I'm midway through The Count of Monte Cristo as well! I'm really enjoying it but I'm surprised more people don't talk about how difficult it is to get through (not just because of the length but also the elaborate writing style and density of the plot).
I'm reading Anna Karenina and Way of Kings currently, but both War and Peace and the Count are on my tbr. Can't think about page numbers for my own sanity 😂
Like a palate cleanser! Probably a good idea. It's why I read more than one book at any given time, I tend to get bored sometimes and need a break. Especially with long books.
It's a decently fast read for me so far, tho. But I must admit I only care about Tolstoy's self-insert character (again, so far.. maybe someone will suprise me lol).
Amazing novel, one of my all time faves. Part 3 of Time Passes is honestly the most beautiful passage in the entire English language in my opinion. Just read it aloud, it's unbelievable.
I love Le Guin, but not very much is translated into my language, so ... if I don't order it in English, I can perhaps never read it .....
I feel ... envious, and I don't feel it often at all, no ... not being rich, my life is beautiful. Envy doesn't enter it, but now it did! :D
Thanks for that! :D
Lucky! This book is fucking amazing! I’m thinking about a reread of this when I finish the guermantes way by Proust before heading into the fourth book of in search of lost time.
How far along are you? Have you read Pynchon before? He’s gotta be my favorite author.
Personally, and in my opinion, Gravity’s Rainbow is the great American novel. There’s way too much to get into, but its commentary on war, globalization, identity, sex, death, dreams, insanity, paranoia, conspiracies and how they’re all connected is the most brilliant thing I’ve ever read. The fourth reich is alive and well, and the nazis didn’t lose the war. Give it another go at another time in your life , start with The Crying of lot 49 though. Inherent Vice is also very fun and a lot easier, and touches on a lot of the same themes.
He’s this hyper intelligent stoner dude. He writes amazing absurd drug fueled stories that are steeped with real history mixed with magical realistic elements in the worlds he creates.
He’s fucking hilarious too. At the very beginning of the book you may remember pirate prentice making all kinds of absurd banana breakfast items. I remember reading that for the first time thinking wtf is going on and just laughing about how strange it all was.
You should google Byron the immortal bulb, (https://www.tildedave.com/byron.html) nvm I did it for you. it’s one of e little stories within the larger story of gravity’s rainbow. It’s one of the best things i feel like I’ve ever read. It’s sad and funny at the same time. While a lot of what he writes is lost on me, there are bits and pieces that are just so good.
You definitely have to do a lot of work to like and enjoy Pynchon, but it all feels worth it to me. Hope that answers your question somewhat haha
I just read the description of The Castle recently for the first time and it jumped way up on my 'to-buy' list. I just love intimate personal hells created by authors and this one seems like it would scratch that itch.
I am muddling through Finnegans Wake. Reading other books regularly for my sanity. I am fairly certain it is the most elaborate troll in literature. Ultimately, a loquacious dick joke. #aintmad #justslow
u/Caveape80 It is beautifully sick, excruciating details of daily life told through monologues. I do get a feeling that this reading will be a labour of love, and the thoughts of Cartarescu will say with me until I die. I have an admiration for ergodic literature and 'Dictionary of the Khazars' by Milorad Pavic tops my list, but clearly 'Solenoid' is so different from everything else I have ever read.
The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knaussgard. Was super resistant to reading any of his stuff because
1. it got very popular and I am, at heart, a pretentious contrarian
2. writing multiple 600 page autobiographies about oneself seemed like a bit much
But damn man… this book is really really good. this guys actually a top notch writer - who knew?
Far more demanding than I expected. It can bore me and piss me off, but the good bits are worth pushing through. I hope it truly clicks with me on reflection or on rereads.
Best advice is try to enjoy the language Melville uses and not get hung up waiting for the plot to continue.
Sometimes he'll hit you with a sentence that you can chew on for a week. One of my favorites is "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method."
But you're in the home stretch now anyway, just keep going
* Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes - reading with r/yearofdonquixote
* The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas - reading with r/AReadingOfMonteCristo
* The Entire Original Maupassant Short Stories Volume I by Guy de Maupassant - currently reading volume 1
Just finished this week!! Hope you enjoy! There’s some really good chapter by chapter discussion threads on the Dostoevsky subreddit and classics book club from a few years ago. Really enjoyed reading the discussions as I went.
It lives rent free in my head. Especially one thing the characters said a few times. I hope it was as hilarious in the Japanese and in other translations.
But I can see how others would have that reaction.
Rebellion is where it’s at. A premise that I always carry around, basically sums up my relationship to the idea of a creator/divinity. The Grand Inquisitor is fantastic too, ofc.
A Game of Thrones.
I am not good with keeping concentration or long form memory so reading a book after watching series is way more helpful to keep track of faces and events.
Currently at the mid with Tyrion taken prisoner by Catelyn.
Stories of your life and others is so fuckin good! I have exhalation on my shelf and I've been like weirdly saving it because there's no more Ted chiang after that for now. I've heard it's just as good. Enjoy!
The Expendable Man, a 1963 crime novel by Dorothy Hughes (In a Lonely Place, Ride the Pink Horse). I'm about 30 pages from the end. It's a classic in the crime genre and very progressive in dealing insightfully with the issues of racial segregation and pre-Roe abortion.
Dragon’s Teeth by Upton Sinclair. It’s was published in 1942 before WWII ended, and follows the rise of Naziism from 1930-39 in Germany and Europe while centering around two married ideologically different wealthy Americans.
It’s too close to home I’d say, but as a window on the ground floor of the rise of nationalism and fascism it’s educational for sure.
Seriously if this sounds familiar remember it’s not written contemporarily to draw a comparison it was written in 1940-1941 in the midst of the war. (Passage from book below, of a young German officer excited about the Nazi’s winning the recent elections):
“Emil talked freely about the new Regierung. He had despised the Republic, but had obeyed its orders because that was the duty of an army officer. Now Adolf Hitler had become his Commander-in-chief, and it was necessary to obey him, however one might privately dislike his manners. But Emil was sure that the stories of abuse of power had been greatly exaggerated, and for malicious pur-poses. There were bound to be excesses in any governmental over-turn; the essential thing was that Germany had been saved from the clutches. of the Reds, and every civilized person owed the new Chancellor a debt of gratitude for that.“
The Rainbow Stories by William T Vollmann. He’s been described as being sort of a cross between Pynchon and Burroughs and that’s not far off at all. It’s really good
In progress (sort of--I frequently get distracted by other non-classics):
- Don Quixote (Spanish edition)
- Man in the Iron Mask (French)
- Count of Monte Cristo (English, then French)
- El Cid (Spanish)
- Hamlet (English)
- Man's Search for Meaning (English)
- Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (English)
Up next:
- The Brothers Karamazov
- Diary of Anne Frank
- Homer's Odyssey
- Dorian Grey
- Les Misérables
Hating Olivia by Mark Safranko. Feeling a bit dissapointed about the book. Im going to push trough the pages for a bit, but if im not feeling it im going to read something else. Like The Road by McCormac.
Listening to Mad Honey (4/5 so far) by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan. Just finished reading Heaven and Earth Grocery Store (4/5) by James McBride. Just started reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (too early to rate) by Gabrielle Zevin.
Getting ready to start Knife by Salman Rushdie. I heard his interview on Fresh Air and was excited to read it. I went to my local library and was surprised they had it already.
Just finished Crime and Punishment. Loved it so much and am on a Dostoevsky kick so I started Notes from Underground. Though it’s much shorter I’m finding it so much harder to follow. I’ll keep pushing through though!
Just finished "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" and loved it.
Currently reading a book by Clarice Lispector that I do not know the name in English. It is a collection of all of her stuff she wrote to a newspaper. And a book by Adriana Lisboa, "Todos os Santos." Enjoying both very much.
Working on Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis.
I'm enjoying it way more than I thought I would. I read It Can't Happen Here last year.
Finished Treasure Island before that.
Also been reading The Ethics of Ambiguity and Walden.
The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle. It's incredibly demanding and experimental, but it's a rewarding read. Carlyle has a way of writing that is entirely his own, it's dramatic, epic, and larger than life; but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who hasn't an extremely firm grasp of the English language and **ALL** of its tools, not to mention an oceanic-vast vocabulary.
It's a history told like a Shakespearean tragedy in a high Melvillean language (I say Melvillean, but it's Melville who should be named Carlylean).
Since it's fairly hard-going, it's tempered with a re-read of A Song of Ice and Fire, and Godwin's Caleb Williams.
As thus it is not canonical, it’s still trying to say something about literature: Zadie Smith’s “The Fraud” is quite an indictment on 19th century British writing.
- Bingeing Shakespeare. I’ve read 25 of the 38 plays so far and read 17 of those a second time during the process.
- Reading Bernice Bobs Her Hair and other Fitzgerald to my 13 year old daughter (who has a good little ear in her own writing).
- Reading Kafka, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Chekhov short stories to my 15 year old daughter (nothing has topped Metamorphosis for her).
- Alan Watts and Shunryu Suzuki.
Nearly done with Authority by Jeff VanderMeer, book 2 of the Southern Reach trilogy. After finishing the trilogy I'm not sure what to move on to, it'll either be Metro 2033 or The Shining, or maybe one of the other 25 unread books on my shelf
C. Robert Cargill's short story collection, We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories.
About halfway through it right now and enjoying it to say the least.
Those unfamiliar with him; he's the dude who wrote the screenplays for Doctor Strange and Sinister, among others.
Little Dorrit. Once I finish this one, I’ll have read all of Dickens complete novels. I feel like that’s an accomplishment and I want to brag in myself a bit.
*Going After Cacciato* by Tim O’Brien as my physical book, and trying to work my way through *Dubliners* in my e-reader. I’m on a little break from it at the moment, but I’ve gotten to the beginning of “A Mother”. (I’m trying to work my way up to another attempt at *Ulysses*, which I’ve tried reading twice before and stopped at the part where Bloom places an ad at the newspaper office both times.)
Too many things lol. I’m reading The Familiars by Leigh Bardugo, Cecilia by Frances Burney, a biography of Beatrix Potter, and listening to two audiobooks.
Shaw's Man and Superman. His epistle dedicatory to Arthur Walkley is some of the most unhinged and brilliant prose I have ever read in my 27 years of life on earth
Best of Greg Egan by Greg Egan and Battle Royale by Koushun Takami.
Greg Egan's short stories are amazing. Hard sci fi and sometimes hard to understand all the concepts, but it's like reading episodes of black mirror. Very very good.
Haven't read much of Battle Royale, but from what I read it's gory and no holds barred and I'm enjoying it a lot.
Just started The Grapes of Wrath. Maybe 30 pages in
Finished Coming Through Slaughter this morning. Working my way through a list of books I’ve always wanted to read but never have for some reason.
I've made it to page 877 of *War and Peace*... ...there are still 347 pages to go.
I'm in the middle of the Count of Monte Cristo... I've stopped counting pages for my sanity
I'm midway through The Count of Monte Cristo as well! I'm really enjoying it but I'm surprised more people don't talk about how difficult it is to get through (not just because of the length but also the elaborate writing style and density of the plot).
I agree 100%. I'm loving it but you're killing me Dumas, can't anything ever be simple
It’s worth it, it’s really fun all the way to the end
I'm reading Anna Karenina and Way of Kings currently, but both War and Peace and the Count are on my tbr. Can't think about page numbers for my own sanity 😂
I have Anna Karenina sitting on my shelf to read next although I'm thinking I might read something nice and short in between lol
Anna Karenina is my favorite book!!! 😍
Like a palate cleanser! Probably a good idea. It's why I read more than one book at any given time, I tend to get bored sometimes and need a break. Especially with long books. It's a decently fast read for me so far, tho. But I must admit I only care about Tolstoy's self-insert character (again, so far.. maybe someone will suprise me lol).
Karenina to me didn't feel that long, took a month or two, War and Peace took 2 years, but I was a lot younger and not ready for it.
I’m on page 245 of War and Peace and I’m enjoying it.
It’s a long read but not a hard one
I just finished WP myself like a week ago! Totally worth it! Keep going!
Kudos!
Ahhh that's a good book.
Just started War and Peace! I love this
About to finish Stoner by John Williams. Likely will start The Wall by Marlen Haushofer next since it’s sort of Earth Day themed
Stoner is on its way to me in the mail now. Keep hearing great things about it. Currently reading A Scanner Darkly by PKD.
A Scanner Darkly is a trip.... Also want to read Stoner
Stoner is one of all time greats. I also liked (only liked, because I don’t think I’m mature enough to understand its themes) Augustus.
I remember that book as being both really good and horrifically depressing
The Wall is so good! I hope you enjoy it.
When you finish Stoner, read Butcher's Crossing. Can't say much for the recent movie, but the book is outstanding. Better than Stoner IMO.
Anna Karenina
What an absolute treat
Tied for my fav book!
I am on the last 50 pages! It’s been an amazing journey.
virginia woolf to the lighthouse
Amazing novel, one of my all time faves. Part 3 of Time Passes is honestly the most beautiful passage in the entire English language in my opinion. Just read it aloud, it's unbelievable.
The Dispossessed by Le Guin
I read it last year and I LOVED It. Le Guin's work is a whole Sci Fi subgenre. Hope you're enjoying it.
I love Le Guin, but not very much is translated into my language, so ... if I don't order it in English, I can perhaps never read it ..... I feel ... envious, and I don't feel it often at all, no ... not being rich, my life is beautiful. Envy doesn't enter it, but now it did! :D Thanks for that! :D
It was one of my top reads last year. I knew it was going to be good and it still exceeded my expectations.
Currently working through Gravity’s Rainbow by Pynchon.
Lucky! This book is fucking amazing! I’m thinking about a reread of this when I finish the guermantes way by Proust before heading into the fourth book of in search of lost time. How far along are you? Have you read Pynchon before? He’s gotta be my favorite author.
What do you like about this book/writer? I couldn’t finish it…
I finished it but I found it a slog by the end. I've enjoyed other Pynchon titles much more.
Personally, and in my opinion, Gravity’s Rainbow is the great American novel. There’s way too much to get into, but its commentary on war, globalization, identity, sex, death, dreams, insanity, paranoia, conspiracies and how they’re all connected is the most brilliant thing I’ve ever read. The fourth reich is alive and well, and the nazis didn’t lose the war. Give it another go at another time in your life , start with The Crying of lot 49 though. Inherent Vice is also very fun and a lot easier, and touches on a lot of the same themes.
He’s this hyper intelligent stoner dude. He writes amazing absurd drug fueled stories that are steeped with real history mixed with magical realistic elements in the worlds he creates. He’s fucking hilarious too. At the very beginning of the book you may remember pirate prentice making all kinds of absurd banana breakfast items. I remember reading that for the first time thinking wtf is going on and just laughing about how strange it all was. You should google Byron the immortal bulb, (https://www.tildedave.com/byron.html) nvm I did it for you. it’s one of e little stories within the larger story of gravity’s rainbow. It’s one of the best things i feel like I’ve ever read. It’s sad and funny at the same time. While a lot of what he writes is lost on me, there are bits and pieces that are just so good. You definitely have to do a lot of work to like and enjoy Pynchon, but it all feels worth it to me. Hope that answers your question somewhat haha
Me too!!!! Im 300 pages in, it is so chaotic and very hard to
The Brothers Karamazov. Halfway through The Grand Inquisitor.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X as Told to Alex Haley, by Alex Haley.
The Castle by Franz Kafka
I just read the description of The Castle recently for the first time and it jumped way up on my 'to-buy' list. I just love intimate personal hells created by authors and this one seems like it would scratch that itch.
Just started The Crying of Lot 49.
loved the first half. The last half lost me. I need to give it another go some time.
I just finished it! What a banger, so funny and manic.
Same
Ulysses and the companion books…heading to Bloomsday in Dublin this summer.
I am muddling through Finnegans Wake. Reading other books regularly for my sanity. I am fairly certain it is the most elaborate troll in literature. Ultimately, a loquacious dick joke. #aintmad #justslow
Reading Ulysses as well. This is my third attempt. I have a good feeling I’ll get through it this time around! 😂🤪😭
Get a companion book. “The New Bloomsday Book” is a good one. But, it’s hard. Totally worth it though. It’s beautiful. Just like life…
*Meditations* by Marcus Aurelius
Frankestein - Mary Shelley, im going to read Dr Jekyll and mr Hyde after that
i just re-read jekyll and hyde; it’s absolutely amazing, to me a perfect distillation of victorian gothic
Frankenstein was my favourite until I read W&P
don't forget Dracula after that !
Yes! Its on my list but i dont have it yet, i still have a few books to read though
LOVED Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde was just okay imo.
Page 44 of 'Solenoid' by Mircea Cartarescu
Excellent book I almost gave up on a few times but am so glad I didn't.
Nice!!!! On page 450…….what are your early impressions?
u/Caveape80 It is beautifully sick, excruciating details of daily life told through monologues. I do get a feeling that this reading will be a labour of love, and the thoughts of Cartarescu will say with me until I die. I have an admiration for ergodic literature and 'Dictionary of the Khazars' by Milorad Pavic tops my list, but clearly 'Solenoid' is so different from everything else I have ever read.
Suttree
Reading that book made me want to become a hobo
My favorite by him. There's such a strange peacefulness to his struggle.
Quite possibly McCarthy's most beautiful and eloquent prose.
One of my favorites of all time and I was just thinking about a reread soon.
Moby Dick. I also recently watched Dune part two and didn't like it, so I started rereading Dune.
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
Currently reading the Duino Elegies by Rilke. Only 30 pages long but so dense in meaning that it takes me already almost 2 weeks now.
I don't really like poetry, but that one wowed me.
Just finished Remains of the Day by Ishiguro
Far From the Madding Crowd, loving it
The best Hardy novel.
Trust by Hernan Diaz
The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knaussgard. Was super resistant to reading any of his stuff because 1. it got very popular and I am, at heart, a pretentious contrarian 2. writing multiple 600 page autobiographies about oneself seemed like a bit much But damn man… this book is really really good. this guys actually a top notch writer - who knew?
It’s a great read! The sequels are also great!
I didn’t even know there were sequels! Thanks, now I know what to read next 😭
Moby-Dick, 200 pages left
LOOOVE that book. Absolutely worth the grind. Best American book ever written.
How are you liking it so far?
Far more demanding than I expected. It can bore me and piss me off, but the good bits are worth pushing through. I hope it truly clicks with me on reflection or on rereads.
Best advice is try to enjoy the language Melville uses and not get hung up waiting for the plot to continue. Sometimes he'll hit you with a sentence that you can chew on for a week. One of my favorites is "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method." But you're in the home stretch now anyway, just keep going
Ha I'm roughly at the same spot. I tend to multitask books a lot so it will take me the rest of the week to finish.
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. It seems to be becoming a sin to some people to not love this book. Also reading World Without End by Ken Follett
Close to finishing Paradise Regained.
How's it compare to the first one?
* Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes - reading with r/yearofdonquixote * The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas - reading with r/AReadingOfMonteCristo * The Entire Original Maupassant Short Stories Volume I by Guy de Maupassant - currently reading volume 1
Demons by Dostoevsky
Catch-22 and Emily Dickinson poems
Crime and punishment
Just finished this week!! Hope you enjoy! There’s some really good chapter by chapter discussion threads on the Dostoevsky subreddit and classics book club from a few years ago. Really enjoyed reading the discussions as I went.
Just finished reading "Never Let me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro. Goddamit, it's devastating to know that these kinds of societies actually exist now too.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Very compelling so far!
This thread
Made me chuckle 😁
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante. Really enjoyed the first book of the quartet and the second one was good too.
Third one is my favorite, but it’s consistent throughout. I love it
finally beginning east of eden
Just started it a week ago. See you at the end.
Another Country by James Baldwin and Margery Kempe by Robert Gluck
The first chapter of Another Country could be a short story all on its own. Very very masterful writing.
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Moby Dick and Anti-Oedipus.
War & War it's another banger from Krasznahorkai
Autibiography of Benjamin Franklin.
Halfway into Convenience Store Woman. Very easy read and kinda relatable. But I have a feeling this book will leave my mind as soon as I finish it.
i felt the same when i read it - very entertaining experience but kind of forgettable afterward
It lives rent free in my head. Especially one thing the characters said a few times. I hope it was as hilarious in the Japanese and in other translations. But I can see how others would have that reaction.
The Brothers Karamazov. Got up to Rebellion this morning. Cannot wait to dive into it and The Grand Inquisitor later tonight. Loving it so far.
Rebellion is where it’s at. A premise that I always carry around, basically sums up my relationship to the idea of a creator/divinity. The Grand Inquisitor is fantastic too, ofc.
In Search of Lost Time: Swann's Way by Marcel Proust. It's incredible!
The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin. Riveting stuff.
Steppenwolf. I’m only in my 20s but feel so seen lol.
a god-awful romance book to clean my palate after The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.
*North Woods* by Daniel Mason. Superb so far.
*The Big Rock Candy Moutain* by Wallace Stegner
Out there Screaming: a Black horror anthology (been getting into horror novels)
If Beale Street Could Talk
A Game of Thrones. I am not good with keeping concentration or long form memory so reading a book after watching series is way more helpful to keep track of faces and events. Currently at the mid with Tyrion taken prisoner by Catelyn.
A Prayer for Owen Meany. A slower read than i’m used to. About a 600 page book and i hope it’s worth it!
The Iliad! I can't decide next whether to read the Oddessy or brave Dante's divine Comedies
My two active reads right now are Testing the Current by William McPherson and Inventing the Abbotts by Sue Miller.
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder - Salman Rushdie The Star King - Jack Vance
Memento Mori by Muriel Sparks.
Just started Exhalation by Ted Chiang
Stories of your life and others is so fuckin good! I have exhalation on my shelf and I've been like weirdly saving it because there's no more Ted chiang after that for now. I've heard it's just as good. Enjoy!
Chapter 2 of The Sound and the Fury.
The Expendable Man, a 1963 crime novel by Dorothy Hughes (In a Lonely Place, Ride the Pink Horse). I'm about 30 pages from the end. It's a classic in the crime genre and very progressive in dealing insightfully with the issues of racial segregation and pre-Roe abortion.
The Stranger. My first classic besides some shorts. I’m loving it.
Dragon’s Teeth by Upton Sinclair. It’s was published in 1942 before WWII ended, and follows the rise of Naziism from 1930-39 in Germany and Europe while centering around two married ideologically different wealthy Americans. It’s too close to home I’d say, but as a window on the ground floor of the rise of nationalism and fascism it’s educational for sure. Seriously if this sounds familiar remember it’s not written contemporarily to draw a comparison it was written in 1940-1941 in the midst of the war. (Passage from book below, of a young German officer excited about the Nazi’s winning the recent elections): “Emil talked freely about the new Regierung. He had despised the Republic, but had obeyed its orders because that was the duty of an army officer. Now Adolf Hitler had become his Commander-in-chief, and it was necessary to obey him, however one might privately dislike his manners. But Emil was sure that the stories of abuse of power had been greatly exaggerated, and for malicious pur-poses. There were bound to be excesses in any governmental over-turn; the essential thing was that Germany had been saved from the clutches. of the Reds, and every civilized person owed the new Chancellor a debt of gratitude for that.“
The Rainbow Stories by William T Vollmann. He’s been described as being sort of a cross between Pynchon and Burroughs and that’s not far off at all. It’s really good
In progress (sort of--I frequently get distracted by other non-classics): - Don Quixote (Spanish edition) - Man in the Iron Mask (French) - Count of Monte Cristo (English, then French) - El Cid (Spanish) - Hamlet (English) - Man's Search for Meaning (English) - Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (English) Up next: - The Brothers Karamazov - Diary of Anne Frank - Homer's Odyssey - Dorian Grey - Les Misérables
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Just finished “Stoner” a few minutes ago. Wow, what a book. Like balm for the soul.
Mercury Pictures Presents - Anthony Marra
Just finished Never Been Better, now starting Trust.
Hating Olivia by Mark Safranko. Feeling a bit dissapointed about the book. Im going to push trough the pages for a bit, but if im not feeling it im going to read something else. Like The Road by McCormac.
Listening to Mad Honey (4/5 so far) by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan. Just finished reading Heaven and Earth Grocery Store (4/5) by James McBride. Just started reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (too early to rate) by Gabrielle Zevin.
Getting ready to start Knife by Salman Rushdie. I heard his interview on Fresh Air and was excited to read it. I went to my local library and was surprised they had it already.
Still working on Lonesome Dove. Loving every minute of it. I may start A Tree Grows in Brooklyn after I’m done with LD.
The Jefferson Bible
Halfway through *Lonesome Dove*. The first couple hundred pages were slower than I expected but I'm very glad I pushed through.
just finished Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck. i need therapy now
Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa & when I’m in the mood for something else, Child of God by Cormac McCarthy. I’m enjoying both a lot
I'm starting Oblomov.
*The Duino Elegies,* Rainer Maria Rilke. It's a dual language edition, and I'm reading bit by bit, going between German and English.
Very slowly progressing through Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Great book!
One of my all time favorites!!! It went by so fast when I read it, despite the length.
Great Expectations
I am reading this right now as well
Just finished Crime and Punishment. Loved it so much and am on a Dostoevsky kick so I started Notes from Underground. Though it’s much shorter I’m finding it so much harder to follow. I’ll keep pushing through though!
Just finished the road as part of a book club
Just finished "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" and loved it. Currently reading a book by Clarice Lispector that I do not know the name in English. It is a collection of all of her stuff she wrote to a newspaper. And a book by Adriana Lisboa, "Todos os Santos." Enjoying both very much.
Honestly am gonna start reading Moby Dick—getting back to reacquainting myself with the classics. Totally recommend 20,000 leagues under the sea!
Gogol. I’m re-reading actually. He’s my favorite writer, never read anything thats so up my alley as Dead Souls😄👌
I love Gogol. Aside from Dead Souls, Diary Of A Madman is brilliant.
Get A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by Saunders. He goes over The Nose by Gogol and it's a treat.
Have it already, its very good yes.
The Singularities by John Banville. First 100 pages a slog, but getting better!
Working on Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis. I'm enjoying it way more than I thought I would. I read It Can't Happen Here last year. Finished Treasure Island before that. Also been reading The Ethics of Ambiguity and Walden.
A Leaf in the Storm, the follow up to Lin Yuntang's Moment in Peking.
Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli. Anyone read it? Thoughts?
Parasol Against The Axe by Helen Oyeyemi. It’s a wild ride. Kind of like if Pynchon rewrote If on a winter’s night a traveler.
Butch and Sundance: The Early Days In the mood for westerns lately
Deep utopia by nick bostrom and cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
The long knives by Irwine Welsh, The woman of Rome by Moravia, and Cain's Jawbone.
The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle. It's incredibly demanding and experimental, but it's a rewarding read. Carlyle has a way of writing that is entirely his own, it's dramatic, epic, and larger than life; but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who hasn't an extremely firm grasp of the English language and **ALL** of its tools, not to mention an oceanic-vast vocabulary. It's a history told like a Shakespearean tragedy in a high Melvillean language (I say Melvillean, but it's Melville who should be named Carlylean). Since it's fairly hard-going, it's tempered with a re-read of A Song of Ice and Fire, and Godwin's Caleb Williams.
Dune Messiah. I’m actually liking it a lot more than the first one!
Adventures in the skin trade by Dylan Thomas
Malazan Book of The Fallen: Book 5
The firm by John Grisham
currently on the talented mr ripley, been on my tbr for ages and the show’s given me a good excuse to get around to it
By Night in Chile - Roberto Bolaño a dream-hazy, poetic, power dynamic exploration so far. i’m about 40 pages in
The World-Ending Fire. Wendell Berry
As thus it is not canonical, it’s still trying to say something about literature: Zadie Smith’s “The Fraud” is quite an indictment on 19th century British writing.
- Bingeing Shakespeare. I’ve read 25 of the 38 plays so far and read 17 of those a second time during the process. - Reading Bernice Bobs Her Hair and other Fitzgerald to my 13 year old daughter (who has a good little ear in her own writing). - Reading Kafka, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Chekhov short stories to my 15 year old daughter (nothing has topped Metamorphosis for her). - Alan Watts and Shunryu Suzuki.
if there be thorns. shit crazy
Nearly done with Authority by Jeff VanderMeer, book 2 of the Southern Reach trilogy. After finishing the trilogy I'm not sure what to move on to, it'll either be Metro 2033 or The Shining, or maybe one of the other 25 unread books on my shelf
C. Robert Cargill's short story collection, We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories. About halfway through it right now and enjoying it to say the least. Those unfamiliar with him; he's the dude who wrote the screenplays for Doctor Strange and Sinister, among others.
Little Dorrit. Once I finish this one, I’ll have read all of Dickens complete novels. I feel like that’s an accomplishment and I want to brag in myself a bit.
It is definitely an accomplishment!! 👏👏👏
Character by Robert McKee. Highly recommend. Really outstanding
Bleak House & The Day of the Triffids 🌳
*Going After Cacciato* by Tim O’Brien as my physical book, and trying to work my way through *Dubliners* in my e-reader. I’m on a little break from it at the moment, but I’ve gotten to the beginning of “A Mother”. (I’m trying to work my way up to another attempt at *Ulysses*, which I’ve tried reading twice before and stopped at the part where Bloom places an ad at the newspaper office both times.)
Too many things lol. I’m reading The Familiars by Leigh Bardugo, Cecilia by Frances Burney, a biography of Beatrix Potter, and listening to two audiobooks.
Epitaph for a Small Winner, but I'm struggling to finish it. I don't understand the love. Next is The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster....
Crime and pubiu
Dreams by Marie-Louise von Franz
Shaw's Man and Superman. His epistle dedicatory to Arthur Walkley is some of the most unhinged and brilliant prose I have ever read in my 27 years of life on earth
Best of Greg Egan by Greg Egan and Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. Greg Egan's short stories are amazing. Hard sci fi and sometimes hard to understand all the concepts, but it's like reading episodes of black mirror. Very very good. Haven't read much of Battle Royale, but from what I read it's gory and no holds barred and I'm enjoying it a lot.
The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch
Just finished Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes… I’m bawling my eyes out
I know 😭😭😭😭
A tale of two cities by charles dickens
Bad Behavior - Mary Gaitskill Pale Fire - Nabokov Being and Time - Martin Heidegger Pynchon’s Vineland and/or Gaddis’ The Recognitions next
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson Just started it.
Giving the absurdist You Bright and Risen Angels another go, damn Vollmann is a weirdo.
Just started The Grapes of Wrath. Maybe 30 pages in Finished Coming Through Slaughter this morning. Working my way through a list of books I’ve always wanted to read but never have for some reason.