What are you reading from the 1001 list in DECEMBER?

Just passing, thought I'd drop in . . .

Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen) and Villette (Charlotte Bronte) on iPod.

Dusklands, In the Heart of the Country and Disgrace all by J.M. Coetzee. That should just about finish his books on the list for me.

Gravity's Rainbow! It is apparently the never ending novel.

It is apparently the never ending novel.

(snicker!) . . . that one's on my "Books I don't think I'll bother to read before I die" list.

I'm still working on Dr. Zhivago

Still working on Swann's Way and trying to finish up a bunch of books not on the list. Went on a 2600 mile road trip last week, so I lost quite a bit of time. Darn that motion sickness that limits where I can read!

I'm back to reading Passing and The House of the Spirits

I have just started Les Mis for a group read, am working through Middlemarch which is pretty good so far, and am half way through The Club Dumas.

I'm reading from The Thousand and One Nights, reading a letter or two a day from Clarissa, and have just started A Tale of a Tub.

Just checking in.........

It took me until the first day of December, but I have finally vanquished Howards End. I don't think I'll be reading anymore Forster for a very, very long time.

Thinking of joining Nickelini and plowing through Northanger Abbey this month. Figure I've got to read Austen at some point, right?

dczapka - are you saying that you're an Austen virgin? How thrilling. Not sure you should start with Northanger Abbey though--it's not her best work. Pride and Prejudice is of course the best known and most-widely loved. I personally am partial to Sense and Sensibility. I think Mansfield Park is her masterpiece, but it's difficult, and the protagonist is difficult to like. It's the longest and most complex, so probably not the best place to start. Persuasion certainly has it's fans, as does Emma, although I found Emma to be annoying--I wanted to shake her. Over and over again.

As for EM Forster, I guess that means we won't see you over at the Monthly Author Reads group this month? (if anyone else is reading Forster this month, come join us).

@#13: As much as I appreciate the offer, I think I've had about as much Forster as I can take. I've been at Howards End for over 15 months now--it has been quite a trial to me! I just don't think his style is compatible with my likes. But I have A Passage to India sitting on my shelf and I will get to that, and his other books on the 1001 list, eventually!

As for Austen, I've always been a bit reluctant. I only own Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park and since I have a lot of background in the Gothic, I felt the former was the better choice. I will concede that I'm reluctant, though. If you were me, which Austen would you select next?

Persuasion is my favorite Austen, and I think her best. It's the most mature, the most well developed I think. Pride and Prejudice is kind of juvenile, imho.

Good question! The only one I haven't read yet is Pride and Prejudice (although I've seen enough film versions and take offs on it that I can tell you the entire cast of characters, their relationships to each other and the storyline). I loved Mansfield Park, but I studied it at uni with a fabulous professor. I know a lot of people don't like that one. Personally I really like Sense and Sensibility. But if you're well-read in the Gothic, I'd say go ahead with Northanger Abbey. It's quite charming, but Austen was very young and sheltered when she wrote it, and I think it shows. If you know that going it, though, it shouldn't stop your enjoyment.

I liked Persuasion, and it certainly has a loyal following. It was supposed to be taught in the same class when we studied Mansfield Park (they even made me buy the book), but my prof thought it was so poorly written that he refused to teach it. Which is too bad, because I always get so much more out of a book that I study than one I read on my own. (I also disagreed with the same professor about Virginia Woolf--he hated her writing, I love it).

You can't go wrong with Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility. I am yet to read Mansfield Park myself! And Northanger Abbey is silly fun. Not her best, but amusing stuff.

Oh dear. Did I just recommend them all??

I'm still going slowly on London Orbital. Finding it immensely pretentious. I may still be going on it in January 2010 at this rate... (I am reading a lot of other books in the meantime! And this is a good one to dip in and out of.)

I'll be getting The Shipping News sometime this week .

I'm reading Jack Maggs by Peter Carey as one of my Dickensian reads for the 101010 challenge. Very enjoyable, with delicious characters, though maybe not quite as fabulous as Carey's Oscar and Lucinda.

I'm about to start Thomas of Reading by Thomas Deloney.

Somehow I lost The Wings of the Dove by Henry James from my ipod. I wasn't disappointed however and felt quite cheerful that I couldn't finish this book It felt like I had been listening to it forever but not taking it in, just like background noise. I was about two thirds through, can I count this as "read"?

I'm off to grab A Passage to India from my bookshelf to join the E M Forster Monthly Author read.

I'm about to start Christ Stopped at Eboli.

Just started A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

Finished Little Women which I found underwhelming. It ended abruptly with no real resolution. I guess I should read the sequel Good Wives but I just don't feel any real great desire to.

Now for New York Trilogy which will be my first Paul Auster.

I am reading The Shining at the moment, enjoying it, but waiting for the scariness to kick in :S

im reading Gravity's Rainbow

Everyone's different but I had to grit my teeth and hunker down to finish Northanger Abbey, and I am a huge Austen fan. Mansfield Park was my first Austen which I read as a teen, I would go for that one of the two you have dczapka. My favourites are P&P and Emma. I have yet to read Persuasion - maybe this Christmas?

I have just read How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom which has me eager to read some classics/literature again. So I started Brave New World yesterday.

I've been reading books that actually are not on the 1001 list. I thought John Dies at the End was really good, and now I've moved on to How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

Kim...didn't think much of it. I just couldn't get into it. The conversations seemed to me to be confusing. It was probably just me. Not everyone is meant to enjoy the same book and not every book is meant to enjoy the same reader. If that were the case, is it possible that there would eventually be only one book? Perish the thought.

Finished Northanger Abbey--and must admit that, for someone who held such a negative opinion about Jane Austen for so long, I was surprised how much I liked it.

Moving on to Cannery Row while I dabble in a bit more Proust as well.

Finished Northanger Abbey--and must admit that, for someone who held such a negative opinion about Jane Austen for so long, I was surprised how much I liked it.

Way to go, Dczapka! Which Austen is next then?

I just finished the second section of Les Miserables for the group read, I've got Three Musketeers going (love it!), and just started Dracula for something different (!) I'm thinking of joining in on the Anna Karenina group read that I've seen mentioned, but that won't be until next year (thank goodness!)

Karen

Just starting Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.

@#32, mighty good question! Because my TBR list is still over 40, and I'm still technically unemployed, I've put a moratorium on new book purchases for the time being. The only other Austen I own is Mansfield Park but I'm not sure if I want to go for that one quite yet.

I'm reading The Spy Who Came In From the Cold - fun, if incredibly out of date, spy thriller.

Finished Passing an interesting look at racial identity and a good straight forward read about a women living a lie and her friend's feeling towards it.

I'm going to be making a start on Therese Raquin by Emile Zola later on today. Looking forward to it as this is my first Zola novel and I've heard such good things about it.

#38, Teresa - I read Therese Raquin in the past year and really enjoyed it. I hope you do too.

I'm reading The Woman in White. So far it's remarkably fresh!

im reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles which is really good which shows that language doesn't have to be symbolic but can just be a way to pass through communication like Murakami's writing style

#33 Wow those are some hefty tomes for the winter months! Anna Karenina is excellent though.

I've just finished a non 1001, so back to Of Human Bondage. Sigh - I'm still just not sure about it.

Just finished Gulliver's Travels. It was alright. The first half of the book is the best, and then it begins to bog down. After a time, I felt like I was reading the same thing over and over.

Started Bonfire of the Vanities last night. Very good. Found it hard to put down. I don't like all of the swear words, however.

Finished New York Trilogy Three stories that were very interesting for the most part if then finally being frustratingly open ended and somewhat obtuse. Not sure what I think?

Now reading some non-1001 ie Irvine Welsh's Crime

Phew, finally finished Gravity's Rainbow this morning. That book has certainly been the biggest challenge for me to finish so far, and I read War and Peace and Don Quixote not too long ago. I'm taking a nice break with some lovely science history non-fiction, and then I'll be looking out for a short 1001 book to start next.

Reading Pope Joan. I LOVE THAT BOOK!

I've finished The Shining, which I enjoyed, though was very freaky. I am now reading The Piano Teacher, I saw the film a few years back and am curious to see if the book has the same level of tension.

I'm starting The Idiot by Dostoevsky as soon as I turn the computer off. Wish me luck!

Just finished Cannery Row--not as good as Of Mice and Men, but better than the only other Steinbeck besides those two that I've read (The Pearl).

Gonna take a 1001 break, I think...got two Early Reviewer books that I need to finally get through!

I´m reading Kazuo Ishiguro´s Never Let Me Go at the moment and I really like it, after that I mgiht read Yann Martel or Zadie Smith, or American Psycho which has been waiting on my to-be-read list for a while.

re 50 I loved Never let me go - one of those books I am saving for a reread. One of my top 1001 books.

I've started Wise Blood. So far it's pretty good.

I would also love to read Fantomas but I can't seem to find it anywhere!

Oh well. I would also like to go back to Anna Karenina. It was good, but I lacked the time to finish it.

Just finished The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe. Excellent book. It is very well written and keeps the reader engaged. Have not decided what to read next, but I am going to the library later this morning. So many books, so little time.

I finished Northanger Abbey last night (charming, but not breath-taking), and later today I'm going to start Disgrace by JM Coetzee . . . I was in the mood for a literary trip to Africa and that was the first one to tumble off Mnt TBR.

I'm listening to Agnes Grey now. I'm really enjoying it.

I just finished American Psycho. It was graphic to the point of being nauseating at times, but all the more effective for it. In the end a very thought-provoking book.

Finished Lady Chatterley's Lover, and about halfway through Madame Bovary. Hopefully it'll be done before Christmas!

Caught up on my Early Reviewer reading, so now I'm back into the 1001! Decided to read some non-1001 Nabokov (The Defense) while also starting work on The Unconsoled.

I finished Brave New World by Aldous Huxley last week. I actually enjoyed it - the first dystopian novel I have enjoyed reading without getting bored.

I have now started Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

I finished Blindness a few days ago. The book isn't one of the three Saramago books on the list. But it is more thought provoking than The Double which I read a few years ago. I wonder why it wasn't chosen for the list?

Finished Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Very interesting and entertining. What are the possibilities? I think Martel may have a future in writing if he keeps after it. Started David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. I really enjoy Dickens.

#61> I actually gave up on Blindness after about 100 pages. It seemed to me a tale of unrelenting misery. Not so keen to try any of his other books after that one.

I'm currently reading The Lambs of London, and enjoying it. I thought the title was going to be a metaphor (the innocent people of London, or something) so was rather surprised to find out it's about Charles and Mary Lamb. Of London. (I know of Charles Lamb's essays, and that's about it. So it's all new to me.)

I've just given up on Christ Stopped at Eboli after getting halfway through. Beautifully written but just not interesting enough to me. I'm about to start Beloved.

Just finished Spring Snow and now reading The Tin Drum and The Kreutzer Sonata.

wookiebender-I almost did as well. But there is a crescendo to the misery and then the book changes after that. I think Blindness might be a bit different than his other books. Even the sequel, Seeing, I've heard is kind of wry and funny. I know The Double didn't horrify me in any way. It was too fantastical to believe, but it didn't take sheer will-power to keep going.

I just started Half of a Yellow Sun, and it is good so far.

I just finished Diary of a Nobody courtesy of Librivox which I found to be a very amusing account of an conservative, middle aged 19th century clerk (the nobody of the title) and his modern, risk-taking, rebellious son. Good to know the generation gap plagued parents in the 1800s too.

I have Doctor Zhivago and Voss ready to pack in my bags to read as I lie on the beach for the next week or so.

I've just started Blood Meridian. I love Cormac McCarthy so I'm expecting a cracking good read.

#66> Thanks, perlle, I may have to give Blindness another go!

69> Just had to say (again) how much I enjoyed Half of a Yellow Sun!

i finished Robinson Crusoe and Mansfield Park.

Finished Disgrace earlier in the week and now I'm reading Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.

73: Nickelini

Miss Pettigrew became one of my favorite books ever after reading it for 1001 Books. Hope you like it as much as I did.

Karen

73 I enjoyed the movie of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. Entertaining in a quiet fashion. :-)

I'm about to try The Swarm it's described as an "Ecological Thriller" and was first published in German in 2004. Spent a couple of years on the best seller list in Germany, apparently. I've heard that it has been well researched?

Just finished David Copperfield by Dickens. It was a very enjoyable read. Kept my Christmas entertained.

# 76 I do hope you are alright and dance on.

what... sorry it was my friend... she hacked my account. Sorry I deleted the comment

Went back to Sherlock Holmes and currently reading The Hound of the Baskervilles

I'm reading Les Miserables for a group read, starting section 3 next week. I'm also reading Doctor Zhivago which is okay so far (120 pages in) but I'm not amazed yet.

Am nearly half way through The Picture of Dorian Gray, prepping for a group read. Interesting. Keeps reminding me of people I knew but did not hang with in college.

I started They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by Horace McCoy. A novelette, I've only just started but I think it's a gem.

I am listening to Wonder Boys and reading The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum.

Already completed They Shoot Horses, Don't They? - a really really short novel and compelling to read as well. I highly recommend it! Tonight I will start Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Hurston

Just finished Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley. It's a short satirical work, a little unfocused but still worthwhile. There is some eerie foreshadowing of Brave New World, which Huxley published ten years later.

Next I'll probably read Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. My wife's been recording and watching the PBS miniseries and says it's very good, but I always like to read the book first before watching a movie or TV adaptation.

Just starting The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy.

I am hoping to finish Gone With the Wind by before midnight tonight. I still have a lot to get through.

Just finished Silas Marner by George Eliot. A good read and story. I will never look at Silas the same way again.

Starting out the New Year with Around the World in Eighty Days and The Poisonwood Bible.

Happy New Year and happy reading to all!!

I am trying to get through Emma for the third time - hopefully third time's the charm! I actually really enjoy Jane Austen, so I'm not sure why this one has been such a slog.

Finished Some Prefer Nettles an hour before midnight :)

A great book!

Just finished The Poisonwood Bible--Barbara Kingsolver. It was excellent.

Alos, Around the World in Eighty Days--Jules Verne. Another entertaining read.