March 2013 - What 1001 books are we reading?

Well, I've never done this before, but I can't see a March 2013 thread so thought I would start one!

Having just finished the awe inspiring Life: A User's Manual I am now reading the following:

On real paper: A Confederacy of Dunces because it's the March group read.
On my Kindle: Portnoy's Complaint because Philip Roth has 7 or more books on the list and I haven't read any. (2013 challenge of mine to read 1 by each of such authors)
On my phone: Robinson Crusoe because I still haven't read a single list book from the 1700s.

I'm going to be spending a week in a cabin in the mountains of Andalusia at the end of March (think Walden without the brain power) so will probably rattle through a good chunk of lists books then.

Thanks for starting the thread. I'm listening to Wuthering Heights on audiobook. I've read it before, but have always wanted to reread it.

A new month, how exciting!

I'm just about halfway through Tristram Shandy. This will be my second book from the pre-1800 section of the book so don't feel bad, Jonny! And my first one was read 25 years ago when I was assigned it in high school (Candide).

I'm reading The Forsyte Saga. Good, but will probably take a while!

Still going on A Buyer's Market and just realised I have to return Sweet Tooth to the library in a few days' time so I'm swapping books midread. Dislike doing that, but I dislike being put at the end of the queue for McEwan even more...

Les Miserables. Forever and ever.

I am reading Lolita and loving it! Beside my bed: Of mice and men (which I read in highschool but can't remember), The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Independent People. Two fat ones, so this will probably take me well into April!

I'm reading The New York Trilogy, good so far (I'm on book 2). I plan on reading A Confederacy of Dunces as the readalong this month, as well as The Corrections and Freedom.

I'm reading The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas as part of a group read. I think I'll be at it for quite some time.

Currently on no new list books, but I hope to read Mrs. Dalloway, The Name of the Rose, and Sense & Sensibility in the next few weeks.

Lots of good reading this month on this thread - Lolita, A Buyer's Market, Tristram Shandy, The Name of the Rose and The Count of Monte Cristo are all favorites of mine - all 5 star books. Lucky you all!

I'm reading Eugenie Grandet by Balzac. I'm really enjoying it; Balzac does a wonderful job setting a scene and I feel like I'm in that small rural French town.

#273 - The Name of the Rose - 4 Stars. A superb mystery but with a somewhat evident ending. Really enjoyed this read, however.

I have started All Quiet on the Western Front last friday about 100 pages in. Right in the middle of The Lord of the Rings and picking Dance to the Music of Time for the group read. Since I didnt get to Les Miserables and may get to the A Confederacy of Dunces if I can find a good hard copy.

Finished up with The Garden of the Finzi-Continis yesterday, which was great. I'm starting on the group read of A Confederacy of Dunces next.

In the last week or so I finished Eugenie Grandet (great writing, annoying ending), The Reader (just great, all around) and The Kreutzer Sonata (I don't even know where to begin. No.)

Now I'm reading The Charterhouse of Parma. Stendhal is funnier than I expected.

In the middle of Moon Palace on my ipod, trying to tackle a Paul Auster book as he has 7 on the list and I've only read 2 so far. Starting Brave New World in the next few days and hoping to also read Eyeless in Gaza this month as The Monthly Author Read Group http://www.librarything.com/groups/monthlyauthorreads are tackling Aldous Huxley this month (if anyone fancies joining in feel free to pop on over).

I've started A Confederacy of Dunces - very funny so far.

Almost finished the Cs and Ds at the local library - next will be Coetzee, de Loo and DeLillo.

Having completed Les Mis, my next "big book" is Clarrisa - methinks the lady doth protest too much.

I just read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, which I liked.

Sleep deprived and I swear the anaesthetic the dentist gave me sent half my brain to sleep along with half my face. So picked up A House in the Uplands by Erskine Caldwell. My, oh my. I'm now even more sleep deprived because I stayed up late finishing it off! Not quite sure why it made the list, but I had a great time reading it.

Onto a serious tome for bookgroup (sigh, why don't they ever choose good fun fluff?), then back to A Buyer's Market...

Oh, and I do hope Sweet Tooth ends up on a future 1001 list, I thought it was a great read, one of McEwan's best.

>16 katrinasreads: Thanks to the link for the Aldous Huxley read. I have Antic Hay on my TBR pile, so perhaps I'll join in.

I'm 1 book into The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and it is better than I was expecting.

And I finished The English Patient, which makes number 300 for me!!!! Not sure what I think about the book though, I'll need a few days to mull it over.

I am now 3/5 of the way through Tristram Shandy. I've been reading about 25-30 pages daily, at which pace it'll take me another week to finish.

I'm also reading The Corrections, which started off great but is now sort of dragging.

I have been struggling with The Corrections, as well. I am taking a big break and hope that it will seem better next summer.

Finishing off Cranford, daily chaptering History of Tom Jones, bathroom book is STILL The Golden Notebook and will be for the forseeable future. Oh and started Contact the other day in a fit of pique.

I love the 1,001 :)

Finished off A Confederacy of Dunces, which wasn't for me. Next up is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which might be a re-read for me.

I finished a Room With a View last night and I need to go ahead and finish up Lord of The Rings still about half way. And of course Dance to the Music of Time.

I finished the Finzi-Continis. A slow book with beautiful writing, among the best books in Italian I've read so far.

I'll finish chapter 2 of The Acceptance World tonight and I am still struggling with Indian Summer/ Nachsommer by Adalbert Stifter, alternately being in awe of the language and losing my patience with the non-story.

On audiobooks I am listening to The Accidental by Ali Smith and liking it more than I had expected. It's very well read, which helps. On paper I am just reading a young adult novel. I needed some brain candy after 6 weeks of Les Miserables.

1Q84 and loving it.

Finished both The acceptance world by Anthony Powell and Nachsommer by Adalbert Stifter today. Nachsommer was #245, I should start planning my #250.

I started Anthony Trollope's Framley Parsonage. It will bring me a little closer to The Last Chronicle of Barset which I hope to reach late this year.

I've finished Robinson Crusoe and Confederacy of Dunces so have now picked up The Satanic Verses on real world paper and Tess of the D'Urbervilles on digital world paper.

In anticipation of how the group read vote is going I've also just ordered IQ84 so that I can take it with me to Spain in 2 weeks to get a head start in the hope that I will finish it in April. Very excited about that, my very first Murakami!

Tess of the D'Urbervilles is one of my favorites. The BBC movie that they made is great.

I just finished God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater and, am going to be reading Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth. I'll be interested in what you think of it JonnySaunders!

Finished with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd today and will be moving onto All Quiet on the Western Front next.

Just started Eyeless in Gaza by Aldous Huxley

Coming into the home stretch on Tristram Shandy (about 60 pages to go), and started The Story of Lucy Gault.

Hopefully your first Murakami won't be your last - 1Q84 is by far his weakest, and by far his longest. He doesn't have another book on the list, does he?

According to my spreadsheet there are 5 Murakami's on the list as follows:

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle
Sputnik Sweetheart (only on the original 2006 list)
After the Quake (only on the original 2006 list)
Kafka on the Short (removed from the most recent 2012 list)
IQ84 (added to the most recent 2012 list)

Funnily enough the only Murakami that I had heard of, before picking up the list, was Norwegian Wood which was recommended to me by a friend but isn't on the list! Don't worry, he's well and truly on my radar so I doubt I will give up if I don't enjoy IQ84.

I've read the first two and they are both excellent - especially Wind up Bird. I really don't think Sputnik should have been removed either.

#274 - Confederacy of Dunces - 4 Stars - I really enjoyed this book primarily because of it's nonsense. Sometimes it's good to get hold of a light, enjoyable read.

Just finished A Robber Bride and it was a very fast and enjoyable read, by far my favorite Atwood so far. Im listening and reading to The Wings of a Dove because I loved the movie. But I still need to finish up The Lord of the Rings already.

I finished The Story of Lucy Gault last night, will review it today. Tomorrow I'll finish Tristram Shandy. After that ... not sure just yet, but I have a pretty good selection open to me.

I am reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and loving it. I think It is better than 1Q84, which I read in parts, as soon as they were released. Book 3 did not live up to my expectations.

#40 - the Robber Bride is my favourite Atwood too of the 8 or so that I've read.

Me too! And I have read a lot of Atwood.

I'm reading The Beautiful Room is Empty by Edmund White and I have little interest in it, so if it isn't riveting by page 50, I'm chucking it in the charity bin. I do like to give 1001 books a fighting chance though.

news from Nowhere by William Morris, a polemic more than a novel, not particularly enjoyable so far.

#45> Joyce, I'm reading White's A Boy's Own Story. I am liking it though.

And I just finished A Buyer's Market, which I enjoyed again, but couldnt quite cope with the long sentences, being a bear of very little brain this week. Hence a short pause before The Acceptance World.

I'm reading The Black Dahlia, which should be up my alley but seems to be a couple of blocks over somehow.

#47- Tania - I'm almost finished the Beautiful Room is Empty and I'm finding the writing quite terrific. Will read more by him for sure.

#48- you're so funny! Personally that book was a 1001 that I couldn't stand and chucked it by page 3. Did not like the voice at all and did not want to get used to it.

Reading Portnoy's Complaint. Unfortunately it has been picked as this month's book club read, I just can't imagine talking this one out over nibbles (especially as my mum is also a member of the book group).

#50> puffinmuck, my current read, A Boy's Own Story was recommended (and loaned to me by my mum). She did say it was quite unlike anything she would normally read, but I was still rather unprepared for the explicit gay sex scene in the first chapter. :)

It is beautifully written though, and very true.

Finished up with All Quiet on the Western Front... lots of haunting images that are going to stick in my head in that one. I think I'll probably get started on 1Q84 for the group read next.

>49 Nickelini: It was the rare book where I checked to see if it had been dropped in subsequent editions, and was surprised to see it hadn't.

Ursula - yes! I agree.

I'm about to start The House of Mirth. I've loved everything else by Wharton that I've read, so expect this to be very good as well.

>54 Nickelini:, Nickelini, I loved The House of Mirth. I read it last year and found Lily Bart to be one of the best female characters I've read in a long time. I love Wharton. I went straight to The Custom of the Country after that, although Undine Spragg is not quite as sympathetic a social climber as Lily Bart. Enjoy! I look forward to reading your thoughts as you get into it.

I started today in Independent People, a saga about Iceland. Did anyone read this one? I can't find much on LT on this book. 600 pages, always nice when someone says it's gonna be a great read...

I finished Eugénie Grandet by Honoré de Balzac and started Il Piacere by Gabriele D'Annunzio. I'm only 4% in, it seems to be another slow one.

> 51.
Mums are a funny bunch!

#275 - The Brothers Karamazov - 2.5 Stars. I just never really could get into this one. And I normally enjoy the older Russian literature. Knowing this is considered a classic, I just have to do a big sigh and wonder what I might have missed!?

#276 - Memoirs of a Geisha - 4 Stars. Very good and entertaining read. Not something I would have read if it were not on the list. Well written, sometimes intense story line. A look into a world I knew nothing about and now know just a little of.

I finished Alias Grace, my first Atwood, #247. Can't decide yet if I like her writing, I might follow up with A Handmaid's Tale in April.

I am 30% through the planned #248 and 249, Il Piacere and Like Water for Chocolate and downloaded what I should become #250, Iris Murdoch's The Sea, the Sea.

I'm about halfway through Germinal by Emile Zola and it is really very good if a little bit depressing.

All right, I just finished Germinal and I'm revising my opinion. "A little bit depressing" is way, way, way too much an understatement. The last third is just a bloodbath. There are at least three scenes where I was left thinking "I cannot believe I just read that".

>63 jfetting: - Ooohh.... oddly, now, I want to read Germinal, jfetting. :)

I have been reading The Count of Monte Cristo since the beginning of April on my Kobo.. I'm still only 73% completed. :S Though I really am enjoying the meandering storyline and all of its various characters.