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

Hearing Secret Harmonies by Anthony Powell. Last book in the A Dance to the Music of Time serie.

Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan

Just finished the book of the month, Billiards at Half-Past Nine by Heinrich Böll

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Miramar by Naguib Mahfouz

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Never gets old.

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

New Grub Street by George Gissing. An author I think needs to be more widely read--loved it.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty

The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

I'm free!!! I started this in spring of 2021, when the group was reading it as the yearly long read. I rapidly fell behind and it haunted me for years. Finally made a big push in December and finished it on New Year's Eve.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

U.S.A.: The 42nd Parallel / 1919 / The Big Money by John Dos Passos

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset

Willard and His Bowling Trophies by Richard Brautigan.

The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek

The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor. ;I like it.

Ormond by Maria Edgeworth.

Death in Venice by Thomas Mann

I didn't care for this one. At least it was short.

La Reine Margot by Alexandre Dumas

Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos.

Possession by A.S. Byatt and Death in Rome by Wolfgang Koeppen

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. I liked Mary Barton better, this was too tame but holy, do many people die.

I'll probably be reading fewer Boxall books this year, am planning on 5 or so.

Life of Christ by Giovanni Papini. This could have been a good fictional story if the author hadn't stated in the introduction that he was writing to show the truth of the life of christ as described in the bible. He then proceeded to present traditions and dogma as though they were facts. He also hyperbolized so much of his opinion and stigmatized everyone who didn't believe then and now. In doing so, the entire book took on the flavor of a series of sermons rather than a work of fiction.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Silas Marner by George Eliot and Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami.
Its a quick wistful read but lacked a bit of substance.

Excited finishing "Despite the Boundaries.".

Claudine's House by Colette Gauthier-Villars

Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland.

The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien

She by H. Rider Haggard. 2 stars.

Finished this tome:
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset - 4* -My Review

The Making of Americans by Gertrude Stein
This was an odd book full of repeating that the author chose as her style. From the beginning this was an odd book, through the middle and the end of the beginning of the book it was an odd book. Through the beginning of the middle this was an odd book, also during the middle of the middle and the end of the middle this was an odd book. It was in the beginning of the end of the book and through the middle of the end of the book and during the end of the end of the book it was an odd book full of repeating. I know this was an odd book full of repeating, I think this was an odd book full of repeating, I feel this was an odd book full of repeating, I believe this was an odd book full of repeating. Some would say this was an odd book full of repeating, all might say this was an odd book full of repeating, none could say this wasn’t an odd book full of repeating. 😏

Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard - 4* - My Review

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka

Spring Flowers, Spring Frost by Ismail Kadare

Trainspotting Irvine Welsh read as one that I wasn't looking forward to for the 2025 Scavenger Hunt

Chaka by Thomas Mofolo

Winter by Ali Smith and White Teeth by Zadie Smith.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino

Reasons to Live by Amy Hempel and Malone kuolee by Samuel Beckett.