Yells attempt to read more - part 3

Halfway there so time for a new thread! (Just realised my grammatical error... oops)

And let me be the first to congratulate you in your new thread!

Thanks!

501) Love in the Time of Cholera by Marquez



I obviously tried reading this book before (as evidenced by the bookmark stuck inside) but I didn't get far and don't remember much about it. I guess this was the right time as I finished it in two days and loved it. Florentino is a poor young poet who falls in love with Fermina, the rich daughter of a well known businessman (who is really a criminal). Needless to say, dad isn't too happy about this so he does his best to keep them apart, and through a series of events, she ends up marrying an up and coming doctor instead. Florentino can't get her out of his mind so while he waits for her husband to die, he sets about making his fortune (and pretty much sleeping with any one available).

The best part of the book is the writing style. It's just so sensual. With every page, you are invited to use all your senses to 'see'. From Fermina's heightened sense of smell to the brilliant colours of the décor in the house to the sounds along the waterways, it all brings the story to life.

Congratulations on the halfway point! So far only a distant ambition for some of us…

No seriously - it really is quite a feat.

Congratulations!!

Thanks everyone! I have had a lot of spare time lately so I was able to make a huge dent in the pile. The new year probably won't be quite so kind with spare time so we will have to see what the numbers look like in a year.

502) Ulysses by Joyce.



I was aiming to make this the magic number 500 but it didn't quite work out that way. What a trip this was! I started almost a year ago by listening to the Re: Joyce podcasts by Frank Delaney. He did a fabulous job unpacking each line and paragraph and really brought the prose to life. Unfortunately, after 6 years and 9 episodes reviewed, the poor man died before he could finish his ambitious project so I ended up finishing with the help of Shmoop.com.

On the one hand, it's a rather simple story about two Dublin residents, Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom, going about their day. There are a whole host of other characters who pop in and out throughout as well including Blooms' wife Molly and even the actual novel gets a spot. On the other hand, it's a multi-layered story told in a variety of different ways from stream-of-consciousness to a dramatic play. The last chapter is one very long sentence covering 20 odd pages.

I was dreading this book but by the end, I found myself enjoying it. I think once you get a rhythm going and understand where Joyce is coming from, it's not a hard read. There are a million references that went over my head (he talks a lot about politics and religion) but even without knowing those, it was accessible and enjoyable. At some point when I have another year or two to spend on a book, I might try tackling Finnegan's Wake.

503) Captain Corelli's Mandolin by de Bernieres



This book has been on my love/hate list for a long, long time. I honestly don't remember how many times I have started it and stalled. I would get 50 pages in, get bored and set it aside. The stubborn part of me can't completely bail on a book so this time I was determined to finish and get rid of it. You can imagine my shock and surprise when it turned out to be good! Personally, I blame the person who cast Nicholas Cage as Corelli because he totally ruined the movie for me and I think I projected that hate on to the book. Poor de Bernieres didn't deserve it because his book is lovely. It is a love story wrapped up in a history lesson and it made me laugh and cry.

504) Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Hardy



Poor Tess! Honestly, this woman can't catch a break, can she? Her parents are awful, Alec is horrific and even her beloved Angel is an ass. The only happiness she finds is in milking cows on a farm and that gets ripped away.

On a positive note, I am fast becoming a Hardy fan. And there are quite a few on the list...



505) Half of Man is Woman by Xianliang



After reading Wild Swans a few years ago, I have been interested in the Cultural Revolution. This is a semi-autobiographical novel about a writer who is sent to a labour camp because his poems are too rightist. I am always fascinated to read about other people's experiences whether good, bad or otherwise.

>8 Yells: Interesting that you're being converted to Hardy. I was put off Hardy with a bad experience at school. The teacher who almost managed to make Shakespeare boring (and we studied both Halmet & Macbeth, so not the dull ones) made Hardy really very very dull. I have since read one of the books Return of the Native but can't say I loved it enough to relish having to read all of the Wessex series. Sounds like you'd say I'm wrong to be dreading them and should just get on with it.

>9 Helenliz: I had to read The Chrysalids in school and hated it. It was boring and confusing. English was never my favourite subject despite loving to read. I hated being told what to read and being told how to interpret it. And sadly, some teachers can make even something like Harry Potter sound boring.

I've since rediscovered Wyndham and love his books including my favourite, The Chrysalids. :)

506) Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas



Fantastic! This long novel has a little of everything in it. Adventure, intrigue, romance, deception and lots and lots of revenge. I am sure that Dumas was an inspiration for Jeffrey Archer.

507) The Midnight Examiner by Kotzwinkle.



I really do have a warped sense of humour because this made me laugh. A lot. It's about a group of misfits who work for a tabloid and spend most of their lives coming up with new headlines. There is also a porn star, a few mobsters and a little hoodoo thrown in for good measure.

508) Don Quixote by De Cervantes



At times, I loved this book. It is absolutely hilarious! Picturing him wandering the land in his fake armour, challenging windmills and 'saving' damsels in distress had me giggling for hours. I would have finished this a long time ago if it weren't for the fact that it got rather repetitive. After part one, I was ready for it to end. Brilliant writing but way too long.

>13 Yells: No review?! Just getting through it is probably enough! I have started it a few times, but I will finish it one day!

>13 Yells: well done. I felt significant relief I'd finished it.

>14 JayneCM: Ha! When you finish a book like that after midnight, the last thing you are thinking about is reviewing it :)

>16 Yells: How did you stay awake to finish it?! I'm going to give it another try this year.

509) The Killer Inside Me by Thompson.



Really spooky look into the mind of a serial killer. Lou is everyone's favourite police officer but in his spare time, he likes to kill people who irritate him and then he frames others for the crimes.



>17 JayneCM: I think the only way to read Don Quixote is a chapter a night. That was the only way i could keep going. Great book but way too long and repetitive.

>18 Yells: agree. It took me 4 months to finish. I took a break and read another shorter book in between each of the books. Just to give myself a rest.
I finished with a sense of relief.

>18 Yells: That is one that I'd never heard of. Sounds like a relatively easy one to read.

>18 Yells: I may put Don Quixote off again for a while then! I need to find a time of year where we are not so busy - not sure when exactly that could be!

>20 japaul22: Definitely short and easy to read but oh so disturbing at the same time.

>3 Yells: Love your review of Love in the Time of Cholera - that's how I remember it!

510) Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky.



My first one by him and I loved it. The plot is quite simple: Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov is a poor man who decides one day to kill the local pawnbroker and steal her money/goods. What he doesn't realise is how much this act will affect him afterwards. I've always been interested in psychology so watching him struggle with his guilt was fascinating. At times he is paranoid, angry, sad, scared and smug but never happy.

511) Cutter and Bone by Thornburg.



Another new-to-me author off the 1001 list. This one is a thriller that takes place in 70s American after the Vietnam War and follows two men as they try to find peace with their demons. Richard Bone and Alex Cutter are reluctant friends who live together in poverty. Bone was all set up to live a fairly prosperous life but now finds himself penniless and unemployed (his 'employment' these days is using women for sex and money). Alex Cutter returned from Vietnam minus a few body parts and spends his time drinking and drugging to forget the horrors of the war.

One afternoon, Bone is out walking when a car screeches to a halt in front of him and a man throws what looks like a set of golf clubs in a trash can. He soon realises that this was a body dump and he is the only witness. He doesn't want to become involved at all but begrudgingly tells the police what little he knows. The next day, while reading the newspaper, he sees a picture of a man with the same build as the killer and even though he didn't see the man's face, he realises that this is probably the killer. Cutter instantly dreams of blackmailing the man and convinces the others to go along with it despite the fact that they really don't want to and what follows is part madcap adventure/part searing indictment of the war.

512) Moscow Stations by Yerofeev.



What a surreal look into the mind of an alcoholic living in 70s Soviet Russia. I am sad to see so many negative reviews on Amazon because this is a fascinating novella. It's part autobiographical and chronicles the trip of Venya Erofeev as he travels home by train to his wife and child. There are no chapters per se but instead the prose is broken up by train stops along the route. When he gets on the train in Moscow, he is rather lucid but he travels with a suitcase full of liquor so as he travels the countryside and drinks, his thoughts become more and more bizarre. He has numerous debates about the politics of the time but it's not always clear as to whether he is debating himself or actual people. I really enjoyed this novel and will keep it as I think it's one to revisit.

>23 LisaMorr: Thanks! It was a weird and wonderful novel.

513) Midnight's Children by Rushdie.



Somehow I missed logging this one so my spreadsheet didn't match. Lovely writing but I wasn't all that impressed with the story. Oddly enough, I enjoyed the movie better. I found that the movie incorporated the midnight children better (they seemed like an after thought in the book - I know what he was going for but it didn't really fit).

>28 Yells: I have never read any Salmon Rushdie which is strange considering the intense controversy around him at one time. This is the one I have on my list to read first as I love books about India.
And it seems that every time I have googled a book recently, I have found a movie adaptation. There is one of this book too, which I will hopefully find to watch after reading the book.

I liked the movie but wasn't as enthralled with the book. Beautiful writing but odd storyline.

This was my first Rushdie novel as well!

>30 Yells: Sounds intriguing! I found a secondhand copy so it is on the pile.

514) The Man Who Loved Children by Stead



Everything about this book annoyed me to no end, I hated the characters, was bored by the storyline and ever so happy to finally finish. I will need to dig out my book to see this is on the list.

515) Farewell, My Lovely by Chandler



I really enjoy these older crime noir novels. Modern crime writers have to rely on twist after twist in order to stand out (and the story can get really weird and complicated) while older writers, who were busy inventing the genre, were able to be creative in different ways. The story is still complex but without all the 'biggest twist yet!' or 'you won't see this coming!' My only issue is the racism. I understand that that was life back then but it still makes me cringe a lot when reading. This book seemed to be a lot worse than some of his other stuff.

516) The Long Goodbye by Chandler



I am beginning to love Marlowe. He is blunt, crude and honest (And racist and misogynistic but I am trying to ignore that). He says whatever is on his mind and doesn't take crap from anyone. This is my favourite one so far. He does what he thinks is a good deed but it lands him in the middle of a big old mess. He is actually not trying to solve a crime and spends most of the novel trying to extricate himself from it all but nonetheless, he gets sucked in anyways.

517) One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez.



Genius writing but I'm afraid my muddled brain just wasn't in the right frame of mind to truly appreciate it all.

518) David Copperfield by Dickens.



My favourite Dickens book so far. Poor David/Doady/Trotwood/Davy never knew his father and loses his mom early as well. To escape his mean stepfather, he runs away and ends up living with his aunt. The story follows him throughout his schooling and into marriage.

519) Invention of Curried Sausage by Timm.



A neat little book about WWII and food. A journalist in Hamburg sets out to prove that curried sausage was invented in his hometown by a local woman who runs a street cart, instead of in Berlin as was commonly thought. He tracks her down in a retirement home years later to get the truth but she has another story to tell first. She recounts her life at the end of the war when she starts an affair with a much younger deserter and the curried sausage part quickly becomes secondary.

>37 Yells: That sounds fantastic! I love quirky books like that. Did you enjoy it?

>38 JayneCM: What I love most about reading this list is finding gems from around the world that I never would have heard of otherwise. This was definitely one of them.

520) Lady Chatterley's Lover by Lawrence.



Okay then... scandal aside, did Lawrence ever actually have sex? He seems fascinated by it but I have to wonder if he is mixing it up with like darts or something. The poor, poor man...

>40 Yells: LOL!

521) A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens.



I finally read a 1001 book! And an odd one at that. I was getting a little confused about the politics going on in the background so I had to do a little brushing up on Wikipedia. Overall it was an interesting read but not my favourite Dickens (that would be David Copperfield).

522) G by Berger



For the 'read a book written the year you were born' challenge, I had two choices: this one or a Calvino novel. I think I may have chosen the wrong one as I am definitely not in the right frame of mind to tackle this one properly. I don't do well with experimental novels to begin with, but one that focuses on the sexual awakening of a young man in Milan at the turn of the century? Not generally my cup of tea. I did a bit of research into Gardibaldi so I had a basic understanding of the time period.

523) The Picture of Dorian Gray by Wilde



A fascinating look at a man's descent into madness.

524) The Age of Innocence by Wharton



An interesting love triangle between a married couple and the wife's mysterious cousin who is running away from a bad marriage. While the rest of society shuns her, Newland finds himself drawn to her indifferent attitude towards everything.

525) Where Angels Fear to Tread by Forster



Poor Gino! I know he married for money, but good grief, the day he got involved with this nutbar family....

526) The Professors House by Cather



I've just rediscovered Cather and have been on a bit of a kick lately. I have read O Pioneers and I am halfway through The Song of the Lark. I'm not sure why I started this one on top of the others, but when I was browsing e-books, it jumped out so I figured why not. It is really different from the pioneer trilogy and shows a very different style of writing. It was a great book to read at this particular moment in time as part of it was about a man who is undergoing a life change and having trouble dealing with it. He clings to the familiar much to his family's dismay. I'm feeling a lot like that with this whole social isolation thing. Under normal circumstances, I would have probably rolled my eyes at his antics, but this week, I totally understood where he was coming from.

527) Howards End by Forster



I read A Passage to India and A Room With a View years ago and while I liked them, I found the writing to be a bit difficult at times (I was so bored with the middle section of APtI but loved the first and last sections). I wasn't really looking forward to reading more Forster but took a chance with this one and Where Angels Fear to Tread. I probably shouldn't have read them so close together as the characters started to intermingle. Howards End is a sweeping drama about class and prejudice set at the turn of the century. The story is built around Howards End, a charming country home that everyone seems to love and want to have.

528) Oliver Twist by Dickens



You know, I think I might be becoming a bit of a Dickens fan. This one is right up there with David Copperfield - an intriguing story with lots of twists and turns. It gets a little far-fetched (everyone in London is apparently related) but it was a neat story to lose myself in for a few days.

>49 Yells: If you like audiobooks try listening to Dickens on audio. To me it is the perfect way to experience his novels.

>50 gypsysmom: I love audio books but I'm often too impatient to wait for it to unfold - I half listen, half read (and honestly, these days I have the attention span of a gnat so I need to finish faster to prevent forgetting everything). I've just discovered serial books and paid for the upgrade so I can go fast or slow, depending on my mood. It's a great way to read Dickens in much the same way the books were originally published.

I agree, I used to listen while commuting, and there's something in the listening in an episodic manner that replicates the original reading experience. Then I changed job and cut down the commute to only 2 days a week and I wasn't prepared to wait 4 days for the next instalment... That and a 40 hour book would take 10 weeks!

529) The Good Soldier by Ford



I'm not sure I've ever read a book where I questioned the motives of every single character. I think I would have strangled Edward.

530) The Jungle by Sinclair



Probably not the most uplifting book to read at this point... these poor people went through hell. I'm glad something good came from it's publishing.

531) The Torrents of Spring by Turgenev



My first Turgenev. It was okay. Interesting story, but nothing out of the ordinary.

532) Sister Carrie by Dreiser



I never really knew what this book was about, and thought it was published long before it was. What a treat to discover. The whole time I went from liking Carrie to hating her. At some points, she seems so innocent, but at other points, she knows exactly what she is doing. Very well done.

533) Iron Heel by London



Very similar to The Jungle, but oh so exhausting to read. I think London is actually more angry than Lewis!

534) Homo Faber by Frisch



While I really enjoyed the story, and the writing was beautiful, I was rather annoyed by all the coincidence. He travels all over the world and always seems to find that one person who he is connected with? All the connections were necessary for Faber's journey, but Frisch could have made them a little more plausible.

535) King Solomon's Mine by Haggard.



Racism, sexism and trophy hunting aside, this was quite the yarn! He definitely packs a lot into his adventure tales.

536) She by Haggard



King Solomon's Mines, but with more magic.

537) Father and Sons by Turgenev



I started this one because it was short, but ended up reading it twice because my mind wandered a lot. Not the fault of Turgenev at all; it was actually a well-written novella about family, love and one really annoying know-it-all. Unfortunately, my mind is all over the place, so I am finding it hard to concentrate. C'est la vie!

538) Pere Goriot by Balzac



My first Balzac, but definitely not my last. I love the detail he puts into everything. The story takes place in a rundown boarding house and his description of the furniture and the food really brought into the moment. I felt like a resident living there with everyone around me. And Goriot can be my father.

539) Love Medicine by Erdich



I really liked this one. I found it to be like a jigsaw puzzle; each story was a piece in the overall puzzle. I loved how each page seemed to build on the story and add new details. I did have to refer to the family tree a lot so I'm glad it was included.

540) Blaming by Taylor



Another first. An interesting story about a woman who is trying to deal with middle age, loss and a whole lot of guilt. A well written novel.

541) A Lear of the Steppes by Turgenev



I needed something short to read so figured I'd give this one a go. Very similar to Pere Goriot - strange that I read both at the same time.

542) What I Loved by Hustvedt



Having no idea what this book was about, I started it and immediately figured it would just be a saga about the lives of two intertwined artistic families living in 70/80s New York. In the second section, the book took a rather unexpected turn and I couldn't put it down.

543) Siddhartha by Hesse



I think I will re-read this when I am in a better state of mind. My frazzled brain was a little too frazzled to be calmed by this meditation.

544) Princess of Cleves by de La Fayette



Interesting bits and boring bits. Again, probably not the right choice for my brain right now.

545) Water Babies by Kingsley



This is more like it! A light and airy read. Maybe I should stick to kids/YA books until COVID fades away.

546) Tarka the Otter by Williamson.



Reminded me a lot of Watership Down. Cute animals doing some cute and non-cute things. It's kind of nice to read stories that don't make animals into Disney characters.

547) Clarissa by Richardson.



1500 or so pages to tell a story that could have been told in 200 or so. I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would (I remember Pamela to be a horrible novel). I hated most of the characters, but I didn't really hate the book.

548) Billy Liar by Waterhouse



A short novel about a compulsive liar who you can't help but kind of like.

549) Rickshaw Boy by Lao



To watch this poor guy go from a young optimist to a beaten down grump was rather painful to read.

550) All the Pretty Horses by McCarthy



I just saw someone else sum this book up as 'a road trip, with horses' (Lenjoy). I couldn't have said it better myself.

551) The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Stein



I don't know a lot about Stein so this was my first foray into her world. At times really fascinating, but humblebragging got a bit much other times. I will read some more of her before I pass judgement.

552) Riddle of the Sands by Childers



My husband is a naval historian and loves this book. Usually that's enough to make me look elsewhere, but I found myself enthralled by the adventure. Maybe he's rubbing off on me after 15 years?

553) Turn of the Screw by James



A short, spooky tale perfect for a rainy afternoon.

554) Nervous Conditions by Dangarenbga



An industrious young woman in 1960's Rhodesia fights for an education amid the politics of a country in transition. I will have to seek out the rest of the trilogy at some point.

555) Erewhon by Butler



Dystopia or utopia? I love reading about different worlds and what people think makes for a utopia.

556) Beloved by Morrison



Beautifully written and horrifically sad.

557) Oroonoko by Behn



I think this could have been written by Shakespeare. Very clever little tale.

558) Troubling Love by Ferrante



A daughter tries to make sense of her mom's death by tracing her life. A sad story about domestic abuse.

559) Vanity Fair by Thackeray

Making great progress!

560) Suitable Boy by Seth.



After many starts and stops, I’ve finally set aside enough time to finish this one. A brilliantly written look at India post-partition through the eyes of a few intertwined families. I had wished to start reading more from the list, but that didn’t quite work out this winter. Perhaps finishing this monster and feeling spring in the air will help.

561) The 42nd Parallel by dos Passos. Part 1 of 3 of the USA trilogy. I liked this one a lot more than I thought I would. Loved the interconnected stories, the news headlines and the mini biographies, less enthused about the camera eye sections.

1919 by dos Passos. Part 2 looks at the war years and the effect it had on various characters.

Big Money by dos Passos. In Part 3 we move on to the post war years and the roaring 20s. Interesting experiment overall but I’m glad I’m finished the trilogy.

562) Hideous Kinky by Freud



Read it for the monthly read. Interesting look at Morocco but the laissez-faire parenting made me cringe a little.



563) Veronika Decides to Die by Coelho



This is one that I would have loved as a teen (when Celestine Prophesy was the best book ever). I don't think I'm a Coehlo fan.

564) They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by McCoy



I'm glad I was reading this lying down instead of taking part in that dance marathon.



565) Labyrinths by Borges (actually read in 2016 and somehow missed)





Love, love, love Borges.

566) At Swim-Two-Birds by O’Brien



Probably a brilliant book but my brain was not in the space to appreciate most of it. It did make me chuckle at times.

567) Annie John by Kincaid



A beautifully written coming-of-age story.

568) Play It As It Lays by Didion



A depressingly sad read about a depressingly sad group of people.

569) Journey to the Alcarria by Cela



An amble through the countryside. Now with extra dog kicking....

>87 Yells: I've seen the movie of Hideous Kinky, I'm curious to read the book.

And I'm dreading the Coelhos on the list, I read The Alchemist a number of years ago and it made me so angry. Celestine Prophecy, indeed.

570) A Severed Head by Murdoch



Good grief... you’d think there were only six people in the world. I might have a little whiplash.

>93 ursula: Does mom come across better in the movie? She’s not winning any ‘mom of the year’ awards in this book.

571) Blood Meridian by McCarthy



Yikes, that IS a violent book. Is it brilliantly written? Yes. Was I in the mood to read about that much violence right now? No. I probably should have held off reading this one until well after COVID. I need happy thoughts these days.

572) The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick by Handke



Not really sure what to make of this one. It felt like one long sentence about an aimless man who does things without really thinking about what he is doing.

573) Thousand Cranes by Kawabata



I've been picking some strange books lately. A man learns about his father by befriending and sleeping with his mistresses. And then drinks tea.

574) Max Havelaar by Multatuli



When I read a review touting this as the Uncle Tom's Cabin of the Dutch Indies and a scathing indictment of colonialism, I thought I was in for a treat. I expected The Jungle but got a weird convoluted mess. To be fair, the Kindle version I bought was horrible; no proper punctuation and really odd formatting, which made reading rather challenging at times. Maybe it was the translation or maybe I'm just not the right audience, who knows.

575) Saga of Gosta Berling by Lagerlof



This was quite a romp! Reminded me of Don Quixote a bit (without the crazy duelling windmills).

576) American Rust by Meyer



I really enjoyed this one. A murder is committed and the novel explores the consequences of that crime as it affects different people in a rural, financially depressed town.

577) Cakes and Ale by Maugham



Not a lot of substance but a fun, light read.

578) Platero and I by Jimenez



A lovely, lush tale of a man exploring a remote Andalusian village with his faithful sidekick, Platero.

579) Intimacy by Kureishi



To leave or not leave, that, I guess, is the question.

580 Tom Jones by Fielding



Much more entertaining than I thought it would be. Loved Tom!

581) Heartbreak Tango by Puig



An interesting use of different media to tell the story of Juan Carlos, a dying man mourned by his many admirers.

582) Whatever by Houellebecq



Annoyingly misogynistic man who hates everyone wanders around France.

>95 Yells: you know, I’m not sure. I don’t remember thinking a lot about it but that probably says more about me than about how she was portrayed.

583) England Made Me by Greene

Wow! I'm so impressed with your reading, both content and quantity. Although I have some issues with the 1001 lists, I greatly admire those with the persistence to read them. I hope there are more four star reads for you in the second half of the list.

I'm sorry you didn't like Turgenev and Wharton more; Balzac and Vikram Seth, yay; Love Medicine is on my list as I loved The Round House and want to read more Erdrich, and I really need to read Borges.

>110 labfs39:. I admit, I have a love/hate relationship with this list. On one hand, I love lists and I have discovered some amazing new authors through lists like this, but on the other hand, it omits a wide variety of authors around the world (although subsequent editions have addressed this a little) and the 1001 editors seem to REALLY love certain writers (as good as someone is, they shouldn’t make up 10% of the darn thing!). My aim is to eventually hit 1001 from the combined list (which gives me over 1300 books to choose from). As I’m approaching the big 6-0-0, I’ve been reading a lot of list books, but I tend to go in spurts, oftentimes ignoring it for other stuff.

I do loves me some Russian lit, but Turgenev was a little disappointing. That being said, I am rather harsh with rating. I should give out more 4 & 5’s than I do. Wharton could move up a bit :)

>108 ursula: I really should watch the movie and see if I like her any better.

>111 Yells: Those were some of the problems I found with the 1001 list too (lack of diversity, focus on particular authors, as well as choosing either the most obscure or most popular work by an author, seemingly at random). Are there other lists that you follow as well? Are the works you list in this thread only from the 1001 or is it all of your reading?

Have you read any other works by Edith Wharton? I had only read Age of Innocence and Ethan Frome, and that was ages ago, but then I read House of Mirth and Custom of the Country and really became a fan. I think she does what she does very well.

What are your favorite Russian authors/works?

>113 labfs39: I haven't read a lot of Russian lit, but I have managed to check some of the big guns off the list. I loved War and Peace and was fairly indifferent about Anna Karenina. I love Tolstoy's shorter works better I think. I have some catching up to do with Dostoevsky but since I really like Crime and Punishment, I'm looking forward to more. I think my favourite find so far has been Solzhenitsyn - Cancer Ward was fantastic. More modern find are Moscow Stations by Yerofeev and the masterful Master and Margarita (I listened to this one on a bus trip to the Florida Everglades and giggled to myself the whole way). As for non-list stuff, I would have to think about it. If it's not recorded on a spreadsheet, it's a blur. :)

I've read quite a few of Wharton's book. Age of Innocence, Bunner Sisters, Ethan Frome, House of Mirth and Summer. I enjoyed them overall, but remember thinking about how sad most of them were (especially House of Mirth. I've been meaning to get to Glimpses of the Moon at some point soon so maybe this weekend.

The anal retentive part of me loves lists, and loves playing around with lists to see what stats they reveal. The sceptical part of me hates lists because they are by nature limiting and biased. So, I use lists to discover new authors but I'd say 3/4s of my reading comes from on-line reviews or suggestions from other people.

>114 Yells: so happy to see the Solzhenitsyn love, I love his work too. From the list, I really liked Buddha’s Little Finger (or The Clay Machine Gun) by Viktor Pelevin. It was seriously weird, on a par with The Master and Margarita in that respect.

>114 Yells: I am a Solzhenitsyn fan too. I actually was in a situation where I met him, but couldn't acknowledge that I knew who he was. As you know, he was extremely private during his 20 years of exile in the US. And prickly.

Forgive me for not knowing the 1001 list well enough to tell, but are the books listed here all from that list? Do you have a thread for your other reading?

>115 ursula: You had me at seriously weird. I’ll check that one out, thanks!

>116 labfs39: This thread is solely for 1001 reads and it’s the only one I’ve maintained over the last few years with any regularity. I poke around in the Orange January/July group (Women’s Prize for Literature) but my thread there is really out-of-date. And I used to post in Club Read and various Canadiana groups as well, but lately I’ve just been lurking. However, last weekend I started a CR thread again! I’ve hung up my lurker hat and joined the real world again :)

Love the Solzhenitsyn story!

Swann’s Way by Proust. Book one finished. Am I supposed to be this annoyed with Swann?

584) Cane by Toomer



What an odd collection. Some of it was beautiful and some boring. Very strange.



585) Unknown Soldier Linna



The horrors of war. Powerful book.

586) Antic Hay by Huxley



Interesting juxtaposition with the last book.

587) Manhattan Transfer by Dos Possos



This felt like the rough draft of the USA trilogy. Probably should have read this one first.

588) Promise at Dawn by Gary



An enjoyable memoir of a boy and his over-bearing mother. I loved reading about his rather unconventional upbringing and his time as a soldier in WWII.

589) Notes From the Underground by Dostoevsky



I can't say that I agree with everything he wrote, but he makes some good points about the fickleness & irrationality of man, especially as I look around at all the misinformation flying around these days. An odd book though… part treatise and part novel.

590) The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway



On the surface, this is a novel about a group of friends travelling around Europe post WWI, drinking and dancing. Under the surface, is a fascinating look one's struggle to deal with a rapidly changing world and the aftermath of a devastating event.



591) Disappearance by Dabydeen



A conversation between a young Guyanese engineer and his English landlady while he is staying in a small English village overseeing a project. I enjoyed the interplay between the two.

592) The Sorrows of Young Werther by von Geothe



My first Goethe novel. A sad little tale of unrequited love. A lot more accessible than I thought it would be.



593) Light of Day by Swift



An odd tale of murder and revenge. Swift is a master at weaving together a narrative of past and present.

594) Thursbitch by Garner



Here John Turner was cast away in a heavy snow storm in the night in or about the year 1755. The print of a woman's shoe was found by his side in the snow where he lay dead

A mysterious tombstone from 300 years ago was the inspiration for this short novel. It's a rather surreal book where the lines of past and present get blurred. I wasn't sure what to make of it at first, but after reading about the inspiration for the novel, I have a greater appreciation for the reimagined story Garner tells.

595) The Third Man by Greene



Not nearly as polished as his other works, but a fun little spy thriller for a rainy afternoon.

596) Zorba the Greek by Kazantzakis



What does one say about Zorba? A larger than life figure with some very.... erm.... interesting views on women, religion and life in general. But there is an innocence there as well. I think I would be exhausted by someone like him in real life, but on paper, with some distance, I was more than a little charmed.

597) On the Black Hill by Chatwin



A sorrowful tale about twin brothers growing up in rural Wales. The story begins with them as 80-year-old bachelors, still working the farm where they were born, and continues on to tell the story of their lives.

598) The Monk by Lewis



The Monk is touted as the first English language horror story, so I thought it appropriate to read in October. I can only imagine how scandalous this would have been for the time! A monk betraying his vows for the sake of a young woman, willing to make a deal with the devil to have her? A pregnant nun trying to escape to be with her lover? This book is jam packed with sex, violence and even a little black magic for spice.

599) The Crying of Lot 49 by Pynchon



I really can't say that I fully understood the point of this book, but I did enjoy Pynchon's fun with language, especially his character names. I'm a little more optimistic about reading some of his longer works.

600) An Obedient Father by Sharma



I finished this one late last night and initially gave it a 3 1/2 rating, but I think I will bump that a bit. I'm still thinking about this book.

I picked it up not knowing anything about it but I was intrigued by the title. This is not an easy book to read. Like Lolita, there are a lot of disturbing scenes, in this case, incest and rape. But there is also this fascinating power struggle between father and daughter. The novel occurs years after the rapes happened and father and daughter are forced to live together due to circumstance. Ram is a corrupt official, who is trying to keep all his secrets hidden, but one day everything bubbles to the surface when Anita finds him getting a little too close to her daughter and she finally confronts him.

Congratulations on 600!

>134 BentleyMay: Thanks! I didn't think I would ever get here :)

Hey! Welcome to the 600 club!

Congratulations!

Congrats on 600!!! And with a book that I don't remember seeing reviewed! Thanks for bringing it to my attention - it sounds interesting.

Thanks everyone!

>138 japaul22: Just a word of warning, it's an uncomfortable book to read, but it intrigued me in the same way that Lolita did. There's dad, a man who has done terrible things and who hasn't changed much, looking for forgiveness, and there's his daughter, who has had to live with this awful secret for a long time, looking for validation. It was fascinating to read about this power struggle and see how it affected each side.

So it seems as though I actually reached 600 a few books ago. I built my own master list a long time ago but for some reason, I was always a book short. Being thoroughly bored this week (hence having so much reading time), I found another master list and compared the two. I realised that was missing not one but two books, and somehow picked up an extra title that wasn't on the list.

601) Out of Africa by Dinesen - I knew this was on the list but somehow missed noting it. Weird.





602) Who Do You Think You Are? (The Beggar Maid) - Munro. I knew The Beggar Maid was an alternative title, but thought that it was the same as Lives of Girls and Women. I didn't realise that Munro had two books on the list - yah Canada!

>139 Yells: good to know what to expect! Thanks!

>140 Yells: I've done a terrible job tracking my reads since the app disappeared. I never think to open up my spreadsheet and then can't remember what I need to update. Oh well - I don't see myself reading more than 500 or so and I'm pretty sure my LT thread is accurate.

603) Cheese by Elsschot



An odd novella about a man selling cheese. Really not sure why this made the list, but I'm intrigued enough to look it up... tomorrow.



604) The Glimpses of the Moon by Wharton



I was all prepared to hate these two moochers and their marriage of convenience, but dang it, they made me fall in love with them by the end. I've read a few Wharton books and I think this is actually my favourite. It's a much more straightforward & simple story, but there's just something heart-warming about these two accidently falling in love with each other.

605) Burmese Days by Orwell



A fascinatingly painful read about British rule in Burma. The extreme racism was really difficult to stomach so it took a while to read this one through.

Flory, a low level merchant, lives the bachelor life in Kyauktada. He straddles the line as he enjoys all the comforts of a British life but also has a Burmese mistress and Indian friend on the side. He belongs to the local European club, which is under pressure to open membership up to others, and he thinks Dr Veraswami would be a good candidate for nomination. This, of course, causes a whole host of problems and Orwell takes us on a journey of the effects of colonialism.

606) Red and the Black by Stendhal



I've never read Stendhal before so this was an interesting foray into 19th century France and the super rigid social structure. Julien Sorel is a low born son of a carpenter with both a contempt for the Parisian elite and a longing to join them. He is quite smart and he uses his knowledge to land himself a plum job tutoring the mayor's kids. Except he hates everything about it... apart from the mayor's wife. Every time he moves incrementally up the social ladder, his past comes back to haunt him.

607) Gentlemen Prefers Blondes by Loos



Not really sure this was added to the list. It's a short and quick read; the diary entries of Lorelei Lee, a flapper who travels the world, bending men to her will. There is a surprising depth to the character, which I wasn't expecting. I don't remember that depth coming through in the movie.

608) The Story of the Lost Child by Ferrante



Finished the series and overall, I liked them. I think she could have told the story of this unconventional friendship in fewer words though.

609) North and South by Gaskell



I don't know why I don't read more Gaskell. I loved Mary Barton in uni but never picked up another one until now. The excessive crying was a little much (good grief Margaret cries over every little thing), but I loved learning about the working conditions in a mill town during the industrial revolution.

>143 Yells: I love Orwell! Will go pick this one up.

>144 Yells: I loved this one. I'm not sure why, even - Julien was a little brat who couldn't resist biting every hand that fed him.

610) Tyll by Kehlmann



An intriguing tale of a jester, his friend and his donkey. I enjoyed parts of it, but the jumping around was a little than my tired brain can handle these days.

611) Mrs Harris Goes to Paris by Gallico



What a delightful little novella about a woman obsessed with a Dior dress. Can she afford it? Nope. Will she ever have reason to wear it? Nope. But does she want it. Oh yah. Charlady Mrs 'Arris sees her client's new Dior dress collection and immediately decides that she must have one. It takes her years to save up enough pennies but once she does, she immediate takes a day off to go to Paris to buy one.

What starts as a simple quest turns into a grand adventure. She's like a fairy godmother! She meets all kinds of interesting people and influences their lives in weird and wonderful ways. The book I bought has a second story so I will definitely continue with her adventures.

612) Seize the Day by Bellow



A day-in-the-life novella of a hapless fool. Nothing in Tommy's life is going well: his wife doesn't want anything to do with him (except to take his money), he hasn't seen his kids in forever and his father loves telling anyone who will listen all about his failure of a son. Having lost his job, he is pinning all his financial hopes on the stock market and spends the day waiting to see if it'll answer his prayers.

I rather like these types of novels. I can only imagine how hard it is to write about a single day in someone's life and make people want to read it. And really, in this case, it's a rather mundane day in Tommy's life, but Bellow manages to draw you in nonetheless (even when you just want to shake the hapless fool and tell him to stop being such a doormat for everyone).

613) The Mayor of Casterbridge by Hardy



Michael Henchard is a drunken idiot who one day decides to sell his wife because why not. She takes her daughter and wanders off with a complete stranger leaving good old hubby to sober up and realise what he has done. In his defence, he does regret this decision and tries to be find her, but he doesn't try very hard. He then swears off booze and eventually becomes a successful businessman and mayor of Casterbridge. Life is good until one day, many years later, Susan and Elizabeth-Jane show up again and his life gets turned upside down.

The story was okay with lots of twists and turns, but overall I wasn't all that impressed. Hardy doesn't have a very high opinion of women in this novel (nor do the characters) and even most of the men aren't very smart. Farfrae seems to be the only one with half a brain. I found myself exasperated with everyone! I will admit, I have ZERO patience these days, so that is definitely feeding into it. I might reread this in a few years to see if I feel differently.

614) Night Boat to Tangier by Barry



I didn't know what to expect when I opened this one. It took a bit to get going, but once I did, I quite enjoyed it. Maurice and Charlie, two ageing thugs, are sitting by the dock in Algeciras Spain, waiting for the ferry to arrive from Tangier. Maurice's daughter Dilly has been missing for years and he is determined to track her down. As the night progresses, we learn about the rather interesting & colourful history of these two friends and how they all ended up on this particular dock.

615) City Primeval by Leonard



Lots of snow and wind this long weekend (Happy Family Day to those fellow Canadians who celebrate this holiday!) so lots of reading done. After yesterday's mindless read, I'm not sure why I was drawn to a gritty crime noir book, but I guess I needed a detour. I really need to read more of Leonard's stuff. I have a soft spot for crime noir and this one hit that spot. Very satisfying ending.

616) The Third Policeman by O’Brien



All righty then... what started off as a crime novel, quickly went off into an odd direction that I wasn't expecting. There are a LOT of bikes in this book. And imaginary police. Despite being more than a little confused for most of it, it was oddly intriguing.

617) 10:04 by Lerner



An okay book. 10:04 is the time that lightning strikes in the movie Back to the Future. Not really sure how that ties into a book about a man with a brain aneurysm who donates sperm to a friend, but I guess it was an interesting tidbit.

618) Fear and Trembling by Nothomb



A funny satirical (at least I hope it was meant to be satirical) look at office politics in Japan. Amelie starts working for a large corporation as an office assistant, but isn't really sure what her job is. As she bumbles her way through many ridiculous tasks, given to her by an insecure boss, she connects with her fellow employees in weird and wonderful ways. This was a lovely anecdote to some of the craziness in the world these days.

619) Black Water by Oates



Not sure why I would chose this dark type of novel after laughing my way through the last novel, but I felt it I was long overdue to read some Oates. I didn't realise this was based on an incident with Ted Kennedy until afterwards - that's a little horrifying. Kelly is a young journalist who gets caught up in the excitement of an affair with an older senator. While they are driving to the ferry, the drunken senator loses control and ends up in a swamp. He manages to free himself but she is left stuck and afraid, wondering whether he is getting help or not.

The story is told is fragmented pieces and moves back and forth from past to present, rather like the waves of black water lapping around the submerged car. We get tiny snapshots of Kelly's life growing up, her life as a journalist and what lead her to being in that car on that fateful night. We also get glimpses into her mind as she watches the water rise around her waiting to see if help with arrive. Oates leaves the reader with more questions than answers, but it really works for this novella.

620) Death in Venice by Mann



A novella of the appreciation of beautiful or 70 pages of a creepy old man stalking a young teen around Venice?

621) Spring Flowers, Spring Frost by Kadare



Life after communism in Albania as seen through the eyes of an artist. I don't know a lot about Albania, so the political stuff went over my head (I have some further reading to do) but I loved the counter chapters. Kadare uses myth and dreams to punctuate the story and it adds a lovely depth to the story.

622) The Green Hat by Arlen

623) Kokoro by Soseki



A short but powerful tale about love and loss. It was rather heartbreaking to read Sensei's story, especially once you realise what he is intending to do.

624) Book of Evidence by Banville



A rather objectionable man recalls the moments leading up to his arrest. He is the epitome of the unreliable narrator so you never know if he actually experiences any remorse over his crimes.

625) Elementary Particles by Houellebecq

626) Enormous Room by Cummings

627) Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Oe



An interesting variation on Lord of the Flies

628) La-Bas (Down There) by Huysmans

629) Coming Up for Air by Orwell

630) Vile Bodies by Waugh

631) Nausea by Sartre

632) Kidnapped by Stevenson



Quite a rollicking tale.

633) The Green Man by Amis

634) Moll Flanders by Defoe



Do I like Moll for being so unconventional or not like her because of all the orphaned children she leaves in her wake?

635) Herzog by Bellow.



Ugh. This man is exhausting to be around...

636) Steppenwolf by Hesse



Honestly, another exhausting person to be around. I did enjoy the element of fantasy & mythology.

637) Paradise of the Blind by Huong



A beautifully frustrating novel about political unrest and familial obligation.

638) Finnegans Wake by Joyce



Well, that was an adventure. Listened to the audio while reading along with parts. I don't understand much of it but rather loved the word play. Eyebulbs is now in my vernacular.

639) Pavel's Letters by Maron



A woman tries to piece together her family history, particularly that of her Jewish grandfather, from a box of letters that he wrote during the war. I enjoyed her narration at she traces his steps and tries to piece his life together.

640) Rites of Passage by Golding



Quite the naval adventure! It's the first of a trilogy, but not one that I feel compelled to continue with. I only know Golding through Lord of the Flies so it was neat to read something else by him. Travelling to Australia in the early 19th century, Talbot chronicles his sea adventures for his godfather. At first it's quite jovial but soon the tight quarters start bringing out the worst in people. So Lord of the Flies but on a boat and with grown-ups.

641) The Line of Beauty by Hollinghurst



While reading the first half of this one, I couldn't help rolling my eyes at yet another book about rich people doing stupid rich people things. The only difference this time is that the main character, Nick, isn't really rich but through good luck, ends up rooming with a very rich friend from university. The novel takes place during the Thatcher years in Britain. Nick is gay, partially out of the closet, but also very careful who he shares his secret with. At first, him and his vacuous friends flit from party to party, drinking and doing lines of coke. Oh, and sleeping with the help.

Once I hit the middle, things started to get rather dark and I couldn't get enough of the novel. As someone who also came of age during the 80s/90s, I remember the fear I felt when I first hear about this mysterious incurable illness called AIDS, and I especially remember all the rumours that were thrown around about how it was a 'gay disease'. As things started hitting close to home and Nick finds himself in the middle of scandal upon scandal, he really starts to look at life quite differently.

642) Morvern Callar by Warner



What does one when one wakes up and finds their boyfriend has killed himself during the night? Chop him into pieces, bury him around town and carry on, of course. Sounds very odd and rather cold, but when you learn more about Morvern, it almost sounds like a loving tribute. An oddly interesting book.

643) Invisible Cities by Calvino



Kublai Khan and Marco Polo chatting about various cities that Polo has discovered. I just finished reading another book about armchair travel and learned that there is a lot of speculation about how far actually Polo travelled in his adventures (some think he only made it as far as Constantinople) so the magical realism in this book made me chuckle.

644) Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by Le Carre



I’ve only read one other Smiley book and didn’t enjoy it much (and don’t generally like spy thrillers), so colour me surprised that I really liked this one. I will probably move on to Smiley's People sooner rather than later.

645) The Magician of Lublin by Singer



Do you love him or hate him? Yasha is a womanising, lapsed Jewish entertainer who lives a somewhat carefree life in 1880s Poland. He is married to the ever patient Esther, but despite his love for her, he just can't help hooking up with numerous other women in his travels. On one such trip, a series of bad decisions and horrible events rocks him to his core and causes him to look deep into himself and reconsider what he deems important.

646) Black Dahlia by Ellroy



Yowzers, this is one messed up story. This is a very loosely based fictionalised account of the murder of Elizabeth Short, a young woman from Boston who came to LA presumably with dreams of being an actor and ended up gruesomely murdered in 1947. I'm not sure what surprised me the most - the fictional story of the case of the Black Dahlia (it reads like the craziest crime noir book I've ever read) or Ellroy's afterward explaining what he wrote the story the way he did.

647) The End of the Story by Davis



An interesting novel about a woman who is reminiscing about and trying to make sense of a brief obsessive affair she had with a younger man. She has physically moved on but emotionally it's obvious that she hasn't. As she tries putting her thoughts down on paper, she is overwhelmed with the memories of those brief days.

648) The Drowned and The Saved by Levi



This is an incredibly powerful book of essays and one that I won't forget any time soon. Levi survived Auschwitz only to be continually met with people who deny that it ever happened. His writing was his way of ensuring that we never forgot our past.

649) The Year of the Hare by Paasilinna



Kind of Forrest Gump meets the 100 year old man tale. A fun story that can be read in an evening. Not really sure why it is on the list though.

650) Nights at the Circus by Carter



I have started this book so many times and never managed to get past the first chapter until now. I probably should have skipped that chapter because the rest of the book was good and nowhere near as confusing. Overall, I enjoyed it but didn't love it. The last section was really odd.

651) A Bend in the River by Naipaul

652) Wise Blood by O'Connor

653) Summer in Baden-Baden by Tsypkin

654) Museum of Unconditional Surrender by Ugresic

655) Passion According to G.H. by Lispector

656) The Ravishing of Lol Stein by Duras

657) The Comfort of Strangers by McEwan

658) The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Kundera

659) Infinite Jest by Wallace



A month-long audiobook/ebook reading. Still not sure what it's all about (drugs, drugs and more drugs), but parts were absolutely hilarious. I love the satire on capitalism and consumerism.

660) How Late It Was, How Late by Kelman



A little exhausting but overall an interesting into the mind of a man who really needs a life coach.

You need to get a copy of 2666 so can be your 666th book. I did! Review coming soon.

>198 annamorphic: Damn, I read that one already :)

Of course you did! You commented when I said I was reading it. And you were right, it’s pretty good although very long.

661) The Life of Insects by Pelevin



Humans as insect, insects as human - very interesting premise. Pelevin uses anthromorphic insects to highlight life in Russia in the 1990s. I really enjoyed this one.

662) Fear of Flying by Jong



All these people are annoying - yikes.

663) Dead Babies by Amis



These people are even more horrible and annoying. Yowsers....

664) Nightwood by Barnes



Well, that was an interesting experience.

665) Dictionary of the Khazars by Pavic (female version)



This is a really cleverly written book! I could spend years reading this in different ways and come up with new ideas.

666) Satanic Verses by Rushdie



Since I already read 2666, I figured this would be another good one to read for the big 666. This was a much more lyrical book than I was expecting. Beautifully written.

667) Myra Breckinridge by Vidal



At first I was impressed that someone wrote a book about a transgender person in the 70s, and a vibrant & out-going person at that. Then I got halfway through the book and wow, this was a really odd and disturbing read.

668) Another World by Barker

669) Before Night Falls by Arenas

670) Carry Me Down by Hyland

>203 Yells: I read London Fields. If I ever read another Amis, it will be too soon. Your note doesn't make me want to change my mind.

>211 Helenliz: I’m definitely not a fan of Amis Jr. Amis Sr is by far the better writer.

671) La Brava by Leonard

672) Smiley's People by LeCarre

673) The Hive by Cela

674) A Tale of Love and Darkness by Oz

675) What a Carve Up by Coe

676) Interview With a Interview by Rice

>218 Yells: I enjoyed this when I read it as a teen a million years ago. I think I still have the copy, one of the very few books with a horror tag that I own (although I'm not sure I would label it that way).

>216 Yells: I wanted to love this book, but got bogged down and moved on to something else. I would like to finish it some day.