Which LIST book did you just finish? Showing 3,351-3,400 of 7,922

[Asa]

Started and finished James Hogg's The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner in two days. A fast read and an interesting if flawed book.

[Scott]

Just Finished Paradise Lost by John Milton. It was a feast in great language and prose.

[Gini]

Just Finished The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy, which is, it turns out, only on the original list. I can see why. Though the characters are interesting, the pacing of the novel is creaky, with some of the main characters dropping completely out of sight for long periods and without a clear story arc - it gets from one place to another, but more as a series of events than an actual novel.

[Charity]

Just Finished Paradise Lost by John Milton. It was a feast in great language and prose.

Not on the list.

[Judith]

"White Noise" - Don DeLillo

Great book!

[Kristel]

I most recently finished The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. I enjoyed this book until the last few chapters. The story is of immigrants to the US in the early 1900's who come to Chicago and work in the meat packing plants. It tells of greed of business over the dignity of human life. The writing is good and the story reads well until the last few chapters which really are nothing but dedicated prose to the support of socialism as the answer to the problem. It isn't even written into the story so that it would give you some ending to the life of Jurgis Rudkus the protagonist who came to the US with such hopes and lost everything. Too bad the author didn't write a better ending to his story. He saw himself as a prophet for socialism.

[Arie]

Just finished Tess of the D'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy.

[Mike]

I just finished "A Farewell to Arms". Two Stars! I had a hard time with the prose. And Charlotte -- "darling", "sweetheart", "I'll be a good girl", over and over again----Yaaaaa! I will give Hemingway another look at a future time. Maybe it will be better.

[Mike]

Christine wrote: "Mike wrote: "I just finished "A Farewell to Arms". Two Stars! I had a hard time with the prose. And Charlotte -- "darling", "sweetheart", "I'll be a good girl", over and over again----Yaaaaa! I..."

It would be interesting to find out. The prose is the worst part. Good luck.

[Gini]

Mike wrote: "I just finished "A Farewell to Arms". Two Stars! I had a hard time with the prose. And Charlotte -- "darling", "sweetheart", "I'll be a good girl", over and over again----Yaaaaa! I will give He..."

First year of college, ENG101, we read this. I was the only person in the class willing to participate in the instructor's discussion of foreshadowing and symbolism and all that stuff. On the day we were completing our study of it, he asked if anyone had any final thoughts. "Yeah," I said. "This is a terrible book! 'Am I your good girl?' 'You're my great girl.' Over and over. I was glad when [SPOILER:]." The rest of the class sort of sat there in shock, then chimed in with agreement. The poor prof just stared at me like I'd run over his puppy.....

[Mike]

Gini wrote: "Mike wrote: "I just finished "A Farewell to Arms". Two Stars! I had a hard time with the prose. And Charlotte -- "darling", "sweetheart", "I'll be a good girl", over and over again----Yaaaaa! I..."

I'm glad I'm not the only one who wasn't impressed with Hemingway. I didn't really want to trash a classic, but what can I say.

[Sissy]

Erik wrote: "Just finished Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner.
I read it for Stanford's EPGY Summer Program thing. Definitely can't read this book without a teacher"

I think anything of Faulkner's is tough to tread through. I remember being extremely frusturated getting through As I Lay Dying.

[Tenijha]

I have just this minute finished Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Still wiping the tears away - brilliant book as all Hardy books are but I just feel awful now. I spent most of the book just silently screaming at Tess to do something different, and she wouldn't comply, and I knew it was not going to have a Dickens-like happy ending, I just wasn't sure how worse it could get for her. I was going to read Far from the Madding Crowd next but I think I might need a break from the tragic for a while!

[Linton]

Jessica wrote: "Just finished Tess of the D'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy."

Saw the movie not long ago and it was good.

[Lauli]

Tenijha wrote: "I have just this minute finished Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Still wiping the tears away - brilliant book as all Hardy books are but I just feel awful now. I spent most of the book just silently s..."

Can't read two Thomas Hardy books in a row! It's a stairway to suicide...

[Elisabeth]

Completed The Shining by Stephen King! Absolutely fantastic! I LOVED it.

[Carsten]

I finished Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster in july. After reading Room With a View and Howards End my expectations were high - and I was dissapointed. Not at all close to the other two masterpieces.

Don't think it should be in "1001 Books" - three books by Forster is enough (the third being A Passage to India

[Shovelmonkey1]

Just finished the Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Have to say that after the first two chapters I did not like this book. What the hell was the apex (middle) chapter all about? Actually please regard that as a rhetorical question because I really don't care what it was about!

[Tenijha]

Just finished Fall of the House of Usher by Poe. Very quick read, and surprisingly spooky in spite of that. To continue with the ghost stories I am starting House of Seven Gables. I do like haunted house stories :)

[Becky]

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer - I enjoyed it and I think I missed some important connecting details in my zeal to finish the book.

[Deanne]

Cecillia by Burney, much preferred this to Camilla although the books are very similar. It's interesting for the insight it gives into life in the 1700's England.

[Lauli]

Christine wrote: "Carsten wrote: "I finished Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster in july. After reading Room With a View and Howards End my expectations were high - and I was dissapointed. Not at all close t..."

I read Where Angels Fear to Tread ages ago, and I remember liking it. It reminded me of Henry James, and how some of his characters, in their moral self-righteousness, end up screwing people's lives. But I haven't read either A Room with a View or Howards End, so I guess I'd have to do that to see how they compare.

[Chel]

I finished Chaka the Zulu by Thomas Mofolo a native Lesothan author from southern Africa. It was a novelized biography of an actual person, the "Black Napoleon" of southern Africa in the 1800's. Many events follow actual ones in his life but many are fictionalized. It was an engrossing study of the psychology of power leading to corruption but also had elements of the fantastic and read like a fantasy novel. Also, one can't help but think of Adolph Hitler in comparison. On top of all this it is a literary masterpiece and would make a great animated movie too. I would highly recommend this work.

[Asa]

M. Ageyev's Novel with Cocaine. An interesting, if depressing, read.

[Joselito Honestly]

I'm on page 136 of THE RECOGNITIONS by William Gaddis. Aside from Mr. Gaddis himself, can anybody here give me some encouragement to finish this 956-page book?

[El]

Finished Lucky Jim last night. I'm still working on Infinite Jest but that'll hold me up for a bit.

[Sissy]

Blind Assassin by Atwood. A shame it was deleted in 2008. I haven't gotten to Atwood's other 3 remaining list books to compare but I feel its unfortunate that an author with many great books can have some of them bumped off - even when their more mediocre works are better than another author's single "masterpiece" - in view I suppose that they should be limited to a certain number of list titles. This may not be Atwood's best book - but its certainly better than The Shipping News or The English Patient (I know, different genres) IMO.

[Tinkwelborn]

Tenijha wrote: "I have just this minute finished Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Still wiping the tears away - brilliant book as all Hardy books are but I just feel awful now. I spent most of the book just silently s..."

...then DON'T go to Steinbeck!!!!

[El]

Nice review, Amanda. I think my copy of Passage to India did have an Indian glossary in the back though.

[Judith]

"The Floating Opera" - John Barth

Need a break before continuing on to "The End of the Road"(the companion book), but I did enjoy my first experience with Barth.

[Judith]

Chel wrote: "I finished Chaka the Zulu by Thomas Mofolo a native Lesothan author from southern Africa. It was a novelized biography of an actual person, the "Black Napoleon" of southern Africa in the 1800's. ..."

Thanks for the insights, Chel. I had wondered about this one...

[Judith]

Allison wrote: "I decided to make my first "official" book from the 1001 a smaller one, so I read The Newton Letter. Though I've read about a small chunk of the books on the list, this is my first read after heari..."

And what did you think of the book?

[Linton]

Joselito wrote: "I'm on page 136 of THE RECOGNITIONS by William Gaddis. Aside from Mr. Gaddis himself, can anybody here give me some encouragement to finish this 956-page book?"

If you dont feel compelled after 136 pages I say chuck it.

[jb]

I just finished Memoirs of a Geisha (I guess it was deleted in 2008).

[Maureen]

Hi I'm new to this group and excited to get my "read" on :)

I finished The Remains of the Day (great) and then tried to read Gravity's Rainbow (what?). I actually learned a little about my tastes in books from GR...as in, I won't spend my downtime reading books that read like a masturbatory ego-trip for the author. Or maybe I'm just not mature enough as a reader? I don't know. What did others think of this book?

I do appreciate a great story. That's why I revisted Ishiguro and read Never Let Me Go (excellent). Now I'm on to Cloud Atlas which is great so far.

[Yassemin]

Maureen wrote: "Hi I'm new to this group and excited to get my "read" on :)

I finished The Remains of the Day (great) and then tried to read Gravity's Rainbow (what?). I actually learned a little about my tastes ..."

Loved Never Let me go, it was fab! Can't wait to read more by this author. I also give up if I can't get into a particular book, list or otherwise. There have been a few so far and probably a few more to come. The way I see it, is I've tried!!

[Cynthia]

Sissy, I love Margaret Atwood to pieces, but I could not get into "Blind Assassin," for reasons I do not completely understand. I love "Cat's Eye" the most and feel strongly that it belongs on the list. It's on there, but so is "Robber Bride," which I don't feel is among her strongest novels. Oh well, they didn't ask me.

[Sissy]

Cynthia wrote: "Sissy, I love Margaret Atwood to pieces, but I could not get into "Blind Assassin," for reasons I do not completely understand. I love "Cat's Eye" the most and feel strongly that it belongs on the ..."

Thanks Cynthia - I will have to give Cat's Eye a read. I have Handmaiden at home to read. Aside from Oryx and Crake, Assassin was my second Atwood. I found Oryx and Crake odd when I read it so Assassin was a surprise.

I still feel its a bit of a shame that a lesser novel written by a single hit author can triumph a greater author's more mediocre novels. Steinbeck has two novels remaining on the list - and while they may be his two very best novels - even his more medicore novels are better than some of the one hit author's novels that appear on the list.

[Jessica]

I know what you mean about The Robber Bride, but I liked it, even though it may be of less "importance" than some of her other work


Cynthia wrote: "Sissy, I love Margaret Atwood to pieces, but I could not get into "Blind Assassin," for reasons I do not completely understand. I love "Cat's Eye" the most and feel strongly that it belongs on the ..."

[Kristel]

Just finished The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson. This book is considered to be a hard boiled crime novel. It was written in 1952. The author tells the story in the first person by the protagonist Lou Ford who is the killer. As you read along it seems to be logical because the protagonist is convinced of his intelligence over all the other small town hicks. As the story progresses the story becomes more disjointed and the reader begins to realize that the killer isn't as smart as he thinks he is. In today's standard this book is readable as long as you don't try to picture it in your mind. A lot is left unsaid which I appreciated. I would hate to see a movie of this book which is available.

[[deleted user]]

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. 5 stars, I thought it was a great intense novel.

[K.D.]

Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children. It is a lot better than his The Satanic Verses. Now I like Salman Rushdie!

[Maureen]

Christine wrote: I just finished
The Remains of the Day a couple of days ago and I'm still thinking about it. I LOVED that book. Looking forward to reading more Kazuo Ishiguro

Oh you'll have to read Never Let Me Go it's really brilliant - but in a different way than The Remains of the Day. I just loved it! Have you seen the movie Remains of the Day? It's actually really good as well.

[Maureen]

Yas wrote: Loved Never Let me go, it was fab! Can't wait to read more by this author. I also give up if I can't get into a particular book, list or otherwise. There have been a few so far and probably a few more to come. The way I see it, is I've tried!!

I totally agree! The Remains of the Day is really different from Never Let Me Go. Great, but "slower" and really brilliant in his portrayal of the main character.

[marie]

Christine wrote: "I just finished The Remains of the Day, my first Kazuo Ishiguro. This book is going to stick with me for a long time. I really loved it and found it deeply touching."

Yes, I just finished it, too. Haunting, heartwrenching, Salman Bushdie said it was "beautiful and cruel" and another famous writer mentioned its "flawless mastery of tone" ---I agree with all comments.

[Helen]

Just finished Madame Bovary .... some bits were difficult to read as I cringed at her actions ... still can see why many see it as a masterpiece ...

[Becky]

Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard - really fun with a Hollywood backdrop.

[Kristel]

Becky wrote: "Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard - really fun with a Hollywood backdrop."

There is a movie of this one, I read it not too long ago but haven't seen the movie but thought it read like a movie so should convert well.

[Cindy]

I finished Under the Net - I almost abandoned the book, which I never do. The second half had some moments of excellence, and a few brilliant sentences, but not enough to push it above two stars in my book.

[Max]

Almost two months later, Infinite Jest is finally done. Now all I want to do is re-read it...