Which LIST book did you just finish? Showing 5,501-5,550 of 10,248

[Diane]

Finished Anagrams by Lorrie Moore, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I felt it was far superior to A Gate at the Stairs.

Also finished American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. I am having conflicting feelings about this one. Yikes.

[Karen]

Mercedes wrote: "Karen wrote: "On the Heights of Despair by Emil M. Cioran

Rather depressing. Sometimes the shortest books (this one was only 128 pages) take the longest time to read. This one took m..."

I totally agree! It took me months to read Les Miserables because I just didn't want it to end. And, personally, I loved all his digressions. I read The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa as part of the monthly read shortly after and was disappointed -- I wanted so much more. Spoiled by Les Mis!

[George P.]

Finished Corelli's Mandolin yesterday (aka Captain Corelli's Mandolin). Liked it a lot, rounded up to 5 stars rather than 4 (because I feel that it deserves a higher average rating than its current 3.97). Written by an Englishman but set in Greece, mostly in World War 2..

[Fiona]

“Hear of the Matter” - Graham Greene. I didn’t really enjoy it that much. I’ve loved all his other books though

[Karen]

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Excellent translation by Edith Grossman, excellent notes, and a great introduction by Harold Bloom. I love Cervantes!!

[Mia]

The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett.

[Sean]

A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute was a delightful read. Quite the journey.

[Jennifer W]

Yesterday I finished Chess Story. Very short, well written. I usually don't like stories that short because I feel like things are left unsaid, but it worked well for me.

[Aileen]

Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille
Note to self, read the blurb before buying books!

[Diane]

Finished Arcadia by Jim Crace and As a Man Grows Older by Italo Svevo.

[Karen]

Anyone who has finished Dom Casmurro or The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Machado de Assis -- there is a very interesting article in the New York Times Book section about him.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/14/bo...

[Karen]

Conversations in Sicily by Elio Vittorini and Platero y yo by Juan Ramón Jiménez

[Tyler]

The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie

[Diane]

Finished Voss by Patrick White.

[Diane]

Karen wrote: "Anyone who has finished Dom Casmurro or The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Machado de Assis -- there is a very interesting article in the New York Time..."

Cool article! Thanks for sharing. He is one of my favorite 1001 authors.

[S.L.]

Contact

Good Segway from H.G. Wells

[Diane]

Finished Rites of Passage by William Golding.

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees]

I thought Shalimar the Clown was pretty good, though I don't think it's on the list. I was actually kind of ambivalent about Midnight's Children, which is the one people usually get excited about.

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees]

That's interesting Luis--now that you mention it, I remember while reading Midnight's Children that it reminded me a lot of another famous book--and better book--but I can't remember now what it was. I'll have to think about it.

It might very well have been Marquez's book that I was thinking of also--I thought One Hundred Years of Solitude was fantastic

[James]

Interesting that with all the discussion of Rushdie’s books here, no one mentions what I think is his best, even more than Midnight’s Children: The Satanic Verses. With all of the nonsense of the fatwa etc, IMHO it gets overlooked as literature which is too bad because it is one of my top 10 books.

[Pillsonista]

Personally, I much prefer Rushdie's essays to his novels.

His novels tend to be more miss than hit for me (Midnight's Children, The Satanic Verses, and not much else). But the essay collections, like Imaginary Homelands and Step Across the Line, are always worthwhile.

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees]

James wrote: "Interesting that with all the discussion of Rushdie’s books here, no one mentions what I think is his best, even more than Midnight’s Children: The Satanic Verses. With all of the nonsense of the f..."

That's still on my TBR stack, unfortunately. Since that's one of his best known, I wondered how that would affect my opinion of him. So far, I'm fairly neutral

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees]

As for DeLillo--I thought White Noise was great, but since I hate reading writers who write about writers not being able to write, Mao II was not for me. I do plan on getting to Underworld someday fairly soon though.

[Karen]

Howards End by E. M. Forster and This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeusz Borowski

[Tim]

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

[Karen]

Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann

Fascinating and highly readable recreation of the lives of two German scientists -- Carl Frederich Gauss and Alexander von Humboldt. I had never thought about what was involved in the measurement of the world and the establishment of latitude and longitude. Totally enjoyable.

[Birthe]

Villette by Charlotte Brontë

[Pillsonista]

Bryan wrote: "As for DeLillo--I thought White Noise was great, but since I hate reading writers who write about writers not being able to write, Mao II was not for me. I do plan on getting to Underworld someday ..."

The first 60 odd-pages of Underworld are absolutely majestic.

I loved/liked the rest of it too, but the beginning... he's never been that good, before or since (yes, I'm including White Noise), and I doubt he ever will be again. For me, it is the American novel of 1990s.

But... I've never re-read it, because I'm afraid that if I do my love for it won't survive. Whether or not it will age well is a big question.

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees]

Pillsonista wrote: "The first 60 odd-pages of Underworld are absolutely majestic. ..."

That's the Pafko at the Wall section, isn't it? I've been very interested in reading that section for a long time--the commitment to the rest of Underworld keeps me from starting

[Pillsonista]

Bryan wrote: "That's the Pafko at the Wall section, isn't it? I've been very interested in reading that section for a long time--the commitment to the rest of Underworld keeps me from starting"

It's the prologue, 'The Triumph of Death.'

[Amanda]

Bryan wrote: "As for DeLillo--I thought White Noise was great, but since I hate reading writers who write about writers not being able to write, Mao II was not for me. I do plan on getting to Underworld someday ..."

I just finished New Grub Street by Gissing, which is a lot about writers not being able to write...so maybe you can save that one for last

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees]

Amanda wrote: "I just finished New Grub Street by Gissing, which is a lot about writers not being able to write...so maybe you can save that one for last ..."

Thanks for the tip!

[S.L.]

Silas Marner - not impressed -- three chapters that could have been woven into the rest of the story and/or eliminated. The rest of the story was good and well-written but nothing special, at least not from a 1001 book perspective.

[Mekki]

I finished A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry yesterday. This book is one of the best i've ever read. Its really tough emotionally, so be warned.. I'd highly recommended it.

[Diane]

A re-read of Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished:


The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[George P.]

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin of the U. S. If you are very religious you would probably like it more than I did- I liked parts but was kind of disappointed with it overall.

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees]

Finished Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray, which I thoroughly enjoyed

[Diane]

Finished Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin.

[Pillsonista]

Diane wrote: "Finished Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin."

Salute!

Now that is not a work for the weak. I'm still preparing myself to give it a try (in translation, alas).

[George P.]

Diane wrote: "Finished Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin."

I want to read this also. I really enjoyed the Fassbinder German miniseries from it.

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees]

Alexanderplatz is a book that I think has to be read twice to really appreciate it, though being familiar with the miniseries may help. I've not seen the series, and so there were a lot of important points in the beginning of the book I didn't really hold on to well enough to appreciate when they came around again later in the book. Rather than the effect being in the slow reveal of what happens, it seems to me that the book's real impact is in the panoramic view of Biberkopf's life and the world he lives in.

[Karina]

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

[Sean]

I also finished Rites of Passage by William Golding. More in the group read thread.

[Amanda]

Memento Mori by Muriel Spark. I have now finished all the Muriel Spark novels on the List, all of which I think are in the three star range.

[Karen]

Worstward Ho by Samuel Beckett and The Fox by D. H. Lawrence
Not sure about Beckett, I'm going to have to read more of his works.

[Sean]

I finished Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

[Peter]

The Secret History by Donna Tartt."
Overall I found this an OK rather than a great read.

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees]

Finished The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

[Karen]

The Harvesters by Cesare Pavese