Best 1001 Books Alphabetically

We are all a bunch of list geeks, so why not have an arbitrary contest.

Pick your favorite book by title alphabetically. I am going to start off the A-list.

Look at all of the book titles in the 1001 list contents page starting with A and pick your top one or three or five or ten or whatever.

Also, tell us why. A fact without a reason is like words without meaning.

-- M1001

I have to be honest, haven't read a lot of books starting with "A".

Out of the ones I have read, my favorite is:

Alice's Adventures In Wonderland
Reason: Lewis Carol is a genius. One of my favorite writers. Also, the characters. Also the wonderful drawings by John Tenniel, some of my favorite children drawings ever.

I have some over books I thought were okay, but I would strongly suggest avoiding The Atrocity Exhibition. Weird Burrough's ripoff novel.

Having submitted my first entry in this post, I think we should list good, bad, and ugly items in each letter category.

Hope this is fun and informative for people.

Let's see some more "A" books.

-- M1001

Quick question - would titles that start with "a" count? Example - A Clockwork Orange?

Good question, I wondered that too. I had to go all the way upstairs and get the book so I can look at the index, and I notice that A Clockwork Orange is indexed (using proper indexing conventions) under "C". I believe it's only articles that are ignored (someone please speak up if you know differently). Quickly scanning the index, there are lots of entries for all 26 letters, with Q, Y and Z being the shortest.

So, Media1001, are we going to exhaust the "A"s before moving on to the "B"s, or is this full-contact competitive list making? Also, can each player list a letter more than once, or do you only get one shot at it?

You asked for "A", so here goes:

Atonement, by Ian McEwan. This was a difficult choice, because there are some splendid works under "A". But I picked this one because of the intense feelings I experienced while I read it. I thought the first third was a masterpiece, and I was caught off guard by the end (the middle was pretty good too). It was my first McEwan, and I had no idea what to expect. In fact, I started reading it, prepared to be bored, and read the first 3 pages, then stopped and realized I was in the completely wrong mindset. I went back and read those first three pages again, totally differently. I think part of this reaction is that I'd just been studying Virginia Woolf and Elizabeth Bowen, and I had this pleasantly-weird feeling that I was reading one of their novels. It's definitely been my favourite book of the 21st century.

Personally I would put A Clockwork Orange under "C" and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes under "A".

I was going off the table of contents in the book. I believe the articles "A", "An" and "The" are ignored in the traditional fashion. So that's what we shall do as well.

-- M1001

And to answer your question about when to post the next letter, I'm not sure. I have noticed that these game concepts have usually taken on a life of their own. Let's just see who posts what, and when, and enjoy the learning process.

If we need to change the rules later, that's fine also. I just wanted to get a thread of ideas and suggestions going.

-- M1001

Digifish, yep, in the index "Adventures of . . ." are all under "A".

So, Media1001, are we going to explore "A" until we've run out of comments? (Personally, I'd like to hear more "A"s.)

An Artist of the Floating World was quite good, if Ishiguro is your thing. So that is my pick :)

A few of the other "A"s on on my wishlist! Adam Bede and Agnes Grey.

Hi I'm new but I believe we are still in A? Yes?

I hope so cause here's my A book:

Aeneid, The by Virgil

Does that count or are we going off of the 1001 list still???

This topic is entitled "Best 1001 Books Alphabetically". I don't see The Aeneid on that list.

Animal Farm, American Psycho and Amerika. Sorry, can't decide which I like best of those three...

Of the As I've read, I enjoyed Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Amok , and Animal Farm the most.

Huckleberry Finn and Animal Farm are both great, if different commentaries about societies.

Amok was a different take on the typical Victorian storyline. At least that's how it seemed to me. And I've been to the jungle, so I could identify a bit with the main character's plight (although not his insanity, thankfully.)

hey, everyone . . . you're supposed to give your reasons too. It's so much more interesting, and as Media1001 says, "A fact without a reason is like words without meaning."

American Psycho because, behind the blood and gore, it is brilliantly satirical and deeply moral. And very funny. So many people misinterpret this book.

I am going to jump in here with a 'B'. Beloved was a great read. I was confused for part of the book. I couldn't tell which characters were real or part of the madness (the movie, I'm told, did nothing to clear this up). It seems it was the author's intent to make us become part of the story and decide who the main character truly was. This book was an aggressive read. Historical and factual in its content but with the right amount of dramatic flair to remind the reader that it is a work of fiction.

I think I just spent my two cents.

Well now that I know what we're doing...

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is AMAZING!

#18: I loved The Bell Jar as well. I thought I wouldn't because I didn't know whether I would relate to, or understand, the words of a poet. But Plath writes prose in a very accessible way and detailed her experiences so well.

But my all time favorite B-book is Brave New World. One of my favorite scifi books and one of my favorite books of all time. Huxley wrote with such insight on the problems of organized society. I thought his description of a future society was quite possible. The characters, while not completely sympathetic, were well-thought out and provided a variety of roles to support Huxley's ideas. Overall, an excellent novel.

-- M1001

My own personal B novel is Margaret Atwood's excellent The Blind Assassin. It's a bit on the long side, but it's amazingly deep and complex -- and not only that, with its novel-within-a-novel, it's like two books for the price of one!

My favorite of the B's that I've read is Bleak House by Dickens - a massive, sprawling, savage but hilarious indictment of the Chancery law courts, with Dickens' vivid prose, an interesting narrative structure and characters that - no matter how one-note they may be - are truly memorable.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and The Body Artist by Don DeLillo

Basically because those are all the B one's I've read, apart from The Black Dahlia, which I didn't enjoy quite so much.

Those are both two very good books though, and quick to read as well.

I guess we could do a "if no response within 24 hours" rule for going to the next letter. That appears to work well for other list games here.

There are a bunch of books I enjoyed that begin with "C", but I think I will go with a safe choice and say "The Catcher In The Rye". I wouldn't say Holden Caulfield is the most likable protagonist in the world, but he is definitely one of the most interesting. His warped sense of reality, his hypocritical nature and his strange mix of wisdom and immaturity kept me reaing despite a rather thin plot line.

-- M1001

Well, since I only read one B and didn't particularly like it, I didn't list it. But here are my three favorite Cs: Choke, Candide, or Optimism and Catch-22. I can't decide which one I like best as they're really different.

There are a lot of good "C" books! My favorite, though, has to be Cry, the Beloved Country.

#20 dczapka. I'm glad you recommend
The Blind Assassin, I bought it to read this summer and am really looking forward to it.
#18 summerbis. l really liked The Bell Jar also.

Cranford! - a gentle comedy about village life in 1830s England :)

EDIT: Thalia read my mind! I just didn't read carefully!

I can't not second one of the greatest satires of all time, Voltaire's Candide; or, Optimism.

I'm also a big Palahniuk fan so I second Choke. Can't say the same for Catch-22, though...wasn't a big fan.

Guess I will make the bump to letter "D":

Again, there are several great books in the list beginning with "D", but if you held a gun to my head and asked for a title I would have to say:

"What the friggin' heck is wrong with you, pointing a loaded gun at me...it's only a game!!"

And then I would say:

Day of the Triffids

John Wyndham writes great scifi stories with just the right touch of dry English humor.

Speaking of dry English humor, my number two choice would be Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

-- M1001

Media1001, that's too funny. I'd say "is that a REAL gun? Wow. Don't see those every day". I've checked the index and I haven't read any D 1001 books, so I'll quietly go away now.

Definitely Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Douglas Adams always cracks me up.

Drop City by T.C. Boyle is certainly a favorite of mine. Decades ago I used to live on land adjacent to similar characters in a forest in the Pacific Northwest. Can't say that I miss them, though.

I'll go with more British wit, i.e. Diary of a Nobody (even though I haven't actually read it yet!). Its on my TBR list...

David Copperfield - should it be under "C" or "D"? ;D Either way, it's a fantastic book! One of my all-time favourites.

Don Quixote is my favorite D (also the only D I can remember at the moment!) It took me a couple tries to get through, but well worth it.

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid - Tom Wolfe.

This certainly isn't a favorite, just the only "e' book that I've read. Coincidentally, it has a cast of characters similar to those described in my "d" book, Drop City. Tom Wolfe writes about Ken Kesey and The Merry Pranksters http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merry_Pranksters

Enduring Love - this was my first Ian McEwan who is now one of my favourite authors. Though even I concede there are too many McEwan novels on the 1001 list.

Emma is my second favourite Jane Austen novel (nothing beats P&P) it's hilarious IMO.

The Electric Kool-Acid Test is one of my favorite books. Tom Wolfe has the ability to jump from tradition style journalism to abstract, artsy descriptions of LSD trips. He really captured the 60's experience -- I think, I wasn't actually around then -- and Ken Kesey is one of my favorite counter-culture heros.

The Elementary Particles is a close second.

-- M1001

Speaking of abstract, artsy descriptions of LSD trips - (and an array of other mind-altering substances), my "f' list includes Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas: A Savage Journey To The Heart Of The American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson. A cult classic.

The author died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head in 2005. One can only wonder how he managed to survive as long as he did.

I just finished Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and I have to say, I'm on the same page. How did he survive that long? That trip alone could easily have done him in. Of course, we wouldn't have the book probably.

My favourite F 1001 book is The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles. I think the way he mixed 19th century Brit lit with the modern commentary was well done and clever. If you like 19th century literature, this is a fun twist on it.

My favourite F book is Franny and Zooey - I love and adore this book.

It's been 43 years since I read Franny And Zooey and I'm now only vaguely haunted by it. Now might be a good time to revisit that youthful angst.

I'll have to go with Franny and Zooey as well. My favorite Salinger book and one of my favorite novels overall. The Glass Family is horribly dysfunctional, yet lovable. I understand that the film The Royal Tenenbaums is based on the Glass family, so if you liked that movie I'm sure you would like this book.

I also love the theological and Eastern philosophical themes in the novel. It has one of my favorite Buddhist quotes:

Dr. Suzuki says somewhere that to be in a state of pure consciousness -- satori -- is to be with God before he said, Let there be light.

-- M1001

Felicia's Journey by William Trevor is a dark, haunting thriller about a young woman who leaves her home in Ireland to go to England to look for the boy who got her pregnant but meets a jolly but strange older man who befriends her. It's not a favorite novel, but I did enjoy it, and it's stayed with me for years.

#47: I agree, Felicia's Journey was probably a second choice for me after Franny and Zooey. Reminded me a bit of The Collector, which was one of the other "C" books I enjoyed. Both had villains who felt completely justified committing terrible acts, which make them so much more creepy to me.

It's funny because I thought Felicia's Journey was going to be a feminist book from the title, like a woman's spiritual journey; totally wrong on that guess.

#48 media1001 ~ Heh, I thought so too and was so surprised! Now that you mention it, it does remind me a bit of The Collector.

#49: Storeetllr, Cool!

Learning new things about books and making connections with other readers is fun.

Part of why I started this list.

You should really check out Franny and Zooey, too. Great, great novel.

Let's end "F" on our positive note and start "G" on the same note:

The Garden Party

It is a short story that packs a serious and concentrated emotional punch. Covers social inequalities and the great human equalizer of death. Great coming of age story in so few pages. Katherine Mansfield is an amazing writer.

-- M1001

The Great Gatsby is my favorite "G" book. I know that a lot of people can't stand it because of the characters, but it's a book that has stuck with me, eight years after I read it.

I'm with you, Media1001, on The Garden Party. I love Katherine Mansfield's understated style. The Garden Party has such a great atmosphere. I also love the loneliness that she captures so well in many of her stories.

I would have to say God of small things which was a great story - exceptionally use of language.

Gone With The Wind read it when I was 11 and loved it!

The Godfather. I know, not all that literary, but it was compelling (all that violence!). I read it to escape as much as possible the pain and stress of the final illness of my mom. Funnily enough, the last movie we saw together was "The Godfather." Her choice.

It's been more than 24 hours, so I will pop the list up to "H":

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is still one of my all time favorite books. One of the few comedic novels that makes me laugh out loud when I read it.

-- M1001.

I agree on the Hitchhiker's Guide, it's also one of my all-time favorites.

And I'll add Hundert Jahre Einsamkeit. I know it starts with an "O" in English, but as I read it in German, I'll mention it here. It took me a while to get through it, but I simply loved this book.

Handmaid's Tale by Atwood. The first by her that I read, back in the 80s, I think, and it made me an instant convert. Chilling dystopian tale, yet ultimately hopeful. Certainly made me more aware of the dangers of fundamentalism.

ETA that I very much agree with media1001 and Thalia about Hitchhiker's Guide. I love that book and the entire series.

My favourite from the H-list is the Hours. I love how it is informed by Mrs. Dalloway, and in turn informs Mrs. Dalloway. I also love the movie--it is so multi-layered. I've seen it many times and still find something new each time I watch it.

Obviously, I'll have to read Hitchhiker's Guide. It appears I'm missing out on something :-)

Hitchiker's guide. Definitely. If you have not read it, as it appears Nickelini hasn't, you are clearly missing out. :P

Also, it's an easy read, so you won't have trouble crossing it off the list.

The Handmaid's Tale is my favourite H title, though with all that praise for Hitchhiker's Guide I will have to add that to my TBR list.

It must be me, but I never "got" The Handmaid's Tale. It just didn't do it for me, which was disappointing since, as I've already mentioned in this very thread, I positively LOVED The Blind Assassin.

My H pick will have to go to the other H I've read from the list, but one that I think is seriously underloved: Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

There's a Heart of Darkness lovefest going on at Book Talk > What Books Would You Want to See as a Movie, here:
http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=32915&work=2575#572862

While I can appreciate the literary merit of Heart of Darkness, the first time I read it for first-year university, the 67 pages felt like about 100. I had to read it again a few years later, and the 67 pages felt like 400. I probably wouldn't take another course with that book on the reading list. You'd think it would get easier after 2+ readings and 2 papers, but I just. can't. do. it. again.

But I realize others love it. It would be boring if we all liked the same books.

Oh, it's definitely a slow read. I think it's the kind of book that either gets you or doesn't, and I don't feel like a rereading is going to make a huge amount of difference in whether you like it or not. I feel the same way about The Scarlet Letter.

#64: (my second message to dczapka today about Heart of Darkness)

Yeah, I almost listed Heart of Darkness as my "don't read" H-novel. Absolutely brutal for me to get through. But I have heard enough positive reviews about it, from people I respect, that I know that your "get or don't get" theory sounds correct to me.

-- M1001

I guess we're all clear to move on to the letter I. Haven't read that many books from the 1001 list that start with I, but I guess my fav was If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, just because it's so different and quirky. Has anyone read any I books that they liked? Why did you like it?

Mine would be Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. It's so well written, and I love the imagery in the first chapter (the one about the lightbulbs). The story itself is interesting (young man goes to school, gets kicked out, goes to New York, becomes a radical, etc etc), and eye-opening. To me, anyway.

Oh, yes, Invisible Man was so good! I studied it in a class I took a few years ago ~ had to write a critique on it so really got into the imagery, which was amazingly rich and layered. It was eye-opening for me, too. Recalling the bit about the battle royale still gives me the shivers.

Storeetlir - what class did you read Invisible Man for? I'm always fascinated by class reading lists.

Lots of props going out for If on a winter's night a traveler...might need to be my next purchase when I'm on a book-buying binge.

For my I book, I don't have many to begin with, so I'll give props to Sheridan Le Fanu's In a Glass Darkly. Great collection of creepy stories.

Okay, it was a few years ago, but I think it was English 102 at the local community college. For that class, I read and wrote critical essays on: Invisible Man, Death of a Salesman, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Araby, one of the short stories from Joyce's The Dubliners, and Barn Burning by Faulkner. To tell you the truth, I pretty much ended up loving all of them, though I started out certain they would be torturous to have to read. :)

Oh! I took a 100-level English class--mine through Open Learning University, which is a distance education (over the computer or correspondence) course here in BC. I also did Araby and the Barn Burning. It was a great survey course, and such an eye-opener to me.

Side note: for the final exam, we were told we'd have to identify passages from the stories we'd read, and describe their significance (we read at least 12 works, mostly short stories). When the final exam came, there was a passage from Araby. The quotation was ONE word long! (and no, it was distinctive, and not just "the" or "or". But still!)

So that I do not seem to be boasting of all the intellectual literature I've read, :) I will nominate as one of my favorite "I" novels Interview with the Vampire. Not literary, but I loved it. It was so wonderfully atmospheric, with evil/amoral yet tortured protagonists, everything so over-the-top emotionally (or should I say melodramatically). It was the first vampire novel I read that made me think it might be interesting to be bitten and turned into one of the undead. (The only prior ones were Dracula and Salem's Lot, neither of which featured monsters that were as compelling, or who led such seductive lives, as Louis and Lestat.)

Nickelini, what was the one word? Or are you going to make me go and reread Araby?

You know, I don't remember the word. I only remember how shocked I was that they'd do that! I'll look it up later tonight and report back.

I would have to go with The Island of Dr. Moreau for the I-book. Probably my favorite H.G. Wells book in the list as well. The sci-fi aspect of it, as well as the tragic story of animals trying to be humans, it was such an unusual story.

Although, there was enough posts about If on a Winter's Night a Traveler that I read the description and it sounds like a good book. In my TBR queue now.

-- M1001

I'll give another bump to If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, one of my all time favorites. It's a great book for bibliophiles, especially the opening chapter. If you like Calvino, another good read is Invisible Cities which has some excellent descriptive writing.

My favourite book for I would be Ignorance by Lilan Kundera. He writes beautifully and because I am also an immigrant as the people in the story - i found myself strongly identifying with the characters.

Time to bump to J.

Not that many books in the list start with J, and I have only read three of them: Jane Eyre, The Joke, and Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Jane Eyre is my favorite of the three. The characters are a tad strange and act bizarrely at times, but the story is a good one with decent plot twists.

Books in my TBR queue beginning with J include Junkie, because I want to check out some more William Burroughs and The Jungle, which I own but have not yet read.

-- M1001

For me I have a choice between Jane Eyre and Jude the Obscure because I've only read two books starting with J. It's a difficult choice because I enjoyed both of them, though I'm probably leaning towards Jane Eyre as favourite.

I have the same choice: Jane Eyre or Jude the Obscure. I too like both, have read both more than once, but I have to go with Jane Eyre as the favorite.

Justine - Lawrence Durrell. Definitely a favorite, book one of The Alexandria Quartet. A friend first introduced me to this author by way of Bitter Lemons. I recently bought his biography Through The Dark Labyrinth by Gordon Bowker.

I would also have to say Jane Eyre.

Going on to K

Kafka on the shore was an interesting if not puzzling read.

Well, since the only K books I've read are Kim and King Solomon's Mines, I'm going to have to pick Kim, but "favorite" isn't really appropriate here. Kim is the least bad of the two.

Yeah, the selection for K-books is sparse.

Fortunately, I did read one of them and it was actually a fairly decent crime novel: The Killer Inside Me.

-- M1001

Since both J and K were sparse, I'm going to jump us over to the copious L list, home of many excellent titles. My favourite is Like Water for Chocolate. I'll have to reread this book because I can't remember exactly why I liked it so much. All I can remember is that I sat down to read it and didn't stop until I finished the last page. It left a wonderful feeling through me for several days, and instigated a storm of Mexican cooking in my house.

Les Miserables - Victor Hugo. I can recall being moved to tears as I read it back in 1972 when, as an idealistic young nurse, I worked in a maximum security psychiatric prison hospital.

Hmm I have two L books

The Long dark teatime of the soul which has some of the best comedy lines ever

and

Life of Insects which really made me think and which really showed how fragile life is and how little we understand of the big picture.

Lolita! Lolita, Lolita, Lolita

Quite possibly the greatest book ever written. Hands down.

I'd have to go with Life of Pi, just because it was such an unusual book and had a great twist ending. I liked the theological discussions at the beginning of the book. I was also impressed how well the plot moved along despite the fact that most of the story occurs on a small life boat, with only one human character. If you haven't read it yet, I would recommend it.

-- M1001

jfetting, couldn't have said it better myself. Nabokov's gift to the world is most obviously my choice.

90 and 92: i have seen the film adaptation of Lolita by one of my favorite directors, Kubrick. Haven't read the book yet.

Have either of you seen the movie version?

What do you both think of the film versus the book?

-- M1001

# 93 There is just no comparison. I liked the movie (I'm a big Kubrick fan, too), but the book blows it out of the water. Lolita is the masterpiece it is because of Nabokov's prose. He's a brilliant writer, an unequaled genius, IMHO. There is no one better.

The movie picks up the plot, more or less, but you miss out on Nabokov's wordplay, the puns and literary allusions and all the little hints about the ending. His writing is so powerful, it just sweeps you along until you are so completely inside Humbert's head that you forget what a monster he really is.

/gushing

Nitpicking: the actress who plays Lo is a little old, too - the character is really just a kid, which comes across more in the book than the movie.

I agree, yet again. The whole genius of the book is the limited perspective, and the way in which Nabokov takes advantage of the fact that you're always in Humbert's head. He's cruel and deceitful but intelligent and charming, to the point where you could almost find yourself feeling for the man and finding his obsession as beautiful as he does. It creates probably the most intense reader-vs.-character conflict of any book I've ever read, and that's something I felt was missing, or at least lacking, in the film.

Little Women was one of my favorite books when I was an adolescent. I loved Beth, but I really wanted to be Jo. I tried to read Little Men after it, but hated it. I think I reread Little Women a couple of times, though not for about 40 years. :)

I second that notion. Lolita is a masterpiece of persuasive writing. Anybody who reads it cannot deny that they sympathize with Humbert Humbert, The plot is unparallelled, the characterization is exquisite, we all know one of those people, don't we? But I mostly enjoyed the mental gymnastics that Nabokov puts HH through on their trip. Mary Beth

I was thinking about this comment and just wanted to clarify that I didn't mean we all know a pedophile, but that we can recognize a person we know in the different characters he portrays. Mary Beth

Guess it is time for a letter bump again.

M-Books:

I will have to go with Les Miserables. The characters and the story are all picture perfect in the dramatic portion of the novel. My absolute favorite protagonist/antagonist pairing is Jean Valjean and Javert.

My only criticism is I found the novel to be a bit heavy on the social, political and historical aspects of France. I know others may see these trait as an asset, but I found those section to be too long, detracting from the main story. I appreciate a good context for a story but not when it keeps stepping in the way.

Close second is Midwich Cuckoos, because John Wyndham is an awesome, funny writer and this is one of his best books.

-- M1001.

I am in awe of Marguerite Yourcenar for enabling us to enter the heart and mind of the Emperor in Memoirs Of Hadrian. This will annoy people who consider highlighting to be a desecration, but my copy is riddled with yellowed sentences. A couple of examples:

"Our great mistake is to try to exact from each person virtues which he does not possess, and to neglect the cultivation of those which he has."

"The landscape of my days appears to be composed, like mountainous regions, of varied materials heaped up pellmell"......"Here and there protrude the granite peaks of the inevitable, but all about is rubble from the landslips of chance."

I like John Wyndham's novels, especialy Midwich Cuckoos but my M novel is The Mayor of Casterbridge for its plot twists and turns until the Mayor in the title get his comeuppance losing his wealth and social standing.

"M" must be for Mystery, because all the "M" novels I've read and loved are mysteries: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Murder Must Advertise, The Moonstone, and The Magus.

The Magus came into my possession during an all-things-Greek period in my life. It even prompted me to visit the island of Spetses, where the author taught school, and which he reinvented in his book as Phraxos.

My favourite of the M books is Mrs. Dalloway. It's sort of difficult to explain why without going into an essay-length post.

Whoops, I forgot one more M-book: Moby-Dick.

A bit long-winded in the scientific parts, much like Les Miserables was long-winded in historic parts, but a classic novel.

Funny, I just finished reading Melville's short book Billy Budd and I didn't like it at all.

-- M1001

Memoirs of a Geisha is the only one I've read recently. I liked the descriptions of geisha culture (I have no idea if it is remotely accurate) and the story was fun and the ending made me happy.

#105 Me either. Billy Budd was terrible. Happily, the terrible doesn't last very long - it's much much shorter than Moby Dick.

ETA: someday I will master "it's" vs. "its"

Can we move on to N books? I haven't read very many of them, but my favorite is probably The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, a medieval murder mystery set in a monastery.

I agree that the Name of the Rose is very good. From the N's I also think that two dystopian novels are also very good: Never Let Me Go and Nineteen Eighty-four.

I've read and enjoyed all of your "N" books. To follow my mystery trend for the "M" books, I choose The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers. I just love those Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries!

I haven't read a lot of the N-books. Probably have to go with Neuromancer as the definitive Cyberpunk Scifi novel. I had a heck of a time getting into it at first because it thrusts the reader into this foreign future world with a culture and slang all of its own, but once you tune into what's going on, it is quite a ride. Has the thriller noir scifi feel of Blade Runner, but it is an absolute original.

Second choice goes to Naked Lunch, not because I really liked the novel -- it is very difficult to get through -- but because I love Burroughs and the whole 1950's Beatnik, Junkie, screwed up, hallucinatory existence he exposed the world to through his writing.

-- M1001

Time for the O-books:

Even though it is a short list, there are some good books starting with O.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest because of the great narrator style, the wonderful characters, the social commentary on mental health care and because Ken Kesey was friggin' awesome (read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test to find out why).

Of Mice and Men is one of the most perfectly written short dramatic novels I have read. The setting and the symbolism and, especially the characters of George and Lenny, are very well done. Heartbreaking story without being sappy.

-- M1001.

One Hundred Years of Solitude - it has been a few years since I read it, but I really like the writing of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and I enjoyed the story. Kinda vague, I know, but again. It has been a few years. I should re-read it, if I ever make it through my TBR list.

On the Road. I read the Original Scroll edition, and it was riveting!

As a student nurse, during a three-month internship in a psychiatric facility, I was deeply affected while reading One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

My fav O book from the list is Out of Africa. I read it in the early 1980s, and just fell in love with Dineson's descriptions. Magical. I especially loved the part about the little deer that would come visit her, and the chapter about the giraffes going to Hamburg. Heartbreakingly beautiful. I was thrilled when the movie "version" came out a few years later. I put version in scare quotes because the movie is really nothing at all like the book. But I love them both.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was also excellent, though I read it back in the 70s and most of my memories of it are probably from the movie version (another excellent movie-from-a-book)

Since the last post in the "O"s was on Thursday, and I've been dying to get to the "P"s, I can't wait any longer. There are far too many wonderful "P" books for me to pick just one, so I'm not even going to try. Here, in no particular order, are the P books I love so very much:
Pride and Prejudice
Possession: A Romance
Perfume: the story of a murderer
Pale Fire
A Pale View of Hills
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

See? Too many good P books.

Lots of P-books but not many I liked...

Have to go with The Postman Always Rings Twice. Ironic title since the story never refers to a postman or a doorbell ever. But it is a decent thriller novel.

-- m1001

Mmm...I loved Peyton Place. I don't know if it just reached me because of what was going on in my life when I read it or what, but I thought it was fantastic.

Two other good P books... Pretties by Scott Westerfeld (the 2nd book in the Uglies series) and The Princess Bride.

And I have to add that I LOVE Lolita, too!

I'm definitely caught between Pale Fire and Possession: A Romance -- both completely incredible books!

There certainly is a plethora of wonderful P books. In addition to those already mentioned I'd like to add The Poisonwood Bible and The Picture of Dorian Gray. I have just moved Pale Fire up a couple of books in my TBR pile because of your recommendations.

#120 socialpages, you are so right. Those are both great books. I think half of the lines from The Picture of Dorian Gray have ended up in my commonplace book. Also, I hope you enjoy Pale Fire! It's really an amazing book.

I have to add my two cents for Persuasion. Pride and Prejudice is my favorite Austen, but Persuasion is a close second, and I think it has a lot to offer.

The Power And The Glory - Graham Greene. A good man, the whiskey priest. The plot centers upon the very real persecution of the Catholic Church in 1920s Mexico.

In my estimation, Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible was a terrific read, but I've noticed on other sites that many disagree.

My absolute favorite P is A Prayer for Owen Meany.
Close seconds are Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice and Das Parfüm.

How about Poe's masterpieces The Pit and the Pendulum and The Purloined Letter? Those were classics, both in the literary and horror departments.

I will bump this to Q-Books briefly. I personally haven't read any of the small number of books beginning with Q, but if any of you have, let's hear what they are.

-- M1001.

I think I read Quo Vadis when I was in about the 8th grade, around the same time as Dear and Glorious Physician, The Robe, The Silver Chalice and The Agony and the Ecstacy. I was in quite the religious-focused historical novel mode around that time. I've been thinking about rereading these (except The Robe, which I reread (or tried to) a few years ago), so I should find out soon if I actually did read Quo Vadis or only imagined I did.

I really liked The Quiet American by Graham Greene - particularly the contrast between the narrator's cynicism and the enthusiasm and idealism of the aforementioned American.

Have we exhausted the "Q" group of books? Can we move on to "R"?

I think my favourite R book of the ones I've read is probably A Room with a View, although I've only read it once and I've seen the movie at least a dozen times. EM Forster had Helena Bohnam-Carter in mind when he wrote Miss Lucy Honeychurch, didn't he?

I agree with Nickelini. A Room with a View is the best R-book I have read so far. And the movie is really good as well. I'm not partial to the romance genre but A Room with a View is a wonderfully sarcastic dig at the conventions of its time.

Close second goes to Reasons To Live, or more generally, the recently published The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel, of which Reasons To Live is a subset. Amy Hempel is a minimalist, writer's writer, and well worth checking out.

-- M1001

My choice for an "R" book would have to be Rebecca. The movie is fantastic, too.

The Remains of the Day because I love every single thing Ishiguro writes. This is such a sad story, but it's fantastic.

Rebecca is great too!

Guess I had better bump this to S-books.

There are a couple of Hermann Hesse books I love in this list: Siddhartha and Steppenwolf, but I think the scifi part of me is going to win out with Stranger in a Strange Land.

All three of these books have strong theological and philosophical components that I believe raise them above the typical novel, yet they are still accessible.

-- M1001

I've read a bunch of the S books, but Siddhartha probably stands out the most. I've read it a few times.

I read a lot of the S books too, and I can't decide which of the following is my favorite as they're all so different:
Steppenwolf
Silk
Stiller

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. It was the first book I ever studied in depth, and it's still on my top 5 books ever list. I had a really hard time understanding it initially, but once I did I loved it. The Benjy and Quentin sections are brilliant.

I have read and enjoyed a lot of "s" novels, but probably the one I have loved the longest is She by H. Rider Haggard, which was the first fantastic fiction I ever read (back when I was about 12 or 13, I think).

Recently, I read The Sun Also Rises, my first Hemingway, and surprisingly enjoyed it!

I think it's time to move on to T . . . I own a lot of the T-titles, but I haven't actually read that many of them. I guess the best of the bunch was To Kill a Mockingbird, although I read it a very long time ago.

I agree, To Kill a Mockingbird is not only the best T-book, but one of the best books in the entire list. I don't know of too many other dramas with such perfect characters, themes, plots and conflict.

But since it is hardly a fair contest to the other T-Books, of which many are great books, I will give honorable mention to The Talented Mr. Ripley, for best T-crime novel, The Three Musketeers, for best T-classic novel, and 2001: A Space Odyssey, for best T-scifi novel.

-- M1001

Well, my favorite T, Tod in Venedig, is actually a "D" in English, but as I read it in the original German, it should qualify as a T ;-)

Other brilliant Ts are Things fall apart and The Turn of the Screw.

A long time ago, I read and enjoyed A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens.

I love the Alexandria Quartet and I am reading it this summer for the second time. first time I read it in Africa, borrowed the book from the British Council library in Lilongwe, Malawi.
The Drifting Cities by Strates Tsirkas is another favorite of mine, a trilogy that's (almost) at the same time , same place as Durrell's Quartet.
..and The Cairo Trilogy by Naquib Mahfouz is another wonder of literature. I read it in the early 1990s and it's worth another go. perhaps next summer. these three guys are masters, but these days I much prefer women writers.

Are the second two books on the list? (They're not tagged such, and I'm too lazy to go upstairs and look them up in the book).

Bumping to U-Books. Shouldn't take too long, it is a pretty short list.

I will have to list Under The Skin, since it is the only U-book I have read. A fairly original story but I had a tough time finding sympathetic characters and the plot gets a bit repetitive once you understand what is going on.

-- M1001

I liked Unless a lot.

Under the Volcano is a great book, even though it's so depressing.

Bump to V-books. Another short list, I was surprised I had read three already.

Best book of the three, by far, was Veronika Decides To Die. Paulo Coelho's accessible, philosophical laced tale of a suicidal girl recovering in a mental hospital, and how she affects other's lives as well. Sort of a female version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

-- M1001

Villette by Charlotte Bronte - twist ending! I also second media1001's choice. Veronica Decides to Die is great.

Vile Bodies was a lot of fun, even though I read it ages ago, I still remember liking it alot when I went through my Evelyn Waugh stage.

Villette and Veronika Decides To Die are great books but in a close finish my choice would be Vanity Fair because it was the first book I had read with a totally self-centred heroine whom I should have disliked but couldn't help but admire.

I liked Villette best of the 'Vs'. It is intensely psychological and drew me in for that reason, although I do not think it is Charlotte Bronte's best work.

Bumping to W-Books...

Again, there are quite a few decent books -- and some not so decent -- in the W-list. Have to go with Watchmen. Reading it is a unique experience because it is the only graphic novel in the list, plus it is an amazing story even if you are not partial to comics and graphic novels.

-- M1001

I have to go with The Wings of the Dove, which is my favorite Henry James novel. The story is typical James - amoral Europeans take advantage of American innocence - and the language is dense, but not as difficult as in The Ambassadors.

I have Women in Love and Woman in White in my TBR pile. Of those I've read, I would have to go with Wuthering Heights.

Okay time to do one last bump. Combining Y and Z books:

I like The Yellow Wallpaper the best. Creepy tale of a woman going insane. Nice short read as well.

-- M1001

I liked both Youth by Coetzee and The Yellow Wallpaper. But Coetzee is one of my favorite authors, and Youth is an absorbing read. In parts it's quite depressing and in other parts comical. The sufferings of the artist as a young man..

Have to agree - Youth and The Yellow Wallpaper are standouts for me too. Coetzee is one of my favourite authors.

Can we begin again with "A"?

It's perhaps understandable, given the current housing crisis and stock market meltdown, that I should be recalling (albeit with humor) the unscrupulous antics of the "duke" and the "king" in Mark Twain's wonderful Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn.

Of the 'A's on the list I would recommend All Quiet on the Western Front It's about a young man in the German army during WW1. I liked it because it describes the war in a realistic manner. There are hardships and horror as well as friendship and some humourous moments. Considering the era that it was written in I think that was a great achievement - it wasn't heroic and all about 'for king and country' etc. I also liked it because it was written from the point of view of a German soldier. Historically they been cast as the agressors and losers of both the world wars and yet it could easily have been the point of view from a solder from 'the other side'. Pawns on a chessboard in those times I guess.

I'm happy to begin with "A", because I did not join this thread until it was almost finished on the last round. I have to say Ada, or Ardor by Vladimir Nabokov. It is a stunning piece of literature!

My first introduction to Russian literature, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy is a book I return to every few years; it stands up and surpasses my expectations every time.

I have to second Anna Karenina.
--BJ

Last time around, I hadn't yet read Amsterdam by Ian McEwan, but this time around I have so I'm going to nominate it. That is due almost entirely to the ending, which was (for me) totally unexpected. The pacing of the plot is almost perfect.

Oh cool :). Glad this thread got renewed. We just ran out of the Authors list, but it looks like that one got renewed as well.

I will go ahead and post some info about the thread again, based on the posting I did for the Author posting:

Flip to the Alphabetical Index of Book Titles in the "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die" book and review the book titles in a given letter category.

This removes any confusion about how to alphabetize the titles. Go by the Book Title Index.

Pick your most, and/or least, favorite novel -- revel in the extremities of passionate opinions -- in that letter category. Tell us which book it is and...

MOST IMPORTANTLY...

Tell us WHY you love or hate the novel. How did it affect your experiences as a reader? What were the best and worst parts? This topic is all about learning, and teaching each other, about great and not-so-great novels in the 1001 list.

The letter change occurs after 24-hours without posts on a given letter. I will jump in a periodically bump the thread as necessary.

For those of you who have the more recent version of the 1001 Books book, please jump in and share information from that list as well. Just remember to indicate that you are talking about the newer version.

-- M1001

Revisiting the A-List:

I have read a few more A-books since I started this post, but I haven't changed my favorite title since the last time I posted:

Alice's Adventures In Wonderland for the same reasons I stated before.

I can, however, add another novel that ties the race with The Atrocity Exhibition for "strangest novel ever": Adjunct: An Undigest. Extremely difficult to find -- I had to do an Interlibrary Loan -- and a very strange "novel".

-- M1001

Haven't been a very good bumper this week.

"B" for Bump the Thread...

"B" for Behold the B-Books...

My favorite B-Book is still Brave New World. I don't anticipate this changing regardless of how many books I read in the 1001 list. Simply put, BNW is one of my all time favorite books. The society, the characters, the insight on human needs and desires are all so well done.

-- M1001

I will have to say The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa a Portuguese author. I found it to be filled with ideas to live by. It is a book I keep handy for browsing, because there is too much in it for note taking in my reading journal.

I've only read two 'B' books. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks and Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote. And while they were ok to read I can't really rave about them and tell people that they must read them.

I don't know why I didn't mention this the first time around (maybe because someone else beat me to it), but I loved Bleak House. I just totally got lost in the world that Dickens created and the 1000 pages just flew by.

I missed the A round, but since the first time we played, I've read Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, which was fabulous. Just an enjoyable read, and an example of historical fiction done well.

I was just browsing through the Title Index (page 16-19) in the book and noticed how many errors there are. The Corrections is missing, for one. Smilla's Sense of Snow, which is on page 809 is listed in the index under its alternate title Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow--in other words, the page and the index don't match. And A Town Like Alice is under "O". I really don't get what's up with these mistakes . . . to make an simple list index like this, someone just has to tag the titles. The software then compiles the index. Absolutely idiot proof. I'm not impressed that this $46.95 book was made so sloppily. No, really, I do have more important things to worry about. I just thought I'd point out that if you're using the index to play this game, there are errors in it.

Wow. It's amazing how many of those books I haven't read.

"A" -I'll go with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. My English teacher in high school made us analyze it to death, which usually ruins things for me, but some how I came out of it still pretty much enjoying the book. That's got to mean something.

"B" - Gotta go with Beloved. It's the one Toni Morrison book that stands out to me. I know I read a couple of them, but couldn't for the life of me tell you which ones. I know I read Sula. I think I read The Bluest Eye, but I don't really remember. If that's the case, I can't really call that one my favorite, can I? But I know I read Beloved and I enjoyed it. Honestly, I was starting to get worried that I was going to have to select "Breakfast of Champions", which still leaves me confused. Vonnegut tends to get that reaction out of me. Like I'm not sure if I actually like his books after I'm done with them.

Honestly, though, I've read so few books on this list, I'm not sure how much my opinions count for.

Brave New World gets my vote. It's one of the few books I'll re-read every few years.

Okay--enough people have praised Brave New World on this thread for me to put that on my "must read classic" list for 2009. I try to read at least one classic a month and I've never read this book--thanks for the 'push!"

#172 - Honestly, though, I've read so few books on this list, I'm not sure how much my opinions count for.
---------------------

Well, we all have to start somewhere, don't we! :-)

It's not like this is a list that anyone is anywhere near completing, so look at it as a list that gives you lots of possibilities. Any and every opinion counts, as long as it's a book from the list.

I found this more difficult than I thought it would be. I find myself choosing books I have read 10 or more years ago that were either classics or which made a great impression upon me-- what 18 year old was not blown away with The Fountain Head? For more contemporary books, I feel I have a much more critical eye and the books do not benefit from standing the test of time (as well as having nostalgia and the impact on an impressionable young adult that is just not possible now). So here is my list-- lot's of classics, with a few modern ones thrown in.
-My Name is Red Pamuk
-Going After Cacciato O'Brien
-The Plague Camus
-French Lt's Woman
-In Our Time Hemingway
-Waiting Ha Jin
-Iron Weed Kennedy
-Of Human Bondage Maughan

We're still on the 1001 B-books, right? Since we don't have a Worst of the 1001 list, I just wanted to warn everyone away from Burger's Daughter, by Nadine Gordimer. I thought the subject was dated and her writing style was very frustrating. You can safely move this one to the bottom of your list, IMO.

#176 jplawne

Going After Cacciato is the best book about the Viet Nam war I've read--I hightly recommend it. I haven't read The Things They Carried yet, though, and I under stand that one is also excellent.

(sorry going off track here)
>178 MusicMom41: MusicMom41

I've read The Things They Carried for an English class in my first year of Uni. I had never heard of it before then and only read it 'because I had to'. However after reading it I realised what a good book it was. I was 18/19 when I read it and I think it was because I was a simiar age to the narrator that helped me connect with the theme. I should probably read it again now that I'm a bit older and see how I think about it now.

(back on track)

The Things They Carried was excellent. O'Brien experimented with the short story form and the blur between fiction and non-fiction, and non-fiction narrative as literature. Going After Cacciato took that effort with elements of magical realism into a long novel form which is why I would rate it above The Things They Carried. The theme of both books was sometimes real life is so messed up, so unbelievable that only fiction can do it justice and the idea that "it did not really happen, but it could have!" Hence why MusicMom41 said it was the best book about Vietnam (and it is fiction!)

It will be interesting what kinds of experimental fictional works will come out of the Iraq fiasco after a few years of standard autobiographical accounts.

Hey folks, I think we are still on books starting with the letter "B" from the 1001 books to read list..........

Or maybe it's time to move on to C-books that are from the 1001 List . . . (but I'm 4,611 km from home so I can't check the list).

Alright then, Nickelini, C it is ~ anyone for Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut? Slim book, fast read, quintessential laugh-out-loud Vonnegut, it changed my life and vocabulary forever: ice-nine, karass, gramfaloon, etc. Also changed the way I look at cannonballs stacked on courthouse steps.

I've read a lot of books starting with "C", but I will have to go with City of God by E.L. Doctorow. he is a profound writer and the book left me bursting to talk about it. I called a friend, asked if she had read it. That was on a Sunday evening. She told me to come for lunch on Tuesday and she would have read it. She's a feminist theologian and her insights were tremendous. That's a great friend and it was a great book!

I was deeply affected by Joseph Heller's Catch-22. Decades have passed since reading it, but I have yet to discover a more memorable tragi-comic cast of characters.

Last time around, I chose Catcher in the Rye. This hasn't changed, but there are several other C-books worth mentioning:

Chocky, because all the books in the 1001 list by John Wyndham are good.

The Castle, because Franz Kafka is a unique and gifted writer.

Cause for Alarm is a fairly decent thriller. Easy read.

Choke, even though it was removed from the later edition of the 1001 list, Chuck Palahniuk is a writer worth reading at least once before you die.

Crome Yellow is an entertaining book, particularly if you like Aldous Huxley. I love Brave New World and this novel gives insight to the seeds of ideas that were later used in BNW.

The Collector is another decent, creepy thriller by John Fowles.

Cryptonomicon is a decent cyberpunk scifi novel, if you like that genre. Not as good as Neuromancer, but Neal Stephenson is on a comparable level with William Gibson.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is another unique book. The writing is not mind-blowing, by any means, but the protagonist is interesting and it is a very quick and easy read.

This doesn't include the books I still have on my TBR list, but it hits on the ones in the C-list that I have enjoyed.

-- M1001

I would recommend The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen and the Cement Garden by Ian McEwan.

I really liked The Corrections because of how the relationships between the characters in the one family are portrayed. Like the older son and the parents that don't get along, the two view points are both valid and are also funny to read.

The Cement Garden is one of Ian McEwan's first books (or even the very first?) and it deals with an incestuous relationship which is disgusting but believe it or not that pales in comparison to the rest of the story which is disgusting - in a non-sexual way. (You'll want to take a very long shower after reading it!) And that is why I thought it was a great book to read it describes smells and sights etc vividly. It's a short read too (one day easy) so if you want to knock another one off the list??.

Kiwiflowa--I've heard that about Cement Garden from several other readers. I adore Ian McEwan, but I've been avoiding that one. Not sure when I'll be in the mood to read a book that will make me want to take a shower! :-)

Bumping to D-Books.

First choices still go to Day of the Triffids and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

I also really liked Don Quixote...not sure why I didn't list it last time. I also read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? since my last post, and liked it as well...quite a bit different from the film adaptation Blade Runner.

-- M1001

I love Charles Dickens (also a "D"), and particularly have a soft spot for David Copperfield. Dickens' ability to create unforgettable characters is brilliant!

Disgrace is the first work by J. M. Coetzee that I've read and I liked it. Didn't *love* it, but it was absorbing and many-layered. (Yay, Barack Obama!)

Bumping to E-books:

Still haven't changed my opinions since my last post:

The Electric Kool-Acid Test is one of my favorite books. Tom Wolfe and Ken Kesey are both very cool.

The Elementary Particles is my favorite Houellebecq novel. Not for everyone, but I find him an incredibly intelligent writer.

One addition, Exercises in Style gets my vote for "the most original novel you probably haven't read yet". One story, written in 99 different styles.

-- M1001

I need to track down a copy of Exercises in Style--it sounds intriguing.

My fav E-novel from the list is Enduring Love. I spent a very good day in Maui reading it last year.

#193 Nickelini - it's good to hear that Enduring Love is a good read. I have that down for my 999 challenge and it will be my 4th McEwan book.

My favourite E book is of course Emma. I like P&P better but Emma comes in as a close second of Jane Austen books.

Of course I love Emma, but this time around I am going to choose Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. It is creative, engaging, just plain wonderful!

Bumping to F-books.

Still love Franny and Zooey, but I read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas not long ago and really enjoyed that as well, so it is a close second.

-- M1001.

A Farewell to Arms is my favorite Hemingway novel. The only Hemingway that doesn't make me want to throw the book across the room, actually. Most unreadable F book: Finnegans Wake

I'm a couple letters late, but I want to mention A Dance To The Music of Time as one of my favorite "D" books.

I'm going to go with Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry. It ia an amzing story, both wonderful and disturbing, and definitely informative about India culture.

I agree that Rohninton Mistry's Family Matters is excellent. A bit depressing though, although not nearly as depressing as his earlier A Fine Balance (also on the 1001 list). That book sent me into therapy.

My fav F book is still The French Lieutenant's Woman (comments with my original posting near the top of this thread). Shall we move along to G-books? I'm going with The Garden Party. Just love Katherine Mansfield.