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I just finished Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. I loved it. The banter is hysterical. It is very well-written, and the characters are all great. Five stars!!

The Rainbow by D.H.Lawrence. Only been living in Canada since january. Didn't realise that the book is set near where I grew up in south Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, even mentioned the village where I lived, brought back memories of home. I've been away for 5 years and was thinking of going back.
Hadn't thought of reading D.H.Lawrence before but I think I might have a Lawrence fest in june.

Read Sula several years ago. I like Toni's books, but usually can't multi-read , but have to read her stuff by itself.

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk. It was a very very fast read - super enjoyable - and I didn't see the end coming until about 3/4 of the way through.

Also just finished I'm Not Stiller by Max Frisch. It was slow going in the beginning, but worth the read.

I just finished Shelley's Frankenstein. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I will be reading off-list for a few weeks, I think. Time to regroup.

'never let me go' was done a bit over a week ago, and between that & last month's 'cryptonomicon', i'm on a streak of really good ones. hmmm, what next?

finished Germinal by Zola. meant to read this book for a while but never got around to it. I have to say that I wasn't very impressed with it.

the latest one I finished was Eugenie Grandet by Balzac... another french classic, Aaron! I must say, I enjoyed it quite a bit but then, I usually fall for classics. I read Nana by Zola and I was really impressed by that book as well.

just finished "cassandra" by christa wolf

This month I finished:

"Love In The Time of Cholera"- M. Marquez - ****
"Jude the Obscure" - T. Hardy - ***

Real creativity here! I liked "Love...." much better than Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude". A tighter story made it easier to follow and it included characters just as odd and memorable.

"Jude" was a bit tough to get through because of all the sadness and dreariness; but good literature all the same. I like how Hardy develops multi dimensions to his characters and demonstrates a broad range of understanding different personality types. Great historical elements as well.

"Never Let Me Go". I really enjoyed it. It was sad in the end, but still a wonderful book. I actually may use it if I ever teach an advanced ethics class.

The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa

The Hour Of The Star by Clarice Lispector

Child 44 by Smith
It was pretty good. It picked up a bit toward the end. A little unlikely, but satisfying.

I tried to read Everything is illuminated , but I didn't even reach half of that and reaturn it to the library.

Just finished The Summer Book by Tove Jansson last night. I didn't even know it was on the 1001 list until I finished it and was flipping the book looking for an inspiration to start a new read, and noticed that it actually made the list.

The Breast - Philip Roth

Mr. Kafka? Meet Mr. Roth. I believe you two should have a lot to talk about.

A strange book, but a fun read.

Just finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It is now one of my favorite books. Such a great story. Definitely one to read again.

Vernon God Little, by DBC Pierre.

I finished Middlesex last week. Loved it!

Ugh, I am not finishing Get Shorty, I'm abandoning it. And I rarely do that. It's even a little better than The Big Sleep, which I hated. I've had much better luck with "non-list" books lately.

just finished "heart of darkness" by joseph conrad. really loved it!

Just finished "American Pastoral" by Roth. I really enjoyed it. I kind of knew I would since I have read and enjoyed Roth before. It is a good, yet sad story about the fantasies we often tell ourselves of the American Dream and how there is a truer reality out there than the one we create for ourselves. If you are looking for a good book off the list, I would recommend this one.

I got The Collected Works of Flannery O'Connor because it had everything of hers that's on the list. As it turns out, Flannery O'Connor is one of the best writers I've been lucky enough to come across. Her stories are somehow very easy to read while being very spiritually driven at the same time. I ended up reading the entire book...All 1281 pages.

If anything, it's a good vacation for people who get tired of reading about people falling in love.

I just finish How to talk about books you haven't read. it was really great.

Just finished The Green Man by Kingsley Amis. Eerie book and not what I was expecting, starts off seemingly quite harmless and becomes more sinister.
Wouldn't like to meet him in a dark alley.

I agree: one of my fave writers and a great way to read her all at once.

Courtney, i assume you're referring to Hannah's 'collected works of flannery o'connor' up there... hmm, have to add that one to the library-find pile then. sometimes it's daunting to sift through the whole huge list to select something totally new, so thanks!

I've just finished "More Lives Than One" by Jenny Williams - the great biography of the writer Hans Fallada... deep insight into his life with all ups and downs within a very interesting period of our history. Definitely recommended!

No problem. Flannery is worth every second. Enjoy!

Just finished "Cat's Cradle"

Juliane- that sounds interesting. I'll have to look it up now.

Jazz by Toni Morrison

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Now, please excuse me while I do my victory dance. I've been working on that one for far longer than I want to admit.

Congrats Tani! That is an epic read and took me quite a while too. Though I enjoyed nearly every moment of it.

Just finished The Floating Opera by John Barth, just couldn't put it down.

Just finished "The picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde - definitely a great book and a must read!

Finished House of Leaves. I actually finished it last week, but was busy spending too much time working in a small, dark, confined, windowless, colorless, metal donut.

I did like the constant ironical take on literary criticism, I guess that's the part I liked the most about it.

The Picture of Dorian Gray : definitely agree.... few people understand the state of the human condition. Oscar Wilde comes to grip with his own hedonism in the later years, and his reflection has some lessons for all of us. not only a great work of art, this book is worthy for it's moral lessons.

Just finished "The Quiet American" by Graham Greene. It was the longest short book I have read in a long time. But, I liked it.

Just finished "Call of the Wild" by Jack London for the summer reading challenge. I can't believe I have never read JL before! It was an amazing story that I just couldn't put down. I can't remember the last time that I read a book in a day.

I just finished Choke, for the book club, let's start discussing already!

I just finished Life of Pi...it was awesome. I read until 12:30 last night and knew I would pay for it this morning (my daughter wakes up at 6 on a good day), but it was totally worth it.

Incidentally, we just happened to go to the zoo today. I kept saying stuff to my husband related to the book, but since he didn't read it, he just thought I was crazy.

Just finished Reveries of The Solitary Walker by Rousseau, interesting little book which was mainly about how Rousseau felt during a difficult period of his life when he felt he was being ridiculed by Paris society.

I just finished Choke by C. Palahniuk and am enjoying the discussion on another thread.

Courtney, I read Blind Assassin last year and felt the same way you do. It's a book that seems to get hugely mixed reviews here.

Denise,

I think Atwood is one of those writers who you either love or hate...it either hits home or doesn't.

Peace,
Courtney

The Sea by John Banville. Beautifully written but the story just didn't grab me at all, and I had to force myself to finish it.

Just finished Perfume by Patrick Suskind - so freaky and cool! Gave me the creeps :D

The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow. My workmate warned me that it was boring and heavy-going, but I didn't find it so.

Finished Rebecca a couple of days ago. I was really blown away by the last few chapters... the story was slow going, but I feel that all information was necessary to tell the whole story... Damn that Danny...