James Mustich's 1000 Books to Read Before You Die discussion
Which One of the Thousand Are You Reading Now?
We never did start the thread for books that we thought should be considered going forward.Fatelessness, by Imre Kertész, was a singular look at the Holocaust, I thought--it seems to have failed to meet some people's expectations because the narrator refuses to look at his experiences in the same manner as those from the outside looking in are used to. To me, it was a book that would lend itself to a lot of discussion about the way we all incorporate experience into our lives, how we survive them, and what they mean to us personally.
I read Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.It is on the reader recommended list of books by reader Keith Clifton. Thanks for the recommendation, Keith.
It is a very good look at how the world was shaped by germs, then guns and steel in most parts of the world except China.
It shows how many peoples stayed hunter-gathers because there were none of the 56 large seeded grasses or the depletion of animals that could be domesticated.
And it goes on to show why the Mediterranean was considered the Fertile Crescent: it has 32 of the 56 large seeded grasses including wheat, barley, pea, chickpea, lentil, flax as well as 4 of the 5 most important domesticated animals: goat, sheep, pig, and cow. Because of this they could create a balanced diet where others had little or no large mammals to domesticate. There was nothing to prevent the food production from spreading north. There was no desert like in Africa and between the US & Mexico.
All in all a very good book
I finished the Odes of Horace. A very nice book of poetry. I'm glad James Michie translated it into English. He really kept the poetic animation very readable.
It makes me see why James calls him the Father of modern poetry and says "In their combination of conversational address, verbal and aural intricacy, and profound thoughtfulness, the Horatian Odes represent the archetypal inspiration from which our tradition of lyric poetry descends."
I finished "A Coffin for Dimitrios" by Eric Ambler.I really liked the well written spy novel.
I read the Time Quintet my Madeline Le'Engle:A Wrinkle in TIme
A Wind in the Door
A Switfly Tilting Planet
Many Waters
An Acceptable Time
I had never heard of this author until I read James' book. I'm really surprised my mother never told me about these books when I was young because I have always loved to read.
Books I read from Jan 1-15 Shakespeare's Henry IV Pt 1 Henry IV Pt 2 and Henry V. I finished the histories
Jules Verne Journey to the Center of the Earth. A great book I never read. I had only watched the movies. I like the book better.
Arthur Miller The Crucible and Death of a Salesman Both good plays
Ernest Hemingway The Sun Also Rises. Good book.
Tim Wynne-Jones Trilogy: Zoom at Sea, Zoom Away, Zoom Upstream. All very cute. I read them to my Mom,
Zora Neale Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching God. An excellent look at the life of a Southern Black woman.
George Orwell Animal Farm. Reread-still a classic.
Louis Ferdinand Celine Journey to the End of the Night. Too angry, depressing and satiric for my tastes.
Erich Maria Remarque All Quiet on the Western Front. An excellent book on soldier's perspective of war.
William Golding Lord of the Flies. A good look at how society can fail and the darkness that is in each one of us that can let evil take over.
Nathaniel Hawthorne The House of the Seven Gables A classic.
Jane wrote: "Books I read from Jan 1-15 Shakespeare's Henry IV Pt 1 Henry IV Pt 2 and Henry V. I finished the histories
Jules Verne Journey to the Center of the Earth. A great book I never rea..."
That is a very impressive list.
Janet wrote: "Jane wrote: "Books I read from Jan 1-15 Shakespeare's Henry IV Pt 1 Henry IV Pt 2 and Henry V. I finished the histories
Jules Verne Journey to the Center of the Earth. A great boo..."
Thanks, Janet
Reading the Guns of August and Slaughterhouse 5.
Jane wrote: "I finished reading the Hunger Games trilogy by Susan Collins. I was looking for some DVDs to check out of the library and saw the Hunger game DVDs.
So I checked out both the books and the DVDs.
..."
A prequel is coming out later this year.
I read from Jan 16-31Ernest Hemingway A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway For Whom the Bell Tolls
Danielle Steel Accident
Herman Melville Moby Dick audio with Frank Muller as narrator. James recommended this as one of 12 terrific audiobooks and it really is. You could almost feel the struggle between man and sea as if you were part of it.
Aldous Huxley Brave New World
Currently reading The Three Muskateers. I am 3/4 done
I finished The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.
I liked Monte Cristo better than 3 Musketeers. That was really a surprise to me but I couldn't put it down even though it was over 1200 pages. I turned my dentist onto it. He doesn't have a lot of time to read but drives over an hour a day so I recommended an audio book to him.
Jane wrote: "I read from Jan 16-31Ernest Hemingway A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway For Whom the Bell Tolls
Danielle Steel Accident
Herman Melville Moby Dick audio w..."
I actually read, and loved, Moby Dick in my early 20s. I had no idea there was an audio, and Mueller is one of my favorite readers! i need to find this.
Thank you for posting.
Reading Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens. I love me some Dickens. This is one I did not know about.
Carol wrote: "Reading Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens. I love me some Dickens. This is one I did not know about."Do you know about Barnaby Rudge, Christmas Tales, Little Dorrit, Our Mutual Friend, The Old Curiosity Shop, and The Pickwick Papers that are also by Charles Dickens?
Jane wrote: "Carol wrote: "Reading Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens. I love me some Dickens. This is one I did not know about."Do you know about Barnaby Rudge, Christmas Tales, Little Dorrit, Our Mutual Frie..."
I have read a lot of Dickens. This is probably the only one I had never heard of before. I am almost done. 37-hour audiobook, but I listened a lot over the last two days. It is a lesser-known gem that Dickens wrote.
Kandice wrote: "Jane wrote: "I read from Jan 16-31Ernest Hemingway A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway For Whom the Bell Tolls
Danielle Steel Accident
Herman Melville Moby..."
Read and loved Moby Dick in your early 20s! Now that is truly impressive!
James wrote: "Bryan wrote: "Started Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster by Svetlana Alexievich This is going to be a difficult but worthwhile book, I can see that alread..."
I really loved this book. It was heartbreaking and made me a bit mad!
Kandice wrote: "Jane wrote: "I finished reading the Hunger Games trilogy by Susan Collins. I was looking for some DVDs to check out of the library and saw the Hunger game DVDs.
So I checked out both the books an..."
A prequel! Oh wow. I am excited about this. I loved those books. I had an opportunity to be an early reviewer of her book way back when, and I passed it up! I laugh about that now.
I just finished The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley. I read Parnassus on Wheels in December. I loved both of these so much! Roger Mifflin is surely one of the most memorable book characters I've ever met and his wife, Helen, is a perfect companion for him. I have a little side hustle in which I try to introduce people to the right books for them, so Roger's speeches about reading and books delight me. I can easily imagine re-reading these on the regular.
Karen wrote: "I just finished The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley. I read Parnassus on Wheels in December. I loved both of these so much! Roger Mifflin is surely one of the most memorable book characters ..."So glad you discovered them. You might be interested in reading this about the two books: https://medium.com/@jamesmustich/book...
I'm reading Hans Christian Andersen The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories; translated by Erik Christian Haugaard and published by Anchor Folklore Library. It has 156 Fairy Tales and Stories in it.
I just finished Hans Christian Andersen The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories.I loved the Ugly Duckling and The Princess and the Pea as a child. One I had never read but found very interesting was The Evil King. It is also published as The Wicked Prince. I really enjoyed reading all of these. So many I had never heard of before but they were exceptional.
Now I'm working on Plutarch's Lives. This will take quite a while. I'm only reading 1 person's life per day and on the second day also reading the comparison of the Greek and Roman lives.
Has anyone else read this book?
Jane wrote: "Now I'm working on Plutarch's Lives. This will take quite a while. I'm only reading 1 person's life per day and on the second day also reading the comparison of the Greek and Roman lives.
Has anyone else read this book?..."
No, but it's been on my get-to-it-as-soon-as-I-can list for about ten years. Good on you for starting it!
Jane wrote: "Now I'm working on Plutarch's Lives. This will take quite a while. I'm only reading 1 person's life per day and on the second day also reading the comparison of the Greek and Roman lives.
Has an..."
Yes, I read it years ago.
I read the Chronicles of Prydain Series by Lloyd AlexanderThe Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain
The Book of Three
The Black Cauldron
The Castle of Llyr
Taran Wanderer
The High King
Still working on Plutarch's Lives
Confession time: I had planned to start The Power Broker after Easter. I've owned a copy of the book for 20 years and I also purchased the audio version to listen to during my commutes and help me make progress each day on the 1300? page book. But, of course, I'm not commuting now and I just can't find the energy to begin. The beauty of books is that they can wait. For now, I'm enjoying shorter books with strong plots. Next up on the 1000 books list might be Barbara Pym's Excellent Women. Oh, and I did read Abel's Island in March just as I started social distancing.
Karen wrote: "Confession time: I had planned to start The Power Broker after Easter. I've owned a copy of the book for 20 years and I also purchased the audio version to listen to during my commutes and help me ..."Just a note of encouragement re The Power Broker: it's very suited for a leisurely and extended read, since it's written in discrete segments, and Caro always rehearses relevant bits if an episode is picking up where something left off many pages back. Which means you can pick it up and put it down over the course of several months and never feel at sea. Then again, Excellent Women is just that, excellent!
Mod
Wish me luck! 🤞🏻 ☘
Mariella, You're reading it in Spanish? Good Luck.
I can't wait for the library to reopen so I can request some more books.
Jane
Mod
You're reading it in Spanish? Good Luck.
I can't wait for the library to reopen so I can request some more books.
Jane"
I'm reading it in Italian, since I'm Italian! I'd read it in French to appreciate Proust's very style of writing, if I were more confident of really understanding it, but I'm afraid I wouldn't fully grasp its beauty... 😔
Reading The Plague by Albert Camus. Seems fitting.
I finished reading A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.I would never read this again. The hidden violence is shocking. It was kind of prophetic. Kids do some of that stuff today.
He was bad, and did really bad things but I really disliked how the men who wanted to use him as a living witness to help them overthrow the government put him in so much pain playing that music that he jumped out the window.
I didn't really care for all the weird slang Burgess used either. There was just too much of it for my taste.
A couple of the daily calendar entries have hit at exactly the right moment. Abel’s Island was one just after the start of social distancing and now it’s The Grand Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux. I read about it this week in the 1000 Books daily calendar and knew I would love it. I started it today and I’m happily caught up in it. Good choice right now as it may be awhile before we can travel abroad again.
Karen wrote: "A couple of the daily calendar entries have hit at exactly the right moment. Abel’s Island was one just after the start of social distancing and now it’s The Grand Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux. I..."I haven't heard of the daily calendar entries. What is that about and how do I find it?
James published a page a day paper calendar for 2020 and I suspect that it is this which is being referred to.Ali Smith’s Artful was this past weekend’s book suggestion, but there are book quizzes etc, as well as book suggestions.
Carlton wrote: "James published a page a day paper calendar for 2020 and I suspect that it is this which is being referred to.Ali Smith’s Artful was this past weekend’s book suggestion, but there are book quizzes..."
Thank you. Yes, I was referring to the page a day calendar for 2020. I received one as a gift this past Christmas and I'm enjoying it.
Finished Moby Dick. This was a perfect read during quarantine time. Melville keeps the Chapters short and the tension slowly builds and his writing style is amazing. It's a part of Americana when whaling was popular. Five Stars.
James Mustich's 1000 Books to Read Before You Die
Books mentioned in this topic
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage (other topics)Hons and Rebels (other topics)
Master of the Senate (other topics)
Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934-1941 (other topics)
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Jessica Mitford (other topics)William L. Shirer (other topics)
William Gaddis (other topics)
Bret Easton Ellis (other topics)
David Quammen (other topics)
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This is going to be a difficult but worthwhile book, I can see that already"
It's curious in every sense of the word, and very powerful.