1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Challenge

[Sammy]

So technically is a re-read, but as I haven't read it in almost 30 years, and this was the first time reading the english translation, it kinda feels new, lol.

A lot of fun, but not my favourite Dumas by a long shot.

I also have a serious weakness for the 1993 movie... I mean, Oliver Platt owns that movie as Porthos. Kiefer Sutherland was particularly yummy in it, and there's Tim Curry hamming it up as the Cardinal. What's not to love? 😁

Also, the soundtrack by Brian Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting 💖

[Eldarwen]

The Color Purple by Alice Walker


I found this to be quite enjoyable. I mostly listened to this on audio with the book in hand because it was being read by Alice Walker herself and that just gave me a better feel for the book.

[Sammy]

I listened to the same version, I think. definitely worth reading/listening to.

[Sammy]

Very good read. Loved the narrative voice, and there's a surprising amount of levity here, considering the subject.

[Eldarwen]

I might have to give this one another go. It was a requirement for my finals but I never read the entire book because I just couldn't get through it at the time. I did see a very well-made play of it though that I enjoyed quite a bit.

Maybe, I really should give that book another chance. Required reading is often not the same when read outside of a school setting ;-)

[Eldarwen]

Forgot to mention that I read:



Short and thought-provoking. It was a silly endeavour in a way, and at the same time, not at all. And oh those sharks...

I remember watching the film with my mother when I was very young and some of the messages just going straight over my head haha.

[Sammy]

Hemingway would be happy about that E, as he always maintained there were no metaphors, messages or other hidden meanings to any of it, and it made him mad that people kept ascribing them to the book anyway!
The old man was an old man, the fish was a fish and the sea was the sea, lol.

[Eldarwen]

Haha, true!

[Sammy]

Not at all my cup of tea.

Hated the MC, strongly dislike the topic (drugs), and didn't find any of it the least bit funny.

But at least it was short 😆

[Sammy]

Has its moments, but if you require a plot in your books (especially the 1000-pagers!), this one may not be a good fit 😆

[Sammy]

Not bad, but not my favourite McCarty by a long shot.

[Eldarwen]

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

I really don't know what to make of this. I mean, it was a good book and I laughed quite a few times - I know I know - because the whole thing was just incredibly over the top and Patrick Bateman is so completely off his rockers that you can't actually take this seriously, and yet... there is an underlying current of truth to it all that is deeply unsettling.

[Sammy]

Eldarwen wrote: "
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

I really don't know what to make of this. I mean, it was a good book and I laughed quite a few times - I know I ..."

Believe it or not, but this one actually bored me! It was just a book of lists with some gore thrown in. 😆

If I hadn't read oh so very much horror in my teens, it may have gotten under my skin a little more, but as it was it didn't phase me. There were just the endless lists!

[Eldarwen]

The fashion lists did become a bit of a nuisance after a while.

I did like the musical intermissions however. And parties at Evelyn's. They were a blast!

[Sammy]

It was ok. I don't think Kafka is really my cup of tea, though I can still read him.

The more important question is:

What to read next for my 400th list book!?

[Eldarwen]

Better make it a good one for such a number! :-)

[Sammy]

And #400 was indeed a hit!

Took me a little while to get into, but really enjoyed it in the end (though not quite as good as The Sea, the Sea)

[Sammy]

was also pretty good.

Nothing much happens, but the writing is exceedingly good.

[Sammy]

Not as impressed with this one, but still ok. Just feel like I've already read this story so many times.

[Sammy]

Not bad, but not a patch on or

[Denise]

These are the ones I've read up to today: (first 100)
I am disappointed in the number I've read; interesting that I read ir re-read 7 of them this year, and plan to read three more (before I saw the list!)
1. 1001 Nights
2. Don Quixote
3. Oroonoko
4. Candide
5. The Vicar of Wakefield
6. Dangerous Liaisons
7. Sense and Sensibility
8. Pride and Prejudice
9. Mansfield Park
10. Emma
11. Persuasion
12. Northanger Abbey
13. Frankenstein
14. Last of the Mohicans
15. Oliver Twist
16. The Fall of the House of Usher
17. A Hero of Our Times
18. A Christmas Carol
19. The Pit and the Pendulum
20. The Purloined Letter
21. The Count of Monte Cristo
22. Jane Eyre
23. Wuthering Heights
24. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
25. David Copperfield
26. The Scarlet Letter
27. Moby-Dick
28. Walden
29. Madame Bovary
30. A Tale of two Cities
31. Silas Marner
32. Les Miserable
33. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
34. Crime and Punishment
35. Little Women
36. War and Peace
37. Through the Looking Glass
38. Middlemarch
39. Around the World in 80 Days
40. Far From the Madding Crowd
41. Huckleberry Finn
42. The Mayor of Casterbridge
43. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
44. Dracula
45. The Picture of Dorian Gray
46. The Turn of the Screw
47. The Awakening
48. The Hound of the Baskervilles
49. Heart of Darkness
50. The Jungle
51. A Room with a View
52. Howards End
53. The Age of Innocence
54. Babbitt
55. Siddhartha
56. The Garden Party
57. The Trial
58. The Great Gatsby
59. Mrs. Dalloway
60. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
61. The Castle
62. The Sun Also Rises
63. To The Lighthouse
64. Remembrance of Things Past
65. Orlando
66. All Quiet on the Western Front
67. A Farewell to Arms
68. Look Homeward, Angel
69. Brave New World
70. Tender is the Night
71. Gone With the Wind
72. Democracy
73. The Hobbit
74. Their Eyes Were Watching God
75. Of Mice and Men
76. Rebecca
77. The Grapes of Wrath
78. For Whom the Bell Tolls
79. The Little Prince
80. Cannery Row
81. 1984
82. The Catcher in the Rye
83. The Old Man and the Sea
84. Invisible Man
85. Lord of the Flies
86. The Quiet American
87. Lolita
88. The Lord of the Rings
89. Things Fall Apart
90. To Kill A Mockingbird
91. Franny and Zooey
92. A Clockwork Orange
93. Wide Sargasso Sea
94. One Hundred Years of Solitude
95. Play It As It Lays
96. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
97. Fear of Flying
98. Interview with a Vampire
99. The Shining
100. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[Denise]

Next 100:
101. Confederacy of Dunces
102. The Color Purple
103. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
104. The Handmaid's Tale
105. Less Than Zero
106. The Cider House Rules
107. Beloved
108. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
109. The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul
110. Remains of the Day
111. A Suitable Boy
112. Memoirs of a Geisha
113. The Poisonwood Bible
114. The Hours
115. Atonement
116. Choke
117. Middlesex
118. The Namesake
119. The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time
120. 1Q84
121. The Goldfinch
122. A Passage To India
123. The Razor's Edge

[Sophie, The other one]

I really enjoyed this one. The gentle commentary on the wealthy older English was the right level of acerbic for me.

[Sammy]

I adore Muriel Spark! She has that snarky streak while also providing some decent commentary on the world.

[Sophie, The other one]

I need to read the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie soon. Having read this, I recommended it to a friend (who isn't on here). It's been written with affection rather than just meanness which is sometimes missing these days.

[Sammy]

Sophie wrote: "I need to read the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie soon. Having read this, I recommended it to a friend (who isn't on here). It's been written with affection rather than just meanness which is sometimes ..."

That one is my favourite!

[Sammy]

Beautifully written, but did drag quite a bit for such a short book.

[Sammy]

Not my favourite of the French classics, but didn't dislike it. I enjoyed the first half a lot more than the second.

[Sammy]

Yaaaaaaaaawwwwwwn!

[Sammy]

Not bad, but a bit too heavy on the melodrama for my tastes.
I slightly preferred her Evelina

[Sammy]

' I enjoyed this more than .

Well written and an engrossing story.

[Sammy]

Much like the last Franzen, there is nothing new here. an ok read, but ultimately disappointing.

[Sammy]

For a fun and easy tick on the list, you can't go wrong with this one. Not many kids books on there, but I get why this one was.

[Sophie, The other one]

Started this prewheel and finished after. 3 month hiatus did it no favours.

[Sammy]

I can imagine it didn't! Not an easy read for such a short one.

[Sammy]

Speaking of not an easy read:



I really enjoyed the first 2/3 or so, but the final 500-ish pages were a slog!
It seemed to be much in the vein of ISOLT, but out of the 2, I'll take Proust any day!

[Sophie, The other one]

Well that's a monstrously long read!

[Sammy]

And it's not the longest I plan to read this year! 😆

[Sammy]

(a 10th of the length of the above book!!)

How to write a book about sex without actually mentioning sex.

MC Yorrick boinks his way across France and Italy in a flurry of veiled references, slobbering of hands and fading to black when alone with a woman.

Had its entertaining moments, but not funny enough or enough substance to be a favourite.

[Eldarwen]

I can't even remember if I read it for my uni course or if I just stopped after a few pages...

[Sammy]

Just finished

I was surprised to find that I rate this above average for Woolf (but still didn't enjoy it as much as Orlando).

But boy, these characters are an indecisive bunch! So much wavering back and forth!

[Sammy]

Started off pretty good, but tapered off pretty quickly. Not my favourite Bronte by far!

[Sammy]

Weird, as expected.

And I'm still not sure whether I actually like Kafka 😆

[Sammy]

Meh. Naipaul writes well, but he just didn't grab me at all with this one, and the addition of his MC beating up another (female) character - something he apparently also enjoyed himself in real life - kinda killed what little enjoyment I was getting from it.

[Sammy]

This was rather fun. fell off a little in the second half, but thankfully picked back up again.

I may well look out for the rest of the series.

[Sammy]

Really enjoyed this one. One of those books that has you questioning reality. Exceptionally well written, and the audio narration I listened to was extremely good too.

[Sammy]

I think I'm finally ready to call it:

I'm not a huge fan of Kafka.

[Sammy]

And not a fan of Pynchon either. Unfortunately I still have a couple of his books to go.

Here's hoping he'll surprise me. Paul Auster did, after an inauspicious first book, I've loved everything else by him I've read!

[Sammy]

Really enjoyed this one! Very engaging, and really brought the time and place to life.
The discussion on racism in post war London was interesting too.

[Eldarwen]

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess


Finally got around to this one. What a crazy ride. So very gory, and yet it could have been so much more detailed than it was! The MC Alex is a bit of a nutjob, not just because he's a sociopath. I think there is a lot more to his mental issues than that.

A tad scary how relevant this could be a century later...