Wednesday, January 07, 2009

1% well-read challenge completed


1. The Drowned World by JG Ballard
2. Candide by Voltaire
3. Legend by David Gemmell
4. The Third Man by Graham Greene
5. The Invisible Man by HG Wells
6. The Music of Chance by Paul Auster
7. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
8. Mr Vertigo by Paul Auster
9. The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster
10. Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice
11. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway


YAY for me! Reading books off of the 1001 Books To Read Before You Die was something I have kept at the back of my head for awhile. I even carry around the list with me in case I pop in unexpectedly at the library. I'm entirely sure I won't read all of them before I die, but it's an interesting list and points me in a direction I might not normally have chosen. I would have never picked up Legend or The Drowned World without this list.

But there is such a thing as too much. I read 6 of these books in one month and it was overload. I got to where I wasn't enjoying the books I was reading so I backed off a bit and now I can come back to it again slowly. Hopefully in the next year I'll read even more than these 11, but if I don't then that's OK too. This next year I hope will see me finish 1 or 2 titles off this list that I already own that have been sitting on my shelves for awhile.

Favourite from the 11 this year? The Book of Illusions by far. Paul Auster has quickly become one of my favourite authors ever. I also enjoyed A Farewell to Arms more than I thought I would. And very surprising was liking Legend as well as I did.

Least favourite? The Invisible Man by HG Wells. Poorly written, I thought. I didn't care much for any of the characters and didn't care where the story ended up. There are other books by Wells on the list, and I will surely skip them.

Did you participate in this challenge? Are you reading books off of the 1001 list? What're your favourites? I'm currently at 103/1001.

5 comments:

  1. go girl! I am not so much into my reading these days, I am seriously slacking compared to you :o)

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  2. I feel exactly the same about the BBC Top 100 Reads. I loved the concept that it will introduce you to books you wouldn't normally pick up, but then when you begin to read some of them, you realise the reason why you didn't pick them up in the first place! Happy reading!

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  3. Your 11 look like some interesting books. I'll have to look at Legend. I also enjoyed A Farewell to Arms more than I thought I would, although I am generally a hemingway fan.

    What did you think of Candide? I read it last year too. I was surprised by it. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't what I got. I know it was allegory and satire and political and all that, but I didn't expect it to be so . . . vulgar. Strange book.

    I'm lackadaisically keeping track of the 1001 book list. There are books on it that I do not want to read (all the sci-fi) and a couple that I refuse to read, like American Psycho. So I am not going to adopt it as a goal, but I do check every now and then to see how many I have read. I don't know the total number right now, but I was at 28% finished last time I checked.

    Good luck -- keep us posted!

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  4. Emmie - it's difficult, but I've always found time to read. I think I'll definately find it harder this next year.

    Janette - considering you're reading the BBC books I'm quite impressed that you're sticking with the list!

    Rose City Reader - 28% that's really impressive. I think I read somewhere that to be considered 'well-read' people have read about a third of the list. I'm only at 12 or 13 percent! I thought Candide was definately unexpected. I had no idea that it was such a quick read or that it contained so much violence. I don't regret reading it but I don't think I fully appreciated everything about it either!

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  5. Well done completing the challenge! I'm not sure I'll make it but I think she's hosting again so I'll try better this year. I've only read 78 out of 1001 so I have a ways to go. Although there are plenty on there I don't intend to read, it's still a fun list to draw from sometimes.

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