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Just finished 2001: A Space Odyssey. I liked it, but wanted more HAL and less...general craziness at the end. (I thought the book would help me understand the film better. Nope!)

Finished Forever a Stranger and Other Stories by Hella S. Haasse. I really liked it and definitely want to read more of her writing.

Just finished To the North by Elizabeth Bowen. I liked it, but wanted more from it. Loved all the travel stuff though!

Ellinor wrote: "Finished Forever a Stranger and Other Stories by Hella S. Haasse. I really liked it and definitely want to read more of her writing."

I read this about a year ago and also thought it was great (review). Too bad it's so difficult to track down!

Finished The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. I LOVED it! I was surprised though since I recently read The Book of Laughter and Forgetting and didn't care for it.

Finished keep the aspidistra flying by



ok but not fantabulistic if you know what I mean!)

Finished Lives of Girls and Women. A great read, although I enjoyed some parts more than others. Definitely want to check out more by Munro, now, though.

I finished "A Buyer's Market", the second book of "A Dance To The Music of Time" by Anthony Powell. While I unreservedly loved the first novel, the second novel was a little more slow-going and seemed more a piece of the whole than a novel which would hold up on its own. Granted, the same has been said of novels one and three; clearly, Powell is interested in the twelve novels being read as one large novel.

Despite feeling the narrative slow down, I enjoyed Powell's narration, dry humor, effortless blending of the events he's currently describing to the narrator's later thoughts of what happened and intimations of what will come, and an unusual ability to show the reader a situation from the viewpoints of multiple characters without shifting from his narrator's voice. Powell's writing is so seamless that one can simultaneously see him constructing every piece of the story and still be unsure of how he is managing to do it.

To call these novels plotless or dull is missing the point entirely. They are, so far, novels which reward a patient reader with a taste for detail and careful observation of scene, character, and the placement of each individual word. I feel that I am reading something profoundly important in the history of literature but Powell never presents it as such. In fact, other than in a few instances, the presentation is casual and almost off-hand.

The Third Man by Graham Greene. Not my favorite Graham Greene, but still very good.

I finished Worstward Ho by Samuel Beckett which I found very fascinating even though it didn't have a plot. I also finished The Pigeon and Closely Watched Trains which were both ok but nothing special.

My summer holiday reading included The Line of Beauty (beautifully tragic), The Big Sleep (ok once it got going) and The Confederacy of Dunces (brilliant!!!!).

Now on to Claudine's house, which I can't put down. The imagery is so beautiful and perfect reading material in the Blue Mountains twilight.

I finished both The Red Badge of Courage, as well as To Kill a Mockingbird, this weekend.

RBoC was one I've tried to read over and over and I've never been able to get past the first chapter because of the way the accents were written on the page. Tried it in audiobook form this time and made it through. Still didn't care much for it though unfortunately, there just wasn't much plot to it. Battle, injury, whining, battle, injury, whining. *shrug*

TKaM was much better the second time around. I had read it in high school and hated it, probably because I had to stop after each chapter and analyze it to death, then wait on everyone else before I could move on. I hated everything I read in school because of that. This time I read it in a few hours over two days and liked it much better.

I just finished Little Black Book of Stories
by A.S. Byatt

Wonderful short stories, great author.

Jean wrote: "I just finished Little Black Book of Stories
by A.S. Byatt

Wonderful short stories, great author."

Although Byatt has a few books on the list (The Children's Book, Possession, The Virgin in the Garden), this isn't one of them. Good to hear you enjoyed it though!

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston; review here.

Diane wrote: "The Third Man by Graham Greene. Not my favorite Graham Greene, but still very good."

Diane, what is your favourite Graham Greene? I'm planning on reading something by him this year.

I just finished Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I actually really liked it, but it left me feeling so disturbed. Now to watch the movie!

Lauren wrote: "I just finished Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I actually really liked it, but it left me feeling so disturbed. Now to watch the movie!"

I read this last fall and also liked it - and you just reminded me that I have not yet watched the movie!

Gwen wrote: "I finished Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin earlier today. It's amazing."

I just started that today, Gwen, so that's good to hear.

Finished Death Sentence by Maurice Blanchot. I liked the language but found the plot a little strange.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Still digesting...

Jamie wrote: "Jean wrote: "I just finished Little Black Book of Stories
by A.S. Byatt

Wonderful short stories, great author."

Although Byatt has a few books on the list ([book:The..."

Thanks for the info. Where do you select your choices from?

Just finished Rabbit, Run by John Updike. Not sure what I think... It isn't exactly a plot driven book and there isn't a lot that actually happens. But I found it rather disturbing watching what did happen. I will have to continue digesting. But, I think I am interested enough to now read the next book and see if it brings me any more insights.

Jean wrote: "Where do you select your choices from? "

The "list" is in several places on the web - see this post (and you might want to look at the rest of that folder too).

/topic/show/...

In addition, the group's bookshelf has all of the books from all of the versions of the list.

Kirsten wrote: "Diane wrote: "The Third Man by Graham Greene. Not my favorite Graham Greene, but still very good."

Diane, what is your favourite Graham Greene? I'm planning on reading ..."

So far, my favorite has been The Quiet American.

Diane wrote: "Kirsten wrote: "Diane wrote: "The Third Man by Graham Greene. Not my favorite Graham Greene, but still very good."

Diane, what is your favourite Graham Greene? I'm plan..."

I'm planning on reading The Quiet American as my first Greene sometime this year.

I just finished The Time Machine--my first Wells. It was totally not what I expected but it was a quick read and quite enjoyable.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Jean wrote: "Where do you select your choices from? "

The "list" is in several places on the web - see this post (and you might want to look at the rest of that folder too).

..."

Thank you.

Danyellemastro wrote: "My summer holiday reading included The Line of Beauty (beautifully tragic), The Big Sleep (ok once it got going) and The Confederacy of Dunces (brilliant!!!!).

Now on to Claudine's house, which I ..."

I just finished Confederacy of Dunces, too, and loved it. Couldn't put it down. Hilarious.

Also finished A Farewell to Arms today. First Hemingway novel I've read. Good book, quick read. Not great, but good.

Just started Robinson Crusoe. Feel like I've read the first chapter a hundred times.

Finished The Return of the Soldier. It had some aspects I enjoyed but was sometimes a bit tedious.

Just finished The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I'm sure I read this when I was younger but it was great fun to read (or should I say listen) to it again. I listened to the audio book read by Elijah Wood. Brilliant -what a talent! I can highly recommend it. :)

Finished The Newton Letter. Beautiful language, didn't care much for the story though.

Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun; review here.

Pride and Prejudice. Officially one of my favorite books now. I can't believe I only just now read it in my life. I had been missing out.

Pride and Prejudice is such a fun read!

If that's your first Jane Austen read you've got hours of lovely reading ahead of you - enjoy!

My personal favorites are Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility.

I just finished Dictionary of the Khazars. It's composed of several encyclopedic entries, meant to be read in whichever order you choose, and I read them more or less chronologically. I liked the stories but they seemed random, and while I read I couldn't figure out how they fit in together except for a few tenuous links. Then towards the end, I suddenly saw some of the links, and it was like bam! Amazing. But I admit I'm still confused over many parts. A re-reading might help.

Eclipse of the Crescent Moon by Géza Gárdonyi. This is a Hungarian book about the siege of Ejer in the 16th century. Interesting tale about a part of history I knew little about. I really want to go to Hungary now and see the fortress.

Kayla wrote: "Pride and Prejudice. Officially one of my favorite books now. I can't believe I only just now read it in my life. I had been missing out."

Me, too! Finally read it and loved it!

Lecterclarice wrote: "Pride and Prejudice is such a fun read!

If that's your first Jane Austen read you've got hours of lovely reading ahead of you - enjoy!

My personal favorites are Persuasion and Sense and Sensibil..."

I've read Persuasion before and enjoyed it, but not as much as P&P. I'm thinking of revisiting it because it was a while ago and I'm wondering if I didn't have the right mind set when I read it to take it on. P&P I think will definitely be one that I re-read every once in while just because of how much I enjoyed it.

Karen wrote: "Kayla wrote: "Pride and Prejudice. Officially one of my favorite books now. I can't believe I only just now read it in my life. I had been missing out."

Me, too! Finally read it and loved it!"

Right? I definitely will be re-reading it from time to time.

A Visit from the Goon Squad, I gave it 3 stars, its good but has its issues. Not a book I expect to see survive and make it into the next edition.

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk. It was in the 2006 edition but seems it was removed from later editions. It was alright not something that I would recommend to my friends.

Finished The Glass Bees by Ernst Jünger. I enjoyed it, it was entirely not what I expected.

The Pit and the Pendulum and The Fall of the House of Usher both by Edgar Allan Poe.

I just finished Obabakoak by Bernardo Atxaga, a collection of short stories by a Basque writer. The last "short" story is actually a series of short stories. Most of the stories had elements of magical realism.

I just finished "Kidnapped" which I really didn't like at all.

I also finished "Wide Sargasso Sea". WSS is beautifully written, composed of spare, carefully chosen declarative sentences. Despite that, for me, it took almost three quarters of the book to feel truly invested.

Cain by Jose Saramago. It was fun - a pleasant surprise.

Becky wrote: "Cain by Saramago. Fun -a pleasant surprise."

I read it this month as well, and really enjoyed it.

The Children's Book by AS Byatt. I ended up enjoying this a lot. I wasn't quite sure about it to start with and there were elements I didn't enjoy, but overall, this was great.

Under the Yoke by Ivan Vazov. It is probably an outstanding book in it's native language of Bulgarian, but unfortunately I can't read Bulgarian. The English version I read was poorly translated and edited.