Kristel's Reading 1001 list

This is a continuation of my progress. Kristel's 1001. Version 8
I ended the year 2020 at 556. (I can't say for sure if this is totally accurate).

#557. In a Free State by V.S. Naipaul. Published 1971. I rated it 4.6. Appreciated it more after reading article about the novel, its structure, its themes, the authors own experiences.

#558. Brighton Rock Graham Greene. 4 stars. Probably doesn't need to be on the list but I did enjoy it. It was not hard to read.

#559. The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene. Mexico, Cristo Wars. 4 stars

560. Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake, fantasy. 3.5 stars.

561.

Book The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse
Format: audio
Original publication date: 1943
Acquisition date/place: 2019, Audible
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.6 stars
Book description/summary: wise men play games
Challenge(s): 1001 BOTM
CAT/KIT:
Bingo DOG:
TIOLI: #4, last name only one vowel (e).
American: no
British: no
List book: 1001, Guardian, Nobel Laureate

562.
Book The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Format: audio play
Original publication date: 1892
Acquisition date/place: 2014
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.8
Book description/summary: logic solves it all
Challenge(s): TBR takedown, 1001
CAT/KIT:
Bingo DOG:
TIOLI:
American:
British: yes
List book: 1001 Books

new format I see... what is Bingo DOG? Any relation to the CAT above it?

>8 arukiyomi: The CAT and Bingo dog all come from Category Challenge Group. The format is what I am using in 75 group and it is just easier to cut and paste.

ah right... I see... kind of ;-)

563.

Book The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Format: audio
Original publication date: 1929
Acquisition date/place: Audible
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.6 stars
Book description/summary: Southern Aristocrat family falls apart
Challenge(s): 1001, TBR, ROOT
American: yes
British:
List book: on many notable lists

564,

Book Super-Cannes by J.G. Ballard
Format: book
Original publication date: 2000
Acquisition date/place: Bookmooch 2019
Decimal/ Star rating: 4.2 stars
Book description/summary: Eden has its snakes and gods of Olympus
Challenge(s): 1001, ROOT
American:
British: yes

565.
Book The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith
Format: audio
Original publication date: 1766
Acquisition date/place: 4/2021, Libby, LCL
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.8 stars
Book description/summary: fictitious memoir of the vicar's difficulties

566. The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt
Historical fiction, family saga, arts, politics, you name it and it is in this book. Rating 3.5 to 4 stars

567. Completed Eugenia Grandet by Honore de Balzac, 4 stars

568.

Book Kokoro by Natsume Soseki
Format: audible
Original publication date: 1914
Acquisition date/place: March 2020.
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.6 stars
Book description/summary: heart of things/isolation/suicide
Challenge(s): 1001, TBR takedown
CAT/KIT:
Bingo DOG:
TIOLI:
American:
British:
List book: 1001 Books

569.

Book Une Vie by Guy de Maupassant
Format: kindle
Original publication date: 1883
Acquisition date/place: Amazon, 2021
Decimal/ Star rating: 4 stars
Book description/summary: a woman's life, is a good description
Challenge(s): 1001 BOTM
List book: 1001 Book

570. Orlando by Virginia Woolf. This was quite different from what I had expected.

571. Old Masters by Thomas Bernhard. Structure of this one was the challenge. One continues stream of sentences with no paragraphs. Thank goodness it wasn't too long.

572. Group Portrait with Lady by Heinrich Böll. Worthy of being on the list of books one must read. Rated 4 stars.

573. The Shining by Stephen King, 1977 classic horror. Rated 3.8 stars

574. The Enigma of Arrival by V.S. Naipaul. Rated 3.4 stars.

575. 72.
Book Santa Evita by Tomás Eloy Martínez
Format: book
Original publication date: 1995
Acquisition date/place:MnLink 2021Decimal/
Star rating: 2.5 stars
Book description/summary: the story of a corpse
Challenge(s): 1001 randomizer book, Category challenges, 75 books

This book might mean more to someone from Argentina or those that tend to idolize famous people which I am not. It is interesting but just way to long. The use of magical realism is what is generally expected in Latin American lit and it works okay. The use of investigative journalism technique is also something not unique. It took almost the whole month to finish this book.

577.

Book Deep Rivers by Jose Maria Arguedas
Format: book
Original publication date: 1958
Acquisition date/place: August 1, 2021, BOTM Reading 1001
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.8 stars
Book description/summary: The bridge over the world
Challenge(s): 1001 Books
List book: 1001

578.
The Beautiful Room Is Empty by Edmund White
Format: audible (play)
Original publication date: 1988
Acquisition date/place: July 2021
Decimal/ Star rating: 2 stars
Book description/summary: yes, the room was empty
Challenge(s): 1001, 1001 TBR takedown
American: yes
British:
List book: 1001

579.

Book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
Format: book
Original publication date: 1987
Acquisition date/place: 11/16/2013
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.2
Book description/summary: AI creates ghost while time traveling

Hello to my fellow Minnesotan! It's good to see you on here still plugging away at the list. After a considerable break from the list I am going to start trying to read one a month. It won't get me to all of them before I die but hopefully just the most enjoyable ones. The Beautiful Room is empty looks like one I can skip although I loved your summary. :)

>27 Lynsey2: Hi Lynsey, so good to see you popping up on book sites again. I wasn't very impressed with the empty room, now did it seem very beautiful but it was a quick read. The author also has A Boy's Story which "they" say is better.

580.
Book Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann
Format: audio
Original publication date: 1901
Acquisition date/place: January 2021
Decimal/ Star rating: 5 stars
Book description/summary: Family, home, job rack & ruin.
Challenge(s): Reading 1001
List book: 1001 Books, Nobel Prize

581. 86.
Book In Watermelon Sugar
Format: audio
Original publication date: 1968
Acquisition date/place: audible 12/2020
Decimal/ Star rating: 2.6
Book description/summary: Not so sweet in IDEATH
Challenge(s): 1001 TBR takedown
List book: 1001

582. New Grub Street by George Gissing. I enjoy this author. This is a story about writing, writing for literary achievement or for money.

583. The Counterfeiters by Andre Gide. Also liked this one and it is also about writing. Unique structure and narrator changes.

584. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, reread.

585. The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers

586. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Adventure story well known for Long John Silver and buried treasure.

587. How late it was, how late by James Kelman. 1994 Booker, Scottish lit. Rated 3.8 stars.

588. Testament of Youth - Vera Brittain

autobiography of a feminist during the great war

589. The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil. Not my favorite but better than some unfinished work. Just happy to have finished the annual read by Reading 1001.

590.
Nana by Zola. Not my favorite Zola.

591. The Radiant Way by Margaret Drabble.

I liked that it was about middle aged women in the 80s but though horrible things are happening, the emotional reaction doesn't seem realistic.

592. The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by Jose Saramago
4 stars
Heteronym of Pessoa visits Pessoa during unrest in Portugal

593.
Billy Bathgate Doctorow always entertains. A story of a young lads coming of age as he is accepted into the inner circle of Dutch Schultz gang.

594.
Book The History of the Siege of Lisbon by José Saramago
Format: audio/kindle
Original publication date: 1989
Acquisition date/place: 2013, kindle edition, audio 2022
Decimal/ Star rating: 2.8
Book description/summary: history is "not"
Challenge(s): reading 1001 botm, ROOT
American:
British:
List book: 1001 Books

596.

Book The House by the Medlar Tree by Giovanni Verga
Format: audio
Original publication date: 1881
Acquisition date/place: 2/2/22, Hoopla
Decimal/ Star rating: 4 stars
Book description/summary: The berries lost the anchovies
Challenge(s): Reading 1001 botm

597.
Book Michael Kohlhaas by Heinrich von Kleist
Format: kindle e book
Original publication date: 1810
Acquisition date/place: 12/20/21
Decimal/ Star rating: 4 stars
Book description/summary: eat paper and die
Challenge(s): Reading 1001 BOTM, ROOT
American:
British:
List book: 1001 books

598.
Book Baltasar & Blimunda by Jose Saramago
Format: kindle/audio
Original publication date: 1982
Acquisition date/place: 2/10/2013
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.6 stars
Book description/summary: build a convent, get a son
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, TBR takedown
American:
British:
List book: 1001 books

599.
Book Black Box by Amos Oz
Format: print book
Original publication date: 1987
Acquisition date/place: 1/25/22 ABE books
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.5 stars
Book description/summary: write family dysfunction away
Challenge(s): Asian author, 1001 books
American:
British:
List book: 1001

600.
Book Metamorphoses by Ovid
Format: audio
Original publication date: 8 AD
Acquisition date/place: 2005?
Decimal/ Star rating: 3 stars
Book description/summary: poetry, mythology, legend
Challenge(s): Reading 1001 Qrt
American:
British:
List book: 1001 Books

601.
Book The Gathering by Anne Enright
Format: kindle/audio
Original publication date: 2007
Acquisition date/place: 2015
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.6
Book description/summary: don't always like people we love
Challenge(s): TBR takedown, ROOT, 75er
American:
British:
List book: Pulitzer, 1001 Books,

Congratulations on 600! That's amazing!

>50 paruline: thank you!

600! Go you!

Congratulations on 600 - well over half way now!

602.
Book Professor Martens' Departure by Jaan Kross
Format: book
Original publication date: 1984
Acquisition date/place: February 2022, Daisey
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.4 stars
Book description/summary: too much compliance gets you no where
Challenge(s): Reading 1001 BOTM, 75, TIOLI, EU country, Estonia
American:
British:
List book: 1001 Books

603.
Book The Hothouse by Wolfgang Koeppen
Format: book
Original publication date: 1953
Acquisition date/place: used book, not sure where I bought it
Decimal/ Star rating: hmm, I probably will give it 3 stars
Book description/summary: in the hothouse of politics
Challenge(s): Reading 1001 botm
American:
British:
List book: 1001 Books

604.

Book Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
Format: Book, audio
Original publication date: 1920
Acquisition date/place: my shelf and also Libby, on shelf since 2017
Decimal/ Star rating: rating 3.2
Book description/summary: Dissatisfaction follows you wherever you go
Challenge(s): Reading 1001 BOTM, Reading a book set in your country
American: yes
British:
List book: Sinclair Lewis, Nobel Prize winner

605.

Book L'Assommoir by Emile Zola
Format: audio book, narrated by Leighton Pugh
Original publication date: 1876
Acquisition date/place: March 2022
Decimal/ Star rating: 4 stars
Book description/summary: drinking den numbs the pain
Challenge(s): Reading 1001 botm, doublespin
American:
British:
List book: 1001 books

606.

Book Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
Format: nook/audio
Original publication date: 1847
Acquisition date/place: 1/2/2012
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.5
Book description/summary: independent woman takes on spoiled children
Challenge(s): TBR take down, 1001 Books, ROOT
American:
British: yes
List book: 1001

I was just thinking to start Agnes Grey on audio. Glad you liked it at least reasonably well.

607.
Book Jack Maggs by Peter Carey
Format: audio and book
Original publication date: 1997
Acquisition date/place: library sales, 5/2017
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.5 stars
Book description/summary: orphan survives tough life
Challenge(s): TBR takedown, Reading 1001
American:
British:
List book: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

608.
Book Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Format: audio
Original publication date: 1945
Acquisition date/place: 5/6/2022 Audio, Libby
Decimal/ Star rating: 3 stars
Book description/summary: fearless girl takes care of self
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, botm May
American:
British:
List book: 1001 Books

609.
Book At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien
Format: book (K), audio (hoopla)
Original publication date: 1939
Acquisition date/place: 1/20/20
Decimal/ Star rating: 4 stars
Book description/summary: characters turn on writer
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, June BOTM
American:
British: UK, Irish author
List book: 1001, Guardian
genre modernism/fiction
Liked: humor, folklore, Anglo/Gaelic sentences
Disliked: lose, disconnected structure

610. 63. Book Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann
Format: audio
Original publication date: 2017
Acquisition date/place: Audible, 1/1/2022
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.7
Book description/summary: Trickster through 30 years of war.
Challenge(s): Randomizer, Reading 1001
American:
British:
List book: 1001, German
Genre historical fiction with magic
Like: learned a bit about 30 year war, trickster mythology, retelling of Antigone
Dislike: hard to engage

611.

Book Underworld by Don DeLillo
Format:book/audio
Original publication date: 1997
Acquisition date/place: 10/19/2018
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.9 stars
Book description/summary: follow the ball
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, 2nd Q read 2022.
American: yes
British:
List book: 1001 books

612.
Book The Wings of the Dove - Henry James
Format: book/audio
Original publication date: 1902
Acquisition date/place: 1/20/2016
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.5
Book description/summary: what a tangled web we weave, when we practice to deceive.
Challenge(s): TBR takedown, 1001, ROOT
American: yes
British:
List book: 1001, Guardian, etc
Genre literary fiction, classic
Liked: I liked the ending, good job with that, like the symbol of a dove
Disliked: author is too wordy

613.
Book The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
Format: book/audio
Original publication date: 2006
Acquisition date/place: 11/16/2013
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.6
Book description/summary: New York to India, life is hard
Challenge(s): Asian Author (India), ROOT, 1001, Booker-2006.
American:
British:
List book: 1001, Booker, National Book Critics Circle Award, etc

614.

Book Life is a Caravanserai: Has Two Doors I Came in One I Went Out the Other - Emine Sevgi Özdamar
Format: book
Original publication date: 1993
Acquisition date/place: 5/10/2022
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.8 stars
Book description/summary: from foetus to young adult via Istanbul, Bursa, Ankara and back to Istanbul.
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, alpha C,
American:
British:
List book: 1001
genre memoir/fiction
Liked: a story of a woman's life
Dislike: it's a bit crude and gotta wonder if it is culturally true, but it might be.

615.
Book The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes by anonymous
Format: audio
Original publication date: 1554
Acquisition date/place: Hoopla 7/1/22
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.8
Book description/summary: history of a pheasant
Challenge(s): 1001, TBR takedown
American:
British:
List book: 1001 books
genre classic, picaresque
Liked: it was humorous, it was short
Disliked: the accent of narrator was so strong it was hard to follow

616.
Book Pavel's Letters by Manika Maron
Format: Kindle book
Original publication date: 1999
Acquisition date/place: 6/14/22
Decimal/ Star rating: 4 stars
Book description/summary: identity in family
Challenge(s): Reading 1001
American:
British:
List book: 1001
European Capitals Berlin
Genre nonfiction, biography, history, political

617.
Book Her Private's We
Format: e-book
Original publication date: 1929
Acquisition date/place: 5/25/22
Decimal/ Star rating: 4 stars
Book description/summary: war's a strumpet
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, botm July 2022, TIOLI pronoun
American:
British: yes
List book: 1001 books
genre memoir
Liked: the character development
Disliked: the violence and language fit the book.

618.
Book Oscar & Lucinda - Peter Carey
Format: book/audio
Original publication date: 1988
Acquisition date/place: 10/29/2016
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.8 stars
Book description/summary: life is a gamble in the lucky land
Challenge(s): TBR takedown
American:
British:
List book: 1001 Books, Booker Winner
Genre literary fiction
Liked: enjoyed the story of two young people in Australia
Disliked: a lot of details that wasn't necessary

619.

Book The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima
Format: audio
Original publication date: 1954
Acquisition date/place: July 15, 2022
Decimal/ Star rating: 3 stars
Book description/summary: young fisher falls for diving girl
Challenge(s): Asian author, Reading 1001
American:
British:
List book: 1001

620.
Book The Rings of Saturn
Format: Kindle
Original publication date: 1995
Acquisition date/place: 7/11/2017
Decimal/ Star rating: 3 stars but probably should be rated higher. Literary device used "the walk" to explore issues of destruction and decay
Book description/summary: walk among the ruins
Challenge(s): ROOT, Reading 1001
American:
British:
List book: 1001, Guardian
Genre fiction written as travelogue
Liked: I liked that it was written like a travelogue and appreciated the exploration of decay and covered a lot of history.
Disliked: it is like a person would think while walking, a bit disjointed but it fits the books goal.

621.
Book News From Nowhere - William Morris
Format: audio book
Original publication date: 1890
Acquisition date/place: 7/23/22 Audible
Decimal/ Star rating: 2.2 stars
Book description/summary: Utopia if we can get rid of the capitalists
Challenge(s): reading 1001
American:
British: yes
List book:
Guardian 1000 (Science Fiction & Fantasy)
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006/2008/2010/2012 Edition)
Western World's Greatest Books - Project Gutenberg
1898 C.K. Shorter List of Best 100 Novels
Newark Public Library's 1904 List of a Thousand of the Best Novels
Genre fantasy, communist propaganda
Liked: it's over and I don't need to read it again
Disliked: the whole thing

622.
Book Empire of the Sun - J.G. Ballard
Format: book/audio
Original publication date: 1984
Acquisition date/place: 9/2/2020
Decimal/ Star rating: 5 stars
Book description/summary: Boy survives horror
Challenge(s): TBR, ROOT, Reading 1001
American:
British: yes
List book: 1001
Genre fiction, autobiography, historical
Liked: depiction of Japan China during WWII
Disliked: the horrors were realistic so it was ok much better than Ballard usual

623.

Book Artist of the Floating World - Kazuo Ishiguro
Format: audio and book
Original publication date: 1986
Acquisition date/place: 3/15/17
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.4 stars
Book description/summary: old man faces his past
Challenge(s): alpha KI, ROOT, 1001
American:
British:
List book: 1001
Genre fiction/literature
Liked: I like stories of old people and also the generational look at family/Japan, post WWII
Disliked: its not much plot, character study and that gets a bit slim as well

624.
Book A Gate at the Stairs - Lorrie Moore
Format: book/audio
Original publication date: 2009
Acquisition date/place:
Decimal/ Star rating: 4/29/2017
Book description/summary: racism, war, and clueless
Challenge(s): reading 1001, ROOT
American: yes
British:
List book: 1001 Books
genre fiction, post 9/11 literature
Liked: I liked the descriptions of birds, I liked the humor. descriptions of self righteous liberal idealogy.
Disliked: can anyone be that clueless, yes, fraid so

625.
Book The Secret Agent - Joseph Conrad
Format: Book/audio
Original publication date:1907
Acquisition date/place: 2018/Bookmooch
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.4 stars
Book description/summary: puppets of forces beyond their control
Challenge(s): 1001, TBR takedown, ROOT
American:
British:
List book: 1001
Genre Espionage lit
Liked: I liked that it points out the real victims are innocents
Disliked: it was a bit easy to get lost with the back and forth time frames

626.
Book Fools of Fortune - William Trevor
Format: book
Original publication date: 1983
Acquisition date/place: 9/4/22
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.6
Book description/summary: destruction casts shadow
Challenge(s): reading 1001, Oct botm
American:
British:
List book: 1001
Genre historical fiction
Liked: I liked that it compared two houses and I liked the secondary characters
Disliked: it was hard to engage and at times it was confusing

627. completed in October

Book Our Lady of the Assassins by Fernando Vallejo
Format: book
Original publication date: 1994
Acquisition date/place: 8/2022
Decimal/ Star rating: 4 stars
Book description/summary: death rules and nobody dies of boredom
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, translated fiction
American:
British:
List book: 1001
Genre fiction, Latin American
Liked: the writing
Disliked: thankfully a short book because the subject is hard to digest

628. 134.
Book Possession A Romance by A. S. Byatt
Format: Book/Audio
Original publication date: 1990
Acquisition date/place: Goodwill 11/2/2011
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.8 stars
Book description/summary: academia in all its intrigue
Challenge(s): Reading 1001 TBR takedown, ROOT, Booker 1990
American:
British: yes
List book: 1001, Booker
Genre historiographic metafiction
Liked: I liked the story of English academia research using letters, journals, etc.
Disliked: It was so hard to stay engaged

629.
Book 1984, a reread
Format:audible
Original publication date: 1949
Acquisition date/place: audible play
Decimal/ Star rating: 4 stars
Book description/summary: control thought control the man
Challenge(s):
American:
British: yes
List book: 1001, etc
Genre political, dystopian
Liked: I liked how relevant it is today
Disliked: there's a part that just gets bogged down in detail and the story is lost

630.
Book Quartet by Jean Rhys
Format: book
Original publication date: 1928
Acquisition date/place: 9/2022
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.2
Book description/summary: Bleak, sordid Paris life
Challenge(s): Reading 1001
American:
British:
List book: 1001
Genre fiction, semi-autobiographical
Liked: it's short
Disliked: cold

631.
Book Fury - Salman Rushdie
Format: book/audio
Original publication date: 2001
Acquisition date/place: 2017, 5-26.
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.4 stars
Book description/summary: Fury goes with you, you can't run from it.
Challenge(s): Asian-Diaspora, 1001, ROOT
American:
British:
List book: 1001
Genre fiction
Liked: I liked Rushdie's use of language, references to books, myths, authors
Disliked: fury in blue language and sexual content

632.


Book So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ
Format: book
Original publication date: 1980
Acquisition date/place: 3/14/2020
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.8 stars
Book description/summary: a work of feminist literature-Africa, Islam
Challenge(s): TBR takedown, ROOT, 1001
American:
British:
List book: 1001, Winner of the Noma Award
Genre epistolary novel
Liked: this is a woman who was loyal to the covenant of her marriage in spite of betrayal
Disliked: at first it was confusing.

633.
Book Anniversaries: From a year in the life of Gesine Cresspahl - Uwe Johnson
Format: e-book
Original publication date: 1970, 1971, 1873, 1983
Acquisition date/place: 12/30/21
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.4 stars
Book description/summary: historical, coming of age, 1930 - 1968 and and exploration of the Sixties.
Challenge(s): yearly read for Reading 1001
American:
British:
List book: 1001
Genre historical fiction, epistolary
Liked: it wasn't hard to read but it also was not compelling. The decision to read a section every day helped to keep me reading and ultimately finish. It was a panoramic view of history.
Disliked: it was often confusing and hard to know who was speaking, even though it had to be Gesine. And the point was often lost or unclear. Perhaps because it was history through Gesine's eyes and the NYT, it was unreliable? It also has or shares a lot of details with the author's life.

634.
Book Blaming - Elizabeth Taylor
Format: e-book
Original publication date: 1976
Acquisition date/place: 11/28/21
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.2
Book description/summary: death, blaming, grief
Challenge(s): reading 1001 Dec botm 2022
American:
British: yes
List book: 1001, Virago
Genre literature, fiction
Liked: exploration of life as a widow/old age
Disliked: disliked the awkward American woman author

635.

Book The Master of Ballantrae - R. L. Stevenson
Format: book/audio
Original publication date: 1889
Acquisition date/place: 2013
Decimal/ Star rating: 3 stars
Book description/summary: playing on both sides of the fence leads to no one winning
Challenge(s): 1001
American:
British:
List book: 1001
Genre adventure fiction
Liked: historical setting Jacobite Rising, adventure
Disliked: unbelievable, couldn't like any character

636.
Book Kim - Rudyard Kipling
Format: audio
Original publication date: 1901
Acquisition date/place: 10/30/2010
Decimal/ Star rating: 4 stars
Book description/summary: adventures of an orphan
Challenge(s): bookspinbingo
American:
British: yes
List book: 1001
Genre fiction, adventure
Liked: fun, adventure
Disliked: got a little lost towards end but probably me not the book

637.
Book Atrocity Exhibition - J. G. Ballard
Format: audio, William Gaminara
Original publication date: 1970
Acquisition date/place: 1/1/2023 (First purchase of 2023, and it is this book, that's sad.
Decimal/ Star rating: 2.4
Book description/summary: assault on the mind
Challenge(s): Reading 1001
American:
British: yes
List book: 1001
Genre experimental
Liked: historical references
Disliked: having bought it, having listened to it

638.
Book In a Glass Darkly
Format: audio
Original publication date: 1872
Acquisition date/place: 12/24/22
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.2
Book description/summary: short gothic stories
Challenge(s): tbr takedown, Reading 1001, ROOT
American:
British:
List book: 1001
Genre Gothic horror
Liked: liked the novellas
Disliked: shorter stories had a difficulty holding my attention.

639.
Book The Golden Ass
Format: Apueius
Original publication date: 159 AD
Acquisition date/place: Hoopla Digital
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.4
Book description/summary: nothing new under the sun; sex, adventures, gods/goddess, and ass.
Challenge(s): African Author Challenge. Reading 1001
American:
British:
List book:1001 Books
Genre
Liked: its humorous, adventure
Disliked: sexual content that is offensive

640.
Book H(A)PPY - Nicola Barker
Format: book
Original publication date: 2017
Acquisition date/place: 12/2/22
Decimal/ Star rating: 4 stars
Book description/summary: is Happy constrained or chaotic?
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, ROOT
American:
British: yes
List book: 1001
Genre dystopia, SF
Liked: structure
Disliked: not knowing more

641.
Book As A Man Grows Older
Format: book
Original publication date: 1892
Acquisition date/place: 11/2/22
Decimal/ Star rating: 3 stars
Book description/summary: middle aged man falls for gorgeous cheat
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, ROOT alpha IS
American:
British:
List book: 1001
Genre psychological literature
Liked: it wasn't too long
Disliked: did not care for characters

642.
Book To Have and Have Not - Ernest Hemingway
Format: audio book
Original publication date: 1937
Acquisition date/place: Jan 2023
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.4 stars
Book description/summary: Key West to Cuba
Challenge(s): reading 1001
American: yes
British:
List book: 1001
Genre fiction
Liked: the setting, the characters
Disliked: disjointed

643.
Book Saturday - Ian McEwan
Format: audio/book
Original publication date: 2005
Acquisition date/place: borrowed from Karen Oswood
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.2
Book description/summary: A neurosurgeon's Saturday
Challenge(s): TBR Takedown, ROOT, Reading 1001
American:
British: yes
List book: 1001
Genre fiction, contemporary
Liked: contemplative
Disliked: okay, but not necessary 1001 worthy

644.
Book The Hand of Ethelberta - Thomas Hardy
Format: audio
Original publication date: 1876
Acquisition date/place: 12/20/22
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.2 stars
Book description/summary: marriage is serious business
Challenge(s): ROOT, Reading 1001, TIOLI #1
American:
British: yes, 19th century
List book: 1001
Genre novel, comedy
Liked: strong woman character
Disliked: This one probably did not need to be on the 1001 list

645.
Book Parade's End - Ford Madox Ford
Format: audio, read by Stephen Crossley
Original publication date: 1925
Acquisition date/place: 11/29/2022, audible
Decimal/ Star rating: 4 stars
Book description/summary: love with no passion, trenches with no battles, tragedy without denouement
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, Q1 read, ROOT
American:
British: yes
List book: 1001
Genre fiction
Liked: I liked the exploration of the end of Edwardian culture
Disliked: I really disliked Sylvia!!!!

646.
Book Threepenny Novel - Bertolt Brecht
Format: kindle
Original publication date: 1934
Acquisition date/place: 1/25/23, Amazon
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.4 stars
Book description/summary: Mac the Knife meets the Beggar King
Challenge(s): Reading 1001 March botm
American:
British:
Other German lit
List book: 1001
Genre crime fiction/play
Liked: I liked visiting the origin of Mac the Knife; a song from my youth
Disliked: a happy ending; was it justified?

647.
Book Decline and Fall - Evelyn Waugh
Format: audio
Original publication date: 1928
Acquisition date/place: 11/27/22, audible
Decimal/ Star rating: 3 stars
Book description/summary: "its meant to be funny"
Challenge(s): reading 1001, tbr take down, TIOLI #6
American:
British: yes
List book: yes, 1001
Genre fiction, satire
Liked: humor
Disliked: unlikely

648.
Book The Enchanted Wanderer - Nikolai Leskov
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: 1873
Acquisition date/place: 4/1/23
Decimal/ Star rating: 3 stars
Book description/summary: no luck, no plot, picaresque
Challenge(s): tbr takedown, reading 1001
American:
British:
Other Russian
List book: 1001
Genre Picaresque, novella
Liked: somewhat amusing
Disliked: cruelty

649.
Book Correction by Thomas Bernhard
Format: dead tree
Original publication date: 1975
Acquisition date/place: 3/13/2023
Decimal/ Star rating: 3 stars (it might be higher but the 3 stars are because it was so, so miserable.
Book description/summary: Correcting the corrections and .... we did it all wrong.
Challenge(s): Reading 1001. TIOLI April, one word title
American:
British:
Other Austrian
List book: 1001
Genre novel/fiction
Liked: some interesting thoughts
Disliked: the lack of cohesiveness, the run-on sentences. Made my brain tired.

650.
Book I'm Not Stiller by Max Frisch
Format: audiobook read by Jonathan Davis, translated by Michael Bullock
Original publication date: 1954
Acquisition date/place: 3/2023
Decimal/ Star rating: 3 stars
Book description/summary: identity, are you who you say you are or who others say you are.
Challenge(s): Reading 1001 botm
American:
British:
Other Switzerland
List book: 1001
Genre fiction
Liked: identity. it started out kind of interesting but then just went on and on. It also looks at marriage. Lists many books and explores whether are identity isn't affected by what we read.
Disliked: sometimes just plain boring

651.
Book Viper's Tangle by Francois Mauriac
Format: audiobook, read by Geoffrey Howard
Original publication date: 1932
Acquisition date/place: Hoopla May 2023
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.5 or C+
Book description/summary: Family is a nest of vipers
Challenge(s): TBR takedown
American:
British:
Other France
List book: 1001, Nobel Prize winner author
Genre fiction, family drama, epistolary
Liked: unreliable narrator feels excluded from family
Disliked: it was so full of bitterness

652.
Book The First Circle - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Format: book and audio
Original publication date: 1968, (was censored)
Acquisition date/place: 10/22/18
Decimal/ Star rating: 5 stars
Book description/summary: Dumas did not know what prison is like
Challenge(s): Reading 1001 Quarterly
American:
British:
Other Russian
List book: 1001
Genre fiction, semi autobiographical
Liked: this should be mandatory reading, it plainly explains why progressive agendas do not work and do not help people.
Disliked: nothing, sad that this is not mandatory reading in our curriculum.

653.
Book The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
Format: book/audio
Original publication date: 1962
Acquisition date/place: 11/16/2013 Goodwill used book
Decimal/ Star rating: 4.5 stars
Book description/summary: Fragmentation
Challenge(s): read African Nobel Prize winner.
American:
British: Rhodesia/British author
List book: 1001
Genre fiction
Liked: many of the comments on communism
Disliked: the female/male relationships

654.
Book The Stechlin - Theodor Fontane
Format: Kindle
Original publication date: 1898
Acquisition date/place: March 2023
Decimal/ Star rating: 3 stars, it's worth more if I could have studied it rather than force my self to read through it. I think there is stuff here I simply could not pay attention to
Book description/summary: end of an era
Challenge(s): reading 1001 botm
American:
British:
Other German
List book: 1001
Genre fiction
Liked: the writing is nice
Disliked: so so easy to fall asleep, no plot

I read 5 list books in May. And it was not an easy bunch to read.

655

Book Martin Eden
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: 1909
Acquisition date/place: Hoopla 6/23
Decimal/ Star rating: 3 stars
Book description/summary: the making of a writer
Challenge(s): TBR takedown Reading 1001
American: yes
British:
List book: 1001
Genre Künstlerroman
Liked: That in making himself he lost himself
Disliked: he was "better than everyone"

656.

Book Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Format: book and audiobook
Original publication date: 1795, 1796
Acquisition date/place: 2/10/23
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.5 stars
Book description/summary: German takes on Shakespeare
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, June botm
American:
British:
Other German
List book: 1001
Genre novel, coming of age. considered to be the first bildungsroman by some.
Liked: it was readable
Disliked: disjointed

I've been reading a bunch of books lately that just haven't been that much fun. And a lot of them have been books written in the German language. It got me thinking.

Here's a list of my top (5 Star) 1001 books. (not in any particular order)
1. To Kill a Mockingbird (USA)
2. Les Miserables (France)
3. The Poisonwood Bible (USA)
4. Jane Eyre (UK)
5. Gone with the Wind (USA)
5. The Handmaid's Tale (Canada)
6. The Sea (Ireland)
7. Never Let Me Go (Japanese/England)
8. Of Human Bondage (UK)
9. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (USA)
10. The Reader (German)
11. Lolita (Russian/USA)
12. The Leopard (Italian)
13. Amongst Women (Irish)
14. The God of Small Things (India)
15. Things Fall Apart (Nigeria)
16. The Elegance of the Hedgehog (France)
17. Wild Swans (China)
18. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (UK)
19. Silas Marner (UK)
20. Atonement (UK)
21. The Things They Carried (USA)
22. Anna Karenina (Russia)
23. Midnight's Children (India)
24. The Twilight Years (Japan)
25. Thousand Cranes (Japan)
26. The Secret History (USA)
27. Vanity Fair (UK)
28. Of Love and Shadows (Chili)
29. Growth of Soil (Norway)
30. Alias Grace (Canada)
31. Old Wives' Tale (UK)
32. The Plague (Algeria/French)
33. Cryptonomicon (USA)
34. Half a Yellow Sun (Nigeria)
35. Absalom, Absalom! (USA)
36. The Roots of Heaven (French)
37. Invisible Man (USA)
38. Smilla's Sense of Snow (Denmark)
39. Ragtime (USA)
40. Cry, the Beloved Country (South Africa)
41. Middlemarch (UK)
42. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Scottish)
43. Candide (French)
44. The Color Purple (USA)
45. The Blind Assassin (Canada)
46. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (USA)
47. A Fine Balance (Indian/Canada)
48. The Stone Diaries (American/Canada)
49. Amsterdam (UK)
50. The Day of the Triffids (UK)
51. The House of Mirth (USA)
52. Catch-22 (USA)
53. Rebecca (UK)
54. The Three Musketeers (French)
55. Tess of the D'Urbervilles (UK)
56. The Fellowship of the Ring (UK)
57. The House of the Spirit (Chile)
58. On Beauty (UK)
59. The History of Love (USA)
60. The Marriage Plot (USA)
61. The Moonstone (UK)
62. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Russia)
63. The Godfather (USA)
64. The Heretic (Spanish)
65. A Visit from the Goon Squad (USA)
66. The Mill on the Floss (UK)
67. A Modest Proposal (Irish)
68. The Bell (Irish /British)
69. Regeneration (British)
70. Alamut ( Slovene/Italian)
71. Krisin Lavransdatter (Nordic)
72. Cancer Ward (Russian)
73. The Beautiful Mrs Seidenman (Polish)
74. The Idiot (Russian)
75. On the Black Hill (UK)
76. Pale Fire (Russian/USA)
77. Schindler's List (Australian)
78. The Dark Child (Guinea)
79. Paradise of the Blind (Vietnamese)
80. First Circle (Russian)
81. Bonfire of the Vanities (USA)
82. The Old Man and the Sea (USA)
83. The Brothers Karamazov (Russia)
84. Cat's Eye (Canada)
85. The Return of the soldier (UK)
86. Broken April (Albania)
87. That They May Face the Rising Sun, (Irish)
88. The Player of Games (Irish)
89. In a Free State (Trinidad/British)
90. Survival in Aushwitz (Jew/Italy)
91. Remembering Babylon (Australian)
92. The Mayor of Casterbridge (UK)
93. Buddenbrooks (German)
94. Empire of the Sun (UK)
95. Woman at Point Zero (Egypt)
96. The Siege of Krishnapur (UK)
97. Sula (US)
98. Moll Flanders (UK)
99. Born in Exile (UK)
100. Arrow of God (Nigeria)

So only 2 German books made my top 100. Definately heavy for USA and UK authors. My ratings have changed over time. I probably rate differently now than I did when I first started the 1001 list.

What are your top 100, 1001 books?

Removed from top 100
Brave New World

We should have a separate thread to share these! I love the idea. I've gotten really bogged down after reading so many books from the list that I really didn't like at all. It's good to remember that there are a lot of amazing books on the list!

I've read most of the books on your list, but there are a few I haven't gotten to that I'll try to get to soon. I'm in a busy stretch at work right now, but I'll think about my top reads soon.

657.
Book Dispatches - Michael Herr
Format: audiobook read by Ray Porter
Original publication date: 1977
Acquisition date/place: June 2023 Libby
Decimal/ Star rating: 4 stars
Book description/summary: memoirs of a war corespondent
Challenge(s): Randomizer 1001
American: yes
British:
List book: 1001, Guardian nonfiction
Genre nonfiction novel
Liked: even in the 70s reporters didn't report accurately if in would upset their favorite agencies
Disliked: horrible behaviors of war

658.
Book The Immoralist - André Gide
Format: book
Original publication date: 1902
Acquisition date/place: 5/2023
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.2 stars or C
Book description/summary: self absorbed man throws it all away
Challenge(s): Reading 1001 Nobel Prize Winner 1947
American:
British:
Other French author
List book: 1001
Genre existential
Liked: I liked that debauchery was tastefully explored
Disliked: it's so hard to read 124 pages about a man you cannot like

>112 japaul22: Thank you. If you start a thread I will copy and paste mine to it.

I'm going to start this thread -- I'm curious. So please paste yours into it.

659.
Book Ratner's Star - Don DeLillo
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: 1976
Acquisition date/place: Hoopla, 7/2023
Decimal/ Star rating: 2.5 stars rounded to 3 stars.
Book description/summary: Twillig goes down a rabbit hole.
Challenge(s): TBR takedown; Reading 1001
American: yes
British:
List book: 1001
Genre Science Fiction/novel
Liked: I liked the start of the book, it was ingenious in many ways
Disliked: lost me with the excess of characters, sexual content and body secretions.

660.
Book Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe
Format: e-book (trilogy).
Original publication date: 1964
Acquisition date/place: 5/2023
Decimal/ Star rating: 5 stars
Book description/summary: somethings are in God's hands, not ours
Challenge(s): Reading 1001 botm, ANC, Chinua Achebe
American:
British:
Other Nigerian
List book: 1001
Genre African Realism
Liked: I liked it mostly
Disliked: I liked it a lot and other than the sexual content which was appropriate to the book I cannot say I disliked anything.

Note that GR says I've read 685 1001 books. Not sure what makes for the 25 book discrepancy.

661.
Book The Hive - Camilo Jose Cela
Format: book
Original publication date: 1950
Acquisition date/place: July 2023 MnLink
Decimal/ Star rating: 4.2 stars
Book description/summary: Madrid is the Hive
Challenge(s): Reading 1001 botm, August 2023.
American: no
British: no
Other: Spain
List book: 1001 books
Genre experimental, social realism
Liked: I liked the prose, I like the picture of life
Disliked: I want to know more

662.
Book The Posthumous Memoir of Bras Cubas - Machado de Assis
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: 1881
Acquisition date/place: August 2023 Hoopla Digital
Decimal/ Star rating: 4.4 stars
Book description/summary: don't take yourself so seriously
Challenge(s): reading 1001, TBR takedown, TIOLI #10
Author Brazil, male,19th century
List book: 1001, Guardian
Genre realism
Liked: liked the humor
Disliked: that I didn't have a book to read along and take notes

663.
Book The Child in Time - Ian McEwan
Format: kindle/audio
Original publication date: 1987
Acquisition date/place: August 2023
Decimal/ Star rating: 4.2
Book description/summary: parenthood in Thatcher's England
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, ROOT, TIOLI
Author: British
List book: 1001
Awards Whitbread Novel Award
Genre fiction
Liked: I liked the themes of loss, parenthood
Disliked: I like books about time but I don't think this book did a good job of exploring time.

664.
Book Nostromo - Joseph Conrad
Format:audiobook
Original publication date: 1904
Acquisition date/place: Hoopla Digital, Sept 2023
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.6 or B-
Book description/summary: political picture of South America
Challenge(s): TBR takedown, Reading 1001, TIOLI #2 Sept 23
Author: Polish/British author
List book: Best fiction of the 20th Century, Modern Library, Reading 1001
Genre modernistic novel, early 20th centruy, Post-colonialism global capitalism
Liked: I enjoyed the last half of the story - it does need a reread.
Disliked: backstory sooo soporific

665.
Book Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: 1925
Acquisition date/place: August 2023, Hoopla Digital
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.6, or B-
Book description/summary: New York on the move
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, botm, TIOLI #9
Author: US
List book: 1001
Genre literary fiction
Liked: I liked it the characters
Disliked: it was easy to get lost

666.
Book The Book of Daniel - E.L. Doctorow
Format: book/audiobook
Original publication date: 1971
Acquisition date/place: 7/5/2016, ?
Decimal/ Star rating: 3 stars
Book description/summary: trauma in leftist politics vs capitalism
Challenge(s): 1001, botm 2023, Sept
Author: US
List book: 1001, Guardian 1000
Genre postmodern, literary, political, historical
Liked: liked the Disney section
Disliked: sexual explicit sadism

667.

Seize the Day - Saul Bellow.
Summary; Loser Man meets up with the end of man. Redemption? Rating 3.6 stars.

668.
Book Eyeless in Gaza - Aldous Huxley
Format: book
Original publication date: 1936
Acquisition date/place: Sept 2023
Decimal/ Star rating: 4 stars
Book description/summary: from cynic to pacifist
Challenge(s): botm Oct 23, Reading 1001
Author: British
List book: 1001 books
Genre literary fiction with a heavy sprinkling of philosophy
Liked: the writing
Disliked: the philosophizing

669.
Book Troubles by J.G. Farrell
Format: kindle/audiobook
Original publication date: 1970
Acquisition date/place: 2013, March
Decimal/ Star rating: 5 star read, recommended
Book description/summary: Grand Hotel meets wrack and ruin.
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, Nov 2023 botm
Author: British
List book: 1001 books, Booker, Lost Man
Genre Historical Fiction
Liked: I liked this story and learning more about the troubles
Disliked: at first it was a bit hard to engage but starting over helped.

670.
Book A Home at the End of the World - Michael Cunningham
Format: book/audio
Original publication date: 1990
Acquisition date/place: 2019
Decimal/ Star rating: 2.4 stars
Book description/summary: its the 60s/70s/80s drugs, sex
Challenge(s): tbr takedown
Author: US
List book: 1001
Genre Gay lit
Liked: I liked the aspects of dealing with death
Disliked: I did not like the female characters

671.
Book The Fox by D. H. Lawrence
Format: book/audio
Original publication date: 1922
Acquisition date/place: 2023, used book
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.6 stars
Book description/summary: triangle of love and hate
Challenge(s): animal in title, book under 100 pages
Author: British
List book: 1001
Genre short fiction; novella
Liked: short
Disliked: that the women were so helpless to deal with the man (fox).

672.
Book Clarissa or the History of a Young Lady - Samuel Richardson
Format: Kindle
Original publication date: 1748
Acquisition date/place: 11/20/22
Decimal/ Star rating: 4.5 stars
Book description/summary: soap opera in the 18th century
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, year long read
Author: British
List book: 1001, Classic, Guardians, etc
Genre epistolary novel
Liked: I liked the middle part the best
Disliked: it was slow going in the beginning but the author sets you up with emotional engagement so it all works out.

>131 Kristelh: congratulations on finishing the book and, judging by your rating, enjoying it!

>132 puckers:; Thank you, I did end up enjoying it but it was slow going at first and it took me almost a year.

673.
Book A Pale View of Hills - Kazuo Ishiguro
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: 1982
Acquisition date/place: Libby, 2023/Dec
Decimal/ Star rating: 3
Book description/summary: post WWII, changes for Japanese family, suicide
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, tbr takedown
Author: Japanese/British
List book: 1001 Books
Genre Fiction
Liked: I liked the exploration of family roles after the war
Disliked: its a bit scrambled so that made it hard to keep it all straight

674.
Book The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll - Alvaro Mutis
Format: book
Original publication date: 1993
Acquisition date/place: 2012, Amazon
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.2
Book description/summary: Outlaw adventure story
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, 4th Q
Author: Columbia
List book: 1001 books
Genre a collection of Novellas
Liked: interesting lawless characters travel the world
Disliked: long.......

I read 38 books in 2023.

675.
Book Dangling Man - Saul Bellow
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: 1944
Acquisition date/place: Dec 2023
Decimal/ Star rating: 1.8 stars
Book description/summary: Man dangles as he waits to be drafted
Challenge(s): tbr takedown, 1001
Author: US
List book: 1001
Genre fiction, epistolary (diary)
Liked: what happens when man has no motivation
Disliked: man has no motivation

676.
Book Gosta Berling's Saga - Selma Lagerlof
Format: book and librovox
Original publication date: 1891
Acquisition date/place: 2023, Abe books
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.2 stars
Book description/summary: Swedish folktales
Challenge(s): Reading 1001 botm
Author: Swedish
List book: 1001
Genre folktales
Liked: the setting
Disliked: while not hard to read it was hard to engage.

677.
Book The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: 1935
Acquisition date/place: Hoopla Digital, January 2024
Decimal/ Star rating: 4.5 to 5 stars
Book description/summary: fictitional memory; effects of adults on a child
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, January special word
Author: Anglo/Irish author
List book: 1001
Genre Realism/Modernism, free and direct speech
Liked: the atmospheric elements, the children
Disliked: it is a bit too much time bending that you can miss some of the elements

678.

Book Memento Mori - Muriel Spark
Format: kindle/audiobook
Original publication date: 1959
Acquisition date/place: 2016, Dec
Decimal/ Star rating: 4 stars
Book description/summary: "know that you will die"
Challenge(s): Reading 1001 botm
Author: Scottish
List book: 1001
Genre fiction
Liked: I liked the concept of the book, exploring how people view death
Disliked: I found it a bit hard to engage. Perhaps it was me and it deserves a reread.

679.
Book The Ground Beneath Her Feet - Salman Rushdie
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: 1999
Acquisition date/place: February 2024
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.4 stars
Book description/summary: Alternate history of music
Challenge(s): Special Event, Reading 1001
Author: Indian/British
List book: 1001
Genre fiction, alternate history, magical realism
Liked: I liked the review of history and music and heavy name dropping
Disliked: excessive sexual content and vulgar language.

680.
Book He Knew He Was Right - Anthony Trollope
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: 1869
Acquisition date/place: Libby, February 2024
Decimal/ Star rating: 4 star
Book description/summary: happy marriage spoiled by jealousy and stubbornness.
Challenge(s): Reading 1001, 1st Q
Author: British
List book: 1001, classic
Genre fiction
Liked: I liked the strong female characters
Disliked: the lack of comments about the harm being done to the poor child.

681.
Book Buddha of Suburbia - Hanif Kureishi
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: 1990
Acquisition date/place: Audible/2023
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.4
Book description/summary: first generation/British Indian coming of age.
Challenge(s): TBR takedown/reading 1001
Author: British Pakistani
List book: 1001
Genre fiction/coming of age
Liked: it is a well told coming of age, first generation
Disliked: sexual explicit

682.
Book Home - Marilynn Robinson
Format: book/audiobook
Original publication date: 2008
Acquisition date/place: 2011
Decimal/ Star rating: 4 stars
Book description/summary: family generations/secrets/forgiveness
Challenge(s): Reading 1001 botm
Author: US author
List book: 1001, Women's Prize
Genre fiction
Liked: I liked the subject, the character study
Disliked:

683.
Book Sandokan - Emilio Salgari
Format: kindle
Original publication date: 1900
Acquisition date/place: Kindle, Jan 2024
Decimal/ Star rating: 2 stars
Book description/summary: Pirates in the China Sea sent by Italian author
Challenge(s): Reading 1001 botm March 2024.
Author: Italian
List book: 1001
Genre adventure story
Liked: I was glad that it wasn’t long
Disliked: disliked the characters

684

Book Call It Sleep - Henry Roth
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: 1934
Acquisition date/place: March 2024 Hoopla Digital
Decimal/ Star rating: 5 stars
Book description/summary: Jewish novel; immigrant, family, childhood (dialect, culture, family)
Challenge(s): Special Event, GR
Author: American Jewish
List book: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die,
The Guardian's 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read
Genre Jewish novel, fiction, literary fiction, modernist novel
Liked: I liked the story, I think there is much that remains relevant today with the large numbers of immigrants that are forming slums in border towns and sanctuary cities.
Disliked: Some things remain unanswered. The reader is left to make their own conclusions.

685.
Book The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Brontë
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: 1848
Acquisition date/place: 2017, Audible
Decimal/ Star rating: 4 to 5 stars
Book description/summary: Alcoholism/abusive/romance, strong woman
Challenge(s): TBR takedown, reading 1001
Author: British
List book: 1001 books
Genre fiction, classic
Liked: I liked the female character
Disliked: I disliked most of the male characters but that was the point!

686.
Book The Book Of Illusions - Paul Auster
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: 2002
Acquisition date/place: April 2024, Hoopla
Decimal/ Star rating: 3 stars
Book description/summary: writers writing, women dying
Challenge(s): Special Event, Word of the month, Reading 1001
Author: US Author
List book: 1001 Books
Genre fiction
Liked: story of grief and isolation
Disliked: not Auster's best