Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion
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Which LIST book did you just start?
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If I am not mistaken, William Godwin was Mary Shelley's biological father."
I did not know that. Cool.
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I just finished The Reader and liked it very much.
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I just finished The Reader and liked it very much."
Got started last night.... It's going to be a very quick read.
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I read The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton about 10 years ago. Saw that my wife left it laying around so I picked it up to give it another go since the details... ok.. the whole story is fuzzy.
I started Vernon God Little this morning and made it about ten pages before I decided to throw in the towel. Has anyone read this and think it’s worth the time? It sounds genuine—like a 15-year-old boy probably would sound today—but I can’t imagine what value there would be in listening to him, especially from the way this boy started out. I made it past the gratuitous cursing, but when the sheriff asked the kid the ‘orifice’ question, I figured I had better things to read. Is there anyone that read it and thinks I quit too soon?
I found the book a struggle to get through, Bryan. Really didn’t enjoy it. So in my opinion, don’t bother picking it up again.
The History of Caliph Vathek by William Beckford - started and finished in one day - LibriVox and a four hour road trip
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
Listened to Oroonoko by Aphra Behn in the car ride home. Very good.
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Isn't that March's read? I will join you, but not yet. I need to be able to remember it for March's discussion. :p
The Leopard is such a great book
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Isn't that March's read? I will join you, but not yet. I need to be able to remember..."
Right- I have three March books for different groups so I needed to get started on a couple.
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
Mercedes wrote: "My husband and I are starting reading Women in Love out loud today. When I was in high school I started this one, but never finished it. Forty years later, here we go again."Have you read The Rainbow--it deals with the characters in WiL (Ursula, I think?) when she was growing up. I haven't read Women in Love yet, but I thought The Rainbow was good. I've not been drawn to Lawrence much though. I was pretty ambivalent about Sons and Lovers.
I am going to be reading Paul Auster's New York Trilogy, starting with City of Glass, which I began about an hour ago. I have already gotten through half of this first book in the trilogy and am highly intrigued. I have read Auster before, namely Mr. Vertigo, and did not enjoy his prose at all, but this book is extremely engrossing thus far.
Just started The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. I have heard enthusiastic praise for this book and am looking forward to whatever lay ahead.
Michael Kohlhaas by Heinrich von Kleist
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Beware of shoddy translations!"
Ack! How will I know? I don't speak French. I am reading the first English translation by Eleanor Marx Aveling
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Ooh, I just picked up a copy of Madame Bovary! It was on the free shelf at a used book store and I liked how old it looked lol. It's an edition from the 1940s; hopefully a good translation!Perhaps one day I'll read it in French but right now my French is at more of a YA novel level.
Perhaps one day I'll read it in French but right now my French is at more of a YA novel level. my problem is that I really should read the German books on the list in German—English translation would feel like cheating—but my German is not that great, so I am stuck in a sort of limbo, neither reading, nor not reading, simply ignoring, and hoping the problem will go away.
Anyhow, I am starting The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I think I read this at school ages ago, but I have almost forgotten it completely so it's time for a re-read anyway.
Sean wrote: "Mercedes wrote: "Sean wrote: "Madam Bovary's time has come."Beware of shoddy translations!"
Ack! How will I know? I don't speak French. I am reading the first English translation..."
The Penguin Classics translation by Alan Russell is trustworthy and of high quality.
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My favorite, though, is using the "Look Inside" feature that Amazon has for many books. You can read the first few pages and often chapters to see how the translation feels to you.
This came in really handy when I was looking for the best translation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. "Look Inside" made the decision easy with only the first sentence from two recommended translations:
(1) "Domains under heaven, after a long period of division, tens to unite; after a long period of union, tends to divide. This has been so since antiquity."-- C. H. Brewitt Taylor
(2) "Here begins our tale. The empire, long divided, must unite; long united must divide. Thus it has ever been." -- Moss Roberts
I went with Moss Roberts!!
Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Wu Cheng'en (other topics)A.S. Byatt (other topics)
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William Godwin (other topics)
Charles Dickens (other topics)
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If I am not mistaken, William Godwin was Mary Shelley's biological father.