1001 Books Challenge - UPDATE 52
I've been away for a week and got some reading done! Hence I have 2 books to add to the list.
Atonement by Ian McEwan
To be honest I only read this because I a) got a copy cheap and b) had a copy of the film I wanted to see because Benedict Cumberbatch was in it. Childishly the fact Keira Knigtly was involved in the film put me off both the film and the book - and the first hundred pages or so did nothing to enthuse me.
But I am glad I stuck with it because once the story finally gets going it's really worthwhile. For me that didn't happen until the second part - the events of the war. The first part is bogged down by an overlong, rather dreamy account of the one fateful day that caused Briony Tallis to destroy the lives of those around her. This wouldn't be too bad - except McEwan does get a bit carried away with his foreshadowing - he acts as if the reader has all the information and doesn't bother to impart the vital news until several pages later. This could be suspenseful (and was occasionally) but often it wound me up enormously.
For me though the read payoff came in the final chapter which is told from an aged Briony's perspective. Although I knew some of the twist already (that the story being told was by an unreliable narrator) the excitement for me was in the final twists as the reader discovers how they have been brutally mislead and the relatively happy ending becomes a tragic one. I am glad in a way that Briony is never redeemed as it reminds the reader the dangers of assuming that your thoughts and perceptions are correct.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith
I had to read this after the fun I had reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The story is basically set before the events of the first book and explains how the Bennet girls go from polite maidens to zombie killing ninjas. Although the story does disregard some of the information of the first book (the girls stay in England rather than go to Japan) it manages to keep the story going despite essentially being a prequel to one of the most famous stories ever and the aformentioned zombie version.
There were some great new characters - the limbless captain being wheeled about in a barrow and wooing Mrs. Bennet, the repulsive baron living at Netherfield, the mysterious Master Hawksworth, and the dorky Dr. Keckilpenny. Even though it's known from the start that none of thee characters will surivive or at least remain it's interesting to see how they are each dispatched.
The only thing that got tiresome was the whole relationship angsting (Elizabeth being caught between Master Hawksworth and Dr. Keckilpenny). It's annoying because anyone reading knows from the start that nothing can come of it and therefore the teenage obsession over relationships is boring to the reader.
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
McEwan, Ian: Atonement
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)
Hockensmith, Steve: Dawn of the Dreadfuls (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
Atonement by Ian McEwan
To be honest I only read this because I a) got a copy cheap and b) had a copy of the film I wanted to see because Benedict Cumberbatch was in it. Childishly the fact Keira Knigtly was involved in the film put me off both the film and the book - and the first hundred pages or so did nothing to enthuse me.
But I am glad I stuck with it because once the story finally gets going it's really worthwhile. For me that didn't happen until the second part - the events of the war. The first part is bogged down by an overlong, rather dreamy account of the one fateful day that caused Briony Tallis to destroy the lives of those around her. This wouldn't be too bad - except McEwan does get a bit carried away with his foreshadowing - he acts as if the reader has all the information and doesn't bother to impart the vital news until several pages later. This could be suspenseful (and was occasionally) but often it wound me up enormously.
For me though the read payoff came in the final chapter which is told from an aged Briony's perspective. Although I knew some of the twist already (that the story being told was by an unreliable narrator) the excitement for me was in the final twists as the reader discovers how they have been brutally mislead and the relatively happy ending becomes a tragic one. I am glad in a way that Briony is never redeemed as it reminds the reader the dangers of assuming that your thoughts and perceptions are correct.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith
I had to read this after the fun I had reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The story is basically set before the events of the first book and explains how the Bennet girls go from polite maidens to zombie killing ninjas. Although the story does disregard some of the information of the first book (the girls stay in England rather than go to Japan) it manages to keep the story going despite essentially being a prequel to one of the most famous stories ever and the aformentioned zombie version.
There were some great new characters - the limbless captain being wheeled about in a barrow and wooing Mrs. Bennet, the repulsive baron living at Netherfield, the mysterious Master Hawksworth, and the dorky Dr. Keckilpenny. Even though it's known from the start that none of thee characters will surivive or at least remain it's interesting to see how they are each dispatched.
The only thing that got tiresome was the whole relationship angsting (Elizabeth being caught between Master Hawksworth and Dr. Keckilpenny). It's annoying because anyone reading knows from the start that nothing can come of it and therefore the teenage obsession over relationships is boring to the reader.
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
McEwan, Ian: Atonement
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)
Hockensmith, Steve: Dawn of the Dreadfuls (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