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.

I started The Plague by Albert Camus. It's my first Camus ever.

I finished The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante along with its series. I have to say I liked the second book the best. Followed by this one. Such a sweeping story that lasts decades, I really felt I got to know the characters.

That's spam if the moderators would like to delete.....

Vikki wrote: "The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers. That brings me up to 101 books. I am 66, do you think I can read the rest before I die?? :-)"

you MUST! The list says so... Here's to long life and happy reading.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the way the story was told. All the style changes fascinated me. There was a certain amount of chaos built into it that way. I think it really lent to contributing a feeling of what Cruz would have been feeling as he lay dying. His mind was not only all over the place, but he oscillated between moments of clear lucidity and confused snippets of memories.

There was for sure some cringe worthy stuff in there. But I am not sure that I would say that his life was ALWAYS horrible. He had moments of love (true love? I would argue at least once, yes) He had earned much respected (fear? probably) But I think he had moments. Would he live his life over the same way? I think that is the big debate. I think that could be a major discussion point to this book.

I feel like I need to read it again to fully grasp everything that happened.

Finished The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes. Posting on the group read thread next.

Just started August's group read, Cost by Roxana Robinson.

Diane wrote: "Finished The Return of the Native and Billy Bathgate."

I read this three times as, "Finished The Return of the Native by Billy Bathgate." Just couldn't not see it that way...

Early this morning I started The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante

getting closer. I started Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante. The last of the prerequisites to The Story of the Lost Child.

Angie wrote: "What are you going to read next?..."

oohhhh you just asked me for a list....

On my Soon-To-Read list I have:

The Story of the Lost Child - I still need to read book 3 of the prerequisite non-list books in the series. This is Book 4

A Ballad for Georg Henig - Just because I want to and my library has it.

Cost - August Group Read here

The Plague - August Book read in another group

Summer - September Group Read here

Bleak House - September Group Read in another group

Trainspotting - The book I will be making my neighborhood book club read in a few months

and

Half of a Yellow Sun Another one I spotted at the library.

Hi Angie. I am a list guy. Must be why I like the LIST so much. So I have made lists of the LIST and how I want to read it.

I will share something else I have done to make it more fun.

Two years in a row now I have joined this group: 2020 Reading Challenge. Similar to this group they do group reads, but I only join them if they are reading a LIST book. What I use the group for is for their themes. I take their themes and I attempt to complete their challenges with only LIST books. For example, this year the theme was Myths, Legends, and Fairy Tales. I participated in the A-Z challenge and here's how I completed it:

A - Androids, the futuristic, mythical, artificially intelligent beings, are the antagonists in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. (2/8/2020)
B - Buddha, the enlightened one who has achieved nirvana in Buddhist mythology, is mentioned in the text and title of Buddha's Little Finger (4/12/20)
C - Cassiopeia, Greek mythology's vain queen and mother of Andromeda, is discussed along with her constellation in Walden (5/10/20)
D - The Devil, Christianity's progenitor of evil, is the antagonist in The Master and Margarita. (1/17/20)
E - Garden of Eden, the biblical "garden of God," shares a name with the title character of Martin Eden. (1/9/20)
F - Foundation, the mythical world created by Isaac Asimov, is the setting and the title of Foundation. (2/7/2020)
G - Godzilla, Tokyo's mythical menace/protector, shares its name with a boat in The Crying of Lot 49 (4/27/20)
H - Hell, Christianity's fiery repository for the unsaved, is mentioned in A Clockwork Orange (3/13/20)
I - Ishtar, the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, is discussed in Joseph the Provider (1/24/20)
J - Jernau Gurgeh is a legendary game player from the mythical, interstellar community known as The Culture in The Player of Games (1/27/20)
K - Krishna, a major diety in Hinduism, is mentioned in The Quiet American (1/7/20)
L - Labyrinth, Greek mythology's prison of the Minotaur, is in the tile and text of Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings (1/30/20)
M - Magic, the ubiquitous element found in almost any myth or fable, is mentioned in the text of Native Son (2/28/20)
N - Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris is the setting for the legendary The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (4/24/20)
O - The Odyssey, Homer's epic poem on Greek Mythology, is alluded to several times in The Return of the Native (5/30/20)
P - Ptah, the ancient Egyptian god of Wisodm and Creation, is mentioned in Joseph in Egypt (1/6/20)
Q - Don Quixote, the knight and protector of chivalry, is used as a literary device in The Untouchable (3/3/20)
R - Rumpelstiltskin, the popular Grimm fairytale, is told in Middlemarch (5/16/20)
S - Seriphim, heavenly beings originating in Judaism and present in Christian and Islamic beliefs, are mentioned in Journey to the End of the Night (3/22/20)
T - Lamed Vav Tzadikim, the 36 rightous people who can talk directly to God in mystical Hasidic Judaism, are discussed in The History of Love (2/11/20)
U - Undead, one who was once dead but comes back, plays an important part in Beloved (4/6/20)
V - Porthos, baron du Vallon de Bracieux de Pierrefonds, is one of the legendary trio in The Three Musketeers (3/26/20)
W - Watchmen, the legendary costumed heroes, are the title characters in Watchmen (2/8/20)
X - Xerxes, the Persian king depicted as a giant god/human in the film 300 (2006), shares a name with a character in A Fine Balance (3/10/20)
Y - The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is one of Scrooge's 4 spectral visitors in A Christmas Carol (4/14/20)
Z - Zion, the promised land in Rastafarian and Jewish mythology, is mentioned in Ulysses (4/12/20)

It's just a really fun way to decide which book to read next. I've decided to do this every year. Next year they will have a whole new theme and I will do the A-Z challenge to try to complete it again.

Kayla wrote: "Thomas wrote: "I have a general question.
Does anybody have a blog where it is possible to discuss the individual books? With 1000+ books on the combined lists this is very difficult with a single..."

In addition to the group read books, feel free to start a new thread on Kayla's first link to any book you like.

Her murder isn't much of a spoiler, but I think some of my opinions might be so I will hide them.

(view spoiler)[ While the personal reasons that Moses killed Mary may not be exactly spelled out, I think they may include some of the following:

He was badly abused by her. Both when they first met (physically) and by the way she treats him.

He may have been very confused by her. She obviously has some attraction to him. Yet she is very fearful of him. At the same time she likely is making him do things he doesn't want to do to her/with her/for her. Are they having an affair? We have already discussed that the answer is that it's pretty vague... and may not matter... but if they are, then is he a willing participant? The fact that he kills her tells me that maybe he isn't.

But I think the more important question of framing "why does he kill her" is: Why is it important to the story? I think it says something about the relationship between the Blacks and the Whites during that time. It's almost like this is Moses's way of "overthrowing" that power. He is fed up with the way things are. He is done letting the whites have that power. Then, it ends up very ironic because he now almost assuredly going to be hanged for what he did. (hide spoiler)]

I do love it. I would not have read any of those books had I not been committed to this list.

The library is finally accepting back books so I have a few to return. It struck me that when I make my trip to the library, I will be returning:

The French, Journey to the End of the Night
The Russian, Buddha's Little Finger
The Brazilian, Grande Sertão: Veredas

I will be checking out:

The Mexican, The Death of Artemio Cruz

All while currently reading:

The Italian, The Story of a New Name

I just finished Grande Sertão: Veredas. It should definitely be on this list

George P. wrote: "The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. Guys, don't avoid this book because it sounds "romantic"; it's good, and pretty amusing in parts."

100% agree. One of my mostest favoritest

I'm a little late starting the Group Read, The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes.

I finished Grande Sertão: Veredas by João Guimarães Rosa.

AKA: The Devil to Pay in the Backlands. This is how I read it. I kept reading about how the English translation really didn't do the book justice. That's too bad. However, I loved this book anyway and I guess I can't miss what I wouldn't have understood anyway.