December 2010: Which 1001 Book are You Reading?

I'm half-way through the rather fun Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford. It's sort of like reading Jane Austen meets Evelyn Waugh.

Halfway through The Great Indian Novel and loving it. Next on my list are
Out of Africa
Wild Swans
Regeneration
Alias Grace

OK. Finished The Pigeon. It was short. Apparently its Kafka-esque but I haven't read Kafka as yet, so I wouldn't really know

Hey, it's short and I got to say Kafka-esque. Woot!

Now for The Kreutzer Sonata which again is short. Once read that means I've read all the 1001 listed Tolstoy's apart from the not-very-short-at-all War and Peace

I'm reading Felicia's Journey which, although I've barely begun it, is clearly going to be a depressing book. After this I've got to find something more cheerful.

#3> *laugh* I remember being very happy when I finished The Trial because I could now drop the word Kafka-esque into conversations without feeling like a fraud. :)

I'm currently re-reading Jane Eyre. Not going to count towards my count (since I've already read it), but it's a good read.

I found The Story of O at Goodwill yesterday. I'm pretty intrigued, but I'm not sure I want to be reading that while visiting family. Could be a little awkward. Maybe I'll be able to finish it on the plane.

I have started Nicholas Nickleby and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I have seen the movie version of the Cuckoo's Nest a while back, so I am picturing Jack Nicholson in my head. I like how the narrator for the book is the Chief and how you can't be sure if what he is telling you is true or not.

Still plodding away through Bleak House from time to time, picked up Love in a Cold Climate for my 'in-my-bag' book, and also still picking up Wild Swans from time to time... I may be a bit unfocused...

Plus I now finally have the new Robert Jordan Towers of Midnight so will prob be indulging in that for some time.

I finished A Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Silk and reread A Christmas Carol. I am planning to read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in December. Love in a Cold Climate has also been on my tbr for a while.

I'm determined to finish Amadis of Gaul this month.

Julia

#9-I re-read A Christmas Carol a couple of years ago and this year (even though it's not on the list) I'm going to read The Haunted Man, one of his 17 other Christmas stories. I can't help but wonder why none of his other holiday stories caught on...Maybe only A Christmas Carol hit a cord with people?

I finished The Kreutzer Sonata which I found quite fascinating. The reduction of a marriage to carnal love. The murder of the wife forgiven by the courts due to "provocation".

I also read A Modest Proposal which was interesting and only 10 pages or so!. Quick Win!

I think I'll read Midnight's Children next as I need to address my (old) new years resolution which have been ignored by me so far.

I finally finished Life: A Users Manual. I really enjoyed the first 2/3rd's of the book, but after that I started to lose interest because not much new really happens. I read the whole book, but started skimming towards the end. This is the second Perec book I read and would recommend either book (and plan to read more) - even if he sometimes drags it on to long.

Speaking of long, I started listening to War and Peace during my drive to work. This is a major time commitment. I want to finish it before x-mas because I want to watch the 8-hour movie (another time commitment) during my vacation.

Next on the reading list is the short book Whatever by Michel Houellebecq.

I'm reading The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy. I've loved every Hardy book I've read. This one seems shorter, but it is hard to tell on the Kindle. I must say the Kindle has really pushed me to more classics on the list since they are all free.

Finally got back to reading some books from the 1001 list...

Just finished The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid, my 91st book from the list.

Of the 91, 74 are from the 2008 edition and 17 are books from the 2006 edition that were removed in 2008.

Up next: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

I will actually start Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann tomorrow.

Maybe my last book for this year (since it's quite long)

#17 - It is long, but it's also so great!

#18 >> Yes, I think so. I read some books of Thomas Mann this year and I liked them all more or less. So far I read the first 150 pages of Buddenbrooks and again it's absolutely fantastic.

Finally, finally finished Love in a Cold Climate, by Nancy Mitford. I expected this book to take me about 4 days to read, but it took 16. I zipped through In Pursuit of Love back in 2007 and thought I'd zip through this one too. Somehow I could never get that interested in reading it. Too much Nancy Mitford, I think. I agree with the 1001 editors that both of these did not need to be on the list and removing one was a good idea. I don't think it matters which one they took off--they're very much the same. That all said, I definitely enjoyed Part 2 of Love in a Cold Climate better than Part 1, so it did get better. Despite my mixed feelings, I recommend her for someone looking for a cross between Evelyn Waugh and Jane Austen.

And speaking about Jane Austen, I've now started Pride and Prejudice.

I am really struggling with Felicia's Journey. I should have read the reviews on Amazon before picking this one. Books about (possible) serial killers are not my thing! And everything in the book is so relentlessly, horribly depressing, too. I read Trevor's Story of Lucy Gault and it was depressing but in a good, haunting, memorable sort of way. This one is just depressing.
Bad, bad choice for the holiday season.

I'm just finishing War and Peace. The first few chapters were hard slogging- the salon scenes didn't interest me at all- but once you get into it, it's a really great read. Tolstoy deals with just about every kind of character, and every subject, you can imagine, in this one novel. Yet he somehow never loses his focus, or gets lost in digressions, like Melville does in Moby Dick (another long read).

Just finished Carry Me Down, found it to be quite enjoyable.

Almost done with Falling Man too and have War and Peace on hold for me at the library.

Just finished Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates which was a great read. 3 more to go to reach this years target!

Knocked out Money to Burn before starting War and Peace.

Just finished Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord - been on my shelf for ages, and worth the wait.

I have 5 more books to go to complete my target of 52, so have lined up 5 shorties:
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Candide
A Christmas Carol
The Time Machine
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

I know this is a bit of a cheat, but the next ones on my TBR pile are all tomes.

I finished The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes which I can recommend as a quick and enjoyable read (there is even one episode set around Christmas).
I also finished Crime and Punishment which was great but also a bit depressing, just as axpected.

I will finish the month with some light and seasonal reading and get back to the 1001s in January.

#26> Cheat away, I think we're all guilty of purposefully picking up the slimmer volumes from time to time. :)

I finished Jane Eyre a few days ago, and *adored* it. I really shouldn't wait another ten years for the next re-read!

And I'm now currently reading Coetzee's Youth, from the 2006 edition. It's the second in an autobiographical trilogy, and the first (Boyhood) was an excellent read. This one is shaping up to be fascinating as well. (And it's a slim volume too! I might be able to knock off another "1001" this year!)

I'm currently reading a collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories. I reread the Purloined Letter and added The Fall of the House of Usher to my 1001 list. Next up will be the Murders in the Rue Morgue. After that, I might read Never Let Me Go.

I'm at a ski condo at Whistler (where most of the skiing happened in the Olympics last year), and I was really looking forward to finishing Pride and Prejudice in front of the fire while it snowed outside. Alas, I forgot it at home, and so instead I am reading Breakfast at Tiffany's.

#28 - I have Jane Eyre to read, I have never read it, so looking forward to it.
#30 - I really enjoyed Breakfast at Tiffany's and there the last story in the book was about Christmas, nice and seasonal.

Finished Youth and it was another excellent read following on from Boyhood. This time, John is young and desperate to leave South Africa, to go and become a poet in London. London is not quite what he expected.

Coetzee lays his life out bare and doesn't sugar coat his failings as a human being. While I feel we've all done stupid things in our youth, I don't think I've ever seen anyone who admits so openly to it.

But I also felt that he was rather fond of his younger self - in particular, his youthful longings and desires.

I finished Nicholas Nickleby and it was typical Dickens, in a good way, in that it was both heartbreaking and uplifting.

I have started The Counte of Monte Cristo but I am not sure if I can finish it this month.

Finished Breakfast at Tiffany's, which was average at best (I guess I'm too big an Audrey Hepburn fan to like this one, even though it's the original. What can I say but that obviously, Hepburn made it better). Now I'm on to Amsterdam. On page 30-something and I can't tell what it's about yet.

I felt like rereading Jane Eyre and I like it much better than the first time. My first try was a German edition, now I am reading the original and it's interesting what a difference translations can make - the characters of both Jane and Rochester came out quite different. I will surely upgrade the rating from 3 to 4 or even 4,5.

Oh, do tell! What were Jane and Rochester like in German?

Spoilers on Jane Eyre coming:
I finished it yesterday and upgraded the rating from 3 then very generous stars to 4,5. I don't know how the German translator did it, but he/she really changed the characters. Jane came out as a plain and dull person who bored me to death (I always wanted to slap her) and Rochester was that weird manipulating guy who tries to trick her into bigamy.
In the original it is obvious that there is love between them and that makes the whole separation so heartbreaking and believable. And Jane is a surprisingly strong character.
I am really glad I gave this book a second chance!

This month I read A Christmas Carol and the detested Little Women. Last month I read two wonderful ones: Suite Francaise and Never Let Me Go. So, 3 out of 4 isn't bad.

About to start The Picture of Dorian Gray.

I finally read a book this month, albeit a short one, "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Other Stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I quite liked this little book of short stories -- especially the first one, from which I read bits out loud to my girls.
--BJ

I was reading Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, but left it at a friend's house by mistake. I know there are others who switch between books, but I like to finish one before I start another, thus my dilemma. What's a reader to do?

Finished Pride and Prejudice, which I rate as my favourite read of 2010. Now I'm back to Amsterdam, which I expect to finish before the end of the year.

It's a little funny that you had to read Breakfast at Tiffany's at the ski condo instead of Pride and Prejudice, but the main character was a Colorado girl, wasn't she? So it might have been a better fit after all. I'm happy for you that you got to go to such a lovely place and that you were able at last to finish P&P. I too love that book.

I just finished Sexing the Cherry, 1 more to go and I will have finished my aim of 30 for the year

Just finished The Professor's House and loved it. Never really read anything by Willa Cather before. Had thought she would be tedious for some reason...Looking forward to reading more of her now.

re 45 - I read that this year, I had heard nothing about it before reading. What a find! I wonder if you had the same cover as the one I had, that would have out me off - it was very twee.

July's People, I really enjoyed this book although I know that others have disliked it. The white family is brought to live in their servants village when riots strike in South Africa, this is a tale of adaption and trying to fit in. The difference between the children's acceptance into the village and their parents struggle.

#46-I was a different cover than the one you have. And, wow, that is definitely a bad cover.
My edition (Wilder Publications) was really bad on the inside. Like all the chapter designations were done away with, and the blurb on the back was just a spoiler for the last three pages. I still can't get over that. Halfway through I went to the library and started reading a different version (Vintage Classics). It was much better.

Got to the end of Dorian Gray, and it was a fascinating read. A bit heavy on the details at times (Oscar Wilde knew what was beautiful and tasteful, and described said items in great detail), but never boring. It was very good going to the source of the story: we all know the basics of what happened, but I, for one, had no idea of the details.

Also interesting in my edition is excerpts from contemporary reviews, which panned the "decadence" of it all. Nasty, nasty comments. Makes me want to go and watch "Wilde" with Stephen Fry again.

Finished my last 1001 for 2010--Amsterdam, by Ian McEwan. Recommended for anyone who is looking for a quick read or a 1001 book that is also a Booker Prize winner. I know a lot of readers didn't care for this one, but I liked it a lot.

@49- I just started The Picture of Dorian Gray, don't know why I hadn't read it sooner, I'm enjoying it as well. :)