Which LIST book did you just finish? Showing 151-200 of 7,922

[YorkshireSue]

Just finished Mrs Dalloway and am racing through The Hours! Totally love it! Both were inspired reads after watching the movie The Hours and I'm enjoying reading the two books so close together.

[Jennie]

I read The Hours about 4 years before I read Mrs. Dalloway. I wish I had read them closer together, but I was intimidated by Virginia Woolf (why???). I thoroughly enjoyed Mrs. Dalloway, though I kept picturing her looking like Meryl Streep. I am reading To the Lighthouse now, and I just love it. I really appreciate Michael Cunningham's skill in writing The Hours as an homage to Dalloway. The movie didn't do the book justice.

[Yelena]

Gabriel's Gift - Hanif Kureishi. Didn't like it as much as Buddha of Suburbia. Found it to be rather bleh.

[Cathy]

Hi -- I just joined this group! I finished "The Country Girls" by Edna O'Brien yesterday. It was excellent, and I'll definitely seek out the other two books in the trilogy. Her writing, and her characters, are just so rich and vivid.

[Tim]

I haven't read any of Edna O'Brien's books yet, but heard an interview with her on BBC's World Book Club. She was interesting.

Tim

[Smarti]

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.
Nos, I really don't know what to think about this collection of short-stories disguised as a novel. It certainly is clever but also very show-off and maybe shallow. Did anyone of you read this book? If yes, I'd be very much interested in what you think of it. I gave it three stars but I also could have justified two, five or ten... very odd!

[mara]

Never Let Me Go was so good 3/4 of the way and then then it was like the book that could never end - a little anticlimatic

[Sarah (Ceekayy)]

Dracula by Bram Stoker

[Ashleigh]

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - can't say that I enjoyed it as much as I thought I would based on all the hype.

[Hashi]

On Beauty, and Aesop's Fables.

[Yelena]

Dead Air by Iain Banks - I rather enjoyed this one and found out that Banks is also a prolific sci-fi author when the man of the house wondered aloud why I was reading his guilty pleasure sci-fi. We checked it out and Banks does both.

[Smarti]

Jonathan Franzen: the corrections.
Rather good, 19th century story-telling and engaging characters.

[Jen]

Just finished On Beauty. Three stars.

[Barbara]

Ashleigh,

I started Lolita a few weeks ago, and I couldn't get into it. I thought it was just me. I'll probably try again some other time, but like you because of the hype I expected I would be drawn into it easily.

[Adam]

A Modest Proposal...28 down, 973 to go

[Rebecca]

The Music of Chance by Paul Auster. Review pending,but I wasn't impressed.

[Tim]

The Lambs of London by Peter Ackroyd and The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble

Maybe I wasn't in the mood, but I wasn't too impressed with either of these books

Tim

[Emma]

New York Trilogy by Paul Auster. It's a series of three stories with great character descriptions, but the plots all left me a little confused in the end. Has anyone else read this?

[Yelena]

Tim - I read those two quite near one another and must agree with you - I found them decidedly average (well average might be stretching it, I found The Red Queen both boring and poorly written).

Emma - to be honest, I read the New York Trilogy over 15 years ago and loved it at the time, but I haven't read it since (and the books we like as teenagers aren't always the same as those we enjoy as adults). I remember, though, being impressed by the type of storytelling Auster was engaged in (something I think has completely left his writing of the past 10-15 years).

[aylex]

"To kill a mockingbird" by Harper Lee...
55 read, 946 to go :)

I liked this book a lot, seeing everything from the eyes of a child.

The book shows the schizophrenic nature of people, when it comes to judging their own actions opposed to those of others.

[Kelly]

Never Let Me Go....now I'm in the middle of both Atonement by Ian McEwan and Rebeeca by Daphne duMaurier

[mara]

Hi Kelly. Which do you like best?

I just finished The Cement Garden myself (McEwan). Guuess it was his first....couldn't help but think he was obviously trying to get noticed. Still - I couldn't put it down. Wonder how the publishing date for Flowers in the Attic lines up with it.... similar themes. Or maybe it was just a 70s thing. Stunt or not, though, Mc still has my heart.

[leyla]

Azazel by Isaac Asimov

[Virginia]

just finished giles goat boy by john barth. i liked the floating opera, but really didn't like this one. and normally i'm so into postmodernism!

[Cairnraiser]

Recently finished "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote, and found and borrowed a new edition of "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee in my local library while I was on the last pages of "In Cold Blood".

When I'd finished "In Cold Blood" I looked it up on Wikipedia and found that Capote and Harper Lee had been childhood friends and travelled together while Capote researched "In Cold Blood".

[Charity]

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (a while back, but I don't believe I posted) and Mansfield Park, also by Jane Austen

I'm now taking a little break for some contemporary fiction because Mansfield Park really did me in.

[Hashi]

"Everything You Need" by A.L. Kennedy. I doubt I would ever have come across this author without this list. I thought it was well-written but I never really gelled with the "near-death" motivation of the writers on the island. I don't think that was presented convincingly. But I found it beautifully visual; I could really imagine the island and its beauty. A good read.

[Stewart]

Read and reviewed The Hour Of The Star by Clarice Lispector. I didn't realise until a few minutes ago that it was even on the list. So a bonus book to tick off.

[Laura]

Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor

[Dana]

Less Than Zero, by Bret Easton Ellis.

SOOOO depressing. This one kinda hit home, since it's about a similar peer group to the ones I went to high school with. Makes you realize that life shouldn't be wasted.

[Anne]

Just finished The Red Queen (1 star)
Starting Grapes of Wrath.

[Lillie]

I just finished Middlesex which i loved and Saturday which i had to make myself finish. I did post my thoughts on them.

[Kate]

I just finished The Hamlet by William Faulkner. You probably don't think you could find Faulkner and funny in the same sentence, but it certainly is a subtly funny book. I gave it 4 stars.

You guys are scaring me about the The Red Queen. I just bought it, but no one seems to like it at all. Why?

[Anne]

I've just read A Kestrel For A Knave - thought it was excellent (5 stars). Really need to see the film now

[Chris]

I just joined this group, great comments. I just finished Saturday, by Ian McEwan. I found it an easier read than Atonement. Before that, I finished Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest and wondered why it was on the list. I just didn't find anything special about it. I didn't by the Continental Op's motivations and couldn't give a rat's butt about any of the characters. Next for me is Foucalt's Pendulum after I wade through Novel Without End. Oops, I mean World Without End.

[Tim]

the Sound and the Fury and Beloved

[mara]

Hi Incom...

I remember thinking that Atonement shoudl have ended long before it did. Saturday was perfect. In general, I think McEwan's shorter books the best. He's so good at observational detail which makes the reading slower anyway. Too much of it makes the books tedious. I like those books of his where after 100 pages of "day in the life of average joe" you get that sharp left turn. Atonement was satisfying in all the ways a McEwan book is but there was just too much of it

[Laura]

Lion of Ireland (Celtic World of Morgan Llywelyn) by Morgan Llywelyn

[Chloe]

Just found this group while perusing other message boards. I had never heard of the "1001 books" list but was intrigued as Nancy Pearl's "Book Lust" books have been like a bible to me whenever my "to read" list starts to diminish. I was really surprised to find that I had only read 102 out of the 1001, but was really pleased to find many of my all-time favorite books on the list (Corelli's Mandolin, Glamorama, Choke, Watchmen, etc.)

The most recent book I read from the list was Confederacy of Dunces (Toole) over Christmas and I'm kicking myself for letting it sit on my shelves all these years without reading. Easily one of the funniest books I've read in years.

[Tani]

I just finished Slow Man by J. M. Coetzee. One star, definitely. I was interested for a while, but I ended up just really irritated with the whole thing. In particular, I really didn't like the main character at all. Usually, it doesn't matter how different from me a character is, but it did this time.

Hopefully I'll like the next book better. I'm going to be starting The Sea by John Banville.

[Judith]

Mara, I agree with your comments about Ewan's writing. Good observation.

[Judith]

I thought The Confederacy of Dunces was hilarious too.

Thanks for mentioning Book Lust. Is there much overlap between the recommendations with the 1001 Must Read list?

I personally like the Modern Library's 100 Best Novel list for its selections, too many of which are not on the 1001 list!

[Judith]

I just finished "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" and liked it very much. I always like Christie books though.

I also finished "Our Mutual Friend". A typical Dickens story, but his are also always good reads.

I finished "The Unconsoled" recently too -- my second book by Ishiguro and a surprising postmodern turn after the beautiful and more traditional story of "The Remains of the Day". I like it, but it took me a few days to decide for sure that I did!

A fourth I checked off the list is "Sister Carrie". I don't know how I missed this one earlier in life. It is brutally honest about human flaws and motivation and an excellent historical presentation of America at the beginning of the Industrial Age. I had to push myself through at times, but I'm glad I stuck with it until the end.

I may read "The Satanic Verses" next. Any opinions on that one?

[Judith]

Just adding the others I've missed posting earlier...

The Fall of the House of Usher (re-read)
Cold Comfort Farm
Billy Budd
The Bluest Eye
Candide
The Reader
Saturday
The Turn of the Screw
The Picture of Dorian Gray

I liked them all and will make comments on any that others are interested in learning more about! Just ask!

I find other's takes on the books they read quite helpful in choosing my TBR and Wish List selections! Thanks to all who contribute with comments and reviews!

[Jennie]

I have finished 2 this week

The Yellow Wallpaper (so short I finished it while sitting at the reference desk one night). Great story, though I thought I was in for fussy Kate Chopin jr at first. Boy was I wrong.

Enduring Love by Ian McEwan. I liked it. THe middle kept me guessing the sanity of a few of the characters, but I enjoyed it.

[[deleted user]]

Ooh, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I'm glad I read it now rather than a few years down the line, I think it's a 'Catcher in the Rye' style book that it's possible to be too old to appreciate.

Enduring Love was excellent! McEwan's earlier (pre-Atonement) books are better in some ways... less mainstream, more cruel and unusual.

[Yelena]

I just finished reading Michel Houllebecq's Plateforme in French - the first foreign-language book I've ever finished. I had read it in English and liked it about a month ago and deicded to give it a try in French. It took me about three weeks and was worth the extra time. Now I'll be back to my regularly scheduled reading!

[Debbie]

I just finished Metamorphoses by Ovid. I'm not a huge fan of epic poetry, but I do like mythology. Parts of it were absolutely riveting and others I found myself skimming.

[Yelena]

An Obedient Father by Akhil Sharma - good, but not a feel-good book by any stretch of the imagination.

[Jennie]

I just finished Around the World in 80 Days. What a fantastic book! I'm going to find a suitable edition to keep around for epic story reading times with the kids.

Next is Ethan Frome. I have a feeling it's not going to go as quickly.