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

Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon

Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen.

Amok by Stefan Zweig

The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev

The Recognitions by William Gaddis.

História do Cerco de Lisboa by José Saramago

Nocturnalux wrote: "História do Cerco de Lisboa by José Saramago"

I'm surprised you haven't read it yet (I haven't either but I'm not Portuguese).

Karen wrote: "Tere wrote: "Embers by Sandor Marai (could anyone tell me how you do it so, when you post the title of your book, there is a link to it?)"

You also need to do this on the website. The option isn't..."

I can't do it on my android tablet either, just my desktop.

George P. wrote: "I'm surprised you haven't read it yet (I haven't either but I'm not Portuguese)."

Boxall's selection of Portuguese lit is fairly arbitrary. This book, for example, is not considered one of Saramago's most important titles. It is not there with, say, The Stone Raft or Blindness, none of which are contemplated on the list.

You can see this even on gr, just compare Blindness with 236,766 ratings and 19,299 reviews and this book that has 5,164 ratings and 485 reviews.

Of course, gr slants very heavily toward an Anglophone crowd and the results may differ somewhat if you zeroed in on Portuguese readers but odds are it wouldn't be that massive a difference.

And popularity is not a hallmark of quality but in this case, if you were to ask Portuguese readers to select the four finest Saramago books, the vast majority would not select this one and that goes even if you ask critics.

In fact, several of my Portuguese gr connections have yet to read it- or at least have it as to-read on their shelf- and they are by far better read in Portuguese lit than I am.

If not for list requirements, I would not be reading this one now but The Gospel According to Jesus Christ which I do own. This one I borrowed from the library.

Anagrams by Lorrie Moore

Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis

Alberta and Jacob by Cora Sandel.

I started Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson.

Ulysses by James Joyce

Embers by Sándor Márai

Howards End by E.M. Forster

Actually started it Friday but wasn't near a computer. Will probably finish today.

The Bitter Glass by Eilís Dillon

Cutter and Bone by Newton Thornburg

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.

The Daughter by Pavlos Matesis

and

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

Jazz by Toni Morrison

Contact by Carl Sagan.

Love's Work by Gillian Rose

King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

Beloved by Toni Morrison

The Fugitive/Time Regained by Marcel Proust, the last volume of In Search of Lost Time

I started reading Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller the other day.

Jazz by Toni Morrison

The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter.

Just started two modern classics - The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré

By the Open Sea by August Strindberg

Jacques the Fatalist by Denis Diderot.

Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence

The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley

Just started L'Assommoir, aka The Drunkard, my 2nd novel by Émile Zola.

Pamela wrote: "Love's Work by Gillian Rose"

I'm planning to read that very soon, as Gillian Rose and I have the same initials...(for the Scavenger hunt).

The Third Man by Graham Greene

George P. wrote: "Pamela wrote: "Love's Work by Gillian Rose"

I'm planning to read that very soon, as Gillian Rose and I have the same initials...(for the Scavenger hunt)."

I found it somewhat uneven but considering the author was dying at the time, it is very impressive.

Life and Death of Harriett Frean by May Sinclair
Land by Pak Kyongni

Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

Dina wrote: "By the Open Sea by August Strindberg"

Me too... Just now

Aaron's Rod by D.H. Lawrence.

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe

Reading the synopsis, I feel like I've read this book already, but going to start it anyway.

A Hero of Our Own Times by Mikhail Lermontov