Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion
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Which LIST book did you just start?
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Jul 11, 2010 06:07PM
I am reading Grapes of Wrath and listening to Anna Karenina. So far both are good. My coworker and I are trying to work our way through the 1001 books list.
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I'm reading sooo veeery slowly Djuna Barnes' "Nightwood."
I am enjoying Toni Morrison's magnum opus Beloved. Hard to put down!
I recently picked up V.S. Naipaul's The Enigma of Arrival again. I read the first part a while ago and put it aside to read something more fast-paced, but I found that his characters continued to tease my mind. His complex, brooding relationship to the Caribbean is intriguing to me, since I spent part of my childhood there. Ex Lit Prof
www.the-reading-list.com
Just picked up Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. I own the mini series put out by the BBC and really, truly love it so I have high hopes for this book.
K.D. wrote: "I am enjoying Toni Morrison's magnum opus Beloved. Hard to put down!"It's a good one!
Kristi wrote: "Anna Karenina. Just started. I've heard really great things. I'm hoping they prove to be true."I LOVED this book even at age 14...I had tried other Russian novels and had a hard time following them, but this was much easier for me. Tried the others again later and it was a little easier, lol
Shanika wrote: "I just started Jazz by Toni Morrison. Anyone have any thoughts on this book??"Jazz was just not one of my faves.
Amanda wrote: "Starting "My Antonia" because it's apparently about winter and I could use some mental snow images right now."LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!
Shardae wrote: "Just picked up The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, waiting on my copy of Invisible Man by Ellison and Under the Net. Any one have any reviews of The Jungle?"My first English term paper in h.s. Really enjoyed the book.
Lauli wrote: "Murdoch's Under the Net. I'll have to hurry to make it to the July discussion."How do the discussions work?
Jessica wrote: "K.D. wrote: "I am enjoying Toni Morrison's magnum opus Beloved. Hard to put down!"It's a good one!"
Beloved I believe is one of the best....
Shanika wrote: "I just started Jazz by Toni Morrison. Anyone have any thoughts on this book??"i enjoyed it. the narrative has the same improvisatory, rushed-and-then-relaxed-and-then-rushed-then-all-over-again feeling as the music of the book's title. the characters were very frustrating to me but the setting was not - it was wonderfully depicted. certainly one of morrison's lighter books in a way, although the narrative and themes are quite dark. for me, it was a quick and enjoyable read. i do prefer her heavier material, like the beloved Beloved.
Jessica that's encouraging thank you! I was a little nervous about it considering I knew that Tolstoy wrote War and Peace. I mean talk about intimidating, you know?
I'm reading Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre preparatory to Iris Murdoch's Under the Net (A.S. Byatt said that Under the Net is partly a philosophical quarrel with Sartre's Nausea so I want to find out what that means).
Elisabeth wrote: "Just picked up Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. I own the mini series put out by the BBC and really, truly love it so I have high hopes for this book."I loved it! It is just gorgeous. And I loved the mini-series too. I think the BBC combined Cranford and Mr Harrison's Confessions into one (Cranford) - Mr H being set in Cranford (I think - haven't read that story yet).
Just started reading Dispatches, and it might be the most depressing book I've ever read. It's not a novel (making it an anomaly on the list), and it's basically a litany of all the horrible things that went on during the Vietnam War. Seriously, no plot, no people, really, besides the author, just horror after horror. Not sure I can get through 280 pages of this...
Jessica wrote: "Amanda wrote: "Starting "My Antonia" because it's apparently about winter and I could use some mental snow images right now."LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!"
Believe it or not, "My Antonia" is not on any version of the lists. It is one of the omissions that surprised many Americans.
Suzanne wrote: "Eliza wrote: "I am loving A Prayer for Owen Meany...it is so beautifully written, I keep laughing and then crying. Can you be in love with a book??"I am in love with that book. I..."Yes, I fell in love with this book as well.Wow. I borrowed it from the library and had to buy a copy of it. My daughter is reading it now.
Believe it or not, "My Antonia" is not on any version of the lists. It is one of the omissions that surprised many Americans.Yeah, like me! I really loved it and being that it is one of Cather's more popular and well-known works (if not THE most well-known), I was a little floored when I first saw that it was excluded. Plus, her other better-known/beloved works such as Death Comes for the Archbishop, O Pioneers!, Song of the Lark, etc. were left off, but a moderately more obscure work, The Professor's House, was included. Weird. I never cease to be confused by the list. :)
Just started Under the Net by Murdoch, and on chapter 4 of The Jungle, which I am really enjoying. it is a little disturbing but in a good way, it makes you really think about what you are eating.
Kristi wrote: "Jessica that's encouraging thank you! I was a little nervous about it considering I knew that Tolstoy wrote War and Peace. I mean talk about intimidating, you know?"MUCH MUCH easier read. I actually got through War and Peace in high school, how I will NEVER know...but I really LOVED Anna Karenina, it wasn't as much of a chore. I re-read Karenina about once a year. It's one of my faves.
Kristi wrote: "Jessica that's encouraging thank you! I was a little nervous about it considering I knew that Tolstoy wrote War and Peace. I mean talk about intimidating, you know?"Anna is a bit of a different book from War and Peace. Although I think if you set aside all the "war" in War and Peace - both books really do share the same type of 'relationship saga' backbone. I love both. =)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Having a hard time getting into it though!
Started "The Life of Pi" yesterday. I think I'm going to like it.Still working on "The Good Soldier Svejk". It reads like a series of connected short stories, so it is easy to read it slowly.
Just started Allan Moore's Watchmen. Graphic for a change!
I didn't just start it as such, I started it last week so about half way through, I'm reading Anna Karenina. Its superb, I love it so far, as someone on a review for it said, its as though the characters are walking off the pages. I can't wait to read some more Russian Literature! War and Peace being one of them hopefully!
Logan wrote: "I picked up Haruki Murakami's Wind-Up Bird Chronicles at the airport last night and then spent an entire flight when I should have been sleeping sucked into the pages. One of the review snippets o..."Loved that book. Loved the author!
Just started The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. It's a book I've wanted to read for years.
Margaret Mitchell's Gone With The Wind. I am sure I will enjoy this!
Far from the Madding Crowd and I can tell I'm going to like it. Although I am expecting a depressing ending, a la Hardy.
Slaughterhouse 5...one of those books that I definitely should have read already at age 23 but never quite got round to it...
Christine wrote: "Karina wrote: "Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Having a hard time getting into it though!"Frankenstein was not my favorite. I had to force my way through it honestly."
I read it in 7th or 8th grade, along with Dracula, and I was riveted and terrified, but I think I was much more willing to suspend disbelief at that age. Without that, I imagine it's quite turgid!
Oliver Twist by Dickens - surprisingly funny and bleak.
I started Dracula a few days ago, and just noticed that it's on the list today. Lucky me! I'm about 30 or so pages in and so far it's absolutely riveting. Can't wait to see what happens next.
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis - so far pretty disgusted with characters' focus on designer labels and excess - I realize this is intended.
Just getting started on Anna Karenina
Tanya wrote: "Just getting started on Anna Karenina"Hope you enjoy it as much as I am.
Yas wrote: "Tanya wrote: "Just getting started on Anna Karenina"Hope you enjoy it as much as I am."
I hope so too! This is my first of the big Russian classics, so I am looking forward to seeing how it goes!
Yeah and my first as well. I'm about the 700 mark now though and its just hitting me how long the book is lol!
Lol! I'm only around the 40 page mark... Think I've got a bit of reading ahead of me yet!!
Haha yes you do! You'll be alright! Let us know what you think when your done!
I just started Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I read it a long, long time ago in another life but I thought I would check it out now that I am older and wiser (?).
Becky wrote: "American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis - so far pretty disgusted with characters' focus on designer labels and excess - I realize this is intended."Ha! You must be on page 3 or something. There is plenty more to be disgusted by in that book--I could barely read the last 40 pages.
I just started The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman: A Novel. It is going to be something of a list milestone for me once I'm finished...
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Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
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