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Dead Men Walking

Forum Archive 2023 => dMw's Community Centre => Community Archive => Movies, Music & Books => Topic started by: Benny on November 12, 2012, 01:42:23 PM

Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on November 12, 2012, 01:42:23 PM
So having poked around here and there I'm going to undertake a project. I'm going to read this lot...
http://www.alistofbooks.com/   <----this list was heavy going....see repost further down making it more manageable. :)


I may given time blog my progress here, but we'll see. Anyone care to join me? I've started on The Great Gatsby, it's only 150 pages long so expect part 1 of the blog next week.....

The rules are, read the list, if you've read the book already and can remember it, you can skip it. There's nothing to say you can't read your own stuff in parallel, but it feels nice to achieve something. I reckon 623 books is about 2 years work taking into account I've read a few already, so this may be a dead end or a long project.....
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: smilodon on November 12, 2012, 02:08:28 PM
I'd have a go but I'm reading through the A Song of Ice and Fire series so I don't think I'll be able to manage some of the list. Good luck with book #11 1200+ pages :)
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on November 12, 2012, 02:37:14 PM
Already read the fellowship of boredom, so it's only the two towers and return on the yawn to go in that little trilogy. It's all the period gumpf I'm dreading. Jane Austen.....blurgh.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: b00n on November 12, 2012, 02:46:06 PM
623 books and no Wheel of Time series? :blink:
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: smilodon on November 12, 2012, 02:50:03 PM
You could just punch yourself in the face each morning and then go read what you want. You'd get your dose of masochism and still be able to read a good book.:norty:
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Penfold on November 12, 2012, 03:06:49 PM
Good luck with James Joyce - I still shudder over having that one on the degree finals.

I'm also not sure that George Elliot's Middlemarch is required reading. Just remember it was written by a girl (Mary Ann Evans) and it makes more sense :).

If you're working your way through the classics - a bit of gothic literature is on the cards - The Castle of Otranto by Horace Warpole would make my list.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on November 12, 2012, 03:18:43 PM
See, you're all jealous of my powerful commitment! This list is apparently a consolidated list of lots of others. By the looks a lot of middle class goons voting for what they think they should vote for. I'll give it a go and go off piste if I have to.

The more I think about it, the more I think I should have 'guest readers' in my project. Who will join I cry! You will need to be erudite and committed to writing fanciful reviews. Money cannot buy class so there will be no reward other than satisfaction.  Any takers? Smilo, Pen, Boon will you answer the call or will you return from whence you came in flouncy dresses and bustles.

Oh and I might change the list to this lot. http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml. It sounds less painful, still I am a man, on a mission from gog*.


*gog is like God but more atheist.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on November 12, 2012, 03:26:26 PM
The target.....

I'm underway with number 43. I shall buy a 100 sided dice and decide the next by coin toss and dice roll. I'll finish Gatsby by Friday.

Quote1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
119. Shogun, James Clavell
120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
134. George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. It, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlotte's Web, E. B. White
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
175. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Grossmith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. LawrenceLife of Lawrence
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Penfold on November 12, 2012, 06:26:51 PM
IN-line


Quote1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
Read
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Read
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Read
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
Read
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Read
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
Read
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
Read
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
Read
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
Read
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
Read
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
Read
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
Read
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
Read
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
Read
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
Read
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
Read
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
Tried to several times. Given up
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
Saw the movie, does that count?  :)
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
Read
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
Read
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
Read
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
Read
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
Done a dissertation on this one. Took me two reads to find out where she's 'raped'. Easy to miss.
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
Read but, really, all a bit too bucolic.
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
Read
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
Are you jokinh. Tracy F'ing Beaker is the pikiest little skank around. Bone of contention in our house and banned.
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
Read
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
Done
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
Read
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
Read. Ohh loved it. must read again
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
Read
40. Emma, Jane Austen
Read
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
Read
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
Read
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
Read
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
Read
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
Read
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
Read
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
Read
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
Read
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
Read
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
Read (yes, I know, holiday bonkbuster read)
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
Read (the only TP book I've ever liked)
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
Read. Favourite book as a child. Daughter currently reading it and other End Blyton's I had kept from childhood.
67. The Magus, John Fowles
Read it travelling round the Greek Islands which was the perfect setting.
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
Read
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
Read
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
Read
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
Read
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Read
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
Read
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
Read it. Really enjoyed it once you get past the sexual narratives. A real Prehistoric Ken and Barbie but v readable. Preferred the second (Valley of the horses) and subsequent ones
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
Read
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
Read
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
Read
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
Read
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
Read
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
119. Shogun, James Clavell
120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
Read
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
:eyebrow:
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
Read
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
134. George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
Read
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
Read
144. It, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
Read
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
Read. The original Apocalypse Now
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
Read
160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
Read. really liked this and the follow ons
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
Read
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlotte's Web, E. B. White
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
Read
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
Umm is this about football..... perhaps not then.
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
175. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
Read
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Grossmith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
Read
188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. LawrenceLife of Lawrence
Read
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
Read
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
Read
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
Read
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews
Made me cry

I can't do Pratchett so my list would remove him. Also too many Jacqueline Wilson for my liking but good to try.

I have several others I need to read or to revisit

1. The Dice Man, Luke Reinhart  <--------- Read this you miserable git.
2. The Idylls of Theocritus
3. Metamorphoses, Ovid
4. The Monk, Matthew Lewis
5. The Twelve Caesars, Suetonius
6. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s   Court, Mark Twain
7. Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
8. Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen
9. The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde
10. The Secret Agent, Joseph Conrad
11. I CLAUDIUS, Robert Graves (doing it in the ever-so brilliant Derek Jacobi stutter)
12. Tom Jones, Henry Fielding
13. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
13. The Hunger Games (yes, I know).
14. One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
15. Weaveworld, can't remember
16. Marathon Man, William Goldman
17. Selected Poems, John Donne
18. Sophie's Choice
19. the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon
20. The Castle of Otranto, Horace Warpole

more to follow
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on November 12, 2012, 10:21:07 PM
So, remove any we've both read, add in your additionals and we're there? Rule is we can add any more at that point but no more removals?

Are you in Pen? A concerted admin effort to catalogue the written word and post reviews about tripe?
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Penfold on November 12, 2012, 10:55:40 PM
I'm not sure I've got the time or inclination to embark on such a literary quest tbh. I've got out of the habit of reading and it's not as though I commute or anything so have extended periods where I can sit and read. However, in support of your efforts, I'm happy to read selected works from the list if that would help.

I would also humbly submit that the list is fundamentally flawed in several places. I'm not sure where the original list was generated but I'd have some serious questions over the eligibility of some of these titles as worthy. Personally, I'd remove the children's books (Jacqueline Wilson, Dahl, Artemis Fowl etc. etc) and I don't like Terry Pratchett. I'll try one or two but reserve the right to forgo the rest.

However if you'll indulge me and let me know what you're reading and what's next I'll jump off and on as and when I can?
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on November 12, 2012, 11:03:34 PM
I'll do Pratchett and King in trade for some of the meatier tomes. Deal?

I'll recompile tomorrow and go from there. Tell you what though, The Great Gatsby is like reading a McDonald's strawberry thick shake. Oozing heavy sweet writing but difficult to get into as you know other flavours are better. I expect my reviewing to improve :)
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Penfold on November 12, 2012, 11:05:53 PM
Heh I've edited my post and they've crossed. Please see my revision.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on November 12, 2012, 11:06:29 PM
Oh and the list is bbc's big read....
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on November 12, 2012, 11:06:54 PM
Done! ....
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Penfold on November 12, 2012, 11:08:51 PM
Quote from: Benny;361411Oh and the list is bbc's big read....

That'll be why there's such a diverse list then.

Are you interested in reading Wuthering Heights ? I'll start on that as it's sitting by my bedside.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on November 12, 2012, 11:10:58 PM
Nothing to say we can't overlap (but no....not overly inclined other than I think I should).
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Penfold on November 12, 2012, 11:13:31 PM
no, we should overlap on books we both want to read, that's the point.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on November 13, 2012, 07:38:54 AM
I like this idea and happy to join in and read some stuff but will warn am a lot slower reader. So I might opt for the audio book version seeing how I have subscription to audible and credits mounting up.

Which list is the latest?
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on November 13, 2012, 09:34:33 AM
Good stuff, we're off then. I'll update the list today and post it up, you can pick what you like from the list but realistically try and pick something you wouldn't normally if poss so we can get some variety in there. No real rules, overlapping is fine, I'll edit the top list as we strike them off. Overlap is good so we can have some arguments about how awful/good stuff is.

Jeebus, I've made it in life, I'm part of a book club ;)

I'll do the list later today...
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: smilodon on November 13, 2012, 10:07:27 AM
I read the Great Gatsby and so am off the mark. As mentioned I'm reading the Game of Thrones books which are hard to put down so I'm not sure how well I'll do on this project. Also I'm totally allergic to paper books so if I cannot get it on my kindle there might be a problem ;-)
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on November 13, 2012, 10:32:47 AM
So far, these haven't been read by anyone;

Quote14     Rebecca     Daphne du Maurier
18     Little Women     Louisa May Alcott
21     Gone with the Wind     Margaret Mitchell
28     A Prayer For Owen Meany     John Irving
29     The Grapes Of Wrath     John Steinbeck
31        
32     One Hundred Years Of Solitude     Gabriel García Márquez
33     The Pillars Of The Earth     Ken Follett
38     Persuasion     Jane Austen
41     Anne Of Green Gables     LM Montgomery
45     Brideshead Revisited     Evelyn Waugh
47     A Christmas Carol     Charles Dickens
49     Goodnight Mister Tom     Michelle Magorian
50     The Shell Seekers     Rosamunde Pilcher
53     The Stand     Stephen King
54     Anna Karenina     Leo Tolstoy
55     A Suitable Boy     Vikram Seth
59     Artemis Fowl     Eoin Colfer
60     Crime And Punishment     Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61     Noughts And Crosses     Malorie Blackman
62     Memoirs Of A Geisha     Arthur Golden
68     Good Omens     Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
70     Lord Of The Flies     William Golding
71     Perfume     Patrick Süskind
72     The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists     Robert Tressell
77     The Woman In White     Wilkie Collins
80     Double Act     Jacqueline Wilson
81     The Twits     Roald Dahl
82     I Capture The Castle     Dodie Smith
83     Holes     Louis Sachar
84     Gormenghast     Mervyn Peake
85     The God Of Small Things     Arundhati Roy
86     Vicky Angel     Jacqueline Wilson
88     Cold Comfort Farm     Stella Gibbons
90     On The Road     Jack Kerouac
91     The Godfather     Mario Puzo
93     The Colour Of Magic     Terry Pratchett
94     The Alchemist     Paulo Coelho
95     Katherine     Anya Seton
97     Love In The Time Of Cholera     Gabriel García Márquez
98     Girls In Love     Jacqueline Wilson
99     The Princess Diaries     Meg Cabot
100     Midnight's Children     Salman Rushdie
101     Three Men In A Boat     Jerome K Jerome
102     Small Gods     Terry Pratchett
105     Point Blanc     Anthony Horowitz
106     The Pickwick Papers     Charles Dickens
107     Stormbreaker     Anthony Horowitz
110     The Illustrated Mum     Jacqueline Wilson
113     The Cruel Sea     Nicholas Monsarrat
114     Les Misérables     Victor Hugo
116     The Dare Game     Jacqueline Wilson
117     Bad Girls     Jacqueline Wilson
118     The Picture Of Dorian Gray     Oscar Wilde
119     Shogun     James Clavell
121     Lola Rose     Jacqueline Wilson
122     Vanity Fair     William Makepeace Thackeray
123     The Forsyte Saga     John Galsworthy
124     House Of Leaves     Mark Z Danielewski
125     The Poisonwood Bible     Barbara Kingsolver
127        
129     Possession     A S Byatt
130     The Master And Margarita     Mikhail Bulgakov
131     The Handmaid's Tale     Margaret Atwood
133     East Of Eden     John Steinbeck
136     The Color Purple     Alice Walker
138     The Thirty-Nine Steps     John Buchan
139     Girls In Tears     Jacqueline Wilson
140     Sleepovers     Jacqueline Wilson
141     All Quiet On The Western Front     Erich Maria Remarque
142     Behind The Scenes At The Museum     Kate Atkinson
144     It     Stephen King
146     The Green Mile     Stephen King
148     Men At Arms     Terry Pratchett
149     Master And Commander     Patrick O'Brian
150     Skeleton Key     Anthony Horowitz
153     The Fifth Elephant     Terry Pratchett
154     Atonement     Ian McEwan
155     Secrets     Jacqueline Wilson
156     The Silver Sword     Ian Serraillier
157     One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest     Ken Kesey
160     Cross Stitch     Diana Gabaldon
161     Moby Dick     Herman Melville
163     Sunset Song     Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164     The Shipping News     Annie Proulx
165     The World According To Garp     John Irving
167     Girls Out Late     Jacqueline Wilson
168     The Far Pavilions    M M Kaye
170     Charlotte's Web    E B White
174     The Name Of The Rose     Umberto Eco
175     Sophie's World     Jostein Gaarder
176     Dustbin Baby     Jacqueline Wilson
177     Fantastic Mr Fox     Roald Dahl
178     Lolita     Vladimir Nabokov
180     The Little Prince     Antoine De Saint-Exupery
181     The Suitcase Kid     Jacqueline Wilson
182     Oliver Twist     Charles Dickens
183     The Power Of One     Bryce Courtenay
184     Silas Marner     George Eliot
186     The Diary Of A Nobody     George and Weedon Grossmith
188     Goosebumps     R L Stine
189     Heidi     Johanna Spyri
191     The Unbearable Lightness of Being     Milan Kundera
193     The Truth     Terry Pratchett
195     The Horse Whisperer     Nicholas Evans
196     A Fine Balance     Rohinton Mistry
197     Witches Abroad     Terry Pratchett
198     The Once And Future King    T H White
       
       
2     The Idylls of Theocritus    
3     Metamorphoses     Ovid
4     The Monk     Matthew Lewis
5     The Twelve Caesars     Suetonius
6     A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court     Mark Twain
7     Don Quixote     Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
8     Northanger Abbey     Jane Austen
9     The Importance of Being Earnest     Oscar Wilde
10     The Secret Agent     Joseph Conrad
11     I CLAUDIUS     Robert Graves
12     Tom Jones     Henry Fielding
13     The Hunger Games    
14     One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich    
15     Weaveworld    
16     Marathon Man     William Goldman
17     Selected Poems     John Donne
18     Sophie's Choice    
19     the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire     Edward Gibbon
20     The Castle of Otranto     Horace Warpole

129 books to go. I need your list Gortex / Smilo, so if you're stuck for choice pick one of these.

Now we're off, Pen, what did you think of The Wasp Factory?
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: b00n on November 13, 2012, 11:01:31 AM
I would join in but I stalled halfway through Wheel of Time, so I'd need to finish those first, and that alone could take me a year or two. :blink:
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: smilodon on November 13, 2012, 11:12:50 AM
Quote14     Rebecca     Daphne du Maurier
18     Little Women     Louisa May Alcott
21     Gone with the Wind     Margaret Mitchell
28     A Prayer For Owen Meany     John Irving
29     The Grapes Of Wrath     John Steinbeck
31        
32     One Hundred Years Of Solitude     Gabriel García Márquez
33     The Pillars Of The Earth     Ken Follett
38     Persuasion     Jane Austen
41     Anne Of Green Gables     LM Montgomery
45     Brideshead Revisited     Evelyn Waugh
47     A Christmas Carol     Charles Dickens read
49     Goodnight Mister Tom     Michelle Magorian
50     The Shell Seekers     Rosamunde Pilcher
53     The Stand     Stephen King read
54     Anna Karenina     Leo Tolstoy
55     A Suitable Boy     Vikram Seth
59     Artemis Fowl     Eoin Colfer
60     Crime And Punishment     Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61     Noughts And Crosses     Malorie Blackman
62     Memoirs Of A Geisha     Arthur Golden
68     Good Omens     Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
70     Lord Of The Flies     William Golding
71     Perfume     Patrick Süskind
72     The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists     Robert Tressell
77     The Woman In White     Wilkie Collins
80     Double Act     Jacqueline Wilson
81     The Twits     Roald Dahl
82     I Capture The Castle     Dodie Smith
83     Holes     Louis Sachar
84     Gormenghast     Mervyn Peake
85     The God Of Small Things     Arundhati Roy
86     Vicky Angel     Jacqueline Wilson
88     Cold Comfort Farm     Stella Gibbons
90     On The Road     Jack Kerouac
91     The Godfather     Mario Puzo read
93     The Colour Of Magic     Terry Pratchett read
94     The Alchemist     Paulo Coelho
95     Katherine     Anya Seton
97     Love In The Time Of Cholera     Gabriel García Márquez
98     Girls In Love     Jacqueline Wilson
99     The Princess Diaries     Meg Cabot
100     Midnight's Children     Salman Rushdie
101     Three Men In A Boat     Jerome K Jerome read
102     Small Gods     Terry Pratchett read
105     Point Blanc     Anthony Horowitz
106     The Pickwick Papers     Charles Dickens
107     Stormbreaker     Anthony Horowitz
110     The Illustrated Mum     Jacqueline Wilson
113     The Cruel Sea     Nicholas Monsarrat
114     Les Misérables     Victor Hugo
116     The Dare Game     Jacqueline Wilson
117     Bad Girls     Jacqueline Wilson
118     The Picture Of Dorian Gray     Oscar Wilde read
119     Shogun     James Clavell read
121     Lola Rose     Jacqueline Wilson
122     Vanity Fair     William Makepeace Thackeray
123     The Forsyte Saga     John Galsworthy
124     House Of Leaves     Mark Z Danielewski
125     The Poisonwood Bible     Barbara Kingsolver
127        
129     Possession     A S Byatt
130     The Master And Margarita     Mikhail Bulgakov
131     The Handmaid's Tale     Margaret Atwood read
133     East Of Eden     John Steinbeck
136     The Color Purple     Alice Walker
138     The Thirty-Nine Steps     John Buchan read but it's a belter so some one should read it
139     Girls In Tears     Jacqueline Wilson
140     Sleepovers     Jacqueline Wilson
141     All Quiet On The Western Front     Erich Maria Remarque
142     Behind The Scenes At The Museum     Kate Atkinson
144     It     Stephen King read
146     The Green Mile     Stephen King
148     Men At Arms     Terry Pratchett read
149     Master And Commander     Patrick O'Brian
150     Skeleton Key     Anthony Horowitz
153     The Fifth Elephant     Terry Pratchett
154     Atonement     Ian McEwan
155     Secrets     Jacqueline Wilson
156     The Silver Sword     Ian Serraillier
157     One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest     Ken Kesey
160     Cross Stitch     Diana Gabaldon
161     Moby Dick     Herman Melville read
163     Sunset Song     Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164     The Shipping News     Annie Proulx
165     The World According To Garp     John Irving
167     Girls Out Late     Jacqueline Wilson
168     The Far Pavilions    M M Kaye
170     Charlotte's Web    E B White
174     The Name Of The Rose     Umberto Eco read
175     Sophie's World     Jostein Gaarder
176     Dustbin Baby     Jacqueline Wilson
177     Fantastic Mr Fox     Roald Dahl
178     Lolita     Vladimir Nabokov
180     The Little Prince     Antoine De Saint-Exupery
181     The Suitcase Kid     Jacqueline Wilson
182     Oliver Twist     Charles Dickens read
183     The Power Of One     Bryce Courtenay
184     Silas Marner     George Eliot
186     The Diary Of A Nobody     George and Weedon Grossmith
188     Goosebumps     R L Stine
189     Heidi     Johanna Spyri
191     The Unbearable Lightness of Being     Milan Kundera
193     The Truth     Terry Pratchett
195     The Horse Whisperer     Nicholas Evans
196     A Fine Balance     Rohinton Mistry
197     Witches Abroad     Terry Pratchett
198     The Once And Future King    T H White
       
       
2     The Idylls of Theocritus    
3     Metamorphoses     Ovid
4     The Monk     Matthew Lewis
5     The Twelve Caesars     Suetonius
6     A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court     Mark Twain
7     Don Quixote     Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
8     Northanger Abbey     Jane Austen
9     The Importance of Being Earnest     Oscar Wilde read
10     The Secret Agent     Joseph Conrad
11     I CLAUDIUS     Robert Graves
12     Tom Jones     Henry Fielding
13     The Hunger Games    
14     One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich    
15     Weaveworld    
16     Marathon Man     William Goldman read
17     Selected Poems     John Donne
18     Sophie's Choice    
19     the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire     Edward Gibbon
20     The Castle of Otranto     Horace Warpole                 

There you go
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on November 16, 2012, 03:24:09 PM
I have decided to take the original list posted and added on the 20 books that Pen suggested and will be replacing some of the works which I have read with one of these 20. That having been said I am not a fan of poems so not sure about some of the books recommended so these might be substituted at some point.

I have started with Bleak House mainly due to the fact I already have it gathering dust and never actually read it. Am on chapter 4 so far and after a slow start it really has started to come alive and be a bit more interesting. I can see why Dickens is such a highly rated writer as his descriptions make me feel like I am literally stood in the room while it is all going on.

Once finished I will aim to tackle some of the other books which Benny, Smilo or Pen are working on so we can discus what we think of it. Yes this does feel like the first DMW book club even so much so I would suggest possibly creating a new folder/forum for this rather than us spamming and taking up the space in this section.

My list

Title      Author   Read???
1. The Lord of the Rings   ----------   JRR Tolkien   Read
2. Pride and Prejudice   ----------   Jane Austen   
3. His Dark Materials   ----------   Philip Pullman   
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy   ----------   Douglas Adams   Read
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire   ----------   JK Rowling   
6. To Kill a Mockingbird   ----------   Lee Harper   
7. Winnie the Pooh   ----------   AA Milne   
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four   ----------   George Orwell   
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe   ----------   CS Lewis   Read
10. Jane Eyre   ----------   Charlotte Bronte   
11. Catch-22   ----------   Joseph Heller   
12. Wuthering Heights   ----------   Emily Bronte   Read
13. Birdsong   ----------   Sebastian Faulks   
14. Rebecca   ----------   Daphne du Maurier   
15. The Catcher in the Rye   ----------   JD Salinger   
16. The Wind in the Willows   ----------   Kenneth Grahame   Read
17. Great Expectations   ----------   Charles Dickens   Read
18. Little Women   ----------   Louisa May Alcott   
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin   ----------   Louis de Bernieres   
20. War and Peace   ----------   Leo Tolstoy   
21. Gone with the Wind   ----------   Margaret Mitchell   
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone   ----------   JK Rowling   
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets   ----------   JK Rowling   
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban   ----------   JK Rowling   
25. The Hobbit   ----------   JRR Tolkien   Read
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles   ----------   Thomas Hardy   
27. Middlemarch   ----------   George Eliot   
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany   ----------   John Irving   
29. The Grapes Of Wrath   ----------   John Steinbeck   
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland   ----------   Lewis Carroll   Read
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker   ----------   Jacqueline Wilson   
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude   ----------   Gabriel García Márquez   
33. The Pillars Of The Earth   ----------   Ken Follett   
34. David Copperfield   ----------   Charles Dickens   
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory   ----------   Roald Dahl   Read
36. Treasure Island   ----------   Robert Louis Stevenson   Read
37. A Town Like Alice   ----------   Nevil Shute   
38. Persuasion   ----------   Jane Austen   
39. Dune   ----------   Frank Herbert   Read
40. Emma   ----------   Jane Austen   
41. Anne Of Green Gables   ----------   LM Montgomery   
42. Watership Down   ----------   Richard Adams   Read
43. The Great Gatsby   ----------   F Scott Fitzgerald   
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo   ----------   Alexandra Dumas   
45. Brideshead Revisited   ----------   Evelyn Waugh   
46. Animal Farm   ----------   George Orwell   
47. A Christmas Carol   ----------   Charles Dickens   Read
48. Far From The Madding Crowd   ----------   Thomas Hardy   
49. Goodnight Mister Tom   ----------   Michelle Magorian   
50. The Shell Seekers   ----------   Rosamuande Pilcher   
51. The Secret Garden   ----------   Frances Hodgson Burnett   Read
52. Of Mice And Men   ----------   John Steinbeck   
53. The Stand   ----------   Stephen King   Read
54. Anna Karenina   ----------   Leo Tolstoy   
55. A Suitable Boy   ----------   Vijram Seth   
56. The BFG   ----------   Roald Dahl   Read
57. Swallows And Amazons   ----------   Arthur Ransome   
58. Black Beauty   ----------   Anna Sewell   
59. Artemis Fowl   ----------   Eoin Colfer   
60. Crime And Punishment   ----------   Fyodor Dostoyevsky   
61. Noughts And Crosses   ----------   Malorie Blackman   
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha   ----------   Arthur Golden   
63. A Tale Of Two Cities   ----------   Charles Dickens   
64. The Thorn Birds   ----------   Colleen McCollough   
65. Mort   ----------   Terry Pratchett   Read
66. The Magic Faraway Tree   ----------   Enid Blyton   
67. The Magus   ----------   John Fowles   
68. Good Omens   ----------   Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman   
69. Guards! Guards!   ----------   Terry Pratchett   
70. Lord Of The Flies   ----------   William Golding   Read
71. Perfume   ----------   Patrick Suskind   
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists   ----------   Robert Tressell   
73. Night Watch   ----------   Terry Pratchett   
74. Matilda   ----------   Roald Dahl   Read
75. Bridget Jones's Diary   ----------   Helen Fielding   
76. The Secret History   ----------   Donna Tartt   
77. The Woman In White   ----------   Wilkie Collins   
78. Ulysses   ----------   James Joyce   
79. Bleak House   ----------   Charles Dickens   
80. Double Act   ----------   Jacqueline Wilson   
81. The Twits   ----------   Roald Dahl   Read
82. I Capture The Castle   ----------   Dodie Smith   
83. Holes   ----------   Louis Sachar   
84. Gormenghast   ----------   Mervyn Peake   
85. The God Of Small Things   ----------   Arundhati Roy   
86. Vicky Angel   ----------   Jacqueline Wilson   
87. Brave New World   ----------   Aldous Huxley   
88. Cold Comfort Farm   ----------   Stella Gibbons   
89. Magician   ----------   Raymond E Feist   
90. On The Road   ----------   Jack Kerouac   
91. The Godfather   ----------   Mario Puzo   Read
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear   ----------   Jean M Auel   
93. The Colour Of Magic   ----------   Terry Pratchett   Read
94. The Alchemist   ----------   Paulo Coelho   
95. Katherine   ----------   Anya Seton   
96. Kane And Abel   ----------   Jeffrey Archer   
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera   ----------   Gabriel García Márquez   
98. Girls In Love   ----------   Jacqueline Wilson   
99. The Princess Diaries   ----------   Meg Cabot   Read
100. Midnight's Children   ----------   Salman Rushdie   
101. Three Men In A Boat   ----------   Jerome K Jerome   
102. Small Gods   ----------   Terry Pratchett   
103. The Beach   ----------   Alex Garland   
104. Dracula   ----------   Bram Stoker   Read
105. Point Blanc   ----------   Anthony Horowitz   
106. The Pickwick Papers   ----------   Charles Dickens   
107. Stormbreaker   ----------   Anthony Horowitz   
108. The Wasp Factory   ----------   Lain Banks   
109. The Day Of The Jackal   ----------   Frederick Forsyth   
110. The Illustrated Mum   ----------   Jacqueline Wilson   
111. Jude The Obscure   ----------   Thomas Hardy   
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾   ----------   Sue Townsend   Read
113. The Cruel Sea   ----------   Nicholas Monsarrat   
114. Les Misérables   ----------   Victor Hugo   
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge   ----------   Thomas Hardy   
116. The Dare Game   ----------   Jacqueline Wilson   
117. Bad Girls   ----------   Jacqueline Wilson   
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray   ----------   Oscar Wilde   
119. Shogun   ----------   James Clavell   
120. The Day Of The Triffids   ----------   John Wyndham   
121. Lola Rose   ----------   Jacqueline Wilson   
122. Vanity Fair   ----------   William Makepeace Thackeray   
123. The Forsyte Saga   ----------   John Galsworthy   
124. House Of Leaves   ----------   Mark Z Danielewski   
125. The Poisonwood Bible   ----------   Barbara Kingsolver   
126. Reaper Man   ----------   Terry Pratchett   
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging   ----------   Louise Rennison   
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles   ----------   Arthur Conan Doyle   
129. Possession   ----------   A. S. Byatt   
130. The Master And Margarita   ----------   Mikhail Bulgakov   
131. The Handmaid's Tale   ----------   Margaret Atwood   
132. Danny The Champion Of The World   ----------   Roald Dahl   Read
133. East Of Eden   ----------   John Steinbeck   
134. George's Marvellous Medicine   ----------   Roald Dahl   Read
135. Wyrd Sisters   ----------   Terry Pratchett   Read
136. The Color Purple   ----------   Alice Walker   
137. Hogfather   ----------   Terry Pratchett   
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps   ----------   John Buchan   
139. Girls In Tears   ----------   Jacqueline Wilson   
140. Sleepovers   ----------   Jacqueline Wilson   
141. All Quiet On The Western Front   ----------   Erich Maria Remarque   
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum   ----------   Kate Atkinson   
143. High Fidelity   ----------   Nick Hornby   
144. It   ----------   Stephen King   
145. James And The Giant Peach   ----------   Roald Dahl   Read
146. The Green Mile   ----------   Stephen King   
147. Papillon   ----------   Henri Charriere   
148. Men At Arms   ----------   Terry Pratchett   
149. Master And Commander   ----------   Patrick O'Brian   
150. Skeleton Key   ----------   Anthony Horowitz   
151. Soul Music   ----------   Terry Pratchett   Read
152. Thief Of Time   ----------   Terry Pratchett   
153. The Fifth Elephant   ----------   Terry Pratchett   
154. Atonement   ----------   Ian McEwan   
155. Secrets   ----------   Jacqueline Wilson   
156. The Silver Sword   ----------   Ian Serraillier   
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest   ----------   Ken Kesey   Read
158. Heart Of Darkness   ----------   Joseph Conrad   
159. Kim   ----------   Rudyard Kipling   
160. Cross Stitch   ----------   Diana Gabaldon   
161. Moby Dick   ----------   Herman Melville   
162. River God   ----------   Wilbur Smith   
163. Sunset Song   ----------   Lewis Grassic Gibbon   
164. The Shipping News   ----------   Annie Proulx   
165. The World According To Garp   ----------   John Irving   
166. Lorna Doone   ----------   R. D. Blackmore   
167. Girls Out Late   ----------   Jacqueline Wilson   
168. The Far Pavilions   ----------   M. M. Kaye   
169. The Witches   ----------   Roald Dahl   Read
170. Charlotte's Web   ----------   E. B. White   Read
171. Frankenstein   ----------   Mary Shelley   
172. They Used To Play On Grass   ----------   Terry Venables and Gordon Williams   
173. The Old Man And The Sea   ----------   Ernest Hemingway   
174. The Name Of The Rose   ----------   Umberto Eco   
175. Sophie's World   ----------   Jostein Gaarder   
176. Dustbin Baby   ----------   Jacqueline Wilson   
177. Fantastic Mr Fox   ----------   Roald Dahl   Read
178. Lolita   ----------   Vladimir Nabokov   
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull   ----------   Richard Bach   
180. The Little Prince   ----------   Antoine De Saint-Exupery   
181. The Suitcase Kid   ----------   Jacqueline Wilson   
182. Oliver Twist   ----------   Charles Dickens   Read
183. The Power Of One   ----------   Bryce Courtenay   
184. Silas Marner   ----------   George Eliot   
185. American Psycho   ----------   Bret Easton Ellis   
186. The Diary Of A Nobody   ----------   George and Weedon Grossmith   
187. Trainspotting   ----------   Irvine Welsh   Read
188. Goosebumps   ----------   R. L. Stine   
189. Heidi   ----------   Johanna Spyri   
190. Sons And Lovers   ----------   D. H. LawrenceLife of Lawrence   
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being   ----------   Milan Kundera   
192. Man And Boy   ----------   Tony Parsons   
193. The Truth   ----------   Terry Pratchett   
194. The War Of The Worlds   ----------   H. G. Wells   
195. The Horse Whisperer   ----------   Nicholas Evans   
196. A Fine Balance   ----------   Rohinton Mistry   
197. Witches Abroad   ----------   Terry Pratchett   Read
198. The Once And Future King   ----------   T. H. White   
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar   ----------   Eric Carle   
200. Flowers In The Attic   ----------   Virginia Andrews   
1. The Dice Man, Luke Reinhart   ----------   Luke Reinhart   
2. Idylls   ----------   Theocritus of Syracuse   
3. Metamorphoses   ----------   Ovid   
4. The Monk   ----------   Matthew Lewis   
5. The Twelve Caesars   ----------   Suetonius   
6. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court   ----------   Mark Twain   
7. Don Quixote   ----------   Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra   
8. Northanger Abbey   ----------   Jane Austen   
9. The Importance of Being Earnest   ----------   Oscar Wilde   
10. The Secret Agent   ----------   Joseph Conrad   
11. I CLAUDIUS   ----------   Robert Graves   
12. Tom Jones   ----------   Henry Fielding   
13. The Hunger Games   ----------   Suzanne Collins   
14. One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich   ----------   Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn   
15. Weaveworld   ----------   Clive Barker   
16. Marathon Man   ----------   William Goldman   
17. Selected Poems   ----------   John Donne   
18. Sophie's Choice   ----------   William Styron   
19. the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire   ----------   Edward Gibbon   
20. The Castle of Otranto   ----------   Horace Warpole   
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: smilodon on November 16, 2012, 04:47:02 PM
Started the Pickwick Paper's (free on Kindle). Very funny story and I didn't know it was Dickens first novel
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on November 16, 2012, 08:14:14 PM
That's a much better table than the excel I tried (and failed) to post. The thing I love about it is the sheer scale of it. Lists and lists of books you 'should' read and you never know when you'll uncover a gem!

http://www.upworthy.com/101-books-to-read-this-summer-instead-of-50-shades-of-grey?g=4

Great stuff. I'm sure we can set up a folder somewhere and if we all edit that table we're laughing. I'm still plodding through The Great Gatsby, it's ok, but it's dying off a bit, we'll see.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Lameduck on November 17, 2012, 02:56:32 AM
Quote from: smilodon;361709Started the Pickwick Paper's (free on Kindle). Very funny story and I didn't know it was Dickens first novel

Now there's a coincidence, just finished it. First book I read on my 'Nook'.
Also just finished in paperback 'The Hundred Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared' by Jonas Jonasson.
The funniest 'read' I've had for years, with a fantastical well structured plot. Highly recommended.:)
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on November 19, 2012, 10:04:37 PM
One down...the great gatsby finished. Review to follow ..joy.. and i'll tidy up and sticky it :)

Sorry for format, from phone.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on November 24, 2012, 02:26:21 PM
http://www.stanford.edu/~bkunde/best/bl-slibj.htm

Another list, I hate stumble upon! How are you lot doing?
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Penfold on November 24, 2012, 04:37:06 PM
Currently reading The Hunger Games as per our conversation.

Almost finished book one.

Very Orwellian in its portrayal of a post-apocalyptic dystopian society and does a great job of showing the suffering of the many in servitude of the few.

Themes include oppression, the punish of ongoing generations ..... Typical 'sins of the fathers' type being visited on your sons etc and morals of wealth vs poverty. I find it quite Running Man coupled with some Lord of the Flies undertones creating an interesting mix.

It's wonderfully descriptive and does a great job in setting the scene and the senses of those involved. It becomes almost unputtadownable once the games start.

More to follow...
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Sithvid on November 24, 2012, 08:59:03 PM
What pen said I have read all 3 hg books really captivating.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on November 26, 2012, 08:07:13 PM
So on the back of The Hunger Games I thought I'd stick with a theme, giving Aldous Huxley's Brave New World a go. A few chapters in and it's fairly grim already. Anyone read it?
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Penfold on November 26, 2012, 08:22:36 PM
Did you read the Hunger Games? perhaps that would be a good one to start so we're in sync on the ones we're both going to read.

Brave New World.... hmmm read it over 20 yrs ago. probably time to revisit it. After THG?
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on November 26, 2012, 10:03:59 PM
Quote from: Penfold;362172Did you read the Hunger Games?
I did.....
http://www.deadmen.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?37141-The-Book-Thread

Quite enjoyed it really, to the point I'll watch the film to disappoint myself :)
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Penfold on November 26, 2012, 10:12:12 PM
Doh missed it.

The movie just doesn't live up to the book imo. There's no depth to the character and the interplay between Kathniss and Peter is explored so much more in the book.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Penfold on December 05, 2012, 11:17:48 PM
Finishing Book 2 and not finding it nearly as enjoyable as the first to be honest.

Going to take a break from book 3 and go read Catcher in the Rye I think.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: smilodon on December 05, 2012, 11:36:32 PM
Pickwick Paper done and review to be written over breakfast tomorrow.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on December 07, 2012, 01:32:09 PM
So now we're moving, feel free to argue with my reviews (and vice versa). So knowing that a couple of you have read the Hunger Games and also Wasp Factory, what did you think?
The latter was crap IMHO, the twist was poor and again I felt like I was waiting for the punchline.

It would appear Mr Smilo that I'll need to read Pickwick, it sounds alright :)

Whilst I'm chatting, I'm finding Brave New World arduous, I was hoping it would be more like The Island, but whilst the concept is the same, it's not captivating. I think that perhaps the movie has set the scenery in my imagination and as this conflicts, it's not working out. I may drop it and come back unless someone tells me to stick with it.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: smilodon on December 07, 2012, 01:44:28 PM
I'm scanning the list to see what to read next. Still in the mood for more old classics. It's a bit of a cheat as I read it when I was a kid but I'm tempted to read through Treasure Island again. The basic story is well known from films and TV but I'm struggling to remember the book at all.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on December 07, 2012, 01:57:31 PM
I am about 3/4 of the way through Bleak House so should be able to add my thoughts on it and then tackle something that you guys have read. Am thinking of starting The Great Gatsby as fancy something a bit shorter than what I am reading at the moment.

Treasure Island is an excellent read and would recommend it.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on December 07, 2012, 02:10:22 PM
I want someone to read 'The Silver Sword'. I read it as a kid and can't for the life of me remember any detail other than it was a good read. (Same for I Am David - it would appear my youth was all about World Wars).
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Penfold on December 07, 2012, 08:36:33 PM
Sure.

I remember I am David. Read that at Prep School. Worth re-reading.

One Day in the life of Ivan Denisovich is not dissimilar if you want that kind of stuff (although a true story about Russian prisoner in the Gulag).
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on December 07, 2012, 09:11:50 PM
I find something kinda compelling about triumph over adversity. I've read every book I can find on prison memoirs akin to 'Banged Up Abroad'. It started with Marching Powder, which if you haven't read is an eye opener.

I think that's why I like this challenge, it will steer me away from the factual into fantasy and see what the other half of my brain does all day.  :)

(I may well try that one though Pen, you know, one last non-fiction before I fully commit!)
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Penfold on December 07, 2012, 10:46:28 PM
I often have two books on the go at once - one sensible proper one (innit) and something lighter be it fiction or fantasy.

I read the fiction and fantasy at thrice if not more the pace of the others but it's down to my mood. I think having done A levels and a degree in English + Classics forced me to read a whole lot of books I wasn't really into. I've revisited some of them and much prefer them now I'm not trawling them for critical analyses or to find examples of crass literary devices such as 'non sequiturs' for example which is incredibly dull.

Professionally, I think you may find 'What Colour is Your Parachute' interesting. Yes I know it's about changing careers and job hunting but given the more self-confessed unpleasant aspects of your job with firing, it may be worth a look.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on December 08, 2012, 06:23:20 PM
I think I've read it....think. I've read hundreds of the things ranging from;

Semper Fi - management the marine corp way
Secrets of CEOs
7 habits
The 8th habit
All of Branson's books
Eat that frog
Giuliani's biog (very good)
Clintons biog
And a load of others I'll list when I get off the sofa and get near the bookcase.

I really enjoyed guiliani's book and wasn't expecting to.

I'm off to hunt for the parachute now, I'm sure I've got it somewhere!
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Penfold on December 08, 2012, 06:24:51 PM
Which would you recommend from those you've read?
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on December 08, 2012, 07:44:23 PM
Depends what for really. I think everyone should read 7 Habits, but it's tough to make them stick. I liked all of Branson's but like Guiliani that's more of an enjoyable read than an eye opener. To be fair, Guiliani's has some good ideas in it that I've used.

Some good ideas in Semper Fi too, but depends on how many and the type of staff you have. I tend to cherry pick ideas from all. If you want management (which I know you don't need!) but I guess others may notice, check out manager tools podcasts, they are fantastic for those starting out.

If I was picking one? Assuming you'd read 7 habits, read Guiliani's biog, I'll check out which version I have, happy to post you it if you want a read?
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on December 08, 2012, 10:07:02 PM
Seems like the right place for this..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/9715377/Why-second-hand-bookshops-are-just-my-type.html
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: smilodon on December 08, 2012, 11:03:50 PM
Quote from: Benny;362977Seems like the right place for this..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/9715377/Why-second-hand-bookshops-are-just-my-type.html

I'd still rather wander through the electronic shelves of Amazon, oh the sacrilege :)
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on December 16, 2012, 09:12:01 PM
Imagine, you read something else and it fires off a thought so blindingly obvious you feel stupid. I get lots of these.

So having read Gortex's review (thanks for that one) and it made perfect sense as to why I don't like LotR. An opus works must take ages to write. I struggle to retain track for the length of a forum post, so by extension it must be nigh on genius requirements to be able to focus and deliver a superb story over a mammoth length.

So, begging the question, are there any real doorstops that beg to be read? Based on your review Gortex I'll be skipping Bleak House until I have enough time to spare, that and I'm in a retirement home defecating in my clothes and expecting youngsters to wipe me up. I've paid my taxes you know.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: smilodon on December 16, 2012, 09:54:04 PM
I'm no genius but I can get drawn into a very long story if that story grips me enough. LotR was a book that by all usual literary rules was wrong. it had to many protagonists, moved between them too frequently and left the main character, Frodo, out of the story for long periods during the middle of the narrative. Regardless it stands as one of the greatest pieces of modern literature IMHO. And it's actually the length, complexity and detail of the world and characters that makes the story so extraordinary, and the source of so much derivative work. So I'd argue it doesn't suffer at all from being a long book, or set of books. LotR is in fact six stories, produced in three volumes.

So my point is that a 'doorstop' is a subjective thing. If the world that your visiting and the characters that you meet are compelling then you'll read that story for as many books as the author writes. If you're not grabbed by the world, as you clearly were not by Middle Earth then getting to the end will be impossible.

However if you've not read through the three The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo books then you're a fool :) They are very much one story and you have to read them chronologically or the story won't make any sense at all.

Paul Austers New York Trilogy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Trilogy) if you like detective novels with a weird edge to them. They can be found in a single huge volume as well.

I read The Bounty Trilogy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bounty_Trilogy) ages ago when I was a kid. If you like historical seafaring tales these are pretty good, with lots of splice the mizzen mast and avast ye there type stuff.

But my favourite set of stories that can be read back to back as a single great doorstop read are James Elroy's L.A. Quartet (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.A._Quartet) They do feature different main characters but there is a common thread running through them with many characters that appear in several of the stories and as Noire detective stories go they're unbeatable.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Penfold on December 16, 2012, 10:48:46 PM
I never really got into loTR and never really understood the hype but hey ho.

For me, I've just read two new books to me:

1. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
2. Post Mortem by Patricia Cornwell.

I enjoyed both. They're not exactly the most intellectual reads but High Fidelity was a good 'bloke-ish' one and I certainly saw some of my own history in his relationship with women and it's a good read. Post Mortem was a random choice for me but I really enjoyed it. It's a thriller with a bit of Quincy thrown in for good measure.

I do agree that you have to be in the right mindset to read any of the 'classics'. I started Catcher in the Rye but was tired and not really paying attention so I dropped it in lieu of the more holiday ones above.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Tutonic on December 17, 2012, 04:35:41 PM
Quote1. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

If you haven't seen it already, the film is excellent :)
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on December 20, 2012, 07:56:49 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/arts-post/post/book-buyers-confront-the-myth-of-choice/2012/12/20/ae36ab6c-4a5c-11e2-b6f0-e851e741d196_blog.html?tid=socialss

Looks like we're on the right track...
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: smilodon on December 20, 2012, 09:01:32 PM
Which leads on to a conversation (possibly not for this thread) about the problem with traditional publishers and why companies like Amazon might actually be a good thing for book reading as they allow authors to self publish without the huge cost involved in printing, binding and distributing thousands of hard copies of their stories. Online communities like Kindle Users forums etc allow publishers to engage with potential readers. It will mean authors like J.K.Rowling might not become multi millionaires but we'll get a much wider choice of reads. And so I agree that in a small way this forum and this thread probably encourage us to try new books and genres that we might not otherwise be exposed to.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on December 20, 2012, 11:52:01 PM
Quote from: Benny;362967I think I've read it....think. I've read hundreds of the things ranging from;

Semper Fi - management the marine corp way
Secrets of CEOs
7 habits
The 8th habit
All of Branson's books
Eat that frog
Giuliani's biog (very good)
Clintons biog
And a load of others I'll list when I get off the sofa and get near the bookcase.

I really enjoyed guiliani's book and wasn't expecting to.

I'm off to hunt for the parachute now, I'm sure I've got it somewhere!

Oh if you are going to read one 'guide' I recommend 'goal' by Goldratt. It is superb. (Sorry forgot )
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on December 21, 2012, 11:28:15 AM
I have just finished reading The Great Gatsby which Benny started with and will give my review on it very soon.

Strangely after having just read the book I have come across an advert for a movie that is due for released in the new year based on it.
 
http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/blink-ll-miss-green-easter-egg-great-gatsby-183050379.html

Have now started the novel Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell and am loving it already. This will be a hit I predict unless it gets rubbish later.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on December 21, 2012, 12:53:23 PM
Ooh, I really liked 1984, well written and the pacing is almost perfect for me, enjoy.

I'll append your review to the thread entry of Gatsby once you post it up, looking forward to someone else's opinion!
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: smilodon on December 21, 2012, 01:33:48 PM
Almost done with Treasure Island, we've made it to the 'Island' just need to find the 'Treasure'.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on December 21, 2012, 02:24:39 PM
I've parked Aldous Huxley and made a start on 'The Stand'. I've not really read much horror.....oooh spooky.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on January 02, 2013, 07:19:46 PM
enjoying The Stand (on my new kindle). Still addicted to Flipboard and it throws up gems like this;

http://io9.com/5972411/
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: smilodon on January 02, 2013, 07:33:46 PM
Now that's spooky, I just logged in to post that very link.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on January 08, 2013, 04:58:04 PM
So 1984 done and dusted and really good read.

Am attempting for the second time Pride and Prejudice for the 2nd time as I gave up on it the first time cos I was not enjoying it. Will stick at it this time and see if it gets better. Need to tick it off my read list at some point I guess...
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on January 08, 2013, 05:25:48 PM
I'm still working through The Stand and am a third in. What's interesting is that because it's on the kindle you don't get a feel for how weighty a volume it is. 1344 pages which the kindle doesn't tell you, good book so far though!

I really enjoyed 1984,  I can't recall it taking too long to get through, I remember it being one of those books that just melts away. The politics and newspeak/doublethink etc was really intriguing. You should read Hunger Games now to compare the worlds and see how much better Orwell was :)

Cheers for the review Gortex, we are making slow but steady progress!
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: smilodon on January 08, 2013, 06:16:18 PM
Almost finished Treasure Island. I've been mixing it in with Game of Thrones so it's slow going.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on January 21, 2013, 10:04:04 AM
Still churning through The Stand, but as a side note picked up 'The 4 Hour Chef' which is a page turner. Anyone read any of the same series?
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Penfold on January 21, 2013, 11:43:39 AM
I've been lazy.

I started with Patricia Cornwell's Series with the Forensic examiner Kay Scarpetta and have been stuck there ever since. There's 19 books in the series and I'm working my way through them.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on January 21, 2013, 12:46:40 PM
I'm sure I've read one of hers. Is there one about a convent and a pregnant nun? I recall getting the hump because it got to be all about relationships with her ex husband or some other love tryst. Now whilst that may have been a completely different author, the Jack the Ripper piece she did annoyed me intensely and has made me not read any more of hers. I'm nothing if not broad brushed in my sweeping decisions.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on January 25, 2013, 10:42:34 AM
Another one off the list for me Pride and Prejudice, which I have to say I struggled through and very glad to have got to the end as it could not come fast enough. I tried to write something constructive rather than just say this is rubbish and don't read it.... but......

After having read this (in my opinion) hideous read I have just got hold of War and Peace but was not aware of the length of the book so am giving my self a slightly less heavy read before tackling it with the first of the Harry Potter books. I have watched all the movies like everyone else but never read the books and as on the great read give them a go. Started last night and already half way through chapter 5 and loving the read. This is going to be fun I can tell.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on January 25, 2013, 12:38:15 PM
Cheers Gortex, I was hoping someone would save me a painful tome, now we need someone else to come and tell us why we should read it :)

The HP books are entertaining enough and I reckon you'll be done by tomorrow morning!
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Penfold on January 25, 2013, 01:06:45 PM
If you think P+P was hard, wait until you start War + Peace :rolleyes:

The HP's are good light reading and having a break is probably a good thing.

C'mon I want someone to start reading some classical classics - Ovid's Metamorphoses is a good place to start !
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on January 25, 2013, 01:48:30 PM
Quote from: Penfold;365538If you think P+P was hard, wait until you start War + Peace :rolleyes:

Yes this might well be true but it also helps if the subject your reading about is interesting to the reader. A book about marriage and what sort of dress to ware on the magic day does not really grip me as interesting. Where as something to do with the French and Russian wars during Napoleon's time ticks several boxes for me.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on January 28, 2013, 12:05:59 PM
Well that is the first of the Harry Potter books done and review to follow later and I really enjoyed it and just flew through it. I just hope the other books are as good as it often can be the case that the first book is best and the after that it gets a bit tired.

I have now started the War and Peace and so far it is not to bad but I can see this taking me until prob end of the month to get through. Did not realize it is the 7th longest novel ever written which makes me wonder what the longest is.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: smilodon on January 28, 2013, 03:06:26 PM
To stop poor Gortex having to read another Jane Austin I thought I'd have a crack at

208. Northanger Abbey ---------- Jane Austen

I'll admit to having a secret soft spot for the period Austin wrote in and don't mind the film and TV adaptations of her work (Emma, Sense and Sensibility etc). I've never seen Northanger Abbey on the screen so have no idea what to expect from the book.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on January 28, 2013, 03:22:57 PM
Quote from: smilodon;365713To stop poor Gortex having to read another Jane Austin

Unfortunately I am running along side to this big read idea, my own read tick off list using the same list we have here so there will be second reviews from me for some books where they have not been read yet (Like the Great Gatsby) so I am going to end up reading some more of her work. Who knows the other novels might not be quite such hard work so (fingers crossed).
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on March 06, 2013, 04:29:11 PM
Well that is War and Peace done and dusted and my review I don't think does it justice of how good it really is. I would say this is a must read if not done so as I was skeptical about it before starting and really enjoyed it in many ways. I loved the cross over it does all the time between the fictional writing about all the characters and their stories etc with duels, romance, battles, gambling and everything else you can think of that could be in a normal novel, and then switching to a philosophical, political bit explaining what is going on in real life at the time.

Have decided after finishing this that am going to cover a few shorter books before the next big series or Novel and am taking on Oliver Twist for the first time (strangely) and already loving it. This I can tell is going to be a hit and is what I really think of when someone says to me Dickens work.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on March 06, 2013, 11:01:55 PM
Cheers Gortex, I might give that a try on that review. I've broken my long book aversion now with The Stand and whilst I'm putting off the Lord of the Rings tripe, perhaps this will get me back into it. I'm giving The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a go now as it was on my kindle, but I'll hit a classic next.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: smilodon on March 07, 2013, 02:35:47 AM
Leave Lord of the Rings. I've already read it half a dozen times and can review the crap out of it if required. I'm checking the list for my next choice,
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on March 16, 2013, 02:10:44 PM
Well that is Oliver Twist read and book closed and a really excellent read. Helps me understand the level of respect Charles Dickens has on the world of novel writing and would encourage people to read it. Not to long and some of the best sub plots and side characters I have ever come across in one book.

Next on my list will be some more Harry Potter and the second book The Chamber of Secrets followed by I think another read of something someone else has read and reviewed like The Wasp Factory or All quiet on the western front.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on March 16, 2013, 03:52:11 PM
Cheers Gortex, I'll give Twist a go after my current batch. Thoroughly enjoying The Girl with the Tattoo'd 'arris.

Highly recommend 'All Quiet' it's a quick read and it would be good to hear another view on it. (The Wasp Factory was shite in my opinion, so guess that would be interesting too, you need to side with Tutonic or me, who's it gonna be? :) )
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on March 26, 2013, 02:46:57 PM
Took your recommend about All Quiet and I devoured it in about 4 days (on hols) as just could not put it down. I agree on how good it is and in my opinion right up in my top 10 reads of all time. It is so powerful and could not believe at times of how detailed it went into and held nothing back in the descriptions of what the ordinary soldier went through. Also because it was not written as an all seeing all mighty American or English kicking the hun point of view it made me like it even more. No kidding if you have not read this book then do so......

Sticking with this world war theme I have started Birdsong so I can have something to compare All Quiet after just having read it and fresh in mind. At the moment it feels a bit slow in getting going and is developing the love story but the last chapter really picked up and some very graphic bedroom scenes. :woot2:
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on March 26, 2013, 04:25:52 PM
Cheers G, I've updated the thread and combined the 2 reviews, glad you enjoyed it.

I think the lying in the trench with the enemy was the standout for me, a real exploration of emotion. I'm still plugging through Larsson, but will get back on list shortly, I've got some long flights ahead :)
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on April 08, 2013, 12:48:18 PM
Another book off the list in Birdsong and I have to say a cracking good read and although it took a while to get going I could not put it down and ended up with several late nights of just sitting in my living room past 11pm with Feezuki having to come hassle me that I have work in the morning and should go to bed...

If you liked All Quiet then this is a must read. I don't think it is quite as good though as it does not seem to be quite as dark a novel but because it covers more subjects and different areas to just War it makes for a great read.

Next book I have just started is The Wasp Factory and seems very short so expect a review very soon and wonder if I agree with Tut as it being a good one.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on April 08, 2013, 03:26:37 PM
Nice one, you are a machine Gortex! I've done the second Dragon Tattoo book which was ok, got a bit far fetched toward the end, but still a good read. I'll finish the last later.

I'm on World War Z at the moment, then back to the list....oh and the Wasp Factory is crap.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on April 09, 2013, 07:01:27 PM
Quoteyou are a machine Gortex!

To be honest I do a good amount of audio book listening as my job for IBM often has me travelling to different locations around the UK so it is easy to down load the unabridged version of something and just hit play while driving for 4-6 hours. It is never quite as good as reading yourself but is convenient.

I am actually enjoying some aspects to The Wasp Factory but my god is it very dark humor and I am not really sure what the plot of the book is yet even though am almost half way through, but perhaps it will all become clear in the end.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on April 09, 2013, 10:22:10 PM
it becomes clear in the last chapter or so. It's clear that it's crap! ;)
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on April 10, 2013, 03:59:56 PM
Wasp Factory finished and think I might disagree with the statement it is crap but definitely not one of the best reads I have had. I would though recommend it to someone as I think it is one of those books which can create great debates as to what you or others think about it, due mainly as to how dark it was. I think this might be one of the sickest things I have ever read but like Tut said I found it difficult to stop reading.

I have enjoyed reading some shorter novels/works and probably time to get back to a more serious a contender on the list of great reads and get back to my attempt to read at least once in my life time all of Dickens works. So cue The Great Expectations which I have seen films, TV series and plays of but never actually read the book.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on May 07, 2013, 03:01:46 PM
So Great Expectations done and although good I would not suggest as the Dickens novel to try if your new to reading his work. Am trying something much shorter and probably lighter and I think is actually a children book Vicky Angel so prob get a review of this one soon.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: TeaLeaf on May 07, 2013, 04:16:02 PM
I feel some wikipedia creeping into these reviews....
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: smilodon on May 07, 2013, 05:24:18 PM
Some of these 'must reads' are actually really crappy books. I've found myself so jaded with one book I didn't even bother to submit it at all. If I had, a cut and paste from Wikipedia does sound tempting, if not entirely in the spirit of the thread :norty:
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on May 08, 2013, 11:25:37 PM
Don't disagree, Aldous Huxley was awful, drier than my last girlfriend.

I'm mashing my way through the last of the Millenium trilogy on my new Nook (thanks OB!) with a slight diversion into World War Z, which was superb. Then I'll be back into the list. Once we've done the main list I've got 10,000 more to read on Calibre.....ah.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: BrotherTobious on May 09, 2013, 01:35:07 AM
I think the adding of the odd bit off info from wiki is fine to add to a book which failed to raise interest. But saying they have been taken right from is a little harsh :(

Sent from my Nexus 4
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: TeaLeaf on May 09, 2013, 07:55:43 AM
Quote from: BrotherTobious;370665I think the adding of the odd bit off info from wiki is fine to add to a book which failed to raise interest. But saying they have been taken right from is a little harsh :(
I don't think that was said Toby!    Btw, check your PMs.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on May 17, 2013, 02:15:11 PM
QuoteI feel some wikipedia creeping into these reviews....

When ever I finish reading a novel and particularly when I have enjoyed it, I do have a look on the internet for some interesting facts or further information about it, and in the case of my reviews I provide some of that info into it as this might help someone in making a decision whether or not to pick it up and read it.

I personally am a big fan of Bernard Cornwell's books and one of the things I like most about his way of writing is often he puts a historical note at the end of the novel. This gives some back ground information on how and why he wrote the book and I for one find this very interesting and I then often end up reading further works about how the battles and how they were actually carried out and why.

........

My latest review of Vicky Angel is up and my overall opinion of it was this is absolute rubbish and should be avoided at all costs, I kind of expected the occasional horror of a book to end up in the list that I would not agree with but this one really is bad.

Next on my list to try is Midnight Children so hopefully something a bit better.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on July 02, 2013, 05:17:14 PM
Finished off a couple since I've had a chance to post, don't think they were on the list though. One was Stephen King and the other a Ferris 4 hour book. I'll get to the reviews and get back on track soon :)
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on July 25, 2013, 03:22:23 PM
Well that is Midnight's Children done and I did not enjoy it much :sad: .. took forever to read it and kept getting side tracked to other things (new Julian Stockwin book for one) and because of how it is written etc. Avoid it is my advice.

I also could not agree more with Smilo about Wuthering Heights. Which I read years ago on some night shifts and thought it was excellent at the time. Nothing like the romantic soppy rubbish I was expecting it to be and surprised at just how dark it is and how the characters are brought over. 12 is also to low on the list in question and I would put it into my top ten.

Bit more George Orwell next..
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on July 29, 2013, 12:11:26 PM
Well, I have a confession. I've gone off piste.

I've changed kindle a couple of times and bounced to a nook and back so my lists have been somewhat fragmented. I've polished off Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman in the mean time. Sad to say, I really enjoyed it. A parallel London and it closes leaving you wondering if he's actual lost the plot or if it all did really occur. I'm not going to write a full and flighty review. If you like your fantasy sprinkled with real life locations and parallels rather than gnomes in Narnia, then give it a go.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Tutonic on July 29, 2013, 12:17:36 PM
You should give American Gods a go Benny, a better book than Neverwhere imo.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on September 28, 2013, 01:32:22 PM
Animal Farm was truly excellent and worth reading for anyone who has not done so.

Am half way through Ulysses by James Joyce and it is a bit of a slog tbh so expect a while till I finish it.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on October 07, 2013, 09:48:56 PM
Cheers Gortex, I'm finishing off a few things so it's good we have someone still on it.....I don't envy that choice
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Penfold on October 07, 2013, 10:31:19 PM
Read Ender's Game again after twenty years and really enjoyed it. Struggling now with Speaker for the Dead but it's quite laborious.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: smilodon on October 08, 2013, 09:04:08 AM
Likewise I'm off the list at the moment reading slowly through the Game of Thrones books. Will start to something from the list soon.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: atomant on October 09, 2013, 08:27:01 AM
"We Inherit the Stars" James P. Hogan, first book in a great trilogy.

Starts with a dead guy on the moon, but he has a watch on like James bond and a diary of how he got to the moon..written in 1972..or a bouts.

Only book I ever picked up and never put down...something like 624 pages.."Lost in the Barrens"
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on November 15, 2013, 08:56:23 PM
Well that is Ulysses done and possibly one of the hardest reads I have done in a long time if ever, and review to follow once I work out exactly how I feel about it. Think it will be a loved some of it and hated others kind of thing.

Next book am trying is Catch 22 and straight away this is a very different animal and devouring it. Expect this review very soon :D
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Penfold on November 15, 2013, 09:31:00 PM
Well done on Ulysses.

IMHO apart from Chaucer,  Joyce is one of the hardest authors to read. Frankly I've always struggled with it having read Ulysses and The Dubliners. On my English Degree it the one most people struggled through (followed by William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience).

I couldn't read it again.... it still gives me nightmares!
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on November 15, 2013, 09:46:12 PM
Pen the fact you say
QuoteOn my English Degree
pretty much sums up the book... I am not happy with my review and had real issues writing it as there are some truly great parts in it... But I would never read it again and not sure I would recommend it unless you are will to really stick with it.

I read Dracula a good few years ago and I really enjoyed it a great deal, but again it is a slog of a read due to the changes in writing styles and not keeping rhythm in the novel.

These sorts of books though are great for debate as I think they are so complicated yet interesting.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on January 30, 2014, 01:20:29 PM
Well that is another one off my list with Catch 22 which I quite enjoyed and at parts was laughing out loud to the annoyance of my other half.

Next on the list and almost finished so review coming is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and I am loving it a great deal. Nothing like I was expecting it to be and goes to show first impressions can be very wrong and not to judge a book by the title or cover.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: smilodon on January 30, 2014, 02:18:05 PM
I've been dreadful, reading Game of Thrones and Xmas books, none of which are on the list. Very tardy, thanks for keeping the book club alive.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on January 30, 2014, 04:31:34 PM
I know the feeling. It took me a lot longer than first thought to finish off Catch 22 as I got side tracked half way through with new stuff that I wanted to read over xmas. I think it is also much harder to stick at the list when you end up reading something that just becomes a slog and not enjoyable (Midnight Children comes to mind) so your mind goes wondering to other books which you know will be more enjoyable.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on February 17, 2014, 09:34:41 PM
OCD rocks. Getting through 'Reacher' in order, sigh, I'll get back on point soon. I even read the first parts of 'genesis' in a hotel room the other day. What a crock of.....


In the meantime, more inspiration
http://www.businessinsider.com/amazons-100-books-everyone-must-read-2014-2
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: TeaLeaf on February 18, 2014, 09:19:20 AM
Quote from: Benny;381500In the meantime, more inspiration
http://www.businessinsider.com/amazons-100-books-everyone-must-read-2014-2

I'll be honest, that list looks a heck of a lot more entertaining than the original one!   :thumbsup:
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on February 18, 2014, 09:15:57 PM
Shhhhhh...I thought that but couldn't ring myself to change it

Quote from: TeaLeaf;381516I'll be honest, that list looks a heck of a lot more entertaining than the original one!   :thumbsup:
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Gortex on August 27, 2014, 02:15:12 PM
Been some time since my last review of books from the list as been busy in various things but I have been reading through a few of them and will post my reviews.
1 really good book.
1 I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.
1 I will be happy never to think of much about again.

Wondering what to tackle next.
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: TeaLeaf on August 27, 2014, 02:30:55 PM
I probably ought to add some reviews here too, but I tend to forget as I read most often at night then go to sleep, only to totally forget to write anything here in the morning.  My e-reader tells me I have read for 600 hours and completed 70 books in the last year, so I must have something to feed back!

Oh and I have only read 25 of the 100 books in the more recent list posted above by Benny, so my reading interests must lie in the lower tiers!
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on August 31, 2014, 09:02:38 PM
And, clear..Thread is alive!

I'm stuck on a load of work type books, things like Goldratt which I'm re-reading for the third time (love it). If you have any changes to make at work, look him up. I'll be under my rock if needed, hope you're all well!
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Tutonic on August 31, 2014, 10:01:53 PM
Who was that gimp-masked man?
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: BrotherTobious on August 31, 2014, 10:32:52 PM
I don't know but hope he can make the LAN
Title: You have to start somewhere - a list
Post by: Benny on September 01, 2014, 08:05:27 PM
I work too hard and spend the rest of the time with the kids, although I have a new study so could perhaps make a game of something...

Seriously, read 'The Goal'. It's great.
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