Cecrow - 2015 TBR Challenge

Primary List:
1 The Accidental Tourist - Anne Tyler (finished 2015/01)
2 A Division of the Spoils - Paul Scott (finished 2015/02)
3 The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition - Stephen King (finished 2015/03)
4 Barnaby Rudge - Charles Dickens (finished 2015/04)
5 The Darkness that Comes Before - R. Scott Bakker (finished 2015/05)
6 The Warrior Prophet - R. Scott Bakker (finished 2015/06)
7 The Thousandfold Thought - R. Scott Bakker (finished 2015/07)
8 Middlemarch - George Eliot (finished 2015/09)
9 The Iliad - Homer (finished 2015/10)
10 House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski (finished 2015/10)
11 World Without End - Ken Follet (finished 2015/11)
12 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (finished 2015/12)

COMPLETED 2015/12

Alternate List:
1 Warriors (anthology) - George R.R. Martin, ed. (finished 2015/10)
2 On Writing - Stephen King (finished 2015/01)
3 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce (finished 2015/03)
4 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark (finished 2015/05)
5 Dragonsinger - Anne McCaffrey (finished 2015/01)
6 The Vicar of Wakefield - Oliver Goldsmith (finished 2015/02)
7 The Wars - Timothy Findley (finished 2015/11)
8 Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe (finished 2015/06)
9 The Outsider, aka The Stranger - Albert Camus (finished 2015/08)
10 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Alexander Solzhenitsyn (finished 2015/07)
11 Daisy Miller - Henry James (finished 2015/07)
12 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides - James Boswell (finished 2015/08)

COMPLETED 2015/11

Year Five of the TBR Challenge. Most of these titles were locked in twelve months ago, lol. I only had to do some last minute juggling and re-sorting after getting some contenders read and because I like to do my primary list in the order it's posted. Lots here that I've been excited about tackling. My aim is to finish the Raj Quartet, stay ahead of the King movie, do my annual Dickens, read another fantasy series, hit some more classics and do some holiday-approriate reading. If I didn't plan it all in advance, one or more of those goals would get neglected, so thank you TBR Challenge for keeping me organized. My confidence is pretty high that I'll get through the primary list, but just to make certain I've balanced it with an alternates list of short stuff that's been piling up. All four of my missed titles from 2013 are returning (Scott / Danielewski / Follet / Martin); afterward there'll only be two remaining titles from 2011 to contend with, maybe in 2016.

What fun that you are including some Boswell!

Wow, I'd guessed that was the title least likely to be commented on, lol. I just finished Samuel Johnson's account of the trip, so now it's time for Boswell's take. I've heard it's the better read of the two.

You've got some great reads to look forward to next year!

Follett's first book about the cathedral builders is on my list for this year; and I'll read The prime of Miss Jean Brodie this year, too, though not for this challenge. Middlemarch I gave up on when I was younger, but it's firmly lodged near the top of the "to be tried again" list. One day in the life of Ivan Denisovitch I have heard nothing but praise about.

>5 Petroglyph:, I read Pillars of the Earth in the nineties when it was new in paperback and loved it. I've heard this pseudo-sequel isn't as good, but I can't help myself from making it a guilty pleasure read; I listed it in 2013 after watching the Pillars miniseries but didn't get around to it then.

My aunt is a big fan of the Prime of Miss Jane Brodie movie starring Maggie Smith and I'd like to enjoy it with her, so I'm reading the book first.

Middlemarch is a sort of tentpole title on my list this year, the 'big one' I'm tackling. Some people fall completely in love with it and read it over and over, so I'm hoping I'll be one of those.

Re. Ivan, me too - especially from a couple of my fellow TBR challengers. I picked it up at a yard sale a couple of years ago and coincidentally everyone sung its praises on LT, so here it is.

I really like Middlemarch--the only one of hers that I've gotten along with. I just set Mill on the Floss aside--funny, well written, but I was not at all engaged by the story. In Middlemarch there is plenty going on.

Denisovich and The Stand are both all-time favorites of mine; I think you will particularly enjoy the epic scope of the latter. On Writing is a great read; I found the candidly autobiographical first half to be especially disarming. I recall Portrait being a challenging but rewarding novel. I didn't care for Daisy Miller, but Henry James and I have seldom gotten along very well, so ymmv (and hopefully will).

Looks like you're in for an interesting reading year, my friend! :)

>8 artturnerjr:, you've earned at least part of the credit for pointing me to Denisovich and On Writing, both, and I expect I'll thank you for that. You've got me pegged on appreciation for epic scope, and The Stand definitely looks like it fits the bill to judge from the size of it. Bakker and Follett are there for the same reason.

For Henry James I've been reading from a "Short Works" collection since 2012 and Daisy Miller will finish that off. I just read The Beast in the Jungle which I thought was smartly done and hit the ouch spot with its regrets theme, followed by The Jolly Corner, a story about a man in his sixties who makes brief contact with an alternate life he might have led. Before those were Turn of the Screw and Washington Square; so far I haven't read anything I didn't like. Next year (sorry, I mean 2016) I'll try one of his actual novels and really know where I stand with him.

>9 Cecrow:

you've earned at least part of the credit for pointing me to Denisovich and On Writing, both

Lol - finally, somebody listened to me! :D

The Jolly Corner

We discussed "The Jolly Corner" in one of my other LT groups (The Weird Tradition) a couple of years ago. It's over here if you wanna take a look:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/135463

Turn of the Screw

I actually loved The Turn of the Screw; I thought the subject matter and James' style matched one another perfectly. Hey, maybe there's hope for James and me yet! :D

Barnaby Rudge was my Dickens read in 2010 and I found it unexpectedly entertaining. Middlemarch, The Iliad, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Things Fall Apart are in my TBR stack - hopefully I get to them someday. In the meantime, I'll follow your reading to see whether I should move them up or down my list. A Christmas Carol and The Vicar of Wakefield were both quick reads if I remember correctly. Good luck!

Lots of great choices on your list. I loved The Stand. Maybe I will add a Steven King to my list as well.

#1 The Accidental Tourist

I began reading this on Dec 26th; it was either that or carry over something off-list into the new year. I knew this was a novel about a marriage on the rocks, but it's also about dealing with loss and grief (their son's death is the trigger for their problems), and - most engaging - a inquiry into what foundation builds the most sturdy marriage. The language is simple and clear, but the answers are not and the questions are profound.

On the side last year I had started reading The Weekend Novelist by Robert J. Ray, but had to stop when he kept referencing this novel (sitting comfortably on my TBR pile) as a demonstration of the classical three-act structure and fantastic characterization, threatening me with spoilers on every other page. He was right about its structure, even more so about its characters, but only the novel itself sells its best aspects: its insightfulness and deep thoughts about relationships.

http://www.librarything.com/work/2888/reviews/115228122

I've also started the Warriors anthology and Boswell's journal, but next I'm prioritizing Paul Scott and Stephen King's writing advice.

One year I read about 8 Anne Tyler novels. They are all peopled by the most unusual characters.

It's been on my wishlist for quite some time - now it seems I should make an effort to seek it out based on your review.

Have you chosen which translation of the Iliad you are going to read? I plan on reading the Richard Lattimore translation, as well as A Companion to the Iliad by Malcolm Wilcock. For the Odyssey, I was leaning toward the Fitzgerald translation.

House of Leaves is a fun book, and Things Fall Apart is one of my favorites! You have quite a selection of great books on your list!

>16 abergsman:, it's confession time: I've a tin ear for poetry. I absolutely can't fathom it, so I cried mercy and will read the E.V. Rieu which is basically prose. If that goes well, I'll stick with him next year for the Odyssey (already have my copy.)

I'm a sucker for gimmicks like House of Leaves. Things Fall Apart leaped up the pile when the author died in 2014. I feel like an ambulance-chaser when I do that, but I also feel like I should appreciate the talent that's been lost.

Edit: whoops, he died in March 2013 http://www.cbc.ca/books/2013/03/from-the-archives-chinua-achebe-and-the-cbc.html
Other recent passings that got my attention and have shuffled the pile: Doris Lessing and P.D. James

Edit again: come to mention it, that's how Anne McCaffrey made my list this year too.

#2 On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

The first 100 pages are Stephen King's brief memoir, highlighting what I take to be the most influential moments of his life that shaped his work, with some insight into his determination and passion to become a writer. Then he gets into his coverage of the do's and don'ts of writing, nearly all of which I've heard before and agree with, but this is good summary and reminders. His comments on his own work were fun to read. His first novel Carrie, it turns out, lay entirely outside his comfort zone. He doesn't remember Cujo at all, thanks to his being an alcoholic at the time. The Stand he outlined and commented on pretty much in full, which is a bummer for me since I'll be reading it within a month or so, but it gave me some insight to carry as I go. Maximum Overdrive sounds like one he wishes he could take back. He has a lot to say about Misery and even previews From a Buick 8, the novel he was working on when this was published. It's neither a straight memoir nor a how-to guide to writing, but a mix of both that satisfied me on both counts.

http://www.librarything.com/work/4453/reviews/115452807

Finishing A Division of the Spoils will take another month or so. I'm picking something else to read on the side so I'm not lugging my massive single-volume hardcover of the Raj Quartet everywhere I go.

>18 Cecrow:

The Stand he outlined and commented on pretty much in full, which is a bummer for me since I'll be reading it within a month or so

Forgot about the Stand spoilers in there. Sorry - would have mentioned them if I had remembered. :(

Glad to hear you enjoyed the book otherwise, though. Love the photograph on the cover that you posted. 8)

I am glad that you mentioned his comments on his books. I guess I should read the books before this one. By the way, I hope you still enjoy The Stand.

I don't think it'll bother me too much; he outlined the arc of the story and a particular turning-point event, but there's also some interest added because he inserted that turning point where he felt stuck by writer's block and didn't know how the story should progress, and that was his solution. Reading it with that knowledge may add some appreciation.

It's still a ways off. I'm only 1/4 through the India novel, and chipping away at some others on the side.

I picked up the Raj Quartet in four separate volumes at the used book store that I went to in December. I have heard wonderful things about it.

Paul Scott's style is unusual and you need to allow him several pages to reel you in but yes, he's very very good. It's a shame his work didn't really take off in general popularity until after his death, despite winning the Booker.

#3 Dragonsinger

Anne McCaffrey was a gateway author for me to science fiction when I was in seventh grade (alongside Frank Herbert.) I read her Dragonriders trilogy (Dragonflight, etc.) but missed or skipped the Harper Hall books. When authors return to worlds they created years earlier, it's impossible to recapture the voice and magic of the originals (*cough* Stephen Donaldson *cough*.) It's a different story entirely (ha ha) when you read an original that you overlooked. This and its preceding novel (I read Dragonsong over the holidays) capture the same tone of her other 1970s work and put me right back in my 12-year-old shoes. They are more YA-geared than the primary series but still great reading and with many familiar characters that cross over, all of them behaving and sounding exactly as they should. It's the closest I'll get to erasing the memory of a book I loved and getting to read it again for the first time. The author's death in 2011 finally prompted me to revisit Pern, long overdue since it rates high among imaginary worlds I'd visit, and these two books rate high among her legacy.

http://www.librarything.com/work/20023/reviews/115748396

I've crossed the halfway mark with Paul Scott; really good book, just absurdly unweildy in my edition. I'm going to concentrate more on it though, if I can. Boswell is going even more slowly, all those esoteric dinner party conversations; finished another story in the Warriors anthology; probably picking up another alternative title.

>24 Cecrow:

It's always great to find work from an artist (writer, visual artist, musician, whatever) that was previously unknown to you from what you consider to be a peak period for them. Glad you found what you were looking for in this one. :)

My girls loved those books. And I am pretty sure they are all here in the house somewhere. I need to find them. Thanks for the great review!

#4 A Division of the Spoils (The Raj Quartet, Part Four)

When I was fourteen years old I sat on a Lake Superior beach reading the first page of the biggest book I'd been able to find at the public library: the Raj Quartet by Paul Scott. It was actually four books in a single volume of 1,926 pages. The font size wasn't bad but I think they printed it on onion skin. My mom found something hilarious in this scene and wanted to take a picture but she hadn't brought her camera. I didn't get past the first ten pages before admitting defeat. More than twenty years later I found that same edition in a book sale, and now I've finished it to the last - victory is mine! It's too bad about the camera cause mom doesn't remember that day on the beach.

This fourth part of the quartet starts in August 1944 and carries quickly through to the end of the war, then skips ahead to cover the end of the British Raj and independence for modern India and Pakistan. That is all background to a story that revolves around the British Layton family as the last two volumes did, although several other characters both British and Indian get time as well. Fiction and history are in keen balance here; the characters have no primary role to play in historical events (this isn't Forrest Gump), it's about exploring the various mindsets, attitudes and circumstances of both sides of the cultural divide.

I think I did the right thing with this series, reading one book per year. I probably missed a link or two between the novels, but it would have been an exhausting exercise to read them all straight through and so I might not have enjoyed each visit as much. Happily I'm not done with Paul Scott quite yet. There's still Staying On, his Booker prize winner that serves as coda, waiting in the wings for my 2016 challenge.

http://www.librarything.com/work/57609/reviews/116038452

I set this hefty menace aside, then picked up my hardcover edition of The Stand. They're practically twins for size, bulk and appearance. Maybe I didn't plan this too well.

Congratulations on your victory!!! That must have felt really good to finally conquer the quartet. Love how ambitious you were at fourteen.

Congrats! I did not know about Staying On. Thanks for mentioning it. And The Stand is a pretty quick read for a large book. It should be totally different at any rate!

>28 LittleTaiko:, I'd just read War and Peace and thought, now what? I have to find something even bigger! War and Peace can be fought through at that age if you're determined, but the Raj Quartet is just way too adult geared, must less of a straightforward narrative and demands a lot more patience to find its forward momentum. It brushed away my naive worry that there were no greater reading challenges ahead. How (extremely) little I knew!

Incidentally, War and Peace isn't a great choice to read at 14. I can just imagine how much went over my head, when all I knew how to do at that age was follow the plot. Although ... the battle of Borodino WAS pretty spectacular. And I felt bad for Sonya because I really wanted her to get her man.

>29 billiejean:, Hope so! Historical fiction about India and an apocalyptic horror tale set in the United States aren't likely to have much in common; same with the writing style of Paul Scott and Stephen King. And I'm looking forward to Staying On. If I can fault one thing about the Quartet, it's that I didn't find there was a lot of character development in it; most of them stubbornly remained their original selves. I'm curious whether the the Booker winner handles this better. I think it's probably a more personal story and less epic.

I read King's On Writing when it first came out and it still sticks with me because of its sense of utter honesty about his life as a writer. I didn't feel, on any page of this book, that he was doing the b.s. thing that so many "literary" writers do ("I listen to my Muse," or "characters tell me their stories," give me a break). King's book and Norman Mailer's The Spooky Art are my two favorites of this genre.

>31 poingu:, I had that same sense, and I think that's precisely what he was going for given the way he dissed other advice books he was familiar with. I did find one point contradictory: he said he had no idea where ideas come from, that it's a bad question because there's no answer. Then later he went into great detail on exactly where the ideas for Carrie came from. I thnk his real answer (though he doesn't state it) is that ideas come from personal experience, things you react to in the news or something else you read, and float around in your head, eventually beginning to gel when two or more things that seem compatible in some intriguing way start plugging together and suggesting a story.

I'd never heard of Mailer's book, I might look into that one. I play around non-seriously with writing and find it all interesting.

#5 The Vicar of Wakefield

Unless that's a giant bowl of green Jello, I'm going to pass on the dinner invitation. Having a taste would be like reading this book, I suspect: curiosity satisfied, but not really worth it. Written in the 1760s, here is the tale of a countryside vicar who falls upon hard times in the footsteps of Job and ... no, that's pretty much it. You've heard the Job story, so you know this one. It's also a satire of its times, so living in the 18th century is strongly recommended for a full appreciation.

The Vicar of Wakefield gets a mention in a ton of 19th century classics so I presumed it was something worth reading. It is, for the sake of sampling some English literature history - if you can tolerate a well-disguised climax that occurs halfway through, a whole lot of sermons, and such an avalanche of coincidences that even Dickens would say yeah, that's too much. There were a couple of funny bits, but today's newspaper probably rates the same amount. I still love the classics but I didn't love this.

What a time to start reading The Stand, when everyone in my family is sick with a cold. And I'm remembering why I stopped reading Stephen King, that vague feeling of uneasiness that follows you around until you're done with the book and on to something else. He's just way too good at being very plausible while making you like the poor characters this stuff is happening to.

Vicar of Wakefield also on my shelves tbr. Luckily, I am not in a hurry on that one. :)

>33 Cecrow: I agree with you totally about The Vicar of Wakefield. Ho hum. And I'm adding my congratulations on finishing The Raj Quartet--I really enjoyed them, and would like to reread them now that you've reminded me of them.

I must confess that I am not paying much attention to my own TBR challenge. I'm still reading Ulysses, with Ulysses and Us to help out. But I keep straying to other odds and ends.

>27 Cecrow:

Congratulations on finishing this acclaimed (and lengthy!) series!

>29 billiejean:

And The Stand is a pretty quick read for a large book.

Agreed. I remember the first time I read the unexpurgated version, I sailed through the second half at a rate of about 150 pages a day - a speed I can only dream about these days.

>34 Cecrow:

That seems to be how it usually works for me, too. You get so sucked into the world of the book that you hear someone sneeze and you're like, "Oh my God! Captain Trips!" :O

And everyone seems to be sick these days. . .

Perhaps the novel should come with a warning label: Not recommended reading during the cold and flu season

I can never read an apocalyptic, deadly virus type book during the winter.

Oh, what am I saying, I can't read that kind of book at any time without having nightmares!

Celebrating the end of February by crossing the Middle-of-The-Stand state line. This is a loooooong book.

>41 Cecrow:

Indeed it is. How are you liking it so far?

Looking back, I can't believe I read The Stand in 8th grade. I read Stephen King's "It" the same year.

I had a lot of nightmares that year.

>43 abergsman:

I think I was a junior or senior in high school the first time I read it. Messed with my mind pretty bad, too (although not as badly as 'Salem's Lot or Pet Sematary).

>42 artturnerjr:, sort of middle of the road. I'm never bored, but I'm never "gotta see what happens next" either (keeping in mind I had a pretty good overview of the whole book when I read On Writing). The rampant disease portion was the creepiest part, it's been lighter since then.

My Stephen King phase was in middle highschool. Christine, Thinner, The Shining, Pet Sematary, It, Misery, The Eyes of the Dragon. I think that was it for me. Misery and The Shining were the best of the lot. I still have Different Seasons on my TBR pile, in light of the movies it generated.

>45 Cecrow:

Yeah, SK's novels (particularly the longer ones) have a tendency to drag a bit in the middle. Insomnia, in particular, is terrible for that - about 400 pp. in, you're like, "Jeez! Is this ever gonna get interesting again?"

My three favorites of his are probably The Stand, The Bachman Books, and the non-fictional Danse Macabre. Many of the short fiction collections (including Different Seasons) are excellent, too.

>17 Cecrow:, further to my habit mentioned above, I think Terry Pratchett just landed himself on my 2016 TBR list.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/12/without-terry-pratchett-wor...

A great man by all accounts whose work I haven't yet had the pleasure of reading.

>47 Cecrow: - I haven't ready anything by him either, but have just started Good Omens by him and Neil Gaiman which is timely in a sad sort of way.

I was thinking either that one or a sample of Discworld, which sounds like a fun place to read about.

I read a good bit of Good Omens last night and am really enjoying it - very amusing so far. I thought about also trying the first in the Discworld series as well. The one I'd really like to read is Where's My Cow? which appears to be a sort of children's book. The title appeals to me since I grew up on a dairy.

Aww..I always feel a bit guilty when an author I have wanted to read passes away before I get a chance to read their books. I didn't know that he had Alzheimer's.

#6 The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition

This image on the book cover has fascinated me for a long time. It's borrowed from the original hardcover I spotted in a friend's basement when I was just a kid and wondered what the heck that was about. I still don't know, so I guess it's just symbolic.

The story was just okay, sometimes good, and very very long. I might have preferred the original shorter version. It's like a carnival ride: a bit of a thrill while you're on it, then you get off and realize you're down a few bucks over something that was not a life-enriching experience. I'd had my expectations raised too high, based on reputation. Fun has its own value, of course; I'm just not a big horror fan, so I wouldn't normally look for 'fun' in this direction. It gets under my skin and affects my mood, leaving me feeling oppressed in some indefinable way. But I was more at ease once the supernatural elements kicked in and the story lost the frightening realism it held while everyone was dying of plague.

Stephen King has stated the one explanation for the horror genre I understand, in Danse Macabre when he wrote "Perhaps we go to the forbidden door or window willingly because we understand that a time comes when we must go whether we want to or not." In other words, it's fine to think life is the way Barney the Dinosaur portrays it, but inevitably (unless you're really lucky or sheltered) you'll encounter something that makes you squeamish and turns your world inside out. Horror is a safe encounter with that unusual feeling, the way a roller coaster is a better alternative to doing 200 mph on the freeway so you can find out what reckless driving feels like. Getting familiar with this bad sensation in a safe environment stands to put me on more familiar ground if/when my reality turns sour. Now I've had my squeamish rinsed and squeezed, so I'm good to go for a few more years.

http://www.librarything.com/work/1242461/reviews/117013576

Charles Dickens is going to feel like a warm bath after that, although I'm going to finish Joyce first. Boswell's improved since he caught up to where Samuel Johnson's coverage of the same journey began (something else I read before the new year). I'm far enough into the Warriors anthology, if I read one story each month I'll be through it by December.

>52 Cecrow:

Really enjoyed your review and your comments above. There have been quite a few arguments concerning the literary merits of Stephen King's fiction over the years, and I don't know that this is the best place to rehash them. I can tell you one thing from my personal experience, however - when I am the midst of one of King's acknowledged classics (The Stand, The Shining, and 'Salem's Lot probably top that list), the rest of the world disappears for me. I know this does not make his work capital-A "Art", but it is an experience that I seldom have with any other author, and it is an experience I would be loath to trade for any other literary one.

I'm definitely into fun reading, it comprises probably half my library, lol. Stephen King gives me that "not sure I want to see this but I can't look away" feeling that messes with the experience I'm looking for, but more than a few people like that.

>54 Cecrow:

Quentin Tarantino once said something like, "With Stephen King, it's almost like the horror gets in the way sometimes." I'm not 100% sure what he meant by that, but I suspect it has to do with the idea that King has a way of getting you engrossed in the lives of these very everyday, normal characters he creates and then making really horrible things happen to them, when you, the reader, just sort of want them to keep on leading their normal, everyday lives. As a King fan of 30+ years, I am fairly inured to this technique, but I agree that when it is at its most effective, it can be extremely upsetting - novels like Pet Sematary, as well as some of his early short stories, have given me nightmares for weeks. The Stand isn't quite as bad, because (as you indicate in your review) you sort of get those prompts toward the end that tell you, "Oh! This is like The Lord of the Rings, except it's set in 20th century America". Iow, you're sort of reminded that it's just a story. Nevertheless, it is still rather disturbing at certain points.

Franz Kafka famously wrote, "I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we are reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for? ...we need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us." I'm pretty sure he wasn't talking about genre horror fiction when he wrote that (hell, genre horror fiction, as we know it today, didn't even exist when he wrote that), but genre horror fiction, as often as anything, is what does that for me.

I think that's what King is shooting for when he does that, part of the horror technique he uses: getting you lulled into forgetting you're reading a horror novel and then suddenly, violently reminding you. Toward the end I was starting to believe horrible, horrible things were about to occur any page now and was surprised when it didn't actually take as ugly a turn as I was bracing for.

>56 Cecrow:

Yeah, it has a slightly more upbeat dénouement than one might expect (although it does still end on an ambiguous note).

I am sorry if I built up The Stand too much. I think it is one of my favorite Stephen King novels.

I also really loved Good Omens, which is a great spoof on The Omen, which I think might be both a book and movie (remade not too long ago). I have the Color of Magic sitting around here somewhere. Seems the discworld books get mixed reviews, so I haven't ventured there yet.

>58 billiejean:, you're hardly the only one who sings its praises, don't worry. Among his works I can see why it ranks high.

Terry Pratchett in 2016 or bust!

>52 Cecrow:

"But I was more at ease once the supernatural elements kicked in and the story lost the frightening realism it held while everyone was dying of plague."

That is exactly how I felt when I read The Stand.

#7 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Dammit Joyce, get out of my head, you're scaring me. I can't call myself an artist - haven't the credentials to earn the title - but I was the young man who sought to become one and with only some tweaks to the surface details this is my biography and how the heck he portrayed me this well a hundred years ago I'll be a monkey's uncle if I can explain. Others have had this experience when reading this novel, and it stuns me to wonder whether even what I've regarded as the most deeply personal moments and sensations in my life are in fact not nearly so unique as I'd imagined, because here there are: Joyce evidently shared them, and others have as well. I can already tell you this is the best thing I'm going to read this year. A stunner for anyone who loves words.

(and how could I resist an first line that begins: "Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road ..." LOL)

http://www.librarything.com/work/3359/reviews/117243053

>61 Cecrow:

Fantastic! Glad you got so much out of it. I remember having the same sensation of "Who is this guy and how does he know so much about me?" when I read Nick Hornby's High Fidelity.

>58 billiejean: - Loved Good Omens! One of my favorite books so far this year.

>61 Cecrow: - Damn, now I wish I had included this in my TBR challenge. Maybe I'll get to it this year anyway, if not it's definitely on the list for next year.

I had forgotten about the first line. I also loved it when I read it.

I actually didn't love it at first. My immediate reaction was "looks like this is going to be every bit as tough as Ulysses", lol. Then I realized it's because Stephen's just a kid being read to in this scene and after that it was a win.

I'm not sure I've ever read a book split across two volumes before, like the edition of Barnaby Rudge I'm reading from. I was getting near the end of the first volume and couldn't help rushing through to see how it "ends". Of course nothing spectacular happened and the story continued right ahead into the next volume. Peculiar little psychological trick I played on myself.

Still on pace with the Warriors anthology, but I have some catching up to do with Boswell's journal. His portrayal of Samuel Johnson is growing on me, but I really don't know the context of who/what they're talking about half the time. I'm afraid they'd find me a complete dunderhead.

That is interesting about the book just being split in half. I have seen copies of War and Peace in two volumes, but I don't know where it is split. Different from a sequel, though, isn't it?

The strange thing is, the story jumps ahead five years in time just three chapters before the split, where it provided a natural break in the story. I don't think it was a scholar who split it, just somebody who looked at the page count and said "there's the middle".

>67 billiejean:

Different from a sequel, though, isn't it?

Yeah, sounds more like The Lord of the Rings or In Search of Lost Time, where it's just a really long novel that someone decided to split up into more than one volume.

Barnaby Rudge isn't typically published in two volumes, my edition is an unusal exception. It was published in Switzerland in the 1950s, if that explains anything. Then it somehow found its way over the intervening years to the backwoods northern Ontario bookshop where I bought it.

#8 Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty

Reading Dickens in publication order means I'll be tackling three titles in a row that I'm assuming are his least known works, because I'd never heard of them before (Barnaby Rudge, Martin Chuzzlewit, Dombey and Son). To me that looks like a slump period, but apparently all of these titles did very well in their day. It was interesting to learn that Dickens' idea for Barnaby Rudge preceded Pickwick and might have been written/published first if other circumstances hadn't prevailed. The delay was a lucky one, given political events leading up to 1841 that made at least his British audience ripe for a tale about mobs, rioting and Protestant extremism.

I didn't know much about Barnaby Rudge going in, beyond that it was a "political" and "historical" novel. I wouldn't call it a political novel in the typical sense, although the history it portrays does revolve around a political event. The Gordon Riots happened in London about sixty years prior to this novel being published in 1840; it's like an American writing today about events of the McCarthy era. These riots were spurred by Protestant extremists who oppposed ammendments that would improve the rights of Catholic citizens in England, if I've gathered correctly.

Barnaby himself is the novel's weakness, a muddle-minded young man who is characterized imperfectly as his cognitive ability slides up and down to suit the plot. He's Dickens' third variant on the helpless innocent motif, following Oliver and Little Nell, and frankly I'm getting tired of it. I can't think of Barnaby's necessity to the story beyond being a mere symbol, except that Dickens had a tried-and-true formula and he was sticking to it.

At least Barnaby's pet raven Grip is fun; I had no idea they could learn to talk the way a parrot can. Dickens had just lost a pet raven that he modelled Grip after, and its portrayal in Barnaby Rudge inspired Edgar Allan Poe to write a certain poem ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/charles-dickens-bicentennial-and-h...

#9 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Next to Barnaby Rudge or The Stand, this 130-page novel is practically a pamphlet. It's a quick read but also a good one, and not at all the story I expected. At first glance I assumed this was "unusual teacher inspires students to rise above the average". Nope, this one is "unusual teacher messes with her students' minds and supresses their individual identities", creating a sort of cult following that extends beyond the classroom. It's a story about how power can go to your head. The most pleasing takeaway for me is that Sandy's indulgence in imagination is the key route by which the wrong that Miss Brodie has done becomes clear to her foremost, among any of the girls. There's also a really wonderful reflection of the content in the way the story is told, because it turns out our minds are being messed with too in some respects. My aunt is a long-time fan of the movie starring Maggie Smith, hopefully I find a chance to watch it with her soon.

http://www.librarything.com/work/26164/reviews/118137851

I also thought it was a great movie. That book has been sitting on my shelf for quite a while. Maybe next year I will put it on my list.

Apparently I liked Barnaby a bit more than you did, but maybe I went into it with really low expectations too. It's been a few years since I read it, but according to my notes, I liked a character named Hugh in spite of myself. Remind me, who was he?

Now I'm really intrigued by Miss Brodie. Like you, I had made certain assumptions about what the book would be about and apparently I'm quite wrong.

>74 LittleTaiko:, hmm, I see I didn't state a clear opinion, now that I re-read my post above. I did like the novel Barnaby (4/5 stars), I just didn't much like the character Barnaby. The story being about a historical event, I found it much more engaging than some of Dickens' others. Nothing's beaten Pickwick so far but I've several good contenders yet to read.

(Edit: missed your Hugh question. He's the villains' muscle, and often prompts the mob's worst behaviour.)

Exactly - "good teacher inspires dispirited class" has been done so many times, I wasn't anticipating a variation that made the teacher the antagonist.

#10 The Darkness that Comes Before (The Prince of Nothing, vol 1)

This fantasy novel was good as promised for epic scale, engaging characters and story (although it can't touch Malazan on any of these fronts. Just saying.) A bit less epic on the writing talent, since it carries the typical first novel jitters and the author is more intent on telling us about his world than actually showing it to us. The theme here is Crusades-like, two opposing forces gearing up for a holy war. That means there's a religious angle going on here, but not a whole lot of obnoxious my-god-is-better talk, so that's good. And a whole lot of I'm-just-here-for-the-money attitudes which is ... did I mention Crusades-like? So, yes.

The people who really, really like this one seem to be philosophy majors who "see what he did there" with actualizing this or that concept in a fantasy setting. I'm not one of those people, and it's not all the entertainment I was hoping for based on the reputation. I really wanted it to be, since Bakker is Canadian, but I'll keep championing Steven Erikson and Guy Gavriel Kay as our best and omit Bakker from the equation for now. Not regretting putting the whole trilogy on my list (yet), so that's good.

Coming along with the Warriors anthology and Boswell's journal as per schedule - although Boswell has just launched into what appears to be a massively detailed aside about the flight of Bonnie Prince Charlie after the Battle of Culloden ... sigh.

I added this one to my WL. What to do? I am supposed to be downsizing the library.

Not sure how much it will matter to you, but a significant and often commented upon strike against Bakker is his portrayal of women. While I've been liking the series, at the same time I've been thinking to myself "if I were female, there would be no compelling reason to read this at all."

That does make a difference to me. Glad you pointed that out.

Catching up, cecrow, after months away. Barnaby Rudge, one of the few Dickens I have not read, so glad to read your thoughts. Martin Chuzzlewit involves a trip to America, which was fun with lot of snarky observations, but I honestly don't remember the rest. I did like Dombey and Son quite a lot, and I hope you do as well.

As to The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, I loved it from the first reading, and in each subsequent one. I do find Spark uneven--maybe not in terms of her writing, but in my engagement with her books. I recently tried The Ballad of Peckham Rye, and didn't get too far, but I've loved quite a few of her books. I guess my favourite so far was Memento Mori.

I've heard about the American trashing in Chuzzlewit, lol, written close on the heels of Dickens' own trip to the United States. I didn't find myself especially grabbed by Muriel Spark's style, but I did like this sample and how it was presented.

#11 The Warrior Prophet (The Prince of Nothing, vol.2)

Various little highlights and scenes continue bringing some fun to this series, but two big black marks have grown to a degree I can't ignore: the infallible hero, and the portrayal of women. Kellhus is perfect at everything, which serves to make him perfectly boring. The one thing he's not good at is playing the hero, since he has the morals of a mad robot and all the makings of a cult leader. Meanwhile there's no women in this story, only objects the men possess and avail themselves of now and then.

Otherwise it's an interesting world and some intriguing themes are being explored, not all of which I grasp. The writing is mostly good too, although I found a couple of funny mistakes. The last of the army's horses die twice as it crosses a desert. Battles are breaking out in the streets between two factions, but afterward when one faction is told by their leader that they are being confronted by an opposing faction, the room is completely stunned. At least I'm not slogging through these books or trying to hurl them across the room, because it's 80% good stuff, but I can fully understand how some people would just be too tired of the other 20% to go on.

Thanks for a really good review.

>49 Cecrow:, listened to audio recordings of Terry Pratchett's The Fifth Elephant and Thief of Time, a couple of Discworld novels from about mid-series. Didn't hurt my understanding to have missed so much, and I got a great feel for these books. I'd heard he was funny. Definitely a lot of humour, but not farcical at all. The characters are actually all pretty smart to very smart, and the plots have lots of chaotic surprise. Feels on the light side, but with some deep thoughts thrown into the mix throughout. Definitely need at least one more on my 2016 list.

Now you make me want to look for my copy of The Colour of Magic, which I have had for quite a few years. Maybe I will find it. I am having so much luck finding books around here lately.

By the way, you are really doing great with your list.

>85 billiejean:, exactly the title I'm thinking of, to see where it all began. And thanks, I'm not zooming ahead of the curve like you are but at least where I ought to be by this time. Now if I could just do a better job of controlling my acquisitions this year; I think I'm doing no better than breaking even so far (reducing and adding to TBR pile).

Yes, the acquisitions are killing me as well. I am making a stack of books to donate for my kids to go through. The only problem is that they want my to store the ones they want to read until they can get to them. None of us has enough room.

>85 billiejean: - I purchased The Colour of Magic earlier this year and am really looking forward to finally reading one of his books. If I don't get to it this year, maybe you guys will see it on my 2016 list!

Maybe I will find my copy and we could read it together next year.

That's an idea. I'm pretty sure I'll have it on my alternate list. 2016 is shaping up to have more pages than I can actually get through so I doubt I'll read all my titles next year, but I could make an effort for that one.

I found my copy, believe it or not. :) I put it on my little bookcase. For 2016, if the book is not on that bookcase, I won't put it on the list. I hope that will make things easier for me next year. At any rate, I will put it on my list. I have been meaning to read it for years. Then you can decide later what you want to do.

#12 The Thousandfold Thought (The Prince of Nothing vol.3)

The trade paperback versions of these books are just beautiful, and I'll probably keep them on my shelf for that reason alone. Since I don't have a lot of other reasons. This third book was blessedly the shortest but took as long as the other two since I kept getting distracted by more interesting reading from my alternates list. It turns out to be one of those trilogies that does more marketing for the next trilogy to follow than actually tying things up. Maybe if I liked commercials more than the programs I watch, I'd appreciate the approach.

It's the golden reputation that stumps me. I'm very careful about what I choose to read, and this series is going on a decade old now with quite a bit of critical weight behind it, so I'd assumed it would be worth my time. Maybe the author's lack of bookstore shelf space presence and his problems with getting the sixth volume published should have clued me in. Following this on top of last year's disappointment with Thomas Covenant redux, I'm contemplating a different approach for my fantasy reads in 2016 where I read only the first book in a trilogy or two before deciding which to commit to, if any.

#13 Things Fall Apart

Really, really good. It's a simply written novel, not very long, centered around a perpetually angry man in a Nigerian culture. He's a bit annoying, but really he's just window dressing. What really makes it great is that for almost three quarters of the book you get immersed in his society's daily life and beliefs, witnessing its impeccable logic that makes the society thrive while being entirely different from our own western traditions. This modern classic was published in 1958, written by an author who understood the nuances both of the African culture he was describing and the British missionaries who eventually arrive and precipitate its unravelling. It's the best depiction of the non-Western side of this tale I've ever read, and I think it accomplishes more in that respect than any non-fiction work could. This would make a good case study for why fiction matters.

#14 Daisy Miller

Daisy Miller is so short I'm embarrassed - it's a measly fifty pages, almost not worthy of having been listed. I only tucked it into my alternates because it does finish the collection of Henry James short works that I've been reading from for the past few years, making its completion a milestone of sorts. This was his first early success and is probably the easiest read of his that I've tackled yet, even more so than Washington Square. Daisy Miller is an American in Europe who is acting clueless about the differences in the social scene, making her behaviour appear rather odd. At first I figured she was secretly dying of an illness and just wanted to indulge in life, but what James was actually conveying here were those very real social differences, and Daisy is as clueless as she appears. There's also an autobiographical element since James was being accused by his brother of becoming too European.

Now I'm feeling adequately prepared to read one of his full-length novels. For those of you keeping score I've now pledged to read Ulysses, Staying On, The Colour of Magic, the next Dickens, more Henry James, and at least two fantasy titles in 2016. This list just builds itself.

>95 Cecrow:

it's a measly fifty pages, almost not worthy of having been listed

For me, fifty pages of James requires more effort than a hundred and fifty by most authors lol

So how would you say this one stacked up against the other HJ stuff you've read in terms of overall quality/enjoyability?

It was by far the easiest to read, really no trouble at all; I could have mistaken it for something by another author. Quality-wise I thought there was something there in the message, but it didn't speak to me personally like some of his other work (I've never strayed very far from my roots) so I don't think it's going to stand out in memory. Mostly of the interest lay in knowing it was his first real success.

I've double-checked and it's The Portrait of a Lady I have on my TBR pile, so that'll be my 2016 read. I've gotten brave and added Henry James to my favourite authors on my profile. We'll see if I erase him next year, lol.

>97 Cecrow:

I've gotten brave and added Henry James to my favourite authors on my profile. We'll see if I erase him next year, lol.

I will add you to the list of people whose erudition I respect who are admirers of his. Perhaps in a few years, when I've (hopefully) made both my surroundings and my head quieter places, I will join your ranks. :)

I loved your review of Things Fall Apart. I have been meaning to read it for years.

I hadn't heard a whole lot about it but I'm glad I came across it.

Random status update: I'm hiding away in a quiet corner to read Go Set a Watchman, but soon I'll be back to finish up with Ivan's day. Then I'll order a helping of Middlemarch with a side order of The Stranger. Still on course with the Warriors anthology and Boswell's journal, so things are tickin'.

I'm feeling a tad nervous about reading Go Set a Watchman based on the reviews/comments I've seen so far. Better just get to it so I can form my own opinion. Interested to see what your thoughts are.

ETA: Just realized how well you are progressing through your list. Impressive!

>101 LittleTaiko:, a quarter way in and I'd call it not the classic the first one was - so far it seems more shallow in the subject matter it tackles - but still a really well written book that's true to the spirit and tone of the first. There's no denying this is Scout, Atticus, etc. twenty years on so if you loved them in the first book this is going to be a pleasant reunion for you.

Sorry, have to take back the "shallow" now that I've completed Go Set a Watchman. The ending is killer, my blood's still pumping an hour later.

Read it in four days flat. I think I should go to the hospital now, I might have broken my reading muscle ...

Guess I know what I'll be reading this weekend then. Good luck mending your reading muscle. :)

#15 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch

As far as prison camp sentences in Siberia for political prisoners go, in minus thirty weather with practically starving conditions and all-day work orders, this was a pretty good day. Ivan's a resourceful character you'd want as a friend if you won a ticket to go there. What weighs on you at the end isn't his experiences that day so much as the final thought that this is just one of 3,6000+ such days - that this is the routine you would face again every dawn, and that this day represents as good a day as you could hope for on any one of those mornings. Ending the novel after a single day was the ideal place to stop because there's no story here to carry on with, and that final salvo crystalizes the message: monotony, virtually unending, lies behind and ahead. Sure it's not an extermination camp, but it's no camping trip either.

>105 Cecrow:

So I take it you liked it ("enjoyed" is not quite the right word here, is it?). I recall finding it very moving.

Maybe reading it in the hot summer months didn't help, or possibly because I was reading it on the side and not focussing, but I felt it didn't grab me like it ought to. There was a point to relating the story as a "good day", but it detracted a bit from depicting how actually miserable it could get. The character who has it worst, Ivan despises as a weakling who doesn't have the right mindset to survive. We don't actually see anyone dying or in danger of it. The rigours of discomfort are harder to convey to a reader than actual danger. I guess what I mean is that I got its message and appreciated it intellectually, rather than emotionally.

>107 Cecrow:

I think it affected me the way it did in part because I was so much younger (seventeen) when I read it. When you get older, I think it's harder for works of art to move you profoundly because, in the critic Robert Christgau's wonderful phrase, there's more of you to move.

And more experience, more knowledge about the world's history and horrors to scale it against and place it in perspective. Granted, I wouldn't find that much consolation if I was the one stuck in a Siberian labour camp.

>109 Cecrow:

Yeah, exactly. Denisovich was the first book-length piece I'd ever read about an internment camp. Now I've read several, and am aware that labor camps (under a variety of names) exist all over the world.

Nice review. Also you did a good job making me want to read the Harper Lee book as well.

I was waiting for Harper Lee's ever since it was announced and getting ahead on my TBR Challenge especially to make room for it. It's not a perfect novel and not as good as TKAM, but allowing for what it is (an unpolished manuscript), I still found it easy to read it as a genuine sequel. There's only one logical discrepancy between it and TKAM that I noticed, otherwise it smoothly reads as events that take place twenty years later. I've sneaked another name onto my list of favourite authors.

Actually I allowed so much extra time, now I'm reading Pride and Prejudice, which is a flat-out steal from my 2016 list I've been building.

P&P is lots of fun. I hope you enjoy it!

I have written 3 versions of my 2016 list. I have too many books to choose from.

I read Things Fall Apart right after reading The Heart of Darkness by Conrad. I wanted to throw HoD out the window, couldn't stand the novel. But Achebe has become one of my favorite authors. I completely agree with everything you said about it!

I've read both but remember HoD only very vaguely and I wasn't good at anything other than taking in the story in those days. Chinua Achebe didn't have a very good opinion of it either. I take it you've read more of Achebe, I'm wondering whether the follow-ups to Things Fall Apart would be worth looking for.

#16 The Stranger (aka The Outsider)

If you're susceptible to moments of feeling like the universe doesn't give a darn about anything or anyone and you might as well feel the same, well ... maybe you don't want to read this novel. I think it's suggesting we're all "the stranger", all of us ultimately alone in a world where nothing ultimately matters, while refuting judicial and religious arguments to the contrary. Not a lot of positives to be had here, except in its challenge to analyze your own beliefs and make you think about what rock you stand on. Personally I'm more aligned with Harper Lee's "Go Set a Watchman" - we all require a conscience and concern for one another. So I choose to read this as a trip inside the mind of a certified killer - how even the most vile fellow is able to justify his actions to himself, by dismissing anything at will by the statement "nothing really matters anyway." It's creepy stuff. Had the most intense, uncomfortable death row scene I've read since Oliver Twist.

>116 Cecrow:

I've had that one in Mt. TBR for a long time. I think it just moved a little more toward the peak. :)

#17 A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland - by Samuel Johnson / Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson - by James Boswell

This esoteric entry probably begs the question, what got me reading it? A few things, actually. It's listed in 501 Must-Read Books; it's mentioned in The Story of English, which I read for last year's TBR challenge; Samuel Johnson composed the first English dictionary; it's a travel classic; it's a pairing of two journals by two good well-read writers that describes the same trip from each of their perspectives; Scotland was in the news a lot when I first started, thanks to its referendum ... I guess that's it. The fact that Johnson/Boswell were contemporaries of and knew Oliver Goldsmith who I read earlier this year is just a coincidence, but a fun one since he gets mentioned a few times.

I read Johnson's account at the end of 2014, so only Boswell made my 2015 list but the two really deserve to be mentioned and reviewed together. Johnson's was a straightforward travelogue, a collecting of significant sights and people they met on their tour that gives a fairly vivid picture of Scotland in 1773. It's a bit dry so I was looking forward to Boswell's impressions and was amply rewarded to the point where I was looking forward to reading an entry each night and sorry when I had to skip. He is much more focussed on Johnson than the journey, inserting considerable recorded dialogue that makes it almost as much a mini-biography as a travel tale. He made it dove-tail nicely with the first journal, incorporating details where Johnson skimmed and only touching upon those where Johnson dwelt. It made me wish for an interleaved edition of the two that would make the back-and-forth comparisons less arduous.

A great quote from Boswell that leaped right out at me and is perfectly apropos for LT and by extension our TBR Challenge: "Every man should keep minutes of whatever he reads. Every circumstance of his studies should be recorded; what books he has consulted; how much of them he has read; at what times; how often the same authors; and what opinions he formed of them, at different periods of his life. Such an account would much illustrate the history of his mind."

I'm not sure this is for everybody, and if you only read one of the two then go with Boswell. I'm ranking his half among my favourite comfort reads and can imagine a return visit someday.

>118 Cecrow:

"Every man should keep minutes of whatever he reads. Every circumstance of his studies should be recorded; what books he has consulted; how much of them he has read; at what times; how often the same authors; and what opinions he formed of them, at different periods of his life. Such an account would much illustrate the history of his mind."

Words to live by! 8)

That is a great quote! Wish I had the patience to actually follow his advice. I always intend to mark passages and note my thoughts, but end up just reading instead.

Aug 17: Good grief - instead of reading Pride and Prejudice I should have gotten a head start on Middlemarch. Middlemarch is admirably written but it's dragging my reading speed down to about 100 pages a week. At this rate it's going to eat up an extra month, but I think I can still get to everything on my list with some juggling. Just not as much extra reading will get done as I'd hoped.

Aug 26: Halfway, still below usual pace but doing a bit better now. Maybe just took some getting used to.

#18 Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life

Any book that takes more than a month to read starts making me feel antsy, so I have to say I'm glad that's done. Middlemarch is similar in my experience to War and Peace and Moby Dick: good all the way through, but forcing me to read below my usual pace and keeping me always conscious of how very long it was. There's no enormous whale or explosive warfare; it only recounts the story of a small community but in which seemingly every citizen plays a role. Some characters are more central than others but none command the whole story. I was having trouble getting a grip on it until I compared it with The Casual Vacancy: small town nonsense, nobody's life flowing smoothly, lots of headstrong people making unwise choices. George Eliot prevails upon us to sympathize with every single one of them and see that no lives are without their tribulations that at least explain if not justify their actions.

This wasn't Henry James territory, but I had to read many bits a couple of times. It's chock full of great quotable wisdom that I didn't want to skim over, it had some scenes that really grabbed me, and I liked how it all wrapped up. I definitely admire it, and I think I liked it, but I can't say I fell in love. For all of its great points to ponder I found it a little slow and dry, and I don't imagine I'll visit again.

>122 Cecrow:

Congratulations on finishing; that a big 'un.

Thanks; now to catch up on my allotted September book. I'm overdue for Homer time - d'oh! (two 1990s references + pun = 3pts)

I really enjoy reading your reviews. And you are doing great with your lists. I have come to the sad conclusion that my last two books are too long. Even with all this time left in the year, I realize that I can't do it.

With the short story collections like Father Brown, I like pacing myself, reading a bit each month all year. Back in January I read Warriors until I had it down to eleven stories left, one per month remaining.

Les Mis is a tough one though. I have Samuel Richardson's Clarissa on my TBR pile and I have no idea what to do with it when I get there, unless I do Art's strategy and go with a shorter list. I've one big one left for this year, World Without End, but it's bound to be an easy read so I'm not too worried (yet).

*pops in from looonnnnng absence & waves* Looks like you're doing pretty awesome this year! :D

Yay! We missed you this year, hope you'll be here for 2016.

I'm planning to be, but when it comes to hanging around any website I never put my word in stone! I have bad habits of randomly disappearing for long stretches! XD

That has the advantage of not making you feel tied down. I tend to get committed to my favourite communities, LT probably foremost for a few years now.

I do too, but then one day I will suddenly just not drop by, and then it stretches into months. I have no idea why it happens, hahaha, it simply does! I will be somewhere everyday for hours, for a year, two years, more, and then some switch just flips in my brain and -poof- I don't visit the site for ages. It's kind of bizarre, really, but there it is! :P

I joined a group read of Clarissa here on LT a while back and dutifully ordered the book. When it arrived, I was astounded by the length. The plan of the group was to read the letters in the month in which they were written and finish in one year (I think). I didn't last any time at all. I do plan to go back and read it someday. But not for a while. I have too many other books I want to read first.

I picked up my copy at a library book sale. A full-sized trade paperback is just way too impressive not to have in the collection. Now I'm feeling obligated to read the monster, lol. I'm thinking 2017 or later, we'll see.

Hehehe, monster. That reminds me I ought to get started working out what tomes will go on my list for next year. Still need to get Les Mis done, among others! XP

Middlemarch, impressive! Someday this will make it onto my "Read" list.

I attempted Clarissa in college. I think I might have made it to page ten lol

>136 artturnerjr:, sounds like my first attempt with The Raj Quartet as a kid, lol. Catch-22 was a fail in my twenties, and Great Expectations before I was out of high school. Both on my "tackle again now that I'm getting old and grey" list.

>137 Cecrow: - Good luck with Catch-22 - tried it a couple of years ago and just couldn't finish it.

>137 Cecrow:

I would like to think that folks like you and I, having plowed through more than a couple of challenging reads in the interim, are now much more disciplined readers than we were in our teens and twenties.

Catch-22 probably ranks as my top favorite book of all time.

I have a huge list for the month already, so I'll just do the last two months of the year. I read crazily during the holiday months, so I'll pick at least two per month. I have a book called Admissions by Nancy Liberman and I also want to read The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I'll do those in November.

I'd love to participate next year the whole time if you do it again.

Livi

>141 oliviabaxter04: This challenge/group is annual, most people here now (and possibly some new/returning after absences *cough*) will have threads up for 2016 as well.

>136 artturnerjr: & >137 Cecrow:: I also tried Catch-22 in my 20s and just couldn't get through it. I know that it is a book that is well-loved, so I do hope to try it again sometime.

#19 The Iliad

Two rival gangs mix it up and some interfering gods join the rumble. Neither side wins before the end because there's no wooden horse in this story. There's a talking horse though, which is almost as good.

Each time I've mentioned the Iliad on LT and say that I've chosen E.V. Rieu's translation, polite silence ensues. This is the prose version: gone are the lauded poetics, it's just the facts. Anything more is just wasted on a tin ear for poetry like mine, when my sole objective was to sort out the actual story after a lifetime's exposure through a ton of allusions and interpretations, e.g. Ilium, Mountain of Black Glass, The Firebrand, at least a couple of movies, etc. It turns out I pretty much knew the whole story and could have claimed I'd read it with nobody knowing the difference. I could nitpick at it but I actually liked it well enough. I can see why generations of boys have read it as a rousing adventure story since forever. There's not much in it for girls (women being offered as contest prizes!) although the female goddesses are impressive, especially Athena.

A downfall of this translation were the occasional bits that made me feel certain that Homey Don't Say That in the original Greek. I strongly doubt whether Homer used terms like 'hurly-burly' etc., and I'm sure it was Shakespeare who coined the "dogs of war" phrase several hundred years later. Also, there was this: "Dead warriors lay sprawling on the ground, a more enticing spectacle to the vultures than to their wives." That is such a terrible pun on viewing men as meat, I don't know what to tell you.

Now that's done, I'm still facing two big ones, House of Leaves (at 600 pages it's longer than I thought) and World Without End (over 1,000). At least the other three titles ought to be quick.

House of Leaves isn't as long as it seems, though, a number of pages have single words/sentences, or any number of other wonky things.

The Odyssey is on my list next year which has me a bit intimidated.

"Hurly-burly?" Definitely a phrase that could take a reader out of the moment.

>145 .Monkey.:, seems you're right. Looks like about 150 pages or so of regular-ish reading before the crazy begins.

>146 LittleTaiko:, I'll have it there too. There's only so much Homer to go around and I didn't want to use him up all at once.

Yeah it's...different. Interesting approach, I did think it was (mostly) more entertaining than tedious, dealing with all the absurdities, but certain parts got a little much. Overall worth it, though, as something unique.

I am interested to see what you think of House of Leaves. I've been thinking of reading that one.

#20 House of Leaves

You are reading my review of House of Leaves. This novel is about about a young man named Johnny. Johnny is reading a non-fiction book by a blind man named Zampano. Zampano's book is about a film called "The Navidson Record". The film is about a man named Will Navidson. Will Navidson is exploring a creepy house. The house appears to have driven Zampano and Johnny insane, so I guess you and I are next! Beware of inexplicable new doors, moving walls, etc.

When I read The Stand earlier this year, I mentioned horror isn't really my thing because of the gross-out stuff. But I do appreciate creepiness, and that's what I hoped this book would achieve. You are not only reading about Johnny's plight, you're seeing the evidence. It looks like a type-setter's worst nightmare. Member Kaylaraeintheway read this for the challenge last year and provided some photos: https://www.librarything.com/topic/162867

Of course it's a gimmick, but I'm a sucker for gimmicks. Sometimes. Anyway, it mostly serves the story but generally I was too caught up in admiring the layout's crafting to get drawn into the story itself. If I'd consistently read it late at night in the dark, alone, or if I was a faster reader and one who didn't insist on reading every single footnote then maybe it could have reached me. I found some of the references were more frightening - the horrible fate of Floyd Collins in 1925, and the bronze bull device, especially. This was hardly a time waster, but it's only a fun curiosity to be sought and appreciated accordingly.

My biggest problem with it was the huge build-up, all this stuff leading up to the house craziness and then... it utter flat-lined. This is one of the books in question over in that thread about book endings having a real impact on the overall impression. I thought it was interesting, if annoying to get through in some instances, and I'm glad I read it but, in the end, his failure to continue through and bring the tension somewhere, just made it a wash. Not one I'd recommend to anyone who doesn't just want to experience the goofiness of the gimmicky text.

>151 .Monkey.:, we completely agree on something we've read! Is that a first? LOL. Probably more to come, I just haven't caught up with you yet.

Hahaha!

#21 Warriors (Anthology)

In his introduction to this anthology, co-editor George Martin describes how as a kid he selected books to read from a turnstile at his local store and without mind to genre, consequently exposed to a little of everything. This anthology works the same way: the title indicates a theme that all of its stories loosely have in common, but the stories cross genres including sci-fi, fantasy, western, thriller and historical fiction. That suits me just fine. I've grown to like placing at least one anthology or short story collection on my challenge, offering a change of pace, and the genre variety helps even more.

Like most people I was driven to pick this up because of its last story "The Mystery Knight", which takes place in the Game of Thrones world. It took me so long to get to it, I could have picked up the just-published A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms instead and gotten all three Dunk & Egg stories in one neat, illustrated package. But there's some other good ones here by other authors. "Seven Years from Home" by Naomi Novick is a really great sci-fi entry. "Soldierin'" was a respectfully hilarious introduction to buffalo soldiers, who I'd never heard of before. Robert Silverberg has written another winner. Several other stories are okay to pretty good, there's only a couple I could have skipped. This was a pretty great way to break up my other reading throughout the year.

#22 The Wars

Our Canadian version of Memorial Day (we call it Remembrance Day) takes place on November 11th, so I chose this in advance as my read for this time of year. To be even more patriotic, Timothy Findley doesn't have the international reputation of Margaret Atwood or Michael Ondaatje, but here in Canada his work had a fairly high profile before his death in 2002 and this is rated among his top titles.

This story takes place on the western front of World War One (the plural title ostenibly comes from a Huckleberry Finn quote, although you can read it another way). I expected something along the lines of All Quiet on the Western Front. Through a bit of foreshadowing and some unusual technique, it soon becomes clear this is a different kind of story, held at more distance and injected with more mystery. When I got to the end and found out why, I was impressed. The sexual elements probably are what keeps this out of classroom study, otherwise, wow.

I had several shorter works this year on my alternates list. Goldsmith excepted, the ones I chose have all proved it's possible to do more with less.

#23 World Without End

This bit of historical fiction was like light snacking between meals. Well, okay ... at 1,000+ pages, you might say I ate the whole bag. There's more than a few things to nitpick (i.e. a whole truckload), but it was still fun to flip through. The plot and characters are your basic tv miniseries quality, so it's appropriate that it was adapted as one. Reading it has taught me a thing or two about the medieval era in England during the 1300s under the reign of Edward III, but not much about people. I was looking for more Pillars of the Earth, a title with some nostalgia attached to it since I read it in high school a long time before Oprah ever did. I won't go begging for a third helping.

Sounds a bit like his Century trilogy - a history lesson best suited for a TV miniseries. I keep meaning to read Pillars of the Earth but maybe I'll stay away from the rest in that trilogy.

Pillars wasn't bad, but I think with all the attention it gave him the idea he can write historical fiction well, and generally it appears that he doesn't. I haven't read any of his thriller novels that he originally built his reputation on.

#24: A Christmas Carol, being A Ghost Story of Christmas

Similar to when I read The Iliad in September, I didn't obtain anything new from the reading of a story I'm so familiar with except the usual pleasure of Dickens' prose and scattered minor details. It did confirm a couple of things that I'd wondered about: the spirit of Christmas present does hide two horrific children in his cloak, and the spirit of Christmas future never reveals its face. I think the only surprise was the story's incredible pace. I'm so accustomed to Dickens taking him time, he did in 150 pages what would normally require four or five times as many.

And, we're done.

I was feeling pretty confident I'd get through all 24 books this year, barring any life events interrupting me - so confident that I did a lot of extra reading on the side all the way along. This was working until I hit Middlemarch, which was tougher than I'd anticipated, but I was able to make up the time.

I'm running at about 130 books left on the TBR pile, down a bit from last year's 138, so it's still moving in the right direction!

Great! I, sadly am not getting all 24 done, but glad to see you doing it!

Way to go in completing all 24 - very impressive! Also encouraging to see somebody whittleing down their TBR as mine seems to keep growing.

Way to go!

Congrats on ready the entire 24 books! And finishing early!

I have been having some much trouble with the TBR shelves that I got a kindle so I don't have to look at the new titles and worry about floorspace.