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

Little Women which I enjoyed but not as much as I did when I was young and Atonement which I loved.

I just finished Dracula. I enjoyed it even though it is a little too long.

The Robber Bride by Atwood. I wanted to like this book more than I did. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it vs. listened to it.

Dracula by Stoker. I have to agree with others-a little long. Very enjoyable, though.

"The Devil and Miss Prym". Eh. Coelho does have a very relatable vibe but there just doesn't seem to be a lot of depth. It's not unenjoyable but it's a bit like the Third Eye Blind of books; I feel okay reading it but also slightly embarrassed for enjoying it.

Just finished comfort of strangers.

Just finished Cold Comfort Farm. Loved the humour.

Wise Blood. Meh. At least it was short and quick. A little too weird and/or symbolic for me.

I finished The Power and the Glory. I can't say I loved it, but it did improve as it went along.

I enjoyed The Summer Book. It was the right book for the right time. Beautiful, funny, peaceful, tender...

Pamela. Or, Virtue Rewarded. This was a great book (4 stars), but unfortunately seems misunderstood and/or not appreciated here on goodreads. It was a good deal of fun, with serious undertones and I can't wait to get my hands on his other book in the list some day!

I just finished Breakfast at Tiffany's. It was a light read, but a good one. Before that one, I read The Time Machine by H.G. Wells and felt a bit chilled after reading it...

I just finished Mrs. Dalloway, I can't say I loved it, but I can't say I hated it either. Some bits I really liked, some bits got me lost and some bits were just tedious.

The Book of Daniel by E.L. Doctorow

The Nun - Rather an unbelievable tale both in the character of the protagonist and the trials that beset her. Although I am sure that convents aren't holy places occupied only by the pure, the run of bad luck she experienced was a little too much. As such, although I would have been interested to learn more about the conditions of convents I can only take everything with an extremely large pinch of salt...

2 1/2 stars

I just finished Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys and adored it. Although sometimes I just want to bring Jean Rhys in from the cold and give her some cocoa and a welcoming home. I'm sure she wouldn't like me though. Sigh.

Tender Is the Night - I don't quite want to say 'thank goodness that's over' but I came pretty close to wishing it was true at several points in the book. I'm not unhappy to have spent the time reading (well, listening) to it but I don't think this will be one I'll revisit. But you never know.

2 1/2 stars

Waiting for the Dark, Waiting for the Light - I felt my interest cycle a bit as I read through. It started off very interesting, I lost the plot a bit and then it came back with a resurgence toward the end. My main problem with it was it focused an a middle aged man who drank too much couldn't commit to any relationship and had lots of insecurity problems. So, pretty standard boring fare really...

Another one I'm giving 2 1/2 stars

The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith. Although I didn't find this particularly good, I'm super excited to have finally read it as I love 19th century lit and this was mentioned a lot back then by several great authors.

The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien.

3 stars. A very easy read (very YA-ish coming of age story), I'm not sure what is so "great" about this book. Yet I want to read the rest of the series to see what happens to them.

I just finished One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest! I rather enjoyed it! I do like dystopian literature.

4/5

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. I enjoyed it. I gave it 4 stars.

I finished Blood Meridian. It was very good, but very dark in theme. I was a little surprised that it felt similar to The Road. 4 stars It could have been a five star book if there was one character I could root for-alas.

The Brothers Karamazov - Finally! This one has been floating around my room for ages! Still it was worth the time investment. Really quite a cheerful and enjoyable book.

4 stars

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

Atonement by Ian McEwan.

I just finished Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee

I just finished The New York Trilogy. What a strange book. Good, but strange. I saw it called a post-modern detective story, and that sound very right to me. The reader is the detective trying to figure out what on earth is going on. If X can meet with Y, then they cannot be the same person, they are both real or both fictitious.

I found this bit by Ryan https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
“To put it another way: if you go looking for your 'self', you may be disturbed to find how much of that concept is tied to language, which is an extremely malleable thing. This is what the protagonists all discover to their great horror - which is why all of the stories are frustratingly unresolved. You can't find something that doesn't quite exist in the first place. “

This really sums it up very well. The style remind me a bit of Umberto Eco. Paul Auster is philosophical and hard to read on about the same level. Most definitely a 1001-list book.

Last night I finished The Marriage Plot, which I really liked. This morning I completed Kidnapped which was OK.
I'm also in the middle of The Shining but only making slow progress even though I somehoew also like this one.

Last night I finished The Hours. I enjoyed reading it, and the more I think about it, the more I realize there's a lot in that small book.

Just finished Ivanhoe. Enjoyable but for such a lengthy book in some chapters, the ending felt rushed.

Most recently, Cannery Row by Steinbeck. I really enjoyed the place as character feel and the events of the book were a pleasing variety of funny, tender, tragic, and quiet.

Gone with the Wind. It took a little bit (I put it down for too long) but it is a good book.

2001: A Space Odyssey. I rather enjoyed it! It makes me want to read other Sci-Fi novels. :)

The Once and Future King-not what I expected. Didn't know there'd be so much pacificism and anachronism. Mixed feelings about this one.

Pastoralia by George Saunders - entertaining social commentary. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. I didn't appreciate it until I read several analyses. I have to remember how unconventional his writing was when he was first published . . .

just finished a tale of two cities... absolutely loved the last 100 pages of it (very melodramatic!) and all its twists and turns :)

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, from the combined list.

3.5 stars. Immigrant lit, focusing on Ukrainian immigrants (post ww2 and recent) to England. This book was also longlisted for the Booker and shortlisted for the Orange prize.

Just finished Surfacing, which was my first book by Atwood. I really enjoyed it and gave it 4 stars.

"Nadja" by Andre Breton, which I enjoyed but not a lot.

"All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque. I can't believe I've waited as long as I have to read this novel. It is brutal, honest, necessary reading, and one of the finest novels about war I have ever read.

Finished Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Butcher Boy. Both were enjoyable to me.

I also re-read The Call of the Wild, which I read last time when I was 9 or 10.

I finished Kokoro yesterday. Is a very easy read with lots to say.

Just finished Fahrenheit 451. Slowly, and I do mean slowly working my way, but it is a fun challenge! Finishing is not a possibility, but trying is just as rewarding.

Jonpaul wrote: ""Nadja" by Andre Breton, which I enjoyed but not a lot.

"All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque. I can't believe I've waited as long as I have to read this novel. It is brutal, ho..."

I agree! When I finished reading that book, I had to sit down and think for a while. Of all the war books I have read, or all the books I was forced to read for school, this one was momentus and broadened my mind. I'm glad you enjoyed it! :)

I just finished 2001: A Space Odyssey. Even though I've seen the movie numerous times I still found the book interesting and thought provoking.

This weekende I finished The Death of Ivan Ilych and The Shining. I enjoyed both but I didn't like the style of The Shining, so I was glad to finally finish that one.

Angelo wrote: "Just finished Fahrenheit 451. Slowly, and I do mean slowly working my way, but it is a fun challenge! Finishing is not a possibility, but trying is just as rewarding."

This is not a LIST book unfortunately. But it's probably the one most commonly mistaken for one.

Angelo wrote: "Just finished Fahrenheit 451. Slowly, and I do mean slowly working my way, but it is a fun challenge! Finishing is not a possibility, but trying is just as rewarding."

Actually that isn't a list book. I thought the same thing when I read it a few months ago.

I've just finished The Sun Also Rises. I had a slow start, but finished the second half reasonably quickly. It was okay but no more than that, I can't figure out why Hemingway wrote this.

The 39 Steps - this was absolutely ridiculous! I can see why so many people think it's rubbish; the plot was thinner than an anorexic stick insect and the book was riddled with people who apparently believed any sort of tall tale they were fed. I still liked it though but I am in no way defending its status as 'proper' literature.

2 1/2 stars