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

Ulysses - James Joyce. Where has this book been all my life?! I LOVED IT!!! Gonna go through a Joyce phase now x

Finished one of the shortest books on the list, The Nose by Nikolai Gogol.

Finished as an audiobook The Devil and Miss Prym -- loved the reader and the storyline, though it was a bit too much preachy.

I LOVED "The Nose"! X

Just finished Night, short, but horrific, powerful, & SAD....WW II Holocaust tale....

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Lisa wrote: "The Last Juror by John Grisham. Don't know why it's included in any version of the lists, but in case anyone hasn't read it, I enjoyed the heck out of it, & it was what I ..."

Oops! Wrong list, LOL...read this one for a numbers challenge...

Just finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Strange book, but not as strange as 1Q84!

I read The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe this morning. It must be one of the shortest books on the list, and a 5-star story to boot!

Diane wrote: "Finished The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Makes me not want to eat meat again.

I do believe this is the most depressing book I have ever read."

So true! Very bleak and VERY disturbing about the meat industry in Chicago. The aftermath of this book will linger for a VERY long time.

Fiona wrote: "I LOVED "The Nose"! X"

Wasn't this a hoot!

Just finished The God of Small Things ... which definitely grew on me.

Just finished The Woman in White. It rambled on a bit, but was quite fun.

Finally finished Ovid's Metamorphoses, after working through it for the past few months.

David wrote: "Finally finished Ovid's Metamorphoses, after working through it for the past few months."

I took me a while to get through it as well, and I never finished it. I'm going to try again soon. How'd you like it?

Kokoro by Soseki

Kokoro

Finished the audio book of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.
I found it rather depressing, but the reveal of Rebecca's true character at the end really interesting.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

This was entertaining, but I felt there was something lacking.

Just finished Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. I'm surprised at how much I actually enjoyed it.

Finished Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang. Great book.

Karina wrote: "Just finished Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. I'm surprised at how much I actually enjoyed it."

I felt the same way. Having not read it in high school, I was almost dreading it. Ended up really liking it, and thought the writing was stellar.

Just finished The Poisonwood Bible. Honestly it might be the best book I ever read.

Kaitlyn wrote: "Just finished The Poisonwood Bible. Honestly it might be the best book I ever read."

It is my favorite book ever.

I just finished The Master and Margarita. I think to fully appreciate this, one needs some knowledge of 20th century Russian history and also needs a solid foundation in classic literature. I had neither, so most of the intent of this book went way over my head. Even so, this is obviously a brilliant and masterful work. And as an aside, the narration by Julian Rhind-Tutt in the audio version is simply amazing.

Kaitlyn wrote: "Just finished The Poisonwood Bible. Honestly it might be the best book I ever read."

I read that 15 years ago and remember loving it, but it's been so long that I have forgotten much of what happens and I can't really say now why I liked it so much. I remember a part having to do with a lot of ants, I think. ha ha. I would love to reread it someday, along with all the books I HAVEN'T read yet!! :)

Haven't posted here in a while. The books I recently finished are
In the Heart of the Seas by S.Y. Agnon
Summer by Edith Wharton (both 3 stars)
One No One and One Hundred Thousand by Luigi Pirandello
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denissovitch by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (all four stars)
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
The Arabian Nights
Emma by Jane Austen
Homo Faber by Max Frisch (all 5 stars)

I just finished 1Q84 by Murakami. I liked it a lot but I didn't love it like I have others of his. Probably would have benefitted from being shorter.

Finished Home by Marilynne Robinson. From the reviews, it seemed that everyone loved this but me. I enjoyed both Gilead and Housekeeping, so I am unsure what went awry. The language was beautiful, but I was bored to tears. It has taken me over two months to get through it and I am happy to be done.

I just finished The Remains of the Day. It's not the most exciting book, but I found it sort of calm and relaxing. Not boring, not really fun, in that sort of frantic sense. Just relaxing.

Finished one of the shorter books this morning: Of Mice and Men. Such a sad ending.

David Copperfield Soooo long.

Catch-22. How can a book be so funny, yet so sad at the same time? I loved this and can't believe I hadn't read it before.

Frances wrote: "Finished one of the shorter books this morning: Of Mice and Men. Such a sad ending."

I just finished that as well. Heartbreaking.

Finished To Kill a Mockingbird yesterday- such a wonderful book! Loved so many different aspects about it, I can see why it's a classic.

Laura wrote: "Finished To Kill a Mockingbird yesterday- such a wonderful book! Loved so many different aspects about it, I can see why it's a classic."

My absolute favorite American novel.

There But for the by Ali Smith. I don't usually like this kind of books but Smith made it interesting and I must read her more.

Lynecia wrote: "David wrote: "Finally finished Ovid's Metamorphoses, after working through it for the past few months."

I took me a while to get through it as well, and I never finished it. I'm going to try again soon. How'd you like it? "

I really enjoyed it, and found I got more into it as I went on. I don't think you really need to have that much background knowledge of the myths as Ovid frequently plays around with the traditions and invents stories to suit his purpose anyway, but a good edition with detailed notes will help there.

Finished Nada by Carmen Laforet. Coming of age in Barcelona, in a very dysfunctional extended family. Pretty quick read.

I've been reading Gone With the Wind. I hate to admit that I've been struggling though. I'm even from The South, Charleston no less. I know it's a great work, I know it's about change in the way of life in the south. I just can't like Scarlett, I cringe when I read the way slaves are discussed. I'm going to finish. But dang, I'm just shocked and I really shouldn't be. I will finish.

Wendy-I'm reading Gone With the Wind right now too. I'm only on page 100. I dislike Scarlett already, and I'm having trouble getting into the book even though I have watched the movie 100 times!

Finished Infinite Jest and loved it!

Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Oh my! (my review)

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Oh my! (my review)"

One of my favorites.

Finished Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence.

Finished Therese Raquin and In Watermelon Sugar.

Finished at this moment, Em Busca do Tempo Perdido - O Lado de Guermantes

Finally finished A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. I've been working on it for three months. Great book.

Cancer Ward- Solzhenitsyn


Cancer Ward

Novels don't get any better than this one. Why did it take me so long to read it?

I finished Cloud Atlas last night. Not my favorite on the list, far from it...

Diane wrote: "Finally finished A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. I've been working on it for three months. Great book."
Congratulations! That is one fat book!!

Just finished A Gate at the Stairs it was fine. I never wanted to stop, but some of the turns it takes are so out of left field and forced. The author seemed to be saying I want to talk about this issue, now this one, and this one too. And it just drops characters when the author is done with them.