February 2014: What 1,001 books are you reading?

A new thread for a new month...

I've just finished Breakfast of Champions, which I found disappointing. I've loved everything else of Vonnegut's that I've read but not this one.

Moving on to book 2 in A Dance to the Music of Time next, which is A Buyer's Market.

I'm finishing up last month's GR, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and will soon be starting this month's GR Birdsong as well as book 2 of A Dance to the Music of Time, A Buyer's Market. Meanwhile, I still have The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami on hold for when I get ahead with my group reads.

I'm finally finding a bit of time to read now so have finished a couple over the last couple of days.

This month is going to start with The God of Small Things as part of my challenge to read 5 booker prize winners this year. On the Kindle I have finally succumbed to the car crash like pull that Gargantua and Pantagruel has had over me for months. I don't expect to enjoy it.

On audiobooks I just started Billy Liar for the 1001 challenge. I'm reading a non-1001'er on paper right now, but next up is Albert Angelo.

Just finished Dangerous Liaisons, Not sure what to read next.

Currently reading In the Heart of the Seas, which is slower paced than some previous reads. But it does have pictures!

I'm reading Old Goriot, which is refreshingly straighforward after Arcanum 17.

Just finished Sexing the Cherry and next two up are Cain and The Virgin Suicides.

I am reading Swann's Way, the first part of In Search of Lost Times. Although it is not hard to read, I have trouble keeping focussed and am really going slowly. Writing is beautiful though.

I am half way through The Fortune of the Rougons which is a non 1001 book but Im also reading He Knew He was Right and started Birdsong last night.

Ooooh... Are you going to read the whole Rougons-Macquart series then?

I'm reading The Picture of Dorian Gray for the group read on the 2014 Challenge group.

For a change of pace I looked over Achylus plays starting with Agamemnon.Those ancient were on a higher plane than us.They even make Shakspeare appear OK but living amoung peasants.

You should also read his play "The Importance of being Ernest"it's hilarious.

14 - another vote for The Importance of Being Ernest. I wasn't a big fan of Dorian, but I loved Ernest!

11- At least the ones that are translated into English I think there is about 3 that is only in French.

I've finished A Buyer's Market for this month's A Dance to the Music of Time read. I didn't like it as much as the first installment, though it did have good moments.

Now I'm reading Waiting for the Dark, Waiting for the Light.

I am reading Stienbecks Of Mice and Men.Takes me back to my earlier years on arrival in Canada.Working in sawmill,mining camps,farms,railroads is the same world over as I guess are the people.

Finally starting in on Birdsong for the group read.

Just started Rabbit, Run, I have all 4 books (3 on the list), so hope to read them this month.

On audio, Vernon God Little which is truly, painfully bad. I'm nearly 1/3 of the way through and it's a challenge to keep going.

On paper, Albert Angelo which I'm also not enjoying very much, but it does have some entertaining elements.

I've finished Under the Skin by Faber and The Immoralist by Gide. They are so different that it was probably not a great idea to read them back back and consequently I appreciated neither. Both are beautifully written, but neither had plots that interested me...

#21 Eeep - I can't see Vernon God Little lending itself to audio. I didn't mind it when I read it though my book group were pretty divided on it, if I remember rightly.

I have just started To Kill a Mockingbird. The beginning is quite intriguing.

Just started The Albigenses. The page number is listed as 300 on the spreadsheet, so I was expecting a quick read...when I picked it up at the library, imagine my surprise to find four hardcover volumes totalling 1,400+ pages waiting for me! The writing is quite large and well-spaced, at least, so it sounds worse than it is, but definitely not 300 pages. Not blaming arukiyomi for the wrong page number - this one is quite obscure and hard to get info on!

#25, I'm guessing you were the first one to check this one out of the library in a while! What library do you frequent that has a work of such obscurity?

I just started an obscure one: Wild Harbour by Ian Macpherson.

26, I wish my library was that good! It is pretty decent, actually, but I had to get this one on an interlibrary loan from Trent University here in Ontario.

The card in the back lists 1991 as the last check out date, but perhaps one or two people have read it since they stopped manually stamping those cards....or perhaps not. :)

#25 LOL! It's a gamble sometimes - you expect a slim volume and find youself presented with 5 tomes that haven't been read since 1980...

So far this February, I've finished Swann's Way, Oliver Twist, and Main Street. I liked the last two considerably more than I expected to.

I'm currently reading The Remains of the Day.

I'm reading Around the World in Eighty Days which is really fun and about to start The Real Charlotte by Somerville and Ross which is one of the books on our unread list.

Reading To the North on paper for the Group Challenge, I like Elizabeth Bowen and this is no exception.
On audio, The Lambs of London so that I can get rid of all traces of Vernon God Little, the words of which seem horribly lodged in my ears. Did somebody say panties? Fucken panties? Have we had enough abuse by depraved homosexual authority figures yet? Somebody have a gun in their shed? A couple of 'em? And do we have, er, trouble controlling our bowels? Let's shit some while we think about fucken panties.... This is the true America that both fascinates and repels us. (In the very words of a Booker judge -- I ask you!).
Sorry, I am still reeling from the extreme awfulness of that book.

Vernon God Little is absolutely one of the worst books I have ever read. I feel your pain.

Vernon God Little was on my most-probably not list, but now it's on my definitely absolutely no way list. Thanks for helping with that. And what's up with the title, anyway? (Please don't answer--I'm just sayin' it sounds dumb and doesn't make me want to pick up the book).

I think it's safe to say I will never read Vernon God Little. Plenty of other books out there!

I have, however, started The Real Charlotte which I am very much enjoying.

Just finished god of small things, Very well-written book, however a bit slow for me.
I don't Know yet which Will be the next one : mason And dixon, history of love or heart of darkness ?

It's turned out to be a sort of 1001-heavy month (which is kind of good because I barely read any in January). I have The Murder of Roger Ackroyd out from the library and Sputnik Sweetheart on my bedside table. I'll get to both of them soon, but I'll probably start with the Murakami since I just finished Hound of the Baskervilles and I should probably put a little distance between English mystery stories.

I'm currently bogged down in Infinite Jest - this book looks like a brick and is just as dense! Normally I get through 80-100 pages per day (2.5 hours commute). With this book it's more like 50-60 pages.

My husband and I are talking about getting two copies of Infinite Jest and reading it together. I've tried it once before and didn't get far. But we're not planning to do it until next year, or whenever I finish up In Search of Lost Time. I don't think two big projects like that would really play nicely together.

I just finished Of love and shadows, which was full of beautifully-written characters. I have both The Master and Margarita and To the lighthouse on my bedside table. Decisions, decisions...

Enjoying reading Don Quixote, but it seems to be taking forever. Looking forward to finishing it so I can move on to the next one! Which has yet to be named.

For February, I have read Rituals by Cees Nooteboom, God's Bits of Wood (both of which were very good), The Irish R. M. (OK, the specifics to understand the humor didn't translate to modern times), Fathers and Sons via audio (so, I have to read a paper copy to feel as if I read it -- I definitely missed A LOT), and The Counterfeiters which started strong, got less interesting about halfway through.

I am on a holiday and brought some (I guess) easy ones: The Big Sleep, Pride and Prejudice, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and In Cold Blood. At home, Swann's Way is still waiting to be finished.

Currently starting with Lolita.

>40 paruline: paruline read The Master and Margarita!!! It is so good.

I am re-reading The Grapes of Wrath because my oldest daughter has been assigned to read it in 11th-grade English. I do not remember it at all. Hope to finish it quickly so I can do The Hunchback of Notre Dame for the group read. It is very hard to get a touchstone to the right work - it keeps giving me Disney and various graphic novels....

>38 puckers: & 39 Infinite Jest is the book that made me a believer in the eBook! With the sheer size, all the footnotes, and having to look up words every other page I think it is perfect for an eBook (and I had been a hold out). Just a thought. That being said, it is still slow going as I pick it up only when I have the motivation. I think I'm finally to page 300.

I'm hoping that in the final few days of February I can get to book 2 in A Dance to the Music of Time and then cruise right into Book 3 for March.

About to start on volume 4 of 4 of The Albigenses - I have actually enjoyed this quite a bit more than I thought I would (which is not necessarily to say it's all that great, just that my expectations were really low to begin with!). After that one, I'll be starting on my next interlibrary loan book, Aithiopika.