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

The Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo and Rose

The Beggar Maid - Munro

Surprisingly violent yet humorous short stories from this Canadian Nobel Laureate.

Pride and Prejudice. Enjoying it so far. Finding it easier to get through than Persuasion though I enjoyed that one also.

I'm starting A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Started Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro. Read the first chapter/story so far, really enjoyed it.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

Started To Kill a Mockingbird yesterday, mainly due to it being near or on the top of the readgoods 1001-list. Seems OK so far.

Just started The World According To Garp.

I'm starting Never Let Me Go tomorrow.

I started Little Black Book of Stories by A.S. Byatt

Turn of the Screw by Henry James. I'm looking forward to reading as
1. It's a classic
2. It's a horror story
3. It's been recommended to me
4. It's short!

Laura wrote: "Turn of the Screw by Henry James. I'm looking forward to reading as
1. It's a classic
2. It's a horror story
3. It's been recommended to me
4. It's short!"

Look forward to seeing what you think of it. I've been working my way through Henry James The Ambassadors. I have to admit I find his prose somewhat painful and it is slow reading but the story is growing on me.

Stephanie wrote: "Laura wrote: "Turn of the Screw by Henry James. I'm looking forward to reading as
1. It's a classic
2. It's a horror story
3. It's been recommended to me
4. It's short!"

Look forward to seeing wh..."

I'll let you know what I think :) Is The Ambassadors the first Henry James book you've read?

Starting Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin.

Laura....yes. The ambassadors is my first Henry James book. And with the majority of my reading coming on the evening after long and often stressful days at work progress is slow. But I'm getting there....

Just started Middlemarch by George Eliot. A loooong read - perfect for some winter hibernation.

LDB: I loved that book so much! I read it in less than two weeks, because I was so absorbed with the characters!

I'm reading The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield. I was unsure if the list was just referring to the one short story or the collection, so I'm reading the collection. So far, so good. Some are definitely better than others, and I'm just not a huge fan of short stories. They always leave me wanting more.

Started The Kite Runner today. Good so far.

Edit Feb 14th: Finished The Kite Runner just to discover it isn't a 1001-book. Oh well.

Started Simplicissimus by Grimmelshausen. A lot more gruesome than I expected. The story takes place during Europe's 30 Year War 1618-48.

Absalom! Absalom! by William Faulkner and holy batman is it tough to read and I'm barely 1% in. I will get through it though and I hope I find it not only an enjoyable journey but one with a rewarding feeling once completed.

Kayla wrote: "Absalom! Absalom! by William Faulkner and holy batman is it tough to read and I'm barely 1% in. I will get through it though and I hope I find it not only an enjoyable journey but one with a reward..."

I absolutely loved this book, but I read it guided in high school years ago. I suggest finding an online site that can help you digest each chapter. It is such a great book!

Henry James' What Maisie Knew.

Lauren wrote: "Kayla wrote: "Absalom! Absalom! by William Faulkner and holy batman is it tough to read and I'm barely 1% in. I will get through it though and I hope I find it not only an enjoyable journey but one..."

I got through the first chapter last night. I've found it so far to be the type of book that you need to read in smaller chunks (Or chapter by chapter) and take a moment to digest what you read. I took your advice and found the spark notes for the book online. I read the spark notes summary of the chapter and was delighted to find out that I did in fact understand what had been discussed in the first chapter though I wasn't entirely positive I had until after I read the Spark Notes lol. I plan to read each chapter and then read the SparkNotes summary of that chapter right afterwards to make sure I grasp what is happening, but reading the summary this morning definitely gave me a boost of confidence for reading it going forward.

I just started Mrs Dalloway. The first few pages went really slowly as I got used to the writing style but now that I'm about 20 pages in I'm starting to enjoy it more.

I just started Cost by Roxana Robinson. I really like her style of writing so far and I'm glad to be finally reading a "real" novel again after having read so many of the very short books from the list in the past weeks.

I'm starting Death In Rome by Wolfgang Koeppen.

Disgrace by Coetzee, almost finished now. I'm enjoying it, but it's also giving me frustrations. He's a fantastic author, but his characters aren't terribly likeable.

I'm currently reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. It's fascinating to think how long ago this was written yet how relevant some of the themes in it could be today.

byJulian Barnes

byJulian Barnes

Jean wrote: " byJulian Barnes" Love this book!

I'm starting Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin tonight.

Laura wrote: "Jean wrote: " byJulian Barnes" Love this book!"

Starting it today.

Started The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

Laura wrote: "Jean wrote: " byJulian Barnes" Love this book!"

Jean wrote: "Laura wrote: "Jean wrote: " byJulian Barnes" Love this book!"

Starting it today."

Ditto

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen...because I need to bring some witty femininity into my recent reading (too many war novels)!

Wendy wrote: "Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen...because I need to bring some witty femininity into my recent reading (too many war novels)!"

Oooh! Let me know how you like it. I just finished P&P and loved it. So far the only other Austen I've read was Persuasion, which was enjoyable but not as much as P&P to me. I can't wait to make my way through all of her novels.

Just started The Remains of the Day. Haven't seen the movie or anything, so I'm not really expecting anything aside from a butler.

Kayla wrote: "Wendy wrote: "Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen...because I need to bring some witty femininity into my recent reading (too many war novels)!"

Oooh! Let me know how y..." It's really good! Couldn't put it down :)

Ursula wrote: "Just started The Remains of the Day. Haven't seen the movie or anything, so I'm not really expecting anything aside from a butler."

SUCH a good book! I hadn't seen the film either when I read it, I think that's the best way

Steve wrote: "Laura wrote: "Jean wrote: " byJulian Barnes" Love this book!"

Jean wrote: "Laura wrote: "Jean wrote: "[bookcover:The Sense of an Ending|107..."

Only 50 pages to go. How is it treating you, Steve? I'm really enjoying it.

Laura wrote: "Kayla wrote: "Wendy wrote: "Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen...because I need to bring some witty femininity into my recent reading (too many war novels)!"

Oooh! Let..."
Now I'm even more excited!

Started Thérèse Raquin By Émile Zola last night.

Jean wrote: "Steve wrote: "Laura wrote: "Jean wrote: " byJulian Barnes" Love this book!"

Jean wrote: "Laura wrote: "Jean wrote: "[bookcover:The Sense of..."

I read it a few years ago, I meant ditto that it was fantabulistic, Barnes is a phenomenal writer, and I really liked sense of an ending.

Invisible by Paul Auster

Lady Chatterley's Lover :)

Moby-Dick. It's over 500 pages long and only rated 3.39 on GR so I hope I don't regret reading this.

Cranberry Row by Steinbeck, I'm hoping this is great I haven't had a very promising start to the year in terms of reading.

Did you type that on a phone? Auto correct? Cannery Row you meant? hahah

Steve wrote: "Did you type that on a phone? Auto correct? Cannery Row you meant? hahah"

Cranberry Row. Funny! And when I initially read the post I did not even catch the error.