UK Book Club discussion
The Dusty Book Shelf Challenge
>
Revised Dusty Bookshelf Challenge 2025
Mod
I did enjoy reading The Bell Jar. It is beautifully crafted by Plath. I've read that is almost autobiographical, perhaps..."
Glad you enjoyed The Bell Jar, Paul. I thought it was great.
I'm about halfway through Indignation and it's very good, although not quite on the same level as The Human Stain or American Pastoral, which I think are Philip Roth's best.
Mod
For July we'll be reading number 3 on our to-read list/shelf.
I've just checked my list and my no 3 is In a Free State by VS Naipal, which I put on my to-read list in November 2009!
Luckily it's short (256 pages), so I hope I can play catch up and finally read my dusty book for May, Of Human Bondage, which I didn't have time to read last month...
What's number 3 on your list/shelf?
Liz wrote: "I've just spun the wheel to select the next number for our Dusty Bookshelf Challenge....For July we'll be reading number 3 on our to-read list/shelf.
I've just checked my list and my no 3 is [bo..."
[book:Gideon's Press|709542] by J.J. Marric (Gideon #19) It's been on my bookshelf since 2010.
I've got The Seven Husbands od Evelyn Hugo on mine. I've been wanting to read that for ages! although I'm struggling to finish this month's book, Butter. other things have taken over!
Oooh lovely. Mine is The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde. It has been winking at me from the shelf these last few weeks
Mod
Paul, I hope you enjoy The Picture of Dorian Grey - I certainly did. :)
I have my books in alphabetical order so number 3 is The Lost past of Billy McQueen. By Nell Alexander. I read another book from the Author called the vanishing of Margaret Small.
My first reading of Picture of Dorian Grey and what a joy. The prose is loaded with so much fact and fiction it is difficult to separate the two, other than the painting. Was this novel Wilde's attempt of sorting out on paper his own world that was gradually building walls around him. Or was it the beginning of his genius period, one that could never have continued with or without Reading.
Mod
Mod
Mod
For once I wish I'd known a little more about it before I started. I was just getting to know one set of characters, before being abruptly thrust into a new location and new characters. This has now happened four times and I don't think they're going to link together, they are so disparate. The writing's very good and the observations are sharp, but it's quite random.
Mod
It came up with #10, which for me is very funny as currently my number 10 is Of Human Bondage by W Somerset Maugham - the one I didn't manage to read three months ago (the book's so long) - the fates really want me to read this book!
What's number 10 on your to read list?
Mod
My 10 is The Information by Martin Amid
I read #10 on my list already... A Wycliffe mystery.
Mod
That means your number 11 is now your number 10 ;)
Hello just joined this group. lovely idea! Mine is “Call me by your name” by André Aciman. Not seen the film either so excited for this one.
Mod
Mod
Liz wrote: "Hallelujah! I have finally caught up with the Dusty Bookshelf Challenge and finished 'Of Human Bondage'. It was good, but very long. If you've never read Somerset Maugham but want to have a go, I'd..."Congratulations, Liz.
Well I finished Martin Amis' The Information. Very much like London Fields. Overly written and convoluted. His story is hidden by his need to be seen to be clever on the page, ending with long strings of words that leave the reader bored. If he was trying to be better than his father he had a very long way to go.
Mod
Liz, at the moment I cannot understand what all the hype was about around Amis. I have a few more of his to read including Rachel Papers and Zone of Interest, if they follow London Fields and this then I'm out. I need the shelf space anyway😀
Mod
Mod
It's Number 47!
Remember, that with a spin of 47, books no 4 or no 7 also qualify.
Scrolling down my to-read list, my #47 is The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril which I remember wanting to read because the title made me laugh. No surprises that it's a tribute to the pulp crime novels of the 40's & 50's. Fingers crossed it's as good as its title... the cover's pretty good too ;)
What has come up on your list?
Well would you credit that. Number 47 is A Clockwork Orange. I was going to choose that for my Cult/Chemical pick. I will have to go and have another look on my shelf now.
Mod
I know I should but I just can't make myself do it😐
My number 47 is The Marriage by K L Slater, which I added to my shelf in 2021. And it's also currently free on Kindle Unlimited which is a bonus! :-)
Mod
The stars are aligned ;)
Mine will be Cargo of Eagles
by Margery Allingham (Albert Campion #19) It's been dusting my shelf since 20123.5 stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
47 for me is Nicolas Sparks’
Counting Miracles
So I’ve requested the library audio and signed out the ebook to begin in the meantime ;))
Mod
by Margery Allingham (Albert Campion #19) It's been dusting my shelf since 2012"I have never read Margery Allingham, although she's on my to-read list. Let us know how you get on, Bill.
This will be my first time participating in a GR challenge. Having checked my TBR list, I'll probably be picking up one of these 3 books: 47 - The Last Great Australian Adventurer: Ben Carlin's epic journey around the world by amphibious Jeep, by Gordon Bass;
4 - We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin; and/or
7 - For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway.
Was super tempted to reshuffle the list but a challenge is a challenge.
Mod
47 - The Last Great Australian Adventurer: Ben Carlin's e..."
Welcome Sheska, glad to have you with us ;)
Ooh! For Whom the Bell Tolls is good, and I also have We buried somewhere on my dusty shelves waiting to be read... Decision time.
Cheers, Liz. I might have to do eeny, meeny, miny, moe to pick the first one :)
Liz wrote: "Bill wrote: "Mine will be Cargo of Eagles by Margery Allingham (Albert Campion #19) It's been dusting my shelf since 2012"I hav..."
Will do. Have you ever watched the TV series with Peter Davidson?
Mod
by Margery Allingham (Albert Campion #19) It's been dusting my shelf since ..."No, I never did see it. The one on my to read list is The Tiger in the Smoke (Albert Campion #14). Maybe I'll get around to it when we next do crime for the genre challenge....
Mod
The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril is proving hard to find - it's a book that's been on my to read list forever, but I don't actually own a copy and it's not in my local library... I'll see how much the ebook costs... If not, I'll revert to either #4 (The Castle of Otranto) or #7 (William Blake by Peter Ackroyd) from my list...
Mod
How is you're #47 going?
In the meantime, I will go ahead and spin the wheel for next month's number...
Mod
It's Number 65
So look down your shelf/list and find book #65. If you don't have 65 books on your to-read list (lucky you!) you can read #6 or #5
My #65 is The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, but looking at the blurb - Paris nightlife, bullfights in Spain - I have a feeling I have already read it... Then again, I've also read about Hemingway and, as he experienced those things himself, I may be confusing fiction and non fiction!
What's your #65?
oh. Number 65 is The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas. That is going to be interesting. All I know is from the 60-70s heavily dubbed children's series on BBC and that it was funny.
Mod
That'll keep you busy, I think it's around a 1,000 pages! Great stuff though, lots of fun.
oh yes I forgot all about that one Liz. good old Olly Reed
Mod
“A Pernod for me too.”
Pernod is a greenish imitation absinthe. When you add water it turns milky. It tastes like liquorice and has a good uplift, but it drops you just as far.
Mod
I really enjoyed The Three Musketeers, a proper ripping yarn.
Liz wrote: "I've made a start on The Sun Also Rises. If you were to take a drink every time a character had one, you'd be sloshed by the end of chapter one:“A Pernod for me too.”
Pernod is a..."
I do like Hemingway, his prose is so stripped down and perfect
UK Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Trial by Fire (other topics)Burmese Days (other topics)
Pet (other topics)
Pet (other topics)
The Three Musketeers (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Frances Fyfield (other topics)Jefferson Bass (other topics)
Margery Allingham (other topics)
Margery Allingham (other topics)
Margery Allingham (other topics)
More...
I did enjoy reading The Bell Jar. It is beautifully crafted by Plath. I've read that is almost autobiographical, perhaps it is, maybe that is a conflation of two separate events.
Is Plath the Joan character or Esther or none at all? I had images of Mad Men, Breakfast at Tiffany's, very middle America with country clubs and skiing holidays and the urge to get to Europe.
Plath's world building is excellent, some nice details about New York's fashionable and unfashionable sides.
Perhaps more could have been made of the mental health aspect of the characters, I felt that in many ways this was the weakest part of the novel, yet it was the central theme.
Regardless, the story is well written and well told. It obviously carries a great deal more weight with the death of Plath just a few weeks later. It raises the question whether this book would be as mythologised and revered if Plath had continued to live. I'm not sure. But I do know it was an enjoyable read.