Massive Post of Post-y Goodness (Now With 50% More Classy Book Talk!)

[apple_pathways]

New friend (HELLO!) emmyangua has introduced me to 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Link takes you to the Amazon listing for the book; to view a list of the works included, go here.)

Those of you who've been reading this journal for awhile and are familiar with my "I Like Making Lists" tag know what's coming: yes, I've composed a list of all the works I've read from the master list.

The list was posted, I believe, in (reverse) chronological order of publication. I have read 83 of the 1001 works listed, which is about 8.3% of the total. I'm going to make it a project to read more of the books on the list, so if you've scanned the list and want to rec anything from it, do share!

1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
2. The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood
3. House of Leaves – Mark Z. Danielewski
4. The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
5. The Hours – Michael Cunningham
6. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
7. Alias Grace – Margaret Atwood
8. Smilla’s Sense of Snow – Peter Høeg
9. Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel
10. Cat’s Eye – Margaret Atwood
11. The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul – Douglas Adams
12. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – Douglas Adams
13. Beloved – Toni Morrison
14. Contact – Carl Sagan
15. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
16. Neuromancer – William Gibson
17. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
18. Interview With the Vampire – Anne Rice
19. Breakfast of Champions – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
20. The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison
21. Slaughterhouse-five – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
22. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – John Le Carré
23. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
24. Franny and Zooey – J.D. Salinger
25. Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
26. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
27. The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
28. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
29. The Story of O – Pauline Réage
30. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
31. The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
32. The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
33. Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
34. Animal Farm – George Orwell
35. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
36. Orlando – Virginia Woolf
37. Lady Chatterley’s Lover – D.H. Lawrence
38. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie
39. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
40. A Passage to India – E.M. Forster
41. Siddhartha – Herman Hesse
42. Sons and Lovers – D.H. Lawrence
43. Howards End – E.M. Forster
44. A Room With a View – E.M. Forster
45. The Jungle – Upton Sinclair
46. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
47. The Hound of the Baskervilles – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
48. Dracula – Bram Stoker
49. The Island of Dr. Moreau – H.G. Wells
50. The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman
51. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
52. The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
53. Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There – Lewis Carroll
54. Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
55. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky
56. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
57. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
58. The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
59. Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
60. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
61. The Count of Monte-Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
62. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
63. The Purloined Letter – Edgar Allan Poe
64. The Pit and the Pendulum – Edgar Allan Poe
65. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
66. The Fall of the House of Usher – Edgar Allan Poe
67. Last of the Mohicans – James Fenimore Cooper
68. Frankenstein – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
69. Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
70. Persuasion – Jane Austen
71. Emma – Jane Austen
72. Mansfield Park – Jane Austen
73. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
74. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
75. The Mysteries of Udolpho – Ann Radcliffe
76. The Castle of Otranto – Horace Walpole
77. A Modest Proposal – Jonathan Swift
78. Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
79. Moll Flanders – Daniel Defoe
80. Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
81. The Thousand and One Nights – Anonymous
82. Metamorphoses – Ovid
83. Aesop’s Fables – Aesopus

I also have a meme going!

Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.


Oh jeez--it might be easier to list seven things I don't obsess about constantly, but here goes:

1. "Am I being an asshole?"
   
2. Religion and spirituality.
   
3. The internal logical consistency of my own thoughts and beliefs. (It's the hobgoblin of my little mind...)
   
4. "Is this a battle worth fighting?"
   
5. Sex and sexuality.
   
6. "Shouldn't I be doing more?"
   
7. "Where the hell are my keys???"
   

Finally: The Decemberists have a new album out in January and they are coming to Michigan in February! WOO HOO!!!

ETA: There's one more thing I wanted to include in this entry!

I've signed up for fandom_stocking, which is a really cute idea: people post their wishes for short fiction, icons, and other holiday greetings, and other fans fill their "stocking" with content. Here's a link to my stocking, which just went up today. I think I'm going to write a bunch of Doctor Who and Sherlock drabbles, and then skim through posts looking for requests that fit the bill.

I'm also experimenting with learning how to make graphics! So maybe people will get some not-quite-perfect but well-intentioned icons and such. :) Let me know if you sign up, so I can stuff your stocking! (I will never stop giggling about that...)

Comments

[ladylovelace.livejournal.com]

"Where the hell are my keys?" is probably my most-repeated phrase. I do the opposite of obsess about them, so knowing where they are is a rarity.

I hate to think how many of the books on that list I've read. It's a lot. I still question the editor's judgement, because it is well documented that I have a taste for the awful.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I couldn't believe ANNE RICE was on there! Now, I have definitely read me some Anne Rice: more of her Mayfair Witches series than her vampire stuff. It's like professional crack!fic. I really enjoyed the Mayfair series through Lasher and then...good holy God, I just couldn't do it anymore!

There were quite a few notable absences to that list, as naturally there would be: personally, I would have included Nine Stories rather than Franny and Zooey, and I was surprised that (despite several Coelho entries) The Alchemist was not included. Also, as much as I LOVE Jane Austen, I don't think it was necessary to include all of her major novels. (As much as I loved Northanger Abbey, I don't think it stands up as well as the others.)

Also, they left off the Dune series, which I would have included. I would swap out some of the later Hitchhiker's books for Good Omens; I'd add The Mists of Avalon to pad out the WOEFULLY underrepresented fantasy genre; I'd add Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson...

ok, gonna stop myself now before I write another entry in response to your comment!

[sabriel75.livejournal.com]

Honestly I hate that number three probably plays the largest prominence on my brain synapses and fields me into three or four or more guilt trips a day. NGL, though... rather consistency... it should be inconsistency, because while there is definitely a logical progression to my arguments, I cannot say that they overlap or actually prove a point, therefore rather making their logic fallacious and how they become the bane of my existence.

Did you follow any of that? If you did, it probably explains why my second most thought thought is number seven.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I follow you exactly! My life's mission is to torture myself by ferreting out every last scrap of inconsistency in my personal beliefs and MAKE THINGS FIT, DAMMIT! My friends find the idea that I believe I can do this to be both amusing and maddening. My best friend suffers horribly at the hands of my angst-ridden dramatizing of insignificant trivia! (Only imagine what I was like BEFORE I was medicated!)

Bah. Anyway, how's life my sweet? Happy but busy, I hope?

[alt_universe_me.livejournal.com]

Ha, somehow I doubt that you are 'being an asshole' ever.

Ugh, lists of books like that just make me feel guilty about not having read them all. Of course, a lot of the literature I've spent time reading instead is Hispanic lit, so I have to take that into account. After all, I'm pretty sure those are all in the English language (I only briefly skimmed the list).

Yay, I signed up for fandom_stocking too! Ha, yeah, I don't watch that many shows either. Basically I'm just waiting for Christmas! Ahhh, I'm so excited! :D

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Ha, somehow I doubt that you are 'being an asshole' ever.

You'd be surprised! However, I do try to reserve that part of my personality for emergencies and those that truly deserve it. But thank you! Rest assured, I'm rarely trying to be a jerk...

While it's true that everything on the list is readily available in English translation, there is some Hispanic lit represented: several works by Paulo Coelho (though sadly not the one I've read: The Alchemist), El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote De La Mancha, and Like Water for Chocolate (Como Agua Para Chocolate); those are just the ones I've read, there could be more. But undoubtedly, there's tons of great world literature that's missing from the list; it's certainly biased towards Western/English language literature.

Yay, I'm gonna hunt down your stocking!

Books = Love

[whitters23.livejournal.com]

I love your book list! I'm an avid list maker myself.My family teases me all the time... except for my one sister because she is the same. Recently my husband and I each started a Bucket List and one of my goals is to read all 100 of the books on BBC's Big Read list of must read books. Sadly I'm only at 12, lol.

I will have to check out the 1001 books to read...perhaps I've read more on that list. :D

Re: Books = Love

[whitters23.livejournal.com]

P.S. One book that I noticed you haven't read yet is The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields.

I was first introduced to this book in highschool when I had to read it for a project... I liked it immediately but being the procrastinator I was/am I didn't make it past the first few chapters because I was too busy socializing and being stupid. Then a couple of years ago I came across it at a book store and its been one of my alltime favourites ever since. I rec it to anyone who is willing to listen. Plus it's on the 1001 list, so it must be good. ;)
Hope you like it!

Re: Books = Love

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Adding it to the list! (Quite literally--I have a Google docs spreadsheet started of the books I want to read from the master list. I'm not foolish enough to think I can/want to read them all!)

Thanks for the rec, fellow Maker of Lists! :)

[roh-wyn.livejournal.com]

That list always frustrates me. For one, I've read about 25% of it (them's a lot of books, lol), and several of the books included in the 1001 are in my "terrible, never read again" pile. But other people LOVE those same books.

For another, it astounds me how many books I haven't read and would never even have heard of but for the list. I like to think of myself as a reader, but I think I'm just sort of a hack, really. ;)

"Where the hell are my keys?" is heard around our household at least twice daily. It's too bad just its constant recitation doesn't have some meditative or restorative value, lol.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I have designated spots for my keys--both in my purse, and in a bowl inside the doorway. HOWEVER, sometimes I pick them up, and I'm ready to go out the door, but then remember I forgot something, and set them down and...yeah, "WHERE THE HELL ARE MY KEYS?" I've now started doing it at work, too.

several of the books included in the 1001 are in my "terrible, never read again" pile.

OMG, YES! Take The Last of the Mohicans, for example: MOST BORING BOOK EVER WRITTEN! James Fenimore Cooper seems unaware of the fact that paragraphs, ideally, should not repeatedly consist of one long, confusing sentence. Toward the end of the book it was a grudge match between me and that dead prick just to finish the damn thing. (I had chosen it for a book report, and I didn't have time to make a new selection.)

The movie, however, is fantastic: one of the very few times I would declare the film to be better than the book! Mmm, Daniel Day Lewis!

(And 250 books...wow! Good on you!)

[roh-wyn.livejournal.com]

Oh, good call on Mohicans, which I dislike for a non-literary reason too. For a century, the book was the cornerstone of federal policy re: Native Americans, and well, we know how all that turned out. *sigh* The movie is, as you say, fantastic. Terrific soundtrack too, actually.

250 books isn't that much when you consider how old I am, lol.

[sabriel75.livejournal.com]

Pssh... I think I have around 250 books too and if you consider yourself old, I'm scared to think where I fall in the age bracket?

[roh-wyn.livejournal.com]

First, icon love! ♥

Second, I suspect we're about the same age. Mentally, if not actually.

I'm five, by the way. ;)

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

It's more that you've read 250 books from this list that impresses me! I'm sure I've read at least a thousand books or more in my life, but at least half of those are going to be cheap romance novels and cheesy tie-in novels to shows like The X Files and Doctor Who. :-)~ When it comes to the "classics", I need to read more! Though there are some I just REFUSE to read. I DON'T CARE that Moby Dick is considered to be one of the finest novels ever written; I've tried to pick it up, and it BORES ME TO TEARS!

[roh-wyn.livejournal.com]

What can I say? My childhood was in the pre-internet era and I was a HUGE nerd. ;)

I can't stand Moby Dick either, fwiw. Or Lord of the Flies. Or...I should stop before I make my own 1001 list, lol.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

YOU TAKE THAT BACK ABOUT LORD OF THE FLIES! It's one of my favorite books!

Or, rather: *shrug* To each their own! ;)

[roh-wyn.livejournal.com]

Erg, sorry. :( I'm sure there's something on your loathe list that I probably LOVE to bits. :)

I never really got the point of Lord of the Flies, tbh, and I blame being forced to read it (not once, but twice) in school as part of the reason for my dislike.

But yeah, you can't win 'em all...

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

See, I wasn't forced to read it: I picked it up myself when I was about 19. I love the symbolism, and the changing dynamic between the boys, and all of the allusions! And it contains one of my favorite quotes ever: Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you!

Anyway, yes, I was just teasing! I have odd tastes, at times, and I'm very used to people disliking things I love! And, being the stubborn person I am, there's a lot of incredibly popular and beloved literature that I just can't stand!

[sabriel75.livejournal.com]

Count me in as a fan of NOT liking Fenimore Cooper and his Mohicans!

[jacknjill270.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I haven't read hardly any of those! I feel like such a bad reader, lol. It's weird, though - on some lists of "books everyone should read before they die," I've read nearly all of them, and some are like this one where I've only read a few. Though it may have something to do with my short attention span, a lot of times I start a book, get distracted, and then never finish it.

Also, hurray for new album from the Decemberists! I adore The Hazards of Love, so I'm excited to hear what they do next.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I've experienced the same! There are some lists that make me feel all smart and well-read; this one, I hadn't even heard of half of the selections!

YAY DECEMBERISTS! The Hazards of Love is one of my favorite albums ever! I need to read more about the new one; I wonder if it will be thematic as well?

[alias-amy.livejournal.com]

etiam_quietus and I were JUST making a pact to learn enough graphics to stop being so gif-challenged!!! So glad to know I'm not alone. We will collectively become an icon-making machine to be reckoned with!

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

YES! Absolutely! I've been using Gimp, and I quite like it! I've heard others complain about it, but they were mostly Photoshop users who couldn't get used to the new controls. Since I have no experience with any other program, I think it works all right!

So far, I've been making graphics for the pulped_fictions "Holly-Day" card challenge. So far, I have a couple I'm quite enamoured with!

[jesterjoker.livejournal.com]

Mein Bog, that's a lot of books. o_o

I'm guessing I've read maybe half of those (the scifi and some of the psycho things: The Castle of Otranto) and need to read the next half. Nonfiction eats a lot of my time. O_O

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the inclusion of all those Jane Austen novels really upped my total! ;) (As I said to someone else, though, I wouldn't place all of them on a list of must-read books.)

I read a fair amount of Sci-Fi as a teen, but I still need to read more.

The Castle of Otranto and The Mysteries of Udolpho I both read for a lit/composition class built around Gothic literature; otherwise, I doubt I'd have heard of them!

Non-fiction is good stuff, too; it's what I always turn to when I can't decide which novel to read next. What sort of subjects do you like?

[jesterjoker.livejournal.com]

I read P&P once and need to again; it's one of my best friends's favorite books. Most of Austen's stuff I just blehhhh, though.

SF is my lifeblood. The more insane the more I like it. :D

Yep, that's where I heard about Otranto. I have a few others rec'd me by people aware of my gothicness, but I haven't got to reading them yet. I should.

I tend to go straight to the 19th century for nonfiction. It just fascinates me through and through, though when you realise what happened in the end, you have to distance yourself, or try to ignore the huge conflict that topped it.

I've read a few science books, but want to read more; they're just difficult to go through when I obtain them from the library. I'm also looking into travel books and things to give myself a broader glimpse of the world. I think my thing for city history fits in here - they're just big and huge and boggling.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

P&P is really great! The social satire and the comedy of errors that take place are just top notch! Her other novels are harder to get into, but my favorites among them are Sense & Sensibility and Mansfield Park.

Anything you would rec in terms of 19th century non-fiction? I have a love of reference books, and I really enjoying looking through old medical texts. It's really amazing what used to count as "medicine", especially in re: to women!

I tend to be largely swayed by popular trends when it comes to non-fiction: Mary Roach, popular economics, Fast Food Nation, etc. I, too, need to read more hard science!

[jesterjoker.livejournal.com]

I tried Sense & Sensibility, bleh. Never tried Mansfield Park yet. Northanger Abbey (Austen, right?) was pretty amusing, being a goth crazy.

Oh man. I think of the "forehead phrenology" stuff I learned about when I read Jane Eyre. What the bog, right?

The two that come to my mind are The Guns of August and The Proud Tower. The latter is more straight 19th century, but I tend to associate the Great War with the 19th, just because it... fits, in a broad historical sense. I'm a nerd. :)

I'm reading, occasionally, David Clay Large's "Berlin" book that covers the history of the city from 1871 to 2000 or so. It's dense and fascinating. Difficult reading sometimes, but that's to be kind of expected for one of the bigger flashpoints in the 20th century.

I'm eyeing some Indian history set in the Raj, and if I could find more fiction that doesn't always sound so... /dull/... I would love to give that a try, too. I doubt much of that will be easy readings, either. Deep dense stuff.

Mary Roach is on the "why haven't I read her yet!?" list. :D

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

If you didn't like S&S, I doubt Mansfield Park will grab you! I enjoyed Northanger Abbey a lot, but P&P is definitely Austen's masterpiece.

Have you read House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski? It's a lot of work to read, but it's worth it. The story is fascinating, and the storytelling extremely unique. It also has elements of science fiction and horror to it.

Do read Mary Roach! She's hilarious. I would start with Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers.

[jesterjoker.livejournal.com]

House of Leaves's WAY up my alley. I got to finally read it.

I will get to Mary Roach. I could use something silly.

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

8. Smilla’s Sense of Snow – Peter Høeg

Rec'ed with all my rec'ing force! :)