Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion

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message 2301: by Magdalena (new)

Magdalena (doffka) | 8 comments Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
I didn't expect that this book is so good!


message 2302: by Gini (new)

Gini | 138 comments I started and finished Choke in about a day and a half. Palaniuk is my daughter's favorite writer, so I am interested in reading him for the conversation with her. I realize that a lot of people in the group hate him, but I find him entertaining. He is a bit like Quentin Tarantino - you cannot sit back and assume that your guide to the tale before you is a reliable one. Sometimes he is just plain wrong.


message 2303: by Denise (new)

Denise | 231 comments Finished Woman at point zero, small book, well written and an interesting subject.

Deanne, I read Searching by Nawal El Saadawi earlier this fall. It wasn't the greatest book ever, but it was as interesting as it was sad. It did inspire we to look up the author. She's a fascinating and admirable woman. I hope to read her autobiography eventually.


message 2304: by Linda (new)

Linda Finished Things Fall Apart. Very interesting and insightful perspective of African colonialism; I thought the ending was especially well done.


message 2305: by Anna (new)

Anna (lilfox) | 290 comments The Mitrokhin Archive by Christopher Andrew and Vasiliy Mitrokhin


message 2306: by Yrinsyde (new)

Yrinsyde | 295 comments Linda wrote: "Finished Things Fall Apart. Very interesting and insightful perspective of African colonialism; I thought the ending was especially well done." I did too! It was a shock - like a sudden amputation, but a brilliant ending.




message 2307: by Yrinsyde (new)

Yrinsyde | 295 comments I finished reading Animals People which I loved. The characters were so alive to me and I loved the conversations, the jokes and asides. I'm reading A Boy's Own Story at the moment - have nearly finished it. I think it is terrible - superficial and self indulgent. The author has been overly influenced by William Burroughs, whom I enjoy reading.


message 2308: by Anthony (new)

Anthony DeCastro | 168 comments Magdalena wrote: "Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
I didn't expect that this book is so good!"


One of my favorite books of all time.


message 2309: by Knarik (new)

Knarik I finished "One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich" and "A room with a view" I liked them both. Am going to start "Dracula".


message 2310: by Chel (new)

Chel | 380 comments Knarik wrote: "I finished "One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich" and "A room with a view" I liked them both. Am going to start "Dracula"."
I just read all three recently. We might have the same method to select books. I vary books by their length and time period. Also, I divided the 1001 books in order by date published into 20 pages of 50 (plus one) and try to have read nearly even numbers on each page so it is chronologically balanced.


message 2312: by Katherine (new)

Katherine (katats) | 150 comments I just finished Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan. It was a very quick read, and entertaining.


message 2313: by Judith (new)

Judith (jloucks) | 1202 comments I finished "The Leopard" a few days ago. Not an easy read for me, but so full of good history and philosophy it was well worth the effort.


jocelyn •  coolgalreading (coolgalreading) I just finished reading Gabriel's Gift by Hanif Kureishi . Now I'm reading A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham.


message 2315: by Judith (new)

Judith (jloucks) | 1202 comments Chel wrote: "Knarik wrote: "I finished "One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich" and "A room with a view" I liked them both. Am going to start "Dracula"."
I just read all three recently. We might have the same..."


Chel, is there a chance you could share your list fy date published? I 've done a pretty good job of choosing books from all time periods, but I have no system for doing so. Your list makes sense!


message 2316: by Anna (new)

Anna (lilfox) | 290 comments Hannibal | Thomas Harris
Great book.


message 2317: by Eliza (new)

Eliza (elizac) | 72 comments Just finished July's People. Not really my cup pf tea.


message 2318: by Lauli (new)

Lauli | 263 comments Death in Venice by Thomas Mann. Twisted, very twisted. Liked it very much.


message 2319: by Eva (new)

Eva | 60 comments The Awakening by Kate Chopin.

Liked it a lot!


message 2320: by Chel (new)

Chel | 380 comments Judith wrote: "Chel wrote: "Knarik wrote: "I finished "One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich" and "A room with a view" I liked them both. Am going to start "Dracula"."
I just read all three recently. We might h..."


Hi! There is a website call lists of bests. Go there and type 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (after creating a password to join) and you will get to the list I use that lists them 50 per page in chronological order (or reverse chron. order). You can check mark the ones you read. If you type 1001... and 2008 you will also get the newer edition list. One is listed from newest to oldest and the other from oldest to newest. I printed these lists by clicking a link called list source at the top of the pages then cut and pasted them to MS Word then used an option called columns and put that cut and pasted list in three or four columns per printed page. That is handy when shopping for books and I check off with H for have or change the H to an R for have read. I also have a few where I put R don't H for read don't have and a K for Kindle if I have one on my Kindle. But the site has 50 per page and you can see if you have read to many from the 1920's and need to read more from the 1980's. That way I'm a little more balanced in time periods.


message 2321: by Anthony (new)

Anthony DeCastro | 168 comments The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon. It certainly had its moments.


message 2322: by Knarik (new)

Knarik Finished "Things fall apart", am still reading "Dracula".


message 2323: by Kristi (new)

Kristi (kristilarson) | 263 comments Finished Washington Square. It's not on the list, but I will definitely try the ones by James that are on there. I really liked it!


message 2324: by LeeAnn (new)

LeeAnn (vandyleeann) | 1 comments I just finished The Poisonwood Bible. It was a very compelling story, but I had to force myself to keep going after one of the characters passes away. (Not a spoiler, the very first chapter says that someone is not going to leave Africa :-))


message 2326: by Judith (new)

Judith (jloucks) | 1202 comments Finished "Around the World in 80 Days" and will be reading more by Jules Verne. Great fun!



message 2327: by Johnny (new)

Johnny B. Rempit (johnnyrempit) | 20 comments I'm replying to Chel (Message 2424)

Thanks for the tip! It was really helpful.




message 2328: by Chel (new)

Chel | 380 comments Johnny wrote: "I'm replying to Chel (Message 2424)

Thanks for the tip! It was really helpful.

"


No problem!


message 2329: by [deleted user] (new)

I recently read The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. It was a pretty good period mystery novel, although it seemed a bit long (but that's probably because of modern perception)


message 2330: by melita (new)

melita | 10 comments just finished kakfa on the shore!! didn't even know it was on the list! good stuff!!


message 2331: by Carmen (new)

Carmen (carmelitasita) I finished The Plot Against America. It was pretty good and had some very interesting ideas.


message 2332: by Yrinsyde (new)

Yrinsyde | 295 comments I've just begun Anna Karenina - fabulous so far, loving it!


message 2333: by Lauli (new)

Lauli | 263 comments Just finished The Age of Innocence. Would definitely include it in my list of favourites. Very subtle and powerful at the same time. Beautiful narrative.


message 2334: by Jay (new)

Jay (jaycadiramen) | 43 comments I just finished 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' by Mark Haddon. It took me less than three days to read this book - I just couldn't put it down!


message 2335: by Author Jonathan (new)

Author Jonathan Gaines | 3 comments I just finiwshed The Equation by Omar Tyree


message 2337: by Laura (new)

Laura (thatlibrarianlady) Just finished Mansfield Park. The least favorite of my Austen reads so far.


message 2339: by Charity (new)

Charity (charityross) Laura Ashlee wrote: "Just finished Mansfield Park. The least favorite of my Austen reads so far."

Oh, totally!! I couldn't agree more. :-)



message 2340: by Judith (new)

Judith (jloucks) | 1202 comments "Brave New World" - Aldous Huxley

I took a break from "The Old Devils" to read the classic, Brave New World. I'm glad I finally got around to that one as it was a serious omission from my reading list up to now!


message 2341: by Johnny (new)

Johnny B. Rempit (johnnyrempit) | 20 comments Just finished Suite Française by Irene Nemirovsky. Liked it a lot!


message 2342: by Jay (new)

Jay (jaycadiramen) | 43 comments Just finished Nadine Gordimer's 'July's People'.


message 2343: by Kristi (new)

Kristi (kristilarson) | 263 comments I also finished July's People. It didn't interest me that much.


message 2344: by Anthony (new)

Anthony DeCastro | 168 comments I just finished "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison. I'm looking forward to reading more from her.


message 2346: by Kristi (new)

Kristi (kristilarson) | 263 comments Also finished Silk today. Easy read, I liked it.


message 2347: by Jay (new)

Jay (jaycadiramen) | 43 comments Just finished 'Life of Pi' by Yann Martel. I enjoyed the book, but honestly had no idea where it would take me and how it would end. A bit windy and overblown in parts, the book was quite enjoyable nonetheless.


message 2348: by Melinda (last edited Jan 13, 2010 08:03AM) (new)

Melinda (missmelinda) I just finished "The Hours" by Michael Cunningham. I had already seen the movie, but have not yet read Mrs. Dalloway. I really enjoyed it, though. It was a very quick read and had such lovely writing. The flipping between the different stories didn't seem confusing to me at all. Overall, I really liked it.

I needed a likeable book after the last one I tried to read ("Even cowgirls get the blues" by Tom Robbins). I haven't looked to see if it's on the 1001 list, but I really hated it and quit 200 pages in.


message 2349: by Denise (new)

Denise | 231 comments Melinda,
I just read The Hours last year and really liked it. However, I also really liked Cowgirls, which I read many, many years ago.


message 2350: by Melinda (new)

Melinda (missmelinda) Denise wrote: "Melinda,
I just read The Hours last year and really liked it. However, I also really liked Cowgirls, which I read many, many years ago. "


From the reviews I've read on GR, people are pretty split on Cowgirls. Actually it seems that way with a lot of books- you love it or you hate it. I also noticed that a lot of people mentioned they had loved Cowgirls when they were younger.

I couldn't get into the details of the ClockWork people. There were really so many things- I found myself disliking Tom Robbins quite a bit through his writing here. My sister in law (who I love and respect deeply) loves it, and loves all Tom Robbins books. It's interesting to me (after only recently becoming active on Good Reads) how very subjective book-love can be!




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