Books Read: In 2005
Submitted by pianoshootis on Mon, 07/18/2005 - 12:24
Tags:
- May
- HEART OF DARKNESS - Joseph Conrad
- ULYSSES - James Joyce
- DARKNESS AT NOON - Arthur Koestler
- TENDER IS THE NIGHT - F. Scott Fitzgerald
- MALTESE FALCON - Dashiel Hammett
- WAPSHOT CHRONICLE - John Cheever
- CALL OF THE WILD - Jack London
- MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN - Salman Rushdie
- DELIVERANCE - James Dickey
- HEART OF THE MATTER - Graham Greene
- POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE - James M. Cain
- WHEN WILL JESUS BRING THE PORKCHOPS? - George Carlin
- June
- DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP - Willa Cather
- ON THE ROAD - Jack Kerouac
- CARTOON HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE II - Larry Gonick
- GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN - James Baldwin
- WINGS OF THE DOVE - Henry James
- AS I LAY DYING - William Faulkner
- AGE OF INNOCENCE - Edith Wharton
- MOVIEGOER - Walker Percy
- HENDERSON THE RAIN KING - Saul Bellow
- SECRET AGENT - Joseph Conrad
- WUTHERING HEIGHTS - Emily Bronte
- UNDER THE VOLCANO - Malcolm Lowry
- KIM - Rudyard Kiplin
- GOOD SOLDIER - Ford Madox Ford
- OUI - Salvador Dali
- AMERICAN TRAGEDY - Theodore Dreiser
- TO THE LIGHTHOUSE - Virginia Woolf
- WINESBURG, OHIO - Sherwood Anderson
- CARTOON GUIDE TO PHYSICS - Larry Gonick
- BRIDESHEAD REVISITED - Evelyn Waugh
- SUN ALSO RISES - Ernest Hemingway
- GINGER BREAD MAN - J.P. Donleavy
- FREAKONOMICS - Steven Levitt
- ALL THE KING'S MEN - Robert Penn Warren
- LOVING - Henry Green
- JUSTINE - Lawrence Durrell
- POINT COUNTER POINT - Aldous Huxley
- IRONWEED - William Kennedy
- BALTHAZAR - Lawrence Durrell
- BEND IN THE RIVER - V.S. Naipaul
- HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA - Richard Hughes
- July
- GRAVITY'S RAINBOW - Thomas Pynchon
- ANNA KARENINA - Leo Tolstoy
- BIRDS - Camille Paglia
- WOMEN IN LOVE - D.H. Lawrence
- CRIME AND PUNISHMENT - Fyodor Dostoevsky
- HANDFUL OF DUST - Evelyn Waugh
- STRANGER - Albert Camus
- I, CLAUDIUS - Robert Graves
- FAREWELL TO ARMS - Ernest Hemingway
- SONS AND LOVERS - D.H. Lawrence
- YOUNG LONIGAN - James T. Farrell
- MOUNTOLIVE - Lawrence Durrell
- YOUNG MANHOOD OF STUDS LONIGAN - James T. Farrell
- PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE - Muriel Spark
- JUDGMENT DAY - James T. Farrell
- GRAPES OF WRATH - John Steinbeck
- MAIN STREET - Sinclair Lewis
- HELL'S ANGELS - Hunter S. Thompson
- WIDE SARGASSO SEA - Jean Rhys
- BELOVED - Toni Morrison
- 42ND PARALLEL - John Dos Passos
- ZULEIKA DOBSON - Max Beerbohm
- CLEA - Lawrence Durrell
- FROM HERE TO ETERNITY - James Jones
- PASSAGE TO INDIA - E.M. Forster
- NINETEEN NINETEEN - John Dos Passos
- August
- PRIDE AND PREJUDICE - Jane Austen
- LIGHT IN AUGUST - William Faulkner
- GOLDEN NOTEBOOK - Doris Lessing
- WAY OF ALL FLESH - Samuel Buter
- ASSASSINATION VACATION - Sarah Vowell
- SCOOP - Evelyn Waugh
- SHELTERING SKY - Paul Bowles
- CONSERVATIONIST - Nadine Gordimer
- DON QUIXOTE - Miguel de Cervantes
- TOBACCO ROAD - Erskine Caldwell
- QUESTION OF UPBRINGING - Anthony Powell
- THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD - Zora Neale Hurston
- APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA - John O'Hara
- BIG MONEY - John Dos Passos
- BUYER'S MARKET - Anthony Powell
- TRIAL - Franz Kafka
- PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN - James Joyce
- TALE OF GENJI - Murasaki Shikibu
- ACCEPTANCE WORLD - Anthony Powell
- MISS LONELYHEARTS - Nathanael West
- ROOM WITH A VIEW - E.M. Forster
- DEATH OF THE HEART - Elizabeth Bowen
- PARTY CLOUDY PATRIOT - Sarah Vowell
- MOBY-DICK - Herman Melville
- SORROW OF YOUNG WERTHER - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- RAGTIME - E.L. Doctorow
- AT LADY MOLLY'S - Anthony Powell
- NEW RULES - Bill Maher
- September
- HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER - Carson McCullers
- CASANOVA'S CHINESE RESTAURANT - Anthony Powell
- PORTRAIT OF A LADY - Henry James
- GREAT MOVIES - Roger Ebert
- SNOW COUNTRY - Yasunari Kawabata
- KINDLY ONES - Anthony Powell
- FRANKENSTEIN - Mary Shelley
- ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN - Mark Twain
- GOLDEN BOWL - Henry James
- CLAUDIUS THE GOD - Robert Graves
- MIDDLEMARCH - George Eliot
- HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES - Arthur Conan Doyle
- ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- October
- SOME DO NOT... - Ford Madox Ford
- SALT: A WORLD HISTORY - Mark Kurlansky
- TROPIC OF CAPRICORN - Henry Miller
- NO MORE PARADES - Ford Madox Ford
- TIN DRUM - Gunter Grass
- VALLEY OF BONES - Anthony Powell
- NOSTROMO - Joseph Conrad
- A MAN COULD STAND UP - Ford Madox Ford
- LAST POST - Ford Madox Ford
- SOLDIER'S ART - Anthony Powell
- MILITARY PHILOSOPHERS - Anthony Powell
- HOUSE OF MIRTH - Edith Wharton
- ANGLE OF REPOSE - Wallace Stegner
- SWANN'S WAY - Marcel Proust
- NATIVE SON - Richard Wright
- BOOKS DO FURNISH A ROOM - Anthony Powell
- CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE - Bertolt Brecht
- OLD WIVES' TALE - Arnold Bennett
- TEMPORARY KINGS - Anthony Powell
- SOUND AND THE FURY - William Faulkner
- HEARING SECRET HARMONIES - Anthony Powell
- JANE EYRE - Charlotte Bronte
- FINNEGANS WAKE - James Joyce
- BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY - Thornton Wilder
- MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS - Booth Tarkington
- UNDER THE NET - Iris Murdoch
- November
- AMBASSADORS - Henry James
- WITHIN A BUDDING GROVE - Marcel Proust
- HOWARD'S END - EM Forster
- MAGUS - John Fowles
- EVERYTHING BAD IS GOOD FOR YOU - Steven Johnson
- PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT - Philip Roth
- WOMAN IN WHITE - Wilkie Collins
- ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH - Saul Bellow
- ROBINSON CRUSOE - Daniel Defoe
- MOLLOY - Samuel Beckett
- LES MISERABLES - Victor Hugo
- SISTER CARRIE - Theodore Dresier
- MALONE DIES - Samuel Beckett
- PRINCESS OF CLEVES - Madame de Lafayette
- UNNAMABLE - Samuel Beckett
- CALL IT SLEEP - Henry Roth
- GUERMANTES WAY - Marcel Proust
- HUNGER - Knut Hamsun
- TESS OF THE D'URBERVILES - Thomas Hardy
- December
- HERZOG - Saul Bellow
- COUNTERFEITERS - Andre Gide
- SCARLET LETTER - Nathanael Hawthorne
- PETERSBURG - Andre Bely
- DEAD SOULS - Nikolai Gogol
- AREAS OF MY EXPERTISE - John Hodgson
- ACCIDENTAL TOURIST - Anne Tyler
- BLACK WATER - Joyce Carol Oates
- ARE MEN NECESSARY? - Maureen Dowd
- CITIES OF SALT - 'Abd al-Rahamn Munif
- SODOM AND GOMORRAH - Marcel Proust
- THREE MUSKETEERS - Alexandre Dumas
- MAGIC MOUNTAIN - Thomas Mann
Cloned From:
Good lord you're a media-busy guy. Do you have a job, partner, or bed?
Nope, not much of any of those things.
Good - that's the only way I can my head around your copious media consumption!
Impressive List.
What did you think of Wuthering Heights ? (which I have just finished)
I also read The Grapes Of Wrath this year.
Loved Wuthering Heights. It might be my favorite this year, definitely top three with Ulysses and Handful of Dust.
I also loved Wuthering Heights - the tragedy of what people do to one another, although I found it a little garbled and confusing. I preferred 'The Grapes of Wrath' which I have now added to my list of all-time favourites.
'Handful of Dust'/Waugh - now that sounds like my cup of tea. If I needed to add any more books to my library 'to read', this might just be my next purchase (which means that it will almost certainly be amongst my next purchases during my next 'weak moment').
One of the great things about Wuthering Heights is that the layers of narrative (of varied reliablity) make it difficult to know whom to trust, so that the reader has to piece the truth together for him or herself. The disorientation also works to keep the reader from judging too quickly, a brilliant strategy for a moralistic time.
I cannot tell if that strategy was deliberate, or if it was the naivity of a first-time novelist. However, I do know that for me the 'layers of narrative' made it a long and confusing read, but despite this, and despite none of the characters being very sympathetic, I remained captivated throughout.
Where are you getting your ideas for what to read? This looks like a college reading list, with a little craziness thrown in.
The bulk of it is from Modern Library's "100 Best Novels of the 20th Century" and Daniel Burt's "Novel 100". And then whatever else struck my fancy along the way.
Great lists!
I've never heard of either of those lists, but they seem to know what they're talking about!
I can't believe you read Midnight's Children along with like 15 other books, all in the same month. That alone would take me the better part of a month!
Are you working on multiple books at once, or do you finish one cover to cover before starting the next?
I'm a cover-to cover gal, myself.
I read Midnight's Children in one day, around 10 hours plus breaks.
I normally have two books going at once, one physical and an audiobook I listen to at work. I know purists contemn the audio but some of the readers are really good.
Did you like the Garcia Marquez book? It is one of my favorite novels...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I liked it very much. It had me riveted the whole way and exhausted in the end.
Sorry, I don't buy the list. According to your film and book lists in May 2005 you watched 112 films and read 12 books including Ulysses and Midnight's Children (which are at least a combined 1400 pages).
If you just count the movies as 1 1/2 hours each that is 168 hours worth of movies or over 5 1/2 hours of movie watching each day. Add to that the books and you either have absolutely no human contact, no job, or you are gilding the lilly just a wee bit.
The Ulysses one is a little deceiving because I started it in January. Before May I wasn't hitting the books real heavily.
And you're right, I do have almost no human contact and I work short hours (as I said before). Call it 5.5 hours for movies, 7 hours for sleep, 5 for work and that leaves 6.5 for reading. Plus during those 5 hours of work I'm usually listening to an audiobook (as I said before) which I count as reading a book. Try living it and it all adds up.
Hey- So how much of this is audio books? I am just curious. So what do people think, is listening to a book as good as reading it? I cant decide myself. But then I think, well blind people probably listen to a lot, it would be unfair to discount it. I am not opposed to it, just wondering what you all think.
I'd say 10-15% of my list is audio. Personally, I prefer it. Besides the convenience of listening at work, the time element keeps my attention focused where I might wander reading a print book.
And a good narrator can add some depth to the experience. Usually it's just some monotone British or American guy, but Donal Donnelly, Nadia May, Joe Morton, Sarah Vowell, & John Malkovich are all very good.
One thing that strikes me about this list is that whereas the novels you're reading are mostly major literary classics, the few non-fiction books on the list tend to be fairly commercial contemporary books like Freakonomics and Everything Bad Is Good For You. Are you just not interested in philosophy, history, political theory, social theory etc. or are you just saving those fields for later?
My "to read" list is only literary classics. I just get sidetracked sometimes when I see an interesting nonfiction book on the bestseller list.
I am interested in history but it's hard to know what to read there, since multiple books cover the same subjects and I don't know who the best history writers are. If you have any suggestions, I'd like to hear.
I admit I'm not too interested in philosophy or theory. My reaction to that is almost always either "obviously" or "bullshit".
I don't imagine I'm much more knowledgeable about history than yourself, but Eric Hobsbawm's three "Age of..." books would be a good choice (Age of Revolution, Age of Empire, Age of Extremes). I've only read sections of them, but what I've read is very good
I've just put a hold on Age of Empire. Will let you know what I think when I get to it.
Not only you watch a lot of movies, but you also read many books. Wherever you live, the days must have more than 24 hours. :)
But seriously, what do you think about Heart of Darkness? I read it this year, too, and I can't really decide on it.
BTW, Merry Christmas, to you and your folks.
I'm not sure about Heart of Darkness either. Nostromo and Secret Agent were both chores that I didn't enjoy at all. HoD had some kind of disturbing effect on me. Some people like Nabokov and Achebe were dismissive of it. I may be imagining it to be deeper because I've watched Apocalypse Now three times before reading the book. Or maybe I'm too young to see through it.
Merry Xmas to you, too. And for tomorrow, Happy Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Boxing Day.
Thanks.
'The New York Times' said about Deliverance: "The voyage down the river echoes the journey of Conrad's demonic Mr. Kurtz to the Congo's heart of darkness." I think that's an interesting point, because there are many parallels between Deliverance and Heart of Darkness.
I also had seen Apocalypse Now before reading HoD, and I missed the psychedelic parts. You mention age, and I think that could be true. Because I know somebody who is a little over 50, and he loves Heart of Darkness.
What I meant by the age thing was that Nabokov, who might be my absolute favorite novelist, called Conrad a "writer of books for boys". He was also harsh with a number of writers I admire. HoD and Deliverance might both be nothing more than adventure stories but they're well-written and compelling.
OK, then I might disagree. Deliverance (at least, the movie, as I haven't read the novel) and above all HoD are more than just that. I think the identification with Marlow is rather given for older readers. Lets not forget that Marlow is at a turning point of his life (as Dante and Ulysses were before travelling to the underworld) (maybe a kind of midlife crisis). Therefore I'd say that (male) readers around 45 or 50 can easier identify with the protagonist than somebody who is younger. From that POV, Deliverance may be different.
Deliverance the movie was extraordinarily true to the novel.
Men in midlife crisis are pretty much grown boys, aren't they? Playing with archery and going on a excursion through the wilderness. Deliverance could be a darker version of Huckleberry Finn.
Nice point of view. Deliverance is a very dark version of Huck Finn then.
Hmm, I also see that you have read The Grapes of Wrath. Already know East of Eden? If not, then I highly recommend it. Also Of Mice and Men and The Pearl, the latter being maybe a little less enjoyable, but still.
I've only read Of Mice and Men. But I've seen all those movies so I've got the idea.