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I just knocked off Heart of Darkness, which somehow was never assigned to me to read. I can see how it became a classic - the imagery is so powerful that it's no wonder it's been such a strong influence. That's part of the reason why I've been taking on the 1001 - to get at the source material for themes and ideas that have trickled down into other work.

I just finished "In the Heart of the Country" by JM Coetzee. It was a quite a difficult read. I wonder if all Coetzee books are like this??

Proust is definitely worth it, although I think I read it at a good time for me. The first two volumes are excellent, I feel like I should go back and reread them in fact. Through the middle books there is a very strong focus on homosexuality. Proust was a closet homosexual and he makes pretty much every character except for himself gay. I felt kind of distanced from these sections. However the last volume is incredible, and you don't actually get the joy of reading it unless you've managed to struggle through the previous 3500 or so pages.

Enduring Love by Ian McEwan.

I enjoyed, though was a little disturbed by the book, up until the end where it fell apart for me. It felt like the end went no where and there was no real conclusion.

@ Ram: Coetzee is one of my favorite authors, if you're looking for a lighter read by Coetzee try Disgrace

I just finished Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre and I really liked it

Just finished Never Let Me Go. Meh. I stopped Cold Mountain to finish it, so now I'm going back to that. Then it's off to Anna Karenina. With sparknotes, LOL.

Badmuthagoose, I'd like to know how you enjoy Anna Kerenina. I'm halfway through The Brothers Karamazov and am thinking that I need to keep the Russian Lit. fever going.

Moll Flanders.... loved it!

I just finished 'Crossing to Safety' by Wallace Stegner, which wasn't on the list.

I've completed 5% of the list; 50 books. Next I'm reading 'The Stranger' by Camus (how is this NOT on the list; but 'The Plague' is?!) and 'The Glass Castle' by Jeanette Walls.

Also, 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' by Truman Capote.

Candide-Voltaire. I enjoyed it a lot.

I just finished reading Herzog. This is my second Herzog and I can't believe I hadn't read him before. It amazes me that I am at almost 12% and there is still so much I haven't read!

Logan et al., Anna Karenina was surprisingly readable. There are a few philosophical treatises on farming that you might want to skim, but the characters are phenomenal and the interpersonal relationships timeless. I even found myself reading it on the beach, which is usually where I devour less-than-classics such as James Patterson mysteries. And there is a huge satisfaction to finally checking AK off your list...

Just finished Disgrace by J M Coetzee. Now reading The Quiet American by Graham Greene.

I am going to read Treasure Island with my son, and The Sea, the Sea (Iris Murdoch) for myself. I have other books going at any given moment, too, so that is quite enough for now.

This could get to feel too much like an assignment if I don't mix it up a bit with others, right? Who needs that?

Galen- I'm just curious - did you like Anna herself? When I read it I wasn't really all that concerned with her, it seemed like she wasn't as "real" of a character as the others. I loved the book but never did come to care much for her or her struggle.

Tara, The Stranger is on the list but it's listed as The Outsider. I think it has something to do with how it was translated or who translated it.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt :)

White Teeth by Zadie Smith. I had a hard time finishing it. I'm not one that feels I have to finish every book I start, but when I realized I was getting bored with it I only had 70 pages left. I'm new to this group. Thought I would try and find something to read with more to it than the light mysteries I've been reading this summer. I'm at 2% on the list.

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum by Heinrich Boll. Very very good. Very distinct in style and humanistic in a way that I sometimes forget literature can be.

Macy and other Anna Karenina readers,
I definitely didn't really care one way or the other about Anna, but I did think her situation was interesting. It is a problem society still hasn't really found a solution to--that there is such a big stigma to leaving a marriage, but then again, do we really want people to suffer in a truly unhappy marriage? And just because you love someone, does that mean you can live together more or less happily for the long term? I think if Anna had been more lovable that conundrum wouldn't have been as interesting to think about, because you just would have wanted the heroine to be happy.

Just finished "Orlando" by Virginia Woolfe. ****

I liked it; very beautiful fantasy dealing with androgeny -- one of Woolfe's favored themes.

For another group I'm reading with, I read Aesop's Fables. I enjoyed it. ****

Not all of Aesop's Fables were created equally! Some are just too obscure and/or dark to appeal!
The ones most of us are familiar with from childhood, for the most part, the best of the lot. Still, as a writer/collector of the first form of literature, Fables merits atleast four if not five stars!

The last book from the list that I actually finished was The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I've been halfway through Mansfield Park for weeks now (but a weekend at the cottage should allow me to finally finish it!)

I've just finished A Farewell to arms. Liked it but not as much as I expected to. Liked the war parts, hated the love story.

Just finished the Piano Teacher. I really wanted to like this more than I did. I've seen the movie that was based on it already, and thought it was excellent, albeit profoundly disturbing.

The book was well-written, and was indeed very disturbing, but I just felt like I was slogging my way through a lot of the time. It did go a lot faster in the second half of the book however. I'm glad I read it, but don't know if I will pick up any of the author's other books any time soon.

Just finished
The Curious incident of the dog in the night-time

Interesting...but borrow from the library.

I just finished "Saturday" by Ian McEwan, and I loved it! This the 2nd of his books I've read ("Atonement"), and I am so impressed with his very deep and complex characters and plot lines. I mean, it's true , in this book, for much of the time, nothing happens. But, oh! What that blank space can hold!

I knocked off Ian Fleming's Casino Royale this morning, and it's a lot of fun - Bond is a much different guy personality-wise in the book than he is on screen. As I work my way through the list, I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised at the attention given to mystery and thrillers - it's not just for genre fans.

I just finished Paul Auster's 'New York Trilogy'. Interesting, not too time-consuming, but it left me feeling a bit daft. 'The Big Sleep' made a lot of sense compared to this trio of private eye stories. Great passages on language, lots of twists...and lots of things left unexplained.

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (finished this morning) and Life of Pi by Yann Martel (finished a week or so ago). Both well worth reading!

I just finished The Other Boleyn Girl - interesting plot line, VERY long book! I wonder if I would have been able to get into it and through it as much as I did if I hadn't been on vacation...

The Diamond Age by N.Stephenson is also great, but not on the list

the picture of dorian gray... great story!!! the middle section and the firdt two chapters were not the best but the ending made up for it!! best ending of a novel I have read in a little while....

Finishing off 100 Years of Solitude today, down to the last 88 pages. A really good story!

Next on my list is either Picture of Dorian Gray or The Wind-up Bird Chronicles.

Just finished Waiting by Ha Jin. I liked it.

New Grub Street by George Gissing, one of those books I would not have looked at if it wasn't on the list. Great book.
Less than 100 pages left of Gargantua and Pantagruel.

Just finished Things Fall Apart.

Just finished The Master by Colm Toibin. After a slow beginning I really enjoyed it, although if I had previously read any Henry James it would have made a lot more sense. So now I'm off to read Wings of the Dove.

In some ways I liked this one even better than Disgrace, but can't say exactly why ...

How was it? It's up in a few for me.

I just finished Possession by A.S. Byatt. I saw the movie a few years ago, so I already knew the story line. It was an enjoyable read, but I didn't think it was that good. It won the Booker prize? I'm sure I'm just not smart enough to understand something. I'd be glad if someone could enlighten me and help me understand why it was "the literary sensation of the year" according to the back cover.

I just finished One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. AMAZING!!!

"Of Mice and Men" - John Steinbeck

Avid readers will probably be shocked that I've never read this one, but I hadn't until this weekend. I avoid Steinbeck because I know his books will, at the least, put me in a blue mood. This one, however, is so beautiful the sadness was well worth the read. What a beautiful story of friendship! Maybe I'll now have the fortitude to read "The Winter of Our Discontent", on my shelf for ages and also unread!

Judith--Now if you ever see the Looney Tunes episode making reference to Of Mice and Men you'll be ready for it!

Judith, I loved Of Mice and Men when I read it several years ago; the story is so heart wrenching, it's haunted me ever since. We visited Monterey and Cannery Row recently and I was thinking of picking up Steinbeck's Cannery Row to put on my "to read" shelf; does anyone have a recommendation for Cannery Row?

I just finished "On Cheslin Pond" by Ian McEwan. A quick read, and a sweet, somewhat sad story, but I didn't love it as much as "
Atomememt" or "Saturday" Still, worth the read.

I just finished MIDDELSEX. Very powerful!!

I just finished Elizabeth Costello. I really like how Coetzee sequenced the novel, breaking down Costello's character. The last chapter left me flat though.

Mary Jo,
I would recommend Cannery Row. It was a great story of the people living in an area that has nothing but the people in it really and how they try to get by and the relationships they have. Anyway, I really enjoyed it and it was a quick read.