Bookable Me

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

2012-10-01T23:57:00.000-03:00

I finished it: Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. Recently, I was asked about my latest achievement and this book came to mind. I didn't want to sound like a total nerd, so I didn't share it but.... It really was an achievement. The book was good, don't get me wrong, but it was long. At times, I felt like starting a new book when the boring bits about farming in the 1800's became a little much for me but I held on, I kept at it. A lot happened: people met, fell in love, got married, had affairs, had babies, became mentally unstable, died. I really do think everyone should attempt this book at some point but I would caution that it takes a certain dedication to make it through to the end. Not everyone would feel this way but I can only write from my perspective.

One of my favorite quotes came from Levin (who was my favorite character): "This whole world of ours is only a speck of mildew sprung up on a tiny plant; yet we think we can have something great - thoughts, actions! They are all but grains of sand!" It's not a new idea and I'm sure we've all thought this at some point in our lives; it's very true, though, isn't it? Levin was prone to pessimistic opinions and thoughts frequently, but I liked something about him. He was surprisingly complex. He could be arrogant and confident one minute, unsure and jealous the next (literally in the time it would take him to walk from one room to another, he could be possessed by envy over the littlest things), thoughtful and pensive but brash and dismissive at the same time. I absolutely loved him during the birth of his son. I think that's when he really became my favorite character and probably the most memorable part of this entire novel for me. He was so worried and didn't understand half of what was going on, but he was so endearing during this part of the book.

Kitty grew on me. I didn't like her at first and I don't think I expected her to become anything substantial in the novel. She was naive and foolish but then something happens to her (something the luckiest of us gets to experience, in my opinion) and it changes the way she views herself, her surroundings. This change gives her more meaning, more depth. I liked her much more afterwards.

The title character, Anna, was just hopeless. I don't know what the normal opinion of her is by literary bigwigs but to me, she was hopeless. The woman did not know how to be happy. I commend her for living her life by her own rules and shunning society when her choices were unpopular but I think what society thought and whether they accepted her meant more to her than she could admit to herself. Her unwillingness to let herself be content was her downfall.... She didn't love Karenin and only married him because he asked; had a child with him, wasn't happy. Fell in love with Vronsky, had an affair; was miserable because she couldn't be with Vronsky. Got pregnant, almost died, left her husband and son, lives with Vronsky; is unhappy because she's not accepted in society, seems almost mentally unstable when she should be happy that she's with him, married or not. Has her daughter with her in the new life she shares with Vronsky, but isn't really in her day to day life and leaves most of her upbringing to nurses and maids. She feels jealous whenever Vronsky needs to be among society, (can't really fault her for this though.... there was a huge double standard in that he is not viewed in the same way she is after the scandal, even though they're both involved). She's obsessed with the fact that he may find someone else to love and torments herself with doubt. She drives herself insane, basically. It's sad, maddening, and awful. She was needy, weepy, weak and I pitied her. I like my female characters to be strong and independent (Jane Eyre ruined me, I think) and Anna was not these things. Her final scene was so well written and came at me so unexpectedly that I had to reread it two times.

...Just a side note on a very minor character: Varenka. I liked her and I wish I knew more about her. Why was she so dedicated to the elderly and the sick? Why did Kitty feel such a draw to her? There was a small part of the story when someone connected to Levin was about to propose to her but didn't. Her disappointment was my disappointment. I felt bad for her.

The novel has been described as a "slice of life" and it really is! It's a peek into the lives of these 4 or 5 couples and it sort of stays with you. There are some boring parts about farming and Russian government procedures that I read but didn't absorb, but all in all, the book allows the reader to look into the lives of Levin and Kitty, Dolly and Oblonsky, Anna, Vronsky and Karenin; it was a nice way to spend my summer and I'd recommend it to anyone who wanted a good, long read.

...In reading some information on Anna Karenina from Schmoop.com (seriously awesome website for anyone who loves to learn), I came across these two paragraphs and it sums up everything I was poorly trying to convey:

Even though Anna Karenina is a famous tale of a lady who steps out on her husband, there are many moments that get to us in this novel have nothing to do with betrayal. We read Anna Karenina for the part when Anna is briefly reunited with her son after a long absence only to lose him again. Or that time when Karenin manages to do something great by forgiving his cheating wife and her lover. Or the terrible moment when Vronsky realizes he's broken his own horse's back, and it's a symbol for the way he's ruined the life of his lady-love just by sleeping with her (we told you Tolstoy is a moralist, right?).

Like all novels, this is a book of its time, and that means that parts of it don't speak to us across the hundred and forty-odd years that separate us from Tolstoy. But as for Tolstoy's many meditations on isolation, loneliness, resentment, betrayal, and even hope for a better life – we don't know about you, but we feel these things are always relevant. Over the course of Anna Karenina, the main characters of the novel come off the page more brightly and clearly than some real-life people we've known. And given that Tolstoy and the social world he's depicting are long gone, that's quite an accomplishment.

You can read more here.

I had planned to choose another book from my list after a break of two weeks but I picked up 'The Book Of Negroes' by Lawrence Hill today on my lunch break and read a couple of chapters to pass the time. I think I'll read it next, then choose a book from the list. It'll give me time to let the book choose me, to be honest. I spent so much time with Tolstoy, during which a few books were mentioned to me in passing conversation and I made mental notes but have since forgotten which on the list I was going to read next. Definitely not War and Peace. Tolstoy was an amazing writer but I just can`t take another 2-3 months with him. Not yet, anyway.

From Narnia to Russia...

2012-07-06T15:30:00.000-03:00

Finally finished The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. It was a long, interesting read. Made up of seven books arranged in order of the story, not necessarily the publication dates, it brings the reader into the fictional world of Narnia and usually deals with some sort of good vs. evil battle fought by the people of Narnia and a couple of children from the "other" world. It was toward the last half of the story that I realized how much of the story was based on the Christian religion. A little research and yup, this is a pretty commonly accepted fact. Apparently, another set of titles on my list, Philip Pullman's series His Dark Materials is seen as a response to The Chronicles of Narnia, written by a self-described atheist who rejects the spiritual themes in The Chronicles of Narnia.

I'm sort of tired of children's literature for the moment, or else I would have started that series to compare.

So, now onto a very adult book: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. This book intimidated me for years. I felt it would be beyond my comprehension, too difficult to attempt and I almost left it off the list. But, a conversation on a CBC radio broadcast between two writers who discussed Tolstoy and his writing peaked my interest and I decided to give it a try. Gotta at least try, right?

I'm glad I did. I started it yesterday and I'm already on chapter 15. Of course, seeing as the book is broken down into eight parts with a total of over 200 chapters, this isn't all that impressive. It's the size of a brick. I'll be reading it till well into August, if not September.

So far, I'm disliking Oblonsky and I'm liking Levin. Oblonsky has charm and that certain smoothness that politicians always possess but he feels no guilt for cheating on his wife and offers no apologies. If anything, he's upset that he got caught and feels he should have hid the affair better. He even goes so far as to console himself with the fact that he had to cheat because his wife is no longer attractive. What a romantic. Levin, on the other hand, is very stern and unattractive, keeps his feelings close to his chest. But inside, he's a mess for Kitty and I find him kind of endearing.

So that's where I'm at in the story. Hopefully I'll stay interested!

An Update.

2012-06-24T01:21:00.000-03:00

Wow. I meant to update this blog way sooner than this. I'm horrible at making myself do things. I've taken the last two months to just be. Be lazy, be productive, be thankful, be bored and be a million other things. Mostly be a procrastinator, one of my many faults.

I read a lot of books last winter during my forced break from the blog. Some were on my list and some weren't. A few were great, most were good. All kept me company and kept my thoughts occupied, my brain sharp. I really do love to read. I'm sure you've got that by now but I seriously don't know what I would do if I had no books within my reach. I can live without television, internet and the phone, without seeing people on a regular basis, without conversation. But I don't think I could live without books, without a good story.

One that stands out in my mind was "Gone With The Wind" by Margaret Mitchell (Number 43 on my list). I enjoyed this book, truly. It was a long read but once I got about two-three chapters in, I was happy that I would be immersed in the world of Scarlett and Rhett for a while. America before, during and after the Civil War was an interesting time, made more so by silly and petty Scarlett O'Hara. What amazed me most about her was how she started out so spoiled, went through all the things she went through but never really grew as a character. She married, she was widowed, she saved her family's plantation, she worked like a man, she married again, she had children, she lost a child... Life really happened to this chick. And after all this, she was still a shallow, selfish person who was deserted by the one man she should have loved right from the start. Not that Rhett shouldn't have left - trust me, I wanted him to leave her. I would have left her a long time before he did, were I in his place. She took everyone for granted. She was bothered by everyone, annoyed by being needed. She never really enjoyed anything but money and superficial friends, parties and material things. It's been a while since I've disliked a character so much. I kinda enjoyed my distaste for Scarlett though, if I can be honest. I liked disliking her.

I watched the movie (starting to become a habit of this project: read the book, watch the movie) after I finished reading the book and while I enjoyed the movie, so much of the book was left out. If you ever have to choose between the book and the movie, read the book. The movie is a quick, condensed, Hollywood retelling of the book. You get more of a love for the story from the book.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (Number 47 on my list) was a difficult read. I've heard authors state in interviews that they didn't really understand this book the first time they read it, but that picking it up later on for a second time proved to be more educational. It's descriptive, dark, and interesting. The human soul is a dark, dark place, is what I have taken away from this book on my first read.

Here is an excerpt, one I really like for the descriptive qualities of the book:

"A slight clinking behind me made me turn my head. Six black men advanced in a file, toiling up the path. They walked erect and slow, balancing small baskets full of earth on their heads, and the clink kept time with their footsteps. Black rags were wound round their loins, and the short ends behind wagged to and fro like tails. I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope; each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were connected together with a chain whose bights swung between them, rhythmically clinking. Another report [gunshot] from the cliff made me think suddenly of that ship of war I had seen firing into a continent. It was the same kind of ominous voice; but these men could by no stretch of imagination be called enemies. They were called criminals, and the outraged law, like the bursting shells, had come to them, an insoluble mystery from over the sea. All their meagre breasts panted together, the violently dilated nostrils quivered, the eyes stared stonily uphill. They passed me within six inches, without a glance, with that complete, deathlike indifference of unhappy savages."

Can't you just see the scene? Hear the panting breath of the so-called criminals as they make their way up the path? I love the sentence "They were called criminals, and the outraged law, like the bursting shells, had come to them, an insoluble mystery from over the sea." Living peacefully one day in your own brand of community and the next, strangers from across the sea thrust their version of law, of existence down your throat and call you a criminal, tie you to your fellow man and force you into slavery. Heart of darkness, is right.

"The mind of man is capable of anything - because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future."

Beautiful.

Interesting little factoid I discovered while doing random research about Heart of Darkness is that although English was Conrad's third language, he is generally considered one of the greatest writers of fiction in the English language. Quite the accomplishment.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Number 114 on my list) is a painful story about a young girl who is raped and murdered. It was made into a movie in 2009 (such a gorgeous film by Peter Jackson, full of color and of light) so I knew what it was about and I knew it would make me cry because it affected me deeply. It's a beautiful story, an insanely heartbreaking but uplifting story that needed to be told. This is one of those books that I will remember forever. I could be 98 years old, living in a rest home and see a copy of this book and I would immediately think "Susie Salmon, like the fish" and remember the cornfield, the place under the earth, the sinkhole. I love this story. It left a mark on my heart.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon (No. 104 on list) was a quick, easy read. I finished it in 8 hours. I enjoyed this book. It taught me about Autism from the point of view of an Autistic boy. I could read it again and enjoy it just as much as the first time.

The Fellowship of the Rings by J.R. Tolkien (First book of No. 113 on list). Here, I hit a snag. I started it. I put it down. I started it again. I put it down. I started and finished another book, then picked Lord of The Rings back up again but still no good. Still didn't finish it. It's not a fun read. I'm so confused... I loved the movies. I should enjoy the books! I've never had this problem before. I just can't seem to get into the story because of the endless description. I talked it over with two friends who have read the series and they both agreed: Too. Much. Description. We get it, the grass is green. The trees are tall. Gollum's annoying. Get on with the story, Tolkien.

I'll try reading it again someday.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (No. 126 on list). Oh, this made up for Lord of The Rings. Please, please, please: If you, anonymous person who might someday read this post, take nothing else away from this humble little project of mine, please read this book. If you are a book lover (and you must be. Why else would you be here?) you will love this book. A quote on the front from Stephen King called it "One gorgeous read" and that just sums it up completely. It is a beautiful, gorgeous read. It gave me goosebumps at one point! It inspired me to free form write late at night after reading a few chapters. Words came pouring out like my pen was possessed. The attraction to this book, for me, is not so much the story as a whole, but the writing itself. Here's an example:

A motionless figure stood out in a patch of shadow on the cobbled street. The flickering amber glow of a cigarette was reflected in his eyes. He wore dark clothes, with one hand buried in the pocket of his jacket, the other holding the cigarette that wove a web of blue smoke around his profile. He observed me silently, his face obscured by the street lighting behind him. He remained there for almost a minute smoking nonchalantly, his eyes fixed on mine. Then, when the cathedral bell struck midnight, the figure gave a faint nod of the head, followed, I sensed, by a smile that I could not see. I wanted to return the greeting but was paralyzed. The figure turned, and I saw the man walking away, with a slight limp. Any other night I would barely have noticed the presence of that stranger, but as soon as I'd lost sight of him in the mist, I felt a cold sweat on my forehead and found it hard to breathe. I had read an identical description of that scene in The Shadow of the Wind. In the story the protagonist would go out onto the balcony every night at midnight and discover that a stranger was watching him from the shadows, smoking nonchalantly. The stranger's face was always veiled by darkness, and only his eyes could be guessed at in the night, burning like hot coals. The stranger would remain there, his right hand buried in the pocket of his black jacket, and then he would go away, limping. In the scene I had just witnessed, that stranger could have been any person of the night, a figure with no face and no name. In Carax's novel, that figure was the devil.

Another example:

"...The art of reading is slowly dying. That it's an intimate ritual, that a book is a mirror that offers us only what we already carry inside us, that when we read, we do it with all our heart and mind, and great readers are becoming more scarce by the day."

I couldn't agree more.

Presently, I'm reading The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. The first book, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is one of the very few books from my childhood that I can remember exactly where I was when I discovered it, the kind of day it was and what the book cover looked like as I decided whether or not to read it. I don't think I knew that there were other books that followed it or I'm sure I would have read them when I was younger. I've been slowly reading it, saving it for nice, sunny days and taking it outside to sit and soak up the sun while I read about adventures in Narnia. It's quite good. It's very large, when all the books are compiled into one unabridged novel, so it's not a quick read. It's a book meant to be read aloud to children. C.S. Lewis was a very good writer.Very imaginative, very descriptive. I only have a few chapters left.

Next on my list is what I am anticipating to be a difficult read: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. This will be my first foray into Russian Literature and I'm sure it will be an eye-opener.

Till next time....

2012-04-26T22:19:00.000-03:00

I'm back! I was not able to keep up the blog for the past three months but I have been reading (see side panel) and knocked off a few more books from the list.

Also, I realized that I started this blog just over a year ago.... and I'm still at it! For me, this is something to be celebrated.

More updates to come soon!

Update

2012-02-21T12:40:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately I won't be able to continue with this project for the next two months. I've had a flare up of health issues and have to stay in the hospital for 8 weeks after a recent surgery. But, I will be back!

Keep reading,

Crystal

Jane Eyre

2012-01-24T13:04:00.000-04:00

I really enjoyed Jane Eyre. I think it's my favorite so far that I've read from my list, and perhaps one of my top five favorite books that I've ever read. It's so well written that it could easily have been published just last year, instead of 165 years ago. I loved Jane as a character and I agreed with pretty much every major decision she made throughout the story (except that at the first hint of something being locked in Rochester's attic, I would have investigated a little more than she did, or at least really bugged Rochester to tell me what exactly was up there. She infuriated me with how long she took to discover what it was. Was it a ghost? An animal? The servant Mrs. Poole?)

I didn't like Rochester at first, I will admit. I thought she could do a lot better and I initially thought it was because she was so innocent and not used to men that she felt herself in love with him. He was abrupt, rude and played mind games. Three things I can't stand in men. But as the story went on and St. John Rivers was introduced into the story, Rochester started looking a little better. Eventually, after a long period without him and with only the petulant, intimidating and God-fearing St. John to entertain the reader as a possible love interest, I started wondering when Rochester would come back into the story (because obviously, as Jane often pined for him, it was not over between them). The ending was surprising, but very good.

As I was reading Jane Eyre, I couldn't help but wonder why books aren't written like this anymore, with symbolism and well thought out plots, interesting dialogue and characters with depth. Like I said, this book was published 165 years ago and has never been out of print since. That's quite an accomplishment. I was also so in love with the portrayal of Jane: a strong-minded, morally conscious female in a time when women were not normally that way. She stood up for herself, she carried her own weight, she made hard decisions based on her own scruples where other women would have folded and settled. She's probably my favorite literary character in history.

Can you tell how much I liked this book?

What I did not like was the 2011 film adaptation of Jane Eyre. What a terrible movie. It skipped so much between ending, beginning, middle, ending, middle, beginning, etc. and left out important conversations and scenes, that would leave someone who had never read the book completely lost and confused. The movie moved along so fast through the events that there was no way to enjoy it. The director obviously never read the book, or if he had, he didn't get it. Awful film, really. Waste of money.

Since I finished that one pretty quickly, my next book hasn't arrived yet. As I mentioned in my previous post, I like the book to choose me. As I was nearing the last quarter of Jane Eyre, I started to wonder when it was going to pick me because I needed time to order it and have the library mail it to me. Wasting time on Facebook one day, a post from George Stroumboulopoulos came across my newsfeed with this video. A big fan of George, I always click on whatever he posts as it's usually an interesting little fact or spotlight on a person or news story I might have missed. And there it was, my next book choice: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

I really do love my way of deciding what title to read next.

It's not here yet, so I get a little break to think about what I just read before I jump into something else. I'm looking forward to Heart of Darkness. I love imagery. I love descriptions and this book has that in abundance, I've been told. It's only a short read, so let's hope that another book will pick me soon.

I also have another movie to look forward to after reading this book. Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now was based on Conrad's book. Not really my kind of movie, but I'll give it a shot. I'm a huge Doors fan, so if nothing else, I'll be rewarded for watching the film by hearing "The End". The reason I know this, having never seen the movie, is a friend of mine used to tell me all he thought about was Apocalypse Now whenever "The End" came on while we were in my car. All I would think about was Jim Morrison's hotness.

The Three Musketeers

2012-01-12T21:42:00.000-04:00

I finished this book just before Christmas. I was delayed somewhat due to happenings in my own life, which, ironically, have left me with a lot more time to read, but were not exactly what I was expecting. I took a break during Christmas and didn't read anything, letting chance direct me to what book I should read next, which I'll tell you about shortly.

I liked The Three Musketeers. If I had children, or if I should someday have children, I think this (and the Harry Potter series) will be the sort of book I'd read to them at night. Written for adults in its time, it's not sexual, gory or anything that would be inappropriate for kids. It has lots of throw-down-the-gauntlet, grab-your-sword sort of excitement (seriously - if you bumped into one of these guys by mistake, you better be prepared for a sword fight. They were a little touchy) and every woman's honor was fought for (except Milady Winter - read the book if you want to know why). Good narrative, good descriptions and an interesting book overall.

Favorite of the Musketeers was probably Porthos. I think knowing Oliver Platt played this character on film biased my opinion. As a literary character though, he just seemed the most kind-hearted of the three.

I have to admit, the entire time I was reading this book, I wanted a Three Musketeers bar badly. I prevailed and stayed true to my diet.I have a sickness where I think about chocolate a lot.

So my next book choice was difficult. I personally don't like to pick my next book. I like to leave it to chance and let the book pick me, which can sometimes take a while. Sounds flaky but it's how I go about minor decisions in life, as long as they have no direct or major affect on others. It happens in different ways, at different times, like someone mentioning a book to me, or randomly reading/hearing/seeing an interview or TV show that mentions a book, author, etc. You get the point.

While contemplating my next choice, the following all happened within about 1 week: I watched The Help (loved it - you should definitely check it out) and in a random scene, there is a bookshelf with Native Son by Richard Wright clearly visible in the frame (book number 73 on my list); I was watching TV one evening and an episode of The King of Queens comes on and the plot is that Doug and Carrie join a book club. The first selection? Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (book number 53 on my list); Then I read an article that mentioned Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (book number 20 on my list). So I now had three books to choose from and it was a difficult choice .All three sounded good once I was able to research them and read the summaries. Jane Eyre won in the end because it's a book I've always wanted to read but just never did for some reason.

Not a big follower of movie releases, I was also very excited to see this trailer for a movie based on the book that had been released in March 2011. I love when I have a movie to look forward to after I read a book. Although, honestly, more times than not, I'm disappointed in the film adaptation. Why does Hollywood need to put so much fluff into films? Why can't the story ever be enough?

As I do with any book I read, I googled the author, the book itself and just did a general knowledge tour for myself. The family story of the Brontes is tragic and heart-breaking. I knew sort of that almost everyone in the family died young, but when I read various web biographies, it became a little more real and a lot more sad. Thankfully, health care has improved somewhat since the 1800's.

We'll see how Jane Eyre goes. I started it this afternoon and I'm enjoying it. Only on page 28 right now. At 401 pages, it's what I call a light read. I expect, if all goes well, I'll be finished in under two weeks. Yes, I'm pretty sure I have said that before. I'm committed to it this time!

Happy New Year!

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

2011-11-06T10:58:00.001-04:00

I might have to call it quits on this book. It started out strong, but there is just something about the title character Owen Meany that makes this a hard read for me.

It's his voice.

Why should this matter, right? It's a book for crying out loud. The thing is, when I read a book I like to visualize the setting, the look of the characters, the clothes they're wearing and even what they sound like. The author describes Owen's voice as high, thin, whiny, sharp. And every word Owen says - every word - is in ALL CAPS. Honestly, it's a turn off for me. I find it distracting and annoying.

Owen Meany is like a cartoon character, not a real person, which makes it hard for me to relate to him. Everything about him is exaggerated. He's not just a little pale; he's almost translucent. He's not just a little loud; his voice is high-pitched and nasal. He's not sort of small for his age; he's actually so small that the other children can (and do) pick him up and pass him around over their heads. The boy played the baby Jesus in the school play, that's how small he is.

So I've lost interest in this book. I don't like to give up (and normally I don't give up) but I have a lot of books on my list and I don't want to spend another month trying to get absorbed in this story when maybe it's just not what I'm interested in. I'll watch Simon Birch instead.

So next selection is The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. I'm moderately excited about this one. I know the story (who doesn't?). I've seen the films (not the most recent one). I'm hoping it will be a good read.

Oliver Twist

2011-08-29T00:03:00.003-03:00

"Oh, lady, lady! If there were more like you, there would be fewer like me, there would. There would!¹"

This was a challenge. The story was interesting and I liked it when I did get some time to read it; but I found the use of language and punctuation distracting and would read the same page once or twice and still not always know exactly what setting I was in. Back in the day, this was a popular book (one of Dickens' most famous novels and only his second to be published), so I know it's just my not being familiar with books written in the mid-1800's, and not a reflection on the writing itself.

It's a nice story and one that has been retold over and over but really: This is a classic. In my mind, this is about as classic as you can get with a project like this. No list would be complete without this book.

The characters were all so different and complex. All had different levels of morality and decency. My favorite character would have to be Mr. Brownlow because of his charity toward Oliver and the role he plays in the entire story, of course. He seems like a nice, grandfatherly-like man who would sneak you peppermints when your mom wasn't looking, wear a pocket watch and always smell nice.

A close-second for favorite character is Nancy. I know, I know, she was with the bad guys. Why would I pick her as a favorite character? Because she's not all bad. She actually helps Oliver more than once and you can tell that despite being a street urchin herself since an early age, a thief, beggar and who knows what else, she still has a conscience and a heart. And for that conscience and heart to survive through the life she led, it must have been a good conscience and heart, you know? I was sad for this character when I read her final scene. I felt she deserved a better ending that that. But, it was essential to the story and helped bring about an important ending.

Least favorite character was definitely Sikes. I hate this guy. What a bastard. Seriously. He beats his dog, he plots against his friends, he threatens his lady-friend, (and eventually murders her), he's not on Oliver's side and is just an all-around lousy person. The way he meets his end was one of the best scenes in the book.

My favorite quote from the book (mostly because of what was going on in my life when I read it) is:

"There was such peace and beauty in the scene; so much of brightness and mirth in the sunny landscape; such blithesome music in the songs of the summer birds; such freedom in the rapid flight of the rook, careering overhead; so much of life and joyousness in all; that, when the boy raised his aching eyes, and looked about, the thought instinctively occurred to him, that this was not a time for death; that Rose could surely never die when humbler things were all so glad and gay; that graves were for cold and cheerless winter: not for sunlight and fragrance. He almost thought that shrouds were for the old and shrunken; and that they never wrapped the young and graceful in their ghastly folds.

A knell from the church bell broke harshly on these youthful thoughts. Another! Again! It was tolling for the funeral service. A group of humble mourners entered the gate: wearing white favours; for the corpse was young. They stood uncovered by a grave; and there was a mother - a mother once - among the weeping train. but the sun shone brightly, and the birds sang on.²"

Beautiful.

I want to adopt an orphan now - especially if he (or she) is a nice little waif, like Oliver. I'm waiting for the feeling to pass.

Oliver Twist

My next selection is number 9 on the list "A Prayer For Owen Meany" by John Irving. I need a modern book after the Victorian-era language in Oliver Twist. Hopefully it won't take me two months to read this one!

1. Taken from chapter 40, pg 305.
2. Taken from chapter 33 pg 253

Time spent with Jane Pt 2

2011-07-01T16:23:00.001-03:00

I finished Pride and Prejudice today. I can't believe it took me this long to finish reading the book. I lost a lot of time when I accidentally left it outside overnight and it got completely soaked in the rain. I spent a week drying it with a fan/hairdryer/sunlight, hoping and praying that the pages wouldn't keep that wrinkled, damp-book look to them. It is a library book, after all. Happy to say that my patience while drying out the book paid off and you can hardly tell it was almost ruined. Once I reattach the cover, that is. Funny thing about books - they expand when they've been completely soaked and then dried. So now the cover is slightly smaller than the book itself. Hopefully, this will escape the eye of the librarian when I return it.

The story itself was very good and I now understand why this book is considered a classic. I think you should read it. Or watch a movie version of it (I recommend the Kiera Knightley version, or the Colin Firth version). In a nutshell, girl meets boy and boy is rude to girl, so girl decides she hates boy and that he's a stuck-up and proud jerk. Girl eventually rethinks her dislike and they profess love to each other, after a bunch of other things happen, and eventually boy and girl become engaged. Happy endings all around.

What's amazing to me is that Austen's books have spawned an almost cult following (there is even a term for its followers: Janeite). If you do a Google search for Pride and Prejudice, you get roughly 14 million results. Some jewels out there are along the lines of extremely detailed websites that go over every detail of the book and the life lessons it teaches us (taking it a bit too far, in my opinion), and quizzes that tell you which female character you are (I'm Elizabeth, apparently).

Basically, what I learned from this book is sometimes, if you're open-minded, you find a Mr. Darcy; but other times, if your vanity gets in the way, you may find yourself with a Mr. Wickham. Fortunately, there are sites like this one to point us in the right direction.

Jane Austen herself never had much luck in the romance department and it seems that she channeled all these secret hopes and desires into her books. She was only 42 when she died, young by today's standards. Her books were published in the last years of her life, with two posthumously. She started Pride and Prejudice (initially titled First Impressions) when she was 21, following a ill-fated romance with the nephew of neighbors, Thomas Lefroy (who was most likely the basis of her character Mr. Darcy). He eventually became Lord Chief Justice of Ireland but at the time of his romance with Jane, was dependent on family for financing his legal education and career. It was decided that Jane was not properly suited to him and they were kept away from each other, marriage being strongly discouraged. If you've read Pride and Prejudice, this all sounds very familiar.

My next book selection is Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Truthfully, the only Dickens book I can remember reading is A Christmas Carol, so I'm looking forward to starting this book and thereby adding another Dickens novel to my read-list. Initially, I had toyed around with the idea of making this summer's selections all Dickens novels, as I have five on my list. But I find I become bored if I read several of the same author's works in a row and would likely enjoy the five more if they were separated by other genres, authors, styles of writing, etc. I'll also check out the movie once I'm finished the book. Who knows, maybe once I've finished Oliver Twist, I'll find myself saying these famous lines and read another Dickens novel: "Please sir, I want some more" .

Time spent with Jane...

2011-06-21T01:07:00.000-03:00

Thought I better update my progress with Pride and Prejudice. This is the first time it's taken me more than a month to finish a book on my list. I have a lot going on at the moment (a new job - yay me!), and find myself reading a lot less than usual. But I am half-way through the book and hope to finish it this week. Maybe next week. We'll see. Happy to report that I actually really do like Pride and Prejudice. Even though I know what happens in the end, I'm still interested in the development of a relationship between the very stuffy Mr. Darcy and the silly Elizabeth Bennet. As a character, Elizabeth bugs me at times. Not as much as her superficial mother, but she bugs me all the same. She's just so... silly and immature. She's also my favorite character. I know, it's a contradiction.

On a side note, an interesting little factoid I found out that relates to this book somewhat is that "Darcy's status as a romantic hero transcends literature. In 2010 a protein sex pheromone in male mouse urine, that is sexually attractive to female mice, was named Darcin in honour of the character." Huh. Weird, but kind of awesome. Also, the Jane Austen Book Club is actually a pretty good movie.

A thought that continually runs through my head while reading this book is appreciation for how far women have come since Elizabeth Bennet's time. Sure, the rules of courtship and chivalry that existed then would be really nice to experience, but my god, if you couldn't draw, play an instrument or possess some acceptable level of attractiveness, you were really shit out of luck, weren't you? Thankfully, we women can rely on more than filling out a corset, tinkling the piano keys or painting landscapes to get by in these modern times.

All the same, Mr. Darcy, feel free to direct your stuffy self to my door any time.

The Quiet American by Graham Greene

2011-05-19T00:45:00.003-03:00

I drive through the streets and I care not a damn,
The people they stare, and they ask who I am;
And if I should chance to run over a cad,
I can pay for the damage if ever so bad,
Sp pleasant it is to have money, heigh ho!
So pleasant it is to have money.¹

Set in Vietnam is the early 1950’s, the book centers around military conflict in Indochina. The book is less about war and more about politics between men and the seemingly easily-swayed attentions of a young Vietnamese woman.

In Part 1, the reader is introduced to the book’s main characters Thomas Fowler, a journalist, and Phuong, a young Vietnamese dancer, as well as the background of Alden Pyle, the American. Early on, the reader discovers Alden Pyle has been found dead and therefore gets to know him primarily through Fowler‘s remembering, thoughts and opinions. At the time of the release of the book (1955), the author was accused of purposely trying to damage the reputation of Americans by making the “terrorist” in the story (Alden Pyle), an American. On page 11, an interesting quote sort of backs up that accusation for me as Fowler describes Pyle to the authorities as “A quiet American²”, and inwardly compares that statement to “A blue lizard” or “A white elephant”, something rare and uncommon that doesn‘t exist. Throughout Part 1, Americans are mainly portrayed as bullying, harsh and drunk, with the exception of Pyle, who is more thoughtful, inexperienced and silent, but still possessing of that forceful confidence often associated with Americans.

The rest of the book flashes back and forth between the present reality for Fowler and the past encounters with Pyle, and the events leading up to his mysterious death. The book seems like something of a guilty conscience on paper and actually ends with the sentence “Everything had gone right with me since he had died, but how I wished there existed someone to whom I could say that I was sorry.³”

Really descriptive scenes throughout the book that paint a clear picture of the events and conflict surrounding them, including this, my favorite excerpt:

"The canal was full of bodies; I am reminded now of an Irish stew containing too much meat. The bodies overlapped; one head, seal-grey, and anonymous as a convict with a shaven scalp, stuck up out of the water like a buoy. There was no blood; I suppose it had flowed away a long time ago. I have no idea how many there were; they must have been caught in a cross-fire, trying to get back, and I suppose every man of us along the bank was thinking, Two can play at that game. I too took my eyes away; we didn’t want to be reminded of how little we counted, how quickly, simply, and anonymously death came.⁴“

A much better review of the book can be found here. The book is a great read and I'll remember it as one of my favorites.

The next book on the list I've chosen to read is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I have mixed expectations for this one. On one hand, I think I will like this book because so many other people do genuinely like it and revere it as a classic. Plus, I plan to watch Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy - the epitome of sexy bachelor in film literature - after I read it. On the other hand, I attempted Jane Austen a few years ago and was bored to tears. I can’t remember the title - it may have been Emma - but what I do remember was really struggling to become interested in the story and subsequently didn’t make it past page 50. I'm hoping that this time will be different. I want to like you, Jane Austen, really I do. So, wish me well with my next selection. I've been having great luck so far in that I actually really enjoyed everything I've read (with the exception of American Pastoral by Philip Roth) and I hope my streak continues.

1. Excerpt from Arthur Hugh Cloughs poem "Dipsychus", found on page 234.
2. Excerpt from page 11
3. Excerpt from page 249
4. Excerpt from page 60

10th Book. Plus, a new addition to the list.

2011-04-29T20:34:00.001-03:00

I started my tenth book today (The Quiet American by Graham Greene). I ordered it from the library the night I finished my ninth book (Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison) and it arrived in the mail today. Have to say, I love the rural delivery of library books we have here in my province. The only library in the area (which is now closed due to funding cuts) had mainly housed romance novels, westerns by Louis L'Amour, etc., which is great if that is your cup of tea. But when you're looking for the kind of books that are on my list, the local library wasn't much help. The next library closest to my town is roughly 45 minutes away so having the books delivered to my door a few days after requesting them online is a godsend for this project.

Also wanted to mention that I've added a new book to my list, making it the odd number of 151. The late addition is "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers. The reason for adding this book almost as an after-thought is because of the movie "A Love Song for Bobby Long" starring Scarlett Johansson and John Travolta, which I watched (again) the other night. This is a favorite movie of mine and one I hadn't watched since last fall, I don't think. The Carson McCullers book is featured in the film, with the theme song 'My Heart Is A Lonely Hunter (Lorraine's Song)' being slightly based on the book (or at least based on the fact that Travolta's character gave the book to Johansson's character's mother, Lorraine - with me so far?) While watching the movie the other night, I thought about my book project and wondered if I should go with this book next (I sort of rely on chance to pick my next read, rather then working through the list alphabetically - even asking friends or family to randomly give me a number between 1 and 150...well, 151 now, of course). When I checked my list, I realized that this book was not included (gasp!). I can't remember if I had a reason for excluding it - or if it was even on any of the original lists I formed my own list from. So, on the list it went, to be read at a later date.

Update: Mistakenly titled this post as "10th book" when actually, I'm only on my 8th book of my list. I was counting two chick-lit books I had read as well (The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls and Paint It Black by Janet Fitch - both excellent books, in case you're interested) but they aren't on my actual list, so shouldn't be listed in this blog/project. I'm not the most organized person and therefore mess up often. It's an endearing trait of mine. Learn to love it.

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

2011-04-24T00:57:00.001-03:00

She was the third beer. Not the first one, which the throat receives with almost tearful gratitude; nor the second one, that confirms and extends the pleasure of the first. But the third, the one you drink because it’s there, because it can’t hurt and because what difference does it make?¹

I enjoyed Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. It dealt primarily with misunderstandings and how they can tear a family (and friends) apart and lay waste to years that could have been spent happily together; how rejection can change the lives of both the person doing the rejecting as well as the person being rejected; and how money can be the divide between a life lived with shame and and a life of true happiness.

"All our lives were like that: first he would parade us like virgins through Babylon, then humiliate us like whores in Babylon.²

As with all of Toni Morrison’s books, the reader learns a flip side to people and situations they wouldn’t normally understand (or want to understand). Racial issues are a secondary character in this book, both between black and white people, but more so between an African American family with money and their less fortunate contemporaries of 1960's America.

Money is freedom, Macon. The only real freedom there is.³

The second part of the book, in my opinion, was better than the first - sort of the "meat and potatoes" of the story after an exhaustive background setting of the first half. The ending was sad and surprising, and brought a generational issue full circle to a final end. Flight is a symbolic thread running through this story and is marked by the appearance of a bird at important parts of the story.

A powerful speech given by a secondary character to another towards the end of the book really rang true to me and is something I think everyone, but most especially females, would benefit from reading:

Guitar spoke softly to her. "You think because he doesn't love you that you are worthless. You think because he doesn't want you anymore that he is right - that his judgment and opinion of you are correct. If he throws you out, then you are garbage. You think he belongs to you because you want to belong to him. Hagar, don't. It's a bad word, "belong". Especially when you put it with somebody you love. [....] You can't own a human being. You can't lose what you don't own. Suppose you did own him. Could you really love somebody who was absolutely nobody without you? You really want somebody like that? Somebody who falls apart when you walk out the door? You don't, do you? And neither does he. You're turning over your whole life to him. Your whole life, girl. And if it means so little to you that you can just give it away, hand it to him, then why should it mean anymore to him? He can't value you more than you value yourself.⁴"

All in all, I liked this book and would read it again.

¹. Excerpt from Chapter 4 (91).

². Excerpt from Chapter 9 (216).

³. Excerpt from Chapter 7 (163).

⁴. Excerpt from Chapter 13 (305 and 306)

My Progress so far...

2011-04-19T16:37:00.004-03:00

Although I've only started blogging about this project, I actually officially started it in November 2010. My first completed book was A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I loved it. I still love it. I'll always love it. It was the perfect book with which to begin this literary journey. I've been a fan of Khaled Hosseini ever since I read The Kite Runner a few years back. That book changed my perspective on Afghanistan and made it more personal to me. A Thousand Splendid Suns reinforced that changed perspective to the point that I'm unable to hear the word Afghanistan without thinking of characters in both books. Afghanistan is no longer a remote country I know nothing about. It is a very real place where Miriams (Splendid Suns) and Hassans (Kite Runner) live and survive each and every day.

My favorite quote from A Thousand Splendid Suns is as follows:

"Miriam wished for so much in those final moments. Yet as she closed her eyes, it was not regret any longer but a sensation of abundant peace that washed over her. She thought of her entry into this world, the harami child of a lowly villager, an unintended thing, a pitiable, regrettable accident. A weed. And yet she was leaving the world as a woman who had loved and been loved back. She was leaving it as a friend, a companion, a guardian. A mother. A person of consequence at last. No. It was not so bad, Miriam thought, that she should die this way. Not so bad. This was a legitimate end to a life of illegitimate belongings."

There are so many emotions in this quote that as I first read it, my heart ached for Miriam and I still feel that ache when I read it now. It's a beautiful story and I hope someone who has never read this book will pick it up and give it a read.

My second book was American Pastoral by Philip Roth. Ugh. Only my second book in and I had to admit defeat with this one and mark it as unread on the list. I couldn't get through it. I couldn't force myself to finish it. I thought it was the most boring book I've ever read (or attempted to read). When the project is over, I may go back and try to finish any books that I couldn't finish the first time around. Maybe this second chance will spark an interest in this book, but I'm not holding out high hopes. Instead, I may just catch the movie.

My third book was a good choice. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This is a book many people likely came across as children, but I never did. Or if I did, I never picked it up and gave it a read. But I'm glad I read it now. I really enjoyed this book over Christmas 2010 and I look forward to reading other Sherlock Holmes adventures in the future. The Five Orange Pips and The Adventure of The Blue Carbuncle are probably my two favorite adventures from this book.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien was my fourth book and I was excited to read it. It didn't disappoint, I'm happy to say. It was while I was reading it that Peter Jackson announced that he would start production on The Hobbit in March 2011 and that just made reading it all the more enjoyable, knowing a movie was being made and would be released within a year or so. This book has become one of the stand out books on my list so far.

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men was my fifth book choice and was a quick and easy read. A total of 107 pages, it was just what I needed at the time. The story was simple, but has stayed with me.

My sixth book was Dracula by Bram Stoker ("One of the least-known authors of one of the best known books ever written"). I very much enjoyed this book. I will even admit that I became so engrossed in the story at times that I would have slightly nightmarish dreams if I fell asleep while reading it. I was disappointed in the ending though. The second half of the book was a build-up to the final destruction of Count Dracula… the waiting, the traveling, the planning… and it all happened so uneventfully, so easily, that the ending was a letdown.

Favorite quote from the book:

"Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonorable peace; and the glories of the great races are as a tale that is told."

My seventh (and current) book is Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon. I'm a fan of Toni Morrison. She is a terrific storyteller and I highly recommend The Bluest Eye. It's the sort of book that stays with you long after you've put it back on the shelf. I've read it several times and enjoy it each time like it was the first. There are hints of those same qualities in Song of Solomon as well. I'm about 1/3 of the way through it and can tell it's going to become a favorite of mine.

The Rules

2011-04-19T14:54:00.000-03:00

The Rules for my book list are simple:

Must start at least one book each month. I don't like to read more than one book at a time, so basically, I guess this means I must finish at least one book per month as well.
Must give each book a fair chance. I have to read at least 10 chapters or 1/3 of the book before I decide to continue on or abandon the book.
Must not spend any money on books. None of the books can be purchased. Each book on the list has to be a) borrowed from a library b) borrowed from a friend c) found online as an e-book or d) downloaded as an audiobook (this is a last resort. I love audiobooks but to really experience the book, I feel it needs to be in text form. Being able to hold the book is ideal.)
Have fun! Enjoy reading the book. Research the author. Get the backstory on the book. Find out what others thought of it. Learn something new with each book.

The List

2011-04-19T14:47:00.011-03:00

A Bend in the River - V. S. Naipaul
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
~~Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle~~
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
~~American Pastoral - Philip Roth~~
An Artist of the Floating World - Kazuo Ishiguro
~~Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy~~
A Passage to India - E. M. Forster
~~A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving~~
~~A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hussein~~
As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner
A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
Atonement - Ian McEwen
A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
Austerlitz - W. G. Sebald
Beloved - Toni Morrison
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
Bleak House - Charles Dickens
Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
~~Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (7 book series)~~
Clarissa - Samuel Richardson
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
Dangerous Liaisons - Pierre Choderlos De Laclos
Daniel Deronda - George Eliot
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
Don Quixote - Miguel De Cervantes
~~Dracula - Bram Stoker~~
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
Dune - Frank Herbert
East of Eden - John Steinbeck
Emma - Jane Austen
Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
Frankenstein-Mary Shelley
Germinal - Emile Zola
~~Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell~~
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift
Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Salman Rushdie
~~Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad~~
Herzog - Saul Bellow
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (3 book series)
Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler - Italo Calvino
Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
~~Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte~~
Journey to the End of the Night - Louis-Ferdinand Celine
Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
LA Confidential - James Ellroy
Lanark - Alasdair Gray
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Lucky Jim - Kingsley Amis
Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
Malone Dies - Samuel Beckett
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
Men Without Women - Ernest Hemingway
Middlemarch - George Eliot
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Money - Martin Amis
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont - Elizabeth Taylor
Naked Lunch - William Burroughs
Native Son - Richard Wright
Nightmare Abbey - Thomas Love Peacock
Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell
Nostromo - Joseph Conrad
Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
~~Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck~~
~~Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens~~
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
On The Road - Jack Kerouac
Oscar And Lucinda - Peter Carey
Persuasion - Jane Austen
Pilgrim's Progress - John Bunyan
Possession - AS Byatt
~~Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen~~
Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

~~Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe~~
Scoop - Evelyn Waugh
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
~~Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison~~
Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
Sybil - Benjamin Disraeli
Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
The BFG - Roald Dahl
The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler
The Black Sheep - Honore De Balzac
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting - Milan Kundera
The Bottle Factory Outing - Beryl Bainbridge
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Call of the Wild - Jack London
The Charterhouse of Parma - Stendhal
~~The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon~~
The Diary of a Nobody - George Grossmith
The Executioner's Song - Norman Mailer
The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
The Good Soldier - Ford Madox Ford

~~The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood~~
~~The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien~~
The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - JRR Tolkien (3 book series)
~~The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold~~
The New York Trilogy - Paul Auster
The Periodic Table - Primo Levi
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
The Plague - Albert Camus
The Portrait of a Lady - Henry James
The Pursuit Of Love - Nancy Mitford
~~The Quiet American - Graham Greene~~
The Rainbow - D. H. Lawrence
The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
The Riddle of the Sands - Erskine Childers
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
~~The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon~~
The Sheltering Sky - Paul Bowles
The Thirty-Nine Steps - John Buchan (5 book series)
~~The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas~~
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
The Tin Drum - Günter Grass
The Trial - Franz Kafka
The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
The Way We Live Now - Anthony Trollope
The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

~~The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins~~
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K. Jerome
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - John Le Carre
Tom Jones - Henry Fielding
Tristram Shandy - Laurence Sterne
Ulysses - James Joyce
USA - John Dos Passos
Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
Waiting for the Barbarians - J.M. Coetzee
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
Watership Down - Richard Adams
Wise Blood - Flannery O'Connor
Wise Children - Angela Carter
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
ADDED April 29th 2011 ~~The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers~~

Bolded Yellow - Currently reading
Red - Marked as unfinished
Blue - Finished

The Intro

2011-04-19T14:27:00.000-03:00

"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers."

Charles W. Eliot

The purpose of this blog is to follow-through on a goal I've set for myself last winter. I've always enjoyed books and started reading before I began school. My childhood bedroom was a constant mess of stacks of books from all genres and periods. Once every few months, my mother would make me clean out from under my bed where there would invariably be twenty or more books that never made it back to the library or friends bookshelves (I've gotten much better at returning books - trust me). I would have to box up my books about once a year and donate or give away in order to make space for new books that would always come my way. As I got older, relatives began giving me boxes of books they or their children have outgrown and I was introduced to the romantic novel this way, which is sort of to blame for the creation of this project. Truthfully, I never cared for romantic novels and really only read them when I could find nothing else.

Over the past two years, I've had some health problems that led me to being unemployed and in and out of hospitals often. I had a lot of time on my hands and never being a huge fan of tv, I read more in the past two years than I ever have before. I would literally read an entire book in one day and start another right away. My vision became blurry, my back cramped but still I read anything I could get my hands on. Nurses were a great source of books - but usually only romance novels like Nora Roberts or Mauve Binchy. I suffered through them but also began forming an idea in my head that would eventually become this list. What if I composed a list of books that are considered classics, or must-reads for educated people? Books that will contribute to my outlook on life, my knowledge? Never having gone to University, I've always suffered from a sort of idiot-complex. I envy University students who sit through lengthy lit classes and have intelligent discussions about Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift and Hemingway. If I could research and put together a list of say, 150 books, and work on it for however long it took to read each one, I too could have some slice of knowledge that I could carry around with me, tucked away in some part of my brain. If ever a conversation about Jane Austen or Leo Tolstoy came up, I too could say something somewhat intelligent, or at least that I've read that book and yes, I liked it too.

So, I looked around on the internet and found several lists of books that are stated to be what people (educated or not) should read at some point in their life, removed the duplicates, as well as the books I have already read and limited it to 150. Of course, you will notice that there are actually more than 150 books on this list as some of the choices are a series of books that I felt it was important to read the whole series and not just the first book in the series written by the author. An example of this is The Lord of The Rings trilogy by J.R.R Tolkien.

I plan to keep a private "book journal" where I list what I thought of the book, length of time to read the book and whether I would recommend the book to others, some of that information, I will share here as well. Really, the list/journal is not for anyone else to take to heart, and I will be the first to say that I am in no way, shape or form, an expert with credentials to be forming such a list. However, I love to read and I also love to set goals for myself. Basically, this book list is a long term goal for me to accomplish. The blog is really a form of accountability for myself while working through my list. And if anyone happens to stumble across it and wants to agree/disagree with me or share their own list, that would be a perk to having the blog out there.

I have not set a deadline for myself, but do think I will start at least one book per month. Some of the books on the list are over 1500 pages in length and may take longer than a month to read, depending on what else I have going on in my life at the time.

One rule I have set for myself is that I must give each and every book a fair chance. So, I'm setting a flexible "minimum chapters read". I should give the book at least 10 chapters to get me interested. If, after 10 chapters, I'm really not in sync with , or liking the book, I will mark it as unread and carry on with the next choice on the list.

The list has been alphabetized by title for organizational purposes and is not an indication of the order in which the books are to be read. Truthfully, the books will be read in the order of my personal interest and the ability to find the book at the library or online. None of the following books will be purchased. All will either be borrowed or downloaded. Audio books will also be acceptable substitutes.