QuartInSession's ever-expanding journey through the '1001' books

Hi! I've been posting in this group here and there for a few months, so thought it was high time I created my own thread. I very much enjoy reading others' reviews and hope to chip in my some of my own (though I'm a bit intimidated by the quality of some of the reviewers here!).

I read books off the list quite faithfully, so hopefully will be able to update this space fairly often.

I'll just start by listing the books I've read off the combined list of 1294 thus far, as well as a short list of my favourites and not-so-favourites thus far:

2000s
1. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga -
2. The Gathering by Anne Enright
3. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
4. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
5. Saturday by Ian McEwan
6. On Beauty by Zadie Smith
7. The Sea by John Banville
8. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
9. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
10. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
11. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
12. Under the Skin by Michel Faber
13. How the Dead Live by Will Self
14. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

1900s
15. Cryptonomicon byNeal Stephenson
16. Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
17. The Hours by Michael Cunningham
18. Enduring Love by Ian McEwan
19. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
20. The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
21. Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
22. The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
23. Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg
24. Possession by A.S. Byatt
25. Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson
26. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
27. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
28. The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis
29. The Life and Times of Michael K by J. M. Coetzee
30. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
31. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
32. Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike
33. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
34. Rites of Passage by William Golding
35. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
36. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
37. The World According to Garp by John Irving
38. Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice
39. The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell
40. G. by John Berger
41. Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
42. The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark
43. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
44. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
45. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
46. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
47. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
48. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
49. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
50. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
51. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
52. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
53. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

1800s
54. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
55. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
56. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
57. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
58. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
59. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
60. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
61. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
62. Emma by Jane Austen
63. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
64. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

1700s
65. Candide by Voltaire

pre-1700s
66. Aesop's Fables by Aesopus

Some favourites:
Everything Is Illuminated - I was riveted from beginning to end, and though I read this quite awhile ago, I think about it every so often. Love the voice, the structure - everything.
The Blind Assassin - what a tale! I don't know why it's taking me so long to pick up another Atwood, because I thought this one was magnificent.
Disgrace - so jarring, but in the best possible way. Great intro to Coetzee for me.
Trainspotting - Loved the movie, loved the book. Edinburgh is one of my favourite places on earth, so getting a glimpse of its underbelly was fascinating
Sexing the Cherry - Wow. Need...more...Jeanette...Winterson. When I keep quoting passages from a book to my boyfriend, I know it's going on the favourites shelf.
Midnight's Children - I was totally intimidated by Rushdie - and there is PLENTY in this book that went over my head - but the fact that I still enjoyed it as much as I did speaks to his incredible ability to tell a magical story beyond all the symbolism and social/religious commentary.

Some not-so-favourites:
The Inheritance of Loss - I just never connected with this book, nor with any of its characters. Took me much longer to read than I expected.
How the Dead Live - Bizarre. I was actually excited to read it, based on reviews, but it was really, really 'out there'. I enjoyed bits and pieces, but was really happy when it was finally over.
The Old Devils - Ugh – the bitter, Welsh humour in this was way, way, way over my head.
Foundation - I might get some flack for this, but this just was not my kind of book. I never really delved below the surface of the narrative because I was too busy trying to understand what the heck he was talking about and keeping the names straight. Plus, there was one female character in the entire novel. Weird.

I'm with you on Old Devils... how did that EVER win the Booker???

Im also with you on How the Dead Live I was so excited about reading this book but half way through I wanted to throw it across the room. I hated this book with a passion. I dont understand why this book is on the list to begin with. There is nothing good I can say.

Wow, so I posted my list and then never came back to update it! Hoping to make this more of a habit, and to post short reviews as I finish each book.

In the interest of 'catching up', these are the list books I've read since I first/last posted in May 2012.

67. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
68. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
69. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré
70. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
71. 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
72. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
73. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
74. Emile, or On Education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
75. Adjunct: An Undigest by Peter Manson
76. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
77. The Third Man by Graham Greene
78. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
79. Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson
80. The Graduate by Charles Webb
81. Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
82. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
83. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
84. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
85. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
86. Howards End by E. M. Forster
87. Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
88. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
89. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
90. The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
91. The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe
92. The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe
93. The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
94. Atonement by Ian McEwan
95. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
96. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
97. In the Forest by Edna O'Brien
98. The 39 Steps by John Buchan
99. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
100. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

This is where I started focusing on reading the list more or less alphabetically - I don't know how long this particular 'obsession' of mine will last, but it's going well so far.

101. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
102. The 13 Clocks by James Thurber
103. The 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade
104. 2666 by Roberto Bolano
105. Aaron's Rod by D. H. Lawrence
106. L'Abbe C by Georges Bataille
107. Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner
108. The Absentee by Maria Edgeworth
109. Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes
110. The Accidental by Ali Smith
111. Ada, or Ardor by Vladimir Nabokov
112. Adam Bede by George Eliot
113. The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll by Alvaro Mutis
114. The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow
115. The Adventures of Caleb Williams by William Godwin
116. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
117. The Adventurous Simplicissimus by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen

Whew! My favourites from the list above are Rebecca, Howards End, Jane Eyre (can't believe I had never read this!) and In the Forest (don't think I would have discovered Edna O'Brien if not for the list, looking forward to her other list books).

Could have died without reading list includes Emile (started in university, so glad to have it out of the way), The Pilgrim's Progress (ugh) and, of course, The 120 Days of Sodom. Vile.

Just about to crack open The Afternoon of a Writer by Peter Handke - excited for something a little more modern after the last three, though Huck Finn was a delight.

118. The Afternoon of a Writer by Peter Handke

This is quite a short one, and one I rather enjoyed. There's a sense of dread that pervades the book, and that seems to make it more 'immediate' - sort of a small scale, personal impending doom kind of feeling. Though it is specifically about a writer and highlights the fleeting nature of ideas and the difficulties faced by that particular profession, I feel like the worries expressed by the narrator could be applied to anyone with a particular talent or ability.

Lovely writing.

119. After the Death of Don Juan by Sylvia Townsend Warner

Not knowing a lot about the Spanish Civil War, much of this likely went over my head. Like some other authors, Townsend Warner couches her anti-government (in this case, anti-fascist) message in a story that takes place during another time period (in this case, the time of Don Juan). "What, Sr. Franco, it's not you I'm calling a loser, it's Don Juan!"

Anyway, though some familiarity with Spanish history would enrich your reading of this novel, it's not necessary - it's an interesting story with dark undertones but also with a splash of humour. The best part for me were the descriptions of rural Spain.

3.5/5

120. after the quake by Haruki Murakami

Hmmm. My second Murakami, after 1Q84, and I'm still not sure what to think of him. I'm not a huge fan of short stories, normally, so perhaps I went in with a sort of bias....though I definitely did not dislike this. For me, the story about the super frog who saves Tokyo from a giant earthquake-causing worm that resides under the city resonated the most - the idea that 'true terror is the kind that men feel toward their imagination' invites introspection; and that's what these short stories really centre around.....what does it mean to 'do something' with one's life? Is it vital to be recognized for one's accomplishments, or is it 'enough' to know yourself that you are good at something? Because something in our mind is 'imagination', does that mean it's automatically not reality, or does one not preclude the other? Just a few questions I had coming out of this one.

3.5/5

121. All About H. Hatterr by G. V. Desani

Did not like. Not much else to say about this, other than the fact that this was apparently praised so highly by T. S. Eliot makes me never want to read any T. S. Eliot. :P

Not a whole lot of plot here, just excuses to play with language and mess around. I knew from the beginning that it wouldn't be my thing, and so it was a tough slog. Follows the adventures of H. Hatterr, a half-British, half-can't remember man who lives in India and gets himself involved in all kinds of half-baked shenanigans. I gave it one star for the story about the circus tiger eating a steak off his chest, and .5 for the few times where I recognized some sort of universal observation and said to myself 'True!'

1.5/5

122. Against the Grain by Joris-Karl Huysmans

So decadent! And not really in a good way. This one started out fairly interesting, but quickly grew tedious as the narrator describes every possible facet of the paint colours he has chosen, the books he has read, the music he listens to, etc etc. There was an interesting metaphor comparing women to trains, and there was a sad, yet fascinating, bit about painting a tortoise and attaching gems to it, but other than that, not much for me to recommend here.

I think that because I did not really connect with the narrator's (and apparently the author's) deepest wish to escape society and live a solitary, decadent life, I never really delved below the surface narrative here.

I seem to have hit a string of 'meh' books in the A column - about 150 pages into Against the Day and not sure about that one yet either.

2/5

Love how you're reading in alphabetical order. I bet it makes your reading quite varied.

I do have my own hang-ups: for example, my current personal challenge is to read at least 10% of the books in each decade of the 1900s.

alphabetical order! What a great idea!

Thanks for commenting, guys!

#10 - trying to make my reading more varied is one of the big reasons I decided to try the alphabetical order thing, and it's definitely working in that sense. It's obviously not for everyone, but I was often finding myself a little overwhelmed with choice, so this was a way to focus myself. I've also thought about focusing my reading by decade!

It's too funny how we get these ideas in our heads and are stubborn about them. I just switch it up if an interlibrary loan comes in (like All About H. Hatterr) since I can't renew those and have to read them quickly - but even that still started with an 'A'. ;)

>9 QuartInSession: Nice review! I also loved the beginning and the extended train metaphor, but became bored as the novel went on.

Thanks for the comment ELiz_M :)

I am making my way verrrrry slowwwwly through the mammoth Against the Day. Seems like I have been reading it for a year, and I am only halfway through after a month of reading (admittedly with a break for a rather large non-list book). First one in quite a long time that I considered abandoning early on.

Happily, I finally feel like I'm in the groove and can see the light at the end of the 1085 pages!

Yesssss! Finally finished!

123. Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon

This one was a doozie. Worked on it for almost two months, taking breaks in there to read three other books, and I am so happy to have it out of the way. I'm not even sure where to begin - at the beginning, I was totally overwhelmed with the amount of characters to keep straight, the detailed science and math references and really the sheer amount of information to take in. By the end, I had relaxed and stopped trying to 'get it', and now I have a grudging respect for Pynchon and the world (or anti-world?) he managed to create here. I feel like this is one you'll never forget you've read, and that says something. Still, I'm only going to give it a three; for the first time, I actually feel bad about a rating - it doesn't seem like I have the right to just plop a number down, given the massive amounts of research and thought and sweat and tears that surely went into writing this. Maybe the fact that I'm actually contemplating how the author would feel about my rating (answer: he wouldn't give a damn) should warrant a 4? This book messes with my brain!

One bonus of tackling this one - it will up my page count on the stats thread ;)

3/5

>15 QuartInSession: CONGRATS! I hope you are rewarding your self with chocolate or other yummies of your choice. I think I felt the same way when I finished Against the Day -- for me it is a 5 star book and a two star book and a three star book. Weirdly, when I finally finished and had a rough idea of what happened, I wanted to go back and re-read it to see what I had missed.... So far, I've successfully suppressed that feeling.

have a look at the rating system my conscience forced me to adopt after feeling the way you did Quart...

http://johnandsheena.co.uk/books/?page_id=1618

this results in a little graphic at the end of each of my reviews like this:

One bonus of tackling this one - it will up my page count on the stats thread ;)

Quite right! Although not as much as you might think. You've successfully bumped your average up from 387 to 394 which currently ties you for the third highest page average!

ELiz_M - thanks! I had a doughnut this morning and told myself I had lost enough calories lugging that thing on the bus to work everyday to justify it. I just perused your (excellent) review and totally agree about the 'bon mots meant to amuse', and also being so glad it's over but strangely wanting to read it again. Seems to have that effect.

arukiyomi - isn't it neat when you realize you aren't alone in a particular feeling about something? That's what I just experienced looking at the rating system on your blog! I think that's a great idea....I may actually stop assigning number ratings to my reads and just write down my feelings in general.

Jonny - thanks for the info! I'm planning on finally getting through Clarissa this year so that should help as well. ;)

124. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

This was my first Wharton, but I had heard some glowing reviews going in so I had certain expectations, which were definitely met! I think I was especially relieved to have a straightforward plot and writing style after finishing Against the Day. How interesting to get a glimpse into the tedious social norms of 1870s New York, both spoken and unspoken! Despite the ease with which I plowed through this one, it was not a pleasant read per se - there's a sense of unhappiness that pervades the entire novel, and a burgeoning sense among one character that these mores, and society's view of a woman's role, are not entirely sensible or equitable....but ultimately there's a lack of courage to take any sort of action on this front, which can be beyond frustrating. But I suppose Ms. Wharton would not have had this novel to write without them.

At the same time, there is a fair amount of humour and plenty of wry social observations that make this book a pleasure to read: "It was one of the great livery-stableman's most masterly intuitions to have discovered that Americans want to get away from amusement even more quickly than they want to get to it." Lots of times, I would nod my head and grin, which makes me connect that much more with a piece of writing.

Thoroughly interesting.

125. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

Not a lot to say about this one, other than that it falls quite far below Jane Eyre in complexity. I found the main character to be much too preachy and self-righteous for my tastes, and it lacked the passion I expected from a 'romance novel' (though I'm not sure if Ms. Bronte intended it to be a romance novel, to be fair). I thought Rosalie was the most interesting character, simply because Bronte showed a bit of growth in her that she didn't show in Agnes - while Rosalie was painted as a villain, we were able to glimpse another side of her as the book progressed. Agnes, on the other hand, seemed to remain stagnant and moralistically stubborn throughout.

Still, I didn't dislike this read - it's simply not one that will stick with me long term.

#20 - This is a Wharton I haven't read, but I have read 2 others of hers from the list, The House of Mirth and Ethan Frome, and this one sounds like both of those. The insight on society and the pervading sense of depression definitely appears in both of these novels. If you liked that Wharton, you'll like the others!

>21 QuartInSession: - be interested to hear what you think of Tenant of Wildfell Hall in comparison with Agnes Grey...

Time for an update - it's been awhile! Will just plop down some quick thoughts here.

126. Aithiopika by Heliodorus

Not my favourite sort of literature, and a tad repetitive, but fairly enjoyable as a good yarn nonetheless. Most interesting bit for me is thinking about the lay of the land at that time - could Egyptians, Greeks and Ethiopians could really all communicate with each other in Heliodorus' time, or was that just to make his job easier as an author?

127. Alamut by Vladimir Bartol

Read this! Fascinating insight into the world of fundamentalism and the idea of trusting everything, even your life, to an enigmatic leader. Very quotable - interesting commentary on truth and religious faith. Disappointing that this is not more well known.

128. Alberta and Jacob by Cora Sandel

All grimness and hopelessness in the north of Norway. Still, I was engaged - I think I have a particular fondness for these types of coming of age novels, no matter the setting or tone.

129. Albert Angelo by B. S. Johnson

I think I liked this one more than annamorphic did, but I still wasn't overly taken with it. I did like that Johnson was always switching up the devices he used, which kept it moving along quickly. Not one that will stick with me long term.

130. The Albigenses by Charles Maturin

Four volumes of 300+ pages each - done! The pages were small and well-spaced, so there's that, but this still felt like a doozy. Lots of gothic elements, knights, damsels in distress, witches, corrupt priests, religious wars....you get the idea. I always find these types of books repetitive, but this one was not hellish. I haven't yet read any Sir Walter Scott, but I imagine this would be similar to his works.

All caught up. :)

good stuff.

Reading about #128, think you would love Kristin Lavransdatter

Hello Quart - Wow- some interesting and I'm impressed that you mad it through The Albigenses.

I'll be interested to see if you pick up >25 arukiyomi: 's suggestion of Kristin Lavransdatter. I have those three volumes on Planet TBR and hope to start them later this year.

arukiyomi, you are tempting me to abandon my alphabetical list strategy! Kristin Lavransdatter does indeed sound right up my alley. Thanks for visiting, streamsong!

And here's another multi-book update:

131. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

This was my second Atwood, after The Blind Assassin, and I definitely connected with this one more than TBA, though I recall enjoying that one as well. I am a sucker for fictionalized accounts of 'true stories', and this one had plenty of food for thought. Atwood is right up my alley.

132. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

I hadn't marked this one off the list because I thought I hadn't read the entire thing, but after going through it this time, I think I have. I got much more out of it this time around, however, since I actually read The Annotated Alice with notes by Martin Gardner. What is there to say about Alice other than it is fantastic? Thanks to Gardner, I know more about Victorian pop culture than I ever thought I would!

133. Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

I took a small detour from my alphabetical reading of the list since this one was also included as part of The Annotated Alice. I didn't find this one nearly as good as Alice (perhaps an interest in chess would have helped?), but the Jabberwocky is magnificent, of course. Again, Gardner's notes really helped me understand many of Carroll's period references and I would recommend this version for any Alice fans.

134. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

This blew me away. I would even go so far as to call it life-changing, in tandem with a visit I took to some WWI and WWII sites in France last year. I had seen the movie that is based on this book, but the book grabbed me in a much more profound way. I can't even really put the emotions into words - Remarque accomplished something horrifying and beautiful and very, very special here.

135. All Souls by Javier Marias

One of the pleasures of reading alphabetically is the opportunity to juxtapose very different types of literature. In this case, I think whatever book came after AQOTWF would have paled in comparison for me, but this one in particular - about a Spanish professor at Oxford who has an affair with another professor's wife - came across as extra vapid and trifling because of what I had read just before. I cared so little about the characters - I thought at one point 'Who cares what happens to you at Oxford when there are people getting their legs blown off?' Of course, a world with only books like AQOTWF would quickly become a very miserable, dark place so books like All Souls are a good thing, in general - but this particular one was lost on me.

136. All Souls Day by Cees Nooteboom

I took a lot longer to read this one than I was expecting, mostly thanks to a very busy and fantastic trip to New Orleans that got in the way! I found it difficult to connect with the characters, but was nonethless intrigued by this 300-page meditation on loss, memory, letting go, etc. It almost felt like floating through a dream. Having been to Germany (and particularly Berlin, where the novel is set) a few times, I was particularly fascinated by the Dutch narrator's observations on the German psyche, mostly as it relates to the events of World War II, and how the newer generation is affected by those events. I know there are several members of this board who would have picked up much better on the subtleties of the Dutch/German relationship, but it was still interesting for me as a North American with interest in these sorts of national/cultural 'state of mind' questions.

137. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

My first McCarthy, and I found it nearly unputdownable. So, so bleak but full of beauty. For McCarthy, the world is a harsh, lonely place - and what better device to use to demonstrate that than a young love that is impossible from the start. It took a bit to get into the rhythm of McCarthy's 'quoteless' dialogue, but his descriptions of the Mexican landscape and the wild horses were riveting.

138. Almost Transparent Blue by Ryu Murakami

Yuck? I came away from this with a sense of hopelessness and a feeling that I really needed a shower. The jacket says this book is a 'a Japanese mix between A Clockwork Orange and L'Etranger'. I can definitely see that, but this one had far too much detail about vomiting. Far, faaaar too much. Murakami was 23 when he wrote it - and I think one would need to be a disillusioned youth, likely on lots of drugs, to really, genuinely 'get' this one. Seriously, I'm not easily offended, but the vomit talk was too much.

139. Amateurs by Donald Barthelme

I've said here before that short story collections aren't really my thing, and this was no exception. I found these short tales to be darkly absurd, bizarre and often right over my head. I Bought A Little Town was probably the best of the bunch, but there's nothing about this that will stick with me long term.

Whew! Meanwhile, I'm making a concerted effort to get through Clarissa by reading the letters on the days in which they were 'written' in the book, but I find myself falling behind by a couple of weeks thanks to my holiday, so I think I'll get caught up on that one before tackling Amadis of Gaul (another monster!).

Another fascinating collection of reviews. I admire your dedication to the alphabetical titles. Keep up the good work!

Totally agree with you on Almost Transparent Blue... the only positive I can say about it is: At least it's short!

really really good reviews considering they are so short. Loved your AQOTWF comments and glad to see you enjoyed Pretty Horses as much as I did. Nothing I have read by Murakami so far seems to benefit humanity.

Oh my, I've fallen behind on this and have really slowed down in my reading these days. Damn iphone apps giving me too many options for bus time.

Thanks for the compliments, folks! Only a few more to add since last time:

140. Amadis of Gaul by Garci Rodrigues de Montalvo

This was comprised of two massive volumes of about 800 pages each, and took me a month to get through. It sounds daunting, and it does get quite repetitive at times, but it wasn't a 'difficult' read, per se. The characters are a bit tough to keep straight since there are so many, but I learned to just keep the important ones straight and not worry too much about the others. StevenTX's review of this one is fabulous, so if you're interested in this book at all, please go read it. It was one of the big inspirations for Don Quixote, apparently, and (sort of) made me want to re-read DQ with a new lens. Another chunkster checked off!

141. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

This was a nice break after Amadis. Though the subject matter is not really 'light', there are some comic moments, and I always find modern stuff easier for my brain to process than classic literature. I'd heard some negative reviews of this book, but I didn't find it 'offensive' - I also didn't connect strongly with it, so ended up with a neutral sort of 'that was nice' feeling. I realize I didn't tell you anything about the book itself, but rather my feelings about the book. Sorry. :)

142. The Ambassadors by Henry James

Not my cup of tea at all. This was a huge slog for me, and the details are already slipping from my brain a month later. I've read The Turn of the Screw by James, so was prepared for his long, windy sentences that don't seem to make sense the first three times you read them, but it doesn't mean I was looking forward to them. I find it difficult to connect with these types of books - "Oh my, a grown man and woman are taking a boat ride together, what scandal!" It all seems so ridiculous.

143. Amelia by Henry Fielding

See my comment directly above about people who can't say what they're really thinking, for fear that their husband will get into a duel to preserve their honour. Having enjoyed Tom Jones, I was looking forward to this one, but found it really putdownable. Mr. Booth is pretty infuriating, and I'm sorry, but no wife like Amelia really exists. Oops, my cynical side is poking through. ;)

All caught up. I hope my next batch of five yields something I can get excited about! I'll call it the American Batch: American Pastoral, American Psycho, American Rust, Amerika.....and Amok. Also still working through Clarissa and I honestly think I will be sad to see it go once I'm finished. It's become part of my daily routine.

Was going to wait til I got American Pastoral from the library to update this, but that seems like it's going to be some distant day in the future, so will skip it for now and get my thread up to date quickly:

144. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis (absolutely vile and stomach-churning)

145. American Rust by Philipp Meyer (dark and dreary and ultimately enjoyable)

146. Amerika by Franz Kafka (strange and eerie and good)

147. Amok by Stefan Zweig (I read all 5 short stories in the little collection I got from the library - this was the best.)

148. Amongst Women by John McGahern (I love most things Irish - I think that predisposed me to liking this)

149. Amsterdam by Ian McEwan (I like McEwan, but found this pretty forgettable)

150. Clarissa by Samuel Richardson (Woohoo, I'm done! Feels good. A masterpiece)

151. Anagrams by Lorrie Moore (didn't click with me, I felt detached)

152. Ancestral Voices by Etienne van Heerden (dark South African family saga, lost a bit of steam near the end)

153. Nada (or Andrea) by Carmen Laforet (another dark and dreary one, almost suffocating, but very well written)

154. Animal Farm by George Orwell (absolutely fantastic. easily stands the test of time)

155. Animal's People by Indra Sinha (not usually a huge fan of novels set in India, but this was an exception. great.)

Still trucking away....finding it tough to find some of these, even via interlibrary loan, so skipping over some here and there and will come back to them when I can get them.

Latest read:

156. American Pastoral by Philip Roth

157. Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid

158. Another World by Pat Barker

159. Antic Hay by Aldous Huxley

160. Arcadia by Jim Crace

161. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne

162. Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe

163. An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro

164. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

I've had to skip over Anton Reiser, The Apes of God, Arcanum 17 and The Artamanov Business because I've had trouble getting my hands on them, but looks like they'll all be coming my way shortly so I'll be able to fit them in my reading schedule for 2015.

I have 19 'A' books left, which I'm quite excited about. Sounds like a lot, but when you know there are 82 'A' books on the list, you can see that it will feel good to finish them. :) But I have to get past The Apes of God first....ugh.

I love your alphabetical reading strategy! The perfect way to mix up the books and do the hard with the easy, the good with the bad. You're hitting a lot I haven't read this way so I appreciate when you put in the little reviews -- although in the last few lots I've read many so it's OK that they are reviewless.

Yes but what if you find a book you are just dying to read and it starts with Z? :-)

After an over two-year hiatus, I'm back! In 2015, I had gotten up to Auto-da-Fé on my alphabetical quest, but that one broke me for some reason. I took almost two years off reading pretty much anything, and then at the beginning of 2017 I picked back up again where I left off with renewed energy! As you can see, I snuck a quick Agatha Christie in there to get the juices flowing again (as well as a Catch-22 Christmas gift), but otherwise I'm back to the alphabetical journey!

I took a quick browse around and it's wonderful to see so many familiar names still at it! I'm hoping to get this thread back up and running again with some short reviews, but for now I'll just list my latest reads since there are so many.

165. Anton Reiser

166. The Apes of God

167. Arcanum 17

168. The Artamonov Business

169. As a Man Grows Older

170. As If I Am Not There

171. Ashes and Diamonds

172. Asphodel

173. Astradeni

174. At Swim-Two-Birds

175. At Swim, Two Boys

176. At the Mountains of Madness

177. The Atrocity Exhibition

178. August is a Wicked Month

179. Austerlitz

180. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

181. Catch-22

182. Auto-da-Fé

183. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

184. Autumn of the Patriarch

185. The Awakening

186. Babbitt

187. Back

188. The Back Room

189. Ballad for Georg Henig

190. Baltasar and Blimunda

191. Barabbas

192. Bartleby and Co.

193. The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman

194. A Boy’s Own Story

195. The Beautiful Room is Empty

196. Bebo’s Girl

197. Before Night Falls

198. The Beggar Maid

No 5-star reads, but favourites from this big chunk include: As If I Am Not There, August is a Wicked Month, The Awakening, Bebo's Girl, and The Beggar Maid

Duds include: The Apes of God (ugh, how many other Wyndham Lewis books are on the list?), plus Baltasar and Blimunda, and Bartleby and Co. to a lesser degree.

I'm currently reading Belle du Seigneur (a chunkster), and then plan to have Bel-Ami as my 200 milestone book! :)

>37 QuartInSession: Welcome back! I was sorry to see your contributions stop back in 2014 so good to have you on track again. Look forward to the next update from you.

Good to see you!

Good to see you here again!

Thanks ladies! I really have to get back in the habit of doing reviews as soon as I finish books. Here are some quick, surface thoughts on my latest reads.

199. Bel-Ami - My first de Maupassant and I quite enjoyed it. Duroy is not exactly a likeable character, particularly as a female reader, but I think I was fascinated by de Maupassant's story, and the apparent similarities between his life and Duroy's.

200. The Bell - My first Murdoch, and I didn't enjoy it as much I thought I would based on the reviews I had read. I felt sort of detached reading this and did not connect with the setting, the characters, or the atmosphere. I let it kind of wash over me and didn't really put any thought into all the layers of meaning and metaphor.

201. Belle du Seigneur - A 900+ page chunkster, but very readable. I especially enjoyed the ridiculous bit about maintaining the newness and freshness of one's relationship by never appearing before the other person as anything other than perfect. The main characters had a system of bells rigged up in the house so certain chimes meant she was coming out the room without being completely made up, so he needed to shut himself in his room, and vice versa. The characters were actually quite miserable for most of the book, but the story was still enjoyable.

202. The Bells of Basel - Ugh. A novel that seems to trace the evolution of women in society, from being 'kept' by men to being fully independent, contributing members of society. The first half was alright, but the second half was mostly about politics and taxi strikes in 1912 France, and was a definite struggle.

203. Beloved Really difficult to read - not the style, but the subject. I was sucked right into this - turning pages to find out what disgusting, reprehensible acts would be detailed next and also dreading those descriptions at the same time. Incredible book.