October 2008: Which Book from the 1001 List Are You Reading?

What can I say, I like staying on the cutting edge. :)

Howards End and Ada, or Ardor remain holdovers from last month. The following are on my list to try and get through this month as well (fingers crossed):

Veronika Decides to Die -- Paulo Coelho
Watchmen -- Alan Moore
Between the Acts -- Virginia Woolf
Orlando -- Virginia Woolf

EDIT: Touchtones got a little touchy on me.

Reading White Noise by DeLillo and The Sea by Banville at the moment.

I am still reading Kristin Lavransdatter and hoping to get back to Bleak House sometime and finish it.
--BJ

The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett. Love it :)

Still going on The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster (because I only properly started it last night, after a couple of distractions!). Excellent Auster.

I'm going to finish Walden some time this month. Next on the 1001 list is The Time Machine. I'm looking forward to another Wells. Finding Walden a bit tedious with flashes of utter brilliance.

I had a break from Kristine Lavransdatter and read The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith which was an easy read but also highly enjoyable.

>7 socialpages:
I love The Talented Mr Ripley!
> 2
I also really enjoyed The Sea, how are you finding it ?

I've just started Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks.

Life of A Good-for-Nothing.

I just finished Kristin Lavransdatter - but I couldn't find it on the list. I have the old book - is it perhaps on the new list?

I'm enjoying The Sea and should be finished with it relatively soon. I also enjoyed Birdsong, but found The Girl at the Lion D'or more intriguing. I'm also nearly finished with both White Noise and Things Fall Apart. Somehow found myself splitting my reading into a book for the bus, a book for the train, a book for lunch, and a book at home. Maybe I'll get into longer works soon!

#10 I found it on the new version Arukiyomi list at 723 (under column B-- there are two columns of numbers). I had to go through the list twice to find it. I have not been able to come up with the new book which I find easier to browse.
--BJ

I've been mostly absent this year... In 5 weeks I will have finished my tertiary studies *finally*... Anyway I have knocked a few off the list this year:

Atonement by Ian McEwan
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Love of the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell

I enjoyed all of them. Slaughter House Five made me feel like I had missed a vital part of the story but I have no desire to re-read it. 1984 and Jane Eyre were two that I was very embarrassed not to have read so I'm glad I finally did!

I attempted Life of Pi and enjoyed it right up to the point he was shipwrecked. I'm not surprised I hate shipwreck books and movies I find them dull.

I've just downloaded the new spreadsheet. Wow what a fantastic tool it is, thanks Arukiyomi :). Of the books that were removed I had read 5 so it didn't have too much of an effect. I laughed when I read quite a few LTers had simply combined the lists to make an even longer 1200+ list - it's ambitious! My plan isn't to read them all... it's to find good books to read so why not combine? So far according to the new list I have read 59. The biggest casualty was my TBR pile... I had 9 books TBR that were removed from the list :(.

I'm reading a non-1001 books rigtht now and afterward I will read The God of Small Things.

Finished White Noise and did not enjoy the read. Finished Things Fall Apart and did enjoy it. Currently reading Novel With Cocaine and The Sea.

I just started The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. I'm not in love with it yet, we'll see if it grows on me.

Ha, just finished The Blind Assassin. Did it remind anyone else strongly of Atonement? The elderly female narrators, world wars, sexual tensions, family lies, social conflicts, and the little literary twists they both shared made them feel similar to me, like book siblings.

Finished The Book of Illusions last night, and am still in Pondering Mode. Does anyone else find Auster's books rather haunting? It always takes a while to shake the mood he puts me into.

Taking a break from the 1001 books for a while - I've got a backlog of Aussie books to read at the moment! (Yay for Aussie literature!) Undecided which 1001 book I'll pick up next...

I finished Milan Kundera's Ignorance and am still reading The First Circle. I'm really loving it, but it's been slow going since I can't take anywhere - too fat.

Trying to read Sense and Sensibility, but not making much progress due to all the other stuff that I have to read for school.

Reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. I think it's from the 2nd edition of 1001 books. Very very violent but beautifully written. Very sparse prose that has me reaching for the dictionary every page or so.

Still going with Midnight's Children. It's the third time I've picked it up. I've got further this time than before - I've read about 50 pages - but I keep putting it aside to read other books.

I just started Lolita and I am really enjoying his style so far.

Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons

I am currently reading Falling Man by Don DeLillo which appears on the updated version of the list.

Finished At the Mountains of Madness by Lovecraft, working on Ashes and Diamonds and A Woman's Life.

#22 jlelliott - Lolita is the greatest book ever. Enjoy!

I'm reading Ulysses right now, which is not as difficult as I thought it would be. I'm actually kind of enjoying it.

I'm now beginning The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles.

Just finished The Maltese Falcon by Dashiel Hammett.

Just finished The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields which I thoroughly enjoyed - easy to read which is a bonus after working my way through Blood Meridian with a dictionary at my side.

I'm reading Blonde: A Novel and enjoying it much more than I thought I would. Her writing is excellent and I feel it really brings to life Marilyn Monroe. Even though it is a novel she obviously did a lot of research.

Well I finished The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy yesterday and am now on to 3 books not on the 1001 list.

I really enjoyed it and when I was writing up my review on LT I was surprised to read in quite a few reviews by other LTers that they didn't really like it? I thought it was fantastic. The language and prose reminded me of Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible and the story was similar in style to Ian McEwan's Atonement in that it focused on one event and what came before and what came after. I was very impressed and would highly recommend reading it.

I finished reading Falling Man by Don DeLillo, which I thought was quite good.

I am now onto I,Robot by Isaac Asimov.

#31 kiliflowa I really enjoyed The God of Small Things as well, though I do remember it took a while to get me in. The other two books you mention just happen to be favourites of mine as well.

I am in the happy position of having just finished my current read (a non 1001 book) and thinking about what to tackle next: something from the tbr pile or should I pay a visit to the library and search for any new arrivals.

Just starting Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow. A flatmate MANY years ago read this and loved it, so it's been one of those "must read" books for far too long!

Finished At the Mountains of Madness by Lovecraft and loved it--horror in its purest form, especially a couple of the accompanying stories in the volume.

Finished A Woman's Life by de Maupassant and recommend it, especially for readers of the period involved (story take place between about 1800 and 1855).

Currently working on Ashes and Diamonds by Andrzejewski (excellent) and then have to choose another because I have three reading group selections to finish first: rereads of Kiln People by David Brin and The Odd Couple by Neil Simon, and then The Mixquiahuala Letters by Ana Castillo.

Currently reading Notre Dame de Paris.

Finished I, Robot by Isaac Asimov which surprisingly only took me two days, compared to the last time I tried to read it. I didn't get very far that time. It's a good read.

Not entirely sure what I'll be reading next as I'm onto the latest books by John Green, Let it Snow and Paper Towns.

Thoroughly enjoyed Treasure Island. Rolicking good fun, and I was surprised by the richness of the dialogue. Gave up on Robinson Crusoe which was not nearly as entertaining in comparison.

Did not enjoy Wide Sargasso Sea. The concept was interesting but it was too heavy and forced

The Reluctant Fundamentalist was definitely worth a read as an unsettling page-turner.

#38, I concur about Wide Sargasso Sea about the concept being interesting, but...I found it needlessly "related" to Jane Eyre. Working through The Floating Opera by John Barth; I'm Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti; Oranges are not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson this weekend and plan to finish Ashes and Diamonds tonight.

Just finished The French Lieutenant's Woman, and I'm a bit torn by my reaction to it. There were parts of the book I loved, but I was very disappointed by the ending, which I found ambiguous and a let down. But, overall I liked the book and glad I read it.

Just started reading Middlesex. Fascinating so far.

I was kinda . . . annoyed . . . that with all the reading I have to do for university this term, nothing is on the 1001 list. But I just found out that the book I have to read before my 8:30 class tomorrow--Survival in Auschwitz, by Primo Levi--is on the list under a different name. On the list it's known as If This is a Man. Bonus!

#42 That book is amazing. I read it recently and I am still thinking about it.
--BJ

#22 - also reading Lolita and enjoying it so far. love the lyrical prose!

Reading On Beauty by Zadie Smith. It`s been quite good so far.

1984.

Finished The Floating Opera, I'm Not Scared, (Niccolo Ammaniti--touchstone's not great here) and Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. Still working on Ashes and Diamonds--which is a great read, but the print is teensy-tiny and I have to read in only the most optimal conditions. Have Lucky Jim on the coffee table for tonight.

Currently reading Aesop's Fables . Its fun to go thru all these little fables , but at the same time its tedious because there isn't an actual storyline . I'll be glad to check this off the list when I'm done .

Still going on Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow (which I'm finding a bit dense: the plot is intriguing, but there is so much unexplained stuff about Denmark/Greenland that sometimes I feel I'm struggling a bit). But also picked up Don't Move last night, as I owe that to a friend. Good so far, although it's obviously not going to be a fluffy read!

I just had this happy thought today and had to post it somewhere...

I'm sooooo glad The Road by Cormac McCarthy wasn't on the updated list. I would have put money on it that it would be selected and it wasn't. I HATED that book.

And I LOVED The Road by McCarthy. Just goes to show we are a varied group of readers here.

Just started Cat's Eye, by Margaret Atwood

Lolita.