Arukiyomi's Progress Year 13: 2019

Discussie1001 Books to read before you die

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Arukiyomi's Progress Year 13: 2019

1arukiyomi
sep 1, 2020, 10:54 am

onward with the catchup...

2arukiyomi
sep 1, 2020, 10:58 am



#557: Sabbath's Theater



... a novel simply to provide himself
with a playground for experiments
in obscenity.

3arukiyomi
Bewerkt: sep 5, 2020, 2:34 pm



#558: The Virgin in the Garden



... you’d be forgiven for thinking that
the whole thing is just pretentious claptrap.

4arukiyomi
Bewerkt: sep 5, 2020, 2:32 pm



#559: House of Leaves



... simply taken the plot of many a horror story ...
and then decided to let a monkey manage the typesetting.

5annamorphic
sep 3, 2020, 6:46 am

All of your links are taking me to Sabbath's Theatre and while you have convinced me that I will never want to read that book, I'd also like to read your thoughts on the "pretentious claptrap" that is The Virgin in the Garden. Which I have, unfortunately, read.

6arukiyomi
sep 5, 2020, 2:33 pm

ah sorry... thanks for letting me know. All should be fixed now. I really should check each one I post!

7arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:18 pm



#560: Ada



... puns and plays on words which ...
had all the entertainment value of
dad jokes at a Christmas dinner

8arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:19 pm



#561: Rosshalde



... a timely reminder to take time now
to cherish the things that are truly
important in life.

9arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:19 pm



#562: Testament of Youth



She does go on a bit, and when she does,
it's all me, me, me.

10arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:19 pm



#563: City of God



If you want to judge a book by what you can take away from it,
then this is going to make very little impact.

11Helenliz
sep 5, 2020, 2:54 pm

>9 arukiyomi: Phew! I sometimes wonder if it's me not getting something. I got annoyed by her self rightousness and the sensation that the world owed her something.

12annamorphic
sep 5, 2020, 7:42 pm

>9 arukiyomi: >11 Helenliz: I think of this as a great book written by an intensely annoying person. Something about that period allowed or even encouraged authors to just spill out their horribleness and expect you to feel sorry for them. At least she ACTUALLY suffered, and witnessed incredible tragic historical events, unlike say Wyndham Lewis or even D.H. Lawrence. But you wouldn't want to know her in real life.

13arukiyomi
sep 6, 2020, 3:27 pm

I think you both captured something there with what you wrote about Brittain. I wonder if how she comes across is in some way the result of what she's been through, PTSD and all that...

14arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:19 pm



#564: Nightwood



... certainly queer, but not in the way
the gushing Winterson considers
it in her foreword.

15arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:19 pm



#565: The Book of Disquiet



"Let the plotless novel come to an end"

If only ….

16arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:19 pm



#566: Watchmen



There are layers of genius
within the genius here.

17arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:19 pm



#567: The Kindly Ones



... a book to be taken very,
very seriously.

18arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:19 pm



#568: Infinite Jest



... sheer tedium punctuated by very,
very isolated islands of brilliance.

19amaryann21
sep 14, 2020, 11:38 am

>17 arukiyomi: YES. I agree wholeheartedly with your analysis. If there's one book I would not have encountered otherwise, and for which I am extremely grateful to the List, it's this one. It was not fun reading, but it felt very important. I can only imagine reading it in the current world circumstances might make it feel even more so. I recommend this one to serious readers, with the caveat that it is heavy, but worth it.

20arukiyomi
sep 17, 2020, 3:29 pm

interesting. And you're right, it is heavy. Probably 2kg or so.

21arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:19 pm



#569: 10:04



... not actually anything except an attempt
by a man to show us he understands
the word proprioception.

22arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:20 pm



#570: Labyrinths



He’s hard,
but when he’s good,
he’s amazing.

23arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:20 pm



#571: The Romantics



... all a bit unreal and very self-absorbed.

24arukiyomi
sep 28, 2020, 10:59 am



#570: A Tale of Love and Darkness



An important and interesting read.

25arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:20 pm



#573: One, No One and One Hundred Thousand



... eventually disappearing up his own bum
in pursuit of some form of reality.

26arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:20 pm



#574: In Search of Klingsor



... drags so much that if you hitched it to the back
of Hamilton’s Formula 1 car he wouldn’t finish a lap.

27arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:20 pm



#575: The Talk of the Town



Easy to read…
easy to forget.

28arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:20 pm



#576: Everything you Need



If you find it a bit slow going at first,
persevere with it.

29puckers
okt 4, 2020, 3:14 pm

>26 arukiyomi: one of the List books I haven’t located yet and after reading your review my searching will cease as of now!

30arukiyomi
okt 7, 2020, 3:55 pm

yeah, you really don't need to bother!

31arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:20 pm



#577: The Museum of Unconditional Surrender



... befittingly fragmentary ...

32arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:20 pm



#578: Sentimental Education



... the man has lived solely for his loins ...

33arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:20 pm



#579: The Pigeon



... an hour or so later you’re thinking
you could do with more.

34arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:21 pm



#580: Miss Lonelyhearts



... not enough space for
a deeper exploration of the issues ...

35arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:21 pm



#581: The Left-Handed Woman



It’s a page-turner primarily because
you just want to turn pages to make it stop.

36arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:21 pm



#582: Reasons to Live



There’s a lot more going on under
the surface than it seems.

37arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:21 pm



#583: The War at the End of the World



... all the intensity of the most roasted
Brazilian coffee you can imagine.

38arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:21 pm



#584: The Man Without Qualities



Satire, however, is subtle humour at best,
and German humour is subtler still.

39arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:21 pm



#585: Paradise of the Blind



... definitely romanticises the beauty
of Vietnam and cultural essentials ...

40arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:21 pm



#586: Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids



... vivid and heartbreaking.

41RosieGlover
okt 11, 2020, 11:04 am

Deze gebruiker is verwijderd als spam.

42arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:21 pm



#587: City Primeval



... has left almost no trace in my memory.

43arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:21 pm



#588: The Goldfinch



... pulled out the freezer and hastily
warmed up in the microwave ...

44arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:21 pm



#589: The Labyrinth of Solitude



A boring and possibly unnecessary read nowadays.

45arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:21 pm



#590: LaBrava



... very accurately captures its era,
this in many respects is a shame.

46arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:22 pm



#591: Dining on Stones



... the title is a metaphor for what
his readers will go through.

47arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:22 pm



#592: The Engineer of Human Souls



... at once funny, poignant, moving, funny, sad and tragic ...

48arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:22 pm



#593: The Violent Bear it Away



... many people won’t like this ...

49arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:22 pm



#594: Platform



... if you’re not a fan of writers
obsessed with sex, this isn’t for you.

50arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:22 pm



#595: The Midnight Examiner



... picaresque and satirical but it’s
not going to be anyone’s fave read.

51arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:22 pm



#596: The Self-Condemned



... every now and then, there’s a Rand-ish rant ...

52annamorphic
okt 12, 2020, 7:20 pm

>51 arukiyomi: You were generous on readability for this one. How I despised this book!

53arukiyomi
dec 19, 2020, 8:54 am

ha... maybe it's because I've already had to deal with Atlas Shrugged!

54arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:22 pm



#597: The House of Dr Dee



... he’s still playing the same old riff.

55arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:22 pm



#598: Freedom



... hold on tight and keep your hands inside the car.

56arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:22 pm



#599: The Moor's Last Sigh



... the novel has been infected with Rushdie
... and finds that it can’t recover.

57arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:23 pm



#600: The Driver's Seat



... too short to get a thesis of any strength across.

58arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:23 pm



#601: The Drowned World



... a world in which Ballard’s fiction is fact
is not one I want to live in any longer.

59arukiyomi
Bewerkt: dec 20, 2020, 3:23 pm



#602: Song of Solomon



... entirely appropriate that reality is
best described intangibly.

60arukiyomi
dec 20, 2020, 3:24 pm



#603: Family Matters



... about halfway through it gradually drifts off ...

61arukiyomi
dec 20, 2020, 3:28 pm



#604: Crash



I have no idea why anyone would
want to write a novel like this.

62arukiyomi
dec 27, 2020, 6:30 am

57% Okay average read in 2019. Not a stellar year. Best book was Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids at 83% Excellent. Worst was Ben Lerner's pile of drivel 10:04 at 15% Rubbish.

48 1001 books read keeping my 4/month average intact.