Soffitta1's 1001 Books- Lifetime of Reading

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Soffitta1's 1001 Books- Lifetime of Reading

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1soffitta1
Edited: Mar 4, 2017, 8:29 am

Challenging myself to read 52 from the list in 2017



Just found this group, great motivation! I am trying to read as many of these books as possible, should be fun.

This year's goals are to reach 650 books read and, if possible, 52 books this year.

Just need to update my stats - I have read 620 from the combined list. (3/3/2017)

2soffitta1
Edited: Jan 29, 2017, 7:21 am

Original List 1-99

1 Never Let Me Go
2 Saturday
3 On Beauty
4 Slow Man
6 The Sea
7 The Red Queen
8 The Plot against America
11 The Lambs of London
13 Cloud Atlas
14. Drop City
15 The Colour
16. Thursbitch
18 What I Loved
19 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
21 Elizabeth Costello
23 Family Matters
24 Fingersmith
26 Everything is Illuminated
27 Unless
28 Kafka on the Shore
29 The Story of Lucy Gault
31 In the Forest
33 Middlesex
34 Youth
35 Dead Air
37 The Book of Illusions
38 Gabriel’s Gift
39 Austerlitz
40. Platfrom
41 Schooling
42 Atonement
43 The Corrections
45 The Body Artist
48 Choke
49 Life of Pi
50 The Feast of the Goat
52 The Devil and Miss Prym
54 White Teeth
56 Under the Skin
62. The Human Stain
63 The Blind Assassin
64 After the Quake
70 Timbuktu
71 The Romantics
77 Disgrace
78 Sputnik Sweetheart
79 Elementary Particles
80 Intimacy
81 Amsterdam
83 All Souls Day
84 Talk of the Town
85 Tipping the Velvet
86 The Poisonwood Bible
89 The Hours
90 Veronika Decides to Die
92 The God of Small Things
93 Memoirs of a Geisha
95 Enduring Love
97 Jack Maggs

Unread and not owned:
5. Adjunct: An Undigest
9. The Master
10. Vanishing Point
12. Dining on Stones
17. The Light of Day
20. Islands
22. London Orbital
25. The Double
30. That They May Face the Rising Sun
32. Shroud
36. Nowhere Man
44. Don’t Move
46. Fury
47. At Swim, Two Boys
51. An Obedient Father
53. Spring Flowers, Spring Frost
55. The Heart of Redness
57. Ignorance
58. Nineteen Seventy Seven
59. Celestial Harmonies
60. City of God
61. How the Dead Live

65. Small Remedies
66. Super-Cannes
67. House of Leaves
68. Blonde
69. Pastoralia
72. Cryptonomicon
73. As If I Am Not There
74. Everything You Need
75. Fear and Trembling
76. The Ground Beneath Her Feet
82. Cloudsplitter
87. Glamorama
88. Another World
91. Mason & Dixon
94. Great Apes
96. Underworld
98. The Life of Insects
99. American Pastoral

3soffitta1
Edited: Mar 3, 2017, 1:42 pm

Original List: 100-199

100 The Untouchable
101 Silk
103 Hallucinating Foucault
104 Fugitive Pieces
105 The Ghost Road
109 Alias Grace
110 The Unconsoled
111 Morvern Callar
115 The Rings of Saturn
116 The Reader
117 A Fine Balance
120 Mr. Vertigo
124 The master of Petersburg
125 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
126 Pereira Declares: A Testimony
129 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
130 Felicia's Journey
131 Disappearance
133 The Shipping News
134 Trainspotting
135 Birdsong
138 Complicity
140 What a Carve Up!
141 A Suitable Boy
142 The Stone Diaries
143 The Virgin Suicides
145 The Robber Bride
146 The Emigrants
147 The Secret History
151 Possessing the Secret of Joy
153 The Crow Road
155 Jazz
156 The English Patient
157 Smilla’s Sense of Snow
159 Black Water
162 Black Dogs
163 Hideous Kinky
165 Wild Swans
166 American Psycho
170 Regeneration
172 Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord
174 Get Shorty
175 Amongst Womena
181 A Home at the End of the World
182 Like Life
183 Possession
184 The Buddha of Suburbia
187 Sexing the Cherry
188 Moon Palace
190 Remains of the Day
194 The History of the Siege of Lisbon
195 Like Water for Chocolate
196 A Prayer for Owen Meany
197 London Fields
198 The Book of Evidence
199 Cat’s Eye

TBR
136 Looking for the Possible Dance
152 Indigo

Unread and Unowned
102 Cocaine Nights
106 Forever a Stranger
107 Infinite Jest
108 The Clay Machine-Gun
112 The Information
113 The Moor’s Last Sigh
114 Sabbath’s Theater
118 Love’s Work
119 The End of the Story
121 The Folding Star
122 Whatever
123 Land
127 City Sister Silver
128 How Late It Was, How Late
132 The Invention of Curried Sausage
137 Operation Shylock
139 On Love
144 The House of Doctor Dee
148 Life is a Caravanserai
149 The Discovery of Heaven
150 A Heart So White
154 Written on the Body
158 The Butcher Boy
160 The Heather Blazing
161 Asphodel
164 Arcadia
167 Time’s Arrow
168 Mao II
169 Typical
171 Downriver
173 Wise Children
176 Vineland
177 Vertigo
178 Stone Junction
179 The Music of Chance
180 The Things They Carried
185 The Midnight Examiner
186 A Disaffection
189 Billy Bathgate
191 The Melancholy of Resistance
192 The Temple of My Familiar
193 The Trick is to Keep Breathing

15RMXtreme
Oct 1, 2009, 2:24 pm

213 already, that's a lot more than me. May I ask what your top 5 is from the books you've read so far?

16soffitta1
Edited: Oct 2, 2009, 4:48 pm

Well, that is a tough one.

Of the ones I have read this year so far, I would say Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon, the Regeneration series from Pat Barker, Snow and Petals of Blood.

This is a link to the ones I have read so far this year:
http://soffitta1-bookcrossing.blogspot.com/search/label/2009%201001%20Book%20Cha...

I am going to think more about my best from all the ones I have read, it is such a hard question.

17soffitta1
Oct 11, 2009, 1:01 pm

I read The Successor last night, a very good read. You quickly get sucked into the political world of Albania after the suicide of The Successor. It is on the new list, a worthy addition. Next up - The Lusiads, another book from the 2008 list.

18soffitta1
Oct 16, 2009, 4:38 am

The Lusiads was an interesting read, a good yarn about Portugal's history.

Then it was Castle Rackrent, which was a bit tiring to read, short but rammed with info.

19soffitta1
Oct 30, 2009, 5:28 pm

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner - an interesting read from way down the list.

20soffitta1
Dec 4, 2009, 7:33 pm

Another couple read last month: The Riddle of the Sands, a pre WW1 thriller and The Tin Drum. Very different books, I was blown away by the Tin Drum, such good writing while I found the Riddle a good thriller.

I am currently reading The Shining, I have never seen the film, but at page 100, it is already creepy and tense.

21soffitta1
Jan 17, 2010, 8:31 am

I really enjoyed The Shining, will have to look out for the film.
I wanted a quick read, so picked up The Old Man and the Sea, excellent narrative. I have also finished The Piano Teacher, another disturbing read, one you have to read slowly.
At the moment, I am about halfway through Lessing's The Grass is Singing and enjoying it.

22soffitta1
Feb 9, 2010, 6:39 am

I finished The Grass is Singing, well worth it, moved on to Black Dogs, which in my opinion was Ian McEwan back up to his best. I got a couple of 1001 books free with the Times newspaper, Kestrel for a Knave and The Midwich Cuckoos, which really has really varied my reading.
Not sure what is up next, just off to see.

23soffitta1
Feb 10, 2010, 6:18 am

Decided to sneak in The Siege of Krishnapur before uni starts again this afternoon. Really good book, set in India. I have 2 more of his 1001 books on my shelves, will definitely be moving them up my TBR pile.

24soffitta1
Mar 28, 2010, 5:49 am

A few more read:

Two Philip Roth books, Invisible and The Plot against America.
Finally finished Les Miserables, which was good, but looong.
Brideshead Revisited was good, but had a frustrating end.
And lastly, the very weird Blue of Noon

Currently reading Vile Bodies, also strange, but let's see where it goes.

25soffitta1
Apr 10, 2010, 3:47 pm

I enjoyed Vile Bodies, but wished I knew more about the history of the time to get all of the satire.

I recently finished The Singapore Grip, another great book by J.G. Farrell.

Currently reading The Nine Tailors, a crime novel, excellent! I have put The Red and the Black on the backburner.

26soffitta1
Apr 18, 2010, 9:57 am

I have finally finished The Red and the Black, really worth perservering with.
Am over half way through The White Tiger

27soffitta1
Apr 19, 2010, 2:44 pm

Finished The White Tiger - very good read.

Then today I finished The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - excellent.

28soffitta1
Apr 28, 2010, 5:22 am

29soffitta1
May 16, 2010, 9:54 am

The Water-Babies - OK, but clumsy at times.
Return of the Native - first Hardy, and will be bumping him up my list from now on.
At Lady Molly's - actually part of a 10 part series, vol. 4. Will look out the others.

30soffitta1
Sep 9, 2010, 7:43 pm

A while since I updated this. I have read all the 1001 books I have and at the mercy of book exchanges now I am travelling.

Between may and now I have read:
August is a wicked month
Troubles Another good read from Farrell
Hangover Square a surprise, this was a freebie with the newspaper. Worth a read
Life and Times of Michael K
The Divine Comedy Inferno half a 1001 book
The Brothers Karamazov Long, but good to read while travelling
2666 just excellent, I think this may be the best 1001 yet.
Cranford
North and South preferred this to Cranford as the story had more punch
Madame Bovary - like watching a train wreck, but loved the detailed descriptions
The Bell Jar - dark, but good

31soffitta1
Nov 30, 2010, 6:38 pm

A few more read on the road:
The Children's Book - another great read from AS Byatt.
The French Lieutenant's Woman - highly recommendable
The Idiot - took a while to read, it is very dense

Currently reading Bleak House, finding it tough going, I suppose I haven't been grabbed by the story.

32speciallisa
Nov 30, 2010, 6:41 pm

i loved the white tiger, im currently reading life of pi and that is good so far xx

33soffitta1
Nov 30, 2010, 6:45 pm

Both of those books I enjoyed, very different styles.

34soffitta1
Dec 13, 2010, 11:50 am

I finished Bleak House, very verbose. Next up was Of Mice and Men, I had seen the play when I was at school, I was not disappointed. It is a very simply told story, but very moving.
And then Crash, disturbing, reminding me of American Psycho.
Cold Comfort Farm, very funny. A city girl goes to live with her country relatives.

35soffitta1
Dec 20, 2010, 7:14 am

At home for Christmas, so plenty of time for reading. First up, Schooling
A good read, but written in a confused or breathy way to match the teenage protagonist's thoughts. Once you get into the reading style, it really goes quickly.
The Inheritance of Loss, another book I have had for ages. Good read on Indian life, both at home and abroad.
Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord - second book in the Latin American trilogy.
Very good book, a good example of magical realism.
A seasonal read, A Christmas Carol and other Christmas Stories. I did enjoy reading the Christmas Carol, but wasn't that bothered by the other stories in the collection.
Candide - funny book about a man who travels the world, but is never happy with his lot. Dad read this for A-Level French, but as I did Spanish and German, it had never crossed my radar.

36soffitta1
Jan 4, 2011, 10:20 am

I read a few shorter ones at the end of the year to make sure I hit my target of 52 for 2010. In the end, I made it to 54.

The next three were all books I knew well from their screen adaptations, which makes them strange to read. Breakfast at Tiffany's - in a collection of short stories, good read. I loved Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, really brought back memories of my childhood. Then The Time Machine, a VERY short read, but still a memorable one.

I finally read a Sir Walter Scott book, Ivanhoe, and really liked it. It was rather fun to see such well-known characters from history and folklore.
Pereira Maintains - techincally a reread, though it was a different translation. I got more out of this book, not from the quality of the translation, but by the fact that in between reading the last one and this one I lived in Portugal.

My first 1001 of 2011 was Day of the Triffids, I remember seeing bits of an old BBC adaptation as a kid. Really good one to kick off the year with, a sci-fi book that proposes a possible future, one that i n today's GM world is actually not that unimaginable.

37soffitta1
Jan 13, 2011, 11:03 am

The Big Sleep - I found Marlowe's fast talking style very fun and entertaining, and will look out more in the series.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavelier and Clay was also very good. 2 very different cousins come together and create The Escapist, a comic book hero who fights the Nazis.
The Story of Lucy Gault, 9/10, one of the best I have read recently. This is a beautifully written book, Lucy's story unfolds slowly, but in a very moving way.

38soffitta1
Feb 13, 2011, 10:45 am

The Graduate, as with some of the other books I have read recently, it is odd reading the book when you know the film so well. There is a lot of dialogue in the book, so you can see how it was easily adapted.

The Mysteries of Udolpho
Second time lucky, actually read this in a few days after having given up on it last time. Very melodramatic, lots of poetic descriptions, but actually rather fun at times.

39soffitta1
Feb 28, 2011, 8:53 am

The Pigeon
The Pigeon is a day in the life of a 50-something-year-old man. His monotonous existance, one of his own choosing and making, is thrown out of kilter by the appearance of a pigeon outside his room. The pigeon disrupts his routine, causing him to consider leaving his sanctuary forever. Thought-provoking. Nice to read a short 1001 book!

Felicia's Journey
A very dark book, the sad story of a pregnant Irish girl searching for the father of her child, with not much to go on except he was working at a lawnmower factory near Birmingham. One day she is offered help by the catering manager of a different factory. Good read, sinister and sad though. Sensitively written, as was The Story of Lucy Gault by the same author.

Effi Briest
A girl marries her mother's former suitor and is taken off to live far away. A chain of events are set in motion, almost inevitably, and as upstanding Prussians, they can't avoid the rules that society makes them play by Very well written, very sad.

Currently reading The Monkey and the Monk and Platero and I, two very different books.

40soffitta1
Mar 10, 2011, 5:05 am

The Monkey and the Monk This is the journey of the monk Xuánzàng who is sent to the West for Buddhist scrolls to bring back to Chang'an (modern day Xian). The journey is full of obstacles, traps and dangers that the travelling band must come through to reach the West.
This is a book which is easy to recommend, first to those interested in religion in China, secondly to sinophiles, but, perhaps most importantly, for those wanting to read a good story full of colour, drama and great characters.

Through the Looking Glass
As with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, it is the combination of words and images that make the book so memorable, so charming. This is a book to amuse children and adults alike, great fun and deservedly a classic.

Platero and I
A man and his donkey, musings on life in southern Spain. This is a collection of anecodotes and shows the close relationship the narrator has with his faithful Platero, a donkey with a lot of feelings.

Invisible Man
A young black man and the struggle for equality.

All good books, I seem to be on a roll! Not sure what is up next, I was home recently and brought back a stack of books.
Vanity Fair, On the Road, Burmese Days, Three Lives to go with Arabian Nights, Crime and Punishment and In the Forest, which I already had.

41paruline
Mar 10, 2011, 6:01 am

You're on a roll!

42soffitta1
Mar 26, 2011, 8:27 am

The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Really good, I bumped it up my list after seeing it on the WBN list. I read it in an afternoon! I thought it was well-written, all in the first person and broached difficult issues in our Post 9/11 world.

A Fine Balance
I've had this for ages, it arrived in a bookbox many moons ago. A very good book, showing life in the '70s and '80s in India through the eyes of 4 people who are thrown together by fate. Mistry mixes up the narratives, telling each person's personal story, before bringing it all together. Highly recommended.

In the Forest
I got this from the 1001-Library in a swap with a Portuguese member. Inspired by real events, a woman, recently arrived in the area, and her son are targeted by the newly released O'Kane. God, this was too well-written. I kept putting it down for a few minutes, hoping against hope that there would be some light at the end of the dark tunnel, but having to pick it up again as it was so compelling. This is my second Edna O'Brien book, and I'll be looking for more.

Not sure what my next 1001 read will be, I still have quite a pile. Under the Net seems to be calling me, but I'm not sure.

43soffitta1
Apr 24, 2011, 11:15 am

The Arabian Nights
Whilst very familiar, the skilled interweaving of the stories in this collection is what makes the book great. We all know Aladdin, Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, Sinbad the Sailor, but here they are all brought together, with other less well-known tales, in a less Disney-sanitised way, making them more enjoyable.

Under the Net
An intricate, incestuous web, on which the narrator fumbles his way, cadging lodging and money off friends. A frustrated writer and translator of French novels, Jake Donaghue hopes he will one day make it big, though his only literary attempt sank without a trace and cost him a friendship.

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
I was happy to see this pop up on the 1001 Group for this month's group read. Unfortunately, I am missing book 3 :(
Good fun, not sure why I hadn't read it before, although it was the sci-fi aspect that put me off.

44BekkaJo
Apr 29, 2011, 1:38 pm

Def on a roll! Some brilliant ones read this year from the look of it. I've bumped several of them up the TBR 1,001 list.

45soffitta1
May 5, 2011, 5:56 pm

Yes, all good books at the moment, a lucky streak maybe.

Vanity Fair
The story of two very different women from their departure from school through married life. I did enjoy the book, but there were certainly parts which were more interesting than others, some bits were rather densely written, like the genealogies of minor characters. The cynical look at the age is well-done, and informative, but at times made the story rather leaden. I can see now why the film was criticised by many viewers who had read the book, because, although I admit it is a while since I saw it, the film changed the characters to make them more likeable, especially Becky.

Burmese Days
I am a big George Orwell fan, and this is another of his good books. This is a biting look at life in Burma, the machinations of the British, Burmese and other nationalities. Very good.

46soffitta1
May 7, 2011, 6:28 pm

Agnes Grey
Group read. This flew by, with her family's fortunes worsening, Agnes decides to become a governess. Coming from a loving family, she imagines she will be helping to form young minds in a similar environment, unfortunately, neither of her positions could be classed as happy. Her charges range from selfish and bratty to downright demonic, and Agnes struggles to keep herself going. It's not all doom and gloom, though, as Agnes meets a nice young cleric. I did sympathise with Agnes, although she is rather self-righteous, and as a teacher I have had some trying students over the years! A good read, but I can see why it was knocked off the original 1001 list.

Closely Observed Trains
I thought I'd stick with the train theme, a short 1001 book. I saw the film back when I lived in Prague, and it was pretty faithful to the book as far as I remember. A young man Milos, working for the Czech Railways under German occupation, has just come back to work after a suicide attempt stemming from unconsumated relationship with Masha. It is comic, but also full of tragedy.

47soffitta1
May 15, 2011, 7:33 am

Diary of a Nobody
Very amusing! I have had this for a while, but it was only at Christmas that I realised it was on the 1001 list, so I bumped it up to the top of my reading pile. Mr. Charles Pooter is a nobody, well, he is no Pepys or Johnson, but he won't let that hold him back. His diary covers just over a year, a married man living in a suburb of London, the trials and tribulations of a clerk working in the City. What makes this funny is that Pooter takes himself rather seriously, opening himself up to being laughed at by others. I especially liked Pooter's insistance on making awful puns, and his repitition of them, to varying effect.

Suite Francaise
Suite française are the two books that Irène Némirovsky wrote in WW2, before her death in Auschwitz. The two books themselves are rather different, but as can be seen from the first appendix, the author planned to tie the threads together.
This is not a book about heroes, rather this is the reality of people living in terrible times. At first, in the first book, I found it hard to sympathise with the characters, until I tried to place myself in their shoes, surely our own survival is the most basic of instincts.
I would definitely recommend this.

48soffitta1
May 31, 2011, 4:55 pm

Rings of Saturn
I picked this up a long time ago because of its East Anglia connection, where my parents live. The author spent many years in England, and here he is tramping around Norfolk and Suffolk, with some physical and mental diversions. He comments on nature, small villages, inhabitants and muses on their links to the wider world (and vice versa).
Recommended for keen travellers, whether they be real or armchair, and those who like a long story with lots of asides.

All Quiet on the Western Front
A reread for me, I was chosen by World Book Night to hand out the book in March, and so I read it on its way to a friend. I wanted to give out the book because, despite being written about a war which started nearly a century ago, I think it's still relevant today. All politicians should be made to read this before being sworn into office.
As the Great War breaks out in 1914, Paul and his friends are finishing school. They are young, on the cusp of adulthood, physically men, but still to take their first steps in the adult world. As with many classes, they sign up en masse. Not out of patriotic duty, but rather from the pressure put on them by their teacher. What follows is Paul's description of the realities of war in the trenches: the hours of waiting, the orders to advance under rocket and gunfire, the deaths of those around them. Their black humour may seem distasteful to others, but it is a vital coping mechanism, there is am inevitable sense of fatality.

49soffitta1
Edited: Jul 26, 2011, 9:08 am

Crime and Punishment
Another scary one knocked off the 1001 list.
Crime and Punishment is one of those classics that many teenagers are subjected to read in school. While I wasn't one of them, I did associate the author with heavy text. Daunting it is, in terms of size and the names of characters (all of whom have at least 3 different ones - patronyms, nicknames and the like). I must admit I had to keep flicking backwards to remind myself who was who!
Raskolnikov lives in St. Petersburg, he has neither work nor money. Sick of the pawnshop lady who lends him money at crippling rates, he decides to kill her. Instead of seeing her death as a sin, he envokes the deaths caused by powerful men, leaders such as Napoleon. No one remembers them as murderers, nor the names of the countless that die both on and off the battlefield as a result of their military decisions.
The punishment of the title is not the one expected. Rather than one handed down by the legal system, it is one that follows the main character, his conscience.
Despite the confusion caused by the names, it is a classic and deserves its place on the 1001 list. It is a book that makes you think, revealing the our inner moral code that we live by.

Lord Jim
I read Heart of Darkness a few years ago, and was pleased to see the return of the narrator Marlowe. This is a different story, while both books are linked to the sea, both the setting and the feel of it are different.
The titular Jim is marked forever by an act of cowardice early in his career, he, along with other officers, leave the passengers to their own fate after the boat starts to list. Jim tries to escape from his past, but something so infamous is bound to catch up with you, so he consents to a placement on Patusan, hidden far from Western eyes. His work on Patusan gives Jim the opportunity to reinvent himself, to become a strong, respected man known as 'Tuan' or lord.
Jim himself remains somewhat elusive, as we get his story second or even third hand, but he is an interesting literary hero. Redeemed characters are easy to like than people who are always good.

The Vicar of Wakefield
I knew nothing about this, but was interested by the title on a virtual bookbox list. The book follows the ups and downs of the titular vicar and his family. The vicar is seemingly obsessed with the institution of marriage, trying to marry off his children and seemingly everyone else in his parishes! It is rather amusing, as a lot of the downs are caused by the vicar's own vanity. An enjoyable satire of a certain kind of life at the time.

The Age of Innocence
I have had this for a long time, 3 years! I saw the film not long before picking this up at a Bookcrossing meeting.
A tale of clandestine love in the upper echelons of society in New York in the 1870s. Newland Archer is a young man, a model of a decent gentlemen, all set to marry May Welland, from one of the other great New York family. His world is thrown into upheaval as May's disgraced cousin, Ellen, arrives from Europe, separated from her husband, a Polish Count. Ellen and May could not be more different, the latter is the perfect society bride, brought up to keep moral standards and bring up her husband's children, while the former refuses to go back to her husband and is not scared to break with social etiquette. Archer is torn between love and desire on one side and social duty on the other.
Very good, not only because of a well-told romance, but also as a window into the society of the time.

50soffitta1
Aug 18, 2011, 1:51 pm

Three Lives
As seen in the title, Stein narrates the lives of three very different women, not in itself original, but it is the writing style that puts it on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list.
Took a while to read because of the writing style, which is more of an oral style with a lack of punctuation. I did enjoy it though, it is a rather sad book, especially for a female reader.

The Trial
Josef K. is arrested at home for an unnamed crime, and the book follows his trying to pin down the charges so he can have them dismissed.
K. is continually messed around by those in charge, he is summoned to the court, but not given the hour to call. After being advised to see the court painter, Titorelli, a man privy to the inner workings of the court, he finds out that no person who has been charged has ever got off, with some cases lasting for years. In keeping with much of Kafka's work, K. is at a complete loss, trying to solve the situation through logic, but it is clear that there is another kind of logic at work here, one which is perverse.
I had had this on my shelf for a few months, I knew what to expect as I had studied Kafka at school and uni. A good, thought-provoking read. I did have a severe case of deja vu with the priest's description of the door keeper, but as none of the rest of the book seemed familiar, I think I had studied that section as part of background reading. Strange, but fitting I suppose!

Fantomas
On the 1001 List, I knew nothing of this, being sent it through the 1001-Library. A mystery about famed mysterious criminal, Fantomas, and Juve, the detective determined to catch him. Three seemingly unlinked crimes, 2 rather gruesome, are connected by Juve and he sets off to find evidence.
The action is fast paced, jumping from one crime to another, from one fiendish plot to another. While there are better books in the genre, apparently this book was the inspiration for those which followed, this is great fun.

51soffitta1
Aug 19, 2011, 7:34 am

The Immoralist
Newly wed Michel falls ill with TB, he slowly recovers, but is no longer the same man. Michel starts to question his life and decisions, which understandably have a knock-on effect on his life and marriage.
After a slow start, I raced through this, with the action become faster and more breathless as Michel's search becomes more desperate. I am not sure what I thought of it, only that it is still playing on my mind. While some of the book is dated, more in the lifestyle than the writing, it contains very up-to-date dilemmas.

Half of a Yellow Sun
This is my second book by the author, I read, and thoroughly enjoyed, Purple Hibiscus a couple of years ago. In the centre of the novel there are twins Olanna and Kainene, very different in looks and personality, Olanna's lover, the professor, and his young houseboy and Kainene's own lover, a British ex-pat. Their relationships, complicated and often fraught, play out against the backdrop of a fracturing Nigeria.
Another good book by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, not just a warts and all account of civil war, but also a history lesson. I really felt drawn in by her narrative style and the story she wove, the terrible realities of civil war and very human reactions to it, the positive and the negative.

52soffitta1
Aug 19, 2011, 8:19 am


Invisible Cities
This is my first Calvino book, an author I'd heard of, but never met anyone who'd read his work!
The book is a series of conversations between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, musing on cities which get more and more fantastical. Many of them are recognisable, in part, as Venice, with canals and other indicators, but as Calvino takes an element and runs with it, the cities described become something new and original. The descriptions are brief with details of its inhabitants, architecture and position, though Calvino plays with myths and time, as seen in his inclusion of aeroplanes and naiads.
It is a short book, but not a quick read. The prose is beautifully written, so much so I wanted to savour the book and not rush it. I will be looking out more by the author, as well as my own copy of this to reread at my leisure.

Journey to the Alcarria
A traveller in Nueva Castilla in the '40s. A window into life under Franco, villages and the people in them, the scenery and the observations of the traveller himself.
While it was interesting to read about villages at a certain point in time, the traveller merely observed whereas I, as the reader, was hoping for more insight, although there was an episode where he questioned the meaning of some rhetoric that a teacher's "best student" had learnt. I would also like to know more about the traveller, he offers little of himself, and doesn't always tell the truth to those he speaks to. An interesting read, especially as I now live in Spain, but ultimately it left me feeling as if it lacked the right amount of substance.

The Rainbow
In The Rainbow, we follow three generations of the Brangwen family from Nottinghamshire, their lives and loves, moving from the 1840s into the 20th Century.
Lawrence shows us that, while social and moral codes have changed, man's, and indeed woman's, desires haven't. The battle between sexual desire and identity is still going on today, although we are freer in our choices, less bound by social norms.
Strangely compelling, I say strangely because at times I wasn't sure what kept me reading. Curiousity maybe, interesting characters certainly, but also possibly because of the lack of external dialogue. I did find the reading exhausting, if that is the correct word, almost binging on a chunk of text, then having to put the book down to digest the narrative.
I read half of this years ago, so am glad to have read it all. I will be looking out for Women in Love, the continuation.

53soffitta1
Edited: Sep 15, 2011, 4:02 pm

Billiards at Half-Past Nine
I was keen to read this having studied another of Boell's books at school.
There are two types of people, those who take the Host of the Lamb and those who take the Host of the Beast, or in other words, those who are for peace and those who are for war. Billiards at Half-past Nine shares this anti-war, anti-establishment theme with Katharina Blum, but this time there isn't one main character, rather we see how different generations of family have been tainted by war.
I enjoyed reading my second Boell, and the style of the book, in which the narrative jumped from person to person.

The Swimming Pool Library
I had already read a book by the author and was keen to see how this one measured up.
Through Will's life and that of his friends, and especially Nantwich's diaries, the reader gets a slice of the life of a British gay man and attitudes have changed.
I started out enjoying the book, but when it seemed to just turn into one anonymous liason after another, I felt I lost interest in it.

Unless
Unless takes you through a difficult year for the Winters, a middle-class Toronto family, composed of happily married parents, Tom and Reta, and their three girls. This makes it even harder for them to comprehend why their eldest daughter, Norah, a promising uni student, is sitting on a street corner with a sign saying “goodness” and sleeping in a shelter. Through Reta, who narrates the book, we see a family's struggle to understand both Norah's action and her enigmatic sign.
Danielle Westerman, Reta's mentor, expresses the problem faced by women, doomed to goodness and not greatness. This is the underlying theme of the novel, echoing the struggle for equality that Reta describes in her book, which, while it is not a problem in her marriage, is a reality in her life. It is most eloquently expressed in her ever angrier letters she writes, her outrage at how women are treated, how they are glossed over in the literary world. I was interested to see, though, that in her adopted country of Canada, women are more than well-represented on the 1001 list.

On the Road
Who hasn't dreamt of chucking it all in and hitting the road, seeing how far you can get and meeting strange, new people? Sal Paradise is ready for a new experience, recently divorced, he's a writer always on the look out for inspiration.
I was disappointed with this, I suppose it was because I didn't connect with Sal and I know that if I met Dean in real life, I would want to slap him. I did enjoy Kerouac's style of narrative, fittingly like listening to someone telling you a story over a pint, but found my interest waning as he described the truly egotistical Dean jumping in with both feet yet again, never thinking of others.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
As the title says, this is a day in the life of a man in a Gulag, from reveille to bedtime. Taking us through the daily struggle to make food last and even get your hands on more, the work they must do and the complicated structure of the camp itself. Most of the time, the main character, Shukhov, is preoccupied with food, the lack of it, how to get more of it, and if that is possible, how to safeguard it from other hungry inmates.
The fact Shukhov doesn't see this as a “bad” day, despite such hardship, gives the reader quite a jolt, especially when you know that the author spent time in a similar camp. Shukhov does show up the ridiculousness of both the regime that has punished him and the system he has to live under in the camp, with paranoia and strange decisions being taken all the time. He has learnt how to survive without losing his humanity.
I would highly recommend this, both for the style of prose and also for the study of man in such a harsh situation.

54soffitta1
Edited: Oct 16, 2011, 10:39 am

Good Soldier Schweik
I loved this! It was amusing, as well as insightful on the different nations that made up the Austro-Hungarian empire. Hašek gives us not only a satire on the army and war, but also of the church and people in power. Whilst it is very much set in a specific period, we still live in an time with war, so this anti-war novel is still relevant.

Choke
I had an inkling of what to expect after seeing Fight Club, but found this much more amusing than I would have expected.
Victor is a man down on his luck, but with a novel way of keeping his head above water. He pretends to choke in restaurants, causing his saviours to both feel good about saving him, and also somehow responsible, thus ensuring his survival.
I know I wasn't supposed to like Victor, he even tells you not to, especially after finding out more information about him. I think it was the style and tone that drew me in, the conversational musings of Victor and, of course, his strange life. I did not feel pity for him, but I did hope he would find some sort of redemption or closure.

So Long a Letter
Here we have a letter written by a widow, highlighting the lack of equality for women, as they are passed over for younger models.
So much suffering and anguish, but a lot can be seen about Senegalese society from these pages, but readers from all nationalities can relate to the two women's stories. This is a short, but thought-provoking book.

55soffitta1
Edited: Jan 2, 2012, 3:25 pm

These were my next reads, as ever I am way behind on reviews, but will try and fill these in ASAP.

The Sea, the Sea
A narcissistic actor turned director retires to the coast, living in a strange house. He doesn't get the peace and quiet he was expecting, rather it turns into a literary version of the romcom Ghosts of Girlfriends Past as he is both besieged and obsessed with his exes. The exes are not alone, they come with baggage, both in the physical form of their menfolk and emotional. I enjoyed this, especially the narrator's musings on food, often at critical moments in the narrative.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
My first John Le Carre book, I picked this off the shelf after seeing the new adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Written in the '60s, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is very much a novel of its time, it is easy to downplay the Cold War years and what life was like under the threat of war. The Cold War atmosphere in the book is well-created, the narrative is tense and there are many twists and turns. Le Carre shows us a grittier side to spying, a game in which anything goes, of bluff and double bluff, in a world that could blow up at anytime.

The Woman in White
I read The Moonstone a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it, so was pleased to pick this up at a local charity shop. As with The Moonstone, The Woman in White is a multi-layered mystery, starting with the titular woman who meets the main narrator, Walter Hartwright, on a road outside London, who tries to help the distraught woman.
The plot is fast paced and its epistolary form, with the rotation of narrators, helps to drive the narrative on, but also keeping up the tension. It is an entertaining read, with lashings of melodrama and Gothic ingredients, with lots of threads which pull together at the end in a satisfying conclusion.
I would recommend this for fans of Sarah Waters, Gothic novels, as well as those looking for a cracking mystery.

Women in Love
I recently read The Rainbow, and was curious to see how the Bronwen line continued. This book focusses on sisters Gudrun and Ursula and the men they fall for.
As with The Rainbow, the book deals with a changing world and a new generation trying to break out of the constraints of the previous. There is also the struggle between art and science, especially shown in the relationship between Gudrun and Gerald.
I can see how the book would have been controversial, but almost a century later, it seems rather tame, though still thought-provoking.

The Virgin Suicides
I saw the film adaptation years ago, and wanted to see the original material, so grabbed it from a bookbox.
Major events in our childhood have a great impact on our lives, and for the men living in Grosse Pointe, it is the suicides of five sisters that coloured their adholescence. The untimely deaths of their contemparies continues to be a topic of discussion when they meet up, even years later. The collective voice of the narrator tries to reconstruct the events, trying to find out what pushed the girls to do what they did.
A very dark book, one that I know I will come back to. Eugendides´ debut novel is one of the best books I´ve read this year, I look forard to Middlesex.

Foe
Coetzee takes the story of Robinson Crusoe, as told by Daniel Defoe and gives it a clever twist, that Defoe's source was Susan Barton, a woman who was on the island with Cruso (sic). Barton tells Foe of her struggle to find her daughter, who was kidnapped, in the New World, and of her arrival onto the island where Cruso and Friday have lived for many years.
Foe is a marked departure from the other books I have read by the author (Disgrace, The Age of Iron, The Life and Times of Michael K), but for me can only solidify his position as a Nobel Prize winning author.

Ethan Frome
A newcomer to the town meets the titular character, a man with a sad story. The narrator then takes us back in time to find out how Frome becomes the broken man he is today, his downfall culminating in a terrible accident.
This is a short, terse book, but Wharton packs a lot into it, from the bitterest of emotions to a snapshot of rural New England. Deservedly on the 1001 Book List.

56soffitta1
Nov 23, 2011, 8:10 am

Breakfast of Champions
Kilgore Trout is back, Vonnegut's prolific sci-fi writer, and unbeknownst to him, a chance encounter with Dwayne is about to change both their lives.
The text is interspersed with Vonnegut's drawings, ostensibly to aid understanding of the story, whilst also building on the ironic tone of the book. I thoroughly enjoyed the interjections of the writer, both written and pictorial, especially when his characters don't behave in the way the author imagined they would, even to the point of turning against him.
I would recommend making yourself a large cuppa and losing yourself in Vonnegut's vision of the world.

I am 550 pages into The Magic Mountain, it is taking me a long time as I can only read it in small chunks. It's good, but dense. I have just picked up Wide Sargasso Sea, I like the style, and, hopefully, it will spur me on to read Jane Eyre.

57soffitta1
Edited: Jan 2, 2012, 5:28 pm

Wide Sargasso Sea
A prequel to Jane Eyre, which is on my long-term TBR pile, looking at Rochester's first wife and her life in Jamaica. The story of Mrs. Rochester, Antoinette Cosway, as a child in Jamaica to her marriage to an Englishman.
I really enjoyed this, I got caught up in Rhys' claustrophobic world of Obeah, crazy relatives, post-emancipation Jamaica. I felt sorry for Antoinette, with no control over her life, and the shadow of a crazy mother loomng over her. To write a prequel to such a beloved book is no easy task, Rhys has not only shown us how Mrs. Rochester came to be, but also given us an idea of a woman's life at the time. Highly recommended.

The Magic Mountain
This has been looking down at me from my TBR shelves for many a year. I studied Death in Venice at uni, and always meant to read this, but was put off by its size.
Hans Castorp is a young man drifting through life, he has been left with enough money to live off without getting his hands dirty. He decides to visit his sick cousin, Joachim, who is at a sanatorium in the Alps. Joachim has TB, which has put paid to his army career, though he is still hopeful that he will be declared fit.
There is a lot in the book, there is also a lot of French without translated footnotes, which is frustrating. I found parts tougher going than others, I found reading in chunks helped me get through it. Worth the read, but footnotes would have increased my understanding of the book.

The World According to Garp
The life and times of T.S. Garp, an unusual story right from conception to the end of the book. The narrtive is spliced with Garp's own work.
Garp is barely in control of his life, events overtake him at every turn, which adds a layer of irony to the book. This is my first Irving, and sure not to be the last. I never knew where the book would take me, but I really enjoyed it.

The Body Artist
The story follows a woman dealing with the suicide of her husband. From a mundane final breakfast to her expressing herself through her body.
This is a very strange book, and I'm not sure it really hits the mark. I read it in one sitting, but only really perservered because it was so short. Unsatisfying.

4 more read, I hope to get at least one more before the end of the year, I am coming up to half way through Jane Eyre, and am enjoying it so far.

58soffitta1
Edited: Jan 2, 2012, 5:36 pm

Jane Eyre
Finally! For many reasons, I have never read this and as I have a Jasper Fforde category, I thought I should rectify that.
I enjoyed it, it was very dramatic at times, I imagine my 15-year-old self would have loved it! Jane is good without being a prig, and Rochester is "ugly", but I can see how he caught Jane's eye. It was strange reading a book that is so familiar, despite having never read it.

Oranges are not the only Fruit
A girl is adopted by a Pentecostal family, a strange upbringing indeed. Her mother takes it badly when Jeanette falls for another girl at the church, going against her strict beliefs.
A short 1001 book, loosely biographical, proving that truth is often stranger than fiction.

Three from Edgar Allan Poe: The Fall of the House of Usher (new), The Pit and the Pendulum (reread) and The Purloined Letter (reread).
Very short, I preferred The Pit and the Pendulum and The Purloined Letter, but all three were good to read.

This brings my total for 2011 up to 64. I am hoping to reach the milestone of 400 books read by the end of 2012, which means I need to read 63 books this year.

59soffitta1
Jan 27, 2012, 7:13 pm

Cost
A family falling apart, Julie's elderly parents are showing their age, her mother already in the grip of Alzheimer's, and her younger son's addiction to heroin. Blood is thicker than water, but that doesn't necessarily mean that every family is close. There are skeletons in the cupboard as well as grievences never aired, but long harboured. Recommended.

60soffitta1
Edited: Feb 10, 2012, 9:07 am

Behind on reviews, but will post soon.

Talk of the Town
As a huge fan of Father Ted, I was curious to see how O'Hanlan's book compared to his on-screen persona of Father Dougal.
Patrick Scully is a young man from a small Irish town. Killeeny. Despite a promising start, Patrick screws up his Leaving Cert and is not sure where he is heading. His best friend, and idol, is "Balls" O'Reilly, studying in Dublin and definitely more successful with women. Patrick is in a problematic relationship with Francesca, a uni student. He doesn't connect well with her, his envy driving a wedge between them.
What drew me to this book were the tone and its realistic setting, O'Hanlan recreates life in '80s Ireland and the problems and frustrations of being young. The balance of the two narrators works well, too.

Middlesex
The story of a Greek-American family, with all the classic elements of Greek Drama and mythology - birth, death, incest, secrets, and gender.
On the one hand, Middlesex is a coming of age book, how a Greek family turns into a Greek-American family, and how each generation reacts to the world around it. This is not a black and white book, rather one that shows how complex life can be. Brilliant, one of the best books I have read in the last year. I have had it for ages, put off because of its size, but once I started, I didn't want to put it down.

61soffitta1
Edited: Mar 26, 2012, 7:57 am

The Gathering
A woman reanalyses her life after the death of her brother, finally opening the can of worms that the past can be.
In three generations of any family, there are squabbles, betrayals, long-held grudges and complex relationships. Enright plays with the reader, using Veronica's unreliable childhood memories to leave them to decide what really happened. I couldn't put the book down, the text draws you in, despite the sadness of it all.

The Awakening
Edna Pontellier is a discontent wife who falls for a young man while holidaying at the Grand Isle Resort. Edna is unsatisfied, and when Robert lavishes her with attention, against her initial hesitations, she lets him into her heart. Robert is more than a romantic diversion, he is the catalyst for Edna to change her own life. Unfortunately Robert sparks a change in Edna's life, but is scared of what he has started.
Chopin captures the frustration of a wife bound by society's norms, and how hard it is to fight against those constraints. I did enjoy the book, tragic as it was, probably because of the sympathetic portrayal of Edna.

62soffitta1
Edited: Mar 28, 2012, 4:37 pm

Moll Flanders
The reader follows Moll through love affairs, every rise and fall, amazed that she can never be kept down for long. What also is interesting is the society of the time, the role of women as well as crime and punishment.
The book is engaging, hard to put down, partly from the story, but also because it a narrative with no breaks in it! I'd recommend it, a good look at life at the time, as well as how hard it is to climb up from the bottom of the social ladder, and how easy it is to fall again.

Dark as the Grave wherein my Friend is laid
A writer journeys to Mexico where he was inspired to write a book, one that hasn't exactly shaken the world, and his latest keeps being rejected.
A bit of an odd one, but I got caught up in it, Lowry certainly has an entertaining style. The tortured meanderings of a writer seemed very authentic to me, another reason why I'd recommend the book.

63soffitta1
Edited: May 5, 2012, 11:54 am

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Joyce's book follows the life of Stephen Dedalus, from an impressionable boy living in a strict catholic society through to becoming a man.
I am still not sure about it, it is not an easy read because of the lack of punctuation, but it was interesting.

Family Matters
This is my second Rohinton Mistry, I read A Fine Balance fairly recently, a great book, and I am happy to say that Family Matters does not disappoint.

As the title implies, the book is all about a family, the family of Nariman Vakeel, the whose marriage to a widow turned him into the patriarch of an extended family. Now an old man, Nariman's family is on the brink of collapse as he becomes sicker. Palmed off on his daughter and step-children, he has lost control of his life, leaving him with more time to reminisce about the past, of their life together as a family as well as his tragic love affair.

64soffitta1
Edited: May 5, 2012, 3:47 pm

Huckleberry Finn
Huck is a young lad who has had a hard life, even when he comes into money, he can't seem to catch a break. On his travels down river, he meets lots of characters, good and bad, which help the author comment on the society of the time.
It took a while to read as I had to read it out because it is written in Finn's words and expressions. Well, I'm glad I've read it, but can't see myself getting hold of Tom Sawyer, I suppose it just didn't grab me.

Ragtime
The beginning of the 20th Century was a time of great change in the States, and the rest of the world. On the one hand, there was a great advance in technology, with Ford's cars becoming more common, but the divide between classes was as great as ever. Doctorow weaves his story around very different people, with the main characters coming from three very distinct families. The three families give the reader a window into race and class divides of the time, as well as making them relate that to their own society.
The book also features real historical figures, from Houdini to Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand, from the scandalous Evelyn Nesbit to Henry Ford. As a Brit ill-versed in American history, I did feel I might be missing a lot not knowing who all the real people were in the book. Luckily I had the internet nearby, but it doesn't ruin the book not getting all the references.
I enjoyed this, the intertwining of people's lives, how interconnected we all are. The book is also fast-paced, with lots of twists and turns.

65soffitta1
Edited: May 21, 2012, 7:22 am

The Shadow Lines
The narrator tells us his family history, of life in India as well as their links with England. The unnamed narrator dearly enjoys the stories of his uncle Tiridib, tales of his time in England which are so vivid that when he finally goes there himself, the narrator is able to find his way around a city he's never even visited before. The book reaches a climax when we find out the tragedy suffered by the family.
As ever with Ghosh's work, The Shadow Lines had me hooked from page one, not only because of the story, but also because of the sumptuous writing style.

David Copperfield
David Copperfield is the story of the titular hero from babe in arms to settled man. Right from birth, David has to struggle. His father dies before he is born, leaving his mother to survive all alone, apart from Peggotty, her housekeeper. David has to grow up and overcome difficulties thrown at him, starting with a vindictive step father, through trials with love, to financial difficulties.
All in all, I am not the biggest Dickens fan, the old rhyme comes to mind - when he's good, he's very, very good, when he's bad he's tedious. (please excuse my artistic licence!)

66soffitta1
May 21, 2012, 7:23 am

Watermelon Sugar

Flowers for Mrs Harris
A short book on the 1001 list by the author of The Snow Goose. The titular Mrs. Harris is a London charlady, a very particular type of cleaning lady, both historically and culturally. Ever since she saw a client's Dior dress, it has been her goal to have one, no mean fact. Her dream is brought a step closer by a win on the pools, but fate seems to help and hinder all at once.
As the previous reviewer of my copy said, this is a book to read when you are in the right mood as what is uplifting one day could be saccharine sweet the next. This is , however, more than a twee novel about a savvy charlady, while it is a sweet book, Gallico captures the period really well.

Everything is Illuminated
Writer Jonathan goes to the Ukraine in search of his own family's history. His family was saved in WW2 by a Ukranian woman, and it is Jonathan's goal to find her. His guide and translator on the trip is Alex, a gregarious young Ukrainian, very much a fan of the U.S., and who is planning his escape from Lvov. Jonathan's search takes them to the countryside, being driven by Alex' grandfather, whose dog takes quite a liking to the author.
I really enjoyed the style, the mix of narratives kept me turning the pages. It is a book that is often raw, but it is the jagged edges that will make you read on. I would recommend this for those who like their literature with a good dose of humour, as well as those who like a well-explored yarn.

67soffitta1
Edited: Jun 10, 2012, 5:51 pm

Kim

Cider with Rosie
I have finally read this, after many false starts along the years, the first time being extracts at school.
Cider with Rosie is a glimpse at a world that has gone, village life in the Cotswolds between WW1 and WW2. Lee's childhood straddles changing times, when rural life was becoming more and more mechanised, the towns were growing and children had more freedom.
I would recommend this to be read in short bursts, I found it rather rose-tinted and a bit much at times. Though, I must admit that Lee's writing style is very poetic, and there were many beautiful passages

King Solomon's Mines

68amaryann21
May 21, 2012, 1:05 pm

66- I saw the movie Everything is Illuminated before I read the book- didn't know it was a book first- and for once, I was kind of happy I did. I found the book's style a little confusing and it definitely took more work to read than some do. That said, I love the story and think Jonathan Safran Foer may be a genius.

69soffitta1
May 21, 2012, 4:47 pm

I haven't seen the film yet, though I am planning on getting hold of it. It was fun to read, though I had to pay attention.

70fundevogel
May 27, 2012, 2:12 pm

I haven't read the book but I love the film. I cry every time I watch it, but it's a good sort of cry. There's relief in it. That and it is genuinely funny.

71soffitta1
Edited: Aug 15, 2012, 2:42 pm

The Namesake
Gogol is a young Bengali-American man from Massachusetts, searching for his own identity and place in the world.
The narrative caught my imagination and I found I couldn't put the book down. Lahiri captures well the feeling of being between two cultures, Indian by blood, but American by birth. Gogol encompasses this duality, making the normal teenage struggle for identity even harder.

The Magus
Middlemarch

72soffitta1
Aug 15, 2012, 2:42 pm

The Line of Beauty
The author takes us back to '80s Britain, where Nick, a young gay man, fresh out of Oxford, is living with the family of a university chum.
Through Nick, we see the rise and falls of the '80s. On the political side, the decade starts with the Tories riding high after a landslide electoral victory, but as the decade draws to a close, scandals have started to drag the party down and the Iron Lady herself is at risk of losing her position. On a more personal note, as a young gay man, Nick arrives in London at the moment of sexual freedom, but the end of the '80s brings with it the shadow of AIDS as more and more cases are reported.
Recommended.

The Book of Evidence
The Player of Games

75soffitta1
Aug 15, 2012, 2:42 pm

The House in Paris

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Helen Graham, a young widow, moves into the rundown Wildfell Hall, along with her young son. The locals are intrigued by her, and the rumour mill runs overtime as visitors try to winkle out information from her. One of her frequent visitors is Gilbert, a flighty young man who Arthur, Helen's son, takes a shine to. But Helen has a secret. She has left a bad marriage and is in hiding.
Bronte doesn't confine herself to issues of gender, but also brings up the topics of class, behaviour, addiction to gambling and drinking, whether it is possible to avoid them, as well as scrutinising the institution of marriage.
This is the second book I've read by Anne Bronte, and it stood up to the standard set by Agnes Grey. It is sad to think what others books she could have written if she had not died so young.

76soffitta1
Aug 15, 2012, 2:48 pm

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
Very good, the very dated politics as it is set in the early 1900s, but an interesting read, especially when you realise how much better life is now for workers, women and children than a 100 years ago.

The Sound and the Fury
Once you get used to the narrative style, a good read.

Get Shorty
I saw this in the library and remembered that it was on the 1001 list. Rather fun, a money lender goes to collect a debt, but ends up pitching a film. As the plot unfolds, so the screenplay begins to take life, all helped with larger than life characters.

77soffitta1
Aug 15, 2012, 2:48 pm

July's People
Written in the '80s before the fall of Apartheid, Gordimer gives us a what if scenario. The white authorities have been taken over, and Maureen and her family flee Jo'burg, taken in by their black "boy". July takes the family to his village, where employers and employees struggle to deal with the power shift. Very tense, as Maureen tries to adapt, having to put her faith in her former servant, in a village where they are not wanted. Interesting dissection of human life. Recommended.

Lucky Jim
Picked up a second copy of this from a bookfair in Avila.
Amusing at times, good read, if a bit dated.

Tropic of Capricorn
Can't say I wasn't warned as I read Tropic of Cancer for the 12 in 12 Category Challenge. This is an outpouring of text, one lapse in concentration and you lose the thread completely. This time the narrative, you really can't say plot, takes place in the States, not in Paris.

78soffitta1
Aug 15, 2012, 2:48 pm

Disappearance
A short 1001 read, an engineer from Guyana goes to live in England with a landlady who has lived in Africa. A snap shot of life rather than a novel with a fixed plot. I found it to be very interesting.

The Last September
Set in Ireland in the last days before Independence, the action takes place in a big house against a turbulent backdrop.

The Red Queen
A book of 2 parts, the first is the posthumous telling of the life story of a Korean crown princess. The second is that of an academic who picks up her memoirs on a flight to South Korea and is taken with her story. Enjoyable.

79soffitta1
Aug 15, 2012, 2:49 pm

The Romantics
A young Indian man is introduced into an interesting group led by Miss West, one which changes him, makes him take stock. A book that will stay on your mind as you try to process it, especially with its multinational cast all with their very different relationships in and with India.

The Golden Notebook

Soldiers of Salamis

81soffitta1
Aug 15, 2012, 2:49 pm

I am hoping to journal more books, it has been a busy summer so far.

82soffitta1
Edited: Jan 5, 2013, 11:54 am

A Boy's Own Story

The End of the Affair

The Pursuit of Love
I actually read Love in a Cold Climate first, but snaffled this from a charity shop not long after seeing the TV adaptation. Just as enjoyable as I remember the other book being, this book follows the story of Linda narrated by her cousin. It is a book of its time, in the characters and the backdrop, but that is part of its charm.

A Tale of Two Cities
Read in the airport, plane and while packing. I did enjoy this, but as ever felt that it suffered from start-stop action. The two cities in question are Paris and London and the plot moves between the two very different places. The action starts with the release of a man from imprisonment, a Frenchman with an English wife, after many years. Theirs is a difficult life, and the revolution has still got his eye on his family.

The Grapes of Wrath
Compelling reading, such a hard life. A master storyteller.

83soffitta1
Jan 5, 2013, 11:53 am

Complicity a spate of killings motivated by moral outrage.

Trainspotting
I've had this for ages, finally read it! (and enjoyed it!)

I'm not scared
Don't start this book if you have anything else to do. I thought I'd read a chapter before I went to bed and somehow ended up reading the whole book. It isn't a long book, but it is really gripping. Michele and his friends fill their hot summer days with games, challenges, forfeits and a lot of imagination. It's while on a forfeit that Michele discovers something that will change everything. This is not just a thriller, Niccolo Ammaniti provides us with a well-drawn Italian backdrop, a struggling family in the poorer south with dreams of moving north. Recommended.

84soffitta1
Jan 5, 2013, 11:56 am

Villette
By the author of Jane Eyre, not as passionate but more biographical. I have mixed feelings about this, some great parts, but some annoying characters.

The Street of Crocodiles
Brilliant, written by a Polish writer between the wars, a mix of observation and magical happenings.

Voss
Ooh had this for a long time, I feel bad about this, especially as it is a 1001-Library book. Set in Australia, it is a good read, like a slow, hot day in the outback.

Dirk Gently's holistic Detective Agency
a lighter side to the list, enjoyed it as a good piece of escapism.

The Vice Consul
I really like Margerite Duras, I haven't been let down by one of her books yet. Intertwined lives in Calcutta.

Mother's Milk
the descent of a family told in blocks of summer holidays. I really recommend this.

The Jungle
Draining, but good read about the meat packing district in Chicago at the turn of the last century. Slightly let down at the end by the overt praise of socialism, but still worthy of its place on the list.

85soffitta1
Jan 5, 2013, 11:57 am

Orlando - Virginia Woolf
You need to concentrate, but I did get caught up in this. A VERY strange story, with a gender change, a plot sweeping centuries and English history.

In Search of Klingsor
Interesting, an American scientist goes to Germany at the end of WW2 to sweep up fellow scientists, he then gets on the trail of science kingpin, Klingsor. Not bad, I found that I enjoyed the science analogies, but the thriller part was rather predictable.

Visit from the Goon Squad
Interconnected stories, with each chapter focusing on a different person. Worth a read.

86soffitta1
Jan 5, 2013, 11:59 am

Under the Skin - Michel Faber
An unusual story set in Scotland, a woman is picking up hitchhikers - why? Worth a read.

The Master and Margarita
Strange and extremely compelling, took a while to read, but I really liked it.

Oroonoko
I enjoyed this, I got a lot out of it because Aphra Behn turned up in a trilogy of books I recently read (The Winter Queen) with the main character of book 1 being the inspiration for this book.

Girls of Slender Means
Another slim Jim! I started this last night and finished it over a nice cuppa this morning. I really liked it, there is a lot going on under the surface.

87soffitta1
Jan 5, 2013, 12:02 pm

That brings me up to the end of 2012 - I have been rather rubbish at writing proper reviews, but here's hoping I'll be better this year! Up to the end of 2012 I had read 413 books from the combined list of all 4 versions. I was given the latest edition for Christmas. As for 2013, I'd like to read 52 books again.

88soffitta1
Jan 5, 2013, 12:03 pm

1. Dom Casmurro
The titular narrator tells his life story, from the conflict between being in love and fulfilling his mother's promise that he would be a priest. The narrator interrupts the text to give the reader asides, even to advise certain readers not to continue or to comment on how he will improve the text for the next edition. For me, this added to the charm of the book, which captures a long-gone time in Brazil as well as the feeling of "saudade". Worthy of its place on the 1001 list.

89soffitta1
Jan 26, 2013, 6:26 am

2. On the Black Hill
A 1001 book I've had since 2011. I have read In Patagonia and was curious to see how his fiction holds up to his travel books. Set on a farm in the Welsh countryside, the book follows the life of twins Benjamin and Lewis from their parents meeting each other to their death. A very Spartan life at times, Chatwin shows how the world around them is changing, even if the twins' father is resisting it.

3 Hard Times
Not too bad actually, a couple of hundred pages. Not too many annoying or unnecessary characters, I do have Nicholas Nickleby on standby - a tome of a book!

4. The Colour
Tremain takes us to New Zealand, far from Norfolk, where the main characters are from. Joseph has a dark secret, one that has forced him to leave his native East Anglia for the other side of the road. He buys land and builds a house on it for his mother, Lillian, and his wife, Harriet. His mother struggles to adapt to life in a house with few home comforts, and as winter sets in, the three will be sorely tested. Harriet has walked into marriage with her eyes open, wanting to escape her life as a governess, she yearns for something new, but is frustrated by her husband's lack of openness. When Joseph finds gold in the creek near the house, he becomes infused with gold fever, adding yet more pressure on the recently arrived immigrants. I really got drawn in by this book, the writing is very good, the scene is well set and I liked the shift in focus between sections.

5. A Question of Upbringing
Book 1 in Dance to the Music of Time (12 books, but I will be counting each volume as I read it as they were published separately).
This, the first book, covers the last years at public school, a summer spent in France before heading to university. I read volume 4 a few years ago, so I knew I'd like the writing style - observational and witty. The book covers a period of time when people change so much, friendships that are so important at school start to dissolve as those involve diverge on their different paths in life. I intend to read more parts this year.

90soffitta1
Feb 24, 2013, 10:53 am

6. Gravity's Rainbow

7. What a carve up!

8. The Sea

9. Hideous Kinky

10. They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

11. Jude the Obscure

12. A Maggot
The book is very much in a similar style to A French Lieutenant's Woman, with the writer giving us detailed background information and the social context of the book, as well as adding his two pence. With each section, the rug is pulled out from under your feet, with new testimonies contradicting what you had previously been told. I found it interesting, it was easier to read than The Magus as there were clear divisions, but I would recommend setting aside chunks of time to get into it. I'm not surprised that it was cut from the 1001 list, I think that The Collector and The French Lieutenant's Woman are better books, but worth a read.

91soffitta1
Apr 26, 2013, 9:01 am

13. A Hero of our time
It is a shame that this author died so young with such promise.

14. New York Trilogy

15. A Confederacy of Dunces

16. I know why the caged bird sings

17. The Corrections Loved it!!

18. Junky

92soffitta1
Apr 26, 2013, 9:03 am

19. Seize the Day I liked the style, following a character closely over a short period of time, getting inside their head to see their thinking. I'd definitely look for more of his work, as a reader you can be more objective than the characters.

20. A Buyer's Market

21. Jazz
Read in a rather disjointed way over a busy Easter period, but think that this might be my favourite Toni Morrison yet!

22. The Acceptance World

23. 1Q84
I can't believe that such a big book went so quickly! I really enjoyed this.

93soffitta1
Apr 29, 2013, 4:01 am

24. Freedom
My second Jonathan Franzen this year, one that my brother gave me. Another big book that didn't take long to read (600 pages), a real family saga, fighting for individuality and wondering if common ground can ever be found. With the families also being split along ideological grounds, seeing domestic and global politics twist and turn with the plot was also interesting for me. Recommended.

25. Caleb Williams
A servant with an exemplary master discovers a secret that leads them both into a ever more desperate situation, where only one outcome seems possible - the ruination of one or the other.
A 1001 book, and I can see why. At times, it seemed a bit much, but too contrived, but reading the notes and appendices (which included notes written by the author) you could see what he was striving to achieve. Certainly the criticism of the society of the time and its justice system warrants reading it in itself, especially the passages in the prison.

94katrinasreads
May 3, 2013, 2:23 am

I loved Caleb Williams, I read this at university and we looked at him, his wife, the feminist Mary Wollsencroft and his daughter Mary Shelley. A book I always mean to re-read but never get around to.

95soffitta1
May 6, 2013, 3:38 am

There's a lot in it, I was really happy to have the notes at the back. Definitely worth a read.

96soffitta1
Edited: Aug 3, 2013, 7:01 am

26. Waterland
Set in the Fens, the characters are as much tied to the land, the titular Waterland. Like the water in its springy earth, the Fens seem to move, retract and then burst their banks as the try to get back to their previous untamed state.
The book has 3 threads. The first is that of a history teacher, Crick, being given his marching orders, partly for his unorthodox teaching methods and partly because of an incident in his personal life. In his classes, he tells the students about the other two threads - the history of his family in the Fens and the death of a childhood friend, both of which have contributed to the current state of events.
Highly recommended.

27. Casanova's Chinese Restaurant

28. Fathers and Sons
A very interesting read, luckily in my bag as I waited in the hospital for a check-up - 2 hours late!

29. The Bell
I really like Iris Murdoch - such layers to her work.

20. The Drowned World
Picked up at a hostel book exchange - one I'd been looking for. Thought-provoking Sci-fi.

31. Nicholas Nickleby
Finally finished this, I have had a busy month and Dickens is too easy for me to put down. OK, but I'm not really a fan.

97soffitta1
Edited: Aug 3, 2013, 7:00 am

32. Facundo
Very interesting, a bloodthirsty biography.

33. The Black Dahlia
To read on the plane, very gripping.

34. The Marriage Plot
Just great, despite my copy being the heavy, hard back edition, I flew through it.

35. Timbuktu
A quick read for the train. A dog's point of view.

36. Solaris
Interesting, a bit out of my comfort zone with the detailed science parts, but when I put it down, I did spend time mulling it over.

98soffitta1
Aug 3, 2013, 6:59 am

37. She
I read King Solomon's Mines a couple of years ago and wanted to see how this would measure up. A very strange book, very mystical.

38. Summer in Baden Baden
A 1001 gem, so much going on. Mixed narratives, making you really concentrate, but also the author's feelings towards Dostojevsky where also explored.

39. Baltasar and Blimunda
Loved it.
There is a lot going on - the building of a cathedral, a woman with second sight, a love story as well as comments on religion. I did like it, I read half of it a few years ago in Portuguese, but ran out of time. I found it slow going as there was a lot of specific building vocabulary. The writing style takes a bit of getting used to, as he skips between narrators and direct speech with a lack of punctuation.
I just regret not making it to Mafra when I lived in Portugal, but I hope to go back to do this.

40. The Royal Game
I really liked this novella: the writing style, the depth of character and the stories themselves.

41. The Man of Property
Book 1 of The Forsyte Saga, I thought I'd get a head start for the readalong. I have 7 of the 10 books that make up The Forsyte Chronicles, given to me by Mum. I enjoyed this a lot, a slice of English life of the time. Luckily there is a family tree to make sense of the clan.

99soffitta1
Aug 3, 2013, 7:08 am

Lots of readalongs this year, which has been a good way of reading books I've had for a while as well as getting hold of some chunksters. Obviously my number is inflated because I am reading a few books that count as only 1 on the list - A Dance to the Music of Time and The Forsyte Saga - but as I count them individually for my 13 in 13 Challenge, I will do so here.

Recently I have read some crackers - Waterland, Baltasar and Blimunda, Summer in Baden Baden, to name but a few - but I have also reaffirmed that I am not really a Dickens fan.

Currently reading In Chancery, book 2 in The Forsyte Saga. Waiting for Titus Groan to arrive so I can read that trilogy. I still have about 30 books on my shelves TBR, but as I start a PGCE in September, I am sure that I will not get through many.

100soffitta1
Jan 3, 2014, 5:13 pm

42. In Chancery
43. To Let

44. The Sense of an Ending
Fantastic - this is a new addition to the 1001 Books list, and I can see why. The narrator tells his story, his own personal history, but one that is revised from his memory and retelling of it when new information comes to light.

45. Titus Groan
Took me a while to get into this as I have been quite busy. Once I got going, it was actually a quick read.
I enjoyed it.

46. Gormenghast
This, on the other hand, left me cold at times. There were similarities with Dickens - frustrating plot asides, names that, once a character started to annoy me, began to grate, and leaving too much unnecessary description when I wanted to get back to Steerpike and his taking over the world. Could be a case of wrong book, wrong time, but I found I was more interested in book 1.

47. The Female Quixote
Very entertaining satire, Arabella who has been brought up on a diet of Romances, thinks all men are in love with her and lives her life according to the chivalry code.
**1001-Library book

48. The kindly ones
I hadn't fancied this, but then picked it up yesterday and it was like meeting up with an old friend. Now WW2 is coming, more changes to come.

101soffitta1
Jan 3, 2014, 5:20 pm

49. The Valley of Bones
Book 7 in A Dance to the Music of Time

50. The summer book

51. Animal's People

52. La Regenta

53. The Soldier's Art
The war becomes more real in this, the 8th book in A Dance to the Music of Time.

54. The Military Philosophers
Vol. 9 and there is more about the secret service side of WW2 and the foreign allies.

55. Books do furnish a room
Book 10 in A Dance to the Music of Time
Back amongst friends, a few new characters, but also some of the old ones popping up. The nostalgia is certainly growing, especially with a chance meeting with the old school master.

56. Thursbitch

102soffitta1
Jan 3, 2014, 5:25 pm

Well, not as many as I thought I would have read, but I did read some of the ones I had had for a while.

I am hoping to read at least 33, as that is what I have TBR.

I am at 454 read so far.

103soffitta1
Jan 4, 2014, 4:44 am

1. The Good Soldier
Slow burner, but then I really got into it. I liked the way Ford revealed information slowly, with each new piece changing the way you saw the characters.

104soffitta1
Edited: Jan 18, 2014, 4:15 am

2. Eugene Onegin
I saw the film adaptation a couple of years ago, so had a rough idea of the plot as I read this. I was most impressed by how the translator had managed to keep the book in verse form. An interesting book, a lot happening despite it being quite a quick read.

3. Vernon God Little
Had this on the shelf for ages, thought it was really good. I fairly raced through it, caught up in the story of a teenager wanted for a school shooting. It is a very dark comedy, but with well-aimed barbs at a media-driven world. Recommended.

4. I finished Myra Breckinridge by Gore Vidal - like reading with the fast forward button on!

5. Don Quixote
Been reading this since September. When I was in the mood, I read a lot, but when I was tired, I found it a little bit annoying. All in my mood, it has very funny moments, but sometimes they boil over into farce. I am glad to have finally read the book - I read the first volume almost 10 years ago, so it is satisfying to be done with it. Don Quijote and Sancho are great characters and their adventures rather fantastical.

105soffitta1
Feb 10, 2014, 5:20 pm

6. The Heat of the Day
A short book, but with a lot going on, recommended.

7. Rameau's Nephew
Another quick read, philosophical. That's the thing I like about this list, I have read books I would never have considered before.

8. Far from the Madding Crowd

106soffitta1
May 25, 2014, 7:08 am

9. Thank you, Jeeves
My first Wodehouse, it was rather fun, except for the episode which involved him blacking up as a minstrel, which was incredibly uncomfortable.

10. Rabbit, Run
Unhappy at home and not where he thought he might have been after being a promising basketball player, Rabbit walks out on his drunk pregnant wife. The book follows the next few months in his life.
A slow start, then I found the tale rather gripping, though a bit like watching a train crash happening in front of your eyes.

11. Rabbit Redux
Second book of 4, ten years after last one. Rabbit's life is no better, he seems to be ill at ease with the swinging sixties, but he can't escape it.
Once again tough going at times, but I am definitely up for reading the next book.

12. Rabbit is Rich
Volume 3, 1979 and Rabbit is doing well. His son arrives back from college with Melanie, not Pru, the girlfriend they had heard about. Sex is a big part if this book, as with the others. Rabbit's own attitudes come jnto conflict with his son's, and the tangled web of present and past lovers grows more complicated. I enjoyed the sections with other character's points of view, giving a more rounded picture of Rabbit's world.

13. The Monk
Rather too gothic for me, but interesting to read such a highly referenced work.

14. The Hunch Back of Notre Dame

107soffitta1
May 25, 2014, 7:10 am

15. Labyrinths
I've been reading this book all month, you have to be concentrating! A mix of fiction, essays and parables.
One I will definitely return to and read again, so many layers.

16. There but for the
Really enjoyed this one.

17. Temporary Kings
The eleventh book in A Dance to the Music of Time, old friends are back, with a focus on Widmerpool and his wife Pamela. Part of the action takes place in Italy,a literary conference. Once again, the ever more entangled web of characters is drawn closer, though as the characters age, so what once brought them together is no longer enough to keep these bonds tight. Nostalgia is a big theme, indeed one character (Moreland) jokes about dying from it. I have been pottering with these books for a year now, and I look forward to getting stuck into book 12.

18. Mr. Norris Changes Trains

19. Hearing Secret Harmonies

20. Austerlitz
It is strange when the last book you read links to the one you are reading. Both deal with Jewish people who made it to the UK in WW2, this book is about a man who finds out he was part of the Kindertransport.

I really got caught up by this book.

108soffitta1
May 25, 2014, 7:15 am

21. Santa Evita
An excellent read - starting around the cult that surrounds Evita and the strange story of her embalmed body.

22. The Country Girls
First in the trilogy, a young girl growing up in Ireland, a time of innocence, yet sexual and romantic desire are very much there.

23. Girl with Green Eyes

24. Storm of Steel
Excellent WW1 account.

25. Silas Marner
A quick read in the end, from tragedy there can be a happy ending.

I hope to get back here to fill in with some sort of review, but this year has been crazy with my teaching course - it has taken over my life! Except, I have made a rule to take time out every day for reading. I head to a cafe on my way home, get myself a coffee (and too often something sweet as well!) and read books that have nothing to do with school or my current assignment. It keeps me sane and, once again, the list has given me a great range of books to escape into.

109puckers
May 25, 2014, 7:19 am

Life's too short - enjoy all the sweets you can!

110soffitta1
May 25, 2014, 8:18 am

Currently loving the local cafe's millionaire shortbread - a fab combination of shortbread, caramel and chocolate!

111Yells
May 26, 2014, 12:13 pm

Discovered millionaire's shortbread years ago in Scotland and now make it all the time. How awesome is that combo?

112soffitta1
May 26, 2014, 4:36 pm

It is pure dead brilliant! I keep confusing people in England by calling it that as down here it is Caramel Shortbread.

113soffitta1
Dec 28, 2014, 6:25 am

26. Absalom, Absalom!
Great book, you need to concentrate, but the style draws you in as you read about the turgid history of Mr. Sutpen.

27. and 28. Quicksand and Passing
Two fantastic books, difficult subject matter, very thought-provoking.

29. A Prayer for Owen Meany
Fantastic book, I had left it on the shelf for too long because of its size. Strange, engaging, hard to know what to make of it at times, but I did find it page-turning.

30. Of Human Bondage
I think it is mood-affected, if you can't symphathise with Philip when you start, leave the book for another day. I felt I was with him, feeling his rejections and successes.

114soffitta1
Dec 28, 2014, 6:27 am

31. Bel-Ami
A slow-burner. At the start, I wasn't sure what to make of this, but this is a well-crafted story of Georges Duroy and his path upwards in society. Georges is certainly not a hero, but he is certainly smart. I read on with the hope that he would finally get his comeuppance, either at work or in his tangled love life. I have another of his books on my shelf and will definitely bump it up the list.

32. Under the Volcano
Wow - dense. 24 hours in one book, the downfall of a British former consul in Mexico. Good read, but enjoyable is not the right word.

33. La Bête humaine
Gripping, yet utterly dreadful in the sense of the storyline. The novel is tied up with the railway line, with many characters working for it in some way, and it is the this relentless metal beast that seems to drive the plot on towards the impending doom. Lust, in its many guises - sexual, blood, greed - both pulls the characters together and drives them apart. Didn't want to put the book down, even though it was horrifying at times.

34. Mary Barton
Just haven't had much reading time, but this was worth the wait. Good story and social commentary.

35. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller
Don't you just love it when you read two pages of a book and you know it is going to be a winner! A reader gets the new copy of Calvino's new book only to discover that there has been a problem with the printing. Calvino has books within books, theories of reading and readers, a great read.

115soffitta1
Dec 28, 2014, 6:31 am

36. Nausea
A rather depressing book looking at the human condition. Compelling reading, actually the better word is heady, as you follow the narrator deconstructing his life.

37. The Lonely Londoners
Post-war West Indian immigrants to the UK do not find the dream life they had hoped for. Trying to make ends meet, while dealing with prejudice and homesickness. Good read.

38. The Book of Illusions
Loved it! A great book, one that sucked me in from page 1. A grieving husband and father finds meaning through a book based on a dead actor, but is surprised by a letter claiming that the man is still alive.

39. Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Great fun, isn't it funny how the TV / film adaptations have all added in the same extra elements.

40. The History of Tom Jones
Quite a tome, my engagement ebbed and flowed though that could be more to do with work than anything else.

116soffitta1
Dec 28, 2014, 6:33 am

41. All Souls' Day
Great book.

42. The Cider House Rules
I really enjoy reading Irvine's work.

43. Doctor Zhivago
Sweeping drama, rather different at times to the film I remember.

44. The Return of the Soldier
So poignant.

45. Paradise of the blind
Read for the group readalong here, not sure what I thought, good in places, strange and estranging in others.

117soffitta1
Dec 28, 2014, 6:37 am

46. The Name of the Rose
So much going on, a master of a book.

47. Walden
Interesting enough, but maybe didn't grab me as I came to it cold.

48. Shirley
I rather enjoyed this readalong.

49. Notes from the Underground
Mainly read on the Underground! I think I'll have to come back to it another day as there seemed to be more happening than at first apparent.

50. Testament of Youth
An excellent book, a really personal look at the First World War and what happened next from the author who had family and friends in the war and also became a nurse.

118soffitta1
Dec 28, 2014, 6:41 am

51. A Modest Proposal
A short book, but well done! A great piece of satire.

52. The Godfather
Saw this in a charity shop, I have seen all the films, but this was rather different at times. Very page-turning.

53. Goodbye to Berlin
A series of short stories from which Cabaret was taken. Very enjoyable.

54. A Woman's life
A rather sad look at the life of a wife and mother.

55. Threepenny Novel
Brecht's novel based on the opera set in the underbelly of London life. At times darkly comic, but ultimately tragic.

119soffitta1
Dec 28, 2014, 6:50 am

56. The Master of Ballantrae
A tale of fraternal conflict and betrayal.

57. Therese Raquin
The downward spiral of Therese, rather dark, but compelling.

58. Oliver Twist
Much more here than in the film/stage versions.

59. Home
A family homecoming.

60. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

120soffitta1
Dec 28, 2014, 6:51 am

I have read 60 this year, reaching my milestone of 501 books read! I plan on doing the same next year. I have noticed that I am having to get more via Kindle as there are few paperback copies of some of the books.

121paruline
Dec 28, 2014, 7:08 am

Wow! 501 is great!

122annamorphic
Dec 28, 2014, 11:11 am

Congratulations on passing 500 -- well done!

123soffitta1
Dec 28, 2014, 11:30 am

Thank you! I am pleased that I am still enjoying this challenge, getting to know classics as well as great new authors.

124ELiz_M
Dec 28, 2014, 1:37 pm

Congrats on a milestone number! I love your one-sentence reviews -- I try to do that, thinking it'll be quicker, and generally end up with long, rambling paragraphs....

I'm sorry that this was such a long letter, but I didn't have time to write you a short one. -Blaine Pascal

125soffitta1
Dec 28, 2014, 4:02 pm

I wish I had time to write longer reviews, but at least this way I have something written down!

126Simone2
Dec 29, 2014, 1:39 am

Congratulations Soffitta, for having crossed this important point!

127Yells
Dec 29, 2014, 11:27 am

Congrats! that is a nice milestone number to close the year :)

128soffitta1
Sep 26, 2015, 4:32 am

2015 log coming up! I am planning on reading 60 again. So starting at 502.

129soffitta1
Sep 26, 2015, 4:35 am

January

1. Quartet
I really enjoyed Wide Sargasso Sea, so had been keeping an eye out for more of her work. This is a really short book, but with a lot packed in. A show girl is left to fend for herself in Paris when her Polish husband is arrested. She falls under the influence of a manipulative couple. This really draws you in.

2. The Bonfire of the Vanities
Well, I wonder if this is a book best enjoyed by people who are more familiar with the setting, both in space and time. I wasn't that taken by it, felt it was rather overdone.

3. Tess of the D'Urbervilles
I have seen the TV adaptation, but really enjoyed this. Funny to think that I am a late comer to Hardy. The dilemmas and the characters were well-written.

4. Sula
A readalong with the 1001 group. Left me wanting more, more about the main female characters, but a good read nonetheless.

5. A tale of a tub
A short 1001 book, you need to be paying attention for this one!

130soffitta1
Sep 26, 2015, 4:40 am

February

6. The Blithedale Romance
Didn't really grab me, to be honest.

7. The Invisible Man
I agree with another reviewer that it was the depiction of British village life more than the story that got to me, still it is interesting to read the original work that has spawned so many films, TV shows and similar books.

8. Quo Vadis
I am sure I have seen bits of the film(s). I am an atheist, so occasionally I found the overt Christian message too much, but I cannot fault the detail of the book - I felt like I was with them watching the "spectacle" in the arena. Fascinating.

9. Zeno's Conscience
A 1001 book I picked up in a charity shop, Zeno's musings on his life that he is asked to write as he tries again to give up smoking.

10. The Island of Doctor Moreau
What a strange book! Not the best I have read, but certainly a pioneer in the genre.

131soffitta1
Sep 26, 2015, 4:42 am

March

11. The Crime of Padre Amaro
I saw the excellent Mexican film of this a while back, so was interested to see how the novel compared. I have been to Leiria, the setting of the book, and am not surprised at the citizens being angry at their portrayal in the book. Petty squabbles, hypocrisy and the church being held up for scrutiny - this makes for a thought-provoking book, one which manages to keep the reader engaged as the plot spirals downwards.

12. The Dictionary of the Khazars
So strange, but I loved the premise, a cross-referencing set of books, so you the story of a nation was built up piecemeal.

13. The House of Mirth
A worth book on the 1001 list, a woman not content to play social ball.

14. Moby Dick
Not what I expected at all, this is the story of Captain Ahab and his whale, but there is more - details about whales and whaling, regional colour and a raft of interesting characters.

15. The Fox
A short 1001 book, a fox disturbs a coop of chickens, having much the same effect as a soldier on the two women running the farm.

132soffitta1
Sep 26, 2015, 4:44 am

April

16. Drop City

17. Tono Bungay

18. The Voyage Out
An interesting range of characters, with a couple of familiar ones.

19. The Tale of Genji
A book to read in chunks, a really interesting look at Japanese life many centuries.

20. The Garden Party
A collection of short stories, a couple were rather poignant.

133soffitta1
Sep 26, 2015, 4:47 am

May

21. The Nose
A strange little book from the 1001 list in which a nose becomes more famous than the man who had it.

22. The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
This was the 1001 book readalong. I loved it, it made me really miss Portugal. The style of Saramago's writing can be off putting for readers that are new to his work, but I love the way you feel like you are right next to people talking.

23. Castle Richmond
Love, land and money in this tale set in Ireland, it was alright, but I am not sure that it needed to be on the 1001 list.

24. Master of Petersburg
Coetzee has such a diverse ouevre, this time his book is set in Russia, around the life of Dostoevsky. Quick read, though, as with many of his books, not always easy to read.

25. The Nun
A young girl is given to a convent, where she is treated abominably. Compelling writing and also an insight into the life of women at the time.

134soffitta1
Sep 26, 2015, 4:50 am

June

26. Independent People
A hard read about a hard life, what made it tough at times was the main character and my lack of sympathy towards him. I am glad I read it, but wouldn't hurry to do so again.

27. Dangling Man
I don't really know where to start with this one, I thought it was a good book, but I am not sure if I can say why I liked it!

28. Cain
My second Saramago of the year! I had an urge to splurge on the last of my book voucher and I have had my eye on this for a long time. This is the story of Cain after his expulsion, not just a single episode, but with him at key events in the bible.

29. and 30. Two Woolf books to round off the reading, The Waves was a stream of consciousness, following the lives of a group of friends. You have to pay attention, but I can see why this ground-breaking novel was added to the 1001 list. Night and Day was a rather different affair, lighter initially in tone, but there was more to this love story, if you were willing to look for it.

135soffitta1
Sep 26, 2015, 4:52 am

July

31. Gargantua and Pantagruel
Hmmm, a 1001 book, elements were good, others were puerile.

32. The Bluest Eye
So sad, but written in Morrison's great style. The copy I have has a forward from the author which reiterates the book's relevance today as much as when it was written.

33. Group Portrait with Lady
A look at modern German history through the life of a woman. Very interesting, lots going on, room for speculation and thought.

34. Platero y Yo
I have read this book before, but picked up my own copy when on holiday. I reread it with a view to adapting it for my students. Such a beautiful book, a snap shot of a bygone era.

35. Michael Kohlhaas
A man is done wrong and seeks revenge, a quick 1001 read.

136soffitta1
Sep 26, 2015, 4:55 am

August

36. Platform
My first from the controversial French writer. I am not sure what to say about this book, it is always hard to enjoy a book in which the main character is not that likeable. Houellebecq also brings together controversial themes, in this case prostitution and sexual tourism, touching on religion as well. Is it better to have a book that raises red flags AND discussions, or to close our eyes to actual issues?

37. The Autumn of the Patriarch
A descent into death, the last days of a dictator's life. This is not an easy read as you get pulled into the dark world of the dictator. Worth the read.

38. The Black Prince
I do so enjoy Iris Murdoch's work. Every time you think you know where you stand, more information comes in.

39. La Muerte de Artemio Cruz
A strange book, but one that needs close reading as the titular character's life follows that of his country's. I liked the idea of it, well-written, but one I will need to read again (with a history reference book at my side).

40. Hallucinating Foucault
A student is dumped and ends up finding the elusive writer he has studied. Boundaries are crossed and lives are changed. I picked up the book after recognising the title from the 1001 book list, not disappointed.

41. Jack Maggs
A returned convict in London is in the right place for a job, it is a hard life, especially for lower class servants. I was quickly caught up in this.

137soffitta1
Jan 14, 2016, 8:44 am

September

42. El gaucho Martín Fierro
The epic Argentine tale, took a bit of getting used to the Spanish as it is written as the character spoke.

43. The Secret Agent
Not a great example of the genre, but important as one of the first of it. At times convoluted, but entertaining.

44. Phineas Finn
An Irish saga, I read this after a couple of false starts, there were passages that grabbed me more than others. I think that modern writing has pared down stories, making me impatient at times with classics that meander. A good enough commute read.

45. Moon Palace
Stories within stories, changing identities and the search for the self, I raced through this. Thoroughly enjoyed.

46. Atomised
Ugh. I have read this book, I never want to see it again, let alone reread it. Depravity with no higher purpose, despite what the pompous author may think.

47. The Ambassadors
I have enjoyed many of his works, but there was something off here, I just wasn't grabbed by the book.

Looking back - was it the books or was I having an off month of reading?!

138soffitta1
Jan 14, 2016, 8:50 am

October

48. Henry Von Ofterdingen
A book I had heard much of, it is an important German work. There is a lot to glean from the text and I can see the resonance of the ideas in the text even today.

49. The Passion
An enthralling read, rather different from previous books I had read by the author. I liked the magical touches and the dual story line, also a Venetian backdrop rarely fails to disappoint. I was reminded of Orlando.

50. Tender is the Night
I can't get on board with this author, I disliked The Great Gatsby, and this was no better. I just couldn't find it in me to care about the characters.

51. The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle
Funny at times, though some sections were rather dull, they didn't fit together well at times.

52. Pamela
A twist on the fallen woman tale, well-written and I look forward to reading more of his work.

139soffitta1
Edited: Jan 14, 2016, 9:10 am

November

53. In the heart of the country
Not a book for the fainthearted, a downward spiral set in South Africa.

54. Dusklands
A tale of two very different halves. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of modern and past struggles.

55. Waiting for the Barbarians
History is written and whitewashed by the victors, but here is the darker, usually forgotten, side.

56. The Princess of Cleves
Entertaining courtly tale.

57. Troubling Love
A new author to me, and one I will return to. Such sadness, but told with great tenderness.

58. The Radiant Way
Many books look at the lives of the latest bright young things, this is what happens next. Success, failure, age, broken relationships and deaths have marked them. A good read.

59. The History of Rasselas
A quick read, more than what meets the eyes.

60. The Book of Daniel
The life of the unforeseen victim, the son of supposed Communist traitors. There is anger, pain, distrust that spill into the young man's life. Compelling.

140soffitta1
Jan 14, 2016, 9:10 am

December

61. The House of Ulloa
A book set in Galicia, of the corrupting influence of power. It reminded me of The Crime of Padre Amaro.

62. Parade's End
I went through the full gamete of emotions reading this, from sympathy to rage, from frustration to peace.
Set around WW1, the exterior battles are matched by the war between the protagonist and his wife. An obsessive love, one that is almost hellbent on destroying the object of its love.

63. Herzog
I do so enjoy Bellow's work, a series of rundown men, not quite out yet.

141soffitta1
Jan 14, 2016, 9:11 am

My goals for 2016:
Read 600 books read from the list.
I'd like to read 52 books again this year, it is getting harder though.

142Simone2
Jan 14, 2016, 10:29 am

Good to have a lot of new reviews from you. They are short, to the point and nice to read!

143soffitta1
Jan 14, 2016, 4:43 pm

I'd love to write longer ones, but never get round to it!

144soffitta1
Edited: Jun 21, 2016, 12:24 pm

January

1. Steppenwolf
A key student text, I had put this off for a while. There are interesting themes, but ultimately the main character is rather annoying!

2. Nana
The life and times of a Parisian courtesan, Nana is child-like in her manipulation of lovers and there are more than enough willing to fulfil her every whim.

3. Black Water
Based on the true story of Ted Kennedy and a young woman in a crash. A drunk senator drives a young woman to the boat, but ends up crashing into the water. Oates goes through her last moves and thoughts. A great book, it made me angry to think of how many important men are held less accountable for their actions, even fifty years later.

4. Flaubert's Parrot
A short read based around the life and work of Flaubert.

5. The Home and the World
Life in India in the 20th Century, the clash between the domestic and outside worlds.

145soffitta1
Jun 21, 2016, 12:27 pm

February:

6. Money
Not really my cup of tea, a rather annoying protagonist.

7. Less than zero
Hard for me to relate to this coming of age novel. Maybe I am too old! I just wanted to drag them into the real world.

8. The Untouchable
A slow burner about the world of espionage, take your time to get the most out of it.

9. Life & Death of Harriet Frean
A rather melancholy tale of a woman's life with the reflections of the path not taken.

146soffitta1
Jun 21, 2016, 12:32 pm

March:

10. Germinal
Still reading Zola's work, well-written slice of the margins of society.

11. El principito
A reread of the classic in Spanish. I love this book - the ideas, the simplicity of language and, of course, the amazing drawings.

12. Broken April
A book that left me thinking for days. Honour killings and blood debts are a way of life, and we follow a young man who is has to kill or dishonour his family. One of the best writers I have discovered through this list.

147soffitta1
Jun 21, 2016, 12:34 pm

May:

13. The Savage Detectives
Set in Mexico and following the lives of young poets and thinkers. It is hard to categorise this book, you certainly need your wits with you to keep all the storylines in your head.

148soffitta1
Jun 21, 2016, 12:37 pm

June:
14. The Memoirs of Hadrian
I knew nothing of this book, but found the work very interesting, the inner workings of the mind of a ruler.

15. The Story of the Eye
Sex and death are closely linked in this short book, part of the surreal movement.

149soffitta1
Jun 21, 2016, 12:38 pm

I haven't been reading as many books this year, and certainly not the number of 1001 I usually do. I have found it harder to source the books in the local bookshops and charity shops and have been reading more on my kindle.

150M1nks
Jun 21, 2016, 3:28 pm

I do that too - fortunately I have access to a lot of libraries and can get many of the books either on audio or e-book.

151soffitta1
Jan 29, 2017, 7:19 am

I will fill in the rest of 2016's reads soon.
Plan to try for 50 this year or at least make it to 650 read.

152soffitta1
Mar 4, 2017, 8:19 am

June:
16. L'Assommoir
Hard times in France, but does this really stand out from the other Zola books on the list?

17. Miss Pettigrew lives for a day
A rather fun book, the titular character is drawn into a very different world and is much changed by it. I enjoyed this a lot.

July:
18. The Blindness of the Heart
Not any easy book to read, you need to give it your full concentration. I have never really read anything like it. The book follows a woman, a German with a Jewish mother, from WW1 to WW2. Recommended.

19. A Gate at the Stairs
There are some books that you just connect with, and this was one of them. Complicated relationships and well drawn out characters, this was a book I couldn't put down.

153soffitta1
Mar 4, 2017, 8:28 am

August:
20. -22. 3 books by Kafka: Amerika, The Castle and The Trial
I am still blown away by the writing, so much going on, so many things to ponder and interpret.

September:
23. Billy Budd, Sailor
I was surprised by how much I liked Moby Dick, so snapped this up. I did enjoy it (and the other stories in the collection), but Moby Dick is in a different class.

24. Buddenbrooks
The downward progress of a family. Fascinating book, I had read bits before in German class, but its full form is much more absorbing.

25. Christ stopped at Eboli
A lucky charity shop find. Knowing nothing about the book was a benefit, I came to it with an open mind. I found it interesting and a worthy addition to the list.

26. The Nice and the Good
Another charity shop purchase. I am a fan of Iris Murdoch, one of the writers I truly discovered from this list, and while I found the pages turn quickly enough, I don't think it grabbed me as much as some of her other works, such as The Sea, the Sea.

27. The Plumed Serpent
I have been wanting to read this ever since I read his diary of the same period. Very different from his work set in Europe, the vibrancy of Mexico and life there is well portrayed. Recommended.

154Simone2
Mar 4, 2017, 12:23 pm

You read some good ones, according to your update.

Regarding The Nice and the Good and regarding Murdoch I felt the same. And then came The Black Prince and I thought that even better than The Sea, The Sea.

I also liked A Gate at the Stairs a lot, despite the many mixed reviews here on LT.

155soffitta1
Mar 4, 2017, 4:56 pm

The Black Prince is a great book. I think one drawback of the list, though it has got better with later editions, is that there are a number of authors that are over-represented.

October:
28. Manhattan Transfer
I was pleased to pick this one up, the writing style was rather unusual and I found it an absorbing read.

29. Memento Mori
From the blurb, I wasn't sure how this would play out, but I found the book to be rather fun. A look at the third age, I'd recommend it.

30. The Human Stain
This is one of those books that you wonder how you can enjoy when you find it hard to like the characters in it. It is a multi-faceted book and it will make you think. I am glad I read it, though I was relieved to finish it.

31. Nemesis
Very different from The Human Stain, this was much more compelling. Polio hits New York hard and as communities blame each other, it seems no one is safe. Recommended.

32. Decline and Fall
As with my comment above, this was a Waugh book that didn't quite do it for me. There were parts that were entertaining, but really it didn't live up to other books that I have liked from the author, such as Brideshead Revisited or A Handful of Dust.

33. Pierre and Jean
A rather simple book, but the characters were well drawn.

34. Old Goriot
I thought this was a good read, the bleeding dry of the main character is sharply told.

156soffitta1
Mar 4, 2017, 5:09 pm

November:

35. Mr. Vertigo
Hard to review this (or should I say mini review this!), I love the fact that Auster's books are so varied. This was rather out there, an usual variety act story. Something different off the list, I did enjoy it.

36. Almost transparent blue
I also think there are a number of books on the list purely for shock value, this is one of them. I did not enjoy it, not sure what I can really write about it. Would I check out more by the author? To be honest, I am not sure.

37. Exercises in Style
Such fun, I love language and this was a great example of its manipulation. It won't take you long to read and I reckon I would read it again. The same story is told and retold using different writing styles.

38. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Man on road trip. While it may have been revolutionary for its time, as a female reader in the 21st Century, I wasn't that impressed.

39. Song of Solomon
I was pleased to get a copy of this, I have really rated the other books I have read by Morrison. This one didn't disappoint. Lots of themes to contemplate and another book I will come back to so I can get more out it.

40. Cancer Ward
A harsh slice of life behind the Iron Curtain in a ward for ill patients. The patients come from all over the Union, so it could be seen as a microcosm of the USSR as a whole. It gave me an insight into the medical practices of the time, but also into how the different peoples in the USSR saw and dealt with each other. Recommended.

157soffitta1
Mar 4, 2017, 5:18 pm

December:
41. The Glimpses of the Moon
Enjoyable enough read, but I can't say it stood up to the standards of The House of Mirth or The Age of Innocence. I have read that it is connected to books like The Great Gatsby, a book I didn't really enjoy, so that could have been another reason why I didn't get on with it as well as the previous books I had read.

42. Good Morning, Midnight
Jean Rhys's books are short, but they make a great impression. It felt, at times, like an updated Bronte book. A sad book, but worth a read.

43. Delta of Venus
There is a wide range of erotica here, some rather mild for a 21st Century reader, but others quite tough to read. I did find the collection interesting, especially in light of the time in which Nin was writing. This is a seminal work and I am pleased to have read it.

44. Jacob's Room
I am not sure how I feel about this, the style was intriguing, but there is not much of a story to grip onto. I think a second reading would be beneficial.

45. Ben Hur
Much of the book was familiar from the Charlton Heston epic, but there was a lot of historical detail and commentary in the book as well. It was a long read, but definitely worth it.
This topic was continued by Soffitta1's 1001 Books- Lifetime of Reading part 2.