Paruline's attempt

Hello all,

I've been aware of the book for a few months now and getting quite obsessive about it ever since. According to arukiyomi, I have to read 22 books/year from now on, which might give you an indication of my age :).

My first language is French and I try to get translated works in French when I can. But I am also fluent in English and enjoy its rich literary tradition.




Here goes (from both editions), asterisks are near the ones I read since learning about the list:

1- The thousand and one nights
2- Gulliver's travels
3- A modest proposal *
4- Candide *
5- Persuasion *
6- The purloined letter *
7- A tale of two cities *
8- The yellow wallpaper *
9- Sense and sensibility
10- Frankenstein
11- Last of the Mohicans
12- The hunchback of Notre Dame *
13- The nose *
14- The fall of the house of Usher *
15- The pit and the pendulum *
16- The three musketeers
17- Uncle Tom's cabin
18- Madame Bovary
19- Les miserables
20- Alice's adventures in wonderland
21- Little women *
22- Through the looking glass
23- Ben-Hur
24- The adventures of Huckeberry Finn
25- Germinal
26- Dracula
27- The garden party *
28- The emigrants *
29- Trainspotting
30- Timbuktu *
31- The immoralist *
32- The trial
33- Brave new world
34- The hobbit
35- Of mice and men
36- The little prince
37- Animal farm
38- The plague
39- Cry, the beloved country *
40- Nineteen eigthy-four

41- The catcher in the rye *
42- Memoirs of Hadrian
43- The old man and the sea *
44- Lord of the flies
45- The lord of the rings
46- Doctor Zhivago
47- Manon des sources
48- One hundred years of solitude
49- 2001: a space odyssey
50- The godfather
51- The year of the hare
52- Interview with the vampire
53- Hitchiker's guide to the galaxy
54- The name of the rose
55- The handmaid's tale
56- Perfume
57- Contact
58- The pigeon
59- Like water for chocolate
60- Remains of the day *
61- The english patient
62- The secret history
63- A fine balance
64- Alias Grace *
65- The hours *
66- The amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay *
67- Life of Pi
68- The corrections *
69- The sea *
70- The blind assassin
71- Never let me go *

Now reading In search of Klingsor and Jane Eyre.

You already have a great list!

Thanks Tammiejx!

So you're from the Netherlands. Any authors from your country on the list that you'd recommend?

72- In search of Klingsor



meh. One thing kept bothering me: how these supposedly brilliant scientists kept committing the 'is-ought fallacy'. Because uncertainty is part of the universe, there can be no truth, no right and wrong and therefore everyone is a liar and a traitor. Sorry but we live in the real world, we have motivations that do not stem from the quantum realm and our actions have real consequences.

3/5

Hi paruline, you do have a great list of books already read. I have never heard much of your book #72, but loved Jane Eyre when I read it many years ago.

Thanks judylou. I am only 30 pages in but I can already understand why it's such a classic.

73- Jane Eyre



Well, what hasn't been said about this book? I thoroughly enjoyed it.

4.5/5

#5: Sorry for the very late reply! I think there's a book by Harry Mulisch on this list, you might give him a try. The book is called The Discovery Of Heaven if I remember correctly. :)

74- Foundation



An engaging read for fans of sci-fi although it did seem to fizzle out a bit at the end. My only real problem with it was the lack of female characters. Scientists, administrators, politicians, rulers, priests, traders and adventurers were all men. Probably a reflection of its audience at the time of publication, but a missed opportunity imo.

4/5

75- The thirty-nine steps



Entertaining story, liked it well enough. I had to suspend disbelief at several points though, which kind of distracted me. Not sure if it deserves to be on the list even though it was one of the first spy thriller.

4/5

76- The dispossessed



Loved it! What a great book! Often, I think I mostly like the 'idea' or potential of sci-fi rather than the sci-fi itself. But this story had intelligent, well-rounded characters and they lead their lives with courage, conviction and ideals. Some random thoughts:
-The author challenges our preconceptions in many cases by not divulging the gender or race of her characters right away;
-There is not a lot of action, it can almost be read as a very long essay on anarchism;
-I think I would have taken something different from it had I read it in my teens or my twenties. I think this is a book that can grow with you and I look forward to reading it again in a few years;
-The physics and metaphysics side of the story were the weakest part imo;
-Personnally, I don't think anarchism could work because it doesn't take into account human nature. There will always be cheaters, parasites, greed and laziness (yes I am cynical) and all attempts to set up ideal societies have broken down in mere years;
-I thought the description of human and social relationships and their evolution in time were particularly well rendered, as insightful as any I've ever read.

5/5

77- To kill a mockingbird



That's it. My daughter is going to learn English and read this book as soon as possible.

4.5/5

78- Kim



Liked it well enough. Seemed a bit otherworldly to me because of the setting and the different culture. The main characters didn't seem to evolve much but the writing was beautiful. Overall I am glad I read it.

4/5

79- The war of the worlds



Gripping and surprisingly modern, a very enjoyable book.

4.5/5

80- The day of the triffids



John Wyndham was supposedly influenced by The war of the worlds so I was interested in reading these two books one after the other. I have to admit I didn't really see a lot of similarities. Rather, the story reminded me strongly of Blindness by Jose Saramago which I read a few years ago.

I thought it was a good read, it had a nice pacing and an involving story. I will probably reread it someday.

4.5/5

81- The turn of the screw



Argh! Well, this was arduous... I mostly kept reading because I was curious about all the fuss.

2.5/5

82- Treasure Island



Next on my tbr list was Lord Jim but Treasure Island kept calling my name from Mount tbr. I had only read the sanitized children version before and this was a welcome surprise. I can understand why it's been enjoyed for so long by so many readers.

4/5

83- Les liaisons dangereuses



I remember trying to read this in my teen years and giving up because of the epistolary nature of the novel. I decided to give it a second try mainly because of the group read.

I enjoyed it a lot more this time around. My copy had a couple of essays on sentimentalism, rationalism, the life of de Laclos etc. These essays gave me a lot of food for thoughts while I was reading the novel.

So, did Valmont love de Tourvel? I guess that's the question that readers are left with at the end. Personnally, I think he did. He placed her above all others, he was moved by her virtues, and he committed 'suicide' after leaving her.

However, his identity was entertwined with his reputation as a libertine. Merteuil mocked him (could she have been in love with him?) and he had to choose between losing face and the woman he loved.

*rambling mode on*

Since reading Alias Grace, it has been difficult to commiserate much with the emotional problems of characters in period novels (from The turn of the screw to Les liaisons dangereuses).

Most people throughout history have worked hard to feed, clothe, and support some kind of aristocracy. The least they can expect in return is to have the people with free time try to advance the fields of medicine, art, law, science, engineering... When the aristocracy becomes parasitic instead of commensalist, that's when I say: Vive la revolution!

*rambling mode off*

4/5

84- Moll Flanders



I initially expected this book to follow the movie of the same name, but at around page 10, decided to just enjoy the ride without expecting anything. The most interesting part in my opinion was her life of crime, while I was pretty bored with all her husbands and her plots to get married. I also lost count of all her children.

*Spoilers*

Personnally, I really don't think she repented. For once, she seemed to be a very indifferent mother, after she got rich, never trying to find and/or helping out her children. She says she reconciled with her son in America, but did she do that only in self-interest? A true penitent would also avoid lying imo, but she lied to her American son about him being an only child.

*End spoilers*

All in all, an interesting read. I felt like I learned a lot about the lives of women in that period. Moll Flanders was courageous and intelligent and used the means at her disposal to make her life better.

4/5

85- The castle of Otranto



Well, according to Carl Sagan, reading a book is like hearing the author's voice and thoughts. I can only think that I would not want to meet Horace Walpole.

The only redeeming quality of this book is that it was over so fast. Does not belong on the list imo.

2/5

86- Solaris



mmmm... I am ambivalent about this one. It's a great set-up: how to communicate with something so alien that you don't have anything in common?

But the human characters were not very sympathetic and the dialogs seemed forced. Who answers a question with another question twenty times in a row? (What do you mean? Don't you know? About what? etc etc). In fact I found the alien the most interesting and developed character.

Glad I read it, and I will probably check out the movie some day, but I am not sure it belongs on the list.

3.5/5

87- Lord Jim



Another difficult read for me. The writing reminded me of Rudyard Kipling (ie beautiful, evocative) but I found the story boring. Also, there were several instances of racism in the book (probably a product of its time), but uncomfortable reading all the same. I don't know if I am ever going to attempt Heart of Darkness or The secret agent now.

3/5 - Mainly for the skillful writing

88- Soldats de Salamine



Satisfying read from an author I wouldn't have found on my own. That's what I like about the list: the nice little surprises.

4/5

89- God's bits of wood



My own background may have coloured my reading experience of this book. I have lived in west Africa for a couple of years and this brought back many memories. While I was reading, I could feel the heat of the sun, and I could picture the colourful boubous, the sand, the houses, the marketplace.

Ousmane Sembene is one of West Africa's most acclaimed authors but since he writes in French, I don't think he is as well known as he should be.

As for the story, it's based on a real event (the strike of the Dakar-Niger railway employees). There are no central characters, rather it tells the story of how the community and the traditions are changed by the events. The hardships the people faced during the strike reminded me somewhat of Germinal. Recommended read for people interested in the colonial history of western Africa.

4/5

90- A short history of tractors in Ukrainian



A family too dysfunctional for my taste. I live in one so don't really want to read about them. Other people might like it though.

3/5

91- Ethan Frome



A short, depressing and well-crafted story. I thought the descriptions of wintery landscapes were especially well written. I also felt increasing dread as I read and that doesn't happen often with me.

4/5

92- In cold blood



Hard to put down. Good story, master storyteller.

4/5

93- The curious incident of the dog in the night-time



Sweet, interesting, heartbreaking, unique. Loved it.

4.5/5

The last two books you have read are two of my favourite books. And for such different reasons!!

94- The graduate



meh.

3/4

#30: I loved The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time! One of my favorite books, glad to see you enjoyed it too. :)

#31, 33 I wasn't sure about the book when I picked it up but am sure glad I did!

95- Neuromancer



will have to think about my review. Ok here goes.

This novel introduced the concepts of cyberspace and as such holds an important part in the development of sci-fi. A lot of people see it as the precursor of the Matrix, for example.

It's clear that the author has a very clear picture of the world he created. But is it too much to ask that he shares that picture with us? Characters make reference to events, corporations and software without explanation. There is a lot of slang and techno-babble. For the first 200 pages, I was just trying to figure out what was going on. After that, I started to really enjoy it.

Ultimately I am glad I read it but I wish it hadn't been so much work.

3.5/5

96- The death of Ivan Ilych



A quick, easy read. I wasn't particularly blown away but that maybe because, unlike me, he is the other man, and it is natural he should die (those who have read it will understand).

3/5

97- The island of Dr. Moreau



Interesting concept but the biology is *so* wrong, it kind of distracted me. The war of the worlds was much better imo.

I don't know why, I kept thinking about Crake in Oryx and Crake while reading.

4/5

98- Mrs. Dalloway



Woohoo! I am no longer a Woolf virgin!

I wanted soooo much to love this book but it left me a bit cold actually. I really wish I knew why.

3.5/5

99- Wuthering Heights



Miscommunication, revenge and drama, oh my!

4/5

#40: Must read that one soon, everyone seems to love it! :)

100- Pride and prejudice



Very good read; I liked it more than Sense and sensibility but less than Persuasion. I liked the main character, Elizabeth, very much.

4/5

101- The tale of the bamboo cutter



Forget to add this charming folk tale I read a couple of weeks ago on my lunch break. Lovely.

4/5

Congratulations on reaching 100.

Thanks! Only 900 to go :)

I know it's late, but well done on reading 101 already! :)

Thanks Tammiejx!

102- The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde



A gothic story on the best way to avoid responsibility.

4/5

103- The mayor of Casterbridge



Well, the mayor of Casterbridge is indeed quite a character. I alternated between contempt, sympathy and pity for this man throughout the book. However, I don't know if the author attempted to draw Farfrae in a positive light, but I thought him more loathsome than the mayor.

Ultimately, even though I enjoyed reading the book, I don't know how much of it I'll remember in a few months.

4/5

104- Le tour du monde en 80 jours (Around the world in eighty days)



Great adventure story. I was familiar with most of the film versions but it was nice to read the real thing.

4/5

105- Jacques le fataliste (Jacques the fatalist)



This guy was a 150 years ahead of his time. A great read.

4/5

106- Schindler's list



Gripping and unputdownable, even though I saw the movie years ago.

4/5

107- Je n'ai pas peur (I'm not scared)



A coming-of-age story with a lot of gothic elements. Told beautifully and realistically from the point of view of a nine year old boy, this story deals with the ugliness that can lie underneath benign-looking surfaces.

4/5

108- The murder of Roger Ackroyd



I read this years ago but just realized that I forgot to list it. I don't remember much about the story except that the ending took me by surprise.

4/5

I just read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and loved it - I totally agree that it's the end that's the big memorable bit!

#55, Yes, I didn't guess the murderer's identity while reading but the ending did make sense once you considered it. I guess it was this genre-defying ending that earned the book a place on the list. My favorite Christie is still And then there were none though. Soooo creepy.

Grrrr... touchstones.

Thanks for posting all your reviews as you read--very interesting.

You're welcome! and thanks for reading :)

I have to tell you my terrible Roger Ackroyd story- I got the book, and went on Wikipedia to find out if it was based on a true story or not. And the ending was ON WIKIPEDIA. I cursed. I threw things. Very upset. I still read it just to see how Christie pulled it together, but man I felt robbed.

WHERE I CAN FIND IT THE DISCOVERY OF HEAVEN

WHAT DO MEAN 900 TO GO.

WHAT DO MEAN 900 TO GO.

Well, this is part of the 1001 books to read before you die thread; I read 108 books from that list so there are about 900 books left to read.

#59 Poor you! I'd have thrown things too. My hubby likes to know the endings before he reads/watches thing so I am forever shushing him. I like surprises!

My best friend is like that. I remember when we were in sixth grade and Titanic came out and I accidentally told her the ending about when you know who dies. She didn't speak to me for the rest of the day, which was awkward since I was spending the night at her house.

#59, That's a shame! Although once I knew who did it, I remember I went straight back to the beginning to see if I could catch some of the clues this time around.

There are Christie books I have enjoyed more on second reading when I can look how the whole thing is put together and how things are revealed, but she did do a bunch of those books where the main idea is messing up with the expectations and traditions of murder mysteries and those work best as surprises...yes, Roger Ackroyd is one of those.

Generally none of the Christie books are too closely tied to true stories but several have borrowed bits and pieces from actual events. Apparently she did use newspaper headlines for ideas but didn't bother to go that much deeper to actual events...
But e.g. one of her most famous works is loosely based on Lindbergh Baby case :)

109- Simon and the oaks



This is the story of Simon and his family, from the time of Simon's childhood to his late twenties. It is set in Sweden just before, during and after WWII and we see the effects of this terrible time on the lives of the characters.

I enjoyed the language, the settings and most of the characters, but they rarely felt real to me. And I kept feeling like the author was preaching to me about something really Important, something Big, but it just made me feel like a doofus for not understanding.

All in all, I enjoyed reading the book but I didn't really connect with it.

3.5∕5

110- On the road



Interesting from a historical perspective, but it became dreary after a while.

3∕5

111- Le premier jardin (The first garden)



An aging actress revisits the city where she grew up in order to look for her missing daughter. While searching for her daughter, she imagines the lives of women throughout the city's history. This slim book is basically a tribute to these pioneers, merchants' wives, nuns and house maids.

3.5∕5

112- The shining



Jack Torrance is hired to be the caretaker of a remote hotel during the winter's off season. He brings his wife and 6 year-old son. Madness and murder ensue.

I kept rolling my eyes while reading (topiary animals, really?), but I was fascinated and creeped out. Good read.

4/5

I really don't get why The Shining is on the list. The family had ample time and reason to leave the spooky hotel, but most of the book is spent with them being too idiotic to save their own skins. I'm certain you can have suspense without characters to dim to save themselves. It isn't really an issue in the other King books I've read.

# 72, I guess it's on the list because of its influence on the horror genre, flaws and all.

113- A Christmas carol



Very nice.

3.5/5

114 - Les cygnes sauvages (Wild swans)



This book chronicles three lives (the author's grandmother, her mother and herself) through the rise of communism in China. I learned a lot about the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, AND it was a page turner.

My only minor reservation is that I didn't find the author very likable. There were a lot of little details like she writes how she was horrified by the Cultural Revolution (but she was a Red Guard), how she got a scholarship based on her own merit (but her mother interceded for her and a friend examiner gave her an easy question), and how reeducation as a peasant was so hard (but she seemed to have been discharged very early compared to others).

4∕5

115- Stupeurs et tremblements (Fear and trembling)



A young Belgian woman is hired by a Japanese firm. Hilarity ensues.

A very quick and funny read.

4∕5

116- Their eyes were watching God



Janie goes on a journey of self discovery. Just wonderful.

4∕5

117- Bonheur d'occasion (The tin flute)



A family tries to survive in the slums of Montreal while WWII looms. Wonderfully written, and with shifting points of view between characters. So many topics are discussed insightfully and timelessly in this gem of a novel. For example, for many men living in the slums, the only way to somewhat provide for their family is to become cannon fodder. Have the times really changed since this was written? Anyone? Bueller?

I was mostly taken with the long-suffering mother; I've seen her described on LT as a 'passive-agressive enabler' but I respectfully disagree. Her actions were constrained by a time in which divorce and contraception were unthinkable, religion coloured every aspect of life, the French-speaking population was subservient to the rich Anglophones, and a married woman wasn't even expected/allowed to have friends.

Warning: there is a child with leukemia. The novel is set in 1939. 'Nough said.

4/5

118- The house of mirth



This novel follows Lily Bart with a riches-to-rags story. I don't know why, but I didn't really connect with the story or the characters even though it's beautifully written.

3/5

119- Walden



Finally finished this. Free at last!

Two comments:
1- Thoreau was one of the first to propose that Nature was not only utilitarian but could restore and inspire the soul. As such, he was a big influence on the conservation movement. Kudos.
2- He was also really worried about something (anything really) tainting his precious, precious bodily fluids.

2.5/5

Too funny - now I must read Walden! It looks like our tastes in lit are similar, so I probably won't like it any more than you did, but I am intrigued : )

@ 81, I hope you enjoy it, I really do. There were some beautiful, lyrical passages, but the prose was just too dense for me. Give me Aldo Leopold's A sand county almanac any day instead.

120- Robinson Crusoe



Ok, I don't really know what to say about this. It was pretty meh for me. Although I'm beginning to think that Defoe was a closeted agnostic because of the way he portrays religious people. Now this would put an interesting perspective on both Moll Flanders and RC imo.

2.5/5

I am 2/3 of the way RC at the moment. I am really disappointed actually! It is so very dull and droning. The descriptions of what he does are so repetitive and develop slowly. It was an early foray into the novel form though, so I guess these things can be forgiven somewhat.

#84: it did drag, didn't it?

121- Emma



Finished this August 9 but forgot to add it here. Definitely not my favourite Austen, but it had some good bits. I especially liked Emma when she was clueless; by the end of the novel, she seemed to have lost all of her backbone and sparkle. Plus, she became a snob.

3.5/5

122- Cryptonomicon



What a 1100+-pages fun ride! Every other page had a hilarious one-liner.

Even though the book is nightmarishly long, I do wish some of the characters' stories had been more developed. For example, The Dentist is set up to be this fantastic villain but half-way through the book, he kind of disapears. And Rudy spends more than a year on a raft and we get nothing? And what about Wing? He survives The Long March and the Cultural Revolution, and becomes a general. I mean, that could have been a fascinating book by itself.

But this is a minor quibble. There are already 125 reviews on LT and they capture pretty well my feelings about the book.

4/5

123- I know why the caged bird sings



In this autobiography, each chapter covers a memory (going to church, reading books, playing with a best friend, a visit to the dentist, getting a first job...) while growing up in the deep American South in the 30s.

I'm glad I read this during Banned Books Week. There are some difficult passages (child rape) but they are handled with sensitivity and bravery.

4/5

124- The grapes of wrath



I'm still reeling from this one and don't think I can write a coherent review. Suffice to say this will stay with me for a long time. An excellent, excellent read.

5∕5

125- Stranger in a strange land



Well, I did not like this. It felt like being sermonized about privilege by someone oozing privilege from every pore.

The plot was very basic: a man raised by Martians comes back to Earth and teaches that if humans could only get rid of jealousy and monogamy (stoopid relationships, how do they work?) and learn to speak Martian, then every man would be able to break the laws of physics (stoopid science, how does it work?), develop superpowers, and be surrounded by naked, beautiful, libidinous, subservient women. And gays are icky.

There were some interesting bits about religion, politics and art, but this was not enough to redeem this book in my view.

2/5

lol. I love your review. I hope you post it on the book's page if you haven't already.

@90 Well, you've convinced me to post my very first review :)

126- Villette



Lucy Snowe tries to find love and independence in Villette. Lucy alternates between being repressed, depressed, and judgmental, so not really a winning personality for me. But the book does make a very interesting commentary on the social mores of the times.

While reading, all I could think about was that hilarious comic: Dude Watchin' with the Brontes.

3.5∕5

Kate Beaton, love her.

@93, yeah, me too.

127- Oliver Twist



Note to self: read more Dickens.

4/5

128- The Midwich Cuckoos



Cuckoos survive by freeloading on the parenting instincts of other species. In this book, Wyndham explores the consequences of an alien species using the same technique on humans. Thoroughly enjoyable classic sci-fi, even though some bits on evolutionary theory are quite dated.

4∕5

Nice reviews... I was surprised at your take on Stranger in a Strange Land. This is one of my favorite books of all time. I read it in high school and have reread it several times since. Perhaps my own cynicism about our society matches with Heinlein's portrayl of how idiotic humans appeared to Michael- I was struck by the reflection of politics and religion and really loved seeing them through the eyes of a Martian human.

I think the main theme of belonging to the human race but not being human was what initally captured my interest and still resonates with me today.

@97 Hi amaryann21, thanks for your comments. The parts I liked most about Stranger in a strange land are the ones you talk about. I agree that humans do appear quite idiotic in the book; but Michael did not cure them of their idiocy. Imho, he took them to a whole other level of idiocy and I was quite disappointed with Jubal for going along with it.

The world (and LT!) would be quite boring if we all liked the same books!

129- La maison de Claudine (Claudine's house)



Colette revisits her childhood memories in this charming memoir. She grows up surrounded by a loving family and numerous pets, and nothing much happens. But it's all in the delivery, and the delivery is superb.

4∕5

>98 paruline: I agree, paruline. I think one of the things I love most about readers is how we all take away different things from the books we read. I, for one, have always hated The Great Gatsby, whereas my sister loved it to bits.

Reposted from my 11 in 11 Challenge thread

130- Crossfire



A young woman with the power of pyrokinesis becomes a vigilante. A policewoman with the arson division pursues her.

This was an enjoyable but ultimately forgettable read.

3.5/5

131- Rebecca



What a great read! I connected with the unnamed narrator right away. Like her, I do have an (over)active imagination and I tend to make up scenarios about the future. Plus, I liked all the descriptions of Manderley and the different motivations of all the characters.

4.5/5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge

132- Beloved



I went into this novel blind; I didn't know anything about the story. On the surface, it's about a former slave (literally) haunted by her past. But it's also a meditation about memory, the past, language, forgiveness, love, community and coping.

The only thing that distracted me was that I was always trying to figure out WHAT or WHO is Beloved. A ghost? A reincarnation? A fugitive slave with memory loss? An allegory for the past? Can a ghost get pregnant?

4∕5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge

133- Dirk Gently's holistic detective agency

Lots of seemingly random events are tied up eventually in inimitable Adams' style. Very fun ride.

4/5

I don't think I'm going to make any attempt at all to read this list (to date I've read 110 of the books on the list, and it contains another 38 I'm fairly certain to read in the future, but it also contains at least a couple of hundred that I would regard as a waste of my time; at the age of 66 I reckon I'll probably not read much more than another couple of thousand books in my life, and I don't see any profit in wasting 10% of my remaining reading time to books which are vastly inferior to many not on the list).

In fact I see it as a pretty hopless list with several clearly visible biases:
(a) it is massively biased towards English language.
(b) the French books on it, and the German (almost all quoted with English titles) are all things that would be likely to be covered in secondary school courses and exist in school libraries a few decades back; this cuts out an enormous range of authors, both medieval (17 year olds in UK schools can make head nor tail of Villon, for example, and Guillaume do Lorris and Jean de Meun would be completely beyond them) and modern (no-one later than Gide).
(c) anti poetry bias
(d) anti play bias
(e) a strong tendency to have several books by one author while leaving out other authors in the same language/genre/period who have written equally good books
(f) no science (except the science in science fiction)
(g) no philosophy
(h) strong bias towards modernish books (all of Beowulf, La Chanson de Roland, El Canto del mio Cid, Y Gododdin, an Rúraíocht, Odysseia, Aeneis, La Divina Commedia, The Canterbury Tales are missing - maybe they shouldn't all be there, but I can't believe that none of them should, nor any other similar work)?

Anyway, at the moment I'm reading a book by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer and another by Julio Cortázar plus odds and ends from W.J.Watson's wondeful anthology Bàrdachd Gàidhlig - none of which figures on the list, and each of which is far more fun that many things on the list. Then I'll probably read something in English (reading too much Spanish tires me, because my reading speed in that language is still very slow) and before switching back to Spanish (Carmen Gaite - the book is sitting on my desk; maybe Isabel Allende or Paul Coelho too - books on order, awaiting delivery - because if I don't read enough Spanish my reading speed won't increase enough; and then I'll see what I will read next)

>105 TomThomson: You make many good points about the shortcomings of Boxall's list, none of which have anything to do with Paruline's attempt to complete the challenge.

#105 - wow, nice rant - did you post that message on everybody's thread in this group, or just this one? Stick at it paruline - going well!

>105 TomThomson: Boxall does emphasize that the list contains fiction- no plays, poetry, science or philosophy. Otherwise, I agree with some of your points.

@ 105, I see that you just joined LT. Welcome, it's a nice place to hang out and chat about books.

Regarding Boxall's list, there have been discussions (and rants) on this group about the books included and those excluded. You do make some good points and there is no book police on LT, you can read whatever you want. I choose to base some of my reading on this list for many reasons including:

1- I like to read fiction
2- I like to tick off items on lists (and, obviously, making lists)
3- the quality of the books I read has increased since I started following the list
4- the list has allowed me to explore new genres, such as African American literature, biographies, LGBT literature, sci-fi...
5- I've also discovered wonderful authors I doubt I would have found on my own
6- although I agree that the first edition is anglocentric, the second edition is much more international. Win!

I'm not going to read all 1001, but as long as there are books that look interesting to me on the list, I'll use it. The ride has been fun so far.

@ 109 Paruline I've known of the list since about 2007ish and the two subsequent updates and I'm still finding out about books on the list that I've never heard of before but seem really interesting. Just last week I discovered The Jungle by Upton Sinclair - it's now high on my to read list. Unless you study literature it's easy to never get exposure to some great books and authors. There great authors that don't get much exposure these days while there are others which seem to come back into fashion.

@110, same here. Exposure is the right word I think. You can decide if you want to read a certain book or a certain author once you become aware they exist.

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

134- Ignorance

In Ignorance, two emigrants, a man and a woman, return to Czechoslovakia after the fall of communism. They attempt to connect with each other and with their family and friends left behind, with mixed results. Kundera, an emigrant himself, explores themes of nostalgia, memory, and ignorance in this slim novel.

I found it difficult to enjoy the story. The writing is often beautiful and evocative; but the story felt disconnected, abrubt and unfinished. I also kept comparing the book (unfavorably, I'm afraid) to the wonderful L'enigme du retour which I read last year and that also talked about the experience of returning to one's country after exile.

2.5/5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

135- The awakening

A great story about Edna becoming aware of the oppressive social constructs surrounding her. A not-so-great solution for breaking free of these constructs.

Happy International Women's Day!

4/5

re 109
Your 6 points are exactly why I like this list!
The books you have posted as having read are varied, which is what I feel the list is all about.

Good luck and enjoy your reading.
Just off to sneak a look at your 11 in 11 posts.

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

136- Regeneration

An engrossing (if disturbing) look at the psychological damage that war does.

4∕5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

137- La princesse de Clèves (The princess of Cleves)

Put together a bunch of hormone-driven rich teenagers, heavy expectations from family members, a strict social code of conduct, and incredible amounts of leisure time. Add a situation where everyone is spying on each other, where dissimulating one's feelings is necessary for survival and where communication can only happen through double entendres. Mix and serve. What do you get?

Passion. And jealousy. And death by passion and jealousy.

3/5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

138- A l'ouest rien de nouveau (All quiet on the western front)

Powerful, gruesome, timeless account of the horrors of war.

4.5/5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

139- Chocky

When Matthew begins to talk to himself, his parents start to wonder whether he's not a little old for an imaginary friend. As with the other Wyndham that I read, this story deals with ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances. A short and enjoyable read.

4∕5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

140- Oscar and Lucinda

ok, so before picking up a book, I usually play peekaboo with Wikipedia. I try to find out the main outline of the story without getting any spoilers. For this book, it went something like this: Peekaboo! Two lovers... Peekaboo! Gambling addiction... Peekaboo! Glass church... Peekaboo! Australian outback...

Sounds like two people with a gambling addiction fall in love and make a bet to get a glass church to a remote post by crossing the Australian outback. That looks interesting and exotic, yeah!

Except they meet around page 200. And leave with the glass church around page 400. And arrive around page 450. But if you like well-drawn characters who slowly, methodically and completely ruin their own lives, then this is the book for you!

3∕5

141- Suite francaise

Wonderful writing, realistic portrayal of people's reactions in wartime. This book generated a great discussion at my book club meeting.

4/5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

142- Fugitive pieces

A young fugitive Jew (Jakob) is rescued and raised by a Greek geologist and is haunted all his life by the traumatic events that he witnessed. The novel is divided into two parts; the first part is narrated by Jakob and the second part by Ben, an admirer of Jakob's poetry.

This is a very introspective novel and involves peeling back layers of meaning from past events. Reminded me of the poetic writing of Ondaatje, but I connected less strongly with the story this time, especially the second part.

3.5/5

I love reading all your reviews. Keep it up!

#122 Thanks for reading and commenting. Keep it up! ;-)

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

143- The Moonstone

Suspenseful 19th century crime novel with interesting characters and more twists and turns that you can shake a fist at - I stayed up late to finish this one. Wilkie Collins also managed to sneak in some criticism on class structure and imperialism.

4/5

Next: La légende de Gostä Berling (Gosta Berling's Saga)

I thought The Moonstone was an excellent book. I tried guessing "who done it", but I didn't even come close. I thought the ending was great.

I also really enjoyed The Moonstone, it had a lot of different threads going along side the mystery.
I have The Woman in White on my shelf to read. I was saving it for a readalong on the 11 in 11 Category Challenge, but might read it before.

#125, I didn't guess it either. You're right about the ending, the book created a fantastic mental picture for me. Those poor Indians though...

#126, now that I've had my first taste of Collins, I'm looking forward to reading The woman in white! It's probably not going to be this year though.

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

144- La légende de Gostä Berling (Gosta Berling's Saga)

A year in the life of Gostä Berling and his drinking, singing, gambling, dancing companions. I really enjoyed this: strong female characters, interweaving story lines, a touch of magical realism, and lovingly described wintery landscapes.

4∕5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

145- Le désert des Tartares (The Tartar steppe)

Drogo gets his first military assignment to the Bastiani Fort and waits and hopes for the war that will bring him glory. And waits. And waits. And the more he waits and sacrifices for this hope, the more he *has* to hope to justify his sacrifices and the wasteful life he's leading. Powerful writing and some fantastical elements, like the fluidity of time and the spell the fort seems to cast on everyone, make this a memorable read.

4.5∕5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

146- The call of the wild

This is the tale of the adventures of Buck, a sleigh dog, during the Yukon gold rush. Could also be taken as an allegory of the fight between civilization and primitive instincts. Enjoyable even though Buck was annoyingly perfect.

3.5/5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

147- Waiting for the barbarians

When there are rumors that the Barbarians are planning a war, the Empire sends 'investigators' (read, torturers) to a remote outpost in order to extract the truth from prisoners. The outpost's aging Magistrate takes a stand against their cruelty and is branded a traitor.

I've never taken a literary analysis class, but I can imagine that, with the right teacher, this book would be really interesting to study; it's full of dreams and symbols and allegories. Very thought-provoking.

4∕5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

148- Bonjour tristesse

Cécile is 17, is spending the summer on the French riviera with her playboy father (Raymond) and is enjoying their carefree, bohemian way of life. Until Anne comes visiting: she is cultured, refined, intelligent, organized and Raymond decides to marry her. This will not do for Cécile and she plots to get Anne out of their lives.

Written when the author herself was only 18, there are really good descriptions of the internal struggles of a teenager: rage, silliness, remorse, anger, compassion, depression.

4∕5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

149- Fall on your knees

Four sisters grow up surrounded by family secrets. Man, this was depressing.

3.5∕5

Reading now: The Poisonwood Bible.

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

150- The Poisonwood Bible

A trip down memory lane for me. I was five when my family spent nine months in a small village of what is now DR Congo. Kingsolver gets (almost) everything right: killer ants, eating grubs (delicious btw), turtles and monkeys, pili-pili, malaria, tam-tams, facial scars, village justice system, children with distended stomachs... My only nitpick would be that no one would have let fish go to waste because of a lack of ice. The villagers would have simply smoked or dried them.

That aside, an amazing feat.

4∕5

Reading now: Under the skin

The Poisonwood Bible is among the best on the 1001 list. (Soley my opinion.) The only issue I had with it is that I've never met a missionary who is anything like the one in the book. But I guess there would be no story without him.

It was highly readable and enjoyable. I've never met a missionary like that either, but I do know several very conservative people whose opinions are probably not very far away from those of Reverend Price.

My brother and sister-in-law were missionaries for 10 years and I asked her if she'd ever met a missionary like him--she said "yes, but not many."

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

151- Under the skin

Under the skin, we're all the same. Or are we? In this weird little novel, our expectations and certainties are constantly being challenged by Isserley. She picks up hitchhikers, but only if they are male, healthy and with big muscles. And she always tries to determine if someone special is waiting for them.

4∕5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

152- Fifi brindacier (Pippi Longstocking)

Read this in an hour this morning. Armed with superhuman strength, Pippi (or Fifi in French) defies societal norms by living alone in a big house with a monkey and a horse. Very fun, but the last chapter had me knock out half a star because Pippi plays with guns (not something you want your child to think is fun and harmless).

3.5∕5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

153- Être sans destin (Fateless)

'... I thought I would like to live a little bit longer in that nice concentration camp' (my translation from the French edition).

The 15-year old narrator spends a year in three concentration camps before being liberated and coming back home. At first, he is a typical teenager, with family problems, but not too preoccupied by the war, unlike the adults that surround him. Then, one day, he is rounded up, and shipped to Germany.

We get the story in real time, in what feels like a conversational, but at the same time detached, tone. Very powerful, insightful and effective.

4/5

Hi Paruline!! Looks like you've been busy too!!! 153 is an impressive number!!!

@ 141 Thanks!

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

154- I, Robot

Once again, Asimov explores the themes of humanity and progress in this collection of short stories. Entertaining classic sci-fi.

4/5

Next: The bridge on the Drina or The red and the black.

I'm glad you enjoyed I, Robot! The Foundation trilogy, which I believe is also on the list is even better (by a lot, in my opinion). I highly recommend it!

I read the first book of the Foundation trilogy two years ago and quite enjoyed it. I may try to read the rest of the trilogy next year. So many books, so little time, sigh!

Oh, good! The one with The Mule is my favorite. I think that's the second one in the trilogy, but it's been a while...

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

155- Le pont sur la Drina (The bridge on the Drina)

How difficult to describe this book. On the surface, it's the story of Visegrad, a town set close to the Serbian frontier, over many centuries. But it's so much more: the clash of cultures, history as experienced by the people, the passage of time, luck, resilience, war, community.

Through it all, there is the bridge that links east and west, a silent witness that remains unchanged. And gorgeous, luscious writing.

4/5

Next: Brighton Rock or The red and the black (man, this one is taking forever).

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

156- Brighton Rock

So. My first noir. I had some trouble with the slang at the beginning ('hey, there's a skirt waiting for you', wait, what?). Eventually, I got caught up in the story of Pinkie trying to hold together his small mafia ring by silencing witnesses. Since Greene was a catholic convert, there are also some discussions of Good vs Evil, Right vs Wrong etc, etc. Might go see the new movie.

3.5∕5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

157- The Age of Innocence

A man who never speaks to his wife falls for another woman with whom he never manages to have a conversation.

3.5/5

#149 - where's the LIKE button when you need it?

>150 Nickelini: Agreed!

# 150-151, Thanks! I just thought that Ellen seemed unconventional only in relation to New York society. If Newland had ran away with her, she would have looked conventional in their new setting and therefore most of the appeal would have been lost.

May, on the other hand, might have shown him that she possessed great depths of sensitivity and intelligence (there are clear clues of this throughout the novel) but he never engaged with her.

Ugh, thank you! I though May was way more interesting than Ellen. Ellen seemed like a confused kitten half the time.

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

158- Unless

I wasn't sure about that one when I started: contemporary family drama? Yikes! I usually run away from exactly that in my reading.

But! It was very clever (a woman writing about a woman writing about a woman writer - I loved it) and thought-provoking.

4∕5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

159- Paradise of the blind

During a train ride, a young woman remembers her life growing up in Vietnam. We learn mostly about her mother and her aunt, two hard-working and resilient women who get caught in the communist revolution. The author also denounces some traditional aspects of vietnamese society, such as the burden usually imposed on the eldest child in a family.

4∕5

160- Slaughterhouse five

Time travel, aliens, dark humour, war, death. So it goes.

4/5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

161- God bless you, Mr Rosewater

A rich man is believed to be crazy because he wants to help those less fortunate. Nothing has changed since this was written. Correction: things have gotten worse.

4/5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

162- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

A retired spy tries to find a Russian mole in the MI-6. The first hundred pages were kind of slow, because we are introduced to all the different branches of the network and the who's who of those branches.

Somehow, I kept picturing the story happening in the 1950s in black and white.

3/5

Reposted from my 11 in 11 challenge.

163- Mansfield Park

Acting is bad. Passion is bad. Cities are bad. But a near-incestuous marriage between cousins who have been raised as brother and sister is A-OK.

I kid, I kid, I really liked it!

3,5/5

#159 That just made me LOL (I hate using that but it fits here!)

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

164- Cloud Atlas

This was a great start to the challenge! Layers upon layers of nested stories, each told in a different style: 19th century travelogue, epistolary, adventure∕mystery, picaresque, sci-fi, and post-apocalyptic dystopian. For me, the predominant theme was that of hunger. Hunger for truth, for fame, for power, for knowledge, for self-determination, for youth. Highly recommended!

5∕5

Those are nice positive comments on Cloud Atlas. I've owned it for a while, but I find it daunting for some reason. Thanks for the encouragement!

I was also a bit reluctant when I began, but the story sucked me in right away.

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

165- Une si longue lettre (So long a letter)

Even though it's slim, it packs quite a punch. Written as though it's a letter to a far away friend, the book explores the meaning of maternity, marriage, polygamy, Islam, love, education, politics, self-determination, traditions, divorce. I came to care about the main character very much.

3.5∕5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

166- The Great Gatsby

Rich people and those who want to be rich are boring jerks. Well written. That is all.

3.5∕5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

167- Soie (Silk)

The repetitive writing brings an hypnotic and fairy-tale quality to the story of a happily-married man powerfully tempted by a sensuous and erotic affair.

I had a sense of déjà vu while reading and it's only at the end that I remembered the movie ­Same Time, Next Year with Alan Alda.

4∕5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

168- La mare au diable (The devil's pool)

With a title like that, I was expecting something gothic or depressing. Not so! It was a sweet love story.

However, it also at times felt forced, a bit like if George Sand was telling her audience: 'See, these peasants are not brutish and coarse. They too can be literary heroes with lives of adventure and deep feelings. Furthermore, *I* am going to record their traditions before they are gone forever and *YOU* are going to like it!'.

3.5∕5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

169- The time machine

The first time-travel story is really a critique of the English social class system at the time of writing.

3.5∕5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

170- Out of Africa



Prepare yourselves for some gushing. I loved this book! It felt like drinking lemonade on a porch swing during a warm summer night while having the most interesting conversation with the author. Just an example of her lovely prose:

'The flamingoes... have incredibly long legs and bizarre and recherché curves of their necks and bodies, as if from some exquisite traditional prudery they were making all attitudes and movements in life as difficult as possible.'

But, do not expect a love story like the movie of the same name. It's mostly an account about a very specific time and place: a coffee farm in Kenya at the beginning of the 20th century.

4,5∕5

I loved Out of Africa too when I read it back in the early 80s -- very different from the movie. In fact, when I heard they were making a movie, I said "how are they going to do that?" My favourite bit was about the giraffes on the ship to Germany. Or maybe about the little deer that used to visit her, or ......so many lovely bits.

Never read the book but I just watched the movie and liked it. It kind of sounds like they did to this movie like they did to Under the Tuscan Sun by Mayes. The book was a travelogue but the movie turned out to be a love story.

Can't wait to read the book now!

Nickelini, I cannot choose a favourite part; maybe when she compares being outside at night to being at the bottom of the sea. Or when they find a herd of buffalos while flying over the hills. Or when she writes down the life story of Jogona.

Bucketyell, now you're making me curious about reading Under the Tuscan Sun. I've seen the movie and quite liked it.

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

171- The reluctant fundamentalist



Well, I finished this book last week and I'm still not sure what to say about it. This is the story of a young successful Pakistani who studied and worked in the US until 9/11 forces him to 'go back to the fundamentals'.

The structure is unusual; it's written as a one-way conversation between the main character and a visitor to Lahore. Less thought-provoking than I expected, it might have had more impact for Americans right after 9/11.

3,5∕5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

172- Orlando



Orlando lives through centuries and experiences changes in gender through unexplained means. It took me quite some time to go through this slim novel but every sentence was worth it. I also got a much better feel for Woolf's sense of humour in this book than in Mrs Dalloway.

4/5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

173- Le liseur (The reader)



A teenager falls in love with a war criminal and has to reconcile himself with that fact.

4/5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

174- L'amant (The lover)

An old (unreliable?) woman remembers when she had, as a teenager, an affair with an older man and how that helped her deal with her dysfonctional family.

Very interesting how, in that relationship, it was the man who was lovesick while the woman was in control and seeking sexual pleasure for its own sake. However, I needed almost the whole book to get used to the style: non-linear and jumping from first to third person narrative.

3,5/5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

175- Les arpenteurs du monde (Measuring the world)

Wonderful historical fiction that focuses on the life of two of the leading 19th century scientists: Humpbolt and Gauss. Funny, interesting and touching.

4/5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

176- Livre d'un été (The summer book)

A child and her grandmother spend their summers on an island. I want to move back near the sea.

3.5/5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

177- The red queen



The ghost of the red queen, after recounting the story of her life, looks for someone that will make her story widely known. Gripping, especially the first part.

4/5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

178- Les jumelles (The twins)

Two sisters, separated when they were young, attempt to reconcile after a chance meeting 50 years later. I didn't quite get why one sister was so angry and why the other one was so set on being understood.

3/5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

179- Le Llano en flammes (en: The burning plain; es: El Llano en llamas)



Abject poverty, unforgiving climate and man's inhumanity to man are the threads linking this collection of short stories. Very good but better taken in small doses because, dear me, soooooo depressing.

Since I read a translation, I'm thinking that lots of subtleties were lost. Just looking at the Spanish title (El Llano en llamas), there is a rhythm there that is not conveyed in the French or English titles.

4/5

I read The Twins a long long time ago, so I don't remember it very well, but I think the main issue is the fact that one grew up in Germany and the other in the Netherlands in the time of the second world war; hence the anger. After the second world war many people in the Netherlands that had experienced the war were very angry with the Germans, and really hated them. Even if the Germans in question didn't actually do anything terrible during the war, it was just an overall sense of 'all Germans are bad'; so, for the Dutch twin to find out that her sister is a German is pretty terrible...

I understand what you mean about the Dutch being angry at the Germans, but the twin *was also* a German and was only accidentally brought up in the Netherlands instead of Germany. I guess that's why I find her reaction to her twin a bit disproportionate: her sister's story could have easily been hers.

As long as I can remember, I also have avoided the conscious lumping of persons in groups. If someone of group x (ethnic descent, religion, sexual orientation, political affiliation, hair colour, blood type etc) does me wrong, I'm only going to say that person did me wrong and not group x did me wrong. But I've not experienced war. So.

Yeah, I agree with you that her reaction was disproportionate, and I also think you shouldn't judge an entire group for the actions of some individual, but just because we think you shoudln't doesn't mean people don't, and sadly, a lot of people do.
I was just commenting because being Dutch, I know that that is how many people in the Netherlands who experienced the war felt. For instance, my parents, who were born after the war, have a number of German friends; my grandparents however, who were in the war, always disagreed with my parents' being friends with Germans, because they still felt that 'the Germans' were 'the enemy', and applied that to all Germans. And though I think judging am entire nation like that is wrong, I do know that for my grandparents the war was such a terrible time in their life, that I really can't blame them for feeling the way they did.

We're on the same wavelength here. I know lots of people of my grandparents' generation for which every English-speaking person was a 'goddamned' based on the Great Disturbance that happened in 1755. Can't say my ancestors were the forgiving kind ;-)

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

-The eye in the door

Note: I originally counted this but realized that it wasn't on the list.

I think I waited too long to get back to this series. Too many characters and story threads for me to get back easily into the flow of the story. WW1 is stalling and the British authorities are looking for scapegoats: homosexuals and pacifists.

3.5∕5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

180- Love medicine



This is the story of two families on a reservation, each led by a strong woman, and the man caught between them. Some magical realism, or surreal?, elements add depths to the story.

3.5/5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

181- The dark child



What comes to mind when we think about African children? Poverty, malnutrition, disease, right? Well, in this novel based on his early life, Laye shows an happy childhood, where he was surrounded by loving friends and family, in a land of plenty. It is also a novel full of gentle humor.

Much emphasis is put on the initiation rites he goes through, the first ones organized by the tribe to help young men conquer fear and pain, followed by the challenges that real life provides such as loneliness and death.

Although his family is Muslim, their religion is full of ancestral customs and beliefs (humans changing into animals, prophetic dreams, animal sacrifices, incantations...). In fact, I was struck by the resemblance between cultural elements of the Cree found in Three Day Road and Love Medicine and those of Laye's caste, the Malinke. For example, both people do not say the name of the dead out loud and both have family totems.

4/5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

182- The ghost road

In the third part of the Regeneration trilogy, we come back to Dr. Rivers, especially memories of his anthropological studies on the Natives of Melanesia. We also continue with Billy Prior and his return to the front.

I enjoyed very much the Dr. Rivers sections but less the parts about Prior. Or there may have been some allegory that I missed.

On a related note, I visited the Canadian War Museum a couple of weeks ago. Tucked between a reconstruction of a trench (complete with fake floating body parts) and a display on horse veterinary care during wartime, there was a television set with videos of shell-shocked soldiers. Seeing the facial ticks, the hysterical paralysis, as well as the obvious self-consciousness of these soldiers, made this trilogy all the more powerful.

4/5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

183- The stone diaries

We follow the life of Daisy Stone from birth to death. I feel like I should have liked it more than I did; there is some real craft in the writing. Very good beginning, some surprises along the way, and some meditations on aging and death, but mostly uninspiring (to me anyway).

3.5∕5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

184- The scarlet letter

Oh for Pete's sake, Dimmesdale, get over yourself already! I felt very impatient with all the characters, except Pearl, she seemed exceptionally bright and delightful.

3∕5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

185- A room with a view

Lucy falls in love in Italy but denies it to herself until the end of the novel. Well, another book where I didn't click with the main characters. Or it might have been the writing style or the strange-to-me social situations - I was never sure if something was meant to be funny or tragic (or tragically funny maybe?).

I thought the villain Cecil had the most interesting character arc. I liked him. Oh, and I liked Old Emerson. I'd like to have a conversation with either of them.

3∕5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

186- Moby-dick

What can be said about this book except one's own enjoyment of it? I absolutely loved the beginning, loathed the middle part and appreciated the ending.

3∕5

Reposted from my 12 in 12 challenge.

187- The golden ass

I decided to have this category because of last year's visit to the Prado in Spain. To my untrained eyes, there seemed to be three major subjects covered: monarchs and nobles, biblical scenes and classical texts. Hence, this year's category.

Lucius' attempt at magic have the unfortunate consequence of turning him into an ass (subtle I know). Who knew that classical literature could be so readable and fun?

4∕5

188- This way for the gas, ladies and gentlemen



Do you really think that, without the hope that such a world is possible, that the rights of man will be restored again, we could stand the concentration camp even for one day? It is that very hope that makes people go without a murmur to the gas chambers, keeps them from risking a revolt, paralyses them into numb inactivity. It is hope that breaks down family ties, makes mothers renounce their children, or wives sell their bodies for bread, or husbands kill. It is hope that compels man to hold on to one more day of life, because that day may be the day of liberation. Ah, and not even the hope for a different, better world, but simply for life, a life of peace and rest. Never before in the history of mankind has hope been stronger than man, but never also has it done so much harm as it has in this war, in this concentration camp.

We said that there is no crime that a man will not commit in order to save himself. And, having saved himself, he will commit crimes for increasingly trivial reasons; he will commit them first out of duty, then from habit, and finally - for pleasure.

It is the camp law: people going to their death must be deceived to the very end. This is the only permissible form of charity.

These three quotes pretty much sum up the tone of the book. Told mostly from the point of view of the privileged ones in Auschwitz (the Kapos, Sonderkommandos and hospital staff), this collection of short stories detail the day-to-day life in concentration camps. Powerful and disturbing.

4.5/5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge thread.

189- Les chiots (The cubs)



Short story about a boy castrated by a dog and how it affects his life in a very macho society. The writing was constantly flipping between first person plural and third person plural, often several times in the same sentence. Eventually, I decided not to care about who was telling the story and that made the experience more enjoyable.

3,5/5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge thread.

190- Thérèse Raquin



This book has all the clichés but it invented them, so there. Infidelity leading to murder leading to insanity.

4/5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge thread.

191- Agnes Grey



Finally read Anne Brontë! A gentle story about a governess trying to educate bratty children. Nothing much seems to happen but I kept turning the pages.

4/5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge thread.

192- Possessing the secret of joy



An honest and sensitive look into the effects of female genital mutilation on women, their family and their communities. A must read for everyone.

4/5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge thread.

193- Smilla's sense of snow



Sigh, maybe I'm just not used to reading mysteries. The murder of a boy is somehow connected to international heroin trade and parasitic meteorites. I'm still not sure how it all fits together.

OTOH, Smilla was a great character, and I really liked reading about her thoughts on ice and snow and about her childhood memories of Greenland.

3.5/5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge thread.

194- Surfacing



A young woman works through the grief of loosing her parents and of a failed relationship by deconstructing herself in the Canadian bush.

I really liked this early Atwood, except that the ending felt rushed.

4/5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge thread.

195- David Copperfield



Peggotty! Betsey Trotwood! Traddles! His hair! Dora! The friendly waiter! Miss Dartle! Steerforth! Miss Mowcher! That storm! The descriptions of love! And grief! And drunkenness! I need more exclamation points!!!!!

4/5

I need more exclamation points!!!!!

Well then -- that just makes me want to read David Copperfield sooner rather than later!

There are some problems with it. The love interests are pretty flat. And Oh! Look at that fallen woman over there. For shame!

But it was also highly entertaining. I liked it a lot.

I believe you could have used one more exclamation point on that "For shame!" Otherwise, an excellent review.;)

Thanks!

Reposted from my 2013 challenge

198- Black Water



A drowning young woman remembers her life and the events that led to her predicament in a stream-of-consciousness style.

Steven King, you never wrote anything so dreadful and horrifying.

3.5/5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge.

197- Don't move



A middle-aged man fights the bourgeois ennui of his perfect life by becoming fascinated by a poor, vulgar, unattractive woman. He remembers all this while his daughter is undergoing brain surgery.

The first chapter was original and interesting. As for the rest of this predictable story, yawn.

3/5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge.

198- Chroniques de l'oiseau a ressort (The wind-up bird chronicle)



A young unemployed man whose wife has left him finds that the boundaries between fantasy and reality are not as rigid as he once thought.

Lots of weirdness but also lots of fun. My first but certainly not my last Murakami.

4/5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge.

199- Memoirs of a geisha



Very interesting historical fiction about the training and life of a geisha just before and after WW2. The love story felt a little contrived though.

4/5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge.

200- North and South



What started as a typical Victorian novel became an exploration of the question: should obedience to authority take precedence over rebellion from injustice? Is it ever dishonorable to follow your conscience?

Margaret ponders these questions when her father, a pastor, leaves the Church, when her brother participates in a mutiny in the Navy, and when she befriends both a factory owner and a strike leader.

Still relevent after all these years.

4/5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge.

201- Adam Bede



A couple behaves 'immorally', the woman is shunned, jailed, exiled, and dies while the man keeps his friends, his property, his liberty but feels so *unhappy* about the situation, dontchaknow.

Sigh, how many more of these 1001 books are there with this same plot (*eyes suspiciously Tess of the D'Urbervilles*) ?

Ugh! And I couldn't stand Dinah, who was supposed to be this ideal woman we would all want to emulate. I felt she was condescending, self-righteous and annoying.

3/5

I havn't read that that one but I just wanted to let you know I've had that same, "the thing you're trying to sell me, not only am I not buying, I'm repulsed" reaction many a time as well. I figure if nothing else it's good to give your piss and vinegar some solid use from time to time. Make sure everything's in working order you know.

Yes, plus negative reviews are more fun to write ;-)

It's so true!

Reposted from my 2013 challenge.

202- The bluest eye



A young African-American girl internalizes society's idea of beauty and ends up wishing to have blue eyes. She gets her wish but pays a terrible price.

Not a pleasant read, but I'm glad I read it.

3/5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge.

203- Les racines du ciel (Roots of heaven)



Very well crafted story about a man who wants to save elephants and how his ideals are used by others to further their own agendas.

I ended up exhausted by this book and, by the end, did not care what happened.

3/5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge.

204- The optimist's daughter



I gave this book 3,5 stars so I must have enjoyed it. But a few weeks after reading it, I hardly remember anything about it. A woman mourns her father while her mother-in-law is being a pain.

3,5/5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge

205- Une journée d'Ivan Denissovitch (One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich)



Today was a pretty good day for Ivan. In a gulag. In winter.

But it was mostly good in what doesn't happen: he doesn't get sicker, he's not sent to detention, he doesn't work in the coldest part of camp, he doesn't die.

4∕5

>219 paruline: Well said! That book has made me think twice when I feel I'm having a miserable day.

Yeah, now when I'm having a bad day, I'm like: well at least I'm not eating nettle soup in -40 degrees.

Reposted from my 2013 challenge.

206- Empire of the sun



Now that was an interesting tale about a little known corner of WWII : a japanese internment camp for civilians near Shanghai. Partly autobiographical, this is the story of Jim, who spends his childhood in the camp. Even though he understands the Japanese soldiers and has a knack for getting food and protection from them, the privations and horrors he experiences bring him to the limits of (in)sanity.

3.5∕5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge.

207- Reveries of a solitary walker



There is no doubt that Rousseau was a brilliant thinker. He influenced all aspects of western thoughts and civilization: politics, science, religion, education, philosophy, the arts, you name it.

But this! This was just sad. The paranoid ramblings of an old, bitter, delusional mind. This was full of 'woe is me', 'I'm so unhappy', 'there is no one more miserable than me', 'everyone is against me', 'my enemies are plotting their revenge'. If people were nice to him, it's because they were hypocrites, laughing at him behind his back. If they were indifferent, how dare they disregard his precious company. And if they were critical, they were his mortal enemies.

It became a joke between me and my husband, when I would, very rarely, exclaim: 'I found an interesting sentence ∕ thought!'.

Well, there were some nice descriptions of his island retreat and his hobby of gathering and identifying plants. The sentences were nicely laid out and written clearly. It was rather short.

2∕5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge.

208- The history of love



Alma was named after a book her recently-deceased father gave to her mother.

A long time ago, Leo wrote a book for the woman he loved. Now he is old, waiting to die.

An interesting book about loss, grief, and love in all its manifestations.

4∕5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge.

209- Si c'est un homme (If this is a man/Survival in Auschwitz)



A clinical, almost scientific, exploration of the human spirit, how to conserve it and how to destroy it, from the experiences of an Auschwitz survivor.

4∕5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge.

210- La maison et le monde (The home and the world)



What a delightful surprise! Two men, with opposing philosophies, try to win a woman's heart, which may or may not represent India.

The three main characters take turn narrating events, each from their point of view. And at the end, when you feel you have a good grasp of their personalities, Tagore surprises you:

It's the fire-breathing Sandip that flees in the face of danger, while the gentle Nikhil rushes in to help the weak.

I am not doing this book justice. Go read it. But read it slowly. The book deserves it.

4.5∕5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge.

211- The shipping news



After the death of his wife, a man starts afresh by bringing his family to Newfoundland. Here he'll find strong communities, harsh weather and his place in the world.

Noteworthy, in my mind, for being a 1001 list book with a happy ending.

3.5∕5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge.

212- The adventures of Sherlock Holmes



I've been dipping into Sherlock's adventures for the last few weeks. I feel it's the best way to tackle these short stories so they don't blend too much one into another in my mind.

I read the New Annotated version which had very useful notes and pictures about fashion, history and transportation.

3.5∕5

Reposted from my 2013 challenge.

213- The diaries of Jane Somers



There are books that entertain. Others that articulate your thoughts better than you ever could. And others that reach into your soul and make you want to become a better person.

I place The diaries of Jane Somers in all of these categories. This year's first 5 stars!

5∕5

Wow, I never even heard of it. Sound interesting, I'll have a look for a copy somewhere. Thank you!

Reposted from my 2014 challenge.

214- The Swarm



Whales attacking ships, swarms of jellyfish near popular beaches, worms eating up the ocean floor... Weird things are happening in the ocean and it's up to an international team to find out what and how to stop it.

What I liked:
- No character was safe, the death count was pretty random so that kept my interest.
- Lots of strong female characters in all kinds of fields: science, military, politics, industry.
- Science!
- The tsunami scene was appropriately scary and awesome at the same time.

What I didn't like:
- It was too long by about 200 pages. The whole section in Cape Dorset didn't add to the story imo.
- The science delivery was ackward. There was always a journalist or a student on hand that could ask questions and could be taught important scientific theory.
- The science delivery was boring. My eyes glazed over multiple times; and I have a background in biology, I should eat these things up!
- The Bechdel test was only passed at page 596. I checked.

3/5

Reposted from my 2014 challenge.

215- La Célestine (La Celestina)



This book is at the crossroad between orality and novel and as such, has mostly been presented as a play. Short and with snappy, witty dialogue, this is an interesting look into the social interactions (of that time) between men and women, and between masters and servants.

Oh, and Celestina is a great character!

3.5/5

>231 paruline: Good review! I enjoyed this one (it was a vacation read) very much, especially since I don't have a background in science -- I expected those parts to be boring and skimmed them ;)

#233, you're right, it's a good vacation read - maybe not for a beach vacation though :)

Reposted from my 2014 challenge.

216- Return of the soldier



During WW1, a soldier suffering from amnesia returns home, having forgotten his wife and the last fifteen years of his life.

I expected to be blown away, based on most of the comments of this book. However, the (unreliable?) narrator grated a bit on my nerves. She either was very concerned about superficial appearances or gave deep, almost mystical, meaning to the most mundane of gestures.I would love to read the same story but from the point of view of the other characters.

All that said, the ending was poignant and gave a new meaning to the book's title.

4/5

Reposted from my 2014 challenge.

217- Arcanum 17



Mmmmmm well, okay then. I guess it helped to know that André Breton was a surrealist.

The book can be divided into three major sections (which are all jumbled btw).

1- A lyrical description of a visit to Rocher Percé and the bird sanctuary Île Bonaventure, a trip he made with a woman who just lost her daughter.





2- A manifesto about how to change society after WWII. Basically, after what he sees as the complete failure of male-dominated values for centuries, he proposes to give precedence to what he calls 'feminine' qualities like creativity, impulsiveness, love, and irrationnality. He also advocates giving more importance to art, poetry and love (a precursor of the hippie society?).

3- A completely surrealist description of a dream/hallucination centered around Mélusine and the Star Tarot card. Now Mélusine is a very ancient folkloric figure in France, and I guess in this case she represents all those feminine attributes that Breton wants to incorporate into society.



2.5/5

Bonsoir, paruline. Merci pour d'avoir visité mon "thread". :) You have already managed some great books I'm looking forward to read. Have a nice weekend!

Reposted from my 2014 challenge.

218- Le père Goriot (Father Goriot)



When Eugene de Rastignac first moves to Paris, he is seduced by the riches of the upper class, and decides to become a social climber. What checks his machinations is the example of self-effacing, doting, old Father Goriot, who becomes destitute while helping his daughters.

My first book by Balzac but certainly not the last. Fascinating.

4/5

Reposted from my 2014 challenge.

219- D'amour et d'ombre (Of love and shadows)



Great characters, rather thin story-line. A journalist and her friend photographer uncover a crime perpetuated by the military in a dictatorship.

4/5

Reposted from my 2014 challenge.

220- The Master and Margarita



The devil and his accolytes visit Moscow. Mayhem ensues.

The book is full of thinly-veiled references to the mayhem caused by the government at that time. I'm glad my copy had footnotes because a lot of the social commentary would have gone over my head.

Very interesting.

3.5/5

Reposted from my 2014 challenge.

221- To the lighthouse



After four 3-weeks renewals at the library, I finally finished this! On the one hand, I don't think my brain is wired in a way that I can enjoy this novel. On the other hand, I have yet to find a better cure for insomnia! Seriously, every. time. I picked it up, I started nodding off after 5 pages.

2/5

Reposted from my 2014 challenge.

222- The Namesake



I just flew through this novel about an Indian American as he tries to define himself, caught as he is between the Indian culture of his parents and the American suburbs.

4/5

223- La cloche de verre (The Bell Jar)



The story of a young woman's descent into clinical depression and of her stay in an asylum. Well written but I couldn't be made to care about the protagonist. Her thought patterns and lack of empathy, even if brought on by her depression, were just too alien to me.

3.5/5

224- W ou le souvenir d'enfance (W, or the memory of childhood)



Fantastic read! Two stories told in alternating chapters. The first, an adventure story about the people of W, who live out the Olympic ideal. MajorWhat started as kind of utopian dream quickly descends into horror, with "athletes" starved, beaten and even killed if they don't win and with 80% of women killed at birth with the remaining 20% gang raped at 14 during "competitions". The second, the memoirs of the author, starting with the very first impressions of toddlerhood until the age of about 12.

At first, these two stories don't seem to have much in common, but as the book progresses, you begin to see how they mirror and augment each other. Highly recommended.

4.5/5

225- L'autre moitié du soleil (Half of a yellow sun)



Two sisters navigate relationships while trying to survive the Nigerian-Biafran war. Wonderfully evocative and informative even if the end is a bit too open-ended for my taste. Absolutely recommended.

4/5

226- Excellent women



Mildred is one of those excellent women, always overlooked while working to prop-up others (usually men) or their communities. Her inner-life, longings and infatuations are covered through this gently humourous story, and make the reader crave a nice cup of tea.

4/5

227- Arrachez les bourgeons, tirez sur les enfants (Nip the buds, shoot the kids)



A group of delinquent juveniles are brought to a rural village to escape the city's bombings and are promptly abandoned by the villagers following an epidemy. The children are then free to act as they please within the confines of the village --> Metaphor for life?

3/5

My reviews for Half of a yellow sun, Excellent women and Nip the buds, shoot the kids are up!

Excellent Women was excellent and I have enjoyed other books by Pym too.
I read Nip the Buds mostly as a commentary for war and wilful violence...

>249 hdcclassic:, I'm looking forward to reading more books by Barbara Pym. As for Nip the buds, shoot the kids, your interpretation makes sense. Wikipedia in French mentions that one of his themes include people's anxieties when facing the great upheavals of modern times. That would definitely include war.

228- Rashomon et autres contes



Only 24 pages, but this short story impressed me. A unemployed man takes refuge from the rain in a desolate area and spies an old woman stealing the hair from cadavers.

Each sentence was carefully crafted and painted a vivid picture in my mind. Absolutely recommended.

4.5/5

229- Heart of darkness and other tales



Well, ok then. Narrator goes to the Congo, encounters horrific exploitation of natives, meets and tries to bring back one of the violent, crazy, exploiter. Is disgusted by the whole situation. Becomes sick and goes back to Europe. The end.

There, I saved you the trouble.

3/5

#252 - and wasn't that the longest 67 pages you ever read? I had to read Heart of Darkness for university--twice. It was even longer the second time. (I love to bash this book, but I have to admit, I can see why it's esteemed, and I did think a couple of parts were actually pretty cool. But overall --no thank you).

A book I read recently, The Engineer of Human Souls, offers an interpretation of Heart of Darkness that is better than the actual book...(that it is a prophetic book about Soviet Union with Kurtz as Stalin)

>253 Nickelini: 67 pages? My copy had about 125. But yes, they were looooooooong.

>254 hdcclassic: Interesting. Thanks for putting The Engineer of Human souls on my radar.

230- Midnight's children



Took me a while to get through this sprawling, meandering novel. Born at midnight on the day of India's independence, Saleem's fate will mirror his new country's history. In addition, his telepathic powers allow him to contact other 'Midnight's children', also born in the first hour of their country's birth, and also born with magic powers.

I learned a lot reading this book. I was constantly on Wikipedia looking up food, politicians, cities... I mean, who knew that Bangladesh used to be part of Pakistan? Only several BILLION people, that's who!

Recommended if you like slowly developing stories, magical realism, or immersion into another culture.

3.5/5

231- Le brave soldat Chveik (The good soldier Svejk)



The good soldier Svejk goes through jail, asylum, interrogation, church, and army in the most patriotic way possible. Which gets mistaken at every turn for complete and utter idiocy, or even sometimes for treason.

As a reader, I also oscillated between thinking Svejk was simple-minded or a genius manipulator. A great satire, where no institution is safe.

4/5

232- La Nausée (Nausea)



A misanthropic man has a mystical experience, realizes existence is meaningless, and despairs.

The writing was good, sometimes frantic, but the philosophy depicted is the opposite of my own. I don't find the universe's lack of meaning despairing, but freeing and uplifting.

2/5

233- Le feu



You know what the worst thing depicted in that book was? It was not the mud, or the rain, or the bombardments, or the cold, or the death and suffering. It was the fact that the soldiers were convinced that their sacrifices were worth it because WWI would be the last war. That just broke my heart.

4/5

234 - The opposing shore



At this late hour where the children had abandoned the living room, the house seemed almost deserted, and the few books on my night table called to me, as every night, with the intimidating laissez-faire and the time-honoured abandonment of a secret club, whose members have free reign over their domain; of these books, several of which could be found on the 1001 books to read before you die list, I selected The opposing shore; I felt sharply that I entered a closed world; the air itself of the quiet bedroom - extremely darkened by the opacity of the drapes, which rendered every movement somber and deliberate in these sleeping quarters, in spite of oneself - imparted a volatile essence, of the kind that flees when alerted, and which made one aware of the subtil distillation of time itself - indeed, a time that, instead of devouring itself, decanted and thickened like an old wine, with that spiritual succulence that stays on the tongue: from semi-colon to semi-colon my eyes traveled, and one could say that instead of being confined by them, that the unending sentences brought me a gothic sense of tension and expectation, like stepping stones over those rotten marshes that give the putrid wood the eternity of solid rock, and I allowed the storyline to develop its life - a life that touched the underworld of the decaying war-hungry city and imperceptibly interrupted its immaterial sap.

4/5

My reviews for Nausea, Under fire and The opposing shore are up!

I thought that Under Fire was really the ultimate World War I novel. Nothing else I read ever compares to it. But in the end the author, at least, doesn't think the war is worth it, right? The whole thing is so weirdly devastating on many levels. As for The Opposing Shore, that's some crazy review. I think it makes me want to read it. I think.

>258 paruline: I just put this one down due to my inability to focus. Perhaps I won't pick it up again anytime soon.....

>262 annamorphic:, well, I took the soldiers' words at face value, and I think this was a popular sentiment at the time. But you're right, so devastating.

As for The opposing shore, I kind of cheated, and freely translated and modified one of the sentence of the book ('spiritual succulence" is not something I could have come up with). It's not all like that though, there is a lot of dialogue, and I was always looking forward to picking it up.

>263 ELiz_M:, I thought about doing a snarky review kind of like: "this book will BLOW YOUR MIND! - if you're fifteen and/or on drugs". I felt very impatient with it.

235- Oroonoko



I... don't know what to say. The strongest, noblest, most intelligent African prince is taken prisoner and sold into slavery. Noteworthy for a negative portrayal of slavery and of white slave masters but very hyperbolic and very 17th century.

3/5

236- Rob Roy



I wasn't familiar at all with the story. Found the plot a bit confusing, especially with the scottish dialect, but it wasn't as dry as I feared going in and the female characters were great.

3/5

My reviews for Oroonoko and Rob Roy are posted.

237- Quicksand



Have you ever been young? A woman? A member of a minority group? Wondering how to increase your level of happiness? You will find some timeless and sometimes uncomfortable truths in this impressive slim novel.

4/5

238- Villes invisibles (Invisible cities)



I almost abandoned this, not because it wasn't good, but because I felt I could not give it the attention it deserves. This is on my reread list.

3.5/5 for now.

239- The pursuit of love



Through a sympathetic if somehow removed narrator, we follow the fortunes of a eccentric, diverting, titled English family before and during WWII. We especially get to know one of the daughters and her attempts at finding true love.

4/5

240- Cakes and ale



An ugly cover hides a sweet story of an aging writer reminiscing fondly about his friendship with another famous writer and with Rosie, his first wife.

The author makes fun of a lot of things: himself, other writers, the publishing industry, social class and conventions. But there is one person he respects that others despise. Rosie, the polyamourous wife of his friend, is remembered with affection and approval.

4/5

241- Evelina



Evelina is 17 and has led a sheltered life when she gets a chance to experience big city life. She goes to concerts, blushes when someone asks her to dance, is embarassed by her family, brushes off catcallers, befriends poor poets, and reunites with her long lost father.

You know, typical teenager stuff :-) The more things change...

3.5/5

Looking back through your reviews you've read quite a few of the lesser known books. It's nice to see that you think these lesser known classics are as good as the more commonly read.

Evelina sounds great. Am moving it up my tbr list.

­>274 M1nks:, I'm pretty lucky that my local library carries a lot of books in translation. I guess I've always thought that if a book is translated, it must be the cream of the crop. And if you look at the 1001 questions thread, you'll see that I have quite a system for selecting the books I read!

>275 annamorphic:, hope you enjoy it! It's quite short and available at Project Gutenberg for free.

242- Castle Rackrent



Honest Thady has been a servant to the successive masters of Castle Rackrent and recounts the dealings between tenants and landowners as well as some particularities of the Irish people of the time. All done tongue firmly in cheek.

3.5/5

243- Invisible Man



A young man is sent in disgrace from the deep South to 1920s' Harlem, and grows up.

This might be the best book of 2015 for me. Wonderfully evocative, thought-provoking, full of very quotable passages, great characters, eerily prophetic. I also loved the style, or should I say styles, of writing, which fitted the book perfectly.

4.5/5

I think you must be misinformed. This book has 'no literary value'...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/school-board-lifts-heavily-criticized-ban-on-...

>279 M1nks: Just wow.

>279 M1nks: *bangs head on the table*.

244- Democracy



Looking through my list, the numbers seemed off. I realized I didn't list Democracy which I read in 2013 for the group challenge.

I guess it was so boring that I erased it from my memory.

2/5

Blow, this is sitting by my bed, after I finish The Drunkard and As a Man Grows Older I was planning to start on this.

It looks short anyway.

245- The professor's house



'A topaz set in dull silver' - that description of a jewel worn by one of the characters actually describes the format of the book. A middle section narrating the discovery by a young man of an ancient, abandoned city in a mesa. Here, everything is fresh, alive, vibrant.

The two sections framing the 'topaz' are, in contrast, about a professor and how his life, while conventionally happy, has weighted him down with expectations and responsibilities.

Very nice.

4/5

246- Wise Children



At first, I was reading a very interesting account of the life of Dora and Nora Chance, twin sisters and illegitimate daughters of a renowned theater actor, a life spent dancing in cabarets, vaudeville acts, B movies…

But then something clicked. This reads like a Shakespeare play, if such a play was told in the first voice by a no nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is 75 years old woman. I mean, there are sleighs of hand, substitutions, vengeance, love, romance, treason, adventures, coincidences, tears, laughter, magic.

Loved the voice of the narrator, loved the dry wit.

4/5

247- The tenant of Wildfell Hall



If it wasn't for Jane Eyre, I believe that Anne Brontë would be my favorite Brontë.

When a mysterious new tenant settles in Wildfell Hall, the neighbourhood will not rest until everything is known about the secretive widow. Written mostly in the form of diary entries and letters, the story of the retiring and proud Helen Graham is slowly revealed.

Not without its flaws, but raw, powerful and engrossing.

4/5

248- Black Dogs



I tried reading Atonement several years ago, and couldn't get past the first 20 pages. I thought this slimmer volume would be easier to get through. Good call.

Told mostly through flashbacks, we see how an encounter with two huge black dogs brings about a religious experience to a young bride. Her husband, on the other hand, reacts against this aspect of his wife and digs into rationalism. These two different philosophies, while never bringing them a lot of comfort, will instead divide them for the rest of their lives.

Lovely sentences.

4/5

249- Mercier and Camier



Well, I'm glad this is over! If this is one of Beckett's most accessible work, I'm not sure he's an author for me.

Basically, Mercier and Camier try to go somewhere and fail.

2/5

>288 paruline: Great review! And further down the list it goes... I haven't read any Beckett yet - there are so many on the list I really need to get to some, but... but... meh.

Yeah, that was just my reason for tackling a Becket, there are just so many on the list!

I gave it two stars because I understand he was instrumental in the development of bla bla bla ... oh I don't care.

EtA: I might try Waiting for Godot in the very distant future.

I have not read this one but I have LOVED the Becketts that I have read from the list. I find them both strange and funny -- oh, and charming, in the oddest way. I think I read three together for the Group Challenge. I listened to one or two on audio.
Anyway, they may not appeal to all, but they did appeal to one person!

250- Le comte de Monte Cristo (The Count of Monte Cristo)



After suffering unjustly, Batman the Count of Monte Cristo uses his huge fortune, his powerful intellect, and his uncommon physical abilities to hunt and punish those he thinks responsible.

4/5

251- L'idiot (The Idiot)



Flying Spaghetty Monster, this was boring!

2/5

252- Cider with Rosie



I seem to be reading more than my usual share of childhood memoirs this year, which I do not mind at all, especially when they are as well written as Cider with Rosie.

This one stood a bit apart from others I've read, mostly because, although full of charming anecdotes, it also doesn't shy away from tackling some darker aspects inherent in living in small isolated villages. The most benign of those are merely meddling and gossiping, but can also include in-group versus out-group, suicide, murder, incest and rape.

4/5

253- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie



At a girls' school, a few students are selected and groomed by Miss Jean Brodie to become the 'crème de la crème'. Told in a non-linear fashion, what seems at the beginning as a merely unconventional arrangement gets revealed as having more sinister overtones.

Pretty great.

4/5

>296 Cliff-Rhu-Rhubarb: you might also be interested in the Invisible Pink Unicorn (May Her Hooves Never Be Shod).

May he touch you with his noodly appendage. Arghhhh!

>298 M1nks: Ramen

254- The Bell



A couple of misfits (including the impulsive Dora and the over-analytical Michael) find themselves living in a lay religious community. The tensions between natural tendencies, religion and culture are explored until the fateful day of the blessing of the new bell, where all the secrets are finally out in the open.

4/5

255- L'étranger (The Stranger)



A benign but indifferent universe gets personified by Meursault, who buries his mother, begins a relationship with Marie and kills a man, all in a benign but indifferent way.

3.5/5

256- July's People



What if apartheid had been overturned in a violent uprising and a white family had to flee to the relative safety of their black servant's village? The choppy style and two-dimensional characters kept me from enjoying this story. Interesting premise though.

3/5

257- Siddharta



This book offered an interesting contrast with Rasselas, in that Siddharta tries to find enlightement by going through different experiences. Reads like a fable.

4.5/5

258- Rasselas



Rasselas and his friends look for the best way to live a satisfying and meaningful life. They therefore explore different lifestyles but ultimately find them all wanting in some aspects.

Some timeless observations.

4/5

259- The sorrows of young Werther



A young man falls in love with an engaged woman and can't shake away his obsession for her.

As Dumbledore would say: Oh, to be young and to feel love's keen sting.

3.5/5

260- The Interesting Narrative



First person account of being kidnapped, sold into slavery, and eventually being emancipated.

There were some very moving passages, such as the description of the day he bought his freedom. But the extended section on religious conversion brought the interesting narrative to a halt, imo.

3/5

261- The Hound of the Baskervilles



Appropriately creepy read for October. Holmes and Watson investigate a seemingly supernatural murder.

4/5

Only four more reviews to be up to date!

262- The Power and the Glory



In Mexico, a priest of questionable morals spends years hiding from the authorities. Graham Greene writes wonderfully vivid vignettes of the priest's journey even though the links between these vignettes was sometimes weak.

4/5

263- The Color Purple



"Look at you. You black, you poor, you ugly, you a woman. Goddam, he say, you nothing at all."

If you've seen the movie, there won't be any surprises here, except maybe that there is more information on the sister's life in Africa and that Mr.___ is three-dimensional.

4/5

264- Les braises (Embers)



An elderly general receives an old friend from military school for dinner. In the evening each gives a long monologue and we learn why they haven't seen each other for forty years.

Some keen observations of human behaviours, but the flowery language and heavy use of metaphors bored me. Might be the translation though.

3/5

265- The inheritance of loss



Being a westernized Indian is hard. Being a traditional Indian is hard. Being an Indian immigrant in the US is hard. Being a Nepalese immigrant in India is hard. Being a woman in India is hard. Being a lower cast Indian is hard. Being middle class in India is hard.

3.5/5

inheritance of loss - love your review! :)

Thanks!

266- Great Expectations



Our poor narrator Pip's great expectations are to become a gentleman and to marry the beautiful but cold Estella. He'll get his first wish through a mysterious benefactor. But does one's fulfilled expectations make for a happy life?

Not my favorite Dickens, but finally a love interest with some personality in one of his books.

4/5

267- The plot against America



In this alternative history of the US during WWII, a young Jewish boys grows up while a Fascist/Nazi sympathizer has been elected president. A little-too-neat ending for my taste.

3.5/5

268- Things fall apart



The destabilizing effects of colonialism on a Nigerian village are shown through the eyes of Okonkwo, whose prestige and position are dependent on the traditional values of his culture.

3.5/5

269- A Pale View of Hills



After her daughter's suicide, a woman reminisces about a particular summer in Nagasaki and her friendship with an unconventional neighbour. Not sure if the ambiguous ending was on purpose.

Atmospheric and thoughtful.

4/5

I was confused by the ending of this too.

Did you think that Sachiko's story was all Etsuko's? Partially Etsuko's? Or just a comparison for Etsuko's experience? I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to wind up believing and I sort of felt like the ending threw me so much that I would have had to read the whole thing again with the ending in mind to really get the book. But I'll probably never take the time to do that. I also listened to this as an audio book so I couldn't flip back and reread passages.

>319 japaul22: One thing's for sure, Etsuko is an unreliable narrator (she says so herself). I think it's mostly that Sachiko's story is similar enough on some points that Etsuko gets confused. But I am not sure how thinking about Sachiko's story brought insight or resolution to Etsuko. It just seemed like the similarities are merely that these two women both had daughters and both left Japan for an English speaking country.

Furthermore, there are some questions that I would like answered: Is there a link between the child murderer and either of the women? Is the rope a sign that Etsuko might be the child murderer or does it signify something else (maybe Etsuko's guilt at her daughter's suicide)? What happened to Jiro? Did Etsuko neglect Keiko like Mariko was neglected? So many questions...

Sounds intriguing ladies.

For some reason I cannot get your thread to load or get the spoiler you posted to "reveal". It's odd because I'm not having trouble with any other threads - even longer ones. Well, I'll keep trying!

270- Song of Solomon



This was hard going at first, as I was introduced to a dysfunctional family, with a very unpleasant dynamic. But as the main character goes on a quest of self realization and independance, I became simpathetic to his struggles and growth and admired the way he reflected on his life choices.

Trivia: Song of Solomon is the favourite book of Barack Obama.

4/5

Oh, neither can I!

Great progress on the 1001 list! I got a kick out of quite a lot of your reviews.

>322 japaul22: >324 M1nks: ok let's try this

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! BLINKING RED LIGHTS! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

...

...

...

...

I think it's mostly that Sachiko's story is similar enough on some points that Etsuko gets confused. But I am not sure how thinking about Sachiko's story brought insight or resolution to Etsuko. It just seemed like the similarities are merely that these two women both had daughters and both left Japan for an English speaking country.

Furthermore, there are some questions that I would like answered: Is there a link between the child murderer and either of the women? Is the rope a sign that Etsuko might be the child murderer or does it signify something else (maybe Etsuko's guilt at her daughter's suicide)? What happened to Jiro? Did Etsuko neglect Keiko like Mariko was neglected?

>325 LisaMorr:, thanks, I have a lot of fun writing them :)

>326 paruline: Thanks for reposting your "spoiler" comments!

***Tons of spoilers for A Pale View of Hills***

I listened to this as an audio book and though it was very well read, I couldn't flip back to check things which has always bothered me. I felt like there was the possibility at least that Etsuko's telling of Sachiko's story really was her own, or at least that large chunks of it were. But, as you suggest, it could also easily be that their stories were just similar and were a way for Etusko to sort of comment on her own decisions by commenting on someone else's instead.

I think that Jiro dropped out of the story because Etsuko simply wouldn't have known what happened to him after she left him. I pictured Etsuko as a smothering mother based on the comments she made about Mariko's childhood. But if Sachiko's story is Etsuko's, that doesn't work. I didn't make a connection between the murderer and either of the women - I hope there wasn't one intended!

In the end, Ishiguro seems to love to leave these questions and intentional ambiguities. I like that it leaves a lot to think about, but part of me wishes I just knew the answers.

So I've been going over my reviews, and it looks like I give out a lot of 4 stars. In my personal review system, 4 stars basically mean I enjoyed the work, but don't think I'm ever going to reread. This is pretty vague.

So, I'm introducing a new feature. Every ten books I read, I'll order these ten books in order of enjoyment, from most to least enjoyed. For example, I would order books 261-270 thusly (title -my rating) :

The color purple -4
The power and the glory -4
Song of Solomon -4
A pale view of hills -4
Great expectations -4
The hound of the Baskervilles -4
Things fall apart -3.5
The inheritance of loss -3.5
The plot against America -3.5
Embers -3

>329 paruline: I'm introducing a new feature

Oh, fun. I look forward to following that. I may adopt it too.

I'm disappointed to see Embers at the bottom of your list, since I hope to read it fairly soon. And I agree that The Color Purple is a fine achievement in writing (although personally I can't see reading ti again).

>330 Nickelini: I gave Embers a rating of 3, which can be translated as "meh". Who knows, maybe the things that bothered me won't be an issue for you.

271- Au pays de l'ocre rouge - The heart of redness



Because of the title, I was expecting some response to or parallels with Heart of darkness.

But no. Two families in South Africa clash over modernity and tradition, with one family embracing modernity (i.e. building a casino and resort on the adjacent beach) and the other rejecting it (let's go with ecotourism instead). The division started generations ago when the traditionalists listened to their prophet's injonction to destroy all their cattle which brought them death and starvation for years and was a deciding factor in helping white settlers to colonise the region.

So a nice exploration of the risks associated with following traditions and modernity, depending on context, and of how historical events inform the present. I just wished the characters were not so petty, vengeful and unpleasant.

3/5

>329 paruline: Ah, that's a great feature. I am following you to see how it works out. Maybe I'll adopt it!

272- The Voyage Out



Not as sleep-inducing as To the Lighthouse, but still pretty boring story of bored snobbish characters doing boring things while thinking about boring feelings. I feel awful saying this, but I think Rachel dodged a bullet by dying and not marrying Terence there at the end. Was not a fan of his, in case you're wondering ;)

2.5/5

I agree completely about Terence.

273- The Moor's last sigh



Family saga told in the first person, so superficially similar to Midnight's Children which I read a couple of years ago. Once again, information overload mixed in with some magical realism. Stalled a little bit at the end.

3.5/5

274- Testament of Youth



Autobiographical account of a young woman life before, during and after the World War. She became a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse during the war to be closer to her soldier friends at the front. Moving, not least because of the restraint of her writing.

4/5

275- Fictions



This book reconciled me with short stories by creating complex worlds and characters in few words. Amazing writing and highly recommended.

5/5

276- Scènes de la vie d'un propre à rien (Life of a good-for-nothing)



An amusing tale of a lazy, hedonist, harmless, romantic young man, whose main answer to life problems is to play his violin.

3.5/5

277- The House of the Spirits



Four generations of a well-to-do family navigate love, relationships and political changes. All with a healthy dose of magical realism.

Lost a bit of focus at the end.

4/5

278- Possession



Two literary critics pair up to solve the mystery of a famous author's secret love affair.

I think it was a mistake reading this in translation as I didn't perceive what were supposed to be distinct voices in the text.

3.5/5

279- Kitchen



I wasn't particularly taken with this short story of a young woman dealing with grief and loneliness by using food and a love for kitchens.

Original.

3/5

280- Le joueur d'échecs (Chess story)



Wonderful psychological thriller, and a metaphor for living under a fascist regime.

4/5

Last ten books by order of enjoyment, from most to least enjoyed. Books 271-280 (title -my rating) :

Fictions -5
Chess Story -4
The House of Spirits -4
Testament of Youth -4
Life of a Good for Nothing -3.5
Possession -3.5
The Moor's Last Sigh -3.5
The Heart of Redness -3
Kitchen -3
The Voyage Out -2.5

281- The Mysteries of Udolpho



This felt like an overly long episode of Scooby doo (but with more fainting and crying) in that all the mysterious ghostly apparitions are explained at the end. Very readable though.

Now I can read Northanger Abbey.

3/5

282- Nous autres (We)



Precursor to much of dystopian literature, this slim novel explores the tensions between conformity and imagination, stability and uncertainty, the power of state and the power of the individual.

Thought provoking.

4/5

>345 paruline: This felt like an overly long episode of Scooby doo

Did it have the line " . . . and I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids!"

>347 Nickelini: That would have been amazing :)

283- Les amants du Spoutnik (Sputnik Sweetheart)



Unrequited love, dreams, cats, disappearances, friendship, miscommunications and ... something darker? Hard to tell with so many unreliable narrators.

3.5/5

284- Miramar



The same tragic events get recounted from the viewpoints of several renters from a pension house in Alexandria.

Atmospheric.

3.5/5

285- Cat's eye



Very effective portrayal of the lifelong effects that bullying can have. Fortunately, Atwood's special brand of subtle humour keeps this from becoming too dark.

3.5/5

286- Pas de lettre pour le colonel (No one writes to the colonel)



I hear some people think this book is great. I am not one of them.

3/5

287- Un coeur si blanc (A heart so white)



A newlywed man can't seem to shake off a feeling of impending doom.

After an explosive start, the novel meanders through seemingly random asides, discussing the role of interpreters and translators, art museums, children's nursery rhymes, the New York dating scene, and memories, among others. The common thread being (mis)communication. But it all comes together beautifully in the last chapter.

Very impressive and recommended.

4/5

That sounds like a peculiar sort of book. I'll take note of it. Although I'll need a translation if I read it anytime soon as my French isn't that great yet ;-)

>353 paruline: I had to go back and read my review of this book to see what I thought, and while I don't think I rated it as highly as you did, I did enjoy it for the most part.

>354 M1nks: It has been translated to English and my library had it.

>352 paruline: Ha!

288- L'honneur perdu de Katharina Blum (The lost honor of Katharina Blum)



A searing condemnation of the sensation-mongering press and its gullible readers, whose innuendos and half-truths ruin the reputation of a hard working, upright young woman. Still relevant.

3.5/5

289- Sexing the cherry



At least now I know what happened to the twelve dancing princesses. Don't expect a plot but it was enjoyable.

3.5/5

290- Wild Harbour



Terry and Hugh are pacifists and don't want to be conscripted in a war but they also don't want to be ostracized and judged (and maybe jailed) by their countrymen for failing to enlist. The only remaining solution is to hide in Scotland and live off the land while war slowly but surely catches up with them. Recommended.

4/5

Last ten books by order of enjoyment, from most to least enjoyed. Books 281-290 (title -my rating) :

A heart so white -4
Wild Harbour -4
We -4
The lost honor of Katharina Blum -3.5
Cat's eye -3.5
Miramar -3.5
Sexing the cherry -3.5
Sputnik Sweetheart -3.5
The mysteries of Udolpho -3
No one writes to the colonel -3

291- La faim (Hunger)



First person account of a starving - and quite hysterical - artist, and a vicious circle where hunger dampens the artist's production, without which he can't eat.

3/5

292- The drowned world



Quite an interesting imagining of a future where the world's temperature have gone up and melted the poles and how that affects the psychology of a group of people.

The writing style was a bit irritating though, with too many similes.

3/5

293- The postman always rings twice



A woman and her lover try to get rid of the husband and get away with it. Must have been shocking in its casual violence and sexuality when it was published. Suspenseful.

3.5/5

294- Birdsong



WWI as seen through the eyes of a British officer at the front and the tunnellers in his unit. A smaller part of the book deals with the officer's granddaughter trying to understand the war through his diaries.

4/5

295- Watchmen



I can see the appeal of having morally ambiguous superheroes, especially as it was groundbreaking at the time. However, I was not really a fan of either the drawings (too dark) or the story lines.

3/5

296- Titus Groan



Things are being shaken up in the castle of Gormenghast: an male heir has been born. The villain Steerpike will use the event to try to gain favour and power. This is pretty much it, as the plot is very thin compared to the long descriptions of grotesque characters and of the sprawling castle. Recommended if you like atmospheric reads.

3.5/5

298- The Jungle



An illuminating look about life in Chicago for immigrants at the turn of the 20th century (hint: it was very hard) and about the meat industry (hint: it was very heartless). I took out a star because I felt very preached at in the last quarter of the book, which took me out of the narrative. But still, a classic.

3/5

299- Les enfants terribles (The holy terrors)



Two siblings, Paul and Elisabeth, play a game throughout their teenage and young adult years. This game consists of trying to get a rise or reaction from the other through upending the stakes. Eventually and not surprisingly, things get messy when other people get involved.

3/5

300- Shikasta



Very confusing at first, this civil servant's account of the fall from grace of the planet Shikasta offers a lot of food for thought. Other perspectives are added throughout the text in the form of diary entries, letters, and official memos.

There are some interesting musings on environmental degradation, the reasons that push some people to become terrorists, anarchism, the clash between generations, and mental illness among others.

The book becomes less successful imo when Lessing tries to extrapolate from the situation prevalent in 1979 (when the book was published) to what it would be now and with a bit of a Deus ex machina resolution at the end.

Hard going at first, but eventually rewarding.

3.5/5

Last ten books by order of enjoyment, from most to least enjoyed. Books 291-300 (title -my rating) :

Birdsong -4
Shikasta -3.5
The postman always rings twice -3.5
Titus Groan -3.5
The drowned world -3
The jungle -3
Watchmen -3
Hunger -3
The end of the affair -3
The holy terrors -3

>370 paruline: You passed the #300 mark - congratulations!

>370 paruline: Congrats on reaching 300!

I enjoyed Shikasta enough when I read it to pick up the other 4 books in the series - but they are still on the TBR.

>370 paruline: Well done on reaching 300!

Congrats on 300!

I'm about 100 pages into Shikasta but it's been sitting in the upstairs bathroom for ages now. Should pick it up and finish :/

Congratulations on getting to 300! When I grow up, I wanna be just like you!

>372 LisaMorr: Thank you!

>373 puckers: I do want to continue with the series. It sounds very thought provoking!

>374 BekkaJo: Thanks!

>375 ELiz_M: Thanks! It does pick up at about the half way point.

>376 MartinBodek: Love the image!

>377 paruline: Thank you! I want to be just like Eliz_M when I grow up :)

This seems like a good place to start a second thread. Let me see if I can figure it out and I hope you'll join me there!