Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion
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Which LIST book did you just finish?
Ha, I would have given up as well if I didn't have the option to skim when the author went into one of her "information dumps" mode.
Just finished "A Tale of Two Cities". It was a re-read, but since the first time was in 1998, it really doesn't matter. Just as good as the first time I had read it, even though I did read the Sparknotes along with it. Oh well.
In June I finally got round to reading To Kill a Mockingbird which I highly recommend to everyone doing the 1001 books read - and to anyone else for that matter. Another example of leaving it too long to read a classic. Also read Solaris which was ok but once again proved that I may not be cut out for sci-fi.
I just finished Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. It was good, but not my favorite Kundera
I just got finished with Andersonville. It was gritty, very true to life, yet was a good tale. Reminded me in a lot of ways of Gone With the Wind....I'd definitely recommend it even with it's daunting page count :)
Steven wrote: "I recently finished Walden. What a great book and full of great quotes.Steven"
LOL, I'm glad you enjoyed it. That was a read I HATED!!!
Mekki wrote: "I just finishedThe Blind Owl!"What did you think? I have that as an option for one of my upcoming reads.
Just finished Miss Lonelyhearts. As you will see in my review, not my favorite, but at least it was short. http://bethslistlove.wordpress.com/20...Don't think I had said that I have also recently read (and loved) The White Tiger. Review of that one: http://bethslistlove.wordpress.com/20...
Recently read All Quiet on the Western Front and Suite Française recently, and enjoyed both. So that's 32 from the combined lists.
Just finished Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. After a lot of intense reads, it was nice to read a light, funny book.
This week I have been on a roll for 'short' reads. Completed Candide; Brave New World; To the Lighthouse and Life & Times of Michael K. Struggled some with To the Lighthouse but then I am not a big Woolf fan. The others I thought were wonderful.
Just finished The God of Small Things. It was just okay for me. I had some trouble keeping the characters straight for a while, and it didn't have enough closure at the end for me.
Just finished Moll Flanders. Enjoyed it much more than I expected. Quick review is here: http://bethslistlove.wordpress.com/20...
I just finished The Invisible Man by Wells. It started out a bit cartoonish for me, but by the end had that dark and preachy "Wells" style I have come to enjoy.
Finished the Regeneration Trilogy by Pat Barker(World War I theme with characters such as Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen).Regeneration
The Eye in the Door
The Ghost Road
Excellent. Only two of the three books are on the 1001 books list but it is definitely an investment to read all three. Different and thought provoking and it even prompted me to look up different works, specifically the works of the war poets.
Denise wrote: "This week I have been on a roll for 'short' reads. Completed Candide; Brave New World; To the Lighthouse and Life & Times of Michael K. Struggled some with To the Lighthouse but then I am not a bi..."
I really like The Life and Times of Michael K. One of my favourite Coetzee books from the list so far.
Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. It was good and I thought the review in my copy of 1001 (2006 edition) was very accurate.
Shovelmonkey1 wrote: "Denise wrote: "This week I have been on a roll for 'short' reads. Completed Candide; Brave New World; To the Lighthouse and Life & Times of Michael K. Struggled some with To the Lighthouse but the..."
I would agree although I also enjoyed "Elizabeth Costella"
I just finished As I Lay Dying, by Faulkner. It's a complete page turner. That POOR family....it's very easy to read, & even though it's a tragedy, there are some laugh out loud things in it...
Lisa wrote: "I just finished As I Lay Dying, by Faulkner. It's a complete page turner. That POOR family....it's very easy to read, & even though it's a tragedy, there are some laugh out loud things in it..."So glad you appreciated a Faulkner novel and posted it here. So many people are afraid to read him because "The Sound and the Fury" has such a reputation for being difficult, but it really isn't...just unique for its time...Others have copied the style and approach since it was published, of course.
Apparently there is a new edition of The Sound and the Fury coming out with the print in different colours to denote the different periods of time discussed in the first section. Because of the stream of consciousness style of this, and the way the narrator moves back and forth through time and events, I myself found it quite difficult to get through, but with this new edition coming out I might give it another go. Apparently this is the way Faulkner originally wanted to publish it but wasn't possible with the printing technology at the time.
The Sound and the Fury was a 5-star read for me while As I Lay Dying was less enjoyable at only 4 stars.My reviews:
The Sound and the Fury
As I Lay Dying
I do not find As I Lay Dying on any of the lists - am I just not seeing it?
Lisa wrote: "I just finished As I Lay Dying, by Faulkner. It's a complete page turner. That POOR family....it's very easy to read, & even though it's a tragedy, there are some laugh out loud things in it..."I felt exactly the same way about it. I was not sure if anyone else would find it funny in places as well.
I have Light in August on my bookshelf to get to one day.
Arukiyomi wrote: "Nice review Elizabeth. I think someone from Alaska should have a pretty good sense of snow anyway!"I live in the southernmost part of Alaska, and we don't know much about ice and snow. The only interesting part of Smilla's were the small snippets about Greenlandic life - especially those where her mother was a hunter.
I just finished Tess of the D'Urbervilles, another tragedy...what on earth am I doing? LOL. Now, one of my high school classmates got into a memorable argument with one of the female teachers after she read it. The teacher maintained that Tess was a completely "bad" girl, & deserved what she got in the end. My friend felt that she was purely a victim of her circumstances, & a good girl at heart. I agree with my friend. I saw her situation with Alec as rape, not a consensual thing, & saw her repeated attempts to tell Angel the truth before she got married as proof of her good girl status. It's not Tess' fault that he didn't want to hear it. Now, Tess mother telling her to LIE I thought was surprising. It was a very open, frank, & honest representation of the way society was back then...
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Books mentioned in this topic
Troubles (other topics)This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen (other topics)
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Life of a Good-for-nothing (other topics)
The Singapore Grip (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Jorge Luis Borges (other topics)Juan Carlos Onetti (other topics)
Flann O'Brien (other topics)
Clarice Lispector (other topics)
Vladimir Nabokov (other topics)
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But when she's on point, the writing is exquisite. The scenes of Anselm Stern and his marionettes are just lovely and unforgettable. It made me wish I had seen his plays in life and that it wasn't such a lost art.