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

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message 3901: by Amalie (new)

Amalie I just finished Aesop’s Fables – Aesopus. I've read it before in this I reading I enjoyed it more than ever.


message 3902: by Becky (new)

Becky (munchkinland_farm) | 248 comments Sissy wrote: "Vernon God Little. Took me time to get into it and still didn't quite enjoy it once I had. Don't think it needs to be on the list."

Hi Sissy: I had a similar reaction. The narrative was interesting but I don't think the book contributed to the development of the novel. English majors - correct me if I'm wrong!


message 3903: by K.D. (new)

K.D. Absolutely (oldkd) | 248 comments The End of the Affair by Graham Greene


message 3904: by Laura (new)

Laura | 67 comments K.D. wrote: "The End of the Affair by Graham Greene"

Did you like it??


message 3905: by Lauli (new)

Lauli | 263 comments Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Great fun. Not as good as The Hitchhiker's Guide, which is a 5 star for me, but still hilarious.


message 3906: by Cindy (new)

Cindy (newtomato) | 195 comments Lauli wrote: "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Great fun. Not as good as The Hitchhiker's Guide, which is a 5 star for me, but still hilarious."

That's how I felt, too, Lauli.


message 3907: by Sissy (new)

Sissy Becky wrote: "Hi Sissy: I had a similar reaction. The narrative was interesting but I don't think the book contributed to the development of the novel. English majors - correct me if I'm wrong! "

Agreed. I felt it was drawing on existing novels - a combination of Salinger and Palihniuk. I really dislike Palihniuk but IMO its his style that contributed to the development of this novel. Not sure I see this novel building on that style further or contributing anything new. If the editors are looking for something that deals with school violence/shooting - Columbine is a much more powerful (although non-fiction) novel and at least presents something new in the way a non-fiction is presented - as far as mapping and novel development go.


message 3908: by Kristel (new)

Kristel (kristelh) I just finished Pere Goriot by Balzac. I really enjoyed this and would read more by this author. He does a wonderful job of developing his characters.


message 3909: by M (new)

M (masanobu) | 110 comments I finally finished Celestial Harmonies by Péter Esterházy. It's not that I didn't like it, but it wasn't a pleasure to read it. I'm glad this is the only book by this author on the list.


message 3910: by Alicia (new)

Alicia (nekidasajaybird) | 9 comments Animal Farm by George Orwell


message 3911: by Christina Stind (new)

Christina Stind | 180 comments Just finished Dickens A Christmas Carol. Never got around to reading it before but really enjoyed it! And I'm surprised that it has been taken off the list and is only on the 2006 edition.


message 3912: by Jennifer W (new)

Jennifer W | 251 comments July's People Not sure what I think about this one.


message 3913: by Deanne (new)

Deanne | 681 comments Finished Night and Day by Woolf, really enjoyed it.


message 3914: by Sandysconnected (new)

Sandysconnected | 4 comments The Poisonwood Bible.


message 3915: by Cindy (new)

Cindy (newtomato) | 195 comments I finished Sandokan: The Tigers of Mompracem. It turns out that this book wasn't translated into English until 2003 when it was self-published. A small publisher picked up the series in 2007. There are virtually no English copies in libraries in North America, and no ebook, so you're pretty much stuck buying the tree book.

That said, it was a ton of swashbuckling fun!


message 3916: by Lauli (new)

Lauli | 263 comments Cindy wrote: "I finished Sandokan: The Tigers of Mompracem. It turns out that this book wasn't translated into English until 2003 when it was self-published. A small publisher picked up the series..."

That's funny. In Argentina Salgari is included in every collection of fiction for young people, alongside Dumas, Verne or Alcott. It's a very popular book.


message 3917: by Cindy (new)

Cindy (newtomato) | 195 comments Lauli wrote: "That's funny. In Argentina Salgari is included in every collection of fiction for young people, alongside Dumas, Verne or Alcott. It's a very popular book."

Yes, isn't it strange, Lauli? In my research, Sandokan is most popular in Italian and Spanish, and fairly popular in German. It's sad that Anglophone audiences never had access to the stories before.


message 3919: by Linda (new)

Linda JF Howards End - enjoyed it quite a bit.


message 3920: by Shay (new)

Shay | 71 comments Finished War and Peace.


message 3921: by Shovelmonkey1 (new)

Shovelmonkey1 | 190 comments Just finished Under the Skin by Michael Faber - if you're looking for a good, unexpected story which is easy to read then i recommend this one. It was not what i thought it would be like at all and I loved it. Definitely in my top ten 1001 books!


message 3922: by Linda (new)

Linda JF The History of Rasselas: Prince of Abissinia - mostly as an audio book.


message 3923: by Linda (new)

Linda JF The Time Machine, also mainly on Audio!


message 3924: by Sissy (new)

Sissy The Master. Not a bad read - but nothing something that needs to be read before you die. Pretty much like most of the 2000 year+ books.


message 3925: by Shovelmonkey1 (new)

Shovelmonkey1 | 190 comments Followed Under the Skin by reading World's End by TC Boyle. Not a bad read but not really sure it warrants a place on the 1001 books list.


message 3926: by Becky (new)

Becky (munchkinland_farm) | 248 comments The Book of Daniel by Doctorow - it was a challenging read because of the narrative structure - told by Daniel - sometimes straight narrative, sometimes stream of consciousness as he reflects on his childhood, early adulthood and early 30s. Based on Julius and Ethel Rosenberg - even though I knew the basics of their trial and subsequent execution, I had to go to the Internet for specific facts, timeline, etc.


message 3927: by Lauli (new)

Lauli | 263 comments Kidnapped by Stevenson. An entertaining adventure story, though the Scot was quite difficult to get into. Great prose.


message 3928: by Drew (new)

Drew Billingsley | 58 comments I finally finished The Idiot by Dostoevsky. It was a worthwhile read, but I could only read 30 or so pages a day. I am looking forward to the discussion of this book in the book club (February, I think).

I also finished The 39 Steps, which was a very quick, trifle of a read. While it was a fun adventure story, I did not find there to be much literary merit here.


message 3929: by Kristel (new)

Kristel (kristelh) Just finished, Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. My favorite Atwood so far.


message 3930: by Diane (last edited Dec 26, 2010 03:39PM) (new)

Diane  | 2336 comments Mod
I just finished two this week that I enjoyed a lot:

The History of Rasselas: Prince of Abissinia by Samuel Johnson

Apparently this is a book he threw together in a relatively short amount of time. It may have even been his only novel. Surprisingly good and very thought-provoking.

and

A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov

I really loved this book. It's a shame that Lermontov died so young. I would have loved to read more from him. Did you know that he was also a very talented painter as well?


message 3931: by Jennifer W (new)

Jennifer W | 251 comments I finished A Christmas Carol for the first time on Christmas Eve. Enjoyable!


message 3932: by Alicia (new)

Alicia (nekidasajaybird) | 9 comments Amsterdam by Ian McEwan


message 3933: by Judith (new)

Judith (jloucks) | 1202 comments Diane wrote: "I just finished two this week that I enjoyed a lot:

The History of Rasselas: Prince of Abissinia by Samuel Johnson

Apparently this is a book he threw together in ..."


So glad to hear these are good reads! I traded for "A Hero of Our Time" on bookmooch without knowing much about it or the author. Now I'm looking forward to the read!


message 3934: by Christa (new)

Christa Seeley (christajls) | 20 comments Kristel wrote: "Just finished, Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. My favorite Atwood so far."

Ooh mine too. I`ve re read it so many times I had to buy a replacement copy


message 3935: by Deanne (new)

Deanne | 681 comments Finished Wild Harbour by MacPherson, set in 1943 but written in 1936, it describes the difficulties faced by a couple living rough, and in fear after the outbreak of war. Very strange to read a book where the war starts in 1943, but then I remind myself that the author was writing 3 years before the war.


message 3936: by Beth (new)

Beth (eparks4232) | 162 comments Just finished the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. LOVED it! It's been sitting in my house since summer and can't believe it took so long to pick it up and enjoy it.


message 3937: by Kristel (new)

Kristel (kristelh) Just finished The Music of Chance by Paul Auster.


message 3938: by Helen (new)

Helen | 27 comments Finished The Grass Is Singingby Doris Lessing ...


message 3939: by Becky (new)

Becky (munchkinland_farm) | 248 comments The Thin Man (audio) - fun - I love Nick Charles' witty remarks. Was amused by the number of times "let's have a drink" or some variation was uttered.


message 3940: by Charity (new)

Charity (charityross) Becky wrote: "I love Nick Charles' witty remarks."

Me too! Such a great character.


message 3941: by Alicia (new)

Alicia (nekidasajaybird) | 9 comments Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho


message 3942: by Katrina (new)

Katrina (katrinasreads) Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson


message 3943: by KHoopMan (new)

KHoopMan  (eliza_morgan) Life of Pi...sooo good!! I think it gets even better about 2 hours after you're done...it just sort of settles in your brain and doesn't stop with the hidden meanings and metaphors and what-not. Loved it!


message 3944: by Sissy (new)

Sissy finished i, robot, the hours, ragtime and ethan frome during holiday break.

ragtime was an interesting read - the writing style is quite different - very clipped and short. won't be one of my favorites ever read but i understand its inclusion on the list.

out of the bunch i finished i found i, robot the most interesting to read taking into account the period the stories were written/compiled. written in the 1940s and the author's "main" scientist of the future is a woman? super interesting considering the period he was putting it down!


message 3945: by Drew (last edited Dec 30, 2010 10:09AM) (new)

Drew Billingsley | 58 comments I finished We. I am a little weary of sf dystopias, and I think that this book (one of the first written) suffered from my having read too many similar books. I enjoyed the narrator's tendency to use math to illustrate his thinking, and to describe people using geometry, but I found this surprisingly difficult to get through given its relative brevity.


message 3946: by Judith (new)

Judith (jloucks) | 1202 comments Katrina wrote: "Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson"

How did you like it?


message 3947: by [deleted user] (new)

I just finished Jane Eyre.

I was hoping I would love it, but I just didn't. I thought Jane was a great character, but I didn't like the style and the story dragged.


message 3948: by Katrina (new)

Katrina (katrinasreads) Judith wrote: "Katrina wrote: "Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson"

How did you like it?"


I enjoyed it this time, but was in the mood for something fantastical to take my brain into a spin. I started it a few years ago and gave up because I got lost. Not as good as The Passion which I loved.


message 3949: by Lauli (new)

Lauli | 263 comments The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul. LOVE Douglas Adams!


message 3950: by Beth (new)

Beth (eparks4232) | 162 comments Hound of the Baskervilles. It was good, but I didn't love it.


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