Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion
Popular Topics
>
Which LIST book did you just finish?

That makes 350 books completed."
Congratulations Chris. I'm barely over 100 on the combined lists and on 99 on the 2012. I've got a long way to go...

I don't know if I did not have a good English translation, but I found it boring, preachy, and poorly paced


Unfortunately, Fahrenheit 451 is not on the list! (which still suprises me, it really should be)


I tried to find it on my list a couple of days ago and couldn't see it. I assumed I'd made a mistake and accidentally deleted it because I mess around with my spreadsheet all the time, that it 'must' be on the list. Well I don't regret reading it that's for sure.
Who knows maybe the next list will take off Interview with a Vampire and put it on instead...

I find it strange that two Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries are on the list. There are so many books in English there already and I have come across many classics that I thought would automatically belong to the list but they aren't there. Probably because they have been written in another language.


The BBC mini-series is excellent too! If you ..."
I still have to watch a lousy BBD adaptation :) I'm completely addicted to them and can't resist looking out for them as soon as I finished the books. Anyway, I still believe "North and South" is my favorite of all time.


The Nine Tailors, I think was because of how she incorporated the pattern of the bells into the book as a whole, and Murder Must Advertise because of how it works as both a murder mystery and a novel which the editors thought was unusual for the time period, as well as its depiction of the advertising industry. (The later books in the series are a lot more layered than the first couple.)
But it's been months since I read those entries and I may be misremembering. I can look it up, if you like, next time I get my hands on a copy of the list.
I do understand what you mean though. I love Douglas Adams, but do we really need *three* books by him on the list? One would do! Surely there's better and more influential books out there than the Dirk Gently duology.

It just makes the list less useful for me because the books only from England and USA make up over 600 books of the list. And if you add the rest of the English speaking world, it is well over 700 books. So I rather concentrate on the non-English books.



I thought this one was really kooky and fun, I've already read the second one The Restaurant at the End of the Universe are you planning on reading the rest of the series?

I thought this one was really kooky and fun, I've already read the second one The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"
I think I will. I love his sense of humour. I actually read So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish a while back, but going to go through them in order now.
I just finished 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. Overall I really enjoyed it. But it will keep me thinking for a while, there are also still many open questions. I often found it a bit scary too. And I always kept thinking whether the author meant to tell us something and if so what?

Cutter and Bone - Thornburg
The Birds - Vesaas
All worthy of the time investment and more!
The Birds
Cutter and Bone
Memoirs of a Peasant Boy

Get Shorty - The complete opposite, a light delightful little read although you did need to pay a bit of attention to the twisting of the plot or you'd get lost.

I'm about to start reading this and I have been told by people that he is a writer who frequently leaves unanswered questions so I'm prepared for not having every plot line neatly tied up.
Everyone seems to like this book and his work in general so I'm looking forward to reading it.

Not everyone. I have decided to not read any more of his works after having read A Wild Sheep Chase, which I realize is not a list book. It was too weird for me and I understand it is pretty tame compared to a lot of his books.

Not everyone. I have decided to not read any more of his works after having read A Wild Sheep Chase, which..."
I've only read two, but A Wild Sheep Chase is definitely a lot weirder than The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. He seems to write two kinds of books (some people criticise him for this), and those two (and 1Q84) fall into a weird metaphysical fantasy style that is very hard to describe.
I've not read any of what seem to be his more approachable works such as Norwegian Wood or Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage which are more romantic coming-of-age type narratives judging by reviews.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. This book took me about 3 months to read, but in the end I really enjoyed it. 4 stars.
The Curious Incident of the Doge in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. I loved the perspective of Christopher in this book. Such an interesting read. I read it very quickly, and I highly recommend it.

"
Ha! Well, romantic coming of age is not especially appealing either.





I read it a bit fast the first time. Then I did a bit of googling of themes etc and read it again a bit more slowly.
I spent a bit of time in Japan and adding poetry to life is very traditional Japanese. The book was definitely a good example.

The action sped up towards the later part of the novel but, obviously, you don’t read Thomas Hardy if you want an ‘on the edge of your seat, action packed rollercoaster ride of a novel!’. I listened to it on audio book so it was even sleepier :-)


I also did this one as an audiobook, so I wonder like Nicola if it just felt slower in that medium. I read Madding Crowd as a print copy, and sped through it in a few days. This one seemed to take forever!

Not everyone. I have decided to not read any more of his works after having read A Wild Sheep Chase, which..."
I'm also not much of a Murakami fan after reading Kafka on the Shore. I did buy 1Q84 on a $3.00 Kindle sale awhile back, so maybe I'll give him one more chance.

VERY good. Make sure you read the "uncensored edition".
(On the list it's "The First Circle", which is the "pruned and politically toned-down" version.)
Ann A wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Nicola wrote: "Everyone seems to like this book and his work in general ..."
Not everyone. I have decided to not read any more of his works after having read [book:A Wil..."
Kafka on the Shore was my first Murakami too and I found it very weird and didn't enjoy it much. 1Q84 is a bit weird too but I enjoyed it so much more and it actually makes me want to read more of Murakami's books (something Kafka on the Shore didn't do).
Not everyone. I have decided to not read any more of his works after having read [book:A Wil..."
Kafka on the Shore was my first Murakami too and I found it very weird and didn't enjoy it much. 1Q84 is a bit weird too but I enjoyed it so much more and it actually makes me want to read more of Murakami's books (something Kafka on the Shore didn't do).


I did not care for The Invisible Man - I didn't think it was nearly as good as The War of the Worlds. I was disappointed.
The other three I liked. Dracula was best at the beginning, dragged a bit in the middle, but overall an enjoyable read.
My favorite was The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. This was the first Anne Bronte I've read, and I preferred it to her sisters' novels. A daring choice of subject matter for her time.
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)
More...
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)
More...
That makes 350 books completed.