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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Ellinor
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Oct 20, 2014 01:50AM

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The Body Snatcher was a classic creepy tale but Olalla stood out with a rather sweet and sad tone.
Great book, highly recommended.

I was DELIGHTED, charmed, & fell in love with the irrepressible Anne :) She reminds me SO much of myself as a girl, LOL. Whimsical, loved to read, loved to dawdle & daydream, hated house chores unless they involved the animals, loved to go for long walks in the woods, & sucked at Geometry too. I was also tickled to find out this is the first in a series about her!


I think it would be hard to find two books more different. Well, ok, two fiction books which both have connections to the fantastic.
The Time Machine is extremely short, compactly written and in a serious scientific style befitting the protagonist and the era and theme of the book (sci-fi). The Golden Ass is rambling and fantastical without any suggestion of trying to base anything in it to reality and is bawdily unrestrained. Reading them together probably wasn't the smartest but it was rather amusing

I was DELIGHTED, charmed, & fell in love with the irrepressible Anne :) She reminds me SO much of myself ..."
One of my favourite books from my childhood :-)
Lisa wrote: "Ok, I am 47. I JUST read for the first time in my life, Anne of Green Gables
I was DELIGHTED, charmed, & fell in love with the irrepressible Anne :) She reminds me SO much of myself ..."
Great book, but unfortunately not a LIST book!
I was DELIGHTED, charmed, & fell in love with the irrepressible Anne :) She reminds me SO much of myself ..."
Great book, but unfortunately not a LIST book!


Love her writing and that book especially.


I loved Never Let Me Go! I agree it is a great book.

The story telling style of this novel is rather different to modern day, there are a lot of ‘and let me tell you this tale’ and ‘well if you can spare me the time please tell me the story’ so the plot has so many stitched on parts it’s more a bawdy 1001 Nights than an individual (morality?) tale in its own right.
Enjoyable enough but I find that I prefer a story to have not quite so many others tacked on any which way. 2 ½ stars.

Like Water for Chocolate seduced in being a feast for the senses and the frequently bizarre recipes perfectly complemented the oddity that was the book itself. 3 stars.

Jim wrote: "Good morning!
I finished A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith on October 17, 2014.
Jim"
Also not a LIST book!
I finished A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith on October 17, 2014.
Jim"
Also not a LIST book!

A glowing 5 stars.

I agree, Nicola. It was my first Hugo also and it was a breathtaking book with so much detail and range of emotions.



I recently finished Reasons to Live and Democracy. Both were ok but nothing I'd say I'd have to read before I die.

Katie wrote: "Concrete Garden, I enjoyed some of it, but some of the themes running through were a bit unpleasant."
Not a List book though.
Not a List book though.

I knew what you meant :-) As soon as you said 'unpleasant themes' I was sure of it!

Um...yeah. That book made me most uncomfortable, to say the least.

review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I have made a list of 63 books of the 1001 listed, that I want to read! I have read 80.

I have made a list of 63 books of the 1001 listed, that I want to read! I have read 80.


Lovely isn't it. I thought it was absolutely charming.

Not a 1001-list book?"
It isn't?
Jim
J wrote: "Jim wrote: "Finished The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.
Not a 1001-list book?"

Not a 1001-list book?"
It isn't?"
I just checked my combined list and I couldn't find it on there. That is surprising.

The list is for novels, basically, though it does break its own rules from time to time.
There are some memoirs in the list, but those are generally from fiction writers and they're generally written in such a way to read like fiction.

Oh yeah, that's right. I had forgotten about that little detail. :)

The list is for novels, basically, though it does break its own rules from time to time.
There are some memoirs in the list, but those are generally from fiction writers and they..."
I'm not sure about that. I'm reading a non fiction at the moment - Testament of Youth as well as Out of Africa a month or so ago. And I know there are a lot of other non fiction ones as well. Definitely more novels of course.
I don't know why Ann Frank isn't there - it's a glaring omission.

Hmmm...I didn't realize there was non-fiction on the list. So yes, now the omission of Anne Frank is very odd.

The only thing I can really think of is that they put it in the Children's one, but considering Pippi Longstocking and Alice in Wonderland is included it's really got me scratching my head.

The rule is nonfiction, but then there's several memoirs on the list. I heard someone say that it could be because memoirs in general give the author leave to fictionalize/retell aspects of their history to make it more novel-esque.
And Anne Frank's diary is just that... a diary. There's no way to pretend there's much fiction in that. Nor would you want to pretend.
Is there any non-fiction on the list that isn't a memoir? I guess there's A Modest Proposal. Is there anything else?
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