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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Angelique
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Oct 28, 2015 01:32PM
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
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The Glass Bead Game, Hermann Hesse. Feels like I have climbed a mountain.
#96 The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, Douglas Adams. A quick and easy read that crosses off the final Adams book for me.
I read Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Compared to Ulysses I did not feel lost, but understood enough to keep reading.... but it was a little boring.
J_BlueFlower wrote: "I read Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Compared to Ulysses I did not feel lost, but understood enough to keep reading.... but it was a little boring."My sentiments exactly.
Back by Henry Green. First book by this author I've read. Pleasant enough read but not great.
What Maisie Knew by Henry James. Based on the storyline and summary that I read before the book itself, I had hope that this would be a good read. But James's style dashed those hopes within the first few pages and held them down until they could rise no more. The story was still there along with some interesting characters, but his writing so overwhelmed these positive attributes that I found it difficult to finish.
Moll Flanders - I initially enjoyed this book but after a while it felt like it was repetitive so struggled a bit till she decided to become a picpocket - I enjoyed it again until the ending, Moll Flanders repentant - yeah right... but overall it was reasonably good 3/5
Finished "Strait is The Gate", by Andre Gide. For some reason this book made me wildly crazy. The idea that you can't love God and a person too is just bizarre thinking for me
Far from the Madding Crowd - it was a slow read but I think that was more down to my busy schedule than anything else,really enjoyed it!
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. I really enjoyed this. It was very interesting to see the genesis for the Blade Runner movie, noting especially the differences. As usual, some very intriguing plot elements were left out of the film.
The Waves, Virginia Woolf short but difficult. Beautiful writing but lacking plot.
I just finished Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was great at times, but not consistently. The ending was just so-so. Still a good read though.
The Life and Death of Harriett Frean - more of a short story - I found some parts of it interesting, especially her thoughts and responses to getting older. sad that a choice she made as a young woman came to dominate how she lived and thought about her life.
Yesterday I finished Tess of the D'Urbervilles; I liked it but I was very very angry while I was reading (but I can imagine it was the effect that Hardy wanted to get...). 4 stars
Just finished The Passion by Jeanette Winterson. It takes place in a sort of fantastical version of the Napoleonic Wars that reminded me a bit of Italo Calvino or Marquez. The writing and atmosphere are great, but it bogged down in the middle with lots of Big Philosophical Thoughts (seemed to be trying too hard). It's a short read, though. 3 stars.
I've finished La Regenta by Leopoldo Alas. I felt it had lots of un-necessary tangents to the main story and could have been a couple of hundred pages shorter, but it kept me interested to the end. 4/5
Tyler wrote: "I finished A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth tonight. After two years of reading I am finally finished!"Did you enjoy it?
Oroonoko by Aphra Behn. Short read, just as interesting to read Behn's impressions of 17th century Surinam as for the slavery theme. 3/5
Linda wrote: "Just finished The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. What calm and poetic writing. I gave it 4 stars."Loved it! Thought it was beautiful!
Peter wrote: "Finished Of Mice and Men. Loved it a true classic."Agree
Carol wrote: "Finished the Shining, read it for Halloween. I try to read gothic or horror in October. The book went by rapidly, found myself glad my house has had no death in it. Don't really like this type of b..."Awesome! I'm looking forward to reading this
Just finished Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh and I don't know what I think of it! I haven't rated it yet- it's either getting a 2 or a 3 as I can't decide if I like it or not. I started to get more into it towards the end, it probably didn't help that I started and stopped reading it multiple times within reading other books and a lot of the times I was reading it I was sleep deprived, so really not sure!
Lady Chatterley's Lover - Hated it. Pile of misogynistic crud. 1/2 star because even though some of the writing wasn't too bad nothing could make up for how much I hated this book.
What Maisie Knew - An extremely messy divorce and confusing life seen through the eyes of a maturing child. Very interesting.3 1/2 stars
The Last of the Mohicans - Hmm, the story is relatively interesting but is let down by some pretty poor writing skills and a horrendous amount of racism and obsession with blood purity. At one point I thought it was going to be a complete wash but the ending was pretty good.2 stars
The War of the Worlds - The grandfather of a lot of modern scifi. Worth reading just for that. 3 stars
The Art of Fielding - This is a real bro's novel; all about male bonding and male past times. The only woman in it was pretty rubbish. Not a bad read but unfortunately I most enjoyed hearing about a more minor player and spent most of the book wanting him to show up again.3 stars
Candide - Humorous but it does cut a little close to the bone as all of the horrific events it portrays in such a light hearted manner are perfectly true. 3 stars
Herzog by Saul Bellow very well written but not my cup of tea. It's hard for me to relate to a middle aged Jewish man.
I finished We by Yevgeny Zamyatin a couple of days ago. It was an amazing read. I could not get over the fact that it was written in 1921 in Russia. It seems so contemporary. Clearly a precursor to George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.
Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Frankly I found it very disappointing and a struggle to finish.
The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho. My first Coelho, and it was definitely good but not entertaining, if that makes sense. It did not end like I expected it too though!
I just finished 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. It is broken down into 5 separate almost stand-alone parts which only slightly overlap in themes. Parts 1-4 were 2-3 star reads for me, but then Part 5 was much more intriguing and tied up quite a few loose ends and questions and helpt tie the rest of the book together (although I'm still left with many more questions) and made up for being puzzled while reading Parts 1-4. Part 5 was a 4+ star read. I'm still not sure how I would rate the book in its entirety.I also finished reading The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks. Although this book is highly rated and I expected to like it, it ended up being just not my thing. A bit too boring with all the descriptions of the games, and the descriptions of torture and sex was too much for my taste, at least in this particular book. I gave it 2 stars.
Just finished reading The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch.On the Guardian Newspaper 1000 Novels / Boxall's 1001 List of Books to Read Before You Die.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
One of my favorites, Teresa Dicentra!
I enjoyed it. Two of my favorite topics - plants and dystopia.
Christ Stopped at Eboli: The Story of a YearI think this is a case of the wrong book at the wrong time. I've been mostly bored with the lengthy descriptions of scenery and local characters- which really is what the whole book is!
My favorite part was the explanation of the title, which was the first chapter: Jen should have stopped at chapter 1!
Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
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