Zero's 2010 Challenge

001. Silence by Shusaku Endo 01/01/10
002. Evelina by Fanny Burney 01/03/10
003. Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius 01/03/10
004. The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall 01/05/10
005. Casanova in Bolzano by Sándor Márai 01/08/10
006. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner 01/11/10
007. Don Carlos by Friedrich von Schiller 01/12/10

Wlecome to the group! What a great start to the reading year you have had.

Glad to see your thread. I always enjoy seeing the titles on your list. I am hoping to read Consolation of Philosophy this year, too. Happy New Year!
--BJ

i, too, enjoy seeing what you've added to your list each time -- great mix, as usual! your list reminds me only too well of the books i still have to get to reading some day.

how did you like Silence?

Welcome!

Thanks for the welcome!

Silence was a great read - very much in the same vein as Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory.

008. A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy 01/13/10
009. The Duel by Anton Chekhov 01/13/10
010. A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch 01/14/10

011. The Swimming Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst 01/15/10
012. Waiting by Ha Jin 01/16/10
013. Fences by August Wilson 01/16/10

014. Pope Joan by Emmanuel Royidis 01/17/10
015. The Family of Pascual Duarte by Camilo José Cela 01/17/10

Wow! You are moving right along.

Ooooh, I love your list!

Thank you. I do like to keep the pages turning ;)

016. Nog by Rudolph Wurlitzer 01/18/10
017. My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk 01/20/10
018. No Tomorrow by Vivant Denon 01/21/10
019. Brighton Rock by Graham Greene 01/22/10

#12: I know what you mean!

I'm impressed that you've got through 19 books already! - some of them are quite long and very literary.

And here I am trying to slow down -- please don't encourage me ;)

020. The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon 01/24/10
021. Betrayal by Harold Pinter 01/24/10
022. Memoirs Found in a Bathtub by Stanisław Lem 01/24/10

#17: How did you like Memoirs Found in a Bathtub? It looks interesting.

I must say it was thoroughly entertaining little Kafkaesque tale (I would be surprised if it wasn't an inspiration for the Gilliam movie 'Brazil'.) I'm sure I'll be reading some more Lem this year now that he's piqued my interest.

Thanks for the input. I will see if I can locate a copy.

023. Everyman by Anonymous 01/25/10
024. The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen 01/26/10

025. Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War by Ernesto Guevara 01/27/10
026. The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan 01/29/10
027. Fools of Fortune by William Trevor 01/30/10
028. The Age of Entanglement by Louisa Gilder 01/31/10

At this rate you might read 4 x 75 books this year.

I read 425 last year so 300 sounds like a nice comfy number to me ;)

Great start to your reading year!

#17 I've read Solaris; is Memoirs Found in a Bathtub stylistically similar?

Based solely on the film adaptations, I'm inclined to say "not really." From what I've read in comments by other readers his novels vary significantly from one to the next.

029. The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle 02/04/10
030. Nada by Carmen Laforet 02/06/10

I'm late in reading your posts. You have some great books listed here.

I'm particularly interested in The Theory of the Leisure Class. I'm adding this to my list.

You are clipping along at a fast pace! Congratulations.

While a lot of the social criticisms are still (generally) relevant, I find it interesting how frequently they transcend ideas of class today in contrast to the portrait of the Gilded Age's "idle rich".

031. Clavigo by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 02/07/10
032. Erehwon by Samual Butler 02/07/10
033. Gösta Berlings Saga by Selma Lagerlöf 02/08/10
034. Shoplifting from American Apparel by Tao Lin 02/09/10

035. Point Omega by Don DeLillo 02/12/10
036. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer 02/13/10

037. Hero and Leander by Christopher Marlowe 02/14/10
038. The Aspern Papers by Henry James 02/14/10
039. The Medium is the Massage by Marshall 02/15/10McLuhan
040. The Samurai by Shusaku Endo 02/16/10

#32: How is The Samurai? I have been exploring more Japanese authors since joining LT and Endo is new to me.

Endō Shūsaku is a bit of an oddity insofar as he is really a Catholic writer and not writing from a traditional Japanese perspective. Both of his novels I have read this year are historical fiction about European priests in Japan: the first, Silence, being the superior of the two. Unless you are especially interested in the persecution of Christan missionaries in feudal Japan there are more representative Japanese authors like Kawabata Yasunari, Natsume Sōseki, Ōe Kenzaburō etc.

041. Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant 02/16/10
042. The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Briggs by Rainer Maria Rilke 02/17/10
043. Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad 02/18/10

Thanks for the input!

044. The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth 02/21/10
045. Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau 02/21/10

046. The Farmer's Bride by Charlotte Mew 02/22/10
047. The Double-Dealer by William Congreve 02/22/10
048. Eros and Psyche by Robert Bridge 02/22/10

I see that there are no reviews of Eros and Psyche. What did you think of it? Last year I read Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis, which I loved.
--BJ

I'm sorry to report that this particular retelling of the 'Eros and Psyche' myth came in the form of an uninspired and very conventional epic poem not much worth the reading. Just happened to be looking up Poet Laureates and was impressed enough by Mr. Bridges very fine beard to give his work a go.

049. Zalacain the Adventurer by Pío Baroja 02/23/10
050. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs 02/24/10
051. Leviathan by Paul Auster 02/25/10
052. Boule de Suif by Guy de Maupassant 02/26/10
053. Count d'Orgel's Ball by Raymond Radiguet 02/28/10
054. The Sportswriter by Richard Ford 02/28/10
055. Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne 02/28/10
056. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe 02/28/10

057. The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith 03/02/10
058. The Treasure by Selma Lagerlöf 03/02/10
059. The Human Stain by Philip Roth 03/04/10
060. Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho 03/04/10

#41: Can you tell me about The Treasure? The Touchstone is taking me to Treasure Island and I checked Lagerhof's author page but did not see it (at least not in English translation.)

The Project Gutenberg provides a 1925 translation under that title but it seems the common (and more accurate) title is 'Herr Arne's Hoard.' Its an uninteresting medieval ghost story about a young girl who unwittingly falls in love with one of the men who has murdered her family -- slightly reminiscent of the Ingmar Bergman film 'The Virgin Spring' to put it in context. A far cry from the melancholic charms of Gösta Berlings.

#43: Thanks for the additional info. I think I will skip it.

061. The Passport by Herta Müller 03/06/10
062. The Death of the Lion by Henry James 03/06/10
063. Molloy by Samuel Beckett 03/07/10
064. Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West 03/09/10
065. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 03/12/10
066. Infected by Scott Sigler 03/13/10

067. Fantomas by Marcel Allain 03/14/10
068. Benito Cereno by Herman Melville 03/15/10
069. Ben, In the World by Doris Lessing 03/15/10
070. Jakob von Gunten by Robert Walser 03/16/10

Wow! You are doing some terrific reading. My compliments.

70 books already! wow!

Just defeating literature one book at a time.

071. The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe 03/18/10
072. Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey 03/19/10
073. Sidsel Sidserk by Hans Aanrud 03/20/10
074. The Voices of Marrakesh by Elias Canetti 03/20/10
075. Metamorphoses by Ovid 03/22/10
076. Third Factory by Viktor Shklovsky 03/22/10

077. Murphy by Samuel Beckett 03/23/10
078. The Frozen Deep by Wilkie Collins 03/23/10

What did you think of The Frozen Deep? I liked The Woman in White when I read it last year, and I did not know about this book.
--BJ

By the way, I liked that "Just defeating literature one book at a time."

congratulations on reaching 75 :-)

Congrats!

Thank you!

@BJ: Passable melodrama. I believe its a novelized version of a play Collins co-wrote with Dickens. Beats watching a 'Law & Order' re-run but that's about the extent of it.

079. Maigret Sets A Trap by Georges Simenon 03/24/10
080. The Matisse Stories by A.S. Byatt 03/24/10

#55: Did you like The Matisse Stories? I have that one on the way to me from PBS.

I thought it was a solid little collection, if you're a Byatt fan you will be satisfied.

081. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks 03/26/10
082. Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw 03/27/10
083. The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick by Peter Handke 03/28/10
084. Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano 03/28/10
085. Bad Nature by Javier Marías 03/31/10
086. The Ambassadors by Henry James 03/31/10

#57: I do like Byatt. Thanks for the info.

You remind me that I need to read Birdsong this year too.

087. Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada 04/04/10
088. The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi 04/04/10
089. Georgics by Virgil 04/06/10
090. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 04/07/10

#59: Several of those are already in the BlackHole: Every Man Dies Alone, The Patience Stone, and Wolf Hall. What did you think of them?

I actually think 'Every Man Dies Alone' is an important book, it provides real insight into Germany under the Nazi regime (it got a thumb up from Primo Levi as well.) Not something I would consider a "must read" but 'Wolf Hall' is smartly written historical fiction. Wasn't impressed by 'The Patience Stone' but it's brief enough to warrant a read if your interest is piqued.

091. Historia Brittonum by Nennius 04/07/10
092. Malone Dies by Samuel Beckett 04/08/10
093. The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau 04/08/10
094. Valmouth by Ronald Firbank 04/09/10
095. The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien 04/09/10
096. Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko 04/10/10

#61: Thanks for the input!

097. The Wanderings of Oisin by William Butler Yeats 04/11/10
098. The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies 04/11/10
099. The Humbling by Philip Roth 04/12/10
100. The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett 04/12/10

101. What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies 04/14/10
102. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 04/14/10
103. I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali 04/14/10
104. Theseus by André Gide 04/15/10
105. The History of Pompey the Little by Francis Coventry 04/15/10

#65: I read the first book of Davies' Cornish trilogy and liked it a lot. What did you think of book 2, What's Bred in the Bone?

I thought it was the best of the two, (I'll get at the third book presently,) although a very different kind of story from the first book. I've yet to come across something by him that I haven't enjoyed.

106. The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh 04/16/10
107. Erec and Enide by Chrétien de Troyes 04/17/10
108. Evelina's Garden by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman 04/17/10

#67: I need to pick it up soon then. Thanks!

109. HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brian 04/19/10
110. The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris 04/21/10
111. I'jaam by Sinan Antoon 04/22/10
112. Bellwether by Connie Willis 04/22/10

#70: Did you like Bellwether? I bought it, but have not read it yet.

I quite enjoyed it and am very eager to try out some more Connie Willis books soon ('Bellwether' was my first.)

113. The Lyre of Orpheus by Robertson Davies 04/24/10
114. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell 04/26/10
115. Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. by E. Somerville and M. Ross 04/27/10
116. Angels Beneath the Surface by Mitja Čander 04/28/10
117. The Recognitions by William Gaddis 04/29/10
118. Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis 04/30/10

119. Le Bon Sens by Paul Henri Thiry d' Holbach 05/01/10
120. Damn! A Book of Calumny by H. L. Mencken 05/02/10

#72: I loved Doomsday Book so you might give that one a try.

#73: I read Cloud Atlas for the first time last year and enjoyed it. I hope you did as well.

Picked up Doomsday Book, thanks for the recommendation :)

121. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck 05/05/10
122. Kwaidan: Stories And Studies Of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn 05/05/10
123. Alexander's Bridge by Willa Cather 05/06/10
124. Money by Martin Amis 05/08/10
125. Mother's Beloved: Stories from Laos by Bnounyavong Outhine 05/08/10
126. "A Madman's Diary" by Lu Xun 05/08/10

#76: I hope you enjoy it!

127. The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction by Helen Graham 05/09/10
128. Studies in Pessimism by Arthur Schopenhauer 05/09/10
129. The Heidelberg Catechism by Zacharias Ursinus 05/09/10
130. Fiasco by Stanisław Lem 05/11/10

131. Unto This Last by John Ruskin 05/11/10
132. The Blind Owl by Ṣādiq Hidāyat 05/12/10
133. "Hymns to the Night" by Novalis 05/12/10
134. The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol 05/13/10
135. Independence Day by Richard Ford 05/14/10

136. Heroides by Ovid 05/15/10
137. Ivanhoe by Walter Scott 05/17/10
138. The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran 05/17/10

#79: How was The Government Inspector? The only one of Gogol's books I have read is Dead Souls and it has been a long time since I read that one.

It's actually one of his plays -- a comedy very much in the same cast as 'Dead Souls' -- and little more than an amusement. His short stories are great! I'd sooner recommend those.

139. The Death of Virgil by by Hermann Broch 05/18/10
140. Phaedrus by Plato 05/20/10

#82: OK, thanks for the input!

141. Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope 05/22/10
142. Yvain, the Knight of the Lion by Chrétien de Troyes 05/23/10
143. Creditors by August Strindberg 05/23/10
144. The Philippics by Cicero 05/24/10
145. The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark 05/24/10

146. Vita Sexualis by Ogai Mori 05/25/10
147. The Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox 05/26/10
148. Love Among the Haystacks and Other Stories by D. H. Lawrence 05/26/10
149. "The Treaty with China" by Mark Twain 05/26/10
150 Letters of Two Brides by Honoré de Balzac 05/27/10

151. The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud 05/29/10
152. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy 05/30/10
153. Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin 05/31/10
154. Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey 05/31/10

155. JR by William Gaddis 06/05/10

156. "Alter of Dead" by Henry James 06/05/10
157. The Cave Man by Xiaoda Xiao 06/06/10
158. The First Epistle of Clement by Pope Clement 06/06/10
159. The Burning Plain by Juan Rulfo 06/07/10
160. The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace 06/08/10
161. Reginald by Saki 06/08/10

162. Claudine at School by Colette 06/09/10
163. The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski 06/10/10
164. Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson 06/10/10

I am very impressed! WOW! 164 books thus far this year. That is quite a feat!

165. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle 06/12/10
166. Montano's Malady by Enrique Vila-Matas 06/12/10
167. Henry IV, Part I by William Shakespeare 06/13/10
168. Giles Goat-Boy by John Barth 06/14/10
169. Songs of Kabir by Kabir 06/14/10

170. Our Nig by Harriet E. Wilson 06/16/10
171. The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott 06/17/10
172. Stoner by John Williams 06/19/10
173. Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot 06/19/10

174. On the Popular Judgment by Immanuel Kant 06/21/10
175. The Day of the Scorpion by Paul Scott 06/23/10
176. Belfagor by Niccolò Machiavelli 06/23/10

177. Essay on the Creative Imagination by Theodule Ribot 06/24/10
178. The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason 06/25/10
179. The Supermale by Alfred Jarry 06/26/10
180. Invisible by Paul Auster 06/26/10
181. The Queen of Spades by Aleksandr Pushkin 06/26/10
182. Gargantua by François Rabelais 06/28/10
183. The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan 06/28/10
184. A Sicilian Romance by Ann Radcliffe 06/29/10
185. The Literary Conference by César Aira 06/30/10
186. Antic Hay by Aldous Huxley 06/30/10

187. Towers of Silence by Paul Scott 07/02/10
188. The Russian Revolution: A Very Short Introduction by S. A. Smith 07/03/10
189. The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad 07/03/10
190. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson 07/04/10
191. Little Eyolf by Henrik Ibsen 07/04/10

192. Melmoth Reconciled by Honoré de Balzac 07/05/10
193. Bullet Park by John Cheever 07/06/10
194. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer 07/07/10
195. W, or the Memory of Childhood by Georges Perec 07/08/10
196. Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes 07/08/10

197. Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning 07/09/10
198. L'Assommoir by Emile Zola 07/10/10
199. Coming Up for Air by George Orwell 07/11/10
200. At Lady Molly's by Anthony Powell 07/12/10
201. Madame Butterfly by John Luther Long 07/12/10

202. Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke 07/14/10
203. A Universal History of Iniquity by Jorge Luis Borges 07/15/10
204. In Praise of Darkness by Jorge Luis Borges 07/16/10
205. A Division of Spoils by Paul Scott 07/17/10
206. The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe 07/17/10
207. Aurélia by Gérard de Nerval 07/17/10
208. Novels in Three Lines by Félix Fénéon 07/18/10
209. The Coxon Fund by Henry James 07/18/10
210. Paul et Virginie by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre 07/18/10

You are reading some fascinating books this year. Congratulations on passing 200!

Thank you! I do like to throw a lot of odds-and-ends into the mix to keep things interesting.

211. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith 07/20/10
212. Tartuffe by Molière 07/20/10
213. The Foundation Pit by Andreĭ Platonov 07/21/10
214. Other People's Money by Louis D. Brandeis 07/22/10
215. Antwerp by Roberto Bolaño 07/24/10
216. Amerika by Franz Kafka 07/25/10
217. Hard Times by Charles Dickens 07/28/10
218. Loser by Thomas Bernhard 07/28/10
219. In The Heart of the Heart of the Country by William H. Gass 07/28/10
220. Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen 07/28/10

seeing your reading list intimidates me and encourages me at the same time. Big up to you.

I have heard that the Balzac books are all interrelated. I have only read one -- Pere Goriot. I was wondering how many you have read and if you think it is worth trying to read them all. (Seems like there are quite a few.)
--BJ

You've certainly started from the ideal book since the most significant recurring characters in his 'Comédie humaine' have there origins there. Other than the direct sequels I don't know of any Balzac novel/story that isn't self contained even if the events occur in the same universe (which includes something on the order of 90 books.) Feel free to pick up any that pique your interest -- I'd recommend Eugénie Grandet and La Cousine Bette of the dozen or so titles I've read.

221. The Maples Stories by John Updike 07/29/10
222. Patriotic Treason by Evan Carton 07/31/10
223. Kaddish for an Unborn Child by Imre Kertész 07/31/10
224. Bob the Gambler by Frederick Barthelme 07/31/10
225. Traumnovelle by Arthur Schnitzler 07/31/10
226. The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard 07/31/10
227. The Young Visitors by Daisy Ashford 08/01/10
228. The Life and Times of Michael K by J.M. Coetzee 08/01/10
229. Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor 08/02/10

Thanks for the info on Balzac.
--BJ

NP

230. The Moon and the Bonfires by Cesare Pavese 08/07/10
231. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding 08/08/10
232. Enchanted Night by Henry Fielding 08/08/10
233. The Looking Glass War by John Le Carré 08/09/10

234. A Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes 08/10/10
235. The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick 08/11/10
236. Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh 08/12/10
237. The Lime Twig by John Hawkes 08/14/10
238. The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead 08/15/10

#108: How is A Rage in Harlem?

The crime genre isn't typically my bag but it was entertaining. I'll give a few more Himes titles a go.

239. The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino 08/15/10
240. Man's Fate by André Malraux 08/17/10
241. The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells 08/17/10
242. Keynes: The Return of the Master by Robert Skidelsky 08/18/10
243. The Collector by John Fowles 08/19/10

#110: Thanks for the info. I will look for the book.

z. - can you remember back to book 132 The Blind Owl?

It is currently top of my wishlist -I would be interested in your view on it....

It's a fantastically dreamlike and morbid tale with a lot anger and sadness. I loved it. Far more personal than Poe but the story is very much in that vein. A very brief book not to be avoided.

244. The Way of Perfection by Teresa of Ávila 08/20/10
245. Drown by Junot Diaz 08/21/10
246. Walks With Men by Ann Beattie 08/21/10
247. The White Devil by John Webster 08/21/10
248. The Green Man by Kingsley Amis 08/22/10

What did you think of The Way of Perfection?
--BJ

That's really hard for me to comment on. I think she is a compelling writer although I find her attitudes grotesque. Given her object, she is philosophically clear sighted if a little impoverished in soul (her human one -- I don't traffic in the immortal variety.)

249. The Magus by John Fowles 08/25/10
250. The Fall by Albert Camus 08/25/10
251. The Sea by John Banville 08/26/10
252. All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West 08/27/10
253. Junky by William S. Burroughs 08/27/10
254. Mr. Sampath by R. K. Narayan 08/28/10

Thanks.

I love the variety in your choice of books.
--BJ

Thanks! I make it a point to read as broadly as possible.

255. This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff 08/29/10
256. The Trojan Women by Euripides 08/30/10
257. Up at the Villa by W. Somerset Maugham 08/31/10
258. Tinkers by Paul Harding 08/31/10

259. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis 09/01/10
260. Michael Kohlhaas by Heinrich von Kleist 09/03/10
261. The 42nd Parallel by John Dos Passos 09/03/10
262. Martyred Armenia by Fa'iz El-Ghusein 09/03/10
263. The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor 09/04/10
264. Role Models by John Waters 09/05/10
265. The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen 09/06/10

#121: How was the John Dos Passos book? I have only read one of his, Three Soldiers and enjoyed it.

Not quite as good as its reputation but certainly worth the read. It is probably more illuminating in terms of revealing the nature of early 20th century America than anything else.

266. Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare 09/07/10
267. Childhood by Lev Tolstoy 09/08/10
268. Phineas Finn: The Irish Member by Anthony Trollope 09/09/10
269. The Real Cool Killers by Chester Himes 09/10/10
270. In Youth is Pleasure by Denton Welch 09/10/10

#123: Thanks for the input. I will keep your comments in mind.

271. The Wild Palms by William Faulkner 09/11/10
272. The Bhagavad Gita by Anonymous 09/12/10
273. Barabbas by Pär Lagerkvist 09/12/10
274. What Maisie Knew by Henry James 09/15/10
275. The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins 09/18/10

276. Mogens and Other Stories by Jens Peter Jacobsen 09/19/10
277. Big Sur by Jack Kerouac 09/19/10
278. Oleanna by David Mamet 09/19/10
279. Concrete by Thomas Bernhard 09/20/10
280. Out of My Head by Didier van Cauwelaert 09/21/10
281. The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard 09/22/10
282. Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier 09/23/10
283. The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing 09/24/10

I just picked up The Golden Notebook at the library sale the other day. What did you think of it?

That's a tough one. Labored, mid-century fiction? I found it overlong and the psychoanalysis was carried to the point of hysteria at times although I appreciate Lessing's seriousness of task (the "notebooks" were more compelling than the core story.) An unique window into that era but I don't know that it really holds up today. Much prefer Iris Murdoch.

284. Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun 09/25/10
285. The Unvanquished by William Faulkner 09/26/10
286. Electra by Sophocles 09/26/10
287. The Doctrine of Fascism by Benito Mussolini 09/27/10
288. His Master's Voice by Stanisław Lem 09/28/10
289. The Consequences of Love by Sulaiman Addonia 09/29/10
290. Yerma by Federico García Lorca 09/29/10
291. The Way of the Kings by André Malraux 09/30/10
292. Tar Baby by Toni Morrison 09/30/10

Lots of terrific authors on this list. What did you think of the Lem book? I read Solaris and really liked it. And how about Tar Baby? I was totally blown away by Beloved.
--BJ

#129: Thanks for the input. I am not sure when I will get to that one, but I suspect it will be a while.

@BJ - I've thoroughly enjoyed all the Lem novels read this year (I would say 'Fiasco' was the best of the lot.) Really disappointed with the two Morrison novels I've read since discovering her remarkable 'Beloved' -- nothing remarkable about the two-dimensional 'Tar Baby' beyond its silliness. Still need to pick up 'Song of Solomon' before I give up on her as an author.

293. The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera 10/01/10
294. Sweeney Agonistes by T.S. Eliot 10/02/10
295. Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche 10/03/10
296. The Breast by Philip Roth 10/03/10
297. Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus 10/03/10
298. Butcher's Crossing by John Williams 10/04/10
299. Casanova's Chinese Restaurant by Anthony Powell 10/07/10
300. From Here to Eternity by James Jones 10/10/10

#134: I had not heard of The Whale Rider before. It looks good. Thanks for the mention!

As a New Zealander myself I would be interested in your take on The Whale Rider z.

The maori economic and cultural renaissance of the late 20th century produced two alternate takes on what it means to be Maori in the post modern age. The Whale rider and Once were warriors. I haven't read either, although have seen the movie from both books.

Of course the third of this triumvirate of books is (I am guessing) the best of all as literature - the Bone People.

Thanks for the info on Lem and Morrison. Bummer about Morrison though, as I have at least three more of her books around here to read. Beloved did seem pretty hard to top, though.
--BJ

@Zeno - I think the movie was a little more substantive than the book which is still essentially children's literature (there are a lot of fanciful bits with talking whales and helpful dolphins.) The performances are what really made the film special. The 'Bone People' on my long list and promises to be a more satisfying read ;)

301. Hay Fever by Noël Coward 10/10/10
302. The Case of Comrade Tulayev by Victor Serge 10/11/10
303. Passing by Nella Larsen 10/12/10
304. Mrs Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw 10/12/10
305. The Kid Stays in the Picture by Robert Evans 10/13/10
306. Hecuba by Euripides 10/16/10
307. The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui by Bertolt Brecht 10/16/10
308. Playing with Fire by August Strindberg 10/16/10
309. Naked by Luigi Pirandello 10/17/10
310. Shirley by Charlotte Brontë 10/18/10
311. The Death of the Adversary by Hans Keilson 10/20/10
312. Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari Kawabata 10/20/10
313. The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford 10/21/10
314. Accidental Death Of An Anarchist by Dario Fo 10/22/10
315. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving 10/22/10

#139: I need to get to the Victor Serge book one of these days. What did you think of it?

Invaluable for understanding the political climate that lead to The Purges, a very compelling read!

316. Ethics by Benedict de Spinoza 10/24/10
317. Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft 10/24/10
318. Visions of Gerard by Jack Kerouac 10/26/10
319. True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey 10/28 /10
320. Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor 10/30/10
321. Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud 10/31/10
322. The Massacre at Paris by Christopher Marlowe 10/31/10
323. The Father by August Strindberg 10/31/10

#141: OK. I am definitely going to have to get to that one then. Thanks!

324. The Art of Controversy by Arthur Schopenhauer 11/06/10
325. Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life by Jon Lee Anderson 11/08/10
326. The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen 11/08/10
327. Mary by Vladimir Nabokov 11/09/10

#144: I have never read that Nabokov book. One more to add to the BlackHole.

328. Kybalion by Three Initiates 11/11/10
329. Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh 11/11/10
330. The Ghost Mountain Boys by James Campbell 11/13/10
331. Deception by Philip Roth 11/14/10
332. Là-bas by Joris-Karl Huysmans 11/15/10
333. 1919 by John Dos Passos 11/18/10
334. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad 11/20/10
335. The Purple Violet of Oshaantu by Neshani Andreas 11/21/10
336. The Financier by Theodore Dreiser 11/22/10
337. Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain 11/23/10

You are doing some terrific reading this year. My hat's off to you!

(Bows in appreciation) I've certainly discovered some new favorites this year.

That is wonderful!

338. Staying On by Paul Scott 11/24/10
339. Henry IV, Part 2 by William Shakespeare 11/25/10
340. The Kindly Ones by Anthony Powell 11/25/10
341. A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley 11/26/10
342. Maurice by E.M. Forster 11/27/10
343. The Valley of Bones by Anthony Powell 11/28/10
344. "Prelude" by Katherine Mansfield 11/28/10
345. Man And Superman by George Bernard Shaw 11/28/10
346. The Persians by Aeschylus 11/29/10
347. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami 11/30/10
348. Asleep in the Sun by Adolfo Bioy Casares 11/30/10
349. Loving by Henry Green 11/30/10
350. Shane by Jack Schaefer 11/30/10

So what did you think of Shane? I am guessing that this book relates to the movie Shane. I never seem to read Westerns, although last year I read Dances with Wolves, which I enjoyed.
--BJ

I've always thought highly of the, well known, film version and the book does not disappoint -- very good children's fiction. Not a big Western fan myself but I do enjoy Larry McMurtry (not to mention the highbrow types like Cormac McCarthy or Juan Rulfo.)

351. Bend Sinister by Vladimir Nabokov 12/01/10
352. The Soldier's Art by Anthony Powell 12/02/10
353. Pierre and Luce by Romain Rolland 12/05/10
354. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese 12/07/10
355. The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald 12/07/10
356. The Military Philosophers by Anthony Powell 12/07/10
357. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame 12/09/10
358. The Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith et al 12/11/10
359. Books Do Furnish a Room by Anthony Powell 12/12/10
360. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy 12/14/10

I have been looking for a used copy of The Rings of Saturn when I go to bookstores. What did you think of it?

I loved A Dance to the Music of Time when I read it and will never be able to think of "books do furnish a room" in the same way again.
--BJ

This is my second Sebald novel and I can't really imagine the man writing anything less than a delightful book -- such a loss.

I have a lot of reservations about Powell (although I appreciate his graceful style and cultured sensibility.) If I were call his 12 novel cycle a high-brow gossip column would that criticism have the ring of truth?

361. Temporary Kings by Anthony Powell 12/14/10
362. The Ice Storm by Rick Moody 12/16/10
363. Hearing Secret Harmonies by Anthony Powell 12/17/10
364. Black Mischief by Evelyn Waugh 12/18/10
365. Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen 12/19/10
366. Effi Briest by Theodor Fontane 12/19/10
367. New Grub Street by George Gissing 12/21/10

Probably. :)

I can't recall the title of the last book in the set, but I thought it was an interesting way to end it.
--BJ

Happy New Year! I look forward to following your reads in 2011.
--BJ

Happy New Year to you too, BJ! See you in the next 75 group.

368. A Walk on the Wild Side by Nelson Algren 12/22/10
369. The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux 12/24/10
370. Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov 12/25/10
371. Crossing the Mangrove by Maryse Condé 12/28/10
372. Romola by George Eliot 12/29/10
373. Sons by Pearl S. Buck 12/30/10
374. Independent People by Halldór Laxness 12/31/10
375. Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim 12/31/10

FIN

Happy New Year! I am glad to see you will be joining us once again and am looking forward to your 2011 reads!