Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion
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Which LIST book did you just finish?
Will wrote: "Gravity's Rainbow.....3rd attempt, 10.5 months to wade through it though I confess that much of this was making a concerted effort to scan each page as I turned it. A bloated, turgid nonsensical pi..."It's surely not worth reading something if you hate it that much! After all, how much are you really going to remember? Not all books are for all people so cut yourself some slack :-)
Nicola wrote: "Will wrote: "Gravity's Rainbow.....3rd attempt, 10.5 months to wade through it though I confess that much of this was making a concerted effort to scan each page as I turned it. A bloated, turgid n..."of course I had to keep going so I could cross another book off the list! LOL
I hit my #100 (yay!) with Moby-Dick; or, The Whale - thanks for the recommendations on my big #100 celebratory read! It was most definitely a deserved classic...but SO MUCH WHALE!#101 was The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells - just ok for me.
Lily wrote: "I just finished Pride and Prejudice. SO HAPPY. It was all loveliness."There's a reason there are Austenites!! Have you read Persuasion? One of my favourite all-time reads.
Finished Caim by José Saramago. What a strange story. The book is the highlights of the old testament as witnessed by Cain - sometimes a bit exaggerated sometimes with ironical comments from the story-teller, who seems to think God is incompetent and lacks any sense of moral. Cain's conclusion is that God, lord of the skies, creator of the earth, is completely mad. Does it make sense that Abraham should sacrifice his son? Isaac asks if God would order his own son sacrificed too?
God was jealous about the Babel tower, so he stopped the building. Isn’t jalousie supposed to be a sin?
The writing is condensed. No paragraphs. Dialogue ends with a comma and the next persons line is indicated the a capital letter (yes, after the comma). It works, but the text seems a little breathless the same way as the road (that does not use commas at all.)
I wanted to like the book. Saramago did get the Nobel prize,... But really it was boring. Maybe it is better if you get provoked by the content. 2 stars.
Kirsten *Dogs Welcome - People Tolerated" wrote: "Elin wrote: "Dracula - listened to the Audible version, featuring Alan Cumming and Tim Curry, highly recommended, both the performance and the story itself. Scary, exciting and surpris..."No, I haven't listened to Christmas Carol (have read it though), but I just started listening to Journey to the Center of the Earth read by Curry, delicious!
I have finished Murder Must Advertise which I found ridiculously convoluted and consequently dull.1 1/2 stars
Also The Name of the Rose which was also pretty convoluted and dull in places but it had a lot of interesting information as well and it was an unusual idea for a story.
3 stars
Nicola wrote: "I have finished Murder Must Advertise which I found ridiculously convoluted and consequently dull.1 1/2 stars
Also The Name of the Rose which was also pretty convol..."
Have to disagree with you there! Proof that we are all different. Lord Peter dull? Bite your tongue!
Kirsten *Dogs Welcome - People Tolerated" wrote: Have to disagree with you there! Proof that we are all different. Lord Peter dull? Bite your tongue! "I found the book dull; Peter Wimsey I found ridiculous and annoying. Plus he was a total (male) Mary Sue.
Review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I barely started on Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture: A Novel of Mathematical Obsession by Apostolos Doxiadis before I finished it. (Goodreads has 220 pages in the English version. The Danish translation has 164 small pages). A nice little book. If the 1001-list tries to cover all human emotions this little corner of scientific obsession needed a book on the list and Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture suits that place well. Petros story is interesting, but his relation to his nephew is even more interesting and the many aspects of the Petros' test that keeps coming is well written. The language was good without being remarkable.
Don't be scared about the math. It is well explained with simple examples and there are no formulas. I knew most of the math already and was pleased to see nothing incorrect. (I so hate books there tries to be scientific, but the writer has misunderstood something).
I can recommend it if you want to venture a bit into the more undiscovered paths of the 1001-list. 4 stars.
Nicola wrote: "Kirsten *Dogs Welcome - People Tolerated" wrote: Have to disagree with you there! Proof that we are all different. Lord Peter dull? Bite your tongue! "I found the book dull; Peter Wimsey I found ..."
Well, we're all different (and I've never understood the whole Mary Sue thing). I found him charming and delightful. One of my favorite mystery series of all time.
I finished Madame Bovary today, a bit stilted but interesting and wonderful prose.
Read the Honorary Consul typical Greene, enjoyed it.
My first Ishiguro finished, An Artist of the Floating World. 3/5 I think I need to read more of his to appreciated this one better.
Mod
The Black Dahlia - No doubt very well written but it was just too violent, racist (in context with the book) and generally unpleasant for me to actually like it.The plot was also wildly improbable, like every other noirish sort of book I've read.
2 1/2 stars
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Excellently well written. “Show, dont tell” - Dostoyevsky is simple one of the best. As a writer he is neutral about his characters. They each paint their own portrait in what they say and do. While the story is easy to read there are a lot to understand. It seems to me that “crime” does not only refere to Raskolnikov, but to Svidrigaïlov, Marmeládov and Luzhin as well. Each criminal in some way. Each punished in some way. Come to think of it: Sonya too.
A great book. Will read more Dostoyevsky for sure.
Kirin wrote: "Finished In Search of Lost Time Vol. 1: Swann's Way. Six volumes to go. Probably won't get to them all this year."Does it make sense to read just vol 1? My local library has it as audiobook.
Libra by Don DeLillo. This is a fictionalized version of the events leading up to the assassination of President Kennedy. This novel came out the same year as On the Trail of the Assassins by Jim Garrison. While they both came to a similar conclusion they got there by definitelly different paths.
Kirin wrote: "J_BlueFlower wrote: "Kirin wrote: "Finished In Search of Lost Time Vol. 1: Swann's Way. Six volumes to go. Probably won't get to them all this year."Does it make sense to read just vol 1?"
But does it make sense to read just vol 1? Is it a finished book in itself? Could I read just vol 1 and be fine?
J_BlueFlower wrote: "does it make sense to read just vol 1? Is it a finished book in itself? Could I read just vol 1 and be fine?"I think so. I've only read Volume 1, and while I do plan to read the others at some point, I think the first one is self-contained enough to make sense on its own.
After more than two weeks, I finally finished Deep Rivers by José María Arguedas. I did not love it and it bogged down my reading for the entire 2 weeks. But now it's over. Too Lord of the Flies-esque for me. Lots of school boys jockeying for social standing at a seminary-type school.
Kirin wrote: "The first volume is self-contained. You can download it through Project Gutenberg. In fact, I'm fairly certain they only have the first volume for download. "Thanks for the link, but it is originally written in French, which I don't read well enough to read a book in. I don't want to read the French → English translation, since English is my second language, and still a barrier for understanding. It seems to me that reading a French book in English translation the meaning will have to go though two translations. I rather read the French → Danish.
Today I finished both The Purloined Letter and The Pit and the Pendulum, and enjoyed the second one much more. And I have now read all 3 of Poe's works on the combined list.
Mod
I suppose you read "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" previously? I enjoyed that and have "Through the Looking-Glass..." marked with a "W" to read some year soon. Did you like one of them better than the other?
Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar. Five beautiful stars. I can't believe I didn't read it earlier.
I just finished Jane Eyre. What a lovely read! And Charlotte Bronte depicted a hell of a woman character for her times.
It's a "must" read.
Cheers
Monica
I just fnished Milan Kundera's The Jokegreat read
In Chancery - wonderful; 4 stars. I think I enjoyed it even more than The Man of Property.I've already started on To Let so I'll soon have finished The Forsyte Saga trilogy.
Last night I finished Spring Flowers, Spring Frost. I can't quite explain why, but I really enjoyed it. I think part of it is because it was so different from his other book I read, Broken April, which I hated, that this was refreshingly engaging.I should say that even though I wanted to throw Broken April into a lake, having read it first helped my understanding of Spring Flowers.
I just finished The Path to the Spiders' Nests
Around the World in Eighty DaysLiking the really easy reading at the moment. Perfect for when you can't have full attention for too long. Such as waiting for the children to come out of clubs.
The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan is an odd little story about Colin and Mary that addresses the question of what you would do for someone you love. McEwan does a great job setting up the ending.
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marian Lewycka. A little disappointing if I'm honest.
To Let - The last book of the trilogy. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the previous two but it was still a very good book.3 stars
I just finished reading Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. A great piece of historical fiction if you are into that genre, which I am. It reminded me a little of Possession by A.S. Byatt with its letters and excerpts from poems and newspapers. A great read!
Tyler wrote: "I just finished reading Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. A great piece of historical fiction if you are into that genre, which I am. It reminded me a little of Possession by A.S. Byatt with its lett..."I love Possession. One of my favourite reads from the list. I shall have to read Alias Grace soon.
Possession is amazing <3I started reading Alias Grace a few days ago, I hope it will be brillant too (but I usually love Margaret Atwood)
Bunner Sisters - Very short but otherwise a typical Wharton. Due to its length it was a little lacking in substance I thought.3 stars
Also I have finally finished Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady - which, as it is the longest novel written in English, it took me a fair while. It would have been quicker but the last section dragged considerably. If I ever read this again (not really likely I don't think but you never know) I will skim read the last quarter rather than feeling obligated to plod through it word for word.Anyway, I did actually enjoy it overall but the eponymously named heroine was incredibly annoying a lot of the time (especially towards the end).
I'm pleased to be done with it as it's been holding up a few books which I can now get around to finished off as well.
3 stars
The Awakening. An early feminist story about soaring above the social norms of the late 1800s to find passion and fulfillment.
There But For The by Ali Smith. After almost three years (started Nov 2013) I've finally gone and finished it. Don't lose momentum with this one.
I finished Kristin Lavransdatter a couple days ago. What a great family saga! I thoroughly enjoyed it and rated it 4.5 stars.
Exercises in Style An absolutely wonderful little book. I read the Danish translation. A very short story is told in 99 different ways and styles. Apparently it was first published in 1947. It felt much more recent. Maybe a bit 1960-1970 modernistic/experimenting. Highly recommended to anyone who like experiments. It is not hard to read, sometime quite funny, but read it slowly. 5 stars – my first five star read for a while.
Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
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Yes. I feel slightly less intimidated by Ulysses now. Slightly.