August 2014: What 1001 books are you reading?

What am I reading.....?

I am mainly reading Doctor Zhivago, but also have A Gate at the Stairs going as my errand -running/chores audiobook.

I just finished A Gate at the Stairs, loved it. Now I am reading Cranford, my number 400! Beside the bed Fathers and Sons and The Graduate are waiting.

I've just started Women in Love, as it is also part of my TBR Challenge, but I may put it aside in favour of House of Mirth.

Just getting started with Surfacing and waiting for The Summer Book to arrive for the group read.

A little over halfway through Sodom and Gomorrah, and reading Crossfire as well.

Haven't read a 1001 book for a few months, so I plan to get to one or two this month. Written on the Body is at the top of the pile, so it might be that one. Or maybe not.

Since our group read was so brief that I've already finished it, I think I will start a long one that I've taken on for the Group Challenge: A World for Julius. Not as long as some on that list but reasonably hefty.
On audio I'm doing last month's group read, Notes from the Underground.

I decided, as I'm new to the group, to get caught up on group read threads. Oh dear. I have added the 4 Chinese Classics, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Part 2 of Remembrance of Things Past to my Kobo.

Oh dear, oh dear.

>6 Nickelini: Nickelini, I LOVED Written on the Body. I'm a Winterson fan. I hope you like it!

The House of the Seven Gables. This summer is partly dedicated to finally finishing all those books that have defeated me in the past.

I'm listening to The Tin Drum, all 24 hours of it. I'm finding it irksome that the book is written in the 1st person, but the narrator often refers to himself in the third person. I was getting back into Infinite Jest only to put it aside again for lighter, summer fare.

Midnight's children is going slowly; it might take me most of August.

#11, I'd love to have the Tin Drum on audio! Did you get it from your local library, or where? On amazon it's too expensive for me. I only buy cheap audios, which is why I'm now listening to Notes from the Underground in a somewhat amateur reading on 6 discs with NO tracks, just one long track on each disc. But it only cost about $7.50!

>13 annamorphic: My library recently started using Hoopla, so I was able to download it. I can't believe the price of buying audio books, so I am very glad to have the free source. Although the down side of Hoopla is that there aren't any tracks either, so the bookmark function is a life saver. I don't think I would be able to make it through The Tin Drum without the audio (I've had the book on my shelf for about 4 years) and the version I have is narrated by Paul Michael Garcia who is very good.

#10 This summer is partly dedicated to finally finishing all those books that have defeated me in the past.

Jennifer, what a brave goal! If I tried that, it would turn into a summer of catching up on movies I've missed on Netflex. Good luck, go you!

#9 Nickelini, I LOVED Written on the Body. I'm a Winterson fan. I hope you like it!

Oh good, I think I'll be in the mood for it as soon as I finish the book I'm almost finished. Thanks for the encouragement.

I am currently working my way through the audiobook of Crime and Punishment.

I have to agree that audiobooks can get kind of pricey, which is why my listening habits lean very heavily in the directions of the classics I can find on Librivox. Certainly not the worst thing in the world, but I do need to start reading some more of the modern 1001 some time soon.

After trying Fathers and Sons on audiobook and failing to click with it (I think it was just my mood, not the fault of the book), I'm attempting to listen to another 19th century classic, The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot. I hope I have better luck with this one.

Finished Crossfire, and now I'm reading Red Harvest. So far, I'm liking Dashiell Hammett better than Raymond Chandler. I'm only 1/3 of the way into this one, though, so things could definitely change.

> 18 What a coincidence; I just finished Fathers and Sons - which I did like - and also started with The Mill on the Floss. I am being a bit ahead of our September group read, but it's a big one and I read other ones in between. I just finished the first volume and am now starting Therese Raquin, based on all the good reviews of it here on LT.

Having finished The Summer Book, next up for me will be The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

I've just finished Midnight's Children and moving to The good soldier Svejk.

Have begun Herzog on audiobooks. I do NOT think I am going to like this one. Thank goodness for the wonderful A World for Julius which I am now halfway through in paper form.

I've just started Naked Lunch and Kafka's The Trial. So far so good.

Regarding those complaining about the cost of audiobooks, what about your local library or perhaps the Open Library? I don't listen to audio books because they are very slow compared to my reading speed and I prefer to listen to the words in my head (in a non insane way) rather than let someone elses voice dictate how characters sound. But I have noticed plenty of library's now offer audio books for direct download onto ereaders for no extra charge.

#25 - I download books from my library onto my iPhone. It's pretty easy, and free. I've listened to a lot of 1001 books that way.

I recently finished the audiobook for A Gate at the Stairs and have finally completed Doctor Zhivago. I am not sure what I'll pick up next, maybe Là-Bas or On the Edge of Reason.

Just finished Written on the Body and now I'm starting The Leopard.

I have finished Like Water for Chocolate and have been craving real chocolate ever since... although I'm not sure I could handle that much passion, this type of book is my favourite kind of read!

#29 - Like Water for Chocolate is one of my all time favourite books, although I'm not remembering it so well anymore. Time for a reread.

I'm trying to read The Man Without Qualities. I am not speeding through, and in fact have taken a breather with The House of Mirth.

I'm reading Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann which I'm finding very readable and enjoying.

The stars aligned and I received a stack of books from the library. So in addition to The good soldier Svejk (which is delightful), I've started Under fire and Nausea.

I've begun Broad and Alien is the World for the group challenge. Another Peruvian book and very different from my last one.

I finished Madame Bovary last week - haven't been able to read a good novel for months due to work and home improvement projects, so this almost felt like vacation! Unfortunately now it's back to reading for research...

I am in the middle of A Pale View of Hills by Ishiguro and Immoralist by Gide. I'd like to start Kafka on the Shore at some point though.

I just read The Thirty-Nine Steps which was a very entertaining story.

I'm about 1/3 of the way through Ferdydurke, which is surreal.

>38 ursula: I tried to read that on a trip to Warsaw. It wasn't a good plane book.

I just finished what I loved and I'm reading cloud atlas now.

>39 ELiz_M: Yeah, I don't think it would be the right thing for a long confinement. Or interruptions, or possibly being half-asleep. :)

After an embarrassing 1,001-free July I was able to finish one in August: The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. Today I started Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin.

I recently finished Young Torless, which was ok, and Fear of Flying, which I really liked.

Now I'm about 1/3 of the way into The Name of the Rose and am not taken with it.

>42 Deern: Hah, I just read Plot Against America the other day also.

I will be starting Sous le soleil de Satan (Under Satan's Sun) which I found for $1 at my local used book store (yey!)

>45 Cecilturtle: Oooh! That is one of the few 1001 books that no one in this group has read yet!

I had a tough choice about whether to start the next Proust volume early, as it arrived today, but instead decided to try and sneak in The Last September before August is over. Elizabeth Bowen is one of my 2 remaining authors with 6 on the complete list that I have read nothing by (the other is Henry Green, fact fans)

I've also been neglecting the earlier centuries for too long so am going to have a go at The Adventurous Simplicissimus by Hans Jakob Grimmelshausen

#47, Bowen and Green are two of my favorites, but you have to like a certain kind of book.
I've brought down my unread 5+ authors to: Flaubert, Perec, Pynchon. There are a lot more, though, if I go down to 4+ authors.

5 books is going to be my challenge for 2015 I think. I'm currently missing 10!

Funnily enough Perec and Pynchon are two that I have read...but also two that you have to like a certain kind of book I think, particularly Perec!

So, here's a funny thing that happened. I'm reading Sophie's World (non-list), which I started a while ago. Last week, I had requested Ferdydurke by Witold Gombrowicz from the library at essentially random and started that. Then last night, while closing in on the end of Sophie's World, guess who is mentioned? Witold Gombrowicz. The name wouldn't have meant anything to me had I read it more than a week or so ago.

>50 ursula: That kind of thing happens to me all the time, it's quite bizarre, really.

I finished The Name of the Rose, which finally started getting interesting in the last quarter, and have started The Secret History.

I finished On the Edge of reason and am very slowly working on The Passion According to G.H. and Tent of Miracles.

I finished cloud atlas yesterday (3,5 stars). I am reading the Line of beauty now.

I'm currently steaming through the books (well, slowly steaming) as I've picked up a couple of eReaders (kindle and nook) and I have physical books for reading in the bath. I've started a 1001 plus extra's blog and I'm going to do this!

In the last week of or so I've finished Naked Lunch, The Trial and Slaughterhouse Five and re-read The Color Purple. I am now currently reading The Shining, Les Miserables and 5 Anton Chekov plays (all bath books) and on various readers The Vicar of Wakefield, The Monk, and Atonement and on the Internet (so I can access two different annotated version) Ulysses which I've tried and failed with in the past.

Atonement came up from The Open Library where I'd been on the waiting list for it so The Vicar and The Monk will be put on the back burner, and once September starts I've got my monthly Goodreads book which is Dead Souls so that will take priority as well. The Vicar is short and I'm over halfway through so I'll probably manage to finish it regardless but The Monk might take a while.

I just started Money by Amis but have Line of Beauty by Hollinghurst pending.

> 55. You really are steaming!

> 54, 56 Both reading The Line of Beauty, I hope you'll find it as great as I did.

I am reading Great Expectations, my first 'real' Dickens after A Christmas Carol, finally.

And I am also listening to my first audio book ever, on my iPhone while walking to my work: Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

#46 - I'm going to have to set it aside. I have an avalanche of books that just came in from the library, but I'll add it to the group list as soon as I'm done with it!