Guardian Newspaper 1000 Novels discussion

In August we will be reading The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa for our State of the Nation category - who's in?

just finished reading this for a second time
still 5 stars

did anybody else read it (e.g. any of the 9 people who voted for it)?

Darren wrote: "just finished reading this for a second time
still 5 stars

did anybody else read it (e.g. any of the 9 people who voted for it)?"

Definitely on my TBR. I hear nothing but good things about it.

Read it a couple of years ago . I loved the book and much more than I thought I would. It's one of those deceptive novels that had me expecting it to be a little superficial, but goes deep and profound. Now when I ponder the night sky I think of the Prince and how he connected with astronomy. Beautiful compassion for confronting the inevitability of change.

Thanks for your good reviews. I’ve just started reading.

Thank you for recommending this book. I would never have read it if it didn’t appear as a group read, and I’m so glad it did. It’s a poignant, melancholic book, descriptive and intelligent, and with good analysis of the reasons and nature of the nobility’s fall and why Sicily is the way it is.

The premise of the story made me expect a story similar to the Radetzky March, but this is different. The fall of the nobility happens with grace and dignity. The Prince recognises that his class is doomed, but he does what he can to support Tancredi’s ambition and future.

I liked the chapter on Father Pirrone, and how he combines devotion to God, faithfulness to the Salinas, and practical shrewdness.

And the food! I’ve actually ordered Italian food for lunch today after reading this. I was also introduced to and childishly amused by St Agatha’s breasts, a type of Sicilian pastry that’s literally made to look like her breasts.

so glad that you enjoyed this Maggie
the G1000 list really pays off on titles like this that perhaps you might never have encountered otherwise - there are so many gems that I have discovered, eg:
They Were Counted - Bánffy, Miklós
The Horse's Mouth - Cary, Joyce
The Hearing Trumpet - Carrington, Leonora
Angel - Taylor, Elizabeth
The Devil to Pay in the Backlands - Guimarães Rosa, João
The Slaves Of Solitude - Hamilton, Patrick
Lolly Willowes - Warner, Sylvia Townsend
The Stars My Destination - Bester, Alfred
Darkmans - Barker, Nicola
A Confederacy of Dunces - Toole, John Kennedy
The Tree of Man - White, Patrick
Cheese - Elsschot, Willem
A Voyage to Arcturus - Lindsay, David

I've never heard of so many of these. Thanks for this list, Darren.