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

Stephanie "Jedigal" wrote: "Silas Marner. 5*"

One of my favorites since high school!

Drew wrote: "Just finished Correctionby Thomas Bernhard. Very difficult, but very rewarding. Also my 300th list book. Woo-hoo!"

I agree with you, and congrats on reaching a milestone on your reading journey.

Ian wrote: "The Cement Garden - Ian MacEwan.
A bold, but fairly unpleasant read."

Ditto for me. My least favorite McEwan on the list!

Gwen wrote: "The Berlin Stories: The Last of Mr Norris/Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood"

I did get a kick out of the characters in these. I hope you did too.

Judith wrote: "Stephanie "Jedigal" wrote: "Silas Marner. 5*"

One of my favorites since high school!"

Almost finished this one. I'm enjoying it more now than I did to begin with.

atrocity exhibition by Ballard

War of the end of the world - loved although dragged in parts. Still gave 4 stars.

Just finished Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov.
A little book, with
a nice story.
Though poor Pnin, you really just want something to go right for him.

Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter was a four star. Bazar story of the baseness of circus life. The characters are gritty and real.

Finished The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst. Quite frankly it was yet another book on this list that failed to really grab me.

Faceless Killers by Henning Mankel. I like the vulnerability of Inspector Wallander.

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. Loved it. It's my second (and certainly not my last).

Just finished The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick. Went in with no expectations and came out glad it was a short read.

In a Free State - This was a fascinating little read

Finished A Farewell to Arms finally. Hated the ended. That is all.

Finished a while back Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata, a sad little book.

A Heart So White - Marias

A Heart So White

Wow, so interconnected and interwoven....

The Postman Always Rings Twice - James M. Cain

I just finished The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. It's probably the best book I read all year!

Colm Toibin's The Master

I really enjoyed Toibin's style of writing. But, I feel somewhat ambivalent about the book. I read and did not enjoy James' Portrait of a Lady many years ago...so, I was somewhat biased. So, now, although I can appreciate better why James wrote a novel that did not interest me....I am no closer to understanding why he should be considered "The Master".

Just finished Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood.
I found this book a slow read.
Good, but not really my cup of tea.

Fingersmith - could NOT put this flown! Gripping!

I recently finished Steppenwolf which was brilliant, Decline and Fall which was great fun and The God of Small Things. This latter one was written in a very very beautiful language but I didn't care much for the story so it took me a lot longer to read it than expected.

Just finished Where Angels Fear to Tread. I found it very clichéd at some places.

Just finished LaBrava by Elmore Leonard. Fantastically done. Vivid characters!

Finished "American Pastoral" by Philip Roth. Certainly the best book by the author that I have ever read...a Pulitzer winner as well.

American Pastoral

Just finished Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon I gave it a generous 3 stars.

Haven't posted in a while, so I've missed a few I've read. The three most recent:


Look Homeward, Angel - not bad, but it could have been a whole lot shorter.
Cloudsplitter - very good. Long, but worth it.
Nemesis - I didn't expect to like this (after my last Roth experience), but found it very good. I might go back and read the first three in the series (which aren't on the list).

Finished The Maltese Falcon. It was a really good crime book, quite different from the ones I usually read.

Finished One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand by Luigi Pirandello. There were some very interesting thought experiments in it.

I finished Loving by Henry Green. It reminded me a lot of Downton Abbey (aristocrats and their servants) and I enjoyed it.

I finished Crash and Nights at the Circus.

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. I enjoyed Hemingway's sense of humor, but I found large chunks of this book to be quite boring (drink, pointless dialogue, pass out, repeat). I think I will have to read a few more of his novels to decide if I like this author or not.

I finished...
Tropic of Cancer
A Maggot
Tipping the Velvet
Blood and Guts in High School
Story of O

Can't say I just LOVED any of them...some were definitely more shocking which opened my eyes to new styles of literature.

Viktor Paskov: A Ballad For Georg Henig The book is mostly about Georg Henig who lives in one room in a basement. He lives for his art – violin building – and completely disregards al other things. Specially the episode with the leg underlines how little other things matters to him.

I read the book because it was the one with the highest average rating (currently 4.61) on the 1001-book to read list. Judging from the reviews most readers are from Bulgaria. I think you need to come from a Bulgaria or Eastern-Europe to really appreciate it. Although Georg Henig is poor and weak he successfully deny the authorities in order to to what he thinks is the rigth thing. He has some very stong values that are his own and cannot in any way be taken from him – no matter the many “attacks” from various places though the story. I think as a story about ownership, resonsibility and defying from Eastern-Europe writer we from the west-culture may not full appreciate it. Also the role of religion and the story tells relation to religion (that sounds like a mash up between Christianity and old Nordic religions).

It has been quite a while since a read Franz Kafka The Trial but some part of the story reminded the of this book.

It took me a while but I finished The Mandarins this morning. I really liked it but boy did the characters like the sound of their own voices!

Just finished Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice.
Great book.
Though it is very sad in it's own way, an eternity of loneliness.
Where the only true rush is the kill.

finished Fingersmith.
Great book, 5 stars.

Just finished A Tale of Two Cities. Beautiful last chapter.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.

Not bad, but a bit of a let down for me as I was expecting much greater things.

Diane wrote: " Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer."

I just finished this as well, but it doesn't look like it's on the list. I liked it somewhat better than Foer's Everything is Illuminated, which made the list.

War and Peace; review here.

Sandi wrote: "Diane wrote: " Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer."

I just finished this as well, but it does..."

Oh, wow. It really isn't on the list. Ugh. I hate when I do that.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde– Robert Louis Stevenson

The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing.

Finished Fingersmith. My first of Waters' 2 list books, though I've also read The Little Stranger. I enjoyed Fingersmith even more.

A Question of Power by Bessie Head.

Just finished Cloud Atlas. Really enjoyed it, although I had a bit of trouble reading the middle story. Maybe because english is not my first language.

Nadine wrote: "Just finished Cloud Atlas. Really enjoyed it, although I had a bit of trouble reading the middle story. Maybe because english is not my first language."

I loved Cloud Atlas. I also had a hard time reading the middle story (and English is my first language), but once I got into the flow of the language I began to understand it more. It helped me to almost read it aloud.

Just finished Orlando by Virginia Woolf.
I enjoyed this book, even though Virginia Woolf's writing style normally doesn't sit well with me.
The chances of the main character and the amount of time which seemed to just float by, I found very interesting.