This is inspired by Bekka's list... I'm totally stealing your format too!
Pre-1700's
The Princess of ClevesGargantua and Pantagruel I read Gargantua for school and don't even remember it... sorry! I loved the Princess of Cleves though. I went into it expecting a certain type of romance and was pleasantly surprised when my expectations were not fulfilled!
1700's
Candide
Fanny Hill
The Interesting NarrativeEach of these books was amusing, but I can't say that I absolutely enjoyed reading any of them. Each is just a string of events happening to the hero- event 1, 2, 3, 4 ok now here's the moral! The end. Thank god for the modern novel.
(Touchstones not working... will have to come back and try later.)
Message edited by its author, Jul 21, 2009, 7:32pm.
Yay! Yay for the 1800's!
1800's
PersuasionNorthanger AbbeySense and SensibilityPride and PrejudiceMansfield ParkEmmaFrankensteinThe NoseThe Fall of the House of UsherThe Pit and the PendulumThe Purloined LetterThe Scarlet LetterVilletteThe Count of Monte-CristoThe Three MusketeersVanity FairJane EyreWuthering HeightsThe Tenant of Wildfell HallThe Temptation of Saint AnthonyThe Yellow WallpaperWaldenMadame BovaryThe Woman in WhiteAlice's Adventures in WonderlandCrime and PunishmentJourney to the Center of the EarthLittle WomenTreasure IslandHuckleberry FinnThe Adventures of Sherlock HolmesDraculaMany of my favorite books are in this group, Jane Eyre, the Austens, Madame Bovary.
My least favorites out of the group now are probably the Poe stories. When I was a goth teenager though, I literally had many of pieces memorized.
When I read The Scarlet Letter as a teenager, I found it torturous. Now that I look back and see how much I've enjoyed other books from this time period, I'm inclined to go back and give it another try.
Walden: more boring than people make it seem. Trust me. However, that doesn't mean it's not worth reading.
The biggest surprise from this group was Gogol. I LOVED his work. Very funny, loved the fantasy element in it.
The biggest disappointment was Vanity Fair. By all accounts, I should have loved it. I love Becky, and I love her for not being a sweet as molasses heroine. The problem is that this book suffers from digressions that were way more relevant to one of Thackery's contemporaries than they will ever be to you or me. I'll just stick with the film versions.
Lots of these, so I'm going to break it up a bit.
1900's
Virginia Woolf
The Voyage Out
Jacob's RoomMrs. DallowayThe other two don't hold a candle to Mrs. Dalloway. I agree with removing The Voyage Out.
E.M. Forster
A Room With a ViewHoward's EndA Passage of IndiaI love these books because they exemplify the best of 1800's literature, but with a modern sensibility.
Farewell My LovelyThe Big SleepThe Long GoodbyeThe Maltese FalconThe Thin ManYou either enjoy noir or you don't. If you do, these are all amazing.
Borges
FiccionesLabyrinthsHell Yeah.
Flann O'Brien
At Swim-Two-BirdsThe Third Policeman I love him. Statistically speaking, you probably won't. But then there's the chance that you will pee your pants laughing. Willing to gamble?
Nancy Mitford
The Pursuit of LoveLove in a Cold ClimateMeh.
Iris Murdoch
The Black PrinceThe Sea, The SeaSimilar books. I recommend The Black Prince, however, and not The Sea.
The Devil to Pay in the BacklandsThe best book you've never read.
The Once and Future KingMuch darker and weirder than I expected. In a good way.
John Le Carré
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, SpyThe Spy Who Came in from the ColdI recommend the Spy, not TTSS unless you enjoy spy literature.
Some Prefer Nettles -- All I can say about this one is... what the hell?
The Makioka Sisters is one of my favorite books and is not on the list. If the Makioka Sisters were a beautiful kimono, Some Prefer Nettles would be a snotty handkerchief. I don't understand this decision at all.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby
Tender is the NightI love The Great Gatsby and went on to read all of his other books looking for a similar experience. Unfortunately, nothing in this world can come close to the greatness of Gatsby.
Edith Wharton:
The House of MirthAge of InnocenceWhen I first starting reading The House of Mirth, I thought, great, just what I need to read. Another book about who's marrying whom. I couldn't stop myself though-- I was totally sucked in. I'm still honestly not sure how it happened, but even today I still feel intensely about Lily Bart's love life.
Jeffery Eugeindes
The Virgin SuicidesThis is another one of those that make you go WHAT? They cut Middlesex but left Suicides?
Wittgenstein's MistressNot a very popular one from the list, but I enjoyed it very, very, very, very much.
Margaret Atwood
Cat's EyeThe Robber's BrideSurfacingThe Handmaid's TaleI've enjoyed all of her books except for The Edible Woman. Handmaid's Tale and the Blind Assassin are my favorites.
The Rest, unsorted for Now:
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Do Androids Dream of Electric SheepI Know Why the Caged Bird SingsThe Bluest EyeFear and Loathing in Las VegasThe Bell JarThe Crying of Lot 49Wide Sargasso SeaIn Cold BloodThe MagusCat's CradleBreakfast at Tiffany'sTo Kill a MockingbirdSolarisThe Golden NotebookLord of the FliesThe Lord of the RingsThe Talented Mr. RipleyThe Glass BeesThe Wind-Up Bird ChroniclesVeronika Decides to DieThe Poisonwood BibleElementary ParticlesFear and TremblingThe HoursThe Story of OThe MandarinsBonjour TristesseThe Quite AmericanOranges are Not the Only FruitThe Player of GamesThe Long Dark Tea Time of the SoulBrave New WorldThank You, JeevesTropic of CancerNative SonThe Stranger
The Little PrinceAnimal FarmUnder the VolcanoExercises in Style1984The Catcher in the RyeMolloyMemoirs of HadrienThe Old Man and the SeaCasino RoyaleFear of FlyingThe DispossessedKiss of the SpiderwomanInterview with the VampireDelta VenusIf on a Winter's Night a Traveler
Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyConfederacy of DuncesThe Color Purple
NeuromancerFlaubert's ParrotThe Unbearable Lightness of BeingThe Cider House RulesLove in the Time of CholeraBelovedWatchmenThe New York TrilogyKitchenDirk Gentley's Holistic Detective AgencyFocault's PendulumLike Water for ChocolateThe Things They CarriedMemoirs of a GeishaTipping the VelvetSputnik SweetheartThe Hound of the BaskervillesThe ImmoralistRashomonSiddharthaGone with the WindAbsalom, Absalom!The HobbitOf Mice and MenTheir Eyes were Watching GodMessage edited by its author, Jul 21, 2009, 9:41pm.
That brings me up to 169 if I count both editions.
"if x is a beautiful kimono, then y is a snotty handkerchief"
HAHAHAHHAHA. OH MAN. That's funny, I don't care who you are. Your reviews are great!
170.
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
Wow. What an amazingly well written book. And so short that there's no reason not to read it if you're attempting all 1001.
171.
Everything that Rises Must Converge -- Flannery O'Connor
As you can see, I'm working through the short ones. That's because I have a very much not short one under way and it's killing me. I need a break.
Message edited by its author, Jul 29, 2009, 5:02pm.
Great reviews you've given me some great ideas about what to grab next, I'll be coming back to check out what else you are reading
Thanks for the encouragement Katrina!
172. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
I expected to love this book. That was before I realized that Miss Brodie is a ****.
Message edited by its author, Aug 7, 2009, 12:07pm.
HAHAHAHA!!
173. Schooling by Heather McGowan
The amazing thing about this book that gets it honored with mention on the 1001 list is that its sentences only include either a predicate or a subject, but not both. Full sentences were good enough for Flaubert and Hemingway, but I guess McGowan showed them what they were missing, huh? You have to do the mental work of completing the sentences. Dialogue is rarely attributed to a speaker, so you also get to figure out who is saying what. If that's not enough work for you, it's also written in a confusing mixture of British and American English. This was one of the most tedious books I've ever read.
To rewrite this in the style of the book.
Made it on the 1001 list. That's in a book you know. They say it's because of the style. Predicate. Subject. Never together. Smart enough to fill in the rest, huh? Who said that? You know. Want a biscuit? Not sure what type of biscuit you mean. Oh you know. She knows.
Message edited by its author, Sep 13, 2009, 12:48am.
174.
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Not my favorite of hers. It was definitely un-put-downable, but I just didn't enjoy it as much as I did
Oryx and Crake or
The Blind Assassin. Part of the problem may have been that earlier this week I read
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. Even though they were quite different books, I felt like they had the same flavor and that I was just getting more of the same. Both are awesome books and I don't hesitate to recommend them. I just want a change of pace.
175.
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
I expected to love this book right away, like I loved
Jane Eyre. The first half of the book, though is much slower. It's not called Maggie Tulliver, it's named after the mill, and who owes debts to whom in regards to the mill makes up a large portion of the book. Things pick up when Maggie grows up and starts to create drama, but as soon as things get interesting the author cops out. Bring on the drama Ms Eliot! We can take it!
A splendid list I have read 20 of these over the years.
The one surprize was that Charles Dickens does not appear.
The last of these I read was Madam Bovary which is so sad it makes you cry.
I got some titles from this list. Long long ago I read Siddhartha and it made me investigate buddhism but the story is now largely forgotten.
Perhaps there is a case to be made for reading some books again but have we got time?
Of Tanizaki books, I have read neither Makioka Sisters nor Some Prefer Nettles, but of what I have read from him, he is dividing author...I loved first half of Key but the end deflated, and of that short story collection about half of the stories were great and the other half...meh.
But maybe there is another person somewhere who likes exactly the stuff I don't, and vice versa. So it might be that I too will like either Makioka Sisters or Nettles, and dislike the other.
I have to take a look at that Miss Brodie, I am partial to well-written *****es.
#16: The Dickens thing actually surprises me too! Somehow I've just never had one of his books given to me, or seen one turn up tauntingly cheap at a bookstore, or assigned to me in school. Dickens and I just never managed to cross paths! I'll have to look into his books and decide which to dig into first.
176.
The Corrections - I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't call it the best book of the millennium, as some have.
Hiya - just found your thread and have too much to say to even cry theft :)
#3 DON'T DO IT! I am suffering through
The Scarlet Letter at the moment - it so is as bad as you remember. Awful!
#11 So true!!!!!!!!!
#19 Oooh - Dickens is excellent! Enjoy.
You've definitely read more of the 1900s than me - I really must add some Raymond Chandler to my TBR pile - I've not read any as yet.
The Raymond Chandler books are "easy reads" in comparison to a lot of the other 1001 books so you have nothing to lose by trying them out!
177.
Possession -- This novel is about literary research on a pair of fictional Victorian poets. Their poetry is included in the book as well. Byatt creates an entire body of non-existent literature, so in a way this is multiple works, and the literary criticism of those works. Normally, I would pee my pants with joy at discovering a book like this. At this period in my life though, it was just too much. I didn't have the energy.
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