Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion
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Which LIST book did you just finish?
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Mia
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Jul 09, 2024 06:57AM
Inho by Jean-Paul Sartre.
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Most recently finished Schindler’s List on audio. Fabulous, devastating, gut-wrenching, there are not enough adjectives to ascribe to this book.
Memoirs of My Nervous Illness by Daniel Paul Schreber. It's sad that this is a true depiction of a real person's life. At the same time it is fascinating to see into the inner workings of this individual's thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. This memoir is filled with the writer's hallucinations, delusions (including delusions of grandeur), misconceptions, misunderstandings, and loss of reason. He has made up words, phrases, and definitions (e.g. Order of the World, nerves of voluptuousness, miracles, unmanning) that apparently mean something to him but not to others. I'm entirely surprised that he was released and allowed to manage his own affairs after what I read. The only way much of this would have made sense was if it had been a fiction written about a make believe character immersed in a tragicomic life.
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom WolfeWolfe's writing is dazzling at times and his dialogue is fantastic. There are several funny scenes, particularly towards the end, with one in a restaurant being absolutely brilliant.
The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe
The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe
Rabbit is Rich by John Updike.Overall this was my least favourite book in the series thus far but will be looking to finish it off at some point.
I've just finished The Reader by Bernhard Schlink and I enjoyed it tremendously. It's such a powerful, well written book. I highly recommend it!
What Maisie KnewI have a complicated relationship with Henry James. I find him brilliant, but sometimes inscrutable, and I couldn't say if I like or dislike his books!
Life and Times of Michael K by J.M.CoetzeeOn the whole I enjoyed the sparse nature of the writing but Coetzee's sudden decision to ask a moral question right at the end seemed out of place, a little puzzling and rather let down what had come before.
I finished my re-read of the Cold War espionage classic
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro I love reading Ishiguro's words.
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo
Gargantua & Pantagruel by François Rabelais
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It seemed very unemotional to me, which would cause it to bore many people I think.
I finished Journey to the Alcarria , which I absolutely loved! 5* I also read Coming up for Air, which I enjoyed - the ironic humour was great fun and made me chuckle aloud.
Ann A wrote: "What Maisie KnewI have a complicated relationship with Henry James. I find him brilliant, but sometimes inscrutable, and I couldn't say if I like or dislike his books!"
I found this one a bit ponderous and turgid. It was like James was deliberately making things difficult - drown a simple story with lots of words!
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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