Guardian Newspaper 1000 Novels discussion

Pamela wrote: "I only managed 3 books from the list in February

The Daughter of Time (4 stars)
Evelina: Or, The History of A Young Lady's Entrance into the World (3 stars)
[book:T..."
I'm intrigued by The Daughter of Time. I'd not noticed it on the list before.

Just a couple this month again.

Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch

Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith

February finished with 3 more new G1000 titles for me:
The Beast Must Die Blake, Nicholas - 4
Billy Liar Waterhouse, Keith - 4.5
Rites Of Passage (EndsOfTheEarth#1) Golding, William - 3.5
making 458 total

plus 1 re-read:
A Princess Of Mars Burroughs, Edgar Rice - 4

plus 1 "should-be-on-the-list":
The Long Ships Bengtsson, Frans T. - 5

plus 1 "awesome but ineligible for the list":
The Histories Herodotus - 5

My completed Guardian books for February -

The Laughing Policeman, by Maj Sjowall - Good series, definitely reading the rest
The Wasp Factory, by Iain Banks - pretty awful
The Guns of Navaronne, by Alastair MacLean - surprisingly engaging wartime adventure novel

I also read
The Leavers, by Lisa Ko
All the Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders
Run Me to Earth, by Paul Yoon

all of which I'd consider adding to my own 1000 books list.

Darren wrote: " ...plus 1 "should-be-on-the-list":
The Long Ships Bengtsson, Frans T. - 5..."

Oooh - that book is on my TBR for this month. Glad to hear such a strong recommendation!

I did much better in March. As well as 4 new to me books from the list taking me to 260 -
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Driver's Seat
The Awakening
The Big Sleep

- I also read A Buyer's Market #2 in A dance to the Music of Time and The Provincial Lady Goes Further #2 in the Provincial Lady series

I read all of ADTTMOT in 2019, I think--I thought it was a great series overall.

I get another big fat 0 for this month, though I'm not too surprised. I'm in a little bit of a reading slump

3 more for me in March:
Portrait Of A Lady, The James, Henry - 3 - long
Cry, The Beloved Country Paton, Alan - 4 - affecting
Princesse de Clèves, The La Fayette, Madame de - 3.5 - 1678!!??
making 461 total
plus 1 re-read:
Invisible Cities Calvino, Italo - 5 - obvs
plus 2 OTGA's:
I, Claudius Graves, Robert - 4 - good, but not as good as Count Belisarius
La Regenta Alas, Leopoldo - 6 - likely book of year.

I finally listed all my finished books off the Guardian List, and counted them, and I am at 301. My latest completed book, A Passage to India, was #301, and I finished it just a couple days ago. I've been revisiting some of my favorite Discworld novels (Jingo, Snuff, Night Watch, Wee Free Men) as audiobooks lately, but I ought to stop 'rereading' so much soon and finish some more first-time reads. :)

I have been rereading a lot lately too, Jamie. Sometimes it is nice to know in advance that you are going to enjoy a book!

I had 2 new-to-me books & one quasi-new-to-me in March. The new ones were The Secret History (which was okay but not really my cup of tea, 3.5*) & Ursula (part of Balzac's Human Comedy; a full-length novel, not a short story or novella, 4*).

The quasi-new one was The Count of Monte Cristo - I had read it before but in an abridged edition, so this was my first time reading the entire unabridged book. I loved it!

My list on the listchallengers website says I am up to 557 finished now but my personal list says something different so who knows!

I started reading:


The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie, her first novel and the first appearance of Hercule Poirot

I finished


The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie - Christie's first novel, Hercule Poirot's first appearance...
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

5 more for me in April, making 466 total

Fathers And Sons Turgenev, Ivan - 3.5
Valley Of The Dolls Susann, Jacqueline - DNF
Buddenbrooks Mann, Thomas - 3.5
The Loved One Waugh, Evelyn - 3
The Insult Thomson, Rupert - 4

plus 1 re-read:
Morvern Callar Warner, Alan - 4.5

plus 1 "Future Classic":
Matterhorn Marlantes, Karl (2009) - 5

Just the one for me in April Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence.

Plus The Acceptance World #3 in A Dance to the Music of Time

Two for me last month:

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee

I think that's 295 for me. At this pace I'll be lucky to get to 300 this year.

Oh so pitiful since I last posted. I'm only up to 414. I've added

Nostromo (2 stars. It really dragged)
The Big Sleep (3 stars. By miles the best crime noir I've read so I can see why this is the original and best. Still not my genre).
Song of Solomon (3.5 stars. Beautifully written but not as good as the Bluest Eye. The plotlines were a bit out there for the subject matter).
The Loved One (3.5 stars. Fun and dark, read in one sitting but instantly forgettable).
The Rings of Saturn (4 stars. Beautiful and different. Worth the effort of trying something new.)


Human Comedy
The Firm Of Nucingen

5 new books read in May, taking my tally to 266.

Passing
Fathers and Sons
The Case of Comrade Tulayev
A House for Mr Biswas
The Grass is Singing

I gave all of them 4*, all very good

5 more for me in May, making 471 total

Odd Women, The Gissing, George - 3.5 stars
Dead Lagoon Dibdin, Michael - 3
Passing Larsen, Nella - 3.5
Hangover Square Hamilton, Patrick - 5
Awakening, The Chopin, Kate - 2.5

plus one "OTGA"
British Museum Is Falling Down, The Lodge, David - 3.5

I started reading:


The Shining by Stephen King - All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy....

7 more for me in June, making 478 total

Love in the Time of Cholera Márquez, Gabriel García - DNF
War and Peace Tolstoy, Leo - 4
Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House Hodgins, Eric - 4
Pledge, The Dürrenmatt, Friedrich - 3.5
Pudd'nhead Wilson Twain, Mark - 3
Kingdom Of This World, The Carpentier, Alejo - 4
Fight Club Palahniuk, Chuck - 3

plus 1 re-read:
I Am Legend Matheson, Richard - 4

4 more in June, taking me to 270

The Catcher in the Rye 3.5*
Moll Flanders 4* much more fun than I was expecting
Austerlitz 5* Amazing
Pudd'nhead Wilson 3*

after a bumper June, my 11-book July included only 2xG1000:

Andersonville Kantor, MacKinlay - 4.5 Stars
Penrod Tarkington, Booth - 3.5

making 480 total

plus one "should be on the list but not eligible cos technically poetry":
Milton's Paradise Lost - 5 Stars

I made steady progress with 5 from the list in July, making 275.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
3*, OK
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne 4*, classic adventure
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami 5* my favourite Murakami so far, loved it!
The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith 3.5*, got better as it went along, loved the seance scene
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler 3.5*, really annoying characters but somehow I couldn’t put it down!

I started reading the fifth book in the Discworld series


Sourcery by Terry Pratchett

I started reading


Beloved by Toni Morrison

I finished


Beloved by Toni Morrison
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished


The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading:


Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

I just finished Behind the Scenes at the Museum for book number 300 on the list.

I added 1 in August:
Last Exit To Brooklyn Selby Jr., Hubert - 2

and brought in a bumper crop of 7 in September:
Man of Property, The (Forsyte Saga #1) Galsworthy, John - 3.5
To The Lighthouse Woolf, Virginia - 4
Castafiore Emerald, The (Tintin#21) Herge - 3.5
Fine Balance, A Mistry, Rohinton - DNF
Lonely Londoners, The Selvon, Sam - 4
A Time To Kill Grisham, John - DNF
American Psycho Ellis, Bret Easton - 5

bringing my running total up to 488

jeez Daren why Don you just embarrass all of us with your wicked reading skills...okay, just embarass.

I read 1 whole pitiful book last month, although, in my defence, it was a pretty heft book, being Dune by Frank Herbert, which is over 550 pages long.

I've read the sum total 37. Cor thrills eh total? but its more like 38 as I'll be fishing Cat's Eye by Atwood soon.

I’ve been maintaining a steady 5 per month which is my target

August
Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh 4*
The Egoist by George Meredith 3.5*
The Swimming-Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst 3*
Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge 5* I thought this was brilliant
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera 4*

September
Zami: A New Spelling of my Name by Audre Lorde 4*
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson 4*
Life A User's Manual by Georges Perec 4.5* this was surreal but fascinating
A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr 4*
Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald 4*

That makes a total of 285, some really enjoyable books in there

I still have a horrid time keeping track in my head of which books are on the Guardian list. Since my last update I finished

The Day of the Jackal, by Fredrick Forsyte
The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen
Portnoy's Complaint, by Philip Roth

I finally have interlibrary loan available again so I ordered the remaining Evelyn Waugh books I hadn't read yet off the Guardain and Boxall lists. I finished-
The Loved One
Put Out More Flags

and I am reading
A Handful of Dust.

On the listchallenges list I am reading my 318th Guardian list book now.

I finished


Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading:


The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

and I also started reading


The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

I finished the novella


Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the dystopian classic


We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

I finished the OG (Original Gothic) novel


The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished the fifth Discworld novel


Sourcery by Terry Pratchett
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished the Russian dystopian classic


We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

7 more new to me in October, making 495 total

The Immoralist Gide, Andre - 2.5 Stars
Bonjour Tristesse Sagan, Francoise - 3.5
Tristram Shandy Sterne, Laurence - 5
A Farewell To Arms Hemingway, Ernest - 2.5
The Crow Road Banks, Iain - 4
Sense And Sensibility Austen, Jane - 3
A Kind Of Loving Barstow, Stan - 4

plus 1 re-read:
The Leopard Tomasi di Lampedusa, Giuseppe - 5

maybe I will break the magic 500 barrier this month!? :oD

I finished the book that inspired one of my all-time favorite films:


The Shining by Stephen King
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

November report:

one "OTGA"
Riders In The Chariot White, Patrick - 4.5 stars

five more G1000
African Queen, The Forester, C. S. - 3.5
Cider With Rosie Lee, Laurie - 4
Absolute Beginners MacInnes, Colin - 3.5
Time Traveler’s Wife, The Niffenegger, Audrey - DNF
Z Vassilikos, Vassilis - 4.5

making a nice round 500! :oD

Wow! Congrats on your half way milestone Darren. I only read one in November - The Mayor of Casterbridge. That brings me to 289, so looking unlikely to hit my target of 300 this year.

Thanks Pamela :o)

It has taken me 7 years to get to 500

so I imagine in another 7 years I will probably have read all the ones I'm ever going to ;o)
which might not amount to the full 1000
but I'm also shelving the OTGA's on my G1000 shelf, so I'm hoping to compensate that way :oD

Since my last update, I finished A Handful of Dust, so I am done with Waugh on both this and the Boxall list. My favorites were the trilogy that includes Men at Arms.
I also finished
A History of the World in 10½ Chapters
Under the Volcano
Sidetracked
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Journey to the End of the Night
Naked Lunch
Invisible Cities
The Baron in the Trees
The Pursuit of Love

According to listopia I am at 331 now.

Happy Christmas. God bless us, every one.

Final total for 2021 is 329.

I had a lot of extra time for audiobooks and reading during the year. Planning on some longer novels for 2022 but am hoping to hit 350 this year.

6 more in December, making 506 total

South Wind Douglas, Norman - 3.5 stars
Age of Innocence, The Wharton, Edith - 4
Charterhouse Of Parma, The Stendhal - 4.5
Mark Of Zorro, The McCulley, Johnston - 3.5
Old Wives' Tale, The Bennett, Arnold - 4.5
Mother Gorky, Maxim - 2.5

plus one "OTGA"
Country Girls, The O'Brien, Edna - 3.5

5 more in January, making 511 total

Revenentes, Les Perec, Georges - 3.5 stars
Unconsoled, The Ishiguro, Kazuo 1995 - DNF
Siege Of Krishnapur, The Farrell, J. G. 1973 - 4.5
God's Bits Of Wood Sembene, Ousmane 1960 - 4
Drowned World, The Ballard, J. G. 1962 - 4

In February I read
I Served the King of England - 3.5*
Justine by Lawrence Durrell - 3.5*
Play It as It Lays - 4*
Sunset Song - 4.5*

And that brings up a milestone - 300 books!

Well Done Pamela! 300 is a great milestone to reach :o)

I finished 12 books in February, but only 2 were new G1000's:

Memed, My Hawk Kemal, Yasar - 3.5 stars
Day Of The Jackal, The Forsyth, Frederick - 3.5

making 513 total

I also read an "OTGA":
Caravaners, The Arnim, Elizabeth von - 3.5

and a re-read:
Master & Margarita, The Bulgakov, Mikhail - 5