Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion

Come here to post what book from the list you recently started, and if you would like to ask for opinions on the book. Also tell people how you liked the book they just cracked open. Please don't post spoilers unless they are asked for, and for those who don't want to know; warn that there is a spoiler please.

I'll start us off.
The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster

Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco is next for me. It's been on my list/shelf forever, long before I picked up 1001...

Middlesex. I blew through the first chapter. Chapters two and three are a little more sluggish...

Ugh. Foucault's Pendulum. I read this about a week after finishing the Da Vinci Code (double ugh). It is, by far, an improvement on Dan Brown's opus of stupidity but for my money the greatest book on various conspiracies throughout history will always be Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus Trilogy. For how much I loved Name of the Rose, Foucault's Pendulum was a bit disappointing to me. Maybe I just didn't care for the protagonist.

I just started Drop City. So far I am totally loving it. Who knew hippie communes where so interesting?

Ugh, I don't know that I'll ever be able to start one of the books on this list, I have so many others that I want to read! I just finished the Golden Compass series and I'm in love with it! But I want to get through the scads of books languishing on my shelves before buying a new one. What to do!!

Well I must be a lunatic or just plain bored...I've just started 3 from this list!

Middlesex (audiobook)
Pilgrims Progress (on my blackberry)
The ground beneath her feet (home/commuting)

Oy.

I have been reading "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" for the past week.

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie- am about 100 pages in and love it. In some ways reminds of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Started An Obedient Father this morning. The writing has been good, the story disturbing. I'll keep you posted.

I started The Ground Beneath Her Feet yesterday. I found Moor's Last Sigh and Satanic Verses unfinishable, but I'm really enjoying this so far! I finished Maximum City, a nonfiction account of modern Bombay, the same day, so I'm really enjoying all the Bombay stuff in Ground Beneath Her Feet. Wordplay, mythology, and rock and roll -- what's not to like?

Cathy, I had the same trouble with Satanic Verses, it ended up taking me a long time to get through. I enjoyed Midnight's Children and Ground Beneath Her Feet far more. Did you enjoy Maximum City? I've had it on my Amazon Wish List for a while now but haven't picked it up yet. I'm a sucker for books set in Bombay/Mumbai. You should also check out Gregory David Robert's epic Shantaram or Vikram Chandra's Sacred Games- the descriptions of Mumbai in both make it seem that the city itself is the protagonist.

I'm also currently reading The Ground Beneath Her Feet and I'm really enjoying it. I read the Satanic Verses last year and had a sort of odd experience with it. I don't think that I understood even a fragment of what I read but still I liked reading on. It did not seem unfinishable at all to me... really weird since usually I don't like reading books where I don't know what's going on!!!
Anyway, the ground beneath her feet is really good and I look forward discussing it soon!

Logan, I did like Maximum City, although parts were so grim that it was difficult to read. I loved how much detail he went into about the workings of the city, although he relies a lot on these first-person relationships he formed with whores, murderers, and filmmakers, so it's more of a snapshot of a small group of individuals than it is a comprehensive portrait of Bombay.

I bought Shantaram a few months ago, and your endorsement is making me think I should bump it up in my "to read" queue.

I just started the Life of Pi. It's pretty good so far. I am dying to read Middlesex! Let me know how it is!!!

Don't Move by Margaret Mazzantini

The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coehlo. I don't have high hopes from the first 40 or so pages.

Against my better judgment I started Elizabeth Costello - anyone out there want to tell me it will be alright?

Finally finished my last read, Michael Polan's The Omnivore's Dilemma which has to be the most interesting book I've read in years, and am excited to dive back into the world of Fiction. For this I'm picking up a book that I bought on a bargain table years ago and which has gathered dust on my bookshelf ever since, The Hours by Michael Cunningham.

awww.... it's a troll! how cute, it thinks it's people!

Um...wow.

One might say that it is rather sad (and yes, pathetic) to troll the group threads making inane little comments.

Although...maybe that is the 'life' we should all be striving for....let's all ponder that for a while.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

I just started Invisible Man by Ellison and it has been quite gripping thus far.

Started Rousseau's Julie - it's been a while since I've read anything written prior to 1850, so I need to get back into fighting form.

Hi Everyone,

I just deleted a bunch of posts from Squigle who was just plain annoying. However, I was dumb and didn't realize the delete button was below the post...rather than near the title. blah. So I'm sorry I deleted like 4 real posts before I realized my mistake. If you don't see your previous post...please post again! I promise not to do that again!

I'm just starting the Omnivore's Dilemma if you want someone to discuss it with, Logan ;)

Logan and Kristen, I loved Omnivore's Dilemma (wrote a review on Goodreads) but more specifically, I talked about it on my reading blog here and here.
I didn't exactly "just start" Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus but it is the one from the list that I'm working through now. I am really enjoying it, but it is a lot of work. I have a PhD in Musicology and I'm finding it a bit arduous, so I can only imagine that someone without musical background might be turned off by the lengthy musical and allegorical discussions.

I just started All American Girl by Deb Cabot. It's really good.

I'm finally reading Jane Eyre and can't believe I never picked it up sooner. (considering I've had a copy of it for at least 5 years)

Kristen/Rebecca,

I would love to hear your thoughts on Omnivore's Dilemma. I set up a thread for this in the Specific Books folder so that we don't keep hijacking this one.

I just started The Ground Beneath Her Feet a few days ago. I am only 150 pages in and I have to admit that it is not grabbing me. Though there are some marvelous ideas, it is not a book that is encouraging me to stay up reading past my bedtime.

I just started Brave New World, I probably was suppose to read this at some point in high school but never did. i'm about 100 pages into it and i am not sure whether i like it or not.... I have two other books i want to read this month, but i seem to be spending a lot of time on this one (actually a lot of time not reading it and napping instead)

I started The Lord of the Rings at lunch today. Does this count for 3 books? No? OK, didn't think so. It's 1008 pages, plus appendices A to F and my goal is to finish by Easter. Wish me luck!

I just started Hermann Hesse's Glass Bead Game. I think it's the last book of his that I haven't read and I am really glad that I've saved it until the end because by page 60 he's referenced obscure happenings from at least three different books. It's dense, but I can already tell it will stack up well against Steppenwolf.

Ivy: I don't think you'll need luck or encouragement: Lord of the rings is awesome :-)

After the last book I picked off the list disappointed me so much, I think it's time to go for an author I know and love. I'll be picking up Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory and The Honorary Consul next. As soon as I finish these midterms that is...

Incommunicado - I am currently reading Foucault's Pendulum and I have to say it's really hard for me to finish. I'm only a third of the way done, and normally even long books, only take me a month at most to finish. I've been working on this one for half a year! I'm enjoying the basic concepts of the book, but I feel that the substories get me really bogged down. It's a lot of history and tangent storylines. I'd love to hear what other people have to say about it.

It's also good to note that this was published in 1989...well before Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. I liked DVC for a fun, light read, not so much for the theories he presented, which I agree with Logan, there are better books for that.

I think I would enjoy Eco's Baudolino or Name of the Rose better though.

Rachael - Have you finished Drop City? Did you get to Alaska yet? We read this one in my other book club and people were sort of disappointed by the ending.

For what it's worth, Name of the Rose is A LOT better than Foucault's Pendulum. A LOT better.

I put aside "The Song of the Lark" by Willa Cather (not resonating with me right now) to start "You Can't Go Home Again" by Thomas Wolfe.
Neither of these books made the list, but other titles by the authors did.

I also read a few pages of "Group Portrait With Lady" last night. Anyone else read this one? It apparently was quite the experimental novel for its time....

I just got married on March 5th so I have been a little distracted, but I am ready to get back to my daily reading time. I am currently reading two books including the Bible. One of the books is from the list and it is by a Russian author named Mikail Bulgakov titled The Master and Margarita. It is an excellent novel so far and I encourage everyone to check it out! It is a metaphor of what happened during the leadership of Stalin. I am not much of a history fan, but it is actually very interesting and a fantastic, wild, humorous story full of twists and turns.

Elizabeth, I'm a big fan of The Master and Margarita. Great book!

I just started reading Malloy by Samuel Beckett. I don't know that I'll read the whole trilogy (Malone Dies and The Unnameable being the next two), at least all at once.

I am halfway through Atonement and I'm really impressed. The story took a chapter or two to really get going, but now it is becoming increasingly harder to put down. Damn those cliff-hangers at the end of each chapter!! I actually had to force myself to go to bed last night. I always hate letting go of that momentum.

I'm not done with Doctor Faustus yet, but I started Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook today.

I've just starting Eva Trout, by Elizabeth Bowen. So far, it's compelling, but all the characters communicate in a very oblique way. It's extremely ENGLISH.

I'd never read Bowen before and she writes beautifully. there's a short passage describing what one character, who married a fruit farmer (who has now failed horribly at that career), imagined life in the orchards would be like, and it's just so swoony and gorgeous.

Wow. War and Peace. That is like my Everest. What did you think of it??

I picked up Haruki Murakami's Wind-Up Bird Chronicles at the airport last night and then spent an entire flight when I should have been sleeping sucked into the pages. One of the review snippets on the back cover compared his writing to Thomas Pynchon's and after about 200 pages I am finding the comparison very apt. Definitely a good recommendation by way of the 1001 must-read list.

Thanks Marina! You're reasonings were wonderful. I am definitely looking forward to reading it. :-)

I just started the Power and the Glory by Graham Greene. It came highly recommended by one of my friends. I'm almost half-way through with it. His writing style is a bit confusing to follow, but so far I'm quite intrigue. I'll be sure to post my comments when I'm done reading it.

I recently started Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy by John LeCarre which was recommended to me, but I am having some trouble getting into it so far. I can't keep track of who's who....