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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Dree
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Jul 31, 2016 12:28PM
Finished The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter last night. Quick and easy, 1001 Books describes it as Japan's oldest surviving work of fiction, as romance. To me it feels much more like a fairy/folk tale combo. The illustrations in this edition are amazing.
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Finished Agnes Grey. It's sweet and sappy yet somehow satisfying. List book #158 for me and my first Bronté.
The Thin Man - Noir really isn't my genre but I liked this enough to rate it 3 stars. It's very light hearted and hilarious with the amount of booze consumed - I can't remember if anyone actually ate during the whole book but they drank enough to drain a bar!
Fingersmith - I liked it but did struggle a bit with the pacing, found it a bit slow going at times.
The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. Lyrical and insightful, but it seemed to lumber and bog down under its' own eloquence at times.
Tarzan of the Apes - Too ridiculous, racist and ridiculously racist to appeal to me but it does have a fairly entertaining and fast moving children's story buried under all the nonsense. 1 1/2 stars
The Rings of Saturn by W.G.Sebald. Interesting concept but I just did not really get it.
I recently finished reading (and listening to) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.This was probably my first time reading this in 20 years. I have always loved this story. Romantic, strong female character, and a lot of gothic atmosphere!
The Pigeon by Patrick Süskind. An existential review of the otherwise bland and regimented life of Jonathan Noel brought on by the unwanted, unexpected intrusion of a feathered rat.
Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain honestly loved this book, it was one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever read!
Diane wrote: "Finished There but for the by Ali Smith."Oooh, that was one I wanted to read with our book club that reads through this list, but it's a little hard to come by! We just finished The Art of Fielding instead and I absolutely loved it!
Northanger Abbey - For probably the 10th time :-) Sometimes I just want to read a book I know and love.4 stars
Took a break from Against the Day to read The Elegance of the Hedgehog - a really quick read, it was a somewhat effective and interesting intro to philosophy, but the characters were very two dimensional and the story, particularly in the second half of the book, seemed implausible.
Cranford - this surprised me as it wasn't really a novel so much as a series of vignettes all strung together with a few characters being the common thread binding them.I liked it though and found it hard to decide whether it rated 3 1/2 or 4 stars.
I finished listening to Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote yesterday. Beautiful language, but not sure it was something I "needed to read before I die".
I finished The Crow Road by Iain Banks. It took me almost 2 weeks, but I really enjoyed it. 5*
Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates and The Driver's Seat by Muriel Sparks. Didn't really enjoy either! Glad they were more like short stories than novels.
Dispatches by Michael Herr. Very interesting look at the Vietnam War from a correspondent's view. I really likes it.
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3.5stars,
The Elegance of the Hedgehog ('12 list) 4 stars, and
Un mundo para Julius aka A World for Julius (also '12 list) 3.5 stars.
I liked The Elegance of the Hedgehog best of these three. I saw Jamie just posted on "Elegance of..." a few days ago and didn't like it so much. I listened to the audiobook and the readers probably enhanced it for me.
The Midwich Cuckoos - I picked this up and read it in a few hours as it's an easy read. Fairly predictable storyline arc once you understand the implications. The mysterious interference of the government and the treatment of women was rather annoying though. I don't think John Wyndham was prepared to really delve deeply enough into the psychological implications and how that would affect people - he barely brushed the surface.3 stars
Nicola wrote: "The Midwich Cuckoos - I picked this up and read it in a few hours as it's an easy read. Fairly predictable storyline arc once you understand the implications. The mysterious interfer..."Science fiction was a lot shorter back then. Wyndham is considered the creator of the ecological disaster novel. I recently listened to an audiodrama based on his book The Kraken Wakes adapted for radio by the mystery author Val McDermid. She did a really good job of connecting it with current knowledge of climate change.
It's not a list book, but I recently finished Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman. It's a lot better than I thought it would be. At times heartbreaking and at times very hard to read and uncomfortable. The world of the Deep South and such intolerance is foreign to me as I've lived in the Pacific NW since I was 3. I think it also gives you an idea of the ideas that Harper Lee wanted to present.
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it's a great book that has stood the test of time,given its subject matter..lol
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Great books and films sometimes explore uncomfortable topics. In time we can become less uncomfortable discussing those topics. Talking about cancer and homosexuality were considered taboo in the not-so distant past.
I finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I really enjoyed it and I loved the character perception of reality.
The Professor's House by Willa Cather. Slow starting, but picked up wonderfully in the last third of the book. 3.5 stars
Diane wrote: "Santa Evita by Tomás Eloy Martínez."What did you think of it'? Im about half way through and I've stalled.
Bel-Ami - enjoyable but i found him turning a little bit into a cardboard cutout villain. Still it was so well written that even through a translation it was a joy to read.3 1/2 stars
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What did you think of it'? Im about half way through and I've stalled."
I enjoyed it, although I did have to take frequent breaks from it. I loved the historical aspect of it and the magical realism. The meandering and lack of plot can be a bit frustrating, though.
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Rabbit, Run... and I didn't care for it much... now I have the next 2 in the series on order at the library so I can get them over with... wonder why they ask for 3 of the 4 in the series and not all of them
Diane wrote: "Finished The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. Picked this up on Audible's current 2 for 1 sale."I'll likely be reading that one this week
Saturday - Mostly enjoyable but I do have some sympathy for reviews which dismiss it as 'pretentious rubbish' which is unusual as I normally totally despise that sort of statement because I think it mainly translates to 'I didn't like it and as I don't want there to be any suggestion that I'm not somehow clever enough to understand it I'll make sure I call it pretentious'. Just say you don't like it. It's fine. No ones going to judge you if you don't like a book.Myself I found it a bit of a slog; I kept waiting for the book to actually start and each time I thought it was about to it ground to a halt again.
3 stars
The Butcher Boy - This was actually book #300 off the combined 1001 list so it's a milestone of sorts. It wasn't at all what I was expecting (I went off the cover and was expected a lighthearted comedy) and I probably should have tried to make #300 more of a well known classic, but, well, I didn't get organised enough.3 stars
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