1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. One at a time. Read, post, repeat. My Progress (47 Done, 954 To Go) Saturday – Ian McEwan Slow Man – J.M. Coetzee Adjunct: An Undigest – Peter Manson The Sea – John Banville The Red Queen – Margaret Drabble The Plot Against America – Philip Roth The Master – Colm Tóibín Vanishing Point – David Markson The Lambs of London – Peter Ackroyd Dining on Stones – Iain Sinclair Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell Drop City – T. Coraghessan Boyle The Colour – Rose Tremain Thursbitch – Alan Garner The Light of Day – Graham Swift What I Loved – Siri Hustvedt Islands – Dan Sleigh Elizabeth Costello – J.M. Coetzee London Orbital – Iain Sinclair Family Matters – Rohinton Mistry Fingersmith – Sarah Waters The Double – José Saramago Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer Unless – Carol Shields Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami The Story of Lucy Gault – William Trevor That They May Face the Rising Sun – John McGahern In the Forest – Edna O’Brien Shroud – John Banville Youth – J.M. Coetzee Dead Air – Iain Banks Nowhere Man – Aleksandar Hemon The Book of Illusions – Paul Auster Gabriel’s Gift – Hanif Kureishi Austerlitz – W.G. Sebald Platform – Michael Houellebecq Atonement – Ian McEwan Don’t Move – Margaret Mazzantini The Body Artist – Don DeLillo Fury – Salman Rushdie At Swim, Two Boys – Jamie O’Neill Choke – Chuck Palahniuk Life of Pi – Yann Martel The Feast of the Goat – Mario Vargos Llosa An Obedient Father – Akhil Sharma The Devil and Miss Prym – Paulo Coelho Spring Flowers, Spring Frost – Ismail Kadare White Teeth – Zadie Smith The Heart of Redness – Zakes Mda Under the Skin – Michel Faber Ignorance – Milan Kundera Nineteen Seventy Seven – David Peace Celestial Harmonies – Péter Esterházy City of God – E.L. Doctorow How the Dead Live – Will Self The Human Stain – Philip Roth The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood After the Quake – Haruki Murakami Small Remedies – Shashi Deshpande Super-Cannes – J.G. Ballard House of Leaves – Mark Z. Danielewski Blonde – Joyce Carol Oates Pastoralia – George Saunders Timbuktu – Paul Auster The Romantics – Pankaj Mishra Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson As If I Am Not There – Slavenka Drakuli? Everything You Need – A.L. Kennedy Fear and Trembling – Amélie Nothomb The Ground Beneath Her Feet – Salman Rushdie Disgrace – J.M. Coetzee Sputnik Sweetheart – Haruki Murakami Elementary Particles – Michel Houellebecq Intimacy – Hanif Kureishi Amsterdam – Ian McEwan Cloudsplitter – Russell Banks All Souls Day – Cees Nooteboom The Talk of the Town – Ardal O’Hanlon Tipping the Velvet – Sarah Waters The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver Glamorama – Bret Easton Ellis Another World – Pat Barker The Hours – Michael Cunningham Veronika Decides to Die – Paulo Coelho Mason & Dixon – Thomas Pynchon The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden Great Apes – Will Self Enduring Love – Ian McEwan Underworld – Don DeLillo Jack Maggs – Peter Carey The Life of Insects – Victor Pelevin American Pastoral – Philip Roth The Untouchable – John Banville Silk – Alessandro Baricco Cocaine Nights – J.G. Ballard Hallucinating Foucault – Patricia Duncker Fugitive Pieces – Anne Michaels The Ghost Road – Pat Barker Forever a Stranger – Hella Haasse Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace The Clay Machine-Gun – Victor Pelevin Alias Grace – Margaret Atwood The Unconsoled – Kazuo Ishiguro Morvern Callar – Alan Warner The Information – Martin Amis The Moor’s Last Sigh – Salman Rushdie Sabbath’s Theater – Philip Roth The Rings of Saturn – W.G. Sebald The Reader – Bernhard Schlink A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry Love’s Work – Gillian Rose The End of the Story – Lydia Davis Mr. Vertigo – Paul Auster The Folding Star – Alan Hollinghurst Whatever – Michel Houellebecq Land – Park Kyong-ni The Master of Petersburg – J.M. Coetzee The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami Pereira Declares: A Testimony – Antonio Tabucchi City Sister Silver – Jàchym Topol How Late It Was, How Late – James Kelman Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres Felicia’s Journey – William Trevor Disappearance – David Dabydeen The Invention of Curried Sausage – Uwe Timm The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx Trainspotting – Irvine Welsh Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks Looking for the Possible Dance – A.L. Kennedy Operation Shylock – Philip Roth Complicity – Iain Banks On Love – Alain de Botton What a Carve Up! – Jonathan Coe A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth The Stone Diaries – Carol Shields The House of Doctor Dee – Peter Ackroyd The Robber Bride – Margaret Atwood The Emigrants – W.G. Sebald The Secret History – Donna Tartt Life is a Caravanserai – Emine Özdamar The Discovery of Heaven – Harry Mulisch A Heart So White – Javier Marias Possessing the Secret of Joy – Alice Walker Indigo – Marina Warner The Crow Road – Iain Banks Written on the Body – Jeanette Winterson The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje Smilla’s Sense of Snow – Peter Høeg The Butcher Boy – Patrick McCabe Black Water – Joyce Carol Oates The Heather Blazing – Colm Tóibín Asphodel – H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) Black Dogs – Ian McEwan Hideous Kinky – Esther Freud Arcadia – Jim Crace Wild Swans – Jung Chang American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis Time’s Arrow – Martin Amis Mao II – Don DeLillo Typical – Padgett Powell Regeneration – Pat Barker Downriver – Iain Sinclair Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord – Louis de Bernieres Wise Children – Angela Carter Get Shorty – Elmore Leonard Amongst Women – John McGahern Vineland – Thomas Pynchon Vertigo – W.G. Sebald Stone Junction – Jim Dodge The Music of Chance – Paul Auster The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien A Home at the End of the World – Michael Cunningham Like Life – Lorrie Moore Possession – A.S. Byatt The Buddha of Suburbia – Hanif Kureishi The Midnight Examiner – William Kotzwinkle A Disaffection – James Kelman Sexing the Cherry – Jeanette Winterson Moon Palace – Paul Auster Billy Bathgate – E.L. Doctorow Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro The Melancholy of Resistance – László Krasznahorkai The Temple of My Familiar – Alice Walker The Trick is to Keep Breathing – Janice Galloway The History of the Siege of Lisbon – José Saramago Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving London Fields – Martin Amis The Book of Evidence – John Banville Cat’s Eye – Margaret Atwood Foucault’s Pendulum – Umberto Eco The Beautiful Room is Empty – Edmund White Wittgenstein’s Mistress – David Markson The Satanic Verses – Salman Rushdie The Swimming-Pool Library – Alan Hollinghurst Oscar and Lucinda – Peter Carey Libra – Don DeLillo The Player of Games – Iain M. Banks Nervous Conditions – Tsitsi Dangarembga The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul – Douglas Adams Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – Douglas Adams The Radiant Way – Margaret Drabble The Afternoon of a Writer – Peter Handke The Black Dahlia – James Ellroy The Passion – Jeanette Winterson The Pigeon – Patrick Süskind The Child in Time – Ian McEwan Cigarettes – Harry Mathews The Bonfire of the Vanities – Tom Wolfe The New York Trilogy – Paul Auster World’s End – T. Coraghessan Boyle Enigma of Arrival – V.S. Naipaul The Taebek Mountains – Jo Jung-rae Beloved – Toni Morrison Anagrams – Lorrie Moore Matigari – Ngugi Wa Thiong’o Marya – Joyce Carol Oates The Old Devils – Kingsley Amis Lost Language of Cranes – David Leavitt An Artist of the Floating World – Kazuo Ishiguro Extinction – Thomas Bernhard Foe – J.M. Coetzee The Drowned and the Saved – Primo Levi Reasons to Live – Amy Hempel The Parable of the Blind – Gert Hofmann Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit – Jeanette Winterson The Cider House Rules – John Irving A Maggot – John Fowles Less Than Zero – Bret Easton Ellis Contact – Carl Sagan Perfume – Patrick Süskind Old Masters – Thomas Bernhard White Noise – Don DeLillo Queer – William Burroughs Hawksmoor – Peter Ackroyd Legend – David Gemmell Dictionary of the Khazars – Milorad Pavi? The Bus Conductor Hines – James Kelman The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis – José Saramago The Lover – Marguerite Duras Empire of the Sun – J.G. Ballard The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks Nights at the Circus – Angela Carter Blood and Guts in High School – Kathy Acker Neuromancer – William Gibson Flaubert’s Parrot – Julian Barnes Money: A Suicide Note – Martin Amis Shame – Salman Rushdie Worstward Ho – Samuel Beckett Fools of Fortune – William Trevor La Brava – Elmore Leonard Waterland – Graham Swift The Life and Times of Michael K – J.M. Coetzee The Diary of Jane Somers – Doris Lessing The Piano Teacher – Elfriede Jelinek The Sorrow of Belgium – Hugo Claus If Not Now, When? – Primo Levi A Boy’s Own Story – Edmund White The Color Purple – Alice Walker Wittgenstein’s Nephew – Thomas Bernhard A Pale View of Hills – Kazuo Ishiguro Schindler’s Ark – Thomas Keneally The House of the Spirits – Isabel Allende The Newton Letter – John Banville On the Black Hill – Bruce Chatwin Concrete – Thomas Bernhard The Names – Don DeLillo Rabbit is Rich – John Updike Lanark: A Life in Four Books – Alasdair Gray The Comfort of Strangers – Ian McEwan July’s People – Nadine Gordimer Summer in Baden-Baden – Leonid Tsypkin Broken April – Ismail Kadare Waiting for the Barbarians – J.M. Coetzee Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie Rites of Passage – William Golding Rituals – Cees Nooteboom Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole City Primeval – Elmore Leonard The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco The Book of Laughter and Forgetting – Milan Kundera Smiley’s People – John Le Carré Shikasta – Doris Lessing A Bend in the River – V.S. Naipaul Burger’s Daughter - Nadine Gordimer The Safety Net – Heinrich Böll If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler – Italo Calvino The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams The Cement Garden – Ian McEwan The World According to Garp – John Irving Life: A User’s Manual – Georges Perec The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch The Singapore Grip – J.G. Farrell Yes – Thomas Bernhard The Virgin in the Garden – A.S. Byatt In the Heart of the Country – J.M. Coetzee The Passion of New Eve – Angela Carter Delta of Venus – Anaïs Nin The Shining – Stephen King Dispatches – Michael Herr Petals of Blood – Ngugi Wa Thiong’o Song of Solomon – Toni Morrison The Hour of the Star – Clarice Lispector The Left-Handed Woman – Peter Handke Ratner’s Star – Don DeLillo The Public Burning – Robert Coover Interview With the Vampire – Anne Rice Cutter and Bone – Newton Thornburg Amateurs – Donald Barthelme Patterns of Childhood – Christa Wolf Autumn of the Patriarch – Gabriel García Márquez W, or the Memory of Childhood – Georges Perec A Dance to the Music of Time – Anthony Powell Grimus – Salman Rushdie The Dead Father – Donald Barthelme Fateless – Imre Kertész Willard and His Bowling Trophies – Richard Brautigan High Rise – J.G. Ballard Humboldt’s Gift – Saul Bellow Dead Babies – Martin Amis Correction – Thomas Bernhard Ragtime – E.L. Doctorow The Fan Man – William Kotzwinkle Dusklands – J.M. Coetzee The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum – Heinrich Böll Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – John Le Carré Fear of Flying – Erica Jong A Question of Power – Bessie Head The Siege of Krishnapur – J.G. Farrell The Castle of Crossed Destinies – Italo Calvino Crash – J.G. Ballard The Honorary Consul – Graham Greene Gravity’s Rainbow – Thomas Pynchon The Black Prince – Iris Murdoch Sula – Toni Morrison The Breast – Philip Roth The Summer Book – Tove Jansson G – John Berger Surfacing – Margaret Atwood House Mother Normal – B.S. Johnson In A Free State – V.S. Naipaul The Book of Daniel – E.L. Doctorow Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter S. Thompson Group Portrait With Lady – Heinrich Böll The Wild Boys – William Burroughs Rabbit Redux – John Updike The Sea of Fertility – Yukio Mishima The Driver’s Seat – Muriel Spark The Ogre – Michael Tournier Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick – Peter Handke I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou Mercier et Camier – Samuel Beckett Troubles – J.G. Farrell Jahrestage – Uwe Johnson The Atrocity Exhibition – J.G. Ballard Tent of Miracles – Jorge Amado Pricksongs and Descants – Robert Coover Blind Man With a Pistol – Chester Hines Slaughterhouse-five – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. The French Lieutenant’s Woman – John Fowles The Green Man – Kingsley Amis Portnoy’s Complaint – Philip Roth The Godfather – Mario Puzo Ada – Vladimir Nabokov Them – Joyce Carol Oates A Void/Avoid – Georges Perec Eva Trout – Elizabeth Bowen Myra Breckinridge – Gore Vidal The Nice and the Good – Iris Murdoch Belle du Seigneur – Albert Cohen Cancer Ward – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn The First Circle – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn 2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke Dark as the Grave Wherein My Friend is Laid – Malcolm Lowry The German Lesson – Siegfried Lenz In Watermelon Sugar – Richard Brautigan A Kestrel for a Knave – Barry Hines The Quest for Christa T. – Christa Wolf Chocky – John Wyndham The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test – Tom Wolfe The Cubs and Other Stories – Mario Vargas Llosa One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez Pilgrimage – Dorothy Richardson The Joke – Milan Kundera No Laughing Matter – Angus Wilson The Third Policeman – Flann O’Brien A Man Asleep – Georges Perec The Birds Fall Down – Rebecca West Trawl – B.S. Johnson In Cold Blood – Truman Capote The Magus – John Fowles The Vice-Consul – Marguerite Duras Giles Goat-Boy – John Barth Things – Georges Perec The River Between – Ngugi wa Thiong’o August is a Wicked Month – Edna O’Brien God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater – Kurt Vonnegut Everything That Rises Must Converge – Flannery O’Connor The Passion According to G.H. – Clarice Lispector Sometimes a Great Notion – Ken Kesey Come Back, Dr. Caligari – Donald Bartholme Albert Angelo – B.S. Johnson Arrow of God – Chinua Achebe The Ravishing of Lol V. Stein – Marguerite Duras Herzog – Saul Bellow V. – Thomas Pynchon Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut The Graduate – Charles Webb Manon des Sources – Marcel Pagnol The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – John Le Carré The Girls of Slender Means – Muriel Spark Inside Mr. Enderby – Anthony Burgess One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn The Collector – John Fowles One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess Pale Fire – Vladimir Nabokov The Drowned World – J.G. Ballard The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing Labyrinths – Jorg Luis Borges Girl With Green Eyes – Edna O’Brien The Garden of the Finzi-Continis – Giorgio Bassani Stranger in a Strange Land – Robert Heinlein A Severed Head – Iris Murdoch Faces in the Water – Janet Frame Solaris – Stanislaw Lem Cat and Mouse – Günter Grass The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Muriel Spark Catch-22 – Joseph Heller The Violent Bear it Away – Flannery O’Connor How It Is – Samuel Beckett Our Ancestors – Italo Calvino The Country Girls – Edna O’Brien Rabbit, Run – John Updike Promise at Dawn – Romain Gary Cider With Rosie – Laurie Lee Billy Liar – Keith Waterhouse Naked Lunch – William Burroughs The Tin Drum – Günter Grass Absolute Beginners – Colin MacInnes Henderson the Rain King – Saul Bellow Memento Mori – Muriel Spark Billiards at Half-Past Nine – Heinrich Böll The Leopard – Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa Pluck the Bud and Destroy the Offspring – Kenzaburo Oe A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute The Bitter Glass – Eilís Dillon Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe Saturday Night and Sunday Morning – Alan Sillitoe Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris – Paul Gallico Borstal Boy – Brendan Behan The End of the Road – John Barth The Once and Future King – T.H. White The Bell – Iris Murdoch Jealousy – Alain Robbe-Grillet Voss – Patrick White The Midwich Cuckoos – John Wyndham Blue Noon – Georges Bataille Homo Faber – Max Frisch On the Road – Jack Kerouac Pnin – Vladimir Nabokov Doctor Zhivago – Boris Pasternak The Wonderful “O” – James Thurber Justine – Lawrence Durrell Giovanni’s Room – James Baldwin The Lonely Londoners – Sam Selvon The Roots of Heaven – Romain Gary Seize the Day – Saul Bellow The Floating Opera – John Barth The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien The Talented Mr. Ripley – Patricia Highsmith Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov A World of Love – Elizabeth Bowen The Trusting and the Maimed – James Plunkett The Quiet American – Graham Greene The Last Temptation of Christ – Nikos Kazantzákis The Recognitions – William Gaddis The Ragazzi – Pier Paulo Pasolini Bonjour Tristesse – Françoise Sagan I’m Not Stiller – Max Frisch Self Condemned – Wyndham Lewis The Story of O – Pauline Réage A Ghost at Noon – Alberto Moravia Lord of the Flies – William Golding Under the Net – Iris Murdoch The Go-Between – L.P. Hartley The Long Goodbye – Raymond Chandler The Unnamable – Samuel Beckett Watt – Samuel Beckett Lucky Jim – Kingsley Amis Junkie – William Burroughs The Adventures of Augie March – Saul Bellow Go Tell It on the Mountain – James Baldwin Casino Royale – Ian Fleming The Judge and His Hangman – Friedrich Dürrenmatt Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway Wise Blood – Flannery O’Connor The Killer Inside Me – Jim Thompson Memoirs of Hadrian – Marguerite Yourcenar Malone Dies – Samuel Beckett Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham Foundation – Isaac Asimov The Opposing Shore – Julien Gracq The Rebel – Albert Camus Molloy – Samuel Beckett The End of the Affair – Graham Greene The Abbot C – Georges Bataille The Labyrinth of Solitude – Octavio Paz The Third Man – Graham Greene The 13 Clocks – James Thurber Gormenghast – Mervyn Peake The Grass is Singing – Doris Lessing I, Robot – Isaac Asimov The Moon and the Bonfires – Cesare Pavese The Garden Where the Brass Band Played – Simon Vestdijk Love in a Cold Climate – Nancy Mitford The Case of Comrade Tulayev – Victor Serge The Heat of the Day – Elizabeth Bowen Kingdom of This World – Alejo Carpentier The Man With the Golden Arm – Nelson Algren Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell All About H. Hatterr – G.V. Desani Disobedience – Alberto Moravia Death Sentence – Maurice Blanchot The Heart of the Matter – Graham Greene Cry, the Beloved Country – Alan Paton Doctor Faustus – Thomas Mann The Victim – Saul Bellow Exercises in Style – Raymond Queneau If This Is a Man – Primo Levi Under the Volcano – Malcolm Lowry The Path to the Nest of Spiders – Italo Calvino The Plague – Albert Camus Back – Henry Green Titus Groan – Mervyn Peake The Bridge on the Drina – Ivo Andri? Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh Animal Farm – George Orwell Cannery Row – John Steinbeck The Pursuit of Love – Nancy Mitford Loving – Henry Green Arcanum 17 – André Breton Christ Stopped at Eboli – Carlo Levi The Razor’s Edge – William Somerset Maugham Transit – Anna Seghers Ficciones – Jorge Luis Borges Dangling Man – Saul Bellow Caught – Henry Green The Glass Bead Game – Herman Hesse Embers – Sandor Marai Go Down, Moses – William Faulkner The Outsider – Albert Camus In Sicily – Elio Vittorini The Poor Mouth – Flann O’Brien The Living and the Dead – Patrick White Hangover Square – Patrick Hamilton Between the Acts – Virginia Woolf The Hamlet – William Faulkner Farewell My Lovely – Raymond Chandler For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway Native Son – Richard Wright The Power and the Glory – Graham Greene The Tartar Steppe – Dino Buzzati Party Going – Henry Green The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck Finnegans Wake – James Joyce At Swim-Two-Birds – Flann O’Brien Coming Up for Air – George Orwell Goodbye to Berlin – Christopher Isherwood Tropic of Capricorn – Henry Miller Good Morning, Midnight – Jean Rhys The Big Sleep – Raymond Chandler After the Death of Don Juan – Sylvie Townsend Warner Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day – Winifred Watson Nausea – Jean-Paul Sartre Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier Cause for Alarm – Eric Ambler Brighton Rock – Graham Greene U.S.A. – John Dos Passos Murphy – Samuel Beckett The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien The Years – Virginia Woolf In Parenthesis – David Jones The Revenge for Love – Wyndham Lewis Out of Africa – Isak Dineson (Karen Blixen) To Have and Have Not – Ernest Hemingway Summer Will Show – Sylvia Townsend Warner Eyeless in Gaza – Aldous Huxley The Thinking Reed – Rebecca West Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell Keep the Aspidistra Flying – George Orwell Wild Harbour – Ian MacPherson Absalom, Absalom! – William Faulkner At the Mountains of Madness – H.P. Lovecraft Nightwood – Djuna Barnes Independent People – Halldór Laxness Auto-da-Fé – Elias Canetti The Last of Mr. Norris – Christopher Isherwood They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? – Horace McCoy The House in Paris – Elizabeth Bowen England Made Me – Graham Greene Burmese Days – George Orwell The Nine Tailors – Dorothy L. Sayers Threepenny Novel – Bertolt Brecht Novel With Cocaine – M. Ageyev The Postman Always Rings Twice – James M. Cain Tropic of Cancer – Henry Miller Tender is the Night – F. Scott Fitzgerald Thank You, Jeeves – P.G. Wodehouse Call it Sleep – Henry Roth Miss Lonelyhearts – Nathanael West Murder Must Advertise – Dorothy L. Sayers The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas – Gertrude Stein Testament of Youth – Vera Brittain A Day Off – Storm Jameson The Man Without Qualities – Robert Musil A Scots Quair (Sunset Song) – Lewis Grassic Gibbon Journey to the End of the Night – Louis-Ferdinand Céline Brave New World – Aldous Huxley Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons To the North – Elizabeth Bowen The Thin Man – Dashiell Hammett The Radetzky March – Joseph Roth The Waves – Virginia Woolf The Glass Key – Dashiell Hammett Cakes and Ale – W. Somerset Maugham The Apes of God – Wyndham Lewis Her Privates We – Frederic Manning Vile Bodies – Evelyn Waugh The Maltese Falcon – Dashiell Hammett Hebdomeros – Giorgio de Chirico Passing – Nella Larsen A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway Red Harvest – Dashiell Hammett Living – Henry Green The Time of Indifference – Alberto Moravia All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque Berlin Alexanderplatz – Alfred Döblin The Last September – Elizabeth Bowen Harriet Hume – Rebecca West Les Enfants Terribles – Jean Cocteau Look Homeward, Angel – Thomas Wolfe Story of the Eye – Georges Bataille Orlando – Virginia Woolf Lady Chatterley’s Lover – D.H. Lawrence The Well of Loneliness – Radclyffe Hall The Childermass – Wyndham Lewis Quartet – Jean Rhys Decline and Fall – Evelyn Waugh Quicksand – Nella Larsen Parade’s End – Ford Madox Ford Nadja – André Breton Steppenwolf – Herman Hesse Remembrance of Things Past – Marcel Proust To The Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf Tarka the Otter – Henry Williamson Amerika – Franz Kafka The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway Blindness – Henry Green The Castle – Franz Kafka The Good Soldier Švejk – Jaroslav Hašek The Plumed Serpent – D.H. Lawrence One, None and a Hundred Thousand – Luigi Pirandello The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie The Making of Americans – Gertrude Stein Manhattan Transfer – John Dos Passos The Counterfeiters – André Gide The Trial – Franz Kafka The Artamonov Business – Maxim Gorky The Professor’s House – Willa Cather Billy Budd, Foretopman – Herman Melville The Green Hat – Michael Arlen The Magic Mountain – Thomas Mann We – Yevgeny Zamyatin A Passage to India – E.M. Forster The Devil in the Flesh – Raymond Radiguet Zeno’s Conscience – Italo Svevo Cane – Jean Toomer Antic Hay – Aldous Huxley Amok – Stefan Zweig The Garden Party – Katherine Mansfield The Enormous Room – E.E. Cummings Jacob’s Room – Virginia Woolf The Glimpses of the Moon – Edith Wharton Life and Death of Harriett Frean – May Sinclair The Last Days of Humanity – Karl Kraus Aaron’s Rod – D.H. Lawrence Babbitt – Sinclair Lewis Ulysses – James Joyce The Fox – D.H. Lawrence Crome Yellow – Aldous Huxley Main Street – Sinclair Lewis Women in Love – D.H. Lawrence Night and Day – Virginia Woolf Tarr – Wyndham Lewis The Return of the Soldier – Rebecca West The Shadow Line – Joseph Conrad Summer – Edith Wharton Growth of the Soil – Knut Hamsen Bunner Sisters – Edith Wharton A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce Under Fire – Henri Barbusse Rashomon – Akutagawa Ryunosuke The Good Soldier – Ford Madox Ford The Voyage Out – Virginia Woolf Of Human Bondage – William Somerset Maugham The Rainbow – D.H. Lawrence The Thirty-Nine Steps – John Buchan Kokoro – Natsume Soseki Locus Solus – Raymond Roussel Rosshalde – Herman Hesse Tarzan of the Apes – Edgar Rice Burroughs The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists – Robert Tressell Sons and Lovers – D.H. Lawrence Death in Venice – Thomas Mann The Charwoman’s Daughter – James Stephens Fantômas – Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre Howards End – E.M. Forster Impressions of Africa – Raymond Roussel Three Lives – Gertrude Stein Martin Eden – Jack London Strait is the Gate – André Gide Tono-Bungay – H.G. Wells The Inferno – Henri Barbusse A Room With a View – E.M. Forster The Iron Heel – Jack London The Old Wives’ Tale – Arnold Bennett The House on the Borderland – William Hope Hodgson Mother – Maxim Gorky The Secret Agent – Joseph Conrad The Jungle – Upton Sinclair Young Törless – Robert Musil The Forsyte Sage – John Galsworthy The House of Mirth – Edith Wharton Professor Unrat – Heinrich Mann Where Angels Fear to Tread – E.M. Forster Nostromo – Joseph Conrad Hadrian the Seventh – Frederick Rolfe The Golden Bowl – Henry James The Ambassadors – Henry James The Riddle of the Sands – Erskine Childers The Immoralist – André Gide The Wings of the Dove – Henry James The Hound of the Baskervilles – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Buddenbrooks – Thomas Mann Kim – Rudyard Kipling Sister Carrie – Theodore Dreiser Lord Jim – Joseph Conrad 1800s Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. – Somerville and Ross The Stechlin – Theodore Fontane The Turn of the Screw – Henry James The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells The Invisible Man – H.G. Wells What Maisie Knew – Henry James Fruits of the Earth – André Gide Dracula – Bram Stoker Quo Vadis – Henryk Sienkiewicz The Island of Dr. Moreau – H.G. Wells The Time Machine – H.G. Wells Effi Briest – Theodore Fontane Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy The Real Charlotte – Somerville and Ross The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman Born in Exile – George Gissing Diary of a Nobody – George & Weedon Grossmith The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle News from Nowhere – William Morris New Grub Street – George Gissing Gösta Berling’s Saga – Selma Lagerlöf Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde The Kreutzer Sonata – Leo Tolstoy La Bête Humaine – Émile Zola By the Open Sea – August Strindberg Hunger – Knut Hamsun The Master of Ballantrae – Robert Louis Stevenson Pierre and Jean – Guy de Maupassant Fortunata and Jacinta – Benito Pérez Galdés The People of Hemsö – August Strindberg The Woodlanders – Thomas Hardy She – H. Rider Haggard The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson The Mayor of Casterbridge – Thomas Hardy Kidnapped – Robert Louis Stevenson King Solomon’s Mines – H. Rider Haggard Germinal – Émile Zola The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain Bel-Ami – Guy de Maupassant Marius the Epicurean – Walter Pater Against the Grain – Joris-Karl Huysmans The Death of Ivan Ilyich – Leo Tolstoy A Woman’s Life – Guy de Maupassant Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson The House by the Medlar Tree – Giovanni Verga The Portrait of a Lady – Henry James Bouvard and Pécuchet – Gustave Flaubert Ben-Hur – Lew Wallace Nana – Émile Zola The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky The Red Room – August Strindberg Return of the Native – Thomas Hardy Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy Drunkard – Émile Zola Virgin Soil – Ivan Turgenev Daniel Deronda – George Eliot The Hand of Ethelberta – Thomas Hardy The Temptation of Saint Anthony – Gustave Flaubert Far from the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy The Enchanted Wanderer – Nicolai Leskov Around the World in Eighty Days – Jules Verne In a Glass Darkly – Sheridan Le Fanu The Devils – Fyodor Dostoevsky Erewhon – Samuel Butler Spring Torrents – Ivan Turgenev Middlemarch – George Eliot Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There – Lewis Carroll King Lear of the Steppes – Ivan Turgenev He Knew He Was Right – Anthony Trollope War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy Sentimental Education – Gustave Flaubert Phineas Finn – Anthony Trollope Maldoror – Comte de Lautréaumont The Idiot – Fyodor Dostoevsky The Moonstone – Wilkie Collins Little Women – Louisa May Alcott Thérèse Raquin – Émile Zola The Last Chronicle of Barset – Anthony Trollope Journey to the Centre of the Earth – Jules Verne Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll Our Mutual Friend – Charles Dickens Uncle Silas – Sheridan Le Fanu Notes from the Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky The Water-Babies – Charles Kingsley Les Misérables – Victor Hugo Fathers and Sons – Ivan Turgenev Silas Marner – George Eliot Great Expectations – Charles Dickens On the Eve – Ivan Turgenev Castle Richmond – Anthony Trollope The Mill on the Floss – George Eliot The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins The Marble Faun – Nathaniel Hawthorne Max Havelaar – Multatuli A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens Oblomovka – Ivan Goncharov Adam Bede – George Eliot Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert North and South – Elizabeth Gaskell Hard Times – Charles Dickens Walden – Henry David Thoreau Bleak House – Charles Dickens Villette – Charlotte Brontë Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lonely – Harriet Beecher Stowe The Blithedale Romance – Nathaniel Hawthorne The House of the Seven Gables – Nathaniel Hawthorne Moby-Dick – Herman Melville The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne David Copperfield – Charles Dickens Shirley – Charlotte Brontë Mary Barton – Elizabeth Gaskell The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – Anne Brontë Agnes Grey – Anne Brontë Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray The Count of Monte-Cristo – Alexandre Dumas La Reine Margot – Alexandre Dumas The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas Martin Chuzzlewit – Charles Dickens The Pit and the Pendulum – Edgar Allan Poe Lost Illusions – Honoré de Balzac A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens Dead Souls – Nikolay Gogol The Charterhouse of Parma – Stendhal The Fall of the House of Usher – Edgar Allan Poe The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby – Charles Dickens Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens The Nose – Nikolay Gogol Le Père Goriot – Honoré de Balzac Eugénie Grandet – Honoré de Balzac The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo The Red and the Black – Stendhal The Betrothed – Alessandro Manzoni Last of the Mohicans – James Fenimore Cooper The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner – James Hogg The Albigenses – Charles Robert Maturin Melmoth the Wanderer – Charles Robert Maturin The Monastery – Sir Walter Scott Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott Persuasion – Jane Austen Ormond – Maria Edgeworth Rob Roy – Sir Walter Scott Emma – Jane Austen Mansfield Park – Jane Austen The Absentee – Maria Edgeworth Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen Elective Affinities – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Castle Rackrent – Maria Edgeworth 1700s Hyperion – Friedrich Hölderlin The Nun – Denis Diderot Camilla – Fanny Burney The Monk – M.G. Lewis Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe The Mysteries of Udolpho – Ann Radcliffe The Interesting Narrative – Olaudah Equiano The Adventures of Caleb Williams – William Godwin Justine – Marquis de Sade Vathek – William Beckford The 120 Days of Sodom – Marquis de Sade Cecilia – Fanny Burney Confessions – Jean-Jacques Rousseau Dangerous Liaisons – Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Reveries of a Solitary Walker – Jean-Jacques Rousseau Evelina – Fanny Burney The Sorrows of Young Werther – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Humphrey Clinker – Tobias George Smollett The Man of Feeling – Henry Mackenzie A Sentimental Journey – Laurence Sterne Tristram Shandy – Laurence Sterne The Vicar of Wakefield – Oliver Goldsmith The Castle of Otranto – Horace Walpole Émile; or, On Education – Jean-Jacques Rousseau Rameau’s Nephew – Denis Diderot Julie; or, the New Eloise – Jean-Jacques Rousseau Rasselas – Samuel Johnson Candide – Voltaire The Female Quixote – Charlotte Lennox Amelia – Henry Fielding Peregrine Pickle – Tobias George Smollett Fanny Hill – John Cleland Tom Jones – Henry Fielding Roderick Random – Tobias George Smollett Clarissa – Samuel Richardson Pamela – Samuel Richardson Jacques the Fatalist – Denis Diderot Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus – J. Arbuthnot, J. Gay, T. Parnell, A. Pope, J. Swift Joseph Andrews – Henry Fielding Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift Roxana – Daniel Defoe Moll Flanders – Daniel Defoe Love in Excess – Eliza Haywood Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe A Tale of a Tub – Jonathan Swift Pre-1700 Oroonoko – Aphra Behn The Princess of Clèves – Marie-Madelaine Pioche de Lavergne, Comtesse de La Fayette The Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra The Unfortunate Traveller – Thomas Nashe Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit – John Lyly Gargantua and Pantagruel – Françoise Rabelais The Thousand and One Nights – Anonymous The Golden Ass – Lucius Apuleius Aithiopika – Heliodorus Chaireas and Kallirhoe – Chariton Metamorphoses – OvidTumblr (3.0; @onethousandbookproject)http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/71de934cb6a6e71e3c23596520ee9ea5/tumblr_mi1fsfPHwj1qblha7o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong># 48: Aphra Behn, <em>Oroonoko, or the Royal Slave</em></strong></p> <p>Aphra Behn’s personal background makes her an intriguing figure—especially considering how limiting a woman’s role was in the society. Behn’s protagonist Oroonoko, an African prince, falls in love with the beautiful Imoinda and eventual downfall to being sold into slavery. Some of the elements that are remarkable to me are the elements of proto-racism that are apparent throughout. One that springs to mind is Oroonoko’s description—Behn seems to purposefully emphasize how European looking her protagonist’s facial features are. This description seems to be intended to help make Oroonoko more appealing to her audience—to show his nobility, to make his story of tragic downfall have a bigger impact, which leaves her contemporaries’ perceptions of race open to speculation. </p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/42816929473http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/42816929473Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:14:38 -0500aphra behnoroonokolitliteraturebooks1001 Book Project<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/0b395e3215576d2854670d534d47ca51/tumblr_mhu3yozJ9e1qblha7o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong># 47: Evelyn Waugh, <em>A Handful of Dust</em></strong></p> <p><strong><br/></strong><span><span>From a recommendation selling point of view, I think that if you like Downton Abbey, you would enjoy this book. In <em>A Handful of Dust, </em>Waugh deals with a myriad of complex issues—both cultural and personal. On the home front we are presented with a seemingly perfect family—Tony and Brenta Last—that starts to crumble apart in front of our eyes. In a larger sense, however, the novel deals with inheritance issues (big house, no money to keep it going), infidelity, characters obsessed with their own personal gain, England at the cusp of colonialism, and the breakdown of aristocracy. Some of my favorite elements in this novel deal with the very thing that makes up the English character (at least to me)—a husband that pretends to have an affair in order to help his wife safe face and conceal her own affair. At the same time, there are the kinds of characters that represent an almost exactly opposite of that, characters that are willing to do anything and everything to find their next meal without having to pay for it. This is change at its best; at its most destructive. The social mores and rules no longer apply. The old must yield to the new. The changes coming to the main characters, both on the microcosmic and macrocosmic lead to an ultimate destruction, both of character, of reputation, of personhood, and of aristocratic possession.</span></span></p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/42486706625http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/42486706625Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:15:59 -0500evelyn waugha handful of dustbookslit1001 Book Project<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/58e8b93cd1e5d8cdb22072d7bb6b422b/tumblr_mfdg6e5SYD1qblha7o1_400.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong>#46: Aesop, <em>Fables</em></strong></p> <p>I’ve been reading Aesop’s <em>Fables </em>for as long as I can remember. His writing lends itself easily into reading appropriate for children, which is how I first came across it. The stories themselves are numerous, mostly short, and focusing on some type of a morality lesson. The animals in Aesop’s world are without fail capable of speech and the experiences they go through are intended to teach the readers lessons about morality, charity, generosity, moderation, kindness, to name a few. </p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/38452787636http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/38452787636Fri, 21 Dec 2012 03:13:25 -0500litliteraturebooks1001 Book Project1001 books to read before you die<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m76wvw1JGw1qblha7o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong>#45: Alan Moore and David Gibbons, <em>The Watchmen</em></strong></p> <p>Before I even continue typing up my little review for this one, a confession is in order. The only other graphic novel I have ever read is Satrapi’sPersepolis. I have heard of the wonders of graphic novel classics many times over, but since I pride myself on my faster than average reading speed and thorough comprehension of the reading material, getting used to the format of graphic novels is somewhat of a daunting task. Even after finishingThe Watchmen, I am not confident in my graphic novel reading abilities.</p> <p>My reluctance to get through the unfamiliar format was coupled with my general conviction that in order for superheroes of any kind to exist, some cliched words regarding the inefficiency and general uselessness of police forces have to be uttered. Then there is the other cliche of a post-apocalyptic world, wherein chaos rules and the general public needs rescuing.The Watchmen, while guilty of the aforementioned cliches, does not dwell on them extensively.</p> <p>Enter our affable group of superheroes.They range from the super powerful to the super intelligent and the super insane. Besides finding favorites in this group and admiring their qualities, I enjoyed the narrative construction of the novel. Moore’s non-linear narrative allows the readers to go back and forth in the storyline, to follow the unfolding events while learning of the origins and past activities of the protagonists.</p> <p>Overall, the dynamic pace of the story made me I enjoy it more than I thought I would.</p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/27247403673http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/27247403673Sun, 15 Jul 2012 03:02:00 -0400the Watchmenbooksliteraturelitalan moore1001 Book Project<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m750evGDhM1qblha7o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>#44: Edith Wharton,Ethan Frome</p> <p>Ethan Fromeis not what Edith Wharton is famous for. There are other works for that. However,Ethan Fromeis a perfect example of Wharton’s skillful examination of human emotions and feelings. The characters in this novel do not merely experience emotions; they become obsessed with these emotions, their lives reduced to being shrouded by feelings and their lives rendered inescapable from them.</p> <p>Ethan Frome, the protagonist of this novella, has married a woman, Zenobia, out of obligation and convenience. When Zeena’s cousin Mattie comes to visit the couple and care for Zeena, Ethan gets a glance of what his life could be like if he had married for love. Eventually, circumstances put the three into a stifling threesome, not giving any one of them a way to escape no matter how hard they try. </p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/27180092753http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/27180092753Sat, 14 Jul 2012 02:23:12 -0400ethan fromeedith whartonliteraturebookslitfiction<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m612wafqkg1qblha7o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong># 43: Edith Wharton, <em>The Age of Innocence </em></strong></p> <p>Before discussing the novel itself, I am compelled to discuss my favorite details from Wharton’s personal life. Some of these details include the fact that Wharton’s first published book, unlike the rest of her work that made her famous, was a book on home decorating. Ever heard of the phrase “Keeping up with the Joneses?” Wharton was born Edith Newbold Jones and her family was the “Joneses.”</p> <p>Wharton’s background, coupled with  her tremendous talent of prose, has yielded the many works that are impeccably composed. Arguably, the novels achieve more when taken in the context of preserving the social history of her time. Besides narrating about the love triangle between Newland Archer, May Welland, and Countess Ellen Olenska, <em>The Age of Innocence</em>  gives us a glimpse into the rules and codes of conduct, the exclusivity of which would have prevented many of Wharton’s contemporaries from gaining entrance. As such, <em>The Age of Innocence </em>goes beyond its role of narrating about the lives its protagonists, and serves as chronicler of history. </p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/25653359826http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/25653359826Fri, 22 Jun 2012 12:52:57 -0400age of innocenceedith whartonlitliteraturebooksnovelsfiction1001 Book Project<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5u1xo372f1qblha7o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong>#42: Hermann Hesse, <em>Siddhartha</em></strong></p> <p><strong><em><br/></em></strong>The short description of this novel would be “It’s about enlightenment” and that description would be quite apt in many ways. Siddhartha, the son of a successful Brahmin, is expected to continue in his father’s footsteps, but decides to pursue his own path towards enlightenment when he realizes that his father has nothing else to teach him. When a wandering group of Samanas passes through town, Siddhartha decides to join the group, along with his friend Govinda, against his father’s wishes. What follows is a long journey through life’s various positions and stations; Siddhartha goes from leading an incredibly lavish lifestyle to giving away all of his possessions and belongings. The various experiences that Siddhartha goes through finally get him to the place of enlightenment that he so sought from the beginning, driving across the final point that there is really no one way to achieve enlightenment. </p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/25388545119http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/25388545119Mon, 18 Jun 2012 17:48:53 -0400siddharthaHermann Hesseliteraturebookslitnovelsfiction<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5okzwU25e1qblha7o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong>#41: John Steinbeck, <em>Of Mice and Men</em></strong></p> <p>Whenever asked about my favorite books, Steinbeck always makes his way into my mental lists. Naturally, I have started rationing out his books because there is only so much we have. If you’ve read other works by Steinbeck, <em>Of Mice and Men </em>will be comfortably familiar. Like <em>Pastures of Heaven, </em>its descriptive language is unparalleled. The storyline itself is incredibly simple yet complex. We meet the protagonists right away—the giant and childlike Lennie and his pal George. We soon learn that Lennie is mentally disabled and George has taken Lennie under his wing after making a promise to take care of him to Lennie’s Aunt Clara. Lennie loves holding soft things, like mice and rabbits, and requires a small rotation of “soft things” because he does not fully comprehend his own physical capacities and strength. </p> <p>Lennie and George have a common dream, which is soon shared by another ranch hand, Candy. The road to happiness for these men involves a small piece of land, where they will be able to harvest their own vegetables, instead of working for other ranchers. A few animals. Lennie wants rabbits. He is craving the companionship and the responsibility of taking care of rabbits. During his darker times, George complains about not being able to settle down in one place; about Lennie getting him in trouble. This is a cruel world. It has little regard for Lennie’s disabilities. It has little regard for anyone’s disabilities. </p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/25186684838http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/25186684838Fri, 15 Jun 2012 18:55:08 -0400John SteinbeckOf Mice and MenLitLiteraturebooks1001 Book Project<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5e9ph4SRB1qblha7o1_400.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong>#40: J.D. Salinger, <em>Franny and Zooey</em></strong></p> <p><em>Franny and Zooey,</em> consisting of a short story and a novella, revolves around the two youngest children of the Glass family, various members of which also appear in Salinger’s <em>Nine Stories, </em>Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters, and Seymour: An Introduction. The intricacies of Franny’s emotional breakdown are well documented in the first section of <em>Franny and Zooey</em>; the latter section relays the Glass family’s reactions to Franny’s quiet pain unravelling on the family couch. As readers, we bear witness to Mama Glass’s attempts to alternatively feed her chicken broth and get one of her other children to help the youngest. Zooey, the main recipient of Mama Glass’s protests, complaints, and guilt tripping, makes every attempt to fix the situation through dialogue, which often turn into diatribes, causing Franny more emotional pain. One of the most interesting concepts that Salinger introduces in the work is Zooey’s argument that their (Franny’s and Zooey’s) problems in the world stem from the special education that the two received from the eldest 2 siblings—Seymour and Buddy. Zooey believes that their incredible intelligence, specially cultivated by their brothers, has permanently disabled the both himself and Franny from experiencing joy or happiness. </p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/24804289215http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/24804289215Sun, 10 Jun 2012 05:15:17 -0400Franny and ZooeyJ. D. SalingerSalingerLiteraturelitbooksfiction1001 Book Project<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5493yY4Nc1qblha7o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong># 39: Margaret Atwood, <em>The Handmaid’s Tale</em></strong></p> <p>Atwood’s <em>The Handmaid’s Tale </em>has been crossing my to-read piles for as long as I can remember; yet, I don’t know why it took me so long to finally get around to it. In short, this novel is amazing. Even as I was reading it, I could tell that it would be added to my mental list of “favorite books ever.”</p> <p>Set in the dystopian world of Gilead, a totalitarian society that has replaced what was formerly the United States, <em>The Handmaid’s Tale </em>is the story of a woman, who has been assigned the role of a handmaid after the social restructuring of Gilead. In Gilead, handmaids are assigned to the families of high-ranking officials and are tasked with helping bring a child into the world. Our narrator, Offred (named after the Commander whose family she serves) finds herself in curious circumstances, with her Commander and his wife breaking to break the rules for her. Overall, an excellent read.</p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/24432900102http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/24432900102Mon, 04 Jun 2012 19:26:21 -0400margaret atwoodhandmaid's taleliteraturelitbooks1001 Book Project<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2zqmrpb5H1qblha7o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong>Amy Tan, <em>The Kitchen God’s Wife</em></strong></p> <p>Not from my list, but I can never say no to Amy Tan. Ever since reading <em>The Joy Luck Club</em> for a class many moons ago, I have enjoyed going back to Tan’s fiction. This, in many ways, is similar to <em>The Joy Luck Club.</em> The novel explores the tumultuous relationship between a mother and a daughter, a relationship that is fraught with secrets, undisclosed truths and unspoken words. As expected, there are generational conflicts, cultural conflicts, as the American-born and raised daughter has a hard time understanding her mother’s background, her behavior, and her customs. The daughter doesn’t know about her mother’s Chinese life. The mother doesn’t about her daughter’s MS. The larger chunk of the book is devoted to the divulging of secrets small and large, which, not surprisingly, brings the two closer together. </p> <p>What I love most about Tan’s writing, however, is her ability to paint scenes from a regular life. We see Weiwei (the mother) go about her business: putting together flower bouquets in her flower shop, go around to Chinese stores, cook dinner, spend time with her grandchildren. Seemingly boring, in Tan’s hands, these common activities become snippets into the fascinating lives of the characters. <br/><br/></p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/21717859441http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/21717859441Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:49:38 -0400litamy tanliteraturebooksfictionthe Kitchen God's Wife<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2y4ovGX5J1qblha7o1_400.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong># 38: Italo Calvino, <em>Invisible Cities</em></strong></p> <p>Always keen to assign a genre to things I read, I am tempted to classify this as part magical realism and part post-modernism. I am not, in the least, sure that this is a correct assessment of the novel’s (or rather novella’s) genre. <em>Invisible Cities</em> is essentially a group of vignettes describing a series of cities, interspersed with a conversation taking place between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan. After visiting various locations in Khan’s vast empire, Marco Polo brings stories of the places he has encountered to Khan. There are cities where houses don’t have walls and one can only distinguish them through the exposed pipes that hang suspended in the air. A cities has an identical copy of itself underground; after a while, no one can tell who’s alive and who’s dead. Polo’s initial tales, the reader learns, were full of gesticulation, objects, and emotions, as the traveller was not fluent in Khan’s language. His fluency gives way to the loss of imagination; as Polo becomes more comfortable with the language, Khan complains of the loss of his descriptions. One thing that is apparent throughout the novel: the cities are what we make of them. </p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/21658154124http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/21658154124Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:58:07 -0400litbooksliterature1001 Book ProjectItalo CalvinoInvisible cities<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m13w6m0Iij1qblha7o1_400.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong># 37: Kurt Vonnegut,<em> Breakfast of Champions</em></strong></p> <p><strong><em><br/></em></strong>This has quickly become one of my favorites. The story focuses mainly on two characters, whom Vonnegut describes as “two lonesome, skinny, fairly old white men on a planet which was dying fast”—Kilgore Trout and Dwayne Hoover. A science fiction and a Pontiac dealer, respectively, both men appear to be alter egos of the author, who worked as a Saab dealer before becoming an acclaimed author. After providing extensive background information on both of the characters, Vonnegut sets them on a collision path as Trout makes his way to Midland City, the fictional city where Hoover resides, while Hoover’s mental state is rapidly deteriorating. Their meeting at the end of the novel can be best described as disastrous.</p> <p>The novel takes upon itself to introduce certain aspects of life in the US and the planet to his readers, and frequently does so with the aid of illustrations—which are both hilarious and welcome, since very few “Adult” books come with illustrations. </p> <p>My favorite aspect of the novel, however, was the introduction of the author/narrator. Trout is said to be collecting information for his “Creator” but little does he know that the Creator would be appearing minutes before his own encounter with Hoover. The Creator explains his control over the characters and explains why he is doing things as he does them but confesses that the characters are not fully under his control. I loved this because I felt like it was the author’s way of showing that characters have a way of taking lives of their own and surprising the authors.</p> <p>Vonnegut’s ability to take note of the mundane and make it fascinating makes this book a great read. </p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/19545879753http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/19545879753Sun, 18 Mar 2012 20:32:45 -0400Kurt VonnegutBreakfast of ChampionsBooksLiteratureLitFiction1001 Book Project<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0sbtqEdGS1qblha7o1_400.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><em><strong>David Sedaris, When You’re Engulfed in Flames</strong></em></p> <p>I went off the list again, because it’s not every day that you find a book that is so captivating as this one. With a cover image borrowed from Van Gogh, a title originating from something the author saw while travelling in Japan, and essays many of which were previously published in the New Yorker, this collection is one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read. </p> <p>Sedaris has a great sense of humor. Not the kind of sense of humor that makes you chuckle he says something funny. His sense of humor is wry, silly, and translates perfectly to the page. There are one too many passages that will make you start laughing while reading it before going to sleep and many that you will try to remember to read for people the following day. The humorous passages come together to weave a unique view of an American childhood, surrounded by family members, an adolescence of repressed sexuality, finally coming to terms with being gay, and life with a lifelong partner. </p> <p>If I had a rating system, I would give this one a resounding 5. I cannot recommend it enough. </p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/19188030467http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/19188030467Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:39:00 -0400litliteraturebooksdavid sedariswhen you're engulfed in flamesfiction1001 Book Project<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0cf6fvYgi1qblha7o1_400.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong>Jon Ronson, <em>The Psychopath Test</em></strong></p> <p>Having never read anything by Jon Ronson before, it took me about 3 pages to realize that he’s an amazing journalist. Learning more about psychopaths becomes an obsession of sorts for Ronson and on his path towards learning more about them, Ronson finds both likeminded people, as well as some exemplary psychopaths. There are murderers, institutionalized psychopaths, researchers who have spent their entire lives studying psychopaths, scientologists, and more psychologists than could be counted on 2 hands. </p> <p>This book is simultaneously fascinating and creepy. Early on in the book, Ronson has a discussion with a psychologist who studies psychopaths and she tells him of an encounter where she was showing one of her study subjects various emotions and asking him to identify them. After seeing “fear”, the subject responded by saying that he couldn’t identify the emotion but it looked similar to the faces people pulled before he murdered them. Ronson learns more and more about the subject in hand and eventually encounters some fo the foremost researchers in the field.</p> <p>There does come a point where it is clear that Ronson has learned more than he should and has clearly become obsessed with the topic at hand. In one chapter, he is sitting at the bar of a hotel with one of the psychologists he has interviewed for the book and the two of them catch themselves wondering if the concierge of the hotel is a psychopath, soon recognizing just how ridiculous they are being.</p> <p>Overall, this book is fascinating. It’s a quick and easy read but it might make you subject friends and loved ones to your own psychological evaluations. But don’t worry; it does go away.</p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/18707744939http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/18707744939Sat, 03 Mar 2012 23:30:15 -0500Jon RonsonThe Psychopath Testbookliteraturelit1001 Book Project<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzx76me67f1qblha7o1_400.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong>#36: Heather McGowan, <em>Schooling</em></strong></p> <p>Thirteen year old Catrine Evans is uprooted from her American life and dropped into the world of Monstead Boarding School, her father’s alma mater. This is truly the story of Catrine’s schooling, her education in a world that is completely different from her own. Catrine is plagued by a number of memories and factors, including her mother’s death, and an accident involving a motorcyclist and a tire. She is frequently taunted by certain classmates, including one that claims to know a secret about her father. But there are also friends and teachers, such as a chemistry teacher that gives her an education on the arts. And more.</p> <p>I am fully convinced that I will never re-read this one again. That being said, I didn’t hate it. While the book is only about 300 pages, the text is quite dense; probably more dense than many other novels that I have ever encountered. I could easily classify this as a stream-of-consciousness novel and add it to the same shelf as Woolf and Joyce, but McGowan’s prose is not crafted as elegantly and naturally as the previous texts mentioned. While there are elements of the style present throughout, McGowan rarely ever takes off on a truly expressed chain of thought. Her prose can probably be more accurately described as disjointed than stream-of-consciousness. </p> <p>I did, however, enjoy it. There are page long sentences and sentence long chapters. If not for the plot, there are always the moments of self-congratulation when the plot has been followed for the duration of 10 pages. </p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/18212715831http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/18212715831Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:13:33 -0500heather mcgowanschoolinglitliteraturebooksOneThousandbookproject1001 Book ProjectFiction<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyaevrN3aH1qblha7o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong>Suzanne Collins: <em>The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay</em></strong></p> <p>I took a break from reading off of my 1001 reading list to see what all the rage regarding the Hunger Games was about. I will admit right away that I am not ideally suited for reading a Young Adult series. The only other YA series I have ever read besides this one is the Harry Potter series, and I have some very unpopular thoughts about that. </p> <p>I have to say that I did quite enjoy this series. It had the things that I predicted it would have: cliched expression about the older generation’s inability to “fix” things in an obviously wrong world,  unbelievable abilities of teenagers and young kids to accomplish the unattainable, cliffhangers (some good and some quite bad), etc. But I think the biggest compliment that I can give to this series is that I finished the whole thing in a week. While meeting many other obligations. It is quite captivating and has moments that force you to keep reading to find out what happens in the next part, the next chapter, the next book. I was also quite captivated by the author’s ability to deliver social commentary regarding our general obsession with a form of “reality television.” What can be deemed as a life or death event for some, becomes mere entertainment for other and the novels are quite successful at blurring these lines. </p> <p>In short, if you have a weekend or two to spare, do pick these up.</p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/16395491567http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/16395491567Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:21:26 -0500suzanne collinsthe hunger gameslitliteraturebooksreadingnovelsfiction1001 Book Project<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lw9qkfuRMj1qblha7o1_400.png"/><br/><br/><p><strong><span>Audrey Niffenegger, <em>Her Fearful Symmetry</em></span></strong></p> <p><span>Despite the alarming lack of posts, I am still alive and reading. </span></p> <p><span>I have had experiences when I read a book and after finishing it, I catch myself thinking “I wish the author was a tiny bit better at writing or constructing this story.” There are many works that are just  so close to being excellent, but don’t quite make the cut, leaving readers disappointed. This is definitely not the case with Niffenegger’s <em>Her Fearful Symmetry. </em>The Blakean reference in the title, combined with my previous appreciation for the author’s <em>The Time Traveller’s Wife, </em>was what prompted to pick up this novel at first and I am very glad I did. </span> If you’ve read Niffenegger’s <em>Time Traveller’s Wife</em>, you might be familiar with her prose and her fascination with the supernatural. Like <em>Time Traveller’s Wife,</em> this novel is full of supernatural elements, but it also includes not one but two sets of twins, a cemetery, London, and even ghosts! I find Niffenegger’s prose captivating, as her works are very well thought out and intelligently composed. She constructs characters that while deeply flawed and problematic are also incredibly lovable, making this novel a very enjoyable read. </p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/14281579271http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/14281579271Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:29:03 -0500audrey NiffeneggerHer Fearful SymmetryBooksReadingLitLiteratureFiction1001 Book Project<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrfj4tQA1X1qblha7o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong>#35: Jonathan Franzen, <em>The Corrections</em></strong></p> <p>I have the ultimate love/hate relationship with Jonathan Franzen. I read <em>Freedom</em> when it first came out and my opinion of Franzen has not changed after reading <em>The Corrections. </em>While thinking that he is an immensely talented writer, I vacillate between classifying Franzen as a misogynist and a misanthrope, but I have come to conclude that he creates deeply flawed characters who try their best in every situation but ultimately only succeed when they have given up on trying to succeed. <em>The Corrections </em>revolves around the Lamberts, a Midwestern family. All five members of the family are going through their unique set of problems, and working hard to resolve their problems only intensifies them. Franzen’s excellent command of language makes it hard to put this book down. </p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/10147052621http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/10147052621Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:01:22 -04001001 Book ProjectJonathan Franzen1001 Books to Read Before You DieThe CorrectionsLiteratureLitAmericanBooks<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lr2vpeGWxW1qblha7o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong>Nicholson Baker, <em>The Mezzanine</em></strong></p> <p>Baker’s <em>The Mezzanine</em> has been on my reading list for a while, and I cannot recall how I first came across it. <em>The Mezzanine</em> is a somewhat tough but great read. Plot-wise, it can be reduced to a single statement—the protagonist rides an escalator to the mezzanine level of a building (and trust me, I did not spoil anything for you there). What makes this book special is the intricate narrative and mental back and forth the protagonist goes through. The best adjective I can find to describe this book is by characterizing it as “Joycean”; Baker crafts a narrative that is simultaneously complex, has a healthy dose of stream-of-consciousness, and is full of footnotes, which seem to narrate a different story on their own. A bit challenging, yet very enjoyable read.</p>http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/9861907843http://onethousandbookproject.tumblr.com/post/9861907843Mon, 05 Sep 2011 21:55:30 -0400Nicholson BakerThe MezzaninebooksLiteraturelit