Genia Lukin
Finished Kidnapped, which was a good deal of fun, and A Handful of Dust which was great until the end, and then became exceptionally weird.
Craig
The Secret Agent and Nostromo -Conrad, Babbitt -Lewis, Bouvard and Pecuchet -Flaubert, Siddhartha -Hesse, Vile Bodies -Waugh, Sons and Lovers -Lawrence, Their Eyes Were Watching God -Hurston, Miss Lonelyhearts -West.
Erika
I finished The Art of Fielding today and have to say I really enjoyed it. It was so engrossing that I plowed through the 500+ pages in less than a week. I know the reviews of this one are kind of split, but for me it was worth it and very deserving of it's spot on the 2012 list.
Steve mitchell
just finished The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg, I am pretty surprised this is on the list, but then I guess you have to look at it in its time, which would have been blasphemous.
Jonpaul
Read "The Sense of an Ending" if you liked "Flaubert's Parrot". It's one of the best novels I've ever read.
I just finished "The Namesake", which I loved for the first two thirds of the book and found tepid and uninspired, if still well-written, during the last third.
Ellinor
Finished Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. There were several things I enjoyed about it (especially some of the political views) but also some things (e.g. how it was structured) that really annoyed me.
Steve mitchellChristina Stind wrote: "I just finished reading The Testament of Mary too and loved it - but it isn't on any of the lists, right?"
Yes, I didnt realize it till later, somehow I thought for sure it was? I dont care this book should be and was fantastic, I guess i need to read the master now!
Colleen
Vertigo by Sebald. I loved it although found the style initially hard to get into. Once I chilled out and let it wash over me I found it addictive!
Kai Coates
Congratulations, Stephanie! That's quite the accomplishment.
I finished To Have and Have Not today. Not my favorite Hemingway, but a good, quick read. And it was my 200th read off of the combined lists. Nice to get that out of the way before the end of the year.
Kat
Hello all, I only started the 1001 books thing (I'm using the 2012 edition) this year so I'm new to the group and probably miles behind everyone else!
I've just finished 'On the Road' and it was ok I guess. It didn't bore me but I didn't feel especially excited by it either. I probably would have liked it more if I had read it when I was a teenager :).
LauraKat wrote: "Hello all, I only started the 1001 books thing (I'm using the 2012 edition) this year so I'm new to the group and probably miles behind everyone else!
I've just finished 'On the Road' and it was ..."
I didn't think much of On the Road either, but don't worry that's lots of good books on the list! :)
Ed Lehman
Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" 2 stars. My review:As a retired Union Rep., I should have liked this expose of capitalism and its excesses..... but after a promising opening scene....the book continually deteriorates and ends in a totally simplistic and childish argument on behalf of socialism. Sinclair of course does a great job exposing the disgusting practices at the Chicago slaughtering and meat-packing plants... and then follows a family that has one tragedy after another. No subtlety, no sense of humor (even if dark humor), just bummer after bummer.
Andrea
FINALLY finished The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt, after giving up on it a couple times and finally being stubborn enough to finish because it was the last of the 2010 added books I needed to read. Will not be recommending this one. Painful.
Sophia
This week I finished reading Rebecca and Emma. I didn't mean to finish reading two books that share names with women at the same time. In fact, I started Emma a lot earlier and it just dragged on, neglected on my ereader. I read Rebecca in about a week in hard copy.
Genia LukinAndrea wrote: "FINALLY finished The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt, after giving up on it a couple times and finally being stubborn enough to finish because it was the last of the 2010 added books I needed to read..."
I felt precisely the same way about it, Andrea, and Possession, also. I am glad to see I was not the only one.
Judith
I finally finished "The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis" by Saramago.
It was not long, but so s-l-o-w moving. I did as I almost always do though by rating it highly after I finished it and could see what the author was striving for and that the slow moving parts were essential to his craft.