Guardian Newspaper 1000 Novels discussion

Terris wrote: "I feel like yelling -- I just marked A Suitable Boy off my list -- by which I mean that I READ IT!! ALL 1349 PAGES!! Of course, it took me three months ;) But by reading only a set amo..."

lol -- I just had a similar experience with a book that wasn't even from the list so I don't even have the satisfaction of checking one off! My book was the 1184 pg. nonfiction book Black Lamb and Grey Falcon about Rebecca West's travels in 1937 Yugoslavia.

Only 1 book from the list read in March plus one from Balzac's Human Comedy. Sigh, the current situation has been making it difficult for me to concentrate...

I read Clayhanger by Arnold Bennett and Vendetta by Balzac. I also reread Breakfast at Tiffany's & Persuasion... My total is now 535 plus a few series mostly done (such as Proust's In Remembrance of Times Past).

Leslie wrote: "Terris wrote: "I feel like yelling -- I just marked A Suitable Boy off my list -- by which I mean that I READ IT!! ALL 1349 PAGES!! Of course, it took me three months ;) But by reading..."

Yes, it certainly gives a sense of accomplishment, doesn't it?
I hope your book was better than mine was! ;)

So far I have read 368 from the list. I started in November of last year, so I’m feeling pretty good about my progress.

BAM wrote: "So far I have read 368 from the list. I started in November of last year, so I’m feeling pretty good about my progress."

Indeed! I have been working on this list since 2012 so if you keep up that rate, you will bypass me quickly ;)

Terris wrote: "I feel like yelling -- I just marked A Suitable Boy off my list -- by which I mean that I READ IT!! ALL 1349 PAGES!! Of course, it took me three months ;) But by reading only a set amo..."

Oh Terris I'm so sad you didn't enjoy it, it's one of my all time favourites. Still, it's even more of an achievement that you made it through :)

I've just joined the group and have read 200 so far since coming across the list a couple of years ago. I'm sure I will be picking up speed now.

6 more for me in March, making exactly 400 total (hurrah!)

Dracula Stoker, Bram - 3.5
Wapshot Chronicle, The Cheever, John - 2.5
White Man Falling Stocks, Mike - 4
Eugenie Grandet Balzac, Honore De - 4
Kidnapped Stevenson, Robert Louis - 3
Way Of All Flesh, The Butler, Samuel - 3.5

plus one that "Should Be On The List"
And Quiet Flows The Don Sholokhov, Mikhail - 4.5

I whittled a few off the list in March

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

plus Vendetta by Balzac, and Hearing Secret Harmonies by Anthony Powell, which was the last of the Dance to the Music of Time series.

March has been another poor month for finishing books, for me (still behind schedule in my - very modest - Reading Challenge).

I think my mistake was trying to read both The Way of All Flesh and East Lynne at the same time, but they were just too similar and pulled my reading momentum right down.

So, just 4 books finished - but at least they were, like last month, all List Books that were new to me.

American Psycho (Bret Easton Ellis) - didn't (couldn't) rate it. It could have been the best book ever 5/5, it could have been the worst book ever 1/5. For the first time ever I couldn't decide on which side of the fence to drop.

A Lost Lady (Willa Cather) 4/5

Kidnapped (Robert Louis Stevenson) 3/5

The Way of All Flesh (Samuel Butler) 4/5

Takes me to 274 / 1000

I'm hoping that my reading mojo will return now that I'm a little more in a routine under lockdown.

Darren wrote: "6 more for me in March, making exactly 400 total (hurrah!)

Dracula Stoker, Bram - 3.5
Wapshot Chronicle, The Cheever, John - 2.5
White Man Falling Stocks, Mike - 4
Eugenie Grandet Balzac, Honore D..."

Yay! It's good when it clocks in on an even number!

Phil wrote: "March has been another poor month for finishing books, for me (still behind schedule in my - very modest - Reading Challenge).

I think my mistake was trying to read both The Way of All Flesh and E..."

Good luck!

A few more since I last added up in January taking me to 343

Oscar and Lucinda
A Gun for Sale
A Suitable Boy
Porterhouse Blue
The Name of the Rose
Cryptonomicon
They Were Counted
Brewster's Millions
Possession
A Tale of Two Cities
Queen Lucia
Angel
The Way of All Flesh
Love Story
The Child in Time
Melmoth the Wanderer
Neuromancer
Solaris
The Group
The Human Stain
Kidnapped


I've managed to increase my HC intake too and have read the first 17.

good progress there Fay!
some of my all-time faves included (Cryptonomicon, Angel, They Were Counted) which I doubt I would ever have found otherwise - I luuurve the G1000 List!

Darren wrote: "good progress there Fay!
some of my all-time faves included (Cryptonomicon, Angel, They Were Counted) which I doubt I would ever have found otherwise - I luuurve the G1000 List!"

Me too! I'm really enjoying the Transylvanian Trilogy and I loved Cyrptonomicon and Angel.

The likes of Fay and Leslie and Darren in this group leave my gast uttely flabbered at the amount they get read.

April was a slight improvement (although it did require a two-day intensive on book 3 of the Earthsea Chronicles to catch up with my Reading Challenge).

So 5 in April:

The Haunting of Hill House 5/5

Melmoth the Wandered 3/5

East Lynne 5/5

The Group 5/5

The Farthest Shore (Book 3 of the Earthsea Quartet) 5/5

4 new-to-me list books and another chalked off from the Earthsea books, one more to go before I get the tick.

Takes me to 278/1000

80% of my books last month were top rated. Either I'm getting sentimental or it was a particularly good month in reading. I think the latter.

My first month here went well with 8 read

Our Man in Havana 4*
The Lover 3*
Travels with my Aunt 3*
Slaughterhouse-Five 4*
Melmoth the Wanderer 4*
The Group 3*
Ratking 4*
The Line of Beauty 4*

Now up to 209/1000

Just four this month for me--

The Group 4/5
A Passage to India 5/5 (probably 4.5)
DeNiro's Game 4/5
Mayor of Casterbridge 5/5

Pretty good, ratings wise.

By the way - of the long series of loosely connected books in the list (eg Discworld or The Human Comedy) do we think that ALL have to be read before getting the tick, just one of the series or a certain percentage like 10% of the total?

@phil I’m a purist so I vote all lol! But then do we count it as a tick if we dnf? So far it hasn’t come to that but I’d like a consensus on the parameters of the game ;-)

Personal preference--

I wait to check off the series when and if I ever read the entire series.

If I decide to DNF a book, I check it off the list as done--if the goal of the list is to get acquainted with authors or books that I might not have without the list, then trying one and DNF'ing seems to me to fulfill that purpose.

7 more for me in April, making 407 total

Bold As Love Jones, Gwyneth - 3.5
Augustus Carp, Esq Bashford, Henry H. - 4
All Souls' Day Nooteboom, Cees - 4
A Passage to India Forster, E. M. - 3.5
Germinal Zola, Emile - 4
Nightmare Abbey Peacock, Thomas Love - 2.5
The Group McCarthy, Mary - 4

plus one re-read:
Cheese Elsschot, Willem - 5 (up from 4)

Darren wrote: "7 more for me in April, making 407 total

Bold As Love Jones, Gwyneth - 3.5
Augustus Carp, Esq Bashford, Henry H. - 4
All Souls' Day Nooteboom, Cees - 4
A Passage to India Forster, E. M. - 3.5
Ger..."
Well Done :-)

I posted late and so only a couple since last time taking me to 346:

Master Georgie
The Far Pavillions
Cover Her Face

For Human Comedy:
Beatrix
Honorine
The Deserted Woman

I had a big reading month in April and ended up finishing 6 new-to-me books from the list:

The Recognitions
The Forever War
Good Behaviour
Snow Crash
Melmoth the Wanderer
The Sorrows of Young Werther

plus 2 from Balzac's Human Comedy:
Madame Firmiani
A Second Home

I believe that puts me at 541...

Good month of reading while in lockdown with 8 new to me books from the list:

The Awakening - 3/5
Flowers for Algernon - 5/5
Crome Yellow - 3/5
The Group - 4/5
Cider With Rosie - 3/5
Of Mice and Men - 5/5
White Teeth - 4/5
The Uncommon Reader - 4/5

This takes me to the total of 183.

I started reading:


A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

I just finished The Midwich Cuckoos and really liked it!

I started reading:


A Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell

Another 8 books from the list in May taking me to 217

Lonesome Dove 5*
North and South 4*
Kidnapped 4*
Mansfield Park 4*
Queen Lucia 3*
Greenmantle 3*
A Lost Lady 3*
A Dark-Adapted Eye 2*

Pamela wrote: "Another 8 books from the list in May taking me to 217

Lonesome Dove 5*
North and South 4*
Kidnapped 4*
Mansfield Park 4*
Queen Lucia 3*
Greenmantle 3*
A Lost Lady 3*
A Dark-Adapted Eye 2*"

I'm looking forward to Lonesome Dove, it's encouraging that you rated it 5 :-)

Terris wrote: "I just finished The Midwich Cuckoos and really liked it!"

I loved that one :-)

RJ from the LBC wrote: "I started reading:


A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs"

What's this one like?

Egle wrote: "Good month of reading while in lockdown with 8 new to me books from the list:

The Awakening - 3/5
Flowers for Algernon - 5/5
Crome Yellow - 3/5
[book:The Gro..."

That's an impressive month. I second your 5/5 for FFA. I gulped that down in one sitting!

In May I read the following bringing me up to 354. I've found with the warmer weather I am more drawn to shorter more modern offerings on the list often set in warmer climes. Are any of you "mood reading" and what is your mood at the moment:

The Grass Is Singing
A Bend in the River
A Room with a View
Greenmantle
King Solomon's Mines
Any Human Heart
The Swimming-Pool Library
A Flag For Sunrise

Human Comedy:
Gobseck
A Woman Of Thirty

Re-read:
The 39 Steps

Fay wrote: "I'm looking forward to Lonesome Dove, it's encouraging that you rated it 5 :-) ..."

I wasn't expecting to enjoy it so much, but it was a great story and lifted me out of a reading slump

Fay wrote: "RJ from the LBC wrote: "I started reading:


A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs"

What's this one like?"

I read this in electronic form back in 2015, but remembered liking it sufficiently to buy a vintage hardback which I will be using to re-read soon
I remember liking Burroughs' writing, the overall "feel" of the fantasy world and the character of Dejah Thoris herself

6 more for me in May, making 413 total

White Teeth Smith, Zadie - 4.5 - easily best of month
Darkness Falls From The Air Balchin, Nigel - 3
Cover Her Face James, P. D. - 3
The Island of Dr Moreau Wells, H. G. - 2.5
Great Expectations Dickens, Charles - 3
Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy #1) Mahfouz, Naguib - 3.5

plus one "OTGA"
Ender's Game Card, Orson Scott - 3

Darren wrote: "Fay wrote: "RJ from the LBC wrote: "I started reading:


A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs"

What's this one like?"

I have this as part of a Kindle Masterpiece Compendium (which set me back 99p for 50 books!) so I will definitely make the effort over the next couple of months then :-)

I ..."

Darren wrote: "6 more for me in May, making 413 total

White Teeth Smith, Zadie - 4.5 - easily best of month
Darkness Falls From The Air Balchin, Nigel - 3
Cover Her Face James, P. D. - 3
The Island of Dr Moreau..."

Yes to Ender's Game!!! I can't believe he's not on the list at all. I totally understand why people have a problem with him as an individual but his body of work is amazing! Please read Speaker of the Dead and let me know what you think. It blew me away the first time I read it when I was 21 and I've read it numerous times. I liked it even better than EG.

Where those Burroughs books the basis of the John Carter disney movie?

Phil wrote: "Where those Burroughs books the basis of the John Carter disney movie?"

According to Wikipedia it was... That should be an interesting compare and contrast!

Phil wrote: "Where those Burroughs books the basis of the John Carter disney movie?"

Yes. There were some updated conventions, but the movie actually followed many of the first scenes of the book. There was a kind of mash-up of the first three books in the latter half of the film.

Ever the slacker, I was only able to eke out 4 titles this last month.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
The 39 Steps by John Buchan
Greenmantle by John Buchan
and I finished up Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Robert Maturin

None of these were write-home-about books, though I ended up enjoying the majority of Melmoth

ETA: I think that puts me at 269

According to my tally on the listchallenges.com list I am at 251 right now for the Guardian's list. I am halfway through Atonement (McEwan) so I'll be at 252 by the weekend.

Bryan "They call me the Doge" wrote: "Ever the slacker, I was only able to eke out 4 titles this last month.
..."

I was even more slack than that! I only read one new-to-me book in May - Lonesome Dove. I did reread both The 39 Steps and Greenmantle though. May was a poor reading month for me across the board -- fingers crossed that June is better.

Leslie wrote: "Bryan "They call me the Doge" wrote: "Ever the slacker, I was only able to eke out 4 titles this last month.
..."

I was even more slack than that! I only read one new-to-me book in May - [book:Lon..."

Oh that's someone else who read Lonesome Dove this month; what did you think of it?

Fay wrote: "RJ from the LBC wrote: "I started reading:


A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs"

What's this one like?"

I'll probably finish it in a couple days but if I had to sum it up now I'd say it's a swashbuckling adventure book set in a fantasy world of Mars that of course has no scientific basis whatsoever. It's pure pulp, with all of the societal biases that you might expect for a book that is over 100 years old and it doesn't hold up too well in the modern world. It will probably be best enjoyed by those who are interested in the book's contribution to space-fantasy adventures like Star Wars, etc.

Phil wrote: "Where those Burroughs books the basis of the John Carter disney movie?"

Yes. I enjoyed the movie when I watched it a few years ago, even though it was a box office bomb. I'm going to watch it again after I finish the book.

Fay wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Bryan "They call me the Doge" wrote: "Ever the slacker, I was only able to eke out 4 titles this last month.
..."

I was even more slack than that! I only read one new-to-me book in ..."

It wasn't what I had expected but overall I did like it. I had to pause for a while at around Chap. 92 because I (view spoiler)[suspected that Gus was going to die and I didn't want him to (hide spoiler)]… I guess that George R.R. Martin must have been read these - he is the only other author I have read who killed off so many of his major characters!