Amerynth's 1001 Books to read before you die list

I've been sporadically working on reading the 1,001 books (original list, I think) for a couple of years. I happened upon this group today and thought it would be a fun way to keep track. So, here it goes! The following are the books I've read... (there are a few others not listed here that I think I've read, but I figured if I'm not sure I should just re-read them.) I figured I might as well pursue the whole 1294 (since I've only read one book not found on the original list!)

The list so far:

1. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
2. In the Forest by Edna O’Brien
3. Atonement by Ian McEwan
4. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
5. Spring Flowers, Spring Frost by Ismail Kadare
6. Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks
7. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingslover
8. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
9. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
10. The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst
11. The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
12. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
13. The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
14. Smilla’s Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg
15. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
16. The Temple of my Familiar by Alice Walker
17. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
18. Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood
19. Beloved by Toni Morrison
20. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
21. The Cider House Rules by John Irving
22. Contact by Carl Sagan
23. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
24. Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard
25. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
26. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
27. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
28. The World According to Garp by John Irving
29. The Shining by Stephen King
30. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
31. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
32. Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
33. The Black Prince by Iris Murdock
34. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
35. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
36. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
37. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
38. Giles Goat Boy by John Barth
39. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
40. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
41. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Isayveich Solzhenitsyn
42. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
43. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
44. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
45. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
46. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
47. The Floating Opera by John Barth
48. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
49. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
50. The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow
51. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
52. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
53. 1984 by George Orwell
54. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
55. Animal Farm by George Orwell
56. The Razor’s Edge by William Somerset Maugham
57. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery
58. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
59. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
60. Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
61. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
62. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
63. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
64. Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
65. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
66. Billy Budd, Foretopman by Herman Melville
67. Ulysses by James Joyce
68. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
69. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
70. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
71. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
72. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
73. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
74. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
75. Dracula by Bram Stoker
76. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
77. Diary of a Nobody by George and Wheedon Grossmith
78. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
79. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
80. She by H. Rider Haggard
81. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
82. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
83. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
84. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
85. Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Mann
86. Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll
87. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
88. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
89. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
90. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
91. Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
92. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
93. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
94. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
95. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
96. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
97. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
98. The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allen Poe
99. The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allen Poe
100. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
101. The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe
102. Le Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac
103. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
104. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
105. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
106. Persuasion by Jane Austen
107. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
108. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
109. Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
110. Candide by Voltaire
111. A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
112. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
113. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Dafoe
114. The Unfortunate Traveller by Thomas Nashe
115. The Thousand and One Nights by Anonymous
116. Aesop’s Fables by Aesop
117. The End of the Road by John Barth
118. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
119: The Call of the Wild by Jack London

Welcome - and good luck (or good reading!).

Welcome to the group. You've got a good list started.

Thank you so much for the warm welcome!

120. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming. I really didn't enjoy my first Bond book all that much -- which surprised me since I've generally liked the movies. I had envisioned reading the entire series, but I think one was enough for me.

Welcome, and happy reading.

I also found Casino Royale a little underwhelming - also much prefer the films. I was glad to read one, but like you, I wouldn't seek out any of the others.

Will look forward to seeing your progress after such a great start already.

I found one more that I've read previously during my Russian literature phase in college:

121: The Devils By Fyodor Dostoevsky

I think the recent Bond reboot has ruined us all - they are awfully good. The books just don;t seem to live up to them anymore (about the only time I say that about book/film conversions!).

Out of curiosity, what did you do at Uni? I was looking at your list thinking you matched up with my list on a lot of books - I did English Lit.

@BekkaJo: I was a journalism major, which meant surprisingly few English classes. My tendency when picking novels on my own is to go for classic British literature... the 1001 list has been especially nice because it's actually got me reading things that were published within this century (or near enough to it.)

I tend to go for the old stuff too - I'm trying to use the list to get me reading more of the modern lit as well. But so far I've mainly been finding more older novels to read instead. Oops...

122: The Stranger by Albert Camus... I actually read this in high school but I only learned from reading the posts in this group that "The Outsider" on the list is an alternate title.

123: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick. This book only took me a couple days to read and it was really great. I'm not a huge science fiction fan, but I do enjoy them when they raise moral questions and I found the commentary on empathy really thought-provoking. I liked the movie Blade Runner when I saw it years ago, but the book was really more enjoyable (as usual.)

124: If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino. I really enjoyed this book despite not knowing what the heck was going on until the end. The narrative structure alone had me hooked and I ended up reading this one fairly quickly. I liked the way the story came to together (finally) in the end... and even when I was a bit befuddled I still found the stories themselves compelling enough to enjoy reading it.

125: Rabbit, Run by John Updike. I loathed this book -- None of the characters really had any redeeming qualities.... I just really wasn't interested in any of them, especially Rabbit himself. I can appreciate Updike's way with words but that's about it. Really not looking forward to reading the sequels.

126: The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford and
127: Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford.

Though I found the love stories themselves kind of standard, I particularly liked The Pursuit of Love -- mainly because of all the great little tidbits about the Radlett family -- from the child hunts to the drawers filled with the names of cursed individuals written on scraps of paper... the great details about the family kept coming in Love in a Cold Climate too, even though they were minor characters in that story. I didn't enjoy Love in a Cold Climate as much -- mainly because I didn't find the characters as strong or as interesting.

I also have several books I have read on the list that I either can't remember clearly and/or read poorly at the time that I'd like to re-read and will when the mood strikes me :)

I like the reason why you liked the mitford books, I think that's why I liked them too. I had a friend who read one of them, can't remember which, and she was completely unimpressed while I would be happy reading more and I think it is because of the little insights into that ridiculous upper-class british family that delights me.

@kiwiflowa -- It's mostly movies that are interfering with my memory of what I've read and what I haven't. :) For example, I've watched A Room With A View so many times that I can't say for certain I've read the novel... even though I think I remember checking the book out from the library at some point. I figured it was just best to re-read anything I'm unsure about.

128: Miss Pettigrew Lives for A Day by Winifred Watson. I found this to be a delightful read... kind of like a 1930's "beach book." The characters were all so charming and the story was told in such a lighthearted way that I had a hard time putting the book down.

129: Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf
130: The Waves By Virginia Woolf

To be honest, I didn't particularly enjoy reading either of these... it was a little too much like work. I appreciated The Waves a bit more than Jacob's Room-- I guess I like internal monologues better than exterior impressions. This is my first time reading anything by Woolf -- not sure how my feelings about these bode for her more famous works... I'm hoping I'll like those better.

oh... so sad you didn't like The Waves more. It's one of those novels that totally changed my concept of prose. I couldn't believe what that woman was able to do with a pen. The Voyage Out is totally different as her first novel and you might like that better. And Orlando is a satire which, if you're into those, you'd like. To the Lighthouse is really a warm up for her style in The Waves.

I've only read Mrs. Dalloway and I can't say that I was impressed. I am not a fan of Woolf so far, and am not sure I ever will be.

arukiyomi and amaryann21: You aren't giving me much hope! Perhaps Woolf is just a poor fit for me. I have The Years in my tbr stack, but I'll be holding off on that one for a bit so I can read a few authors I know I like first.

As a huge Woolf fan, I encourage you not to give up! You do have to concentrate when you read her, but she can be richly rewarding. I hated her when I first read her, but the more I read the more it all clicked with me. Then I was assigned her several times at uni--and as one of my profs said, "you don't understand a Woolf novel until you reread a Woolf novel." I have to admit that I didn't get The Waves, but I thought it was beautiful and I just let the art wash over me. I'll reread it sometime and perhaps understand it more. And I didn't love Mrs Dalloway when I first read it, but then I read The Hours and on rereading Mrs D, I did love it. Now I've reread both of those and they're among my favourite books (and I was seen walking around London on a beautiful June morning saying "Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself"--my family tried to leave me there.) But then some people just don't like her, so no pressure . . .

131. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster: This is one of the few times I've liked the movie better than the book! Perhaps because I saw the movie before reading the book, I sometimes found the book dragging a little -- I'd start to wonder whether things would start moving along any time soon. However, the overall story was still interesting and I found the book's focus on colonialism to be very thought-provoking. Definitely glad I read this one.

I'm glad you liked it! I've never seen the movie version but I read the book and I really enjoyed it, so many people have said they didn't.

I read it for an English Class at Uni so I read the book last minute in a rush before the lectures on it began then the lectures and tutorials really made me understand all the themes and undercurrents and made me appreciate how clever the book was.

132: Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens: Really great book... I didn't know Dickens could be this good. I love Dickens' ability to paint a "lumpy" character -- virtues and faults and all-- that transport me into the seedy underbelly of London. The only think I disliked was the final plot turning involving the Boffins, which seemed a little contrived to bring the story together. But that's a minor quibble really.

133: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Easily my favorite Austen thus far (of the four I've read.... I still have Emma and Northanger Abbey left to go.) Great characters and a story that kept me up reading until 4:30 a.m. because I couldn't wait to read the inevitable conclusion to the love story.

Pride and Prejudice is my favorite Austen too, closely followed by Emma. I know a lot of people don't like Emma as much as Austen's other works - hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

@japaul22: I'm reasonably certain I'll like Emma (since I've enjoyed all of Austen's books so far and liked the movie version too.) I'm saving Northanger Abbey for last merely because it's the only Austen novel I didn't have a "preview" of in movie format.

I am half way through Mansfield Park and I haven't arrived at an opinion yet. The primary thoughts I have at this point are that the characters are not interesting, I can't find a plot at all, it is not an exciting novel, and I hope Miss Austen lights a fire-cracker somewhere in the second half.

don't get yer hopes up

I think the second half was a bit better than the first but generally I find that the weakest of Austens.

I studied Mansfield Park at university, and had a great prof who really opened the book up for me. Because of this, I find it one of the stronger Austens. Most readers just can't get past Fanny Price as a heroine. We're supposed to see her as someone who is able to stick to her principles, whereas now readers often just see her as a stick-in-the-mud. I love some of the minor characters in the novel too--the evil Mrs Norris is fun, and Mrs Bertram is a fabulous study of a person who has nothing but air between her ears.

If you have the time, I highly recommend the lively commentary on Manfield Park at Bitch in a Bonnet: http://bitchinabonnet.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html

I hope the second part gets better for you. There really is a great novel in there.

@Nickelini: Thanks for posting the Bitch in Bonnet link.... I'm going through it slowly but it is really interesting reading. Mansfield Park was certainly my least favorite of the Austens... (mainly for the reasons already described above... Fanny Price is the anti-Lizzie Bennett...) but the commentary makes me appreciate it a little bit more.

wow that's some blog post... "a social satirist on the level of Swift and Voltaire" hmmm I'd say that's pushing it a bit. She doesn't even mention Eliot!

32 - and "she" is actually a he . . . the writer's name is Robert Rodi, and he's just a little opinionated. Great fun, though.

typical eh... in this book-blogging world of women, I come down on the wrong side of the sexual divide!

134. The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble. Really didn't like this book.... and also not sure what made it unique or interesting enough to make it into a version of the list.

The narration was really problematic for me -- the first half of the book, the story of the a Korean crown princess is interesting plot-wise, but I wasn't able to immerse myself in the story. It felt more like a lecture.

The second half, moves rather jarringly into third-person narration (I assume the narrator is still the Korean princess...) and tells the story of a researcher who mysteriously receives the Red Queen's story while traveling to Korea for a conference. I detested this half of the book -- I didn't like the narrator's voice... (every other paragraph filled with questions...) or the story itself. Despite the parallels between the narrator and her subject, I didn't feel like the two halves of the book melded together very well.

I've never heard anything good about the Red Queen. I'm sure someone somewhere likes it, but I've never heard from them!

Pretty sure I'll avoid The Red Queen - I've never heard anything good either! Too many good books on the list to waste time on a dud!

135. House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. I enjoyed reading this one, but it's a hard book to rate.... it was sort of a beautiful mess for me. Admittedly, horror isn't my genre, so I was surprised about how engrossing in the "haunted house" aspect of the story was for me.... at least for the first half of the book. It kind of fizzled out at the end unfortunately.

Loved the the formatting of the book, which reflected the story and added to the tension... (the big black square in middle creeped me out a bit...) I also liked the ways the stories of Johnny Truant, Zampano and the Navidson Record intersected.

Glad to have read this one... and it is certainly a book I wouldn't have read (or even heard of) without the list.

136. The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx. Really liked this one - it probably helped that I could somewhat identify with Quoyle (having worked at third-rate newspapers myself.) I also liked the style of crisp, short, newspaper-like sentences and the way the knot descriptions tied into the action.

137. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Really fascinating group of short stories that details the experiences of a company of soldiers during the Vietnam War. O'Brien blurs the line between truth and fiction as he tries to give readers a sense of what serving was like instead of relying on facts and figures to describe the war. I found the portrayal very successful (as someone who has no experience with war.)

138: Emma by Jane Austen. Having seen the movie versions of this one many times, I knew I would like this one. I liked it a little less than Pride and Prejudice, which surprised me. Emma Woodhouse, the book's heroine was alternately infuriating and charming.... I found her so entertaining that again Jane Austen kept me up half the night so I could finish the book.

139: Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym. Overall, I just had a "meh" feeling about this one. Although Pym can certainly write, this story dealing with aging and mortality while following four senior citizens on the verge of retirement, lacked a bit of a spark. I didn't find the characters particularly likeable and they had a sort of blase attitude to everything (which was probably part of the point.) I just didn't find the book particularly interesting.

140. Snow by Orhan Pamuk. I was disappointed in this one... the blurb on the back sounded so promising and right up my alley, but I honestly didn't enjoy it at all. The writing felt very clunky and repetitive to me... reading it just felt like work.

141. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. This was a fun read... though a bit slow to get started. Who else but Douglas Adams could take bits about the music of numbers, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a horse in a bathroom and a sofa stuck in a stairwell and weave them all together into a decent story about the interconnectedness of all things? Not as much fun as the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series, but still a good read nonetheless.

142. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson. I liked this quick and easy read straight from the opening paragraph. It is a coming of age story about an orphan named Jeanette (I assume, at least semi-autobiographical since it's also the author's name) who struggles to come to terms with her sexuality while growing up in a very strict, evangelical household with a domineering mother. Great characters populate this novel. Looking forward to reading some of Winterson's other books, since this was her debut novel and I enjoyed this one so much.

I'm a big fan of Winterson. Written on the Body is pretty amazing in the way it's written, if you haven't gotten to that one yet.

@amaryann21: This was my first time reading Winterson... I'll definitely keep an out for Written on the Body the next time I'm adding to my tbr pile!

143. Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. I can't say I really enjoyed this book-- much of it was cringe-worthy for me-- though I am glad I read it. Written as a series of short sketches, the book follows group of Scottish slackers who are addicted to heroin, alcohol, sex, crime. They are poor with few hopes and dreams and escaping from the circumstances the only ways they know how.

It took a few pages for me to adjust to the Scottish dialect (perhaps I was helped because I saw the movie when it came out ages ago.) Overall, I found the book to be an interesting (and seemingly realistic) look at a Scottish subculture. Definitely can understand why this was included on the 1001 list.

144. 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke. Really surprised at how much I enjoyed this one... I read it in about two days because it was just that compelling. Since I'm not living under a rock, I've seen the movie and thought I really knew what to expect. Yet, I found the book fascinating and deserving of its reputation as a sci-fi classic.

145. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. I was a little worried when I picked up the book for the April group read (started a little early) and saw the Oprah Book Club emblem on the cover. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find I liked the book quite a bit.

This tale about a dysfunctional Midwestern family was enjoyable because Franzen really created an interesting, screwed up (and often unlikeable) group of characters, each suffering from their own sets of secret problems and their longing to escape. I found their individual stories compelling... although I feel a bit strange saying I enjoyed a book that was fairly depressing!

nothing wrong with enjoying depressing. At least, that's an optimist's approach to pessimism.

146. The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch. I enjoyed this story of a narcissistic actor who retires to a home on the North Sea, only to find that his baggage includes a bevy of old lovers and friends-- including a chance encounter with his long lost first love. A story of obsession and jealousy, the plot moves along the line between realism and ridiculousness fairly frequently.

I initially thought this was going to be a five star book for me (I really like the way Murdoch can paint a scene) but I found I liked it a little less as the book's plot became more absurd. Anyway, still a good solid thumbs up from me, just less enthusiastic than I initially thought it would be.

147. The Lost Language of Cranes by David Leavitt. Surprised how much I liked this one... I didn't think Leavitt's writing style was all that engaging and the story itself was a typical coming out story. That said, I enjoyed reading it -- the best bit was certainly the explanation of the title, which I won't give away. I liked the way Leavitt pulled the story together by showing the role communication plays in the stability of family. An interesting read.

148. The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. Loved this book -- it's quite a pageturner, in addition to being a really fun read. I knew the plot going in -- having seen (and not particularly liked) the 1999 movie, but it didn't matter because the book is so superior to the film.

It takes talent to write a book about a sociopath who is so charming that he actually comes across as likable. I'll definitely be seeking out the other five books in the "Ripliad" series.

149. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. Liked this book, which is essentially a prequel to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, easily my most read book (since I read it over and over again when I was in junior high and high school. Rhys' novel transforms the Bertha Mason, the madwoman in the attic and unfortunate first wife of Mr. Rochester, into Antoinette, daughter of a white slave owner and living amongst her father's former slaves in a post-Emancipation Jamaica. She fits in no where.

The book is permeated with colonialism, sexuality and, of course, madness. Great characters and a great rhythm to the book. I don't feel like it changed the way I see Jane Eyre but it was fun to see how Rhys imagined the start of the story. Quite glad I read this one.

150. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I really didn't have a particularly strong reaction to this book either way -- I neither loved it or hated it. It just seemed like an average novel to me (... for the record, I expected to be blown away since I loved The Great Gatsby so much.)

The novel tells the story of the Divers, a wealthy couple living on the French Riviera, along with their crowd of beautiful, glittering people. The story from there (which I won't give away) changes quite a bit -- it felt disjointed and rambling at times, perhaps because F. Scott Fitzgerald took nine years to write it and melded together several half-finished stories, as well as weaving in events from his own life.

An okay book, but not one I'll pick up again.

151. The Years by Virginia Woolf. This was my third time reading Woolf and I liked it so much better than the prior two (Jacob's Room and The Waves) probably because The Years has a much more traditional narrative structure.

Looking at the lives of the Pargiter family (and their near relations) from the 1880s to the 1930's, the book is very much about the passage of time. I enjoyed Woolf's writing (and didn't feel lost half the time as I did with the other two books) and found the characters both interesting and complex. This was actually pretty fun to read.

152. The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton. The plot was somewhat predictable, but I found the characters so charming that I enjoyed the book anyway.

The novel is the story of newlyweds Susy and Nick Lansing... who are poor but know all the right people. They plan to spend a year together honeymooning by sponging off their rich friends. Of course, things don't quite turn out the way they planned. A fun and quick read.

153. The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe. Give me a book about an orphan who is unlucky in love and overseen by questionable guardian and I'm a happy reader. Particularly enjoyed volumes two and three in this Gothic romance, which tells the story of Emily St. Aubert and her efforts to escape the intrigues of the dastardly Montoni.

Yes, parts were overwrought and overwritten, but I really liked it nonetheless.

154. Dark as the Grave wherein my Friend is Laid by Malcolm Lowry. My habit of picking books because the title interests me apparently steered me wrong in this case. I haven't read Lowry's much lauded Under the Volcano and "Dark As..." makes many references to it, which went over my head.

The book was written after Lowry died based upon notes made on a trip to Mexico. He had the colossally bad idea to bring his second wife to the places where his first marriage crumbled in a drunken haze. Cue more drinking and depression.

I had difficultly adjusting to Lowry's writing style, but admit I liked the book more as it went on.

155. The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing. Really terrific book about a disintegrating marriage and colonial attitudes in South Africa and Rhodesia. It opens with the ending -- Mary Turner, murdered by her kitchen cook and none of "the community" seems much interested in the complex story of why.

I was so interested in why, I couldn't put the book down, despite finding Mary Turner to be a completely unlikeable character.

It was by chance that this Lessing book hit the top of my tbr pile, just it was decided Lessing's The Golden Notebook would be the July group read. I'm really looking forward to reading another by Lessing to see how her writing changed after her debut novel.

156. The Bitter Glass by Eilis Dillon. Boy, what a boring book this was -- I'm not sure how this one got onto the list.

It's the story of a group of young adults who travel by train on a summer holiday. The IRA blow up bridges so their parents, who were to follow them on a next train, are unable to do so. They deal with sick babies and some of the men who blew up the bridges camping in their yard, but the characters are so self-absorbed that doesn't seem to matter to most of them.

The characters were so poorly drawn that I had trouble remembering who they were, even halfway through the book. It didn't do much to bring home the story of the "troubles" either. Overall, this one was just disappointing.

157. The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall. This is one of those books that I really didn't enjoy, but can still appreciate why it was included on the 1001 list. Banned because of its portrayal of lesbianism, I can appreciate those thought sought out and fought for publication of the book, which starkly illustrates the struggle of someone who craves but cannot find acceptance.

That said the book really isn't a literary masterpiece and I struggled to finish it. I'm glad I read this one, but wouldn't ever pick it up again.

158. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons. I enjoyed this book and found it pretty amusing (but then I am a big fan of the type of novels Gibbons is parodying.) Not really laugh out loud funny, as I was expecting, but certainly worth a snicker or two. Overall, I found it to be a good, light read.

159. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte. Earlier this year, I read Juliet Barker's biography The Brontes in which she says something to the effect that Anne's death was particularly tragic because she as perhaps the most promising writer of the Bronte sisters. I was surprised because I was completely unfamiliar with her work and had read both of her sisters when I was fairly young. So, I decided to rectify that.

I can definitely say that I agree with Barker's assessment.... Anne is now my favorite Bronte... I loved this book so much I couldn't put it down.

160. The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. Absolutely disappointed in this book.... had high hopes after enjoying The Grass is Singing just a few weeks ago.

Told in a stream-of-conscience style, the book centers on Anna, a writer who keeps multiple notebooks, separating the important aspects of her life. She is depressed! She has horrible taste in men! (You will learn this over and over again.) This complex and challenging novel felt too much like work, without any real payoff for me by the end. I'm mostly just glad I'm finally done reading it.

#66 - I recently had a similar Doris Lessing experience with The Good Terrorist. After loving The Grass is Singing, it was absolutely dreadful. Perhaps she only wrote the one good novel?

I liked Mara and Dann :) And clearly SOMEONE thinks The Golden Notebook is good. ;)

I definitely will avoid The Good Terrorist... though maybe I'll pick up Mara and Dann once I've had time to recover. It certainly sounds good, but I though that about the The Golden Notebook too. :)

161. Eclipse of the Crescent Moon by Geza Gardonyi. Thoroughly entertaining historical fiction... Gardonyi tells a romanticized story of one of the Hungarian heroes of the Siege of Eger Castle -- Gergely Bornemissza, an explosives expert who made grenades that were were partly responsible for repelling the Turks in a month-long siege of the fort.

It takes a long time to get to the seige, since Gardonyi starts the tale when Gergely is just eight years old. The book is sprinkled with a little romance, lots of fighting between Turks and Hungarians and a bit of politics as well. I found it to be fun, easy reading despite its length.

162. Celestial Harmonies by Peter Esterhazy. A difficult book for me to rate... I didn't really enjoy it but thought that Esterhazy had a beautiful way with language... there were sentences I would stop to read over just because they were so interesting.

Knowing next to nothing about Hungary and nothing at all about Esterhazy's family (apparently wealthy landowners who the communists were happy to take down a peg or two) probably didn't help. The first half of the book -- vignettes, both factual and fictional, about the Esterhazy men dragged for me. The second half, with a more traditional narrative, focusing on the family's troubles as they were moved from a castle filled with heirlooms and art to sharing one room in a peasant's shack was much more interesting.

163. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte. A very easy and enjoyable read for the most part. Despite sometimes becoming a little preachy, I found the overall story kind of sweet. This is definitely one of those books that is more interesting for its biographical details than its literary value.

Enjoyable, but I definitely liked The Tenant of Wildfell Hall more.

164. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. I was disappointed with this novel. After an interesting set up, with two narrators who are hiding their true selves behind prickly dispositions, the book became more a lecture on philosophy than an actual story. At least until its abrupt ending occurs in the final couple of chapters.

The middle of the book just seemed to be a contest between the two narrators to prove over and over again how smart they are. There really wasn't enough plot to keep it interesting for me.

165. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carre. This book really fell flat for me. I had trouble following what was going on, but that may not have been a fault of the novel, but of my circumstances. I brought this along for a huge group camping trip thinking it would be a light thriller. I picked up the book and put it down again a lot, so maybe I was just too distracted to keep track of its zillion little details.

That said, I wasn't particularly surprised by the ending either. Maybe it's just that thrillers aren't really my genre.

166. White Teeth by Zadie Smith. Really enjoyed this novel, which focuses on multiple generations of two northern London families. Each family, in its own way, is dealing with immigration issues -- the loss of the values so important to their cultural identity as their children grow up in a new culture.

Smith's ability to completely illustrate the fundamental characteristics of a character in just a couple of pages made this book a joy to read. The characters are interesting and complex and their reactions to situations really ring true.

So glad this was a group read, as this book wasn't on my radar at all and I really enjoyed it a lot.

167. Memories of Rain by Sunetra Gupta. This was a beautiful and challenging novel of love and loss. It is the story of Moni and Anthony, who fell in love 10 years ago in India during a torrential rain storm. After 10 years, their love has receded like floodwater and Moni plans to return to India on their daughter's sixth birthday, a cruel surprise designed to say everything she has been unable to speak.

This was a bit of a challenging read -- Gupta's sentences are often a page long, but they are also very evocative of water. The blurb on the back of the book calls her Virginia Wolf's heir and I can see the comparison because the tone of the book reminded me a bit of Wolf's "The Waves."

I really liked the book and found its voice different and interesting.

168. The Red and the Black by Stendhal. I really struggled with this book, which is the story of a frustrated social climber who lives in Paris at a time when it was nearly impossible to get ahead if you weren't just born to money and titles. His romantic notions convince him he is love in various women (and not the wealth and connections they may provide.)

I found the first half of the book to be tedious (only reading a few pages in a sitting before I grew bored...) but the second half of the book moved to someplace between tolerable and interesting. I'm not sure whether that is because there is a lot more action in the second half or if by then I had adjusted to Stendhal's style.

I can appreciate this book was ahead of its time, but I really didn't enjoy reading it.

169. On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin. Having read and adored Chatwin's In Patagonia, I was very anxious to see if his fiction writing held up to his travel writing. I wasn't disappointed and I really enjoyed "On the Black Hill."

The novel has a fairly simple story -- it tells of the life and times of Benjamin and Lewis Jones, identical twins whose lives are so intertwined they rarely leave each other or the Welsh farm they were born on. The story often leaves their land to tell the story of neighbors and other family members.

Without much of a plot, the book really succeeds because Chatwin has a marvelous ability to paint a scene-- his vivid descriptions of the landscape, the farm house and even the people themselves make this fun. The book definitely isn't a meaty tale, but for a light read, it was still enjoyable.

170. Blue of Noon by Georges Bataille. While I didn't really actually hate this book, I really didn't get it either.
The novel, set at the start of Spanish Civil War, is apparently supposed to use its eroticism to show the connection between sex, power and violence but the separate threads really didn't come together for me.

The narrator Henri Troppmann lives to excess and spends much of the novel drunk, sick, in fear of death and amongst a series of debauched women (who are themselves racing toward stark ends.) I just didn't see how this all tied into the politics of the era... for me it was more a story about depression, self-centeredness and alcoholism than a political statement.

While there were one or two scenes that will likely stick with me... (including the one true sex scene at the end of the book, which without giving anything away was an interesting idea and a good way to change Troppmann's character a bit) the rest was mostly forgettable for me.

171. The River Between by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. This was a terrific, thought-provoking read.

I expected a book about female circumcision... and while that was central to the story, the book was about so much more. Set in Kenya in the land of the Gikuyu, the book is about the gulf between those who embraced Christianity and those who embraced old traditions. It was done in such a balanced way, that anyone who clung too tightly to both sides seemed to be in the wrong.

172. God's Bits of Wood by Ousmane Sembene. Just adding this one to my "read" list.... I read this years ago in college for an African history course along with Thiong'o's A Grain of Wheat. Not sure why I never noticed it was on the list before today.

173. Villette by Charlotte Bronte. While I liked Villette, it definitely didn't replace Jane Eyre as my favorite book by Charlotte Bronte. It was particularly interesting in light of Bronte's own life in Belgium, where it is believed she fell in love with a married teacher/headmaster at the school.

The narrator, Miss Lucy Snowe, is left to her own devices to find her way in the world. She eventually travels to Villette and becomes an English teacher. As a narrator she is somewhat cold and secretive, so it's really up to the reader to tease through what she's saying.

I really liked that Lucy was such complex character -- she lacked that inherent goodness that makes Jane Eyre grate a bit. However, I found that the story kind of dragged a bit.

174. At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft. I have to say I was disappointed by this classic horror tale because it really didn't have much of a "creep" factor. Maybe it's because I'm not a horror aficionado, so when I read something from that genre I really want it to feel good and creepy.

The story itself was somewhat interesting and right up my alley... an Antarctic expedition unearths ghastly evidence of a ancient civilization of Elder Things. (I am absolutely mad for Antarctic stories, so I liked the setting.) However, much of the novella is a dry description of grotesque, icy mountains and caverns... it takes a long time to get to the meat of the story, which really occurs in the last few pages.

So, a sort of middling review from me for this one, I guess... interesting story and setting, but I didn't like the author's style.

175. The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse. Boy, I really found this one to be boring... maybe I'm just not smart enough to see what all the fuss is about... (this did win the Nobel Prize for literature!)

The novel is the story of Joseph Knecht, an elite who is penned up in Castalia, with all the other educated folks, playing a game that shows the interconnectedness of things. Yet, they are all set apart from what is going on in the world.

I disliked Hesse's style... the book read like a dry lecture or academic paper, which was perhaps the point, but I couldn't get through 30 pages without falling asleep. This is the first book by Hesse that I've read, and considering it is considered his magnum opus, I guess he isn't an author that I'm going to click with at all.

>83 by @amerynth, Nobel Prizes in Literature are not given for an individual title, they are given for the entire body of work. Hesse won in 1946, "for his inspired writings which, while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanitarian ideals and high qualities of style".

Ah, I didn't know that! Makes me feel a little bit better.... perhaps I'll like some of Hesse's other books better.

:) I've only read Siddhartha as yet, but I absolutely loved that one.

I listened to Siddhartha on CD, which is probably the only way I'd have gotten through it. I'm not super eager to jump into Hesse again. Thanks for the review!

I've read a few of Hesse's off the list and Siddhartha was WAY better than any of the others. So, sorry to break it to you but Hesse is one of those that I think I'll probably leave until after I die now...

I think I'll definitely try Siddhartha as my next Hesse based upon all these comments.... once I've worked up to reading another Hesse, that is.

176. The Enchanted Wanderer: and Other Stories by Nikolai Leskov. Loved this great collection of short stories, which read like Russian folk tales. The stories mostly focused on working class Russians during the reign of Nicholas I.

I'm not sure whether the 1001 entry is just for the title tale or for the whole collection. The six stories appear to be published together frequently, sometimes using different tales as the title story. I probably enjoyed the title story the least, but particularly enjoyed "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" and "Lefty". Fun stuff!

177. Tono-Bungay by H.G. Wells. I mainly picked this book because I grew up on a lake with a similar name so I really knew nothing about the plot. I found the story to be enjoyable and engrossing.

The book tells the story of George Ponderevo, who works with his uncle on a scheme to sell a cure-all tonic that they both know is all bunk. The story frequently strays away from that, though, as it covers pretty much all of Ponderevo's life. There is a ton of social commentary on religion, socialism and the English class system interspersed with the story. There were a few parts that dragged along as a result, but overall I did enjoy the story.

178. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. My final Austen definitely wasn't my favorite... but it certainly wasn't my least favorite either. Although I found the book's heroine Catherine Moreland rather daft and silly, she still came across as likeable, which helped make this a fun and fast read.

Particularly glad I read Mysteries of Udolpho before reading Northanger... it definitely made the book more enjoyable.

#92 If only the reverse had been true (i.e. reading Northanger Abbey first had made The Mysteries of Udolpho more enjoyable)..... Definitely one of the more "memorable" Group Reads of 2012!

Indeed that was a fun group read.... though I was one of the few (or perhaps the only one) that actually enjoyed The Mysteries of Udolpho!

179. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. I liked this beautifully written book right from the start... both for the writing and for the setting as the Himalayan region is something I'm particularly interested in reading about in my non-list book life.

The book tells the story of Sai, a young woman who grew up in a convent and moved to India with her grandfather. Her life contrasts with that of Biju, the son of a cook who immigrates to the United States. I found the book to be an interesting look at the cultural divides created between the generations.

Although the story dragged a bit in the middle, I enjoyed the writing enough that it didn't bother me a lot.

Good to hear, I just started The Inheritance of Loss yesterday! I also like it right from the start.

180. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lingren. Cute and charming kids book that has enough sparkle and wit to be entertaining for adults too. I'm not really sure why this was included on the list -- but I probably wouldn't have ever read it otherwise, so I don't mind.

The book is a series of vignettes about the Pippi -- who grows up without parents and defies social conventions left and right but has a heart of gold underneath. Overall, a quick and fun read.

181. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes. What can I say, I just loved this book. I stayed up late and read it in one sitting because I just had to know how it was all going to end.

Beautifully written, the story follows Tony Webster, an aging man looking back over his life from his schoolboy days to middle age and showing that memory can be tricky -- weaving a tangled web that reflects the attitudes and beliefs of the teller. Fascinating stuff.

Definitely a good addition to the list as far as I'm concerned.

182. Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd. While I admired Ackroyd's use of voice to transport his readers back to 18th century London, I really found little else to like about this one. The story became really bogged down in tiny details and the ending really didn't bring the story together for me. Glad to have this one behind me, really.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. This is technically a re-read for me, as I got my copy in high school. I'm not sure I ever finished it, though, so I'm glad I got the chance to pick it up again.

What can you say about this masterpiece that hasn't already been said? Hugo weaves together a terrific, epic tale featuring complex characters with rich back stories that make the pages fly by. My only real quibble with the book is that the tangents went off a bit long (especially the Waterloo) section... and I just wanted to get back to the main story. Still, I loved the book so much, that it was still a five-star read for me.

183. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. At the outset, I often thought of Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler, thinking that authors have a whole sheaf of unfinished lying around in a drawer someplace and these two authors had found a way to profit from them. I thought the way that Mitchell connected them all was gimmicky yet it still worked.... (though not as brilliantly as Calvino.)

Cloud Atlas is six stories, connected by theme, observation and other similarities, all while retaining original voices. I liked some of the individual stories a lot more than others. Overall, though, I liked the book and found it to be an entertaining read.

184. The Museum of Unconditional Surrender by Dubravka Ugresic. Adored this book, which starts out with an inventory of a dead Berlin Zoo walrus's stomach -- filled with lollypop sticks, a baby's shoe, a knife... all random objects that come together thanks to a zoo animal's appetite and people's thoughtless tossing.

Like the walrus, the book brings together a series of short vignettes, mostly on the subject of immigration and exile from a Yugoslavia that no longer exists. The stories are written in lots of different styles, all beautifully and are terribly nostalgic. Really enjoyed this one quite a bit.

185. Almost Transparent Blue by Ryu Murakami. A book about junkies in 1970's Japan. I wasn't a fan. It wasn't that I minded the graphic depiction of sex and drugs... it's that there was no point to it all, except apparently to be provocative. There wasn't really a story arc or a plot, even.

Paled greatly in comparison to Trainspotting in terms of story and literary interest, as far as I was concerned.

#103 Ick. Not looking forward to that one :(

BekkaJo: At least it's short!

186. The Heather Blazing by Colm Toibin. I can best describe this book as a quiet novel. Not much happens in the story, which follows an Irish judge named Eamon Redmond as he recollects his life. With a setting in Ireland, there is a bit of politics sprinkled in here, but it mostly focuses on his fairly typical domestic life. There really isn't a ton of plot here.

The book was an easy read and the characters were interesting... however, I didn't find much about it that will make it really memorable. Honestly, I didn't love it or hate it... so it just earns a kind of middling rating from me.

187. Leaden Wings by Zhang Jie. While interesting from a historical and cultural perspective, this novel, as a story, is incredibly dull.

Set in China during the Cultural Revolution, the main focus of the story is whether the traditional methods of running a factory are better than new-fangled, more "westernized" ways. There's an endless parade of characters and sort of old-fashioned prose here too.

Definitely not my cup of tea.

188. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote. Surprised how different the novel was from the beloved film, but it was still a great read. I admire Capote's ability to leave a lot unsaid, but still written between the lines. Not as good as In Cold Blood but I didn't expect it would be either.

There were three other short stories in the volume too, which were also very strong. I particularly liked "A Christmas Memory," which at least read as semi-autobiographical (though I don't know if it actually is.)

189. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis by Giorgio Bassani. Really enjoyed this book. It frequently reminded me of an Italian version of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited which I also really loved.

Set in Italy on the eve of the Holocaust, the story follows a group of Jewish young adults who are trying to hold on to a way of life that is slowly being destroyed by the creeping shadow of Fascism.

190. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Well, I'm glad that's over and done!

I didn't enjoy this book at all, mainly because the style of humor in the book doesn't appeal to me. I get why others might enjoy it, but it just wasn't to my taste for reading material.

191. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. I feel certain this was a re-read for me, as I read a lot of Christie's novels when I was in junior high. Unfortunately, while trying to determine if this was something I'd read before, I read a review that gave away the ending. So it's pretty hard for me to give the book a fair rating.

While it was a good mystery and I understand completely why it's on the 1,001 list, it isn't my favorite (and in fact, it was kind of forgettable for me.) I think And Then There Were None got me hooked on Christie's mysteries way back when and it still remains my favorite.

192. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. I recently had a conversation with a couple of people who were shocked I'd never read this book... so I decided to pick it up. I'm glad I did.

The story follows a group of German soldiers during World War I as they try to avoid shells, scrounge up enough food and readjust to civilian life during leave. It has many haunting images that will stick with me for a long while.

193. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. Ugh... Murakami and I just don't get along (and I'm really not a fan of magical realism.) Despite his endless repeating of what I assume are important details, I can never figure out what the heck Murakami is driving at.

Just glad this one is finally done!

194. Fortunata and Jacinta by Benito Perez Galdoz. I alternately loved this book and hated it. It was a hard one for me to rate, that's for sure.

The story follows two women who are involved with a cad, Jacinita, is his wife who cannot have children yet is obsessed with them, and Fortunata, the man's unfortunate mistress. I found the story interesting and compelling and particularly liked the way Galdoz incorporated this particular period of Spain into his novel.

There was something about the writing that had me struggle about this one. I think it was the way new characters were introduced... you got a lot of back story before heading back to the main story. I felt like I was struggling through this book alot, which is strange for a book that I liked overall.

I felt much the same way about Fortunata and Jacinta. It was a book I could admire, but it took me a long time to finish it, largely because the prolonged side-trips into the lives of minor characters killed the momentum of the main story.

195. The Monk by Matthew Lewis. I don't often read Gothic novels, but apparently I should do so more often. I've enjoyed the ones I've read from the 1,001 list.

Apparently, the first novel to feature a priest as its villain, the story features every type of depravity imaginable. However, the story was entertaining with plenty of twists and turns.

A warning if you pick up the 2002 Oxford University Press edition-- the book jacket inexplicably gives away what happens to one of the characters.

Don't you just HATE it when they do that? Grrrr! Still, I'm glad you enjoyed The Monk - I read this at Uni and 10 years later it's still well in my Top 20 books of all time - possibly even the Top 10. I just adore the ending :)

Yeah, the monk is pretty much the ONLY gothic novel I have any time for. One that I would read again... when I've finished the other 600+ I have yet to read!

196. Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters. Sexually explicit but with really well-drawn and interesting characters. I enjoyed this book a lot... was only a little disappointed with the ending. Nancy's transformation into a political activist seemed a little forced. Overall, I found it an interesting and fairly compelling read.

Have you read Fingersmith? If so, how did it compare?

I haven't read Fingersmith yet... this was my first Waters book.

197. The Amazing Adventures Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. Essentially a love letter to comic books, this novel also focuses on the effects of the holocaust, homosexuality and the importance of family ties.

The book drew me in straight away as Chabon did an amazing job creating a rich backstory and interesting characters. I thought it fizzled a bit in the end as he tried to tie everything together neatly. But I'm still glad to have read this one as I found the story pretty unique and interesting.

198. The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles. So glad this was picked for the group read because I absolutely loved it. And for reasons I can't really remember, I had been avoiding this book (perhaps because I had it confused with another that I had read something negative about.)

Victorian times, paleontology, frustrated love... it is as if Fowles wrote this one specifically for me. I found it incredibly entertaining and plan to read it again sometime, as I think it has layers that will become more apparent with a second reading.

199. A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham. I was disappointed with this book-- not to say it was bad-- but there just wasn't anything particularly special or interesting about it. I'm surprised it was on the 1,001 list at all.

The story is mostly about a love triangle between a gay man named Jonathan, a bisexual man named Bobby and a woman named Clare. The story is well-paced, though a bit predictable. Overall, I found it "okay" but I'm sure it's one of those books I won't really remember anything about after a bit of time passes.

Congratulations on reaching 200! I fully agree with you on A Home at the End of the World. I can't even remember what it was about, though I remember being disappointed after The Hours, which I loved.

200. A Boy's Own Story by Edmund White. This novel is the autobiographical story of growing up gay in 1950's America. The unnamed narrator struggles with his homosexuality in an age where it was condemned and with a deep need to belong.

I really liked White's ability to use language... the book is filled with great descriptions without being overwrought. I didn't like the plotting as much -- it's a very fragmented book that jumps around a bit. Overall, I enjoyed the story though.

Congratulations on reaching 200!

Thanks so much! I hope the next 200 are as interesting as this batch!

201. Baltasar and Blimunda by Jose Saramago. I'm not a fan of magical realism at all, but I did enjoy this one... mainly on the strength of the characters.

202. Middlemarch by George Eliot. I've long wanted to read this novel-- it's certainly right up my alley as a Victorian classic that follows the trials and tribulations of marriages arranged for all the wrong reasons.

Like those marriages, this was definitely the wrong time for me to read this book. We've added a new baby to the house and I only had time to read a few pages at a time. The first 100 pages or so were torture... I couldn't keep track of who any of the characters were and it was very frustrating.

Once I finally had all of the people straight, the story became really enjoyable and I flew through the rest. This probably would have been a five star book for me at another time in my life, but the novel gets four stars at this time.

203. The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy. This book is a prime example of why I enjoy reading from the 1,001 list. I'd never heard of this book (and probably never would have) but thoroughly enjoyed it.

The book follows many generations of the Forsyte family -- it can best be described as an Victorian-era soap opera, following the family as members deal with issues like money, love and greed.

Only disappointed that I spend too much time studying the family tree at the beginning of the book, so much of the actual plot wasn't a surprise. However, I definitely plan to read the remainder of the series at some point.

Have you seen the BBC mini series????? I have to admit I cheated and watched it before I read the book.

I haven't seen it, but have added to my "to watch list!"

204. Under the Net by Iris Murdoch. This was my third Murdoch novel and definitely my least favorite of the three, though I still found it an enjoyable, easy read. Murdoch really stands out to me as an author who completely transforms her voice from novel to novel (well, at least so far.)

This book tells the story of Jake Donaghue, a translator and would-be author, who has all sorts of problems understanding what people are actually talking about. The philosophical stuff isn't too heady in this book -- it's more of a madcap romp through London and Paris and Jake runs about misunderstanding everything that's going on.

A fun book, to be sure, but definitely not amongst my favorites.

205. The Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox. Overall, I enjoyed the book, though I found it a bit tedious at times. Not sure why the patient Glanville didn't just say hang it all and go find himself a woman with some sense.

Arabella, the novel's heroine, has lived a reclusive life and has been fed a steady diet of romantic novels, from which she bases all of her views on love. When she comes of age, she views all her suitors (and every man is a suitor) through that lens with disastrous results.

I was more amused as the book went on and mostly enjoyed it. I was frequently reminded of Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey" which has a similar premise. I liked Austen's version better.

Jane Austen gets a little sappy on me at times and I can only that her is very small doses but I can handle Austen alittle more this reading about this little twit. I have said more then once oh Arabella go sit your tail down somewhere not everyone is that in love with you to take all of your BS.

206. The Forest of the Hanged by Liviu Rebreanu. Intrigued by the title of this book, I started looking for a copy-- it took me two years to find one and I was worried it wouldn't live up to all the effort. But, I was happy to find that I enjoyed the book.

The story follows Apostol Bologa, a Romanian who joins the Austro-Hungarian cause in World War I to impress a girl. He soon finds he's on the wrong side of the Romanian front with the horrifying prospect of fighting his own countrymen.

This is one of the least violent books about war I've ever read. It's more about the psychological toll and slow unraveling of a man. I found it well paced and interesting.

Just a note to anyone who picks up a copy with the purple noose on the cover: Don't read the book jacket, as it gives away the ending.

207. A Void by Georges Perec. (If you don't want to know the premise of this book, don't read any farther...)

Ever since learning that this book was written entirely without the letter "e"... and also translated without the letter "e", I knew I wanted to read it. It occasionally has awkward sentence construction as a result, but the story is surprisingly readable.

The plot follows the disappearance of A. Vowl as his friends try and put clues together to figure out what happened to him. The book cleverly winks at itself a lot. Overall, it was an interesting idea for a book and well done.

>138 amerynth: That does sound interesting. Does he just leave out E's in words or is the book written entirely with words that don't have E's in them?

Entirely with words that don't have E's in them... (aside from the author's own name.) He does have some numbers in there with E's in them, but they are written with numerals instead of spelled out.

208. The Bell by Iris Murdoch. Definitely not my favorite Murdoch, (my favorite is The Sea, The Sea at this point) but I found the book to be interesting and solidly entertaining. It is very well written.

The story follows a variety of characters who live in a lay community attached to an Abbey of reclusive nuns. As the book shifts to the perspective of different characters, it covers struggles with religion, marriage, homosexuality along the way.

209. Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys. I really like Rhys' work, depressing as it tends to be.

In this novel, a narrator named Sasha wallows in her depression while wandering around Paris and attempting to drink herself to death. It's stream-of-consciousness and not a whole lot happens, but I thoroughly entertained anyway.

Often, it made me think of Malcolm Lowry's Dark as the Grave wherein my Friend is Laid... mainly because he does the same thing, but in Mexico rather than Paris.

210. Some Prefer Nettles by Junichiro Tanizaki. This novel is about the slow and painful disintegration of a marriage in which neither party wants to be the one to take the steps necessary for a divorce.

Unfortunately, I found the novel fairly slow and painful to read. I could see what the author was trying to do-- contrast east versus west and the idea of a virtuous versus debased woman, but it just wasn't that interesting.

It probably doesn't help that I'm halfway through Yukio Mishima's The Sea of Fertility, which I'm loving. I don't read Japanese writers terribly often so it was hard not to compare the two. Tanizaki's book mostly left me cold.... though it got better in the last few chapters when things finally started moving in a direction.

211. War with the Newts by Karel Capek. Really enjoyed this one, especially in view of the social and political climate it was written in during 1935. Capek was particularly concerned with the rise of National Socialism in Germany, but takes stabs at England, France and America as well.

This black comedy tells the story of the discovery of an underwater newt that is exploited to further the pocketbooks of a few businessmen. Decisions made in pursuit of economic gain eventually lead to a rebellion by the enslaved newts.

Entertaining and a great social commentary that still seems pretty relevant today.

212. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. I thought this book was terrific... it was really a page turner... I had a hard time putting it down.

Billed as one of the first mysteries, the book is filled with plot twists and turns galore. Collins does a great job at keeping the story moving along while dripping out the answers slowly. Entertaining reading, for sure!

213. The Nose by Nikolai Gogol. Took advantage of a slow day at work to read this short story. It's an amusing little piece of magical realism... not my cup of tea, but it's short enough I can't object all that much.

214. Metamorphoses by Ovid. I enjoyed this one, even though the stories were mostly familiar, since I am a fan of mythology in general. It probably would have been a five-star book for me if Ovid didn't keep cutting the "good stuff" out of tales to just get to the transformation elements.

Reading all these myths together left me wondering why so many Greek and Roman stories have transformations into birds and trees though.

215. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster. This was Forster's first novel and it shows... it has some of the same themes of his later, more popular novels but it isn't quite so effective.

The story starts with the unfortunate Lilia, a young widow who travels to Italy for a year away from her troubles and cares. She outrages her former inlaws when she falls in love with a young Italian bloke with no connections to speak of.

The story, in the end, didn't quite gel for me, but I enjoyed Forster's writing nonetheless.

I always thought Forster was a woman!

@Simone2: LOL... you made me look it up to see if I was just assuming incorrectly! :)

216. The Sea of Fertility by Yukio Mishima. Overall, I thought this tetralogy started brilliantly but fizzled in the end.

The overriding theme of the series is reincarnation and the decay of traditional Japanese culture. The first book Spring Snow was really terrific... the third book The Temple of Dawn was definitely my least favorite. I didn't feel like the series really came together well as a whole.

I am glad to have this series out of the way.

I have been enjoying your reviews of The Sea of Fertility and am looking forward to reading them myself after I have finished A Dance to the Music of Time (which will take a while because I am in the 5th part of 12).

Thanks so much! I just wish the series ended as strongly as it started!

I thought about starting A Dance to the Music of Time in January... but decided to hold off until I finish another long term reading project (non-list... Shakespeare.) I think I'll finish that mid-year in 2014 and then start on Dance (which I'm eager to do after reading so many of everyone's comments on it.)

217. Nemesis by Philip Roth. This was my first time reading anything by Roth and I did enjoy the book. That said, I don't really understand why it was included on the 1,001 list as it didn't strike me as anything super special.

The story centers on Bucky Cantor, a playground director who watched over children while a polio epidemic raged through Newark, N.J. I could see where the story was heading pretty early on, but liked how Roth peeled back the layers on Cantor's character slowly.

218. The Roots of Heaven by Romain Gary. Really glad this was picked for the group read, as it wasn't on my radar at all. I really enjoyed the book, but found it was a challenging and slow read for me.

The story centers on Morel, a man whose self-proclaimed goal is protection of the elephants. Set in French Equatorial Africa in the waning days of colonialism, Morel's message is interpreted differently by the wide number of characters surrounding him.

This book was pretty thought-provoking.

219. The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy. This was a fascinating novella.

The story follows two passengers on a train, with one describing how and why he killed his wife in a jealous rage. Throughout Tolstoy promotes the idea of sexual abstinence. Lots of interesting ideas in this really short work.

220. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marine Lewycka. While I didn't particularly like any of the characters in the book, the story was interesting enough that I did find this to be a fun read.

The story is narrated by Nadia, a Ukrainian immigrant who watches in horror as her father marries a much younger woman who needs a green card.

I can see why this book was taken off the 1,001 list... it is a good read, but the story doesn't really stand-out as a must-read. That said, I would read future books by Lewycka as this is her debut novel and I imagine future books will only get better and better.

221. King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard. This was a solid three-star book for me... I enjoyed reading it, but wouldn't pick it up again (or others in the series.)

The story follows a group of adventurers in Africa as they search for the lost brother of a member of their party and a lost diamond mine. It's a typical Victorian adventure story that was enjoyable, but the colonialist attitudes were sometimes a little hard for me to take.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as Haggard's "She", which I felt had a similar feel but was more interesting.

222. Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Aside from a brief moment in my pre-teen years when I collected a few Batman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle comics, I've never really been interested in comics. That said, I found this graphic novel a compelling read.

Set in a dystopian world, Watchmen is all about superheroes, as you'd expect, and what makes them tick. I found the aspect of it that examined the characters and their histories really interesting. I thought the ending fizzled a bit though.

read Maus?

I haven't read Maus... or even heard of it before. Looks intriguing though!

223. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway. Yeah, still not a fan of Hemingways' work.

The book really felt like a lost opportunity to me.... there is probably an interesting novella in there someplace. Set during the Spanish Civil War, Hemingway likes to hit you over the head with the notion death is around every corner. So repetitive and painstakingly slow moving, I just didn't enjoy this novel at all.

224. The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams. Adams' brand of humor is right up my alley, so I enjoyed this one (though not quite as much as its predecessor Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency or the fabulous Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

I won't say too much about the plot except it starts with an airline passenger trying to get a ticket from London to Norway and ends with crazy connections between random things.

I found the story to be both amusing and entertaining (though probably not worthy of a 1,001 entry given that Adams other books are a bit stronger.) Still glad I read it though.

225. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. Finally finished this book, which I thought was just okay. It really should have appealed to me: British literature with a troubled orphan and snarky narrator? Check... it just felt way too long and the fairly simple story just dragged.

Disappointed because I thought this novel was right up my alley.

I haven't yet my copy of this yet, but I picked it up on a table at a flea market in a windy Northumberland coastal town one day. It was an 1870s illustrated edition with a very battered cover but beautifully printed inside and bound with a volume of Hogarth's cartoons/illustrations. It cost me the grand sum of £1.

Wow... sounds like a great edition. Mine didn't have the illustrations, but I've read elsewhere that they are great.

226. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. So very disappointed with this one. I've loved everything else I've read by Vonnegut but the story in this one really didn't come together for me. Can definitely see why this was removed from the list... it doesn't stand up to his better, more well-known work.

227. Waiting for the Dark, Waiting for the Light by Ivan Klima.

A mixed rating from me for this very interesting book, which is set in Prague at the fall of the Communist regime. The narrator, Pavel, is detached and struggling -- before the Velvet Revolution there are no choices and after there are just too many.

Pavel's rich fantasy life bleeds into the story heavily and it was difficult to decide what was supposed to be true and what wasn't. Overall, I found this to be a more difficult read than I expected but it had some thought-provoking ideas in it.

228. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. I enjoyed this mashmash of a romance and war story.

Set mostly in World War I, the story centers on Stephen Wraysford, who falls in love in France and later heads off to fight in a unending war. The story is rather sprawling -- it covers three generations, though loosely -- and ambitious. Too ambitious in parts, I thought, Faulks has a difficult time with pacing.

That said, I found the characters interesting and the overall story compelling.

229. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. It is extremely hard to say you like a book about such a grim and disturbing subject matter as pedophilia.

However, I did admire Nabokov's abilities with language and story -- even before learning that he wrote this in English instead of his native Russian.

Crazy isn't it? The subject is deplorable but the writing is just so wonderful.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo.

This was a re-read for me, but I decided to participate in the group read anyway. Really, I wanted to see if I would enjoy the book as much after reading Hugo's masterpiece "Les Miserables." I found I really did like the book but at times felt I was reading a lighter version of "Les Miserables."

At any rate, the book has Hugo's trademark digressions into French history, which are woven into a terrific story populated by memorable and interesting characters. Glad I decided to pick this one up again.

230. In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan. I though this short and simple story was outstanding-- mainly because the prose itself was beautiful and thought-provoking. Brautigan does a great job capturing communal life and the vibe of the beatnik generation.

I think this is a book I'll definitely re-read a few times.

>173 amerynth: I remember being utterly confused by that book, but enjoying it nonetheless!

231. The Holy Terrors (aka Les Enfants Terrribles) by Jean Cocteau. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.... the writing is just superb and really elevates a somewhat simple story into something magical.

The story centers on Elizabeth and Paul, siblings who have a wholly inappropriate relationship and are the center of each other's worlds. They basically live to annoy each other with disastrous results. It was a fairly quick read but totally engrossing.

232. There but For the by Ali Smith. I really didn't like this book at all and struggled to finish it.

A man locks himself in a guest bedroom in the midst of the worst dinner party ever. The story started out mildly amusing and slowly dragged through a succession of ever-worsening narrators. I found the stream of consciousness style of the final narrator borderline unreadable. Lots of puns and wordplay, which mostly made me roll my eyes.

This book is a good example of why I stay away from most contemporary fiction.

233. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. This was a fun and quick read.

Most people know Asimov's three laws of robotics, which have been adopted by a lot of science fiction. This book is a series of short stories that focus on those three laws and the logical dilemmas that result as robot technology advances. Really readable and interesting.

234. A Room With View by E.M. Forster. I thought this might be a re-read for me.... I have a very vivid memory of reading this while camping out west someplace. But I never marked it off my list, so I thought I'd better pick it up again... a good thing since now I'm doubting I read it before.

The book is straight up my alley.... I do love Victorian literature... and I knew I would like it since the Helena Bonham Carter movie was on endless HBO repeat when I was young. The story follows Lucy Honeychurch, who lives in an age when "supposed to" outweighs "want to." She gradually wakes up.

Loved that the book was full of marvelous little insights. It's a pretty quiet story... there isn't a ton of action.... but I found it to be pretty compelling.

235. Gosta Berling's Saga by Selma Lagerlof. Glad this was picked as a group read, as it wasn't on my radar at all. I liked this book, but didn't love it.

I enjoyed the folk tale feel of this group of connected stories that mostly center around Gosta Beling, a defrocked priest with a love for brandy. It was a slow read though, as the characters felt a little cardboard, making it hard to connect with anyone.

236. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. By all accounts, I should have loved this novel -- I adore Victorian-era fiction, including many of the novels by Gaskell's contemporaries, but I really found this one to be dull.

The heroine Margaret Hale moves from high society in London to the industrial town of Milton where tragedy after tragedy envelops her. The book focuses a lot on the industrial revolution and the needs of workers versus mill owners.

Margaret's reactions to events really bothered me -- nothing really rang true to me -- including the "love story" which really never went anywhere. Surprised at how disappointed I was with this book.

237. The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. Tried like hell to get through this one. Gave up after the I realized the second half was essentially a retelling of the first half.

I can appreciate that this was beloved by Puritans. For me, it was just tremendously tedious.

Oh dear... really looking forward to that one now! Sounds like you gave it more a chance so better to move on to something better.

238. The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth. This is definitely a book I appreciated for the writing much more than the story.

The novel follows three generations of the Trotta family in the waning days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the difficulty the later generations have living up to the heroic actions of the first.

The narration felt really detached, even when the characters were supposed to be wrestling with something. It really didn't keep my interest.

239. Memoirs of My Nervous Illness by Daniel Paul Schreber. A somewhat unusual entry for the 1,001 list since this really isn't a novel. I found it to be a difficult but fascinating read.

Schreber, a famed jurist, had a mental breakdown with all the hallmarks of schizophrenia. In "Memoirs," he describes his hallucinations and delusions, convinced still that God was talking to him and that "nerves" or other people's souls were invading his body and turning him into a woman. He is clearly very intelligent and used "Memoirs" to successfully argue that he should no longer be committed to the asylum.

I found this to be really interesting overall.

>184 amerynth: Nice review! I own this but keep passing it by in favor of slimmer volumes.

>184 amerynth: I am really glad you liked this book! It was among my worst reads in 2013, but now at least I know it was just me and not the book. :)
I thought it was well written, but my own nerves were in pain all the time while I was reading it so that I was close to abandoning it. Strange but very intense experience, like I was losing my own mind. Thinking about it now this speaks for the book, not against it.

@Eliz_M & @Deern: Well, I wouldn't say the book has a lot of literary value.... & it definitely wasn't an easy read. But I thought it was pretty interesting that a judge -- who was clearly very intelligent and logical -- could be so convinced that his delusions were real. It is pretty amazing he managed to argue his way out of his commitment to the asylum while being steadfast that everything he experienced was absolutely real.

240. Rashomon by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. I read both Rashomon and Into the Grove, since that story also seems to be known under that popular name. I saw the movie based on this short story many moons ago and enjoyed it.

The short stories were fun.... though a little too short to be terribly illuminating. That said, I found them to be enjoyable reads.

241. A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz. This book straddles the line someplace between novel and memoir.... as Oz weaves the story of his family with the history of Israel.

Central to the book is Oz's mother's suicide, which he picks at like a loose thread on a sweater. The book's strength is in his examination of his relationship with his parents. I found other parts a bit tedious and repetitive.

Overall, I found this a difficult book to rate. It was mostly interesting, but not always enjoyable as a read.

242. The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie. This was my first time reading anything by Rushdie and I enjoyed it enough that I look forward to reading more.

The book tells the story of several generations of the da Gama and Zogoiby families as they work hard at destroying each other and themselves. It was a bit too sprawling for me, but the story was mostly entertaining.

I particularly enjoyed Rushdie's use of language -- he is a pretty clever writer. Wordplay frequently annoys me in books, but I found it amused me this time around.

-- he is a pretty clever writer.

Yes, he's very clever indeed. I haven't read him for a few years--maybe it's time to look at his stuff again.

243. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. What a terrific book... I read it in a single day (unusual for me) because I couldn't put it down.

The novel tells the story of John Grady Cole and his friend Lacey Rawlins as they ride their horses into Mexico in order to leave their life in America behind. It's a coming of age story told cowboy style... and it went places I really didn't expect it to go.

The writing is really sparse and very fitting for the characters. The lack of quotation marks grated on me at first, but I guess I got used to it partway through. Definitely will be picking up the next installments of this trilogy, even though they aren't on the list.

244. The House with the Blind Glass Windows by Hebjorg Wassmo. I thought this was a good book, though it was difficult to read because it was profoundly sad.

It tells the story of Tora, a young girl growing up in a very poor fishing village in Norway, who experiences abuse of every kind imaginable at the hands of her stepfather. Tora's mother, Ingrid, has emotionally checked out so Tora mostly suffers in silence -- longing for escape.

The book as a ring of honesty to it that I liked. I liked Tora and the writing enough that I'll probably read the rest of the trilogy at some point (if they are available in English.)

245. Surfacing by Margaret Atwood. A sort of middling book for me... there were really good bits in this book, as well as some long, tedious stretches.

The story centers on a woman who loses grip on reality after heading to her backwoods hometown in Canada when she learns her father is missing. It didn't feel like there was enough of a progression to get to the ending, which was bizarre.

246. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson. Aptly named, I enjoyed this book, which felt like a good beach read.

It tells the story of a young girl named Sophia who spends the summer on a remote island in Finland with her grandmother. Sophia's mother has just died and her growing relationship with her grandmother is shown through a series of vignettes.

This was a quick and light read -- not entirely sure why it's on the list. While enjoyable, it wasn't a standout novel.

247. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Overall, I found this book to be okay-- the story wasn't particularly strong or moving for me.

I couldn't help compare this novel to The River Between, which I thought had a similar message and was a stronger book, and God's Bits of Wood-- two books I really enjoyed.

While it was interesting to read about the changing landscape and the loss of cultural traditions that occurred for the Ibo when missionaries arrived, it was really hard for me to connect with or care about any of the characters. I guess I expected more from this one.

I think this might be a book that either 'touches you' or doesn't. And if it does it moves you so deeply you feel like your life has been altered. I haven't read the book but I've read some of the reviews and that seems to be the way they go. People either think it's 'nice, bit bland maybe?' or it totally rocks their world. So that being the case I can see why it's there.

I can only really compare it to The Little Prince that my flatmate gave me to read many many years ago. She basically thrust it into my hands and insisted I read it. I was very 'meh' and she couldn't really believe it. It wasn't until recently that I realised that this little book which raised no interest in me seemed to have an intense religious/spiritual impact in so many other people. I don't understand it but it's enough to me that it is so.

the thing that is important to know about Things Fall Apart is that it was pretty much the first ever African novel in English. Because of this, it has an astonishing legacy, not least because of the subject matter. When you consider the time in which Achebe wrote this (i.e. under colonial rule), it was an incredibly bold novel.

It's not that it may have rocked your world, but, as Achebe's voice became the first to rise over the colonial din, it rocked the world of millions of others.

Yeah, I definitely get its historical significance and I understand why it is highly regarded. But I didn't really enjoy reading it. I couldn't stop comparing it to The River Between, which has similar themes and was much more powerful and thought-provoking.

I struggled to determine a rating for Things Fall Apart, because it seems more like a book I *should* have enjoyed but didn't.

248. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot. I expected to love this book -- Victorian novels are really my favorite genre and I adored Middlemarch, but I struggled and struggled with this one.

The story follows Maggie Tulliver in her search for love and acceptance. She finds love, but not acceptance. The surprise ending didn't feel like it fit in with the overall tone of the book.

Overall, this book was just a dud for me.

249. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck.

The last time I read Steinbeck I was in high school and I couldn't stand the book. However, I've evolved as a reader a bit in the 20-something years since then. Steinbeck's style is right up my alley now.

I really enjoyed Cannery Row, which is essentially a long setup for a party in a poverty stricken section of Monterey. The book was populated by a great number of interesting characters, making this a fun and quick read.

I had to read Grapes of Wrath in uni and HATED it. I read the beginning and the end and fudged the middle. Now, many years later, I picked it up again so that I could honestly say that I have completed it and check it off the list. And loved it. I mean LOVED it. I have no idea what I thought I was reading back then but this wasn't it. It's amazing how your perception and understanding of things changes over the years.

250. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe. More Hunter Thompson than Irvine Welch, I didn't enjoy this book all that much. I get why it would appeal to others though.

The book is an odd entry for the 1,001 list... it's a nonfiction work that's considered essential reading on the hippie movement. Wolfe's book follows Ken Kesey and his Merry Prankers as they experiment with LSD.

Wolfe is a journalist and he stands too far apart from the culture he's describing... he just never seems very immersed in it. The writing is supposed to feel trippy, which I found grating rather than effective. The book felt a little too surface for me rather than enlightening.

251. Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Hu'ong. I liked, but didn't love this book.

The novel centers on Hang, a Vietnamese woman who is "exported labor" in Russia. She travels by train to visit a hated uncle and tells the story of her family's struggle in the Communist regime.

I really liked the insights into Vietnamese culture and history. The book lacked an emotional core that would have made it more powerful, though.

Overall, it's a book I'm glad to have read.

252. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. The first "hard-boiled detective" story, I really enjoyed reading this one. I've seen the movie, so I knew the plot, but the tone and pacing made this a fun read.

In the novel, Sam Spade is in his office when Miss Wonderly walks in with a problem that needs solving. A series of murders result and a whole lot of people start searching for the mysterious falcon.

I'm not a huge fan of mysteries and crime books, but this was one I'm glad to have read.

253. A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore. I really wanted to like this book, but it really grated on me more and more as it went on.

The novel centers on our narrator Tassie, who becomes a babysitter for a child who was adopted through unethical means. Tassie is a bit self-centered and not particularly bright as she seems unable to recognize what's going on around her. The book covers a wide range of topics from adopting outside your race, living as a Muslim in America and the War in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, none of this is done particularly effectively.

What I liked about the book was Moore's writing style itself. She is funny and makes some interesting observations. There were a lot of problems with the book, including the "Wednesday night conversations" about race -- mainly just quote after quote, which grew tiresome and added nothing of depth to the story.

The book really had some terrific ideas, but its potential just went unrealized.

> 253 I think I know what you mean and do agree with you on the potential not being realized. However I read this book during my holidays and that is probably why I am more enthusiastic about it then you. Besides, I really liked Tassie a lot and did recognize a lot of her thoughts.

254. Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain. This was a terrific memoir about a young woman's experiences in World War I and beyond. It was definitely worthwhile reading.

Brittain temporarily gives up her studies at Oxford to become a nurse treating wounded soldiers, as her brother, finance and many in their social circle march off to war. With so many promising young men killed in the war, Brittain's contemporaries were a bit of a lost generation.

I particularly enjoyed her stories of the war years and the post-war years, where Brittain has trouble relating to younger peers who didn't have the same devastating experiences that she did in the war. I liked the latter portions of the book, dealing with her work in the feminist movement less, mainly due to the focus on politics that didn't interest me as much.

That said, this was a really great book that I'm glad to have read.

255. Orlando by Virgina Woolf. While there are some excellent passages of prose scattered throughout this book, I mostly found the story really dull.

The plot can be summed up pretty simply.... the main character transforms from being a man to a woman and then lives for 300 years. I really didn't get the point of it all.

This was my fourth book by Woolf... she clearly isn't a good match for my reading taste. I feel like I'm not smart enough to understand what she's getting at.

256. A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell. Wow, this 12-book series is pretty sprawling but a fascinating look at a generation's experiences.

The narrator, Nick Jenkins, tells the story of Widmerpool from high school to his sad end.

I liked some of the books better than others-- the war years in particular dragged on for me. My favorite book was definitely "Books Do Furnish A Room" but I really enjoyed the series overall.

Did you read it month by month amerynth? It looks like you did if you finished it in December.

I'm going to be starting this in January.

@M1nks: Yes, I read it month to month, which was a fun way to tackle it. I enjoyed the series so much that I always looked forward to the next installment.

257. Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun. I thoroughly enjoyed this quiet little book.

The novel, which won the 1920 Nobel Prize for Literature, follows an "every man" named Isak as he carves a farm out of an empty landscape. Progress marches on with the years and he is joined by a wife and neighbors who establish a small town.

The novel is paced well and made for an interesting read.

258. Sula by Toni Morrison. There is a lot of story packed into this short novel, which is propelled along by Morrison's terrific use of language. I definitely enjoyed this book, but wasn't surprised since I've liked everything I've read by Morrison before.

The story centers on the friendship between two African-American girls, Sula and Nel. Morrison also weaves in stories of other people who live in the downtrodden Ohio community of Bottom from the early 1900's to 1960s.

259. Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. I didn't particularly enjoy this one. Lots of adventuring through dark spaces then the ultimate "payoff" isn't that interesting.

This reminded me a lot of H.P. Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" in that there is a lot of description of landscapes and the ultimate conclusion doesn't make the read particularly worthwhile. Perhaps this novel just hasn't aged well.

I just read that one also. And I was thinking of Lovecraft, too!

I have only read one Jules Verne but I've rather gotten the impression that it was a shame he didn't get someone else to write his stories. He had marvellous basic ideas but when it came to writing them down they turn out kinda dull.

>215 amerynth:, >216 ursula:, You're not the first one I heard say that his books did not age well or were dull. Could it be the translation? From Wikipedia:

"Verne is generally considered a major literary author in France and most of Europe, where he has had a wide influence on the literary avant-garde and on surrealism. His reputation is markedly different in Anglophone regions, where he has often been labeled a writer of genre fiction or children's books, not least because of the highly abridged and altered translations in which his novels are often reprinted."

I don't think the copy I read was abridged, but if it was so much the better! :) Actually, there may have been translation issues as it was an older edition. Really, the story just seemed very dull.

260. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. I don't read a lot of contemporary fiction but books like this always make me think I shouldn't be so stuck on Victorian literature.

Egan does a masterful job putting together a series of vignettes about a group of loosely connected people. The novel is designed to show how people change over time and how people flit in and out of our lives along the way.

There were a couple of chapters that felt a bit gimmicky -- one written in diagrams and another chapter in second-person narrative that kind of grated. But overall, I found the book to be a fun and quick read.

261. Moby Dick by Herman Melville. I thoroughly enjoyed the first quarter of this book... it was a really fun read. I liked the actual story and plot a lot.

I didn't like Melville's efforts to include every single fact about whales he'd ever learned from anatomy to Jonah and the Whale. It just bogged the book down and didn't add all that much to the story.

So, this gets a kind of middling rating from me.

262. Dictionary of the Khazars: A Lexicon Novel in 100,000 Words by Milorad Pavic. This is definitely a novel that I appreciated more than I enjoyed.

Told in three books, the novel tells the story of the Khazars conversion to either Christianity, Islam or Judaism -- with each religion giving its take on the story. I read this "choose your own adventure" style, following the cross-references and conflicting stories through to the end.

Overall, reading this felt a lot like work without a payoff in the end. The subject just wasn't all that compelling to me.

263. How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman. This novel won the Booker Prize but I fail to see why. I found it so disappointing.

Told in stream of conscience style, the story centers on Sammy, who wakes up after a two-day drinking binge, picks a fight with police (for no real reason that I could discern) and wakes up in jail blind. He seems to adjust to this blindness pretty well.

The book had way too many loose ends for me and the book's language really didn't put Scottish voices in my head (as opposed to Trainspotting which did that so effectively.) I just didn't like the story or the language in this one.

264. Reveries of the Solitary Walker by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. I actually enjoyed this book of 10 essays much more than I expected to and found Rousseau's statements to be unintentionally funny (especially his continual denial that he cared what other people thought of him.)

I thought these essays, written as meditations as he walked around France, were really relevant in today's Internet age, where every thought can be dissected and criticized. His personal anecdotes were also interesting enough that I'll probably add his more formidable Confessions to my reading list.

265. Drop City by T.C. Boyle. I actually did enjoy this novel, though I wonder what makes it unique enough to garner inclusion on the list of 1,001 Books to Read Before You Die.

The novel mainly follows a group of hippies who lose their place in the California sunshine and decide to head to the Alaskan frontier. As you's expect, it doesn't work out all that well.

Though the characters weren't particularly likeable, they are well drawn and interesting. I guess the book just felt like a lighter read than I was expecting.

266. Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson. Kind of a middling rating from me because I detest magical realism, but just love the way Winterson writes. She manages to use words so sparingly but paint such rich, vivid pictures.

There were bits of this short novel I really liked, including the stories of the 12 dancing princesses and the non-linear timeline. There are other bits that just didn't really come together for me.

I'll admit I had high expectations for this novel, as I liked Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit so, so much. This novel just wasn't up my alley in the end.

267. The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi. I found Levi's series of essays, which center on his experience as an Auschwitz survivor, to be very powerful and thought provoking. I only wish I had read Levi's "Survival in Auschwitz" first, since he refers to the book, which contains more information on Levi's experiences in Auschwitz, quite often.

The essays are pretty analytical in nature as Levi explores everything from why some survived and others didn't to how the German society at the time could have allowed the extermination of the Jewish people to happen.

268. Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor. Some of these stories were re-reads for me... O'Connor's name is unusual enough that I remember reading some of her work in high school a long, long time ago.

O'Connor's stories focus on the deep south and on questions of race. Her characters are generally unlikable people who reach a turning point and then get what's coming to them. Sometimes, this is incredibly effective, but other times it seemed a bit silly.

Not entirely sure these stories have aged well.

>228 amerynth: Interesting, I would have said her stories focus on religion as much or more than race. And I absolutely adored "Parker's Back".

Interesting! I hadn't thought of the stories in terms of religion at all... except for "Parker's Back," of course, as that one's fairly obvious. I liked the title story and "Greenleaf" the best.

269. The Castle of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino. I think Calvino has such interesting ideas for his books, and this was no exception. He basically used decks of tarot cards to put together a series of stories.

The book has two sections, which have the same premise. Travelers find themselves in a location with strangers and all have lost their voices. They then use tarot decks to tell their individual stories.

Not all of the stories were successful, but many were. I thought the second half of the book was much stronger and more interesting than the first. I can really appreciate the work that went into the book and I liked Calvino's notes at the end about his writing process.

270. Embers by Sandor Marai. I enjoyed this novel, which is about friendship and betrayal.

The story follows two friends who have not seen each other for 41 years. They get together and our faithful narrator spends the rest of the novel describing what led to their parting. I was amused that the man responsible says barely a word, despite being the person who should be giving the explanations.

The story itself was a bit predictable, but Marai's voice was interesting and unique so I enjoyed it even though I knew where it was going.

271. The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by Jose Saramago. I would like reading Saramago's books so much more if they weren't so difficult to read. A few more paragraphs.... some quotation marks.... these things would make getting at the brilliance of what Saramago has to say much easier.

I didn't particularly enjoy reading this one.... I felt like Baltasar and Blimunda had much more of a payoff for the hard work of reading it.

I am grateful this was a group read, since I knew nothing about Fernando Pessoa, until a fellow reader pointed out background material. Without that background, this book probably would have been confusing.

My favorites would probably be the Bronte sisters.... give me a book with an orphan trying to make it through challenging circumstances and I'm a happy reader.

272. The Glass Bees by Ernst Junger. I enjoyed this novel, which features a dystopian future where the rich can afford to luxury robots to help make their lives easier.

Our narrator is offered a job at Zapparoni Works, which is run by a wealthy man responsible for leading the way to new technological marvels. The job offered is somewhat unsavory and our narrator wrestles with morality in a technological age, using his background to frame his beliefs.

This was a very quick and fun read.

>236 amerynth: That's good to know, I was hoping to get to The Glass Bees this year.

273. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner. This is definitely a book that I could appreciate the merits of, without particularly enjoying it.

The story is set in the deep South, where a man named Thomas Sutpen sets out to establish his legacy. His story is told from varying perspectives, layer by layer.

Faulker's style of half-finished thoughts, endless sentences and digressions made this a struggle for me to read. I thought the story itself was compelling and it was unveiled in an interesting manner.

It's been a long time since I've read anything by Faulkner... I didn't remember that he was this challenging to read.

I've just recently finished The Sound and the Fury which is my first book of his. I can't say that I found it an easy read.

I have tried Faulkner several times and didn't get far. Can't say that I am looking forward to the ones on the list.

>239 amerynth: Without having read Faulkner extensively, I believe that Absalom, Absalom! and The Sound and the Fury are considered his most challenging works, partly for the reasons you mention above.

It seemed to me as though TSatF was deliberately constructed to challenge traditional narration, an attempt to truly represent individual interior thought, dropping the reader into the middle of a story with no "back story" provided and the "plot" is not made clear until the final chapters. Absalom, Absalom! seemed simpler, but it felt as if there are many layers of hidden "back story" that the reader must guess at and layers of symbolism/references that might be easier to understand if one has lived in the south (which I have not).

These two books are among the few that I would recommend reading with some kind of companion -- a good Norton critical edition or cliff notes or something. And don't worry about spoilers, as knowing the plot can only help make sense of the writing!

I used Shmoop and found it very useful, but I only access those sorts of things after I've read it myself. I don't have to completely finished the book as Shmoop has a chapter by chapter summery which is very handy.

The Sound and the Fury was a good read but having some interpretive assistance was nice.

274. Independent People by Halldor Laxness. Thoroughly enjoyed this novel about homesteaders in Iceland... so glad it was picked for a group read as it wasn't on my radar at all.

The novel follows Bjartur, as he attempts to eke out a living while remaining independent and debt free. Being independent comes at great cost and ultimately proves to be unsustainable as the times change during Bjartur's life.

While the political discussions sometimes got a bit heavy-handed and some of Bjartur's choices didn't feel like they completely fit within his character, these are minor quibbles. I liked the book overall and found it to be an interesting read.

275. To the Lighthouse by Virgina Woolf. I'm definitely not a Woolf enthusiast, but the 1,001 list keeps forcing me back for more. Of the five I've read, I found To the Lighthouse to be among the more enjoyable -- second to The Years. I definitely appreciate a more traditional narrative structure, it seems.

Told in a stream-of-consciousness style, To The Lighthouse focuses on the Ramsay family as they vacation in Scotland. Starting with a disagreement about the weather, the book really delves into family dynamics and the need for some sort of legacy.

Overall, I found the insights interesting and I enjoyed reading the book.

276. Silence by Shusaku Endo. I'm surprised how much I enjoyed this book, given that I have issues with missionary work, (at least the proselytizing kind.) Nevertheless, I found this novel to be a really interesting look at a time in Japanese history I'd never heard of before. The book is set in a time when Christianity was banned in Japan.

The novel focuses on a priest named Sebastian Rodrigues, who travels from Portugal to Japan to find out what happened to a fellow priest who may have been forced to refute his religion by trampling on the face of Jesus. God's silence in the face of the suffering of people who are sticking to their Christian religious beliefs causes Rodrigues to ask questions he had never really considered before.

I found this book to be an easy read, but thought provoking.

...hmmm... and what thoughts did it provoke?

277. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Boy, did it take me forever to get through this one. I've read volumes of Proust faster. The writing is pretty dense and the serial nature of the story led to a bit of repeating that dragged for me.

That said, I found the story of the three Karamazov brothers, Dmitry, Ivan and Aloysha, who were all rejected by their father and traveled very different paths in life. The father is murdered and Dmitry stands accused.

I liked this novel but not as much as others I've read by Dostoevsky, which I read in college so I had professors pointing out the threads that related to what was happening in Russian society at the time. This book felt more like a good story.

278. Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz. What a wonderful novel! I really enjoyed this one.

The novel focuses on the trials and tribulations of residents in an Egyptian neighborhood during the 1940's. The book really evokes a nice sense of being in Cairo and the struggles of those living in the alley.

This was an easy and entertaining read.

279. Troubles by J.G. Farrell. I found this one to be a really fun read.

Major Brendan Archer returns from World War I and heads to Ireland to determine whether he is actually engaged to Angela Spencer, with whom he corresponded and had an "understanding." He heads to the Spencer family's crumbling hotel in Ireland, just as the Troubles are starting to stir.

Lots of great characters populate this novel... including the beleaguered Archer who just can't seem to look away as things start falling apart.

280. The Princess of Cleves by Madame de Lafayette. (Bonus that my edition was translated by Nancy Mitford... I find the Mitford sisters so bizarrely interesting.) I enjoyed this one a lot.

The book focuses on love, jealousy and the efforts of the title character to remain faithful to her husband even though she is in love with someone else. It is considered one of the first "psychological" novels as it gets inside the head of Madame de Cleves.

It's no surprise this classic of French literature appealed to me. Its setting appeals to me, as did the subject. I enjoyed reading Madame de Cleves' confession and watching its ramifications unfold. I liked this one a lot.

281. them by Joyce Carol Oates. I found this novel to be very engrossing... I think this is a book I'd get even more out of after a second read.

"them" is the story of the Wendall family, Loretta and two of her children, Jules and Maureen. Set from the 1930's to the 1960's, mainly in the slums of Detroit, I found it really interesting to see how each character struggled through their own circumstances throughout the years.

Really, this was a great book.

282. Dining on Stones by Iain Sinclair. What a horrible book (at least the first half.... I gave up before finishing the rest.)

I don't particularly like contemporary fiction and this book is a showcase for everything I hate about it. Short choppy sentences... attempts to be clever... an incomprehensible plot. No joke, about 100 pages in, I happened to read the blurb on the back cover and thought "Wait, that's what this book is supposed to be about? I don't recall any of that happening."

I'm not sure why this was ever on the list, unless it was nominated by a friend of the author.

Validation! I finished but just barely. I can't wait to read the others.

Ugh... I didn't realize there were more! I think I'll be saving those for last... right before anything by the Marquis de Sade.

I admire you for being able to stick it out bucketyell!

about 100 pages in, I happened to read the blurb on the back cover and thought "Wait, that's what this book is supposed to be about? I don't recall any of that happening."


Wow...

In Sinclair's defense, those back of the book cover things were probably happening... I was just too annoyed with the writing to notice, I'm sure.

283. The Collector by John Fowles. Really enjoyed this one... as it was a group read, I didn't know much about the novel when I picked it up, so I was pleasantly surprised by it.

Our narrator Fred Clegg likes to collect beautiful things like butterflies. He becomes obsessed with a girl, Miranda Grey, and decides to collect her too and store her in his basement as his guest. He does a good job moralizing everything he's doing as the story grows more twisted.

The story was well-paced and I found the novel pretty hard to put down. I liked Fowles' The French Lieutenant's Woman a bit better, but thought this one was pretty stunning for a debut novel. I definitely am looking forward to reading more of his work.

Try, The Magus... it's like The Collector in that it involves captivity but it's nearly three times as long and a much more complex novel in terms of its development of characters. I loved it. My review is at http://johnandsheena.co.uk/books/?p=271

Thanks arukiyomi.... I'll definitely bump that up my tbr list!

284. The Life of Insects by Victor Pelevin. I'll start off by saying I detest Kafka, so there wasn't a ton of hope that this novel, which takes the idea of The Metamorphosis and runs with it, would be getting a very high mark from me.

In Pelevin's work, people are bugs. It's got a lot of commentary on modern day Russia, some of which probably went over my head. Sometimes there were clever bits that made me smile.

This was definitely one of those books that I could appreciate without having particularly enjoyed.

>261 amerynth: Your reaction to the Life of Insects is pretty much in line with what I thought too.

285. Life is a Caravanserai by Ermine Sevgi Ozdamar. I wanted to like this book more than I did. It ends up with a middling rating from me.

The novel is the story of a woman growing up in Turkey during the 1960's. Some of her stories are really interesting, others not so much.

She races from story to story at a pretty frenetic pace--- it reminded me of talking to someone I know who has a hardcore drug problem. I had trouble with the language at the start of the book, which I thought was a translation issue, but either I adjusted midway into the book or it got better.

I've been trying to get a copy of this book and none of my many libraries have it. I can't even buy it second hand from ebay or amazon (I'm too cheap to buy a book full price unless I'm sure it's going to be worth the cost).

I gave it 5 stars so it was worth the cost to me, but clearly it's not everybody's cup of tea.

>264 M1nks:

Alibris has a copy from Better World Books for a reasonable price. I've bought from them before and I've always been happy. http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?keyword=Life+is+a+Caravanserai+&mtype=B&am...

Abebooks has copies too: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=Life%2Bis%2Ba%2BCarav...

Have you asked your library to bring it in on interlibrary loan?

I think it's a decent book and worth reading. It just wasn't to my taste.

286. Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadwai. A short but powerful novel.

The novel appears to have true roots, as the author says she interviewed the main character, Firdaus when she was awaiting execution for murdering her pimp. Firdaus tells the story of her life, her descent into prostitution. She tries numerous ways of life -- from more legitimate jobs to marriage, but is subjugated and controlled by men no matter which way she turns.

An interesting look at women's struggles in patriarchal society. I really liked this one.

287. The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric. Another great selection for a group read... this book wouldn't have been on my radar otherwise. I liked it and thought it was an interesting way to tell the early history of the Balkans, a region so often engaged in strife.

The novel is basically a series of vignettes as history unfolds around the bridge. It unites two sides of the river -- Bosnians with Serbs, Turks with Christians, but also stands between them at different points in history.

I liked the first half of the book more than the ending... I felt like it petered out a bit, but really that's minor as the book held my interest throughout its pages.

288. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. There is so much to like about this book, but also a few things that I really didn't like, so it made it hard for me to rate.

The novel tells the story of a monk and novice who arrive at an abbey with two missions -- to solve a series of murders and to help resolve a schism between two monastic orders. Much of the action centers around a library that few are allowed to access.

The murder mystery is really well done and fun to read... lots of twists and turns. I liked how the book delved into the politics of the abbey itself and its clear love of books. I didn't enjoy the portions of the book that focused on the schism at all ... but the mystery portion was so good it outweighed the parts that dragged. Overall, I give this one a high rating and look forward to reading more from Eco in the future.

yeah... give Foucault's Pendulum a go... then you'll see what an idiot Dan Brown is in comparison.

I believe you, even without having read anything by Brown.

I read The Da Vinci Code a couple of months ago. Fairly much what I expected; lots of action, entertaining plot, pretty poor writing and too much of a strain on my credulity. Still I'm not sorry to have finally read it as I now know first hand what the story is about.

And I have no desire to read anything by him again.

289. I'm Not Stiller by Max Frisch. Another great pick for our group read. I really enjoyed this novel, which focuses on identity.

The story starts with our narrator, who is imprisoned after someone recognizes him as the missing and mysterious Anatol Stiller. Our prisoner denies he is Stiller and starts writing a series of notebooks to prove his case.

I feel like this is one of those books I'd get even more out of if I read it again. It brought up some great questions about identity -- are you who you believe you are, or a product of what others see in you?

290. Deep Rivers by Jose Maria Arguedas. What a lovely book... really enjoyed this one. Arguedas wrote in Spanish but used sentence construction that was akin to that used in Quecha, a language used in the Peruvian Andes. The translation was apparently considered to be really difficult... I don't know how accurate it was but the book felt like it had a unique rhythm that fit its story perfectly.

The narrator is Ernesto, a white boy, who was banished to the kitchens as a child by his stepmother, so he learned not only Quecha, but their ways of revering the landscape. He is sent to a boarding school in Abancay, which is run by local priests.

The book felt like a great primer on the culture of Peru, wrapped in a really engrossing story.

291. The Case Worker by Gyorgy Konrad. This is a rather bleak book, but it's well written enough that I mostly enjoyed it. (Trigger warning, it does have some disturbing scenes of child abuse in it.)

The story is set in Hungary as a social services worker becomes involved with a young boy named Feri-- who has high special needs and no one to take care of him. The case worker is dealing with the underbelly of Hungarian society, so much of the story is pretty gritty and dealing with those who cannot or will not help themselves.

Overall, an interesting book that I was glad to have read, but not one that I would pick up again.

292. The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. Overall, I thought this book was okay-- it definitely made for a fast read and was entertaining in spots.

Adventurer Richard Hannay somehow finds himself caught up in a matter of espionage and has the local police as well as a cast of more sinister characters chasing after him. I liked the framing of the story and the subject, but after Hannay's zillionth escape, it started to feel a bit tired.

It's weird to say a 115-page book felt too long, but it did. I might have enjoyed this more as a short story.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. (Reread.) I just finished reading Plath's "unabridged" journals this month, so I figured I'd read this novel again as a companion piece. I last read it decades ago, in high school, and afterwards I sought out everything I could find by Plath.

The novel is a semi-autobiographical account of Plath's breakdown, cloaked with a narrator named Ester Greenwood. It was interesting to see just how closely the story aligned with Plath's... many of the characters were easily recognizable as people from her journals.

While The Bell Jar isn't Plath's finest work, I still think it's a solid and interesting book.

293. The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf. I really didn't like this novel... it just felt so boring... I couldn't read more than a couple of pages before falling sleep.

The novel mainly tells the story of Rachel Vinrace, who grew up in a sheltered world and travels to South America where she starts to feel an awakening of sorts. Most of the book is populated by characters living in a hotel, but none felt very fleshed out to me.

This book made me appreciate Woolf's later works a bit more... it's amazing where she ended up after starting from here. Ultimately, I'm just not a Woolf fan... I feel like I *should* like her work, but hardly ever do.

294. At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien. I really can appreciate why this book is on the list and why others might enjoy it but reading it was like torture for me, so I decided not to finish it. (My tolerance for books I'm not enjoying is at a low ebb at the moment, after forcing myself to finish The Voyage Out already this month.)

O'Brien's novel is about a drunk Irish guy who is writing a novel about an author whose characters start rebelling against their storylines and interfering with each other. It's apparently a funny book, it wasn't a kind of humor I enjoy.

This novel really wasn't my cup of tea.

295. To The North by Elizabeth Bowen. I thought this was an okay novel, but not really deserving of a place on the list. Perhaps this was new and inventive when it was written, but you could find a similar story in about a gazillion novels today.

The book tells the story of a young widower named Ceclia and her sister-in-law Emmeline and their various trials and tribulations with men. The women were interesting as characters, but they really never seemed to connect with anyone, including each other.

The dialog was really stilted and stiff... I was interested enough in the fates of the two girls to keep reading, but this isn't a book I'd ever recommend to someone who wasn't pursuing the list.

296. The House by the Medlar Tree by Giovanni Verga. I had a hard time getting into this book initially, but it was worth the effort by the end. It was an interesting story overall.

The novel tells the story of the Malavoglia family, who are poor fishermen in Sicility. A tragedy ruins the family fortunes and they spend the bulk of the novel trying to climb out of poverty -- to the place where they started.

It was really difficult to follow the novel at first because there are a lot of characters and they were hard to keep straight. I decided to just let the story flow without worrying who was who, which was apparently the right approach. By the middle of the novel the story really got chugging and the importance of various people started to get sorted out.

297. Harriet Hume by Rebecca West. I enjoyed this novel a lot. As this isn't considered one of West's best, I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

Harriet is a woman who has a strange connection to her lover Arnold Condorex-- she is able to read his mind and find the things that he is hiding, even from himself. She pops into his life at various critical moments and shakes Condorex's world.

I liked West's use of language, the pace of the novel and the inevitable conclusion. This was a pretty fun read.

298. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole. This was definitely a book that I could appreciate for its impact on storytelling even though it really hasn't aged well. It's considered the first Gothic novel and it weaves together a romantic story with supernatural elements that everyone just seems to accept are happening.

The story centers around a prince named Manfred, whose family usurped the throne, and the resulting tragedies that occur around him and his family. There are ladies fighting over a suitor, fainting and lots of coincidences to propel the story along.

I actually thought the plot was somewhat interesting, even while rolling my eyes at the characters' reactions. This is a book I'm glad to have read for its historical roots, rather than its story.

299. The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt. What a wonderful novel. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

The book follows the story of several interconnected families and the secrets they keep. The families are all creative sorts, and it seems like it would be fun to grow up that way from the outside -- though the children don't always fare so well. It's also set in an interesting time period -- as Englad moves out of the Victorian era and marches toward the devastation of World War I.

The novel can only be described as sprawling, but I thought Byatt did a great job creating memorable characters and drawing the reader further into the different dynamics of each family.

300. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. I'm currently in the planning stages for my "I've finished Proust!" party.... this was a challenging, but very worthwhile undertaking.

Proust is alternately brilliant and maddeningly verbose. He is so, so good at demonstrating an element of the human character in just a few lines. And so often he goes on and on about things that seem so incredibly unimportant. It's an interesting dichotomy.

Overall, I did enjoy this seven volume series, and am very glad to have read it. It's certainly deserving of its reputation as one of the great modern novels.

Congrats! That is an awesome pick for the big 3-0-0 :)

>286 amerynth: Congratulations! I definitely remember the feeling of finishing that one off - worthy of a party for sure!

>286 amerynth: I envy you! Congrats on both this reas as well as the 300!

>286 amerynth: Well done!

Congratulations! It feels like an accomplishment, right? (Until I remembered there are still 1005 to go... )

That must have taken some careful planning to finish on 300. Or was it just coincidence?

Either way, congratulations on both achievements.

Thanks so much, it does feel like an achievement to have finished Proust! :)

It was a coincidence that Proust was #300, except that I chose to read Time Regained before Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon.

Proust was my reading project for 2015, so I intended to finish the series in December. But early on, I realized I was reading too slowly to read a volume every other month. By the time I finished a volume, it was time to start the next one. I decided to take a month off in between and that extended my project to this month.

Had I not already read Contact, number 300 would have been the group read for April. :)

Congratulations for both finishing Proust and reaching the 300 milestone!

301. Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon by Jorge Amado. I liked this book a lot, but didn't love it -- the story seemed a little too simple and easy going to me. But I did like all of the varying characters.

Ilheus is a town on the move -- changing from the wild place where Brazilian colonels carved cacao plantations out of jungle groves to a booming metropolis able to trade directly with European merchants, once a pesky sandbar gets moved out of the way. Set inside the city is Gabriela, a migrant worker who symbolizes all that wildness and freedom that drew people to the town in the first place.

I didn't particularly like the "romance" part of this novel, which kind of dragged on for me. I did, however, enjoy reading about the ins and outs of the town's politics and the trials and tribulations of the varying characters.

302. The Beautiful Room is Empty by Edmund White. This is the second installment of White's semi-autobiographical trilogy about coming out and accepting his sexuality in the 1960's. I didn't like this book as much as the first installment A Boy's Own Story, and will probably not read the third installment since it's not on the list.

In this volume, our narrator heads to college full of self-loathing for his inability to become straight. He heads to therapy as an attempt to reject his homosexuality, but at the same time is experimenting -- mainly through cruising-- in all the avenues that gay men had available to them in the 1960's.

I think White tells an important story here about the human need for acceptance, in particular. I felt it was a smoother story than the first volume, but the writing itself didn't seem as strong.

303. American Rust by Philipp Meyer. I liked this novel enough that I wouldn't hesitate to read another novel by Meyer in the future, even though this book had a very contemporary style that isn't up my alley.

Meyer's central characters are Poe, a star high school athlete and Isaac, a great genius, who have never been able to escape the mining town they grew up in. That is until a crime occurs and their lives are changed forever.

I liked Meyer's take on how a decaying town impacts bright futures of those strong in mind and body. I really didn't love the style of the writing, though I'll admit it grew on me by the end. This is really a great debut novel.

>297 amerynth: I listened to Meyer's The Son about a year ago knowing nothing about the author. Rather I chose it because one of the narrators was Will Patton who is a favourite of mine. It was a great western family saga reminiscent of Lonesome Dove. After reading your description of American Rust I can tell I am going to have to get a copy of it to read or listen to.

304. Dirty Havana Trilogy by Pedro Juan Guitierrez. Ultimately, I found this book really disappointing. It had a great premise -- detailing those who lived in poverty in Cuba in the 1990's but the author's obsession with sex really got in the way.

Guitierrez's portrayal of women in particular was problematic -- the dozens and dozens he sleeps with during the course of the novel weren't realistic women to me. (I personally don't know any women who are excited by a mere glimpse of male genitalia but apparently the whole of Cuban women are, if Guitierrez is to be believed.) Since I found the women inauthentic, it really called everything else in the novel into question.

Really glad to just have this one out of the way.

Gee... sounds lovely :)

but the guy can definitely write though. When he isn't describing intense and often disturbing sex, he brings 1990s Cuba to life. The wife and I read out loud to each other which was... how can I say it... interesting!

I do agree with you arukiyomi -- there were interesting stories tucked in there.... but after a while I just wondering whether someone who offers such an "interesting" portrayal of women was accurately portraying anything in the book.

305. The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan. Well, at least it was short. One of the problems with the 1,001 Books to Read Before You Die list is that there are too many books by McEwan on it. This one could easily go.

It's the story of a dysfunctional family of four children that lose both their parents. They encase their mother in cement in the basement to prevent social services from finding out she has died. Their already odd relationships grow more fractured.

I think this was written to shock more than anything. I didn't enjoy it at all and could have gone through life just fine without having read it.

>303 amerynth: Your're right, too much McEwan. I do like some of his books but why The Cement Garden should also be on it, I can not imagine. The same goes for Coetzee in my opinion.

I really did like Atonement so I don't mind at least one McEwan being on the list. I haven't read anything by Coetzee yet.

Neither - after all the comments I've heard I'm a bit nervous :-)

306. Couples, Passersby by Botho Strauss. Easily the worst book I've read this year (and I've read some duds this year, for sure.) I'm not really sure what this was about or why it is on the list.

This book doesn't have a story -- just a series of vignettes or observations by the author, possibly about loneliness. He says women don't have the ability to self-reflect because they are too busy raising children so that's left to men. Whatever. I started skimming after that.

I thought this was truly awful.

Urgh...

I looked at it on Goodreads and it has one of the lowest ratings I've seen. Only 68 people have rated it though.

Many seem to agree with you about the 'why is this on the list?' bit: it's one of the books from the list that you say "why is this book on the list?"

Hmm, I read a while ago the other Strauss book on the list, The Young Man, and was not impressed...a friend of mine loves Die Widmung though.

307. The Path of the Nest of Spiders by Italo Calvino. I liked this book but didn't think there was anything terribly remarkable about it. As Calvino's debut novel, it lacks the brilliance of his later work.

This is a coming of age story about Pin, an orphan growing up as World War II breaks out. He steals a pistol from one of his prostitute sister's clients and joins the Italian resistance.

It's a nice story, but not one I'll probably remember all that much about once some times passes.

308. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. I know I started this one when I was in junior high, but apparently didn't get very far. I'm glad I had an opportunity as an adult to read it for the first time since I probably got a lot more out of it. What an engrossing story.

The novel is narrated by "Chief" Bromden, an Indian who has been shut up in an asylum for a long time. The ward is run by a strict, iron-fisted woman named Nurse Ratched. Her rules are challenged when a conman named McMurphy moves in and a power struggle ensues.

The book had a pretty compelling story, even though it was pretty clear where it was going to end up. This book definitely deserves its reputation as a classic.

>311 amerynth: That is one I really would like to reread someday, as I was very much influenced by the movie when I read it ages ago.

I haven't seen the movie yet, though I probably will at some point.

309. The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati. I generally dislike anything described as "Kafkaesque" but I actually did enjoy this novel, despite the comparison.

The novel tells the story of Giovanni Drogo, who spends his time waiting for things to happen as he is posted as a solider at a isolated and mostly useless fort bordering the Tartar Desert.

This scenario could create the most boring story ever, but I found Buzzati sprinkled in just enough plot to keep things interesting.

310. A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch. I believe this was my fourth time reading a book by Iris Murdoch... I enjoyed this one but not as much as some of her others. It was a pretty entertaining read.

The book is about the disintegration of a marriage. Told from Martin's point of view, the story is a web of love triangles amongst upper crust people who have left morality at the back door.

I like the way that Murdoch writes and I found the story interesting. There were some weird plotting issues with this one -- some things were so heavily foreshadowed I knew they were coming, while other incidents were just weird because they didn't occur in a logical manner. But those are quibbles really since the story itself was interesting enough.

311. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Reading Steinbeck too early -- high school, probably like everyone else, really ruined him for me for a long time. But my recent readings of this novel and Cannery Row have shown me why he's a high school staple.

This novel is the story of the Joad family, who are tenant farmers until greed and technological changes force them off their land. They head west, with hundreds of thousands of others, to become migrant workers, barely scrapping by on wages not fit to feed one person, never mind a family. And that's when they are able to find work.

The story is well crafted with a good balance between showcasing the impact of the Great Depression era with the interesting family dynamics of the Joad family.

312. The Music of Chance by Paul Auster. This was my first Auster and I liked it enough that I hope the others on the list will be as good (or better!)

The story centers on Jim Nashe, who inherits a pile of money and wanders about the country for a while before bumping into a hitchhiker named Pozzi. He takes a chance on Pozzi, a gambler and invests the dregs of his fortune into his new friend, with disastrous results.

I found the story entertaining overall -- I thought Auster did a nice job with pacing the story to keep things interesting and he managed to surprise me a bit when I thought I knew where things were headed. Glad this was picked for a group read this month.

313. The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield. I hate when the list has short stories on it... I'm never sure whether I'm supposed to read a collection or just a single short story. (And I'm far too lazy to actually look it up in the 1,001 book itself.) So, I read Mansfield's collected works.

Overall, I found the stories just so-so. Some were good, others were pretty boring. I didn't think the stories were particularly memorable or unique overall though.

I'm in total agreement with the decision to remove this from the list.

>318 amerynth: ... And to realize then that you had to read only the one story....!

314. Of Love and Shadows by Isabelle Allende. I thought this was a good book but not a great one. I was disappointed but that may be because I expected more from Allende and she wasn't quite there yet.

The novel focuses on Irene and Francisco, a journalist and a photographer who fall in love, and document the abuses of a corrupt military and its impact on two families.

The concept for the novel was great... I liked the overall plot. The execution was lacking though. Certainly, this isn't Allende's best work.

315. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. I'm not surprised I liked this book... I've liked everything I've read by Wharton and was the only person in my high school English class who enjoyed Ethan Frome.

This novel is the story of Lily Bart, a poverty-stricken social climber who depends on the kindness of fickle friends to sustain her expensive tastes. She needs to find a husband with a fat wallet, but can't seem to envision herself married to a boring guy who has plenty of cash laying about.

I found the story interesting and I liked the way Wharton portrayed Bart's inner struggles.

316. Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth. Amerynth's complaint is that she found nothing redeeming about this novel. I didn't care for the whiny narrator, his sex obsession or his mommy issues. Happy to move on from this one.

317. Half a Yellow Sun By Chimamand Ngozi Adichie. Wonderful book and definitely one of the best I've read this year.

The novel follows a variety characters -- mainly Igbo, plus one British man -- in the 1960's as a portion of the country tries to split off and become independent Biafra. Outmanned and outgunned, the attempt is doomed to fail, but Adichie does a skillful job creating interesting characters and weaving their stories together.

This book really resonated for me, perhaps because of the turmoil in my own country at this time.

>323 amerynth: One of my five star reads too

whatever you do, stop at the book and avoid the film which is utterly dreadful on every level.

Which country is your own?

I'm one of the unhappy liberals in the U.S. right now. :)

oh. right.

I thought you meant turmoil.

318. The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. Believed to have been published in the 10th century, this early Japanese story was a fun read.

It tells the story of a young man who is discovered living in miniature in a bamboo stalk. She is so lovely that she attracts a pile of suitors and since she isn't interested in any of them, Kaguya-hime sends her suitors out on ridiculous quests to get them out of her hair. Her true nature is revealed at the end of the story and that was a bit of a surprise for me.

The story was simple, but interesting. This edition of the book is lovely -- it has some amazing artwork to go along with the story.

319. The First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. A bout of pneumonia kept me from finishing this group read last month, but I finally got through the book today. Glad it was picked for a group read, as I really enjoyed it.

I read a lot of Solzhenitsyn in college when I was deep into Russian history classes and I'm not sure how I missed this one. It's a pity because I feel like I would have gotten even more out of it back then.

At any rate, I enjoyed the story and the largely historical elements in the tale of the men who were incarcerated in a sharanska -- a prison for highly skilled people and engineers who spent their time improving tech for the motherland. Many struggled with the work of advancing the cause of a country (or man really) that caused so much misery, but the threat of the Siberian gulags, where conditions were much worse, always loomed.

The story was interesting enough and I particularly liked the chapters on Stalin.

320. The End of the Story by Lydia Davis. I thought this book was okay but not super interesting. It's pretty ballsy to write something that draws an immediate comparison to Proust... and I didn't think Davis' effort holds up well in the comparison.

The book tells the story of the end of a relationship -- as an older, unnamed woman obsesses over the loss of her younger lover. Their story shifts depending on how her memory plays it on that particular day.

Davis has an interesting style of writing that I might have liked better in a different book. The story felt too slow moving and rambly to me.

321. Cranford by Elizbaeth Gaskell. Gaskell should be an author I love... Victorian literature is my favorite genre, after all... but she always turns out to be a disappointment. I just find her books boring.

This novel is a series of vignettes about the ladies of Cranford, connected through the trials and tribulations of Miss Matty Jenkyns.

The story wasn't particularly memorable and the pace was so glacial the book felt about twice as long as it was. Overall, I just though this was ok.

322. Bleak House by Charles Dickens. I checked this out from the library twice and ran out of renewals before I opened it (because I check out too many books at once.) Finally decided to just purchase a copy of it to get it read.

While I liked the book, it definitely wasn't my favorite Dickens.

The book tells the story of a variety of characters loosely associated with the Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce lawsuit, a battle over a succession of wills that has dragged on so long that the original parties have long since died.

I didn't think these were Dickens strongest characters.... one of the major characters, Esther, was just too saintly to be believable. Dickens way of neatly tying everything up in the end always irks me. Yet, the book had some good twists that I didn't see coming so that bumped up the enjoyment a bit.

Definitely glad I've read this one, but it isn't a book I'll ever re-read.

323. Blood Meridian: Or evening redness in the west by Cormac McCarthy. I really didn't like this book and was super disappointed because I liked All the Pretty Horses so much. This one just seemed like violence for violence's sake, which isn't something I enjoy reading.

Set in the American southwest and Mexico, the kid joins various bands of people who roam around killing others of various races, ethniticies and cultures. Mainly because it seems like something to do.

I really wouldn't have persevered through this one if it wasn't on the list.

interesting... I thought it was quite powerful and as it describes many historical people and events (e.g. the attacks on the ferry passengers) , not really violence for violence's sake... unless you think the original events were, which I'd concede!

For me it was good to hear the true story of the "Wild West" and not some rhetorical fiction about some white "hero" saving "goodies" from other-coloured "baddies"...

I'd agree though that it's not for everyone and is a tough read.

>323 amerynth: I read the book four years ago, and was astonished at the narrative, from several different angles. My Goodreads review: "In my arrogance as a writer, I feel that I can mimic the styles and structures of a great many of my favorite authors. There is one exception: McCarthy, because he stands head and shoulders above the rest of his contemporaries. It is not hyperbolic to say that the last of his equals probably died more than a half century ago. This book left me astonished by the skill of his prose, horrified at the overwhelming and brutal violence, bewildered at his thesaurus-busting metaphors, amazed at his attention to detail - the contours of a ray of light, the sand in the fold of a garment, stupored during the day as I obsessed over the book in my mind, delighted over his neo-compound words, gasping at the concretely built character personalities and arcs, and amazed at the heaviness and weariness of it all. This is going to haunt me for a long time, and it's going to improve my writing, but it's an awfully high bar to reach, and there are few in history who have reached that high."

MartinBodek, I would have agreed with much of that assessment if it were about All the Pretty Horses instead of Blood Meridian!

I read Blood Meridian last month and initially I was surprised by the level of violence and it's casualness. I'd read The Road before and thought that wonderful, but hard as that book is there's a lot more to it than violence. This one really is about violence.

The thing is though, it is still wonderfully and thoughtfully written. And, having already read Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, I couldn't really be shocked by the cruelty and violence of Blood Meridian. The sad truth is those sorts of things did happen, and they happened a lot. Sand Creek springs to mind.

324. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushie. Generally, I detest magical realism, but Rushdie just writes so, so well that it hasn't really bothered me in his novels. This was no exception.

The novel follows two Indian actors who plummet to Earth and manage to survive an airplane explosion. One takes on the characteristics of the Archangel Gabriel and the other more devilish qualities. (I'm a non-religious sort who has a limited knowledge of Islam, so I can't really comment on the controversial aspects of the novel.)

The story winds along a lot, so this took a long time to read, but overall, I really enjoyed the story. Rushdie has a beautiful way with language which produces sentences you can really linger over, and this novel was no exception.

>338 amerynth: I am glad you liked it. Some people hate it and I personally loved it so much that I am always glad when others do as well.

>338 amerynth: After finishing this novel, I did some poking around regarding the controversy. The article that struck me the most was Sameer Rahim's personal essay discussing the his relationship to the book:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/9523983/The-Satanic-Verses-and-me.html

>340 ELiz_M: Great link - this is a really thought-provoking essay. I am surprised by some of his points (I don't think of Kasmir or Palestine as Muslim causes, to me they are national causes) but it is really interesting to see how deeply the novel and the clandestine reading of it moved him.

>341 Henrik_Madsen: I thought the same about the Kashmir and Palestine, but otherwise is it a very interesting article.Thanks Liz!

@Eliz_M: Thanks so much for sharing the article... it was really interesting!

325. The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa. Brutal, but ultimately interesting book about the rule and assassination of Rafael Trujillo, a dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic with an iron fist for about 30 years.

Trujillo, a paranoid narcissist, pitted his friends against each other, brutally murdered those opposed to him (or those who happened to be Haitian) and committed plenty of horrific acts along the way.

I found the book a difficult read due to the subject matter and torture scenes, but ultimately, Llosa's portrait of this dictator was interesting to me.

326. The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hasek. (Once again I'm a month behind on group reads.) This was a hard book for me to rate, but ultimately I enjoyed the concept more than the execution. It got too repetitive for me, so that even the amusing bits stopped being amusing after a while.

In this novel, Svejk is either an idiot or good at playing one, as he becomes a Czech soldier sent to the front during Word War I. Svejk's story goes in circle after circle -- he gets sent to jail, the aslyum, the front, but someone ultimately finds him too dumb to be there and he is saved from a disagreeable fate.

I liked Hasek's sense of humor and his message about the futility of war, but felt like this one really needed a good edit for length and content.

327. Spring Torrents by Ivan Turgenev. I thought this book was an okay read-- but nothing really stood out to me as special enough to be included on the 1,001 list.

The book tells the story of Dimitry Sanin, a Russian landowner who travels to Franfort and immediately falls for Gemma, whose family owns a candy shop. Antics ensue from there, though the story felt a bit predictable.

I did enjoy the characters but this story felt so routine -- I've read so many similar ones before.

328. Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih. I really enjoyed this book.

Our narrator slowly learns to the story of Mustafa Sa'eed, a Sudanese student who headed to Europe where he makes a conquest of several women with disastrous results. He says he plans to "liberate Africa with my penis." The narrator has a hard time reconciling Sa'eed's European misadventures with the mild mannered farmer and father that he later became.

Salih writes beautifully and the plot never, ever moved in a direction that I expected, making this book a delight to read, despite some heavy subject matter.

Season of Migration to the North sounds really interesting. I just ordered a copy! Thank you for your review.

329. Dusklands by J.M. Coetzee. This book is actually two fairly brutal novellas, both with a general theme of revenge. I didn't particularly like the first "The Story of Vietnam," which was fairly dry and boring until the final brutal act. The second "The Narrative of Jacobus Coetzee" was far more interesting, though predictable, given the time period in Africa it was portraying.

I understand this really isn't the best representation of Coetzee's work, given that it was his debut novel, but I can certainly see why he has won so many accolades.... he is already a really strong writer here.

330. The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler. I'm not much of a mystery reader and definitely not generally a fan of the "hard-boiled detective" genre, but I found this book to be a good read overall. If I was a bigger fan of this genre, I probably would have liked this book even more.

Private Eye Philip Marlowe gets embroiled in a mystery after befriending a drunk who turns up at some of Marlowe's favorite haunts. The drunk disappears after becoming a murder suspect and Marlowe proceeds from there.

The story is a bit convoluted and the mystery didn't seem all that difficult to solve. I liked the characters and Marlowe's interactions with them carried the story along nicely.

331. I thought of Daisy by Edmund Wilson. Another book that was difficult to rate -- I liked Wilson's ability to set a scene and his vivid descriptions, though I'm not terribly sure the novel was super successful in meeting Wilson's aims.

Our narrator is a young man, who appears fairly influenced by other people in his life. He bumps into Daisy at various times and has differing views of her character, depending on whose thinking he's adopting at that time.

There were spots where this dragged and there were spots where it was entertaining, so I give this a kind of middling rating. It was a good read, overall, but not a book I'm particularly enthusiastic about.

332. Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar. This is one of those books that I totally see why it's on the 1,001 list, even though I really didn't enjoy reading it.

It's clear how much work Yourcenar book into this novel, which tells the story of Hadrian, a Roman emperor. It's meticulously researched and she fills in the gaps in Hadrian's life story quite thoroughly.

However, I found this to be deadly boring, mostly because this period of time doesn't really interest me at all and the book felt really dry for me. This is a book that I can totally see the right audience rating very highly.... I wasn't the right audience for this one though.

I am interested in Roman history and I'm still finding it boring ;-)

LOL M1nks! :)

I was not particularly interested in Roman history and I liked it! ;-)

333. A House in the Uplands by Erskine Caldwell. Boy, I really don't get the point of this one (or its inclusion on the list-- I'll have to check Boxall at some point.)

Simpering Lucyanne, a newlywed, has a husband who cheats on her and beats her in this melodrama. I can't figure out why he married her in the first place, frankly, nor she him. There are a bunch of other one-dimensional characters who make decisions and declarations to move the plot along.

At least it's a quick read.

334. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I've liked the other Dickens novels I've read, but this one just felt extremely dull. It is the first time that I felt like his wordiness was padding to stretch his serial dollars.

There is a lot that happens in the novel, but it felt like it was happening so achingly slow that I grew pretty bored each time I picked it up. I struggled through, but there really wasn't a payoff here.

I am glad to finished this one, finally.

335. The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal. This was a brutal, slow read for me because I didn't find the story particularly engrossing or interesting.

The book focuses on Fabrizio del Dongo, an Italian who goes off to fight for Napoleon, gets into hot water, becomes a priest, falls in love with an unavailable girl... antics ensue.

I liked this less than "The Red and the Black," which frankly I didn't enjoy all that much either.

336. The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene. (I am so far behind on group reads it is getting ridiculous.) I was surprised that I thought this was a decent book, as I've read some of Greene's nonfiction work and didn't like it at all. I found both the story and the characters, generally interesting (though none of the characters was particularly likeable.)

The novel focuses on Scobie, a police investigator in Africa and the numerous not-so-secret secrets he has, as well as the people around him, as well as a good helping of Catholic guilt.

The story moved along pretty easily. I'm not positive I'd call this a "must read" book, but it was mostly enjoyable.

337. The Wings of the Dove by Henry James. I generally like James' story ideas and plots but have a hard time getting through his extremely wordy paragraphs.

In this novel, Kate Croy is without any prospect of fortune and the man she plans to marry doesn't have any money either. So, she intrigues to hook her fiancee up with a wealthy young woman who is expected to die. Antics ensue.

Interesting story but I would have liked it better with a lighter touch.

338. Summer by Edith Wharton. I'm not surprised I enjoyed this book (as I was the only person in my high school sophomore English class that liked "Ethan Frome.") Wharton is certainly up my alley.

In this novel, Charity Royall is "brought down the mountain" from poverty and raised by a rich lawyer and his wife. Mrs. Royall passes a way while Charity is still young and Lawyer Royall sets his sights on Charity as his next wife. Charity also experiences a sexual awakening after meeting Mr. Harney in a library.

Wharton has a way of portraying somewhat unlikable characters in a sympathetic way, which I really enjoy. I wouldn't put this up as Wharton's best work, but I did enjoy the book a lot.

339. The Laws by Connie Palmen. I don't see why this book is on the list at all -- I found it rather boring.

Marie, our narrator, is on a journey of self-discovery where she learns about herself through the men she dates. I'm really not sure what she discovered... I discovered she associates with really dull men.

This one was definitely not my cup of tea.

340. The Last World: A novel with an Ovidian Repertory by Christoph Ransmayr. I really enjoyed this book. I particularly liked Ransmayr's use of language -- he painted such vivid scenes that I'm sure they will stay with me for a long while.

The book centers on the theme of transformations as Cotta sets out to the Black Sea location where Ovid was exiled after insulting the emperor of Rome. Cotta wants to find a copy of "Metamorphoses," which he believes Ovid burned before leaving for exile.

The book is populated by numerous characters from "Metamorphoses" who are transformed from what they were to something not quite the same. The story is simple but has a lot of layers to reinforce the theme. This is definitely book I'll read again in the future to pick up on the threads I missed the first time around.

341. The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. I liked the first third of this book, but it really ran off the rails for the remainder and became fairly boring.

The novel tells the story of Madeline Hanna and the love triangle she is involved in with hunky but mentally ill Leonard and the grating, religious guy Mitchell. It moves along just as you'd expect.

I liked the portion of the book that focused on their college years -- maybe because it was reflective of my college experience -- but once they graduated and moved out into the world, the story really lost steam for me.

342. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. It's too bad that Collins isn't read that much in high schools, when so many of his contemporaries are... I find his books to be really readable.

In this novel, the Moonstone is a diamond stolen from India. It ends up in the hands of a young lady named Rachel Verinder and promptly disappears. Several narrators take us through the mystery of its disappearance. This is considered one of the first "modern" detective novels.

I found the mystery to be a page turner and it took some unexpected twists. I liked this book a lot, though not quite as much as "The Woman in White."

343. City of God by E.L. Doctorow. I'm not a huge fan of Doctorow's writing style -- it was employed so well in "Ragtime" but I also saw it go awry in "Andrew's Brain," which I hated. "City of God" was sort of sandwiched between those two novels in terms of effectiveness.... there were parts I really enjoyed and other parts that bored me.

I didn't care for Doctorow's metaphysical musings, but there were elements of the overall story I did like -- including the Holocaust and heist stories. I feel like I went through phases of loving and hating this book.

This is definitely one you'll probably love if you like Doctorow in general -- if you don't, this probably has all the things you dislike about his writing.

I agree with you on The Moonstone - it was excellent!

344. Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels. I really enjoyed this book -- Michaels has a poet's ear for language, which made this a great read. Considering this was her debt novel, I would certainly read more by her in the future.

The novel focuses on Jakob, a Jewish boy from Poland, who is rescued from the (probable) dire fate of the rest of his family by a Greek archaeologist. They move to Canada to start a new life after the war, but can't quite escape past losses and experiences.

There were lots of little details in this book that appealed to other interests of mine -- Tolland man, Scott's polar expedition -- that really helped this book draw me in.

345. The Moon and the Bonfire by Cesare Pavese. I didn't particularly enjoy this novel -- it moved so slowly that I lost interest in it quickly. Every night, I picked it up and had no recollection about what the book was about until I read a few paragraphs. That really doesn't bode well for the memorability of the book in a year or two.

The story is about a young man who wanders the world and lives in America for a bit before returning to his roots in Italy and reminiscing about his childhood there.

It was an okay book, but it just didn't draw me in.

346. The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu. This was a hard book for me to rate -- if you're interested in this period of Japanese culture, you probably couldn't do better than this book as it describes everything from outfits to end tables with a somewhat cinematic flair.

The story centers on Genji, the son of an Emperor. Genji was removed from the line of succession because his mother was low-born so without power in his sights, he sets out collecting a bunch of women to live in various wings of his home. Some aspects of this collecting are particularly creepy in today's world, but I get this was a different time.

Overall, I found the story to be okay but slow going - but mostly because this isn't a time period that particularly interests me. I wouldn't have picked this book up if it weren't for the list, but I get why its on the list. So, sort of a middle of the road rating for this one.

>370 amerynth: Congrats on finishing one of the oldest and longest books on the list! I enjoyed this when i read it,but mostly because I read it in small chunks everyday for a couple of months. And I skimmed some of the descriptions.

Eliz_M: That certainly seems like a smarter way to read it!

347. Two Boys, At Swim I really wanted to like Jamie O'Neill's book more than I did -- and I can't actually put my finger on why it became a bit of a slog for me. What kept me pressing through was the character MacMurrough -- I thought he was more interesting and layered than the other characters and I read mostly to find out where he would end up.

Set in Ireland in 1915, O'Neill portrays gay men in the more or less hidden corners where you'd find them in that time period -- being creepy in the priesthood and coming of age as young men who fall in love and struggle with their Catholic faith as World War I looms nearer and nearer.

This is another book that I think absolutely belongs on the list, but it just wasn't one I particularly enjoyed.

348. Underworld by Don DeLillo. This is pretty much the quintessential "modern" novel. However, I really despise "modern" novels, so this wasn't ever going to go well. Add in to the genre issue, I don't care for baseball, had a difficult time remembering the characters names because they were just very dull, and had to actively push myself to pick it up again.

I thought this book needed a big edit-- but even that wouldn't have helped me. I didn't enjoy this one at all and am glad the slog is done.

349. Remembering Babylon by David Malouf. I'm glad this was selected for a group read as it wasn't on my radar at all. I enjoyed this book, but it felt a bit rough around the edges -- I felt like the overall story could have been fleshed out a bit more.

The story focuses on Gemmy, who is cast off onto the shores of Australia by sailors and ends up living among the Aboriginies. At the start of the book, he walks up onto a settler's farm, where he is greeted with a mixture of fascination and distrust.

I liked the way Malouf presented the characters and later their back stories to try and explore where their attitudes and beliefs came from. I found the transition to the final chapter somewhat jarring but I liked finding out what happened to some of the characters. Overall, glad I read this one.

350. Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson. Winterson is one of those authors that I really truly enjoy (and never would have found without this list.) This novel is no exception.

Our unnamed narrator, whom I correctly or incorrectly imagined to be Winterson herself, given her other works, has difficultly committing to relationships. She prefers the passion of new relationships to the the trials of a long lasting love. Until she meets Louise -- who is kind of unavailable.... she's married... and dying. But the narrator finally believes in commitment... or does she? She at least believes in the ache.

The imagery in this book is beautiful and I really enjoyed it. Some of the pining gets to be a bit over the top, but on the whole I really enjoyed this book.

>350 amerynth: I love Winterson! And I never would have found her without the list, either- thank you, Boxall and creators!

One thing I found fascinating about the book is the narrator's gender is never revealed. The mastery of this is fabulous and really challenged gender stereotypes. I read this in a book club and we had excellent conversation about it.

351. The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald. This was an odd little book and I didn't have a particularly strong reaction to it one way or another.

Our narrator enjoys taking long walks to new countryside destinations. The book tells stories about the people he meets on his rambles, or historic figures from the area or interesting points of scenery.

I found some of the tales interesting and some dull, so my interest in this one waxed and waned accordingly.

352. The Case of Sergrant Grischa by Anrold Zweig. I thought this novel had a good story overall but that it dragged on a bit in the middle too much.

The tale is that of Grischa, a Russian who escapes a prison camp only to become embroiled in a case of mistaken identity, at first willingly, until he realizes he is being mistaken for a deserter and that doesn't have better consequences than being an escaped prisoner.

For no reason I can discern, this reminded me of "Forest of the Hanged" frequently, (they don't have a strong plot correlation, as far as I can remember, though they are both set similarily) and I kept thinking I'd rather read "Forest of the Hanged" instead.

353. The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor. O'Connor has always been hit or miss for me and this book was no exception. I had a hard time really figuring out what O'Connor was trying to say here -- am I supposed to be rooting for Tarwater to embrace his uncle's religion if that requires a violent and terrible act?

O'Connor is certainly an interesting writer and there this book is rife with religious motifs to pore over if that's your kind of thing. Overall, this wasn't a great fit for me though I appreciate the work that went into it.

354. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. This is definitely one of those classic works that I'm happy to have finally read-- though I probably would never pick it up again. It took me ages to read this and I generally enjoyed it, though there were portions, especially near the beginning that got a bit tedious.

As everyone likely knows, Don Quixote goes a bit off his rocker, decides he is a knight errant, and picks up the foolish Sancho Panza as his squire, as the pair crisscross the country side in search of knightly things to do -- like tilting at windmills Don Quixote believes are dragons or pining over his love for the Dulcinea de Toboso. As his reputation spreads, others take advantage of Don Quixote's madness for their own amusement.

Cervantes generally does a good job of creating new situations for Don Quixote and Sancho Panza to find themselves in. I liked this overall.

>381 amerynth: I have been slowly working my way through this one as well. Parts made me laugh out loud while other parts just went on and on. It is quite the romp though isn't it? :)

355. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks. I really didn't enjoy this book, thanks to its dark and disturbing nature, though I can appreciate the effort that Banks put into developing his characters and story.

Frank is a psychopath that killed three of his young relatives before the age of 10. He's apparently over the whole murder thing, but now spends his time torturing small animals and conducting rituals around the homestead.

Definitely not a book for me. I'm glad it was short and something I could power through in just a couple of sittings.

356. An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro. I liked this book but my enjoyment was tempered bit because I've read Remains of the Day and liked that a bit better. I couldn't help comparing the two, which feel really similar outside of the setting.

In this novel, Matusji Ono is a once-revered artist who flits between past and present as he reconciles his past during World War II with the Japan he knows today. There is a lot of the stereotypical Japanese reserve in the conversations between Ono and his family, as well as unreliability in the narration to parse through.

I probably would have liked this even more if I could have stopped myself from comparing the two novels so much.

357. A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul. This was a hard book to rate -- it excelled at providing an interesting sense of place during a particular time period. I didn't care for the characters or their particular stories all that much, nor Naipaul's rather bleak (apparent) view of post-Colonial Africans.

Set in an unnamed, post-Colonial African country, the novel is narrated by Salim, whose fortunes ebb and flow as the politics of his region change, as do the fortunes of the people who surround him.

The narration of this book occasionally veered toward being a bit dry, but what kept me reading was my interest in the ways the town changed.

358. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. (I read this in 2016... it's the only book I've already read of the 2018 new additions to the list.) I loved this book.... this was my review of it:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Americanah" is a terrific novel, which explores the different ways that race is viewed in Nigeria, America and England. I found the story itself pretty interesting, but the Adichie's observations about how race weaves into the culture of different countries was absolutely absorbing.

The novel is built on the love story between two Nigerians, Ifemelu and Obinze, who part ways as they attend different universities. Ifemelu moves to America where she feels black for the first time, and later Obinze travels to England, where he has his own experiences as an African immigrant.

Adichie is a great storyteller and her observations felt both sharp and personal. I found this to be a weighty and satisfying read.

359. The Day of the Dolphin by Robert Merle. I enjoyed seeing the dolphins' story unfold in this one.... though I was less interested in the human relationships.

In this novel, scientists are working diligently on teaching dolphins to speak -- and it isn't really a spoiler since Merle mentions it early on -- the military becomes interested.

The book is a bit dated, but it still managed to hold my interest.

360. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I read this for the group's first monthly challenge and I am ever so glad. I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of retribution and revenge.

Edmond Dantes is a 19-year-old sailor whose life is on the upswing... until jealous enemies bring him down, leaving him in jail for more than a decade. After he escapes from prison, Dantes searches for his enemies to mete out justice -- revenge for those who destroyed his life and favor for those who remained loyal in his absence.

This was just a good solid story that made for a really fun read.

361. Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin. I though the characters had a sort of "realness" to them and I wasn't surprised to learn after reading this novel that it was semi-autobiographical. The characters are really vibrant, troubled and richly drawn.

The novel centers on John, a 14-year-old who is starting down the path laid out for him by his family to become saved and ultimately a preacher, following in the footsteps of his tyrannical stepfather. John is trying to reconcile his relationship with God with his relationship with that of the abusive man who brings God to his doorstep each Sunday. Baldwin weaves in tales of the rest of the family and their relationships with God as well.

While books that are religion heavy aren't generally my taste, I did enjoy this one because the characters were so strong and interesting.

362. Wild Harbour by Ian MacPherson. I love a good outdoors book and a good survival story, so I expected to like this novel a lot more than I did. The characters were flimsy and difficult to like.

In this novel, Terry and Hugh flee to a cave in the woods when Hugh is drafted to fight in a world war. They try and eke out a subsistence existence.

Unfortunately, I found the characters to be melodramatic and somewhat hysterical -- it didn't seem like they would last more than a day out in the woods.

363. The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien. Interesting characters really propelled this fairly sad story along. This was one of those books that I kept wanting to pick up to see what would happen next.

Caithleen has the misfortune of being a poor girl in Ireland with a drunkard father, a frenemy named Baba and a bunch of old coots who seem to take an unhealthy interest in her. Caithleen is a go with the flow sort of gal, who doesn't put a ton of effort into choosing the direction of her life or her encounters with others.

I'm interested in seeing where the story is headed and will be reading the second book in the triology next, which is also on the 1,001 list... Girl with Green Eyes.

364. Girl with Green Eyes by Edna O'Brien. I enjoyed this second installment in The Country Girls trilogy as much as the first.

In this novel, Caithleen and Baba all grown up, living in Dublin and experiencing the life of unmarried single women -- dating, drinking and dancing. Trouble ensues when Caithleen falls for the worst kind of guy, as far as her family's concerned -- an older married man who is American to boot.

The book was an easy and quick read, but still entertaining as Caithleen stressed about her love life and her future. I'll be reading the third installment next, even though it isn't on the 1,001 list as I've enjoyed the series.

365. Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture by Apostolos Doxiadis. I picked this book for the October monthly challenge without knowing anything about it. And I had a little bit of trepidation after learning it's a book about math, which was not a good subject for me. However, I really did enjoy the book.

The novel centers on Petros Papachristos, a number theorist who has set his sights on solving one of math's great unsolved problems - Goldbach's Conjecture, which states that all even numbers greater than 2 are the sum of two primes. His nephew probes over the years to find out why his uncle Petros has stopped working and become a sort of hermit.

Some of the math in this book was over my head, but the story was interesting, as were the characters, so I liked this book a lot.

366. The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner. I didn't really care for this book and I'm not completely understanding why was added to the list.... especially since I think some of the books removed from the list at the same time were far more deserving of being there instead of this novel.

The book centers around Reno -- she likes art, she likes motorcycles, she liked her older Italian boyfriend who more or less calls the shots. She moves onto new things just when she seems to be getting someplace.

I think Kushner has some interesting ideas but I didn't care for the execution. I really struggled through this one and was glad it's fairly short.

367. Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller. Parts of this book were brilliant, (especially the descriptions of his work in the telegram business) and parts of it were extremely disturbing (particularly the rape of an Egyptian woman that Miller seems to gleefully recall as a good time.)

In this book, Miller mostly recalls his early sexual experiences, which are many, and his disillusion with America and its values, which eventually pushed him to become an ex-Pat in Paris.

I could definitely see how this book was influential among those in the Beatnik circle and get why it is on the list, but I didn't particularly enjoy this one (and found Tropic of Cancer to be the better book.)

368. A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh. I think this is the first book I've read by Waugh that I didn't particularly like. I found the story fairly boring until the last third or so, when one character's trip abroad got interesting.

The novel focuses on Brenda and Tony Last, who retired to ancient and crumbling Hetton, leaving all the fun of society behind. Brenda is mostly bored and takes up with Mr. Beaver -- a penniless social climber type who nobody really seems to like, but he gets invited to parties to round out the seating numbers. The Last's marriage falls apart like Hetton, bit by bit.

I didn't particularly care for the characters who were generally bored people who just hopped onto whatever happened to cross their paths. I was just as bored as they were, except for the final third when Tony Last goes on his adventure.

369. The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead. I struggled with this book so much and wanted to like it more than I did. I think it was the writing itself that was problematic for me -- I feel like if I just read a plot synopsis of this book, I would have enjoyed the actual elements of the story.

The book is the story of the very dysfunctional Pollit family -- led by Henny and Sam, who are both brutal and cruel in their own ways. They rarely communicate, except to argue with each other, which as a variety of effects on their large brood of children.

I couldn't tolerate Sam, his baby talk or his creepy ways of interacting with their children.

370. If this is a Man by Primo Levi. A heart-wrenching account of Levi's year spent in the German Concentration Camp. Levi was a member of the Italian Resistance movement, who after he was captured, mistakenly thought it better to admit he was Jewish instead of a member of the Resistance. His survival was a mixture of ingenuity and luck (of being a chemist in a place where a chemist was wanted.)

This is a hard read just because of the subject matter and well written. It's more of a straight forward account of his time in Auschwitz than "The Drowned and the Saved," which is more of a reckoning on the tragedy of the Holocaust and its impact on those who managed to survive.