1001 Books Challenge - UPDATE 51
It's been forever, hasn't it? I'd love to say I've been reading loads, but I haven't. I spent a lot of time ploughing through the 1000 page Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and I'm still only half way. Also I've been suffering from depression and have recently found out the source of my tiredness is anaemia. So yeah, this is the first book I've finished in a while.
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
This was one of those books that amazon recommends and I added to by wishlist absent mindedly. Last week I spotted it in the library and thought it was worth a look. I was really glad I did because it's a lovely book.
The plot focuses on Major Pettigrew, a retired widower living in a small middle class village. He befriends Mrs. Ali a Pakistani widow who runs the local shop and he is soon smitten. Meanwhile he also has to face problems from his horrible son, his annoying sister-in-law, and the various unpleasant and thoughtlessly rascist members of the golf club.
It's a lovely story - a love story about two very different people finding an unexpected connection. It actually felt like reading a good slash story despite being about a man and a woman (that lovely feeling of reading a story about a couple that completely defies expectations). It helps as well that both the Major and Mrs. Ali are extremely likable characters (in my head Major Pettigrew should be played by Derek Jacobi). The major is blustery, very formal, dissapointed at the way the world is changing around him - but also kind, noble, very fair, and chivalrous. Mrs. Ali is independant despite the pressure from her family, practical, and yet graceful.
It's harder to like the 'traditional' people in the community. Where the characters outside of the Major's 'set' (most of the muslim community, his son's American fiance, and the American investor) are portrayed as quite likeable once their differences are peeled away, the characters that are part of the 'set' (the Major's son, the various Sloane Ranger women, the golf club commitee) are portrayed as narrow minded and quite irratating - something that becomes more and more apparant to the Major as he realises where his loyalties lie.
1001 Novels You Must Read Before You Die
Starting Point: 29
Current Point: 57
Realistic Goal: 300 (I should finish, reading one a week, in about 5 years!)
Adams, Douglas: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
Adams, Douglas: Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy
Alcott, Louisa May: Little Women
Atwood, Margaret: The Handmaid's Tale
Austen, Jane: Emma
Austen, Jane: Mansfield Park
Austen, Jane: Northanger Abbey
Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice
Austen, Jane: Sense and Sensibility
Bronte, Anne: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Bronte, Charlotte: Jane Eyre
Bronte, Emily: Wuthering Heights
Carroll, Lewis: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Christie, Agatha: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Cunningham, Michael: The Hours
Dickens, Charles: Bleak House
Dickens, Charles: Great Expectations
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan: The Hound of the Baskervilles
du Maurier, Daphne: Rebecca
Dumas, Alexander: The Count of Monte-Cristo
Eugenides, Jeffrey: The Virgin Suicides
Forster, E. M: A Room With a View
Forster, E. M: Howard's End
Gaskell, Elizabeth: Cranford
Gaskell, Elizabeth: North and South
Gibbons, Stella: Cold Comfort Farm
Grossmith, George: Diary of a Nobody
Haddon, Mark: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Haggard, H. Rider: King Solomon's Mines
Hugo, Victor: Les Miserables
Ishiguro, Kazuo: The Remains of the Day
Kafka, Franz: The Metamorphosis
Lawrence, D. H: Lady Chatterly's Lover
Lee, Harper: The Kill a Mocking Bird
Levy, Andrea: Small Island
Lindegren, Astrid: Pippi Longstocking
London, Jack: The Call of the Wild
Martel, Yann: Life of Pi
Nabokov, Vladimir: Lolita
Orwell, George: Animal Farm
Poe, Edgar Allen: The Fall of the House of Usher
Poe, Edgar Allen: The Pit and the Pendulum
Queneau, Raymond: Exercises in Style
Schlink, Bernhard: The Reader
Shelley, Mary Woolstonecraft: Frankenstein
Stevenson, Robert Louis: The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde
Stevenson, Robert Louis: Treasure Island
Stoker, Bram: Dracula
Verne, Jules: Around the World in 80 Days
Walker, Alice: Possessing the Secret of Joy
Walker, Alice: The Color Purple
Walpole, Horace: The Castle of Otranto
Wharton, Edith: The House of Mirth
Wilde, Oscar: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Wyndham, John: The Midwich Cuckoos
Wodehouse, P. G: Thank You Jeeves
1001 Novels You Must Read Before You Grow Up (and yes, there are crossovers between the lists.)
Starting Point: 61
Current Point: 69
(For reference I'm only going to read books from ages 8+, anything below that age range was already read before starting this)
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher
The Story of the Root Children
The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck
The Cat in the Hat
Green Eggs and Ham
Father Christmas
Burglar Bill
The Snowman
Can't you Sleep, Little Bear?
A Visit From St. Nicholas
Grimms' Fairy Tales
The Emperor's New Clothes
The Ugly Duckling
The House that Jack Built
Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories
Pippi Longstocking
The Worst Witch
Matilda
Tales from Shakespeare
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
A Christmas Carol
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
A Little Princess
The Secret Garden
Mary Poppins
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
Hurrah for St. Trinian's
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
James and the Giant Peach
Stig of the Dump
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Magic Finger
The Carpet People
The Indian in the Cupboard
Goodnight Mister Tom
The BFG
The Demon Headmaster
The Sheep-Pig
The Snow Spider
Bill's New Frock
Truckers
Only You Can Save Mankind
Johnny and the Bomb
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Skellig
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Artemis Fowl
The Graveyard Book
Gulliver's Travels
Little Women
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole
Madame Doubtfire
Flour Babies
Witch Child
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Young Visiters
Around the World in 80 Days
War Horse
Peter Pan
The Call of the Wild
Tom's Midnight Garden
Ballet Shoes
-------
My Private To-Read List
Books Read: 17
Further Reading
Forster, E. M: Maurice
Gaskell, Elizabeth: Mary Barton
Ishiguro, Kazuo: Never Let Me Go
Classics
Irving, Washington: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
James, Henry: The Turn of the Screw
Recommended
Austen, Jane and Grahame-Smith, Seth: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. (recommendation by a friend)
Gaiman, Neil: Neverwhere (read previous books)
Jones, Lloyd: Mister Pip (celebrity recommendation)
Larsson, Stieg: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (booksyoushouldread recommendation)
McCall Smith, Alexander: The Saturday Tent Wedding Party (read previous books)
I Liked the Look of Them
Albom, Mitch: The Five People you Meet in Heaven
Grogan, John: Marley & Me
Salamon, Julie: The Christmas Tree
Shriver, Lionel: We Need to Talk About Kevin
Simonson, Helen: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Trashy But Fun
Beaumont, Matt: e Squared
Orlov, Aleksandr: A Simples Life
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
This was one of those books that amazon recommends and I added to by wishlist absent mindedly. Last week I spotted it in the library and thought it was worth a look. I was really glad I did because it's a lovely book.
The plot focuses on Major Pettigrew, a retired widower living in a small middle class village. He befriends Mrs. Ali a Pakistani widow who runs the local shop and he is soon smitten. Meanwhile he also has to face problems from his horrible son, his annoying sister-in-law, and the various unpleasant and thoughtlessly rascist members of the golf club.
It's a lovely story - a love story about two very different people finding an unexpected connection. It actually felt like reading a good slash story despite being about a man and a woman (that lovely feeling of reading a story about a couple that completely defies expectations). It helps as well that both the Major and Mrs. Ali are extremely likable characters (in my head Major Pettigrew should be played by Derek Jacobi). The major is blustery, very formal, dissapointed at the way the world is changing around him - but also kind, noble, very fair, and chivalrous. Mrs. Ali is independant despite the pressure from her family, practical, and yet graceful.
It's harder to like the 'traditional' people in the community. Where the characters outside of the Major's 'set' (most of the muslim community, his son's American fiance, and the American investor) are portrayed as quite likeable once their differences are peeled away, the characters that are part of the 'set' (the Major's son, the various Sloane Ranger women, the golf club commitee) are portrayed as narrow minded and quite irratating - something that becomes more and more apparant to the Major as he realises where his loyalties lie.
1001 Novels You Must Read Before You Die
Starting Point: 29
Current Point: 57
Realistic Goal: 300 (I should finish, reading one a week, in about 5 years!)
Adams, Douglas: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
Adams, Douglas: Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy
Alcott, Louisa May: Little Women
Atwood, Margaret: The Handmaid's Tale
Austen, Jane: Emma
Austen, Jane: Mansfield Park
Austen, Jane: Northanger Abbey
Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice
Austen, Jane: Sense and Sensibility
Bronte, Anne: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Bronte, Charlotte: Jane Eyre
Bronte, Emily: Wuthering Heights
Carroll, Lewis: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Christie, Agatha: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Cunningham, Michael: The Hours
Dickens, Charles: Bleak House
Dickens, Charles: Great Expectations
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan: The Hound of the Baskervilles
du Maurier, Daphne: Rebecca
Dumas, Alexander: The Count of Monte-Cristo
Eugenides, Jeffrey: The Virgin Suicides
Forster, E. M: A Room With a View
Forster, E. M: Howard's End
Gaskell, Elizabeth: Cranford
Gaskell, Elizabeth: North and South
Gibbons, Stella: Cold Comfort Farm
Grossmith, George: Diary of a Nobody
Haddon, Mark: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Haggard, H. Rider: King Solomon's Mines
Hugo, Victor: Les Miserables
Ishiguro, Kazuo: The Remains of the Day
Kafka, Franz: The Metamorphosis
Lawrence, D. H: Lady Chatterly's Lover
Lee, Harper: The Kill a Mocking Bird
Levy, Andrea: Small Island
Lindegren, Astrid: Pippi Longstocking
London, Jack: The Call of the Wild
Martel, Yann: Life of Pi
Nabokov, Vladimir: Lolita
Orwell, George: Animal Farm
Poe, Edgar Allen: The Fall of the House of Usher
Poe, Edgar Allen: The Pit and the Pendulum
Queneau, Raymond: Exercises in Style
Schlink, Bernhard: The Reader
Shelley, Mary Woolstonecraft: Frankenstein
Stevenson, Robert Louis: The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde
Stevenson, Robert Louis: Treasure Island
Stoker, Bram: Dracula
Verne, Jules: Around the World in 80 Days
Walker, Alice: Possessing the Secret of Joy
Walker, Alice: The Color Purple
Walpole, Horace: The Castle of Otranto
Wharton, Edith: The House of Mirth
Wilde, Oscar: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Wyndham, John: The Midwich Cuckoos
Wodehouse, P. G: Thank You Jeeves
1001 Novels You Must Read Before You Grow Up (and yes, there are crossovers between the lists.)
Starting Point: 61
Current Point: 69
(For reference I'm only going to read books from ages 8+, anything below that age range was already read before starting this)
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher
The Story of the Root Children
The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck
The Cat in the Hat
Green Eggs and Ham
Father Christmas
Burglar Bill
The Snowman
Can't you Sleep, Little Bear?
A Visit From St. Nicholas
Grimms' Fairy Tales
The Emperor's New Clothes
The Ugly Duckling
The House that Jack Built
Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories
Pippi Longstocking
The Worst Witch
Matilda
Tales from Shakespeare
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
A Christmas Carol
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
A Little Princess
The Secret Garden
Mary Poppins
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
Hurrah for St. Trinian's
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
James and the Giant Peach
Stig of the Dump
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Magic Finger
The Carpet People
The Indian in the Cupboard
Goodnight Mister Tom
The BFG
The Demon Headmaster
The Sheep-Pig
The Snow Spider
Bill's New Frock
Truckers
Only You Can Save Mankind
Johnny and the Bomb
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Skellig
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Artemis Fowl
The Graveyard Book
Gulliver's Travels
Little Women
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole
Madame Doubtfire
Flour Babies
Witch Child
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Young Visiters
Around the World in 80 Days
War Horse
Peter Pan
The Call of the Wild
Tom's Midnight Garden
Ballet Shoes
-------
My Private To-Read List
Books Read: 17
Further Reading
Forster, E. M: Maurice
Gaskell, Elizabeth: Mary Barton
Ishiguro, Kazuo: Never Let Me Go
Classics
Irving, Washington: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
James, Henry: The Turn of the Screw
Recommended
Austen, Jane and Grahame-Smith, Seth: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. (recommendation by a friend)
Gaiman, Neil: Neverwhere (read previous books)
Jones, Lloyd: Mister Pip (celebrity recommendation)
Larsson, Stieg: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (booksyoushouldread recommendation)
McCall Smith, Alexander: The Saturday Tent Wedding Party (read previous books)
I Liked the Look of Them
Albom, Mitch: The Five People you Meet in Heaven
Grogan, John: Marley & Me
Salamon, Julie: The Christmas Tree
Shriver, Lionel: We Need to Talk About Kevin
Simonson, Helen: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Trashy But Fun
Beaumont, Matt: e Squared
Orlov, Aleksandr: A Simples Life