ursula's assault on the 2006 list

Here we go. I'll start with what I've already read. Some of them are starred/reviewed here on LT, but a number of them were read before my involvement here (and the internet).

My rules:

1. I only considered it read if I could be sure I remembered reading it not in a children's or abridged edition. Therefore, things like Aesop's Fables got thrown out because I have no idea how many of them I read or in what format.

2. Books I had abandoned half-finished were considered "unread." I will give them another shot in this challenge, but I'm not going to force myself to finish them if they're still terrible. (There are two exceptions that I considered read in spite of not finishing them - they'll be pointed out below.)

Pre-Eighteenth Century: 0

Eighteenth Century: 1
Candide - read in high school, and I loved it

Nineteenth Century: 17
Sense and Sensibility - read after P&P and it paled in comparison
Pride and Prejudice
Frankenstein
The Fall of the House of Usher - went through a serious Poe phase in high school
Dead Souls - required in college history course - I have problems with Russian literature which I'm sure I'll expound upon
A Christmas Carol
The Pit and the Pendulum
The Scarlet Letter - high school torture
Moby-Dick - same year in high school
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Little Women - I read this when I was 8 or 9, no idea what I'd think of it now
Through the Looking-Glass
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Germinal - college
The Picture of Dorian Gray - one of my all-time favorites
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Dracula - I admit, I really enjoyed this.

Guess I'll split up the Twentieth Century into parts.

Twentieth Century - 55 overall

1900-1950
Heart of Darkness - this book showed me that sometimes there is real value in having it taught to you (high school)
Of Human Bondage
Rashomon
The Age of Innocence - I surprised myself by really liking this
A Passage to India
The Great Gatsby - high school
Mrs. Dalloway
Brave New World - high school
At the Mountains of Madness - my most recent read ... it drove me crazy and not in a good way
Gone with the Wind
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Of Mice and Men
The Grapes of Wrath - high school
For Whom the Bell Tolls
The Stranger - high school
Animal Farm

1951-1980
Catcher in the Rye
Lord of the Flies - high school
Lolita - I love this book
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Breakfast at Tiffany's
To Kill a Mockingbird - high school
Catch-22
Franny and Zooey
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Bell Jar
Everything That Rises Must Converge - college
In Cold Blood
One Hundred Years of Solitude - another of my all-time favorites
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The Godfather
Slaughterhouse Five
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The Bluest Eye - college, and "hate" doesn't begin to describe how I felt about this book
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Ragtime
Interview with the Vampire
The Shining
The World According to Garp
Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy

1981-1999
A Confederacy of Dunces - one of the incomplete books I refuse to go back and finish
The House of the Spirits
The Color Purple
White Noise
The Handmaid's Tale
The Cider House Rules
Libra - I love this book
A Prayer for Owen Meany - one of my favorites
Like Water for Chocolate
The Things They Carried - I think this might be one of the best books ever written
Wild Swans
The Virgin Suicides - really enjoyed this
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Memoirs of a Geisha

Twenty-first Century - 6

House of Leaves
Life of Pi
Atonement - ugh
Middlesex - the other book I will not go back and finish
Kafka on the Shore
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Overall total: 79/1001

I'm happy to talk about any of the books I've read or why I felt the way I did about them, or anything at all!

Ursula, thanks for providing us the insights that you have about these books. I always enjoy what others think about these works, and it gives me some direction about which books from the list I will like to try.

Welcome! I love checking out other people's lists to see what they liked/disliked. I will check out The Things They Carried to see what all the fuss is about :)

Funny thing about The Things They Carried--last year when I went to about six bookstores in Seattle, that book was everywhere, displayed prominently. But I've never seen a copy at any bookstore here in Canada. That makes me curious about it. Is it like some uber-US book that no one else can relate to, or something? (I doubt it, but what then?)

Glad to hear you liked Dracula, because I plan to read it soon. I'm a little dubious. I hope it's better than Frankenstein.

Love to hear about The Bluest Eye. My most hated (really, despised) university book was Meatless Days, which is NOT on any 1001 list and shouldn't be.

You made me laugh. It does feel like we're doing battle with the 1001 sometimes. Curious as to why you didn't like Atonement.

Thank you for the welcome, everyone!

Re: The Things They Carried - I'm not sure entirely why it would be more popular in the US vs. Canada except that I think we have had something of an obsession with movies and literature about the Vietnam War. I'm ignorant to whether the same is true in Canada or not. My experience with the book can be expressed either as I did above - one of the best books ever written - or as one of the best-written books ever. It's as much about writing as it is about war, and I think that's where the strength really was for me. It changed my way of thinking.

Dracula was infinitely more readable to me than Frankenstein. Pulp fiction should be entertaining, and I thought Stoker succeeded there.

As for The Bluest Eye - my goodness, where to begin. I accept that some people live relatively luckless lives. I know that there are books written that can best be described as "bleak." I've read and enjoyed (if that's the right word) some of them. But I just couldn't stand the endless litany of horrible things happening to the main character in that book. It was like every time she turned around she was being beaten, raped, humiliated... and there was no redemption anywhere for anyone. I honestly couldn't see why on earth the book was ever written, let alone assigned. I haven't read a single Toni Morrison book since, and that was just over 20 years ago. That's how much of a bad taste it left in my mouth.

I tried to look back and figure out where I might have written a review of Atonement, because I feel like I did write one somewhere, but I can't find it now. All I can remember at the moment is being very, very bored by the end. I just didn't connect at all to Briony and although I remember thinking the beginning had promise, I cared less and less about the whole thing as the book went on.

The Fall of the House of Usher - went through a serious Poe phase in high school

I was going to post a "me too!" comment, but I didn't get around to it, and now I just saw this:

4. Edgar Allan Poe, according to Henry James (1876):
An enthusiasm for Poe is the mark of a decidedly primitive stage of reflection.

Touche, Mr. James.

Source: http://www.examiner.com/book-in-national/the-50-best-author-vs-author-put-downs-...

I have been away for a long time. A very long time.

However, 2011 was a pretty good year in reading terms and I have resumed my attack on the list. I'm going to update my read-to-this-point list and then talk about what's next up for me.

Pre-18th Century: still 0
18th Century: still 1
19th Century: was 17, now 24.
new additions:
Persuasion - reviewed here. I'm not the hugest Austen fan.
Hard Times - actually not newly read, I must have just missed this one before.
Madame Bovary - reviewed. Enjoyed more than expected, but it went on a little too long.
The Woman in White - really liked this. Reviewed briefly.
Treasure Island - another one I just missed putting on the first list.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - I wasn't very thorough putting together that original list, apparently. :)
The Time Machine - reviewed. Not what I was expecting, honestly.

20th Century - was 55, now 65.

1900-1950

Crome Yellow - reviewed
Jacob's Room - didn't like this one much at all. Reviewed.
The Enormous Room - reviewed
Rebecca
The Big Sleep
Farewell My Lovely
I actually removed For Whom the Bell Tolls from my "read" list because I'm really not positive that I've read it. I'll sort it out when I pick this one up. It was this one or A Farewell to Arms, I'm just not sure which one.
Ficciones - reviewed

1951-1980

Stranger in a Strange Land - not my favorite. Reviewed.
Sometimes a Great Notion - loved this so much. Review here.

1981-1999
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - missed in the first go-round
Disgrace - an uneven bag for me. Reviewed.

21st Century - was 6, now 8.
The Master
Never Let Me Go

Current overall total as of January 1, 2013: 95/1001

Re: The Things They Carried.... not sure if this is the reason you're seeing a lot of copies or not, but I know my local library had it as a group read last winter. Their group read program is a national one (I forget the name, it's something like One Book...) The books are picked out of a list produced by the national group. So it's possible other libraries also had it as a group read too, giving it a little boost in popularity?

Maybe I'm completely off base there. It's a fine book loosely based on the author's experiences while serving in Vietnam.

And also, welcome Ursula!

Thank you for the welcome, amerynth!

Hopefully life will slow down enough for me to get some reading done soon - I've got house guests through tomorrow night. I've gotta get a move on!

Book 96: The Thirty Nine Steps by John Buchan - Pretty much a straightforward 3 stars. Good points, bad points, but on the list for being at the beginning of its genre (spy thrillers). I'm going to check out the movie, even though it seems it doesn't resemble the book in much more than title. The poster in the 1001 Books list shows him handcuffed to "the woman who betrayed him!" although there is no woman in the entirety of the book. Reviewed.

I was going to skip over to the short stories of The Complete Sherlock Holmes but the first one, "A Scandal in Bohemia," reveals much has taken place since A Study in Scarlet, so I went back and have started The Sign of the Four instead. Eventually I'll get to the ones that are actually on the list.

Meanwhile, I'm reading Crash. I knew what to expect in a general sense since I was aware of the movie (haven't seen it, though), but I'm not entirely sure even that knowledge prepared me for the opening chapter. Now I'm finding myself reluctant to put it down. Complex thoughts about this one already, so I'll reserve further comment until I've finished it.

I felt the same way about Crash when I read it - it will be interesting to see what you make of it...

I decided to read all the sherlock books in order and got to halfway through The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Best thing about them is that as short stories I can pick up the book halfway through well over a year later and keep reading.

Sometimes a Great Notion sounds interesting - I never would have considered reading it until now.

The things They Carried was required reading for me at University and I loved it. I'm going to read it again this year, 10 years after I read it the first time and hope it's as good as I remember.

chrissybob: I imagine this one makes for some lively discussions. :)

kiwiflowa: I have always just known Sometimes a Great Notion as "that other book Ken Kesey wrote." I read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest so long ago it's impossible to compare them, but I suspect the former may deserve more accolades than the latter. Or at least as many.

I would love to re-read The Things They Carried, and re-reading isn't something I generally do. When my kids and I took a road trip a few years ago, we drove through Worthington, MN, where he was from. We had lunch on the shore of the lake he describes in the book.

>18 chrissybob: Well, chrissybob, I've finished Crash. I see we gave it the same rating. I sort of reviewed it here. I was glad to be finished with it, but I've still been turning it over in my mind.

That was book 97 off the list. It looks like the next 1001 book I'll be tackling is Cloud Atlas, since my hold at the library just came through.

I've started on Cloud Atlas. It seems that although it's a long one, the writing will carry me along quite well. (I say that only having read 10 pages so far.)

98 books done now, as I've finished Cloud Atlas. My review has been posted. Short version - I really liked it, both with regard to storytelling and writing.

Next up from the list - The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett, and/or The Immoralist by André Gide.

Book #99 is The Immoralist. I liked it quite a lot, which sort of surprises me since I'm not much for existential questions and philosophy. I debated between 4 and 4 1/2 stars, but the number of quotes I marked from the book pushed it up the extra half. Review here.

Book #100 (maybe, in my latest reckoning I think I've actually read more than I thought - I'll fix that later) was The Stone Diaries. I reviewed it, but the short version is: ugh, the Pulitzer curse strikes again.

Congrats on #100, whatever it is :)

Thanks! I really need to sit down and figure out what's going on with my numbering. But either way, I know I've got at least 100 down. :)

Okay, I've sorted out the problem(s) with my count. First of all, I somehow never included War of the Worlds. Also, I apparently simply can't count. Going over the listed books above, and adding War of the Worlds, I had read 103 from the 2006 list up to that point, and I've just finished #104 today, which is Schindler's List. So. That's the official number - 104.

As for Schindler's List - I've somehow never seen the movie, so I didn't really know how he did what he did. In that sense, the book was informative. However, I think there was too much effort made to keep from sanctifying him. I understand not wanting to make him out to be some sort of superhuman, but at the same time, there's no real need to try to accentuate his flaws. We all have flaws; they don't stop some people from doing heroic deeds big or small, and they don't take anything away from those acts.

Also, I found the book less affecting than I think I might have if I'd read it before visiting Dachau. It feels like maybe it should have had the opposite effect, but reading about people who escaped horrible fates was just different after standing in a place where those horrible fates happened.

I'll do a real review later, but I'm guessing this will get 3 stars from me.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through The Glass Key, so I'm sure that'll be my next finished one from the list.

Oh, I forgot to post that I finished The Glass Key. That's number 105 down. I wasn't too crazy about it, as you can see in my review. It felt very superficial, a bunch of people trying to be cool. (And I know that sort of sums up a lot of these early detective novels, but I've read others that I was still able to connect with, at least.)

I'm not sure what my next read will be. Maybe I'll go back to the Holmes collection and read The Hound of the Baskervilles now that it's been a month free of Holmes? Or maybe I'll tackle Tristram Shandy or some Dickens? I definitely need to get back to the 19th century (or 18th, in the case of Tristram Shandy). Earlier books, is what I mean. Decisions, decisions.

My next book off the list was Tarzan of the Apes. I try not to read books with too much of a modern eye, realizing that attitudes toward women or other races are a product of the times in which a book was written. For some reason, I had a harder time doing that with this one than I normally do. In talking it over with my husband, I realized that it's because in this book, instead of being societal or situational, the racism (and other -isms) is philosophical. Ultimately, the story really hinges on the idea that nature triumphs nurture and that aristocratic genes exist.

I am about 20% of the way through Tristram Shandy and although the language is slowing me down, it's not bad. I don't think I'll attempt anything else from pre-1900 while I'm reading it, though.

Finished The Corrections. I feel like a weight has been lifted. My review is up.

Now about 70% through Tristram Shandy. I'm getting through about 30 pages a day, in the morning, when I'm most alert. What a mix of things this book is.

Your review is hilarious. Had I felt tempted to read this book, I would feel so no longer. BTW, most professors probably did sleep with their students until it became really illegal. It was more a question of how coercive and rampant their activities were and whether they were married or not, and whether they were sleeping with undergrads or graduate students. As a professor myself I hate to say this, but it's true.

Thanks, annamorphic!

Maybe I am sensitive since my husband is a professor, haha. But not a literature or history professor, who seem to be the most popular types for fictional professors (write what you know) - he teaches math. Anyway, it just seems like in 21st-century books, perhaps we could find more interesting ways for professors to get into trouble.

Ha ha, I tried The corrections a couple of years ago and put it aside for good (joyfully) after 150 pages. You were even more generous with your rating than me!

paruline, I guess I was a little generous. There were parts I enjoyed reading, parts that I thought were going somewhere interesting ... and then there was the rest. Which, admittedly, was a lot. But I didn't hate everything about it, just most things.

I usually try to stick to a 1001 book even if I don't really like it (I'm looking at you Walden) or I try again if I think the timing just wasn't right. But I think The Corrections will remain in my unread pile forever. There are just too many good books waiting to be read.

paruline, I have a few of those. I'm going to give them each another chance, but I'm really not looking forward to some of them, I have to admit!

Latest finished book is The Story of Lucy Gault. I enjoyed it, in the way you enjoy difficult stories. (The writing wasn't difficult, just to clarify.) More detail in my review.

Well, I finished The Black Dahlia. Good riddance to a one-star read. My review is up.

Oh, you made it through. Kudos to you-- you're made of stronger stuff than I am.

Back to say that I loved your review. I agree that reading about obsession can be very boring! I discovered that a few years ago when I read a memoir by a drug addict that I had looked forward to, and I've noted it in every book about obsession ever since. You do deserve the "I Survived . . . " T-shirt. Thanks for your review and showing me I made the right decision on chucking this book at page 3. Guess I won't read all 1001 books. Oh well.

Stronger? Nah. Maybe more stubborn. Honestly, I read about 90% of it just trying to figure out why it wasn't working for me. It had all the right ingredients, it just didn't come together as anything I found appetizing. You did make the right decision. :) And I already know I'm not really going to read all 1001 - I am going to give them all a fair shot, but there are some I will call "finished" even if I didn't get all the way through them.

Oh snap. Black Dahlia has been on my bookshelf too long and I was actually going to read it soon. Maybe I'll still try and not beat myself up if I abandon it.

Well, aliciamay, I saw a lot of good reviews of it too, so maybe you'll feel differently. You should definitely give it a try no matter what. I may have had stronger feelings because I really did expect to like it.

I had Black Dahlia scheduled for my next List read so I'm intrigued by this discussion - will let you know how I go next month.

puckers - Looking forward to seeing how you react to it!

Finished another one, Antic Hay by Aldous Huxley. I liked it quite a bit, and didn't feel like it was so tied to its post-WWI time period. I reviewed it.

Now I'm reading Everything Is Illuminated.

Well I finished The Black Dahlia today and I actually quite liked it. No likeable characters and graphic language but I managed to tune into the noir narration and liked the tension. But I can see why others might dislike it.

I'm glad you liked it, puckers! I felt like he was trying too hard, and like the book just refused to end. But obviously you're not alone - I've read a lot of good reviews for it too!

Oh, and that reminds me, I finished another list book - Everything Is Illuminated, and it annoyed me. I guess it's about time to hit on one I actually like, since I seem to be alternating with love/hate for each book.

I haven't read Everything is Illuminated but I adore the movie. I cry every time I watch it and I say this as someone that doesn't much care for sentimentality.

fundevogel: I haven't seen it, but the movie now has 2 strikes against it for me - I've read the book, and Elijah Wood. It's irrational, but I can't deal with his face.

ha. I can't fault you for knowing yourself.

Occasionally I want to see something badly enough that I'll watch it even though it has one of my "forbidden" actors, but generally I stay away so I'm not just annoyed the whole time!

Continuing the love one, hate one trend ... we're back to loving one. Or at least really liking one. I finished Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye and reviewed it. I had a lot of thoughts about different aspects of this one, but they didn't all make it into the review. Suffice it to say, though, that there was a lot to think about here.

Not sure what list book I'm going to tackle next, but I have a lot of choices between what I have acquired recently and the library.

It's been a while that I haven't really read many 1001 books, and then when I did read a couple, I didn't get around to reviewing them (and still haven't, in fact). But I'd better list them here anyway.

I read Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes. That was an interesting exercise considering my "don't read anything about the books ahead of time" policy. For a while I wasn't entirely sure what I was reading. Was it actually a biography of Flaubert? Was Barnes the narrator we were hearing from? What on earth am I reading here?

I also read Watchmen. I guess it was okay.

I am terrible at updating my reading here.

But in the last couple of months, I've managed to finish 2 more: The Butcher Boy and The Golden Notebook. I enjoyed the former more than the latter, although I don't know that "enjoyed" is really the appropriate term. I have caught up on most of my reviews at this point, so I've added reviews for both of those. Of course, the two reviews that are still lacking are the ones for the books in the last post. Oops.

This seems to bring my total from the 2006 list up to 118. From all lists, to 126. (For all the books those subsequent lists added, it sure hasn't bumped up my total much. I'm not really seeking them out, though, so I guess that's not too surprising.)

I'm now at 123 from the 2006 list, 132 overall.

Recently, I've finished The Last Temptation of Christ (review/comments) and Perfume (review/comments). I'm about to finish (finally) The Forsyte Saga, and I'm working on Love in the Time of Cholera.

It feels like slow progress, but I counted it up and I think I've read 24 books from the list this year, so that's actually not too terrible. I might only have to live till I'm 90 at this rate.

Finished and left a review/comments about The Forsyte Saga. In a nutshell, I liked it. Although often sort of despicable, Soames was a character I also pitied, and interest in him drew me through most of the books.

Also finished and reviewed Love in the Time of Cholera. In a nutshell, not my favorite. A disappointment, since I love One Hundred Years of Solitude and enjoyed Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Although I also found the characters here despicable, I didn't pity them, and so they ended up just unpleasant for me. Which doesn't preclude liking a book, but I couldn't buy into about 90% of the forms of "love" described, either.

This is the first time in a while that the numbers add up from post to post - totals now are 125 from 2006 list, 134 overall.

Finally reviewed The Bridge on the Drina, which I finished on the 15th. Total is now 126/135 (2006/overall).

I always feel kind of weird being middle-of-the-road about a book that people seem to really enjoy. And this one didn't really have anything wrong with it, it just reminded me too much of short stories, and it's only the very special short story collection that I really enjoy.

I just finished Dead Babies. Haven't gotten around to writing a review yet - I'm trying to coalesce my thoughts beyond "WTF did I just read?"

Total: 127/136

Another one down: The Collector. It was creepy; I enjoyed it a lot. No review for this one yet either. Soon, though.

Total: 128/137

Finished The Lost Language of Cranes. I liked it quite a bit, gave it 4 stars. Yet another review to be done.

Total: 129/138

Back on the 7th, I finished The Magician of Lublin. Not on the 2006 list, so it only counts toward the second tally.

Total: 129/139

I came so close to finishing Foucault's Pendulum on our trip, but then had to return it about 100 pages from the end. So frustrating. Eventually I'll finish another book and have something to show for the reading I've been doing.

Finished Billiards at Half-Past Nine. That was a dense, folded in on itself, origami-crane of a book.

Total: 130/140

I finished Middlemarch! I finished Middlemarch!

I mean, I liked it. A lot. I'm probably not going to quibble over any little tiny issues I might have had with it and just rate it 5 stars. But boy, that took a while, even disregarding the two week interruption I had when I went to Italy. It just required slower reading than I normally would do.

Anyhow, that frees me up to start The Roots of Heaven for the group read.

Total: 131/141

I felt the same with Middlemarch. I liked it a lot but it took me too long to finish it, being the impatient reader I sometimes am.
According to your reviews, I am sure you'll love The Roots of Heaven. Enjoy!

lol. My husband read Middlemarch a couple years ago for a class and he did not like it at all, and even made use of that free site that people contribute readings of classics to that I forget the name of right now, to help listen to it while doing other stuff, and it still took him forever. I have to say, from what I heard, I am not anxious to touch that one myself.

>65 Simone2: Exactly. I can be an impatient reader. I liked the reading experience, I just wished the pages would have gone by faster. :) I started The Roots of Heaven yesterday but only managed the 5 or so pages before we went out for the day. Seems promising so far!

>66 .Monkey.: I loved the writing, and the characters were well-imagined. I have pages and pages of quotes I pulled out of the book, and I was always telling my husband "listen to this!" after I'd laughed out loud at some great way Eliot had of putting things. Like Simone2 said, it was impatience.

Well, as usual I see that my numbers are a little off because I didn't realize a couple of books were on the list, specifically Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto and Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby, Jr.

So my actual totals (to the best of my knowledge) are:
131/143

I'm settling into The Roots of Heaven at the moment. It's beautifully written.

A Course In Miracles
El Zohar
The Power Of Now
Divine Horsemen
Patanjali Yoga Sutras

Finished The Roots of Heaven. Simone2, you were right that I'd love it!

I will hopefully eventually get around to writing some real thoughts on it, but I enjoyed it immensely.

Total: 132/144

I finished The Good Soldier. I don't even know what to say about that one ... there were so many layers to it. It seems like one of those that you can get out of it whatever you want, whether you want just a simple story or to plumb its depths. More thought required.

Total: 133/145

Done with Hawksmoor. For a second, as I saw the language used in the first chapter (taking place in the early 18th century), I was worried that it was going to be a slow read. As it turned out, the 18th century portions went much faster for me than the modern portions. Probably because I didn't find the modern parts very interesting.

Uneven, sometimes intriguing but also sometimes quite boring.

Total: 134/146

I never thought I'd finish The Children's Book, but it's finally done. There was a good section in the middle, but the beginning and the end were both quite tedious for me.

Total: 134/147

It's been a long dry spell, but I finished Diary of a Nobody. Light, comedic, leaves you saying "was that it?" I smiled a few times, laughed a couple.

Total: 135/148

Cocaine Nights got scratched off the list last night. In many ways, completely different from Crash - one notable way was that it was stylistically much easier to read. But some of the same themes of societal disconnection and the need to be awakened from our desire to dream away our lives made an appearance. I liked it.

Total: 136/149

Well, it doesn't count for the list until I've read the rest of the books, but I want to say that I finished Swann's Way. I was really impatient with it a lot of the time, but I will say that oddly enough, the very last page made it worthwhile for me. It wasn't until then that I really appreciated what Proust was doing or attempting to capture. Maybe if I ever read anything about a book ahead of time, I wouldn't have had to wait so long to really understand? I don't know, but at least I'm not completely dreading the next one.

I finished Oliver Twist, which was surprisingly not a slog. I actually got through it quickly, and enjoyed most of it. I could have done without the ending chapter, but I know these sorts of "wrapping up" chapters are pretty standard in books of the time. Oliver himself was sort of a non-entity, which I guess is understandable because there's not much interesting about the most sweet-tempered orphan in history.

Total: 137/150

Now I'm on to The Remains of the Day.

Another (big) one down: Main Street by Sinclair Lewis. Surprisingly readable, surprisingly enjoyable for me.

Total: 138/151

I finished The Remains of the Day. It gave me much food for thought.

Total: 139/152

Book 153 down the hatch - The Hound of the Baskervilles. Fun, and I even guessed one of the twists (I don't normally bother trying, but this one jumped out at me).

Total: 140/153

With a butterfly net?

Actually, it was the sister that jumped out at me, sans butterfly net. :) But it led down the same path, so to speak.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. A Russian novel I actually liked. And finished. (Shhhh, I know it's short.)

Total: 141/154

I haven't read this one, but Solzhenitsyn has Cancer Ward on the list too and I thought that book was well worth it's page count.

>84 fundevogel: I will be looking forward to reading more of his writing!

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. I figured I must have read this in high school because I went on a serious Agatha Christie binge, but it didn't seem familiar to me at all. So good!

Total: 142/155

Sputnik Sweetheart. This one was taken off the list after 2006. I dunno, I thought this was a good one, and a particularly good example of Murakami's treating the novel as a short story in terms of leaving things open to interpretation.

Total: 143/156

Notre Dame de Paris. Wow, there's one where not knowing anything about the story really had me surprised. I mean, some turns were telegraphed so much that I knew they were coming, but the overall arc wasn't what I expected.

Total: 144/157

The Crying of Lot 49. What did I just read?!

Total: 145/158

I had that reaction too! Makes me worried about future Pynchon's, since at least Crying was short.

The Crying of Lot 49 was my first Pynchon as well, and then I read Vineland. That was slightly better, in terms of plot, but not much. I'm entertained by the stories, but I don't know if I LIKE them.

>90 aliciamay: I was worried at first that I wasn't even going to get through this one, but it seemed to hit a stride for me about 2/3 of the way through. If that pattern holds true for the others on the list, I'm going to be doing a lot of reading before I feel like I'm getting anywhere. :)

>91 amaryann21: ...but I don't know if I LIKE them. Exactly. In the end, I was intrigued (for the reason I describe below), but I don't know that that adds up to liking it or finding it enjoyable.

I'm slowly coalescing my thoughts to write a review, but one thing that I found very interesting about The Crying of Lot 49 was that it made something happen for me outside of the book - it made me feel like I should be taking notes, drawing lines between connections and noting aliases ... in other words, that I should behave like a crazy conspiracy theorist. It was interesting to have the book break out of the page like that.

A Severed Head. I feel like there must have been a lot of these books in the '60s that were a result of analysis being such a big thing, with these characters overcoming taboos and everyone racing to be simultaneously the most open-minded and the most screwed up and therefore interesting.

But from my perspective, it's all just sort of silly.

Total: 146/159

The Leopard. I think I missed something; this was a solid 3-star read, but not very engaging to me. I think the fact that so much time passed between the chapters led to my lack of interest in the characters. I understand that the author wanted to cover a large time period, but it just ended up feeling like most of the action happened offstage.

Total: 147/160

And another one: Under Fire. Timely, as it's the centenary of the beginning of World War I. I'm not sure why this one doesn't get as much attention as other WWI novels; I thought it was mostly terrific.

Total: 148/161

Small Island. I don't know about the multiple view points in this one. They added something, but I felt impatient with some sections because I didn't want to hear from that particular person at the moment.

Total: 148/162

Impressions of Africa. Weirdness abounds. I was going to say that it seemed like maybe the book was put together backwards, since the story is all in the second half while the first half is just an endless parade of strange feats, then I read in the introduction that in some older versions of the book, reading the parts in reverse was suggested. However, after finishing it, I wouldn't actually advocate for that. But it definitely tested my patience.

Total: 149/163

Foucault's Pendulum. Fact and fiction, bravery and cowardice, faith and credulity. Not an easy read, but one which gave me much to think about (and surprisingly little of it is about the Knights Templar).

Total: 150/164

A Town Like Alice. Good riddance, racists.

Total: 151/165

Fathers and Children. Well, that was exceedingly difficult to get through at first, but got easier at somewhere around the 3/4 mark. Some Russian history wouldn't be out of place before reading this - or you will just find yourself flipping back and forth between notes and having your eyes glaze over.

Total: 152/166

All Souls' Day. Hm. I liked it, but I felt like some aspects were not that successful and so overall it was only okay.

Total: 153/167

Hunger. Good, but probably not the right time to be reading this, as it hit a little too close to home at the moment.

Total: 154/168

The Player of Games. Hokey.

Total: 155/169

Moon Palace. Absent-father angst. Some surprising similarities to Hunger.

Total: 156/170

Alamut. Historical fiction about the castle of Alamut and the rise of the Ismaili assassins. A good read, but also much to think about. Really good one.

Total: 156/171

I really liked Alamut too, ursula. Glad to see it's getting some play around here! :)

That was definitely an unheard-of gem for me. I found it interesting that the translator's note mentioned that Bartol got essentially slammed for not writing a "Slovenian" book. I hadn't really thought about that, the idea that people from these smaller countries are expected to write about their own countries, really. What a burden! People from the US, UK, etc. can write books set anywhere.

The Rainbow. I started off feeling positive about it, but it had beaten me down by the end. I would also never like to read the word "fecund" again, please.

Total: 157/172

>108 ursula: I guess that nixes Women in Love. I'm sure all the characters there are terribly fecund.

I'm sure they are. *sigh* I'll be reading it, but probably in the distant future!

Also, even if it weren't for that, I'd have to have a break to get over the weirdness of reading my name over and over again.

> 109, 110 Have you read Sons and Lovers and/of Lady Chatterley's lover? I did, when I was in my teens, and loved them. Now I am wondering if the are really much better than The Rainbow and Women in Love or if it was my teenage mind which loved love stories like those.

>111 Simone2: I have not. This was my first Lawrence. There were definitely things I liked about it, but it was kind of like an ill-advised relationship: all those things you think are charming at first eventually become the very things you can't stand.

>112 ursula: Wonderful analogy!

Crossfire. I dunno, it was okay, and it does give an interesting look into parts of Japanese society we don't tend to see represented a lot. Japan seems to either be innovation and academics or the Yakuza. This was more about the crime problems and legal issues that are part of everyday society - similar to the US, really. Oh, and with some supernatural powers thrown in. But the book didn't exactly knock my socks off, either.

Total: 157/173

>113 ipsoivan: Thanks. :)

>108 ursula: Well, I just finished Women in Love and found it worked in the reverse of your experience with The Rainbow. Lots of white loins, when they aren't loins of darkness or even suave loins. I howled for much of the early part of the book. Then I gradually become absorbed.

>115 ipsoivan: Hey, maybe the same thing will happen for me when I get around to it! The back of my copy of The Rainbow says "The Rainbow is, in many ways, unique among DH Lawrence's novels. It contains, as Richard Aldington puts it, "a serenity and leisureliness which are absent from his first three novels and did not survive the First World War and the persecution inflicted on him for writing this literary masterpiece." It is Lawrence's longest book, and his most ambitious one."

So, maybe some of his less ambitious works will connect with me better.

Red Harvest. Fun, and easy to picture in your head. I also ran across the source for the Coen brothers' movie title, Blood Simple.

Total: 158/174

The Beautiful Room Is Empty. Apparently, I should have read A Boy's Own Story first, but live and learn. I felt like this was one of those books where the last page, the last sentence even, really gives what went before its full impact.

Total: 159/175

Ferdydurke. Well, that was certainly something.

Total: 159/176

The Man Who Loved Children. Interminable.

Total: 159/177

>120 ursula: Yikes.

Well, the ratings seem to differ from my opinion significantly, but I really, really hated the book.

I loved that book when I read it years ago, to the extent that I eagerly loaned it to a friend who never returned it. So either they loved it too, or they threw it out the window in a fit of hatred. I mean, opinions clearly differ!

Different strokes, different folks and all of that! :)

Simon's Family, aka Simon and the Oaks. Pretty interesting; went in a completely different direction than I thought it would.

Total: 159/178

Paradise of the Blind - I really enjoyed this, it evoked the sights, smells, and tastes of Vietnam beautifully. Also, the dreams and realities of the consequences of people's decisions to changing circumstances.

Total: 159/179

The Burning Plain - Short stories set in the brutal world of Mexico's revolution and Mexican Indians. Reminded me of Cormac McCarthy, although I liked these stories.

Total: 159/180

Buddha's Little Finger - What a weird and funny book! Absurdism and Buddhism collide in Russia.

Total: 160/181

What a Carve Up! - That's two in a row in the "weird" column, although this one was more weird because of the writing style(s) than the subject matter.

Total: 161/182

Lord Jim - Well, it was certainly as densely written as I remember Heart of Darkness being, and much longer. I guess I understand the story being told through everyone's eyes except Jim's, but it's not my favorite technique in a book.

Total: 162/183

Testament of Youth - Although I was late starting and therefore finishing this, I picked it up because of the group read. Loved it. So touching and profound. A really clear look into the life and disillusionment of a generation.

Total: 163/184

In Search of Lost Time - I did it! I started and completed a year-long project. I'm so glad I read it - I've got pages and pages of quotes pulled and notes made.

Total: 164/185

Congratulations - nice way to end the year.

Well done!

>133 puckers:, >134 paruline:, Thanks to both of you! I have tried other long-term projects in the past (I'm not naming any names, but *cough*Clarissa*cough*) and haven't managed to stick to them. This makes me more likely to tackle something like it again because I really can do it. Of course, the fact that we stayed put in one place for the entire year helped since I was able to be consistent about checking the books out of the library. Last year made things like that impossible.

The Poisonwood Bible - I enjoyed it. One of the most interesting themes for me was the idea that good intentions do not make up for the damage that can be done by one's actions.

Total: 165/186

>132 ursula: congratulations. I admire you. And envy you a bit! Should you recommend it to someone who has hundreds of books yet to read from the list? Honest....?

>137 Simone2: Thanks! You know, I would. I can't say I was always enthralled with it - in fact, for about all but the last 20 pages of the first one, I wondered why on earth I was reading this. (Which sounds more negative than it really was, I guess. I was frustrated by the book until I got to the end of it and started to see maybe a little bit about what he was doing.) And there were a few times in other books when I was not as enthralled with it. So, like most books, really; there are always parts that are not as engaging. And I had read somewhere that you don't get to find out what the whole thing is about until the end, which is also kind of true. This doesn't apply, of course, if you read real reviews or read with a study guide or something, which might make it easier going, I suppose. I read blind because I like to experience it for myself, on my own. The tradeoff is that sometimes I find myself in more confusion than is strictly necessary! :)

But I think there's much to love, and tackling it over the course of a year, making it a steady habit (I think people said that if it were spaced evenly, you'd read about 11 pages every day for the year) makes it a steady companion. Some days I'd read my 10 or 11 pages and be glad to escape, and some days I'd realize suddenly that I'd already read 20 or more pages. Proust is referenced so much, too, that it feels good to finally really understand those allusions.

>138 ursula: thanks for a wonderful review. I think I see what you mean. A companion, that's certainly something to recommend. I started in January but halfway through the first book I already gave up. I understand now that I should have read on a little more to be captured. And you're right: Proust is referenced so much, we really should read him. I'll think of it again!

Cannery Row - As I said over in the December "what are you reading?" thread, I grew up in this area of the world and I think that makes Steinbeck's strong evocation of place even more powerful for me. This isn't a traditional novel in storyline or scope, but it's a great series of vignettes that let you into the world of Monterey's down-but-not-outs.

Total: 166/187

Memoirs of Hadrian - One can only hope to achieve such a sense of perspective both on the times one has lived in, and one's own life and actions, good and bad.

Total: 167/188

Journey to the Centre of the Earth - Fun, I suppose. The uncle was a great ill-tempered, supercilious character.

Total: 168/189

The Book of Disquiet - Dark, but poetic. I don't know that "enjoy" is the right word to use here, but I'm glad I read it.

Total: 168/190

I'm Not Scared - beautiful and terrifying story of childhood.

Anna Karenina - finally, on the second try! Good, actually, but the last 50 pages were useless and some of the discussions on elections and farming were stultifying.

Total: 169/192

Orlando - who knew Virginia Woolf had a sense of humor? I enjoyed about 2/3 of it and then it got really weird.

Total: 170/193

Blood and Guts in High School - well, that was ... challenging. I haven't even given it a star rating yet, because I'm really not sure where it'll fall.

Total: 171/194

The Maltese Falcon - entertaining. Sam Spade is a real bastard, underneath it all.

Total: 172/195

Invisible Cities - can't really complain about much of anything in this dreamy and richly imagined book.

Total: 173/196

A Tale of Two Cities - It was the best of books, it was the worst of books ... which averages out to it being an okay book.

Total: 174/197

#149 What an awesome review

>150 Nickelini: :)

The Castle of Otranto - Well, this certainly had everything - bizarre prophecies, noblemen who may or may not have a claim to their titles, women pledged to marriages they don't really want, a mysterious, handsome young man, menacing suits of armor, secret passageways, hidden histories, knights ... It's all sort of ridiculous, but you see where all the tropes originated.

Total: 175/198

Untouchable - essentially One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in India, but not as readable.

Total: 175/199

I've hit #200 with Deadline in Athens. A reasonably diverting and twisty little mystery story set in Athens, which I now know has serious problems with gridlock.

Total: 175/200

Congratulations on 200! I found Deadline in Athens one of the more fun books on the List - a nice one to reach a milestone with.

>154 puckers: Thanks! I enjoyed it, it was kind of what I needed while reading Infinite Jest and preparing for an international move. The milestone is just the icing on the cake!

I'm a month or two away from my 200, it's looming ahead of me like a beacon :-)

Congratulations on getting there.

Congratulations ursula!

>156 M1nks:, >157 paruline: Thanks! For a while it felt like I might never make it ... but it's only a temporary high - now the next goal is far away! :)

The next goal is 250! One book at a time...

Congratulations on 200! Well done!

Infinite Jest. Done!

More thoughts later, maybe.

Total: 176/201

Congratulations. That is not an easy book! Although I had a great book group which did make it a lot easier and helped me pick up a stack of things I would have missed on my own.

Corelli's Mandolin. Mostly ugh, with a couple of somewhat bright spots.

That's all I have to report, moving to a new continent makes it difficult to read/concentrate.

Total: 177/202

Ethan Frome. Well, I didn't see that coming.

Total: 178/203

>163 ursula: From where to where are you moving?

>165 Simone2: I moved at the end of April, from California to Italy.

OK, I am seriously jealous. Is this move permanent? Where in Italy?

Quite a difference! That will take some getting used to, but you certainly will. You could have chosen worse after California! Italy is great. Good luck and happy reading there!

>167 annamorphic: It's a one-year move at the moment. My husband has a research position at the university. We are in Padova, in the north-east part of the country.

>168 Simone2: Well, I didn't choose it, it chose me. :) (It was looking like it might be Estonia instead ...) I'm a native Californian, although I haven't spent much time there since 2008.

The Good Soldier Schweik - serendipitious since I ended up going to Prague last month. An interesting anti-war book - I had a bit of difficulty getting into it early on but came to appreciate Schweik's tactics soon enough.

Total: 179/204

The Postman Always Rings Twice - well, that was certainly a bit different than I'd expected it to be. Now I can watch the movie.

Total: 180/205

Jacques the Fatalist and His Master - glad I'd read both Tristram Shandy and Candide before this one. I liked it quite a lot, but reading it with many interruptions wasn't ideal. I'm looking forward to the other Diderots on the list now.

Total: 181/206

The Moor's Last Sigh - Hm. I feel a little like I did when I read Foucault's Pendulum, which is like I was along for the ride with someone who could make far more references than I could possibly catch. But I liked it.

Total: 182/207

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - I loved this, and I really, really did not expect to.

Total: 183/208

I have read most of those named :-)

The tenant of Wildfell Hall was great!

>176 paruline: It was! I don't know if this makes me more or less afraid to tackle the other Brontes. :)

The Secret History - My daughter read it and liked it a lot, and so I picked it up sooner rather than later to avoid having to go around too long with a hand up and "no spoilers!" in conversations with her. I thought I knew where things were going, but I was wrong. Well, right in some ways but mostly wrong. Twisty psychological suspense.

Total: 184/209

The Trial - I hadn't realized beforehand that this was an unfinished work. As I was reading, I kept vacillating between whether to take it as a statement on law, or as a reflection on something larger. I suppose it could be either.

Total: 185/210

I didn't realise it was unfinished, and I've read it! I thought it was just an abrupt ending.

In my copy, the end of chapter 8 where it said "This chapter was left unfinished" was the giveaway.

Oh yes, I remember now. This was an unfinished book with a finished ending.

Like a dawg!

Junky - Interesting.

Total: 186/211

The Portrait of a Lady - sometimes surprisingly amusing, considering how dismal everything really is. Also, I thought I knew how it ended after having read The Master, but I must have gotten it confused with a different book, or with Henry James's real life or something.

Total: 187/212

Rabbit, Run - like reading a beautifully-written account of a slow-motion train wreck.

Total: 188/213

#185, great summary of that reading experience. Now you need to join the group read for them.

>186 annamorphic: Thanks, but group reads are kind of out for me at the moment. It's not terribly easy for me to access a lot of books - they have to either be available from my American library on Kindle, or I have to read it in Italian (if I can find it). So .... :)

Them isn't a common book. I thought I would have had to order it with an interlibrary loan or go into town to the Barbican library. Fortunately however it was available for download from the Open Library so that made it easy.

A Gate at the Stairs - Nope. Just nope. Some lovely writing, some interesting scenes, but it didn't add up to anything but a whole lot of WTF for me.

Total: 188/214

A Farewell to Arms - This book was definitely not a fit for me. The word repetition alone drove me crazy, not to mention how insipid Catherine was and how bizarre the "love story" was.

Total: 189/215

Se questo è un uomo (If This is a Man, or Survival in Auschwitz) - This expanded my Italian vocabulary by about 100 words for different types of misery, torture, death and privation.

Total: 190/216

Day of the Triffids - great fun, and yet touching on all the deepest fears of humanity.

Total: 191/217

I really enjoyed Triffids too.

The English Patient - I don't know, I think that reading this is small spurts was not the thing to do. It's written so dreamily and the various story lines are so disjointed that it required more attention. The longer I read in a sitting, the more I liked it (except for a couple of times when I got bored). I'm just not sure what to think about this one.

Total: 192/218

>194 ursula: I had a similar reaction to The English Patient. I also noticed that Ondaatje over-uses (in my opinion) pronouns. So many times I'd think "which characters am I reading about now?" This is a fault I've found elsewhere in literary fiction. This is a case where the film is better than the book.

I read his Anil's Ghost and could not stand the disjointedness and repeatedly had the "who is doing this? what is going on? WHEN is this?!" issue. Did not care for his writing at all, too irksome.

>196 .Monkey.: Interesting! I didn't notice that in Anil's Ghost, although I completely believe you that it's there. Sometimes I find him tedious, other times I love his writing. Anil's Ghost is one that I adored.

Okay then, maybe it wasn't all a result of the way I read it - his writing really is confusing. I feel better.

I had been wondering how they even managed to make a movie out of it. I don't know if I'm up for watching it, though.

Yeah don't feel bad, his style definitely leaves a lot to be desired, at least for me!

>197 Nickelini: I thought the story itself was pretty good, but I couldn't stand the way it was written. Several times he randomly jumped back in time, to an entirely different location just, right in the middle of things, no explanation at all, and I'd have to go back and read things again trying to figure out what I had missed (nothing!), what in the world was supposed to be going on. Frustrating!

>198 ursula: The film is really lovely, if a bit long and slow moving. But the cinematography, sets, music are all wonderful, and what a cast! Ralph Fiennes, Kristen Scott Thomas, William Dafoe, Colin Firth, and my favourite storyline--the relationship between the sapper and nurse, played by the gorgeous Naveen Andrews and Juliette Binoche. Last I checked it's on Netflix, and I'd go watch it except my husband has the TV right now.

Naveen Andrews, hm? He was my favorite thing about Lost.

Mine too! Sayid! I remember being very impressed by the English Patiënt-movie, but I don't remember him in it.

>202 Simone2: I remember being very impressed by the English Patiënt-movie, but I don't remember him in it.

Argh! Then you must see it again! Until I rewatched the film last year, pretty much the only thing I DID remember was the scene where he sends Juliette Binoche up on that high swing in the abandoned church. They were just so romantic. As for forgetting, I'm a huge Colin Firth fan, but I didn't remember him being in it.

>203 Nickelini: Netflix you said? What a perfect excuse to throw Wings of the Dove in a corner, for now :-)

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano - Mostly lives up to its name, although I could have done without the whole chapter or so at the end having to do with his religion. But I was left with some questions, particularly about how he, as a former slave, felt about transporting slaves on ships he was working on as a free man. He talked a lot about the terrible things that happened to slaves, and his own experiences, and about why slavery should cease to exist - but at the same time, he didn't have much to say about transporting them himself or running a plantation with slave labor.

Total: 193/219

Amsterdam - quite readable, and with some interesting themes. But the ending was just ridiculous to me.

Total: 194/220

>206 ursula: That was my opinion too. A good read, interesting theme, but in the end... completely unbelievable.

Ditto. I don't think it deserved its literary prize tbh.

Well, it's always a bit reassuring to hear I'm not completely alone in an opinion like that. :)

Beloved - I was dreading this a bit, based on my feelings about reading The Bluest Eye 25 years ago (ugh.), but I tried to go into it with as open a mind as possible. And I'm glad I did. The story was powerful, the writing was incredible. I really loved it.

Total: 195/221

Cranford - I'll be honest, it took me forever to get into this, and by the time I did, it surprised me by ending. (I was reading a kindle version and didn't realize there was another short novel included, so it ended rather abruptly long before the 100% mark.)

Total: 196/222

Written on the Body - the text equivalent of sinking in a pool of body-temperature water: completely immersive.

Total: 197/223

A Handful of Dust - This was like two completely different stories pasted together. I probably would have enjoyed them both more if I'd been expecting the change in focus.

Total: 198/224

White Teeth - perhaps a bit over-long, but often funny and quite true to life.

Total: 199/225

The Unbearable Lightness of Being - philosophy, political dissent, relationships and a dog. I liked it, but I probably could have liked it more if I'd been less distracted while reading it.

Total: 200/226