalogue. It took a while! But it's also the kind of task I enjoy...."

Haha. That's awesome. Also the kind of task I enjoy.... also the kind of task that results in days of no actual work getting done...

Lianne (The Towering Pile) wrote: "the public library has about 875 of the list books...."

How do you know that? do they have a search filter for this list? I'm trying to imagine a way to do this without searching 1315 times...

Starting Volume 6 of In Search of Lost Time.

The autobiographer in Promise at Dawn is a navigator in the French Air Force during WWII. He and his various planes see some adventure.

Promise at Dawn by Romain Gary. It was okay. I had expected more.

Time to Discuss!

Angie wrote: "Started Falling Man by Don DeLillo for the upcoming group read."

I'm really behind this month. I should be starting that too. Instead I started The Once and Future King by T.H. White. It's just been on my want to read list for too long. And I'm on a kick right now after Our Ancestors and Legend.

Karen wrote: "Alice wrote: "Winter: A Novel by Ali Smith

I read Autumn last week (not on list)."

I really enjoyed Ali Smith's Seasonal series. You have to read (or listen) to all of them because there are clues in each novel and sometimes those clues sneak up on you! I listened to the audiobooks and found them quite entertaining.."

Great info. Thank you

Update

17/26

D - Drenai Empire - Legend - 5/4/21

and it appears I forgot to update my M

M - Midaq Alley - Midaq Alley - 3/4/21

Love, Entrails, Glory, Execution, Nobility, Destiny

All that spells: Legend by David Gemmell.

Fun stuff indeed.

In May, we will be discussing the end of Vol 2.


Book Fifth - For a Black Hunt, a Mute Pack
Book Sixth - Le Petit-Picups
Book Seventh - Parenthesis
Book Eighth - Cemeteries Take That Which Is Committed Them

Sarah wrote: "paintings are not in On Beauty"

Thanks Sarah

It'll be fun to argue the merits/lack of merits of the books they pick and discuss those they didn't.

Diane wrote: "H(A)PPY by Nicola Barker and Watchmen come to mind.

One of the Sebald books has a lot of illustrations, too, if I recall."

Watchmen! how could I forget Watchmen.. of course.

Diane wrote: "Zeejane wrote: "I'm excited to see what the new edition, being released next year, looks like though.."

A new edition? Noooooooooo! I'll never finish the list if they keep adding more books!"

Somehow I think you will manage. :D

As a spinoff to the Best Boxall Audiobooks, I thought I would start a thread about books that really SHOULD NOT be read as audio books. Off the top of my head I can think of four.

Infinite Jest - If you purchase the audiobook it should come with a PDF that contains the endnotes. They are essential to the book. So don't get it from the library as I don't think they have a mechanism for getting you the PDF. At least not that i know of.

House of Leaves - This book is very stylistic and the fonts, page layouts, and more lend to the overall reading of the book.

Albert Angelo - With holes cut in some of the pages, revealing later text.... not sure how they would do that in audio format...

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - I did ear-read this, after I eye-read it. And it worked out ok because i was able to remember the illustrations. It's possible, but I think you get more from the actual book since the illustrations are referred to in the text.

What about On Beauty? Somebody told me in my LIT 100 class that it was meant to be read while contemplating certain paintings. Are the paintings included in the book? Or can one listen while still viewing the same art?

Do you have more? Do you know of any other books that the physical copy is pretty much mandatory?

Disagree with these? let me know.