Bucketyell's attempt to make a dent in the 2010 listing

I just bought the 2010 version and am always up for a new challenge. I am happy to admit that I have made a minor (very minor) dent in the pile with stuff already read (who knew?)

I know I will never get this done but I figure by posting, it will inspire me to add a few more to the list at least. Here goes nothing....

I am following the combined list :)

Ones already read:
1) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Adams
2) Little Women by Alcott
3) Alias Grace by Atwood
4) The Handmaid's Tale by Atwood
5) Emma by Austen
6) Jane Eyre by Bronte
7) A Clockwork Orange by Burgess
8) Tarzan of the Apes by Burroughs
9) The Children's Book by Byatt
10) The Outsider by Camus
11) The Plague by Camus
12) Through the Looking Glass by Carroll
13) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Carroll
14) The Hours by Cunningham
15) Dangerous Liaisons by de Laclos
16) Ragtime by Doctorow
17) Rebecca by du Maurier
18) Birdsong by Faulks
19) The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald
20) Madame Bovary by Flaubert

21) A Passage to India by Forster
22) The Corrections by Franzen
23) Lord of the Flies by Golding
24) The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne
25) The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway
26) Brave New World by Huxley
27) A Prayer for Owen Meany by Irving
28) Cider House Rules by Irving
29) Remains of the Day by Ishiguro
30) The Poisonwood Bible by Kingsolver
31) Kim by Kipling
32) To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee
33) Main Street by Lewis
34) Fall on Your Knees by MacDonald
35) The Life of Pi by Martel
36) Atonement by McEwan
37) Fugitive Pieces by Michaels
38) A Fine Balance by Mistry
39) Gone with the Wind by Mitchell
40) Song of Solomon by Morrison

41) The Bluest Eye by Morrison
42) Lives of Girls and Women by Munro
43) Nineteen Eighty Four by Orwell
44) Animal Farm by Orwell
45) The Bell Jar by Plath
46) Pamela by Richardson
47) Tin Flute by Roy
48) The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger
49) The Reader by Schlink
50) Frankenstein by Shelley
51) The Stone Diaries by Shields
52) The Strange Case of Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde by Stevenson
53) Uncle Tom's Cabin by Stowe
54) The Hobbit by Tolkien
55) Felicia's Journey by Trevor
56) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Twain
57) The Color Purple by Walker
58) The War of the Worlds by Wells
59) Native Son by Wright
60) Day of the Triffids by Wyndham

61) We by Zamyatin

62) Cry, The Beloved Country by Paton - 06/07/10. Very well written and enjoyable.

63) The White Tiger by Adiga - 09/07/10. This is an Indian Catcher in the Rye meets Slumdog Millionaire by Swarup. I absolutely loved it.

64) Heart of Darkness by Conrad. Oops, missed one off my original list.

65) The Secret History by Tartt. Another one I forgot to log... I read this one earlier in the year and really enjoyed it.

66) Regeneration by Barker. I liked it for the psychological bit. An interesting read overall.

67) The Little Prince by de Saint-Exupery.

68) Midwich Cuckoos by Wyndham. The Chrysalids is still my favourite. This one is interesting but not as well written.

69) The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Spark. Not sure why but I really didn't enjoy this one. I was quite bored by Miss Brodie and her 'prime' by the end.

I felt the same way about Jean Brodie. I am going to give Muriel Spark another go though...

Miss Jean didn't do it for me either--I thought I was the only one on LT who felt that way. However, I recently listened to the audio book of Spark's Loitering with Intent and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

I really disliked Miss Jean, so you're not alone there!

Thanks! I saw another one of hers on the list and thought, "crap... I hope it's short". I generally give an author 2 bad books to make me turn away so we will see how the next goes!

Disliked Miss Jean? One of my favorite books! Of course I first read it when I was 14 and perhaps this biased me. The movie is one of my faves for the same reason.
Spark's style is very distinctive but the texture of Miss Jean, the flash-fowards etc., is not repeated in the other books. Did you know that a famous aesthetician actually wrote a book called "The Transfiguration of the Commonplace" because somebody needed to really write the book Sandy writes in her convent? True fact.

70) A Room with a View by Forster. I don't know what it is about Forster but I start off loving the book and by the end, I can't wait for it to be over. I think I still liked A Passage to India better.

71) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Christie. Good but not great. This is the first Christie book I have read so maybe not the best one?

I used to read a lot of Christies, and I was very disappointed in that one. I can't remember which ones I liked though. I seem to remember preferring Miss Marple to the French dude.

edited to say: even though I didn't like that one, it IS one I remember. That and Murder on the Orient Express, which I also didn't like as much as others.

I will try a Marple one and see how they compare.

72) The Death of Ivan Ilych by Tolstoy. I felt really bad for the poor guy! He is dying and everyone around him seems to be counting the days until they would benefit from his death.

This was my first Tolstoy and I can see why he is on the list. DOII is one of those short little stories that one can get as much or as little out of. I probably missed half of it but I quite enjoyed what I did get from it.

73) The Thirty-Nine Steps by Buchan. Just a little far-fetched but a neat little adventure novel overall.

74) The Pit and the Pendulum by Poe

75) The Fall of the House of Usher by Poe

And also 76) The Purloined Letter (which I guess is on the older list), The Tell-Tale Heart, The Masque of the Red Death and The Raven.

Not bad to knock a few off the list at the same time! This is my first foray into Poe and I regret not reading some of his stuff before. I love the dark creepiness of it: the descent into madness, the encompassing guilt that threatens to eat one up... Loved it all and will keep reading.

77) The Invisible Man by Ellison. Very good but very long. There were parts that were unbelievably powerful and I had to read them again and then there were parts that were long and boring and made me scratch my head. Worth reading overall.

78) The Island of Dr Moreau by Wells. Meh. I think I would have enjoyed it more had I actually read the book instead of listened to it as an audio book. The narrator gave 'voices' to the beasts. After listening to him grunt through most of the story, I was done with him and the book.

79) Things Fall Apart by Achebe. Interesting, disturbing and overall quite sad.

Things Fall Apart is one of those books I've been meaning to get around to for I can't remember how many years. Disturbing ... at least it was better than your last book, right?

Much better (read: no grunting)! I enjoyed it immensely but the descriptions of domestic violence were a little hard to take at times. Reading it was a little like watching a train wreck. I was fascinated and horrified at the same time.

I somehow crossed out my own thread and forgot about it! D'oh.

I have started using the combined list (I tend to like the ones that have come and gone) so I will attempt to update myself here.

80) Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Adams
81) Long Dark Teatime of the Soul by Adams
82) Cat's Eye by Atwood
83) Surfacing by Atwood
84) The Blind Assassin by Atwood
85) The Robber Bride by Atwood
86) The Ghost Road by Barker
87) Breakfast at Tiffany's by Capote
88) The Awakening by Chopin
89) A Christmas Carol by Dickens

90) Middlesex by Eugenides
91) Mary Barton by Gaskell
92) Memoirs of a Geisha by Golden
93) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
94) The World According to Garp by Irving
95) Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro
96) The Diviners by Laurence
97) A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Lewycka

98) Pippi Longstocking by Lindgren
99) The Call of the Wild by London
100) The English Patient by Ondaatje
101) The Club Dumas by Perez-Reverte
102) The Yellow Wallpaper - Gilman
103) The Shipping News by Proulx
104) Bonjour Tristesse by Sagan
105) Kreutzer Sonata by Tolstory
106) Candide by Voltaire
107) Brideshead Revisited by Waugh

108) The Invisible Man by Wells
109) Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Winterson

110) The House of Doctor Dee by Ackroyd - spooky and fun!

111) Cold Comfort Farm by Gibbons - what an odd book! I was thoroughly irritated with Flora until I realised that this is a spoof. Then it was fun to pick out the 'characters'

112) In the Heart of the Seas by Agnon - interesting but I am obviously way too much of a heathen to fully 'get' this one.

113) Aesop's Fables by Aesop. I have one list that shows this as an adult listing and one that shows it on the children's list. So, I will happily check it off both! I remember quite a few of these from my childhood so it was a nice little trip down memory lane.

114) The Lambs of London by Ackroyd. A very good fictional read about a man who claims to have found lost works by Shakespeare and attempts to bring them to life. The story leaves you guessing until the end as to whether he really found these or whether it's an elaborate hoax. Very good read (much better than the first Ackroyd I read The House of Doctor Dee).

115) Their Eyes Were Watching God by Hurston - I really don't get the hype. This one was a chore to get through.

116) Unless by Shields - I just love Carol Shields.

117) Slaughter-House Five by Vonnegut

118) Possessing the Secret of Joy by Walker - I read this one back in high school but really can't remember too much about it. I probably should re-read it at some point.

39> I read Reforging Shakespeare a last year and have Vortigern, an Historical Play and The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare on my shelf waiting to be read. I can't imagine the novelization of the events could be any stranger or more interesting than what actually happened.

119) Cause for Alarm by Ambler - an enjoyable spy thriller. I would never have picked this up on my own as I don't normally read this type of stuff but I really liked it.

Wow - that's quite a chunk in the last year.

I use the combo list too - though 1,296 to read before you die doesn't have quite the same ring to it...

120) Postman Always Rings Twice by Cain. I loved this one! It was in an omnibus with Double Indemnity and Mildred Pierce and all were great.

121) I Know Why the Caged Bird SIngs by Angelou. Loved it

122) A Modest Proposal by Swfit. This is the shortest one I have read on the list (about 7 pages for the title essay) but it's also the most fun. I have been putting off Gulliver's Travels but maybe I need to give Swift a closer look.

123) To the Lighthouse by Woolf. I finally finished and I can't say that I am all that impressed. Room of One's Own didn't do it for me and neither did this one. We will see her other stuff gets better.

I'm currently reading Mrs Dalloway and I'm really enjoying it. I haven't read any others by her though so I couldn't say how similar it is in style to the ones you have mentioned. I'm finding her character's observations on situations creating certain emotions very astute.

I think she writes well but I really hate all the run-on sentences and I found that you really have to pay attention or you will miss something. I think perhaps I am just too lazy a reader to fully appreciate her style.

I adore Virginia Woolf, but I have to be very focused when I read her. She doesn't come across well to a reader who is being lazy! ;-)

Hmmm - that may say something about me too - I also loathe her...

Oh and the rest of the Maya Angelou series are also readlly good.

>50

I absolutely hated To The Lighthouse. Although after reading the remainder of this thread I'm beginning to suspect that was my fault!! I'll try harder with her others.

LOL - I'm just glad to find some others who don't like Woolf!

I hated Woolf when I first read her, but in the process of actively disliking her writing*, I started seeing things that I hadn't at first and it all became really amazing. And now she's my favourite author. One of my very favourite English profs loathed her though, so I know she's not for every reader.

*I say I actively disliked her writing, but not her--I always thought she herself was an interesting literary character. But at first I found her writing so dry and pretentious. Like many worthwhile things, she is an acquired taste!

I did not enjoy Mrs Dalloway and it was my first Woolf. It's made me a bit gunshy to try others.

Heh, I liked Room of One's Own but her actual novels, I think I have started a couple and wandered to read something else after couple of pages...

53- I also adore Virginia Woolf, but I have to be vveerrryy careful about when I'm reading her. As in, everyone else has to be asleep and it has to be nighttime and silent and I have to have nothing else to do. Otherwise, I get unfocused and lost and miss a lot. She's a lot of work, but worth it. Except I didn't like A Room of One's Own, which I thought should be re-titled "Snobby McSnoberson Mayor of Snobville."

That's hillarious!!!

124) Everything That Rises Must Converge by O'Connor. Some of the stories were amazing and some were meh. I really enjoyed the title story - I read it on-line a little while ago and that lead me to buying the actual book.

125) The Colour by Tremain. Forgot to add this one. I enjoyed it but I liked The Road Home better. This one had a strange ending and I found the characters somewhat irriating.

126) Delta of Venus by Nin. Is it hot in here or just me?

127) A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn. Very good. One wouldn't think there would be much to write about given that it's just a day in the life of a prisoner in a Siberian gulag but this was quite fascinating.

128) Empire of the Sun by Ballard. Good but not great. I was more than a little irritated by the kid at the end and am not sure why.

129) Half of a Yellow Sun by Adichie. Started off slowly and I will admit, I had a bit of a struggle keeping everyone straight but once it got going, I was hooked. I know very little about Nigeria so it was definitely an eye-opening experience.

130) Fingersmith by Waters. What a romp! Mystery, suspense, twists and turns and a little romance thrown in for good measure. I spoiled myself as I saw the movie beforehand and it followed the book to the letter (although the book explained a lot more of the backstory) so I knew what was coming. But it still sucked me in. Loved it!

131) The Maltese Falcon by Hammett. Good but I was a little underwhelmed by the ending.

132) Great Expectations by Dickens. My second Dickens novel but not my last. It was surprisingly exciting.

133) Foundation by Asimov - not sure I fully understood everything packed into this slight book but the parts I did get were fascinating

134) 2666 by Bolano. Weird, wonderful, long-winded, confusing.

135) Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck. All this time, I thought I hated Steinbeck. I had to read Grapes of Wrath in university and never got past the first chapter so I have gone through life thinking Steinbeck was horribly boring. But now I discover that he isn't! I am totally going back to Grapes to see what I was missing.

Over in the 75group we are doing a "Steinbeck-a-thon" this year - reading a Steinbeck novel every month. Grapes of Wrath is scheduled for May. Here's the link to the main thread in case you'd like to participate or to read some of the comments: http://www.librarything.com/topic/130105
Of Mice and Men will be read in August.

74 - Thanks! I am totally in

136) Ficciones by Borges. Loved it

137) Cannery Row by Steinbeck - this was a lot of fun. A short vignette of a town full of drunks, con men and bumbling idiots.

138) Cloud Atlas by Mitchell. While I can appreciate his writing, this one was not my cup of tea. I loved all the connections but it's a little too random for me

139) Out of Africa by Blixen. A wonderful look at a beautiful part of the world. Very different from the movie.

140) I,Robot by Asimov. Not really my cup of tea but interesting

141) Elegance of the Hedgehog by Barbery. Slow start but once it picked up, it was very good

142) Dracula by Stoker. Good book. I liked the epistolary style as it gave a varied and in-depth view. I am ashamed to say that after watching Winona Ryder play Mina in the latest film version (shudder), I had hoped that her character would bite it.

I posted this over in book talk but since you just got done with Dracula you will appreciate this laugh....

Last night a friend of mine texted me wanting book advice. He said he just got done with Treasure Island and enjoyed it very much. I threw out Dracula. He came back with "Oh I read that when it first came out!!!" Hmmmmmmmmmmmm when it first came out are you trying to tell me YOUR a vampire then?????

I will not let him live that one down for a very long time.

Oh dear... are you sure you want to be friends with a vampire? :)

143) The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes by Anonymous. Geez, how much can happen in the life of one guy? At times I felt very sorry for him but then other times, the silly twit deserved what he got. The version I got from Project Gutenberg had three sections to it but I am not sure if all are part of the list. Regardless, it is quite short and the translation is easy to read.

Well I perfer vampires to a zombies!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm new to this discussion, but I love that list of books (and I especially like finding so many that I've read--it makes me feel very accomplished). I'd add Portrait of a Lady by Henry James and Beloved by Toni Morrison. I noticed that The Bluest Eye, Morrison's first novel, is on the list but I wouldn't include it in the final list; it just doesn't seem important enough.

It doesn't does it? I have impressed myself with the number I have read (with all the crap I read in high school, I never would have figured I'd be over 100). Bluest Eye was my first Morrison book and my fave so far but she really doesn't write a bad book does she?

85 - I have a better chance of out running a zombie!

Maybe but vampires are sexier!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know a co-worker and I have this converstation all the time.

You got me there. But I must say, if I had to choose, Team Jacob all the way!

144) Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck - tried this one in university and never got past the first few chapters. I absolutely hated it and have no idea why because now, this is a 5-star read (and I don't give those out very often). I laughed and cried and then laughed and cried some more.

145) Everything is Illuminated by Foer - loved the movie (laughed my butt off at the Officious Seeing Eye Bitch) but the book was even better. There is a lot they left out and I think it was quite of important.

That's good to hear. I adore the movie and couldn't bring myself to hope that the book could live up to it.

The only movie that is soooooooooo much better then the book has to be The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. When I see a really good movie I always go hunt for the book and normally the book is so much better.

Meh, I wasn't impressed by that movie. There just wasn't enough to sustain it for a feature length story in my opinion.

But I was so highly disappointed with the book. I was like okay the movie was good so now lets go find the book and lets see what Hollywood left out of the story and boy what a slap in the face. I was expecting something like Gone With the Wind where the movie is good but they did leave out many details from the book, so even if I really like both the book still won out.

Ha wow, I thought the text was just a short story. I'll definitely steer clear if it was that much less impressive than the movie.

Well at the time I havent embarked on my quest of putting a dent in the 1001 list so honestly I didnt know it was a short story so that may have added to my major disappointment. Nor do I like it when they put books out to be mirrors of the movie. I have already watched the movie I dont need to read the same thing. I want the original book please.

146) The 13 Clocks by Thurber - kind of feels like cheating to list this one because it's a short kids book but hey, it's on the list. What an awesome tale (even though the feminist in me cringes at the 'damsel in distress' plot line).

94 - I can't say the movie did anything for me but I haven't read the book so I can't compare the two.

147) Walden by Thoreau - glad that one is over and done with

Oh, you do such a fine job of selling that one.

:)

148) The Wonderful O by Thurber

149) Around the World in 80 Days by Verne

150) A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Verne

I have had a lot of fun with my last few young adult/kid reads. Who knew I would enjoy Verne so much?

I read Around the World in 80 Days to my kids and it was indeed loads of fun. May I suggest Treasure Island if you want to continue with excellent kid reads? We're on that one now.

I've always loved Verne... Read a number of his books for my French classes, because they're relatively easy to read, but they are considered to be literature...

108 - Treasure Island is in my Nook and ready to go! I think you read my mind :)

151) A Town Like Alice by Shute

I LOVED that book!

Me too! I started it this morning and couldn't stop reading (housework be damned!) It reminded me of Thorn Birds for some reason.

It reminded me of Thorn Birds for some reason.

Okay, now you have me intrigued.

152) Treasure Island by Stevenson - what fun! I have heard the story a million times but never actually sat down and read the original. I just loved Silver! Sly devil that he is :)

153) Fanny Hill by Cleland - okay, I get that this was really risque for the time (written in 1749ish) but me and my 'laboratory of love' were bored silly by the end. I did get quite a few good laughs at the terminology he used. It's basically softcore porn without the hardcore language of today.

#111 A town like Alice is brilliant isn't it - have you read any of his others? I LOVE The Pied Piper though that is sadly not on the list.

I imagine it's the whoel descriptions of the outback that rings a bell re Thorn Birds - which I was really surprised to find I loved when I read it a few years ago.

Nope, this was my first Shute book. I have a few others on my nook so I will definitely read more. Never heard of Pied Piper but I will look out for it.

154) Chocky by Wyndham - to think, my imaginary friend just liked to go on car rides and doctor's visits. She never tried to teach me the secrets of the universe!

155) Agnes Grey by Bronte - my first one by one of the 'other' sisters and I quite liked it. A quick little romantic read.

156) Chess Story by Zweig. What an awesome little book! 84 pages but I was deeply enthralled (and I don't like chess much!)

157) Blood and Guts in High school by Acker - okay then....

158) White Teeth by Smith - part way through and I am liking it so far.

ETA... first part was great but the second half (parts 3 and 4 about Irie and the twins) dragged on and on.

159) Middlemarch by Eliot.... done!

160) Blindness by Saramago. Awesome and creepy.

161) Casino Royale by Fleming. Interesting to read about Bond for the first time but man, the sexism got a little grating over time. Thankfully it was short!

Did you like it? It has been on my TBR for years, can get myself to actually read it.

Yes and no. Good book but quite dated (re extreme sexism) and lacking in substance. It could have been much longer and had more action but maybe I am just comparing it to the movie.

162) Smilla's Sense of Snow by Hoeg - I am rather mixed on this one. On the one hand, it is rich in description (I would love to visit Greenland and Denmark) and the plot is interesting but on the other, it is needlessly long. I am wondering if a lot got lost in translation because it seemed rather distorted to me.

#162 That's much how I found it. I liked the cultural references, but wondered if the translation was the reason I was left with something to be desired.

163) Lolita by Nabokov. Like others have posted, this one is disturbing but brilliant.

164) Small Island by Levy. This one surprised me a little. The premise sounded good and it got great reviews so I was expecting to be wowed from the start. But I found that it is a story that you need to slowly immerse yourself in. It's told from the point-of-view of four characters who are connected in some way and it alternates between past and present. I really liked how you would meet a character, form an opinion of them and only then get to see who they really are and how they got to that point. I loved how my views changed as I progressed.

165) Beggar Maid by Munro - I love Munro...

166) Schindler's Ark by Keneally

167) Reluctant Fundamentalist by Hamid

168) Falling Man by DeLillo - ugh

169) Waiting for the Barbarians by Coetzee

170) Flaubert's Parrot by Barnes

Falling Man by DeLillo - ugh

That doesn't make me look forward to it much! I really liked his Libra and hated White Noise, so I guess we'll see which way that one falls for me.

171) Home by Richardson

Cleaning up the thread a little. My numbers didn't add up and I realised that I counted three books twice and a few others were missed completely. I think I am up-to-date now :)

I am not a fan of Falling Man at all so I am curious to see how the others fare. Maybe I will try Libra next so I don't completely write the man off!

#139 - Ursula, I was surprised by Falling Man. I'd heard all sorts of "ugh" comments and wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was. And it's short.

>141 - I have had plenty of counting errors in my log of books read too. :) When you eventually give it a shot, I hope you enjoy Libra at least more than this one!

>142 - Nice to know! And short is always good, to balance out some of those other ones.

> 139. I also really liked Falling man and think less of White Noice and Mao II, so I guess I have to read Libra! By the way, Underworld was a great novel too!

172) On Beauty by Smith. I liked this one more than White Teeth but I must admit, I really didn't see the point of it. It's the Montagues and Capulets modernised but without any characters to cheer for. Dad is in idiot who can't keep it in his pants. Daughter is one of those annoying people who always thinks they are right and never lets anything go. One son is a moron who jumps on the flavour-of-the-month bandwagon depending on who he is friends with at that time. The other son flits around life never knowing who he is or what he wants. Even mom, who I guess I am supposed to feel sorry for, seems more doormat than anything else. And that is just the Montagues! Smith writes very well but I just can't engage with any of her characters.

Yep, I tried that one last year. I gritted my teeth for a 100 pages but in the end I just put it aside. As you said, I could not engage with any of the characters.

173) Talented Mr Ripley by Highsmith. I totally got sucked into this one. Highsmith created an awesome tale with lots of twists and turns. It reminded me a lot of Rebecca by duMaurier and I quite enjoyed that one too. I was a little apprehensive about it because I loathed the movie but the book is a million times better. I think I will check out Strangers on a Train next (liked that movie!)

174) Like Water for Chocolate by Esquivel - odd but really neat as well. I like magical realism so I enjoyed that part of this novel. The storyline was more than a little strange (just tell your mother where to go already) but yet it was rather compelling as well. It's just such a hard novel to define! I saw the movie years ago and liked it so I always wondered about the book.

The Talented Mr. Ripley is a surprising book, I think. She really manages to draw you in to Tom's story even though there's nothing likable about him. I keep meaning to read the other Ripley books but I haven't gotten around to it.

Exactly... I hated Ripley but cheered him on the whole time. Every time it looked like he would be found out, I was on the edge of my seat. Gotta love that in a book!

175) All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque. What an amazingly powerful novel. One of the few 5* reads I have.

I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slaying one another. I see that the keenest brains of the world invent weapons and words to make it yet more refined and enduring. And all men of my age, here and over there, throughout the world see these things; all my generation is experiencing these things with me. What would our fathers do if we suddenly stood up and came before them and proffered our account? What do they expect of us if a time ever comes when war is over? Through the years our business has been killing; -- it was our first calling in life. Our knowledge of life is limited to death. What will happen afterwards? And what shall come out of us?

176) Invisible by Auster. I think I am an Auster fan. This was my first but now I want to read more. It reminded me of Talented Mr Ripley but it wasn't really the story that was similar, it was more that the character Born reminded me of Ripley; charismatic and charming but with a very dark side. It's a story told in different voices but it's not told by the usual suspects. Adam is the main character and it is his life (or at least, his life as he sees or wants it to be) but the missing parts are filled in by bit characters who he encounters along the way. I really liked that detail because they were somewhat detached from him so their version of events seemed more honest.

177) The Sea by Banville. I loved his writing style, especially his descriptions of everything, but I was really confused by the story. He jumps back and forth a lot and I found it rather challenging to keep up. I was reading the Wikipedia blurb afterwards and only then realised that that part with the Graces was in the past (I lost a close family member this week so I will admit that my brain wasn't working at full capacity). I might need to give this one another whirl later on because I think knowing what I know now, I would approach the book differently (and not think the main character was a creepy old man lusting after a young teenager).

178) Virgin Suicides by Eugenides. I was rather surprised at how different this one was from Middlesex. I love finding authors who can write about many different things and do justice to them all. This one looks at the decline of a rather ordinary family. At first, they were that mysterious family on the street who kept to themselves but did enough odd things to make them a constant topic of gossip. Then, as the family began to interact with society more, the family dynamic began to decline and slowly the daughters committed suicide. It is a rather complex novel that asks more questions than it answers.

179) The Wars by Findley. This one is a war story told from a Canadian soldier's point-of-view (interesting contrast to All Quiet on the Western Front which I read earlier this year). It is my first Findley (which is a horrifying thing for a Canadian to admit!) but not my last.

180) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Dick. I don't normally read sci-fi so I am thinking that something passed right over my head with this one. I liked it but I feel like there is something profound that alluded me; something that connects all the weird randomness. I will have to google and see what I missed.

181) Wasp Factory by Banks. Where to start? Frank is a 17-year-old boy growing up in rural Scotland. He loves to behead animals (and blow up rabbits), kill his relatives (but that was when he was younger and going through a phase) and when he needs advice, he turns to his wasp factory, a device he created to tortures wasps in various ways and apparently divine the future by the method of their death. His brother has escaped from a mental hospital (he is considered the crazy one) and is slowly making his way home much to the dismay of the town folk who are finally able to have pets again. The whole thing culminates with one of the strangest endings I have ever read in a book. But yet, despite its weirdness, I actually liked it. And found myself mildly amused by Frank and his antics. I think Banks is a lot like Nabokov in that way. Both have an amazing ability to write about vile people and then make you almost like them.

182) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Chabon. Finally finished and quite enjoyed it. I had no idea what it was about before starting so really didn't know what to expect. But who can find fault with a book that combines history, comics and magic?