Rhea's BFB Challenge

Alright, these are the BFBs that I've set up to read for other challenges. The ROOTs are for this year, there is no time limit on the other ones.

2014 ROOTs: Gone with the Wind, Don Quixote, The Canterbury Tales, The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 1, The Deed of Paksenarrion, Daniel Deronda, and The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Iliad

Must Read Classics: A Romance of Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, A Journey to the West, A Dream of Red Chambers, Don Quixote, The Iliad, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, The Canterbury Tales, The Tale of Genji, 1001 Arabian Nights, 2666, Infinite Jest, Gravity's Rainbow, Dhalgren, and The Complete Chronicles of Conan.

1001 Books- A Romance of Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, A Journey to the West, A Dream of Red Chambers, Gone with the Wind, Daniel Deronda, and The Mysteries of Udolpho.

Reading Globally- Nothing yet.

Finished!
1. Gone with the Wind (ROOT, 1001, #15 on the Romance tag, #142 in Popularity)
2. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (#17 on the Fantasy tag, #89 in Popularity)
3. Reamde
4. Evolution by Carl T. Bergstrom
5. The Iliad by Homer (ROOT, #4 on the Classics tag, #65 in Popularity)

Welcome to the group Rhea, great list of BFBs to read, on your list that I enjoyed were Don Quixote, Daniel Deronda, A Journey to the West (if that is Monkey ), The Mists of Avalon, and I am a big Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell fan !

And I just scored 22 on your 'over 1000 page' listchallenge, plenty to go !

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was one of the most unique fantasy books I have ever read. It wasn't the most gripping, it just sort of plodded along, but the details made Clarke's Europe more real to me than many foreign countries. How did she think of all of that stuff? So many paragraph asides that could have been their own novel.

While looking it up on Wikipedia I've discovered it will soon be a BBC 1 television series.

I have a 9 on my listchallenge so I've very impressed by your 22. While I like making lists of long books, I've very easily intimidated by them. They're such commitment.

Agree completely about JS&MN, the details really brought the story alive for me, about time she wrote another novel, it's been 10 years with only a short story collection The Ladies of Grace Adieu(worth reading if you haven't already, with at least one story to do with Jonathan Strange if I remember rightly).

Hope the TV series captures the details and subtleties of the novel, the books are always better !

My 22 'big' reads have come about mainly because I too take on list challenges, I've been reading The Novel 100, by Daniel Burt, an American professor of literature, his take on the 100 best novels. I couldn't see that list on listchallenges so I will sign up and create the list

Agree with the intimidation factor, chatting with readers like yourself and others in this challenge is motivating I find !

Welcome Rhea. So happy to see another join us. You 1,000 page challenge was fun & interesting & made me realize how much of the books I read back in the 60s, 70s & 80s I have forgotten. Perhaps the time is nearing for some rereads. Maybe next year. I have my plate pretty full for this year.
Again, welcome. It will be fun having you here.

Thank you for the welcome rainpebble!

Bryanoz, I saw your list on listchallenges. I've read 35/125 of the best 100 novels, and most of them are books I hope to read sometime during my life.

I started up Reamde again, which I read around 2/3's of last year before its library due date. I have been a fan of Stephenson ever since I read Anathem, but Reamde is a very different book. It has MMORPGs, spies, terrorists, hostages, the mob, bear hunts, naval piracy, million dollar internet scams, family reunions, and likely even more unexpected exciting stuff I haven't got to yet.

One of the reasons it is so long is because Stephenson is educating the reader at the same time he's telling the story. For example, when a character stranded in the Philippines must set up a computer they can use without giving away their location to intelligence agencies, Stephenson describes exactly how the character goes about it. Characters frequently explain things to other characters, and the location (so many different places...) is generally described in great detail. It's interesting reading.

Also, it's horrible that this is rare enough that I notice, but there are several major female characters that act like human beings.

I finished Reamde. It was an enjoyable way to spend a Saturday.

Happy New Year Anoplophora! Hope to see you back here for our 2015 BFB challenge.

Definitely! Happy New Year to you too!