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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Maureen
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Sep 09, 2014 04:57PM
I just finished The World According to Garp by John Irving - absolutely loved it even though there were some parts that were infuriating. I have owned the book for years and never know why I didn't read it sooner.
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Finished Dead Souls or rather read as much as Gogol had written before destroying his work. I also started to read the bit which was tacked on the end to ‘finish it’ but very quickly agreed with the pre warning in that it was ‘third rate’. In truth, utter tripe and I didn’t want to ruin the great book I’d just read with someone’s pathetic attempt to tie up the loose ends.
I just finished The Color Purple by Alice Walker. I like the fact that the characters are so real.
Maureen wrote: "I just finished The World According to Garp by John Irving - absolutely loved it even though there were some parts that were infuriating. I have owned the book for years a..."Cos it's big enough to bludeon someone to death with? It's a great read but books that are that chunky can be off putting to start off with. I often think - meh, something shorter this time.
Nicola wrote: "Maureen wrote: "I just finished The World According to Garp by John Irving - absolutely loved it even though there were some parts that were infuriating. I have owned the ..."Haha...I know! Plus the edition I had was a small paperback with that teeny, tiny type....not appealing at all.
Nicola wrote: "Cos it's big enough to bludeon someone to death with? It's a great read but books that are that chunky can be off putting to start off with. I often think - meh, something shorter this time."Ha ha! Too funny. Sounds right up my alley, though. For some reason I tend to gravitate towards the big books. :)
Nicola wrote: "Maureen wrote: "I just finished The World According to Garp by John Irving - absolutely loved it even though there were some parts that were infuriating. I have owned the ...Cos it's big enough to bludeon someone to death with?"
This book is only 609 pages at GRs most popular edition. That's a relatively tiny book compared to many on the list (and many of those not on the list).
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Nicola wrote: "Maureen wrote: "I just finished The World According to Garp by John Irving - absolutely loved it even though there were some parts that were infuriating. I ..."Yes I know Elizabeth but MY paperback is a good solid size for belting someone over the head with.
I read The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark earlier this week. I liked it but I'm not sure I understood it as well as some of her other books. Today I read The Nose by Nikolai Gogol. I got to the end and felt like I missed something. I got it from the library in a book with others of his short stories. On the grounds that I didn't like The Nose and none of the rest in the book are on the 1001 books list I'm not going to read them.
Good morning,Finished *The Scarlet Letter* by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Poor Reverend Dimmesdale! Great sense of place in a wonderful book.
Jim
Poor Reverend Dimmesdale? Are you confused?
Just finished "Nausea" by Sartre, for a short novel it was extremely dense (and so was I reading parts of it). Still I'm glad I read it. Here's my personal take "I till therefore I am.
Emma wrote: "I read The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark earlier this week. I liked it but I'm not sure I understood it as well as some of her other books. Today I read The Nose by Nik..."
I didn't like "The Nose" as much as the "Overcoat" Russian authors are difficult to read but often quite humorous.
Ellinor wrote: "Finished The Parable Of The Blind. There were some parts I liked but all in all it was dragging on even though it was very short."Read a few months back and agree with you totally.
Kirsten wrote: "Poor Reverend Dimmesdale? Are you confused?"Maybe this will help to understand Jim's remark
http://www.shmoop.com/scarlet-letter/...
Finished The Woman in White. It was great roller-coaster ride of a book. Excellent fun just don't take it too seriously.
Jim wrote: "Good morning,Finished *The Scarlet Letter* by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Poor Reverend Dimmesdale! Great sense of place in a wonderful book.
Jim"
I love Nathaniel Hawthorne! My favorite are his short stories. I have The Celestial Railroad and Other Stories. I would rank that book in my top ten all time favorites. Have you read this or others?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0451530...
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The Street of Crocodiles Absolutely loved this overall. Sometimes I got a bit lost in the language and it definately required a certain mindset to appreciate it. Overall though it was amazing and I'll be getting a copy for my bookshelf.
Mandy wrote: "Kirsten wrote: "Poor Reverend Dimmesdale? Are you confused?"Maybe this will help to understand Jim's remark
http://www.shmoop.com/scarlet-letter/..."
I *never* felt sorry for him. But maybe that's because I'm a woman.
Right, well I finished The Home and the World it got slightly less annoying but I still found it pointless. This is one book which left me feeling blank. It did have its good points; I liked the very start, I found the moving between 3 narrators interesting right up until I disliked all three of them and the slice of Indian history was a little interesting as well.
But, I'm just glad it was short and can only rate it 1 star. Not my sort of book at all.
Last night, I finished The New York Trilogy, which is 3 short novels in one. All of them relate in some way to each other. The first novel to me was a 1 *. The second was better with the third better still. Overall, though 2.5 * -- disjointed and not that interesting.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Les rêveries du promeneur solitaire The book contains many "dreams" (I was reading the Danish translation, where he differs between thoughts that requires work, and the lesser thoughts, he calls dreams). One of them is an observation that as he ages, he's thinking is more just sensing. I have never seen that observation put so precisely, but if is universal it explains a lot. Why does older people so often talk about learning to appreciate the small things of every day life? And in the other end of the spectra: Why does students and young people always play such a big part in revolts? That could be the simple answer that our way of thinking changes as a general trend. In the beginning I was confused about what I was reading. I started out thinking it would be fiction, but apparently it is more like an essay, maybe meant as a part two of Rousseau's Confessions.
I think it makes sense to read Les rêveries before the Confssions (specially if you just want to give Rousseau a try, Les rêveries is just 150 pages). But reading a bit at Wikiopeadia beforehand is a good idea. For example he talks about what happens after “the stoning in Môtiers”. What? Who was stoned? No explanation. According to wiki his house in Môtiers was stoned on the night of 6 September 1765, and he had to flee.
Long passages again and again deals with people wanting to harm him. It is really hard to judge if it is true from the text, but I did get the feeling that it wasn't, since there is nothing concrete in the book about what they do to him (except the stoning that seems to be many years back).
According to wiki: "[he] began to experience paranoid fantasies about plots against him"
Maybe that is the most interesting accept of the book: How his thoughts/dreams keep returning to being hunted by other people and how he tries to reassure himself that they do not matter to him, and how you as a reader really cannot know if it is true or he is paranoid.
In some ways he's thinking is coloured by the times. For example he believes that plants that tastes well cannot be poisonous. A romantic and human-centric world view.
J wrote: "Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Les rêveries du promeneur solitaire The book contains many "dreams" (I was reading the Danish translation, where he differs between thoughts that requires wor..."Great analysis, J. Very well-written and thoughtful.
Finished my re-read of Sons and Lovers which I enjoyed a lot more than I remembered the first time around, probably because I was just too young for it. However I once again found the parts which irritated; the constant conflict between men and women, the love/hate relationships that everybody seemed to have, the casual cruelty that people would use on those nearest to them without once! getting a ding around the ear and told to sod the hell off!I also found his passionate scenes about as erotic as a cold flannel on a winters morning.
That being said that it was still a good book. I liked the details of the era, the day to day living, the quiet stoicism of the working class. When dealing with these topics D H Lawrence was at his best; when try to convey intricate human relationships through indecisiveness and arguments I just got horribly bored and thought 'Oh for pete's sake, not this again!'.
The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan. A quite disturbing, unsettling read. Pushes the boundaries of what society would find normal when children are left to take care of themselves.
Linda wrote: "The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan. A quite disturbing, unsettling read. Pushes the boundaries of what society would find normal when children are left to take care of thems..."Per your post - I am now intrigued in the novel and have added it to my list of books to read. I loved Lord of the Flies and this seems to be somewhat similar.
I quickly read The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I would highly recommend reading this novella - quite intriguing as one of the earlier works of feminist literature and really opens up the discussion about how women were treated back then for their mental health. As a modern day woman - it is appalling and eye-opening.
Maureen wrote: "Per your post - I am now intrigued in the novel and have added it to my list of books to read. I loved Lord of the Flies and this seems to be somewhat similar."Yeah, I mentioned in my post under "which 1001 book did you start" that one of the reviews of this book noted the similarity to Lord of the Flies. Coincidentally, I had just finished reading LotF. But The Cement Garden has other disturbing scenes quite different from LotF, and probably much more disturbing in my opinion.
Maureen wrote: "I quickly read The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I would highly recommend reading this novella - quite intriguing as one of the earlier works of feminis..."This is one of my favorite essays ever! It's a spectacular read. For anyone reading it for the first time, the less you know about it the better. Just read it is all :)
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Diane wrote: "Finished The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding. Another one of the bigger ones out of the way for me. This book was a very pleasant surprise. I thou..."Tom Jones is great - The BBC series was great as well I just bought it and watched the first two episodes last night. It's as funny as I remember it being.
Finished Around The World In 80 Days. I have to say I prefered the T.V series (Brosnan) and it's not often I say that. The book is too short and for such an incrediable premise for a story has no glamour or passion. Tragic :-(
Mod
I will have to watch it! I bet it is great dramatized.
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Nightwood by Djuna Barnes.A very very interesting book. It reads like poetry or maybe a play. Djuna had a mastery of language. another book about love, this time a often selfish and unrequited love.
Do people sometimes find it hard to believe a book was written as long ago as it was?I've just finished "Blue of Noon" by Georges Bataille, and I got that impression really strongly.
Diane wrote: "Nicola wrote: "Diane wrote: "Finished The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding. Another one of the bigger ones out of the way for me. This book was a ve..."Do your funny bone a big favour and get your hands on a copy :-) It's priceless.
If you liked the book you'll love the series. The BBC and the superb cast (Brian Blessed was born to play Squire Weston!) pulled no punches; it's raunchy, rowdy and bawdy and an absolute delight.
Nicola wrote: "If you liked the book you'll love the series. The BBC and the superb cast (Brian Blessed was born to play Squire Weston!) pulled no punches; it's raunchy, rowdy and bawdy and an absolute delight. I'm looking forward to Tom Jones, but I doubt I'll ever give up reading time to watch TV/movies.
Finished Charlotte Bronte's Villette... not a fan of this work. Just too much....sometimes I wanted to shout "Just shut up...I get it already." and what's with all the passages in French with no translation..... the main character and narrator Lucy Snow doesn't really know much French herself....but decides to perplex her English-only readers?
Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes. Gave it 3/5 for the wonderful descriptions of 1950's London, but otherwise not keen.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - I've read them in the past but I couldn't remember most of them so it was a good refresher. I loved these as a child but I found them rather silly now. The implied social values, the repetition of Holmes deductive method for every story, the dramatic and unnatural way of speaking, it mostly had me rolling my eyes. I tried to just appreciate them for what they were and the writing is good but I think I prefer detective stories which you are given the clues and can work it out for yourself if you are paying close attention. Like Agatha Christie :-)
Unfortunately I'm now out of books on my Electronic Reader; I got some physical books out of the library but I don't want to be lugging 1Q84 and similar around with me everywhere I go.
Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
Books mentioned in this topic
Max Havelaar, or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company (other topics)Catch-22 (other topics)
Blue of Noon (other topics)
Nemesis (other topics)
Untouchable (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Multatuli (other topics)Joseph Heller (other topics)
Georges Bataille (other topics)
Philip Roth (other topics)
Mulk Raj Anand (other topics)
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