Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion
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Which LIST book did you just finish?
Deliverance by James Dickey. This book was definitely scary/creepy/frought with adventure and danger. There are many great topics addressed in the book: man vs nature, man vs man, man vs himself. The prose is beautiful, I can easily see the influence of Mr. Dickey being a poet before writing this.
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This one is not on the 1001 list however, just on the one by The Guardian.
Just read "Empire of the Sun" this is my first JG Ballard book but it won't be my last. Great read.
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Rudin by Ivan Turgenev. A short and easy to read book to which I gave 4*.
American Psycho. I get that it made sense to detail the tortures in a deadpan, descriptive way since it fits the character. But it didn't make for fun reading.
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee. I couldn't put the book down when I started, although I wasn't as engrossed middle in the middle but the ending definetly made up for it. All in all I enjoyed this novel.
I just finished Wise Blood last night. I had seen the movie a while ago but found this a lot better. Dark and fun and brutal.
Broken April by Ismail Kadare. A really enjoyable read and a bit of an introduction to life in 1930s Albania.
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Just finished The Remains of the Day. So hauntingly good.
The English Patient - Not my sort of book at all. Too much of nothing happening with lots of flashbacks to nothing much happening. Exploring the human soul via supposedly dramatic love affairs just bores the **** off me when it's done in this way.2 stars
A Suitable Boy! 5 stars. Great great story, with just a few slow political chapters. Actually a very simple linear story, with lots of characters and places and things going on, all in just over 1 year of time. I am going to feel no guilt reading some nice short works from the list after finishing this one :)
Just finished The New York Trilogy. For the most part I was really into it. It was toward the end of the last book, I was jolted out of the story because I became annoyed with the main character.
The man of feeling. Didn't read anything about it before I started and so was thoroughly confused by the 'missing bits' until I got myself a bit better informed. Oops!
Katie wrote: "That's my next big book, after I finish Daniel Deronda. Although it looks daunting, I think it might be an easier read than I've anticipated. It seems to be broken up into small, manageable sections anyway. Looking forward to it :) "I think you'll find A Suitable Boy easier than Daniel Deronda (which is the only Eliot list book I haven't read, so I don't 100% know what I'm talking about). As long as you power through the political chapters (or maybe you'll like them) you're golden. It's current easy reading. Just lots of characters, but my copy had family trees in the front (not all the characters are in the families though!).
Watchmen - I thought this would be a fairly quick and easy read as I like graphic art but it was so intense that it took a few days. I wavered a bit over my rating, I liked it but it was a pretty depressing and grim read. In the end though it's really worth 4 stars even if only for its huge influence over the entire genre.
To Have and Have Not I gave it 3 stars because it seemed uneven. Some parts were brilliant; other parts seemed merely tacked on. Definitely not my favorite of his books.
Nicola wrote: "Watchmen - I thought this would be a fairly quick and easy read as I like graphic art but it was so intense that it took a few days. I wavered a bit over my rating, I liked it but i..."
Love that book. I like his take on League of Extraordinary Gentlemen too.
When I first started dating my Husband (way back when) he handed me two graphic novels to read. One was Watchmen and the other was Death by Neil Gaiman. Huge fan every since.
Love that book. I like his take on League of Extraordinary Gentlemen too.
When I first started dating my Husband (way back when) he handed me two graphic novels to read. One was Watchmen and the other was Death by Neil Gaiman. Huge fan every since.
The Scarlet Letter Religious fanaticism.... in America.... and what it does to people's brains. Words, words, words, and even more words. I was 18% into the book before the main story even started. 3 small stars.
To Kill a Mockingbird. Somehow I missed reading this in high school. Kind of mad at myself for waiting this long to read it because it was so good. An easy 5 stars.
Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre: Four stars--the quintessential book of existentialism. My mind is expanding!
Stranger in a Strange Land - I have very ambivalent feelings about this one. The first part of it especially was fantastic and it gripped me almost from the first page. It degenerated a far amount towards the end but for a good 2 thirds it was incredibly interesting and even the end had its very good moments. Unfortunately it was also appallingly sexist even for the time it was published, it was homophobic and the writer banged away on his own drum so obviously - there was no separation between the beliefs of the author and anything which came through in the book. Really really heavy beating around the head. I can see why it's such a seminal work but I think that it was a fantastic story which was greatly spoiled by Heinlein's obsession with sex and personal beliefs.
3 stars
/The Human Stain by Phillip Roth, great read.
Just finished The Blithedale Romance by Hawthorne.
Joseph Andrews / Shamela by Henry Fielding.Phew. 2 stars to Joseph Andrews. Be sure to read Pamela before approaching this one, as Joseph is meant to be her brother. And do yourself a favor and read Shamela (3.5 stars) too--it is actually funny, and only 50 pages.
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster. This was an odd set of stories but I do come away feeling that I want to read Don Quixote.
I finished House Mother Normal which was gratingly grim but good for something different, now onto A Visit from the Goon Squad which I had been avoiding as its so very new, but 100 pages in its a fast paced page turner. Who'dda thunk it?
Read Dracula - long overdue and I liked it more than I did Frankenstein. Also just finished The House of Mirth and have to say that I really enjoy Edith Wharton's work!
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I'm reading this now. Quite ..."
He had a bunch of novels listed in the original "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die", but was cut down to just The New York Trilogy and Moon Palace in the later edition. I just read The New York Trilogy and rated it 3 stars. Odd stories but they grip you in a way, like Murakami's. His wife is the writer Siri Hustvedt- I read one of her novels, "What I Loved" and liked it.
Finished Faces in the Water by Janet Frame. 4 stars—though I struggled with the first couple of chapters, I enjoyed it once I let myself accept the unreliable narrator and memoir-style writing. But it was still sad and disturbing.
Finished The Wonderful O by James Thurber. This is a very short novella, illustrated, that almost seems like a kids book. But a kid would likely struggle with many of the words. Fabulous wordplay and a singsong quality to much of the writing--I would love to see this performed live (I think it would make a great high school play). This might be a great one to listen to, if it is available on audio. I can see why it was left out of the latest 1001 edition though, it's cute and clever but not one of THE 1001 books IMO.
Luís wrote: "I've finished a couple days ago:The New York Trilogy
Fury
Northanger Abbey"
I love Northanger Abbey.
Northanger is different from her others as it is a satire of the gothic novels of authors like Mrs Radcliffe.
Under the Net by Iris Murdoch, not thrilled by it.
Luís wrote: "Kirsten *Dogs Welcome - People Tolerated" wrote: "Northanger is different from her others as it is a satire of the gothic novels of authors like Mrs Radcliffe."I never read Mrs Radcliffe before."
She was a popular "novelist" of Miss Austen's time (when novelist was a dirty word).
The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe. It was deliciously creepy - I'm going to read the other two stories by him on the list soon.
Jody wrote: "The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe. It was deliciously creepy - I'm going to read the other two stories by him on the list soon."I just did all of his from the list in a row...and then got so into him I ended up reading the entire collection of his short stories! He can create atmosphere so well in such few words...if that makes sense!?
I just finished reading The Shipping News - five stars, and I want to move to Newfoundland. Half because of the book, half because of Australian summers ;)
Elise wrote: "Jody wrote: "He can create atmosphere so well in such few words...if that makes sense!?"It makes complete sense! You can almost feel the 'gothicness' dripping off every word. I'm getting hooked on his short stories too.
I enjoyed reading The Tale of Genji and even though I have marked this as read, the edition I read is only part 1 of 6, I am interested enough to read the other parts which are free online. My review.
Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
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https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9... ended convincing me to give it a try. The book is tremendously well written with lots of word plays. I liked the first half best. After leaving Ramsdale I think the book was a bit long.
Pale Fire is on my to-read list now.