Guardian Newspaper 1000 Novels discussion

I always amazed at the sheer volume of books you read Fay. Are you a really really fast reader or so you spend a huge number of hours reading every day?

I'm in awe. Seriously.

I always amazed at the sheer volume of books you read Fay. Are you a really really fast reader or so you spend a huge number of hours reading every day?

I'm in awe. Seriously.

I always amazed at the sheer volume of books you read, Fay. Are you a really really fast reader or do you spend a huge number of hours reading every day?

I'm in awe. Seriously.

I always amazed at the sheer volume of books you read, Fay. Are you a really really fast reader or do you spend a huge number of hours reading every day?

I'm in awe. Seriously.

https://www.listchallenges.com/balzac...

Human Comedy List Challenge list - some of the longer non-fiction entries (like the one about Catherine the Great) are split into sections. it's also not in chronological or thematic order, but spreads the famous ones around. I got the order from a site called Balzac Books.

I have no idea why my post appears four times. I was THAT amazed at Fay's work.

Phil wrote: "I have no idea why my post appears four times. I was THAT amazed at Fay's work."

Haha! I think I just read fast. I probably miss a lot that slower readers savour. It is my primary form of amusement though, I aren't a huge TV watcher.

Phil wrote: "https://www.listchallenges.com/balzac...

Human Comedy List Challenge list - some of the longer non-fiction entries (like the one about Catherine the Great) a..."

Thanks - I shall definitely be using this to track :-)

Me too. Thanks for the link and thanks for making up the list, Phil. I really doubt I'll ever get all of that read, but it'll be nice to see what titles are out there.

I just finished The Spy Who Came in from the Cold as well. What did you think of it, Fay?

Fortunately, most of them are short stories, Bryan, and all of them are available as free eBooks too.

i know you're asking Fay, but I thought Spy was a masterpiece.

slim pickin's in June, with only 4 more G1000 added

making 348 total

If Not Now, When? Levi, Primo - immaculately written/highly informative - 4
Life: A User's Manual ("La Vie Mode d'Emploi") Perec, Georges - never has the word "amazing" been better employed to describe a book - 5
The Sportswriter Ford, Richard - well-written, but bit pointless - 3
The Castle Kafka, Franz - unexplainably compelling - 4

also a re-read, cos I couldn't remember much about it:
Wide Sargasso Sea Rhys, Jean - well-written, but bit pointless - 3

also an "OTGA":
Phantom Lady Woolrich, Cornell (aka "William Irish") - clever plot, but dry/procedural - 2.5

also continuing with HP series (only first book technically in G1000):
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (HP#2) Rowling, J. K. - chewing gum for the reading brain - 4

Bryan "Blackadder" wrote: "Me too. Thanks for the link and thanks for making up the list, Phil. I really doubt I'll ever get all of that read, but it'll be nice to see what titles are out there.

I just finished The Spy Who ..."

I enjoyed it. I was expecting it to be like James Bond (which I aren't a massive fan of) so this was a wonderfully pleasant surprise. Gripping and with actual characters rather than caricatures. I loved the end! Really looking forward to trying Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy now.

What did you think?

I liked it. Maybe not as much as you and Phil, but I would read more le Carre after this. I know I tried him years ago, but I couldn't get into it then. This time I was caught up enough to read it in a single day. That's unusual for me, and says something in and of itself.

July Update
4 new G1000 reads added, taking my total to 248

New 1000 books:
Sound and the Fury
Fahrenheit 451
Double Indemnity
Zuleika Dobson

Reading of Midwich Cuckoos

Plus, two more of Human Comedy ticked off
Domestic Peace
Louis Lambert

8 more in July, making 356 total

Sound And The Fury, The Faulkner, William - style over substance - 3.5
History Morante, Elsa - worthwhile, but was hoping for more - 3.5
Diary Of A Mad Old Man Tanizaki, Jun'ichiro - short & fun - 3.5
Blue Room, The Simenon, Georges - darkly intriguing - 4
Last September, The Bowen, Elizabeth - hilarious/poignant/melancholy - 4
Midwich Cuckoos, The Wyndham, John - clunky/dated - 2.5
Plague, The Camus, Albert - well-written but boring - 2
Alberta And Jacob Sandel, Cora - superb coming-of-age - 4.5

also continuing with HP series (only first book technically in G1000):
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (HP#3) Rowling, J. K. - chewing gum for the reading brain - 3.5

A break in the sunshine has helped me reach in 296 July.

Invisible Man
The Midwich Cuckoos
One Hundred Years of Solitude
The Sound and the Fury
A Study in Scarlet
Our Man in Havana
The Stars My Destination
The Master and Margarita
Bouvard and Pecuchet
East of Eden
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Crash
Martin Chuzzlewit
Last Exit to Brooklyn

Reread:
The Wind in the Willows


Human Comedy:
Albert Savarus

Darren wrote: "8 more in July, making 356 total

Sound And The Fury, The Faulkner, William - style over substance - 3.5
History Morante, Elsa - worthwhile, but was hoping for more - 3.5
Diary Of A Mad Old Man Tan..."

What do you think to HP? It's contreversial but although I enjoyed them I do think they are HIGHLY overrated (but shhhhh it's a secret!) Have your read The Magicians Trilogy Boxed Set? I once reccomended them to a HP fan and they wouldn't speak to me for a week after ;-)

Phil wrote: "July Update
4 new G1000 reads added, taking my total to 248

New 1000 books:
Sound and the Fury
Fahrenheit 451
Double Indemnity
Zuleika Dobson


Well done on the HC! How do you find them? I'm still in the "Personal" section and they all seem a bit "trite"............
Reading of Midwich Cuckoos

Plus, two more of Human C..."

I think the HP series is 5 Star for children/YA
but I haven't the faintest idea why adults would get over-excited by it
I will probably read all 7 to humour Lady Slugge and Littlest Sluglette, but left to my own devising I'd've probably stopped by now

Fay, I'm reading the HC books in an order devised by a website to mix them up, so you get a range of different styles and themes, and the big hitting novels are spaced out.

Louis Lambert was utterly dreadful.

But others in the HC have been really interesting. Luckily, however, most of them are short stories :D

@Phil - oh what’s the website? I bought the complete Kindle version and have just been ploughing on through with them and they are organised into themed categories. Because of that I am finding them all “samey” is mixing up the sections seems like a good idea.

I used the website version to set up my list on the List Challenges website (link further back in this thread in a message on 2nd July)

Phil wrote: "I used the website version to set up my list on the List Challenges website (link further back in this thread in a message on 2nd July)"

Thanks :-)

Darren wrote: "I think the HP series is 5 Star for children/YA
but I haven't the faintest idea why adults would get over-excited by it
I will probably read all 7 to humour Lady Slugge and Littlest Sluglette, but ..."

From an over-excited adult, you are just getting to the better books in the series.

@marilyn if you love Harry Potter I urge you to read The Magicians by Lev Grossman where you don’t start “Hogwarts” until College and there is a healthy dose of Narnia. A million times better than the TV series.

Fay wrote: "@marilyn if you love Harry Potter I urge you to read The Magicians by Lev Grossman where you don’t start “Hogwarts” until College and there is a healthy dose of Narnia. A million times better than ..."

I'll take a look. :)

I loved the Magicians too. Especially since I was a total Narnia fiend as a kid.

Monthly weigh in!

I made the 300 mark getting to 301 :-)

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Crome Yellow
Parade's End
The Satanic Verses
The Getaway

Human Comedy:
Vendetta


And as an aside I surprisingly really enjoyed Parade's End despite normally shying away from WW (either fic).

Jackie wrote: "I loved the Magicians too. Especially since I was a total Narnia fiend as a kid."

Me too! If they ever revamp the list I hope these are on it :-)

August Update
3 new G1000 reads added, taking my total to 254

New 1000 books:
On the Road
Scoop
Lucky Jim


Plus, one more of Human Comedy ticked off
The Alkahest (aka Quest for the Absolute)

Fay - Congrats on reaching 300!

for me, 5 more in August, making 361 total

Ulysses Joyce, James - DNF (was ok, but 300 pages were enough)
Wind In The Willows, The Grahame, Kenneth - charming - 4
Midnight's Children Rushdie, Salman - remarkable achievement - 5
Towards the End of Morning Frayn, Michael - supremely English - 5
On The Road Kerouac, Jack - seminal classic - 4

Just a few this month:

A re-read of The Wind in the Willows--5 stars

Fatherland by Robert Harris
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

Dance to the Music of Time #6--The Kindly Ones by Anthony Powell

That makes somewhere around 240

Fay wrote: "Monthly weigh in!

I made the 300 mark getting to 301 :-) ..."

Congrats on reaching 300, Fay!

My reading slump this year has affected my pace going through the list so I haven't even read 10 new-to-me books from the list in 2019 (so far). I did read Parade's End earlier in the year and have done a bunch of rereads.

I am currently at 514 (I think) having read Nice Work in August and I am in the middle of The Cruel Sea.

Leslie wrote: "Fay wrote: "Monthly weigh in!

I made the 300 mark getting to 301 :-) ..."

Congrats on reaching 300, Fay!

My reading slump this year has affected my pace going through the list so I haven't even..."

What did you think to Parade's End? It was a pleasant surprise for me and was a long read so I find myself missing the characters.
I think I'm about to enter a list slump as I am craving mind trash at the moment :-)

It wasn't what I had thought it would be - I wasn't sure during the first book whether I liked Christopher Tiejens but by the end, I was firmly on his side. Sylvia was just awful!

List books read in September:

The Day of the Locust
The Cruel Sea
The Getaway
Tintin in Tibet and The Castafiore Emerald
and one of the Discworld series - The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

6 more for me in September making 367 total

A Glastonbury Romance Powys, John Cowper - DNF
Herland Gilman, Charlotte Perkins - 2.5 Stars
Uncle Silas Le Fanu, J. Sheridan - 3.5
Empire Of The Sun Ballard, J. G. - 4
My Name Is Red Pamuk, Orhan - 3.5
Remembering Babylon Malouf, David - 4

@Darren I knew you would go Galstonbury to the end lol!

I got to page 480 (of 1120!) and realised (as with Middlemarch) that I didn't give a monkey's what happened either plot-wise or to any of the characters!

Darren wrote: "I got to page 480 (of 1120!) and realised (as with Middlemarch) that I didn't give a monkey's what happened either plot-wise or to any of the characters!"

It's a toughy! I had to force myself but I'm glad I did it

I'm going to wrestle with a Suitable Boy this month if anyone fancies it........

Only a poor 6 this month getting to 307

The Day of the Locust
A Handful of Dust
Waiting for the Barbarians
Bel-Ami
A House for Mr Biswas
Humboldt's Gift

Human Comedy
A Second Home

Six for the list month (which is good going for me haha) and none of them is a re-read either.

My Cousin Rachel (Daphne de Maurier)
Journey into Fear (Eric Ambler)
Day of the Locust (Nathaneal West)
The Getaway (Jim Thompson)
A Coffin for Dimitrios (Eric Ambler)
Great Apes (Will Self)

This puts me on 260 from the list.

(No Balzac this month)

In October, I'm working through the Earthsea Quartet as well as the two group reads.

Phil wrote: "Six for the list month (which is good going for me haha) and none of them is a re-read either.

My Cousin Rachel (Daphne de Maurier)
Journey into Fear (Eric Ambler)
Day of the Locust (Nathaneal Wes..."


Whoop whoop!!! Go you! I'm glad someone else is reading Jude as well.

I was sorely disappointed with the Earthsea books!

Only four in September for me, but I'm not very dedicated--

Gulliver's Travels
Kindred
The Getaway
Day of the Locust

I think that makes 240 for me

Fay wrote: "I was sorely disappointed with the Earthsea books!..."

Oh dear! Perhaps one has to read them as a teenager to love them as I do. I reread the trilogy and read the rest of the series earlier this year and I still love the first book. The others were probably not as good as her other fiction but once you become invested in Ged, they make for exciting and interesting reading.

October's been a poor month for ticking books off the list.

4 books read, but only one ticked off.

Jude the Obscure (tick - new one for me)

The three others were parts of longer works (one of which is a re-read anyway).

The Wizard of Earthsea
The Tombs of Atuan (parts 1 and 2 of the Earthsea Quartet)

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (part 3 the Narnia Chronicles, if you follow the sensible reading order).

I accidentally took myself off the waiting list at Open Library for Stars my Destination, so I'll get that read in November and I've made a head start on The Castle (although I've already that a long time ago anyway).

Only one from the list this month--Adam Bede by George Eliot

Also The Soldier's Art by Anthony Powell--#8 in The Dance to the Music of Time series.

5 more for me in October, making 372

Bridget Jones's Diary Fielding, Helen - 3.5 Stars
Gargantua & Pantagruel Rabelais, Francois - 2.5
Middlesex Eugenides, Jeffrey - DNF
Flaubert's Parrot Barnes, Julian - 4
Victorian Chaise-Longue, The Laski, Marghanita - 3.5

also 2 OTGA's
Pather Panchali ("Song Of The Road") Bandyopadhyay, Bibhutibhushan - 4.5
Pair Of Blue Eyes, A Hardy, Thomas - 3

best read of the month is one that should deffo be in the G1000
Tartar Steppe, The Buzzati, Dino - 5