100+ Books in 2025 discussion

So this year I've tasked myself 40 books to read...but I've included some classics in this...

With this group in mind I'm increasing this to 100!

So far this year, 4 books down, half way through a fifth (goddamn Finnegans Wake so it's taking some time!)

1) The First Third by Neal Cassady. Put a review up, but basically the main "bio" section is a bit pretentious, the afterword and other letters and writings are pretty interesting.

2) Ernest HemmingwayFor Whom the Bell Tolls Really liked this book, fantastic read once you get your head around the "translated" Spanish

3) The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test - loved it. See my review for more!

4) Naked Lunch - struggled with this...big time!

And now struggling my way through Finnegans Wake...hopefully be done in a few more days!

5) Finnegans Wake by James Joyce. BOY was this hard work! Looking online it seems many of started, but few have finished this monstrosity of a book...it was hard going, but I think worth it? I only "got" about 10% of what Joyce was sprouting about - but what I did understand was extremely amusing, and the use of rhyme and puns were outstanding.

6) The Men Who Stare at Goats - the book is certainly better than the film, but it's a bit of a conspiracy theorists book - seems to have a lot of facts but leaves a few unanswered questions. Even the author finishes off saying he's not sure what the book's about! Still enjoyed the read though.

7) The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry - interesting read, and amusing in the way that he is.

8) Skagboys by Irvine Welsh. A prequel to Trainspotting, delving deeper into the main characters back story. If you like Welsh you're gonna love this.

9) The Basketball Diaries - the classic diaries that was the basis of the movie. Gritty, real, slightly disturbing and fantastic.

10) The Lifeboat
11) An Idiot Abroad: The Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington
12) Gypsy Boy

13) Ham on Rye Yes! Loved it...

14) The Great Gatsby

The Picture of Dorian Gray

16) Hollywood by Charles Bukowski. 2nd book of his Hank Chinaski classics, will buy and read more as I find them

17) Ulysses

18) The Catcher in the Rye

19) High Fidelity

20) Fever Pitch

21)Notes of a Dirty Old Man

2) Small Island

23) Dubliners

24) Tales of Ordinary Madness

25) The Further Adventures of An Idiot Abroad

26) The Sound and the Fury

27) Paradise Squandered

28) Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame & Degradation in the '80s

29) The Book of Dave

30) Bad Monkey

31) World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

32) Lady Chatterley's Lover

33) The Call of the Wild

34) White Fang

35) Tender Is the Night

36) The Love of the Last Tycoon

37) Criminal

38) The Gringo Trail

39) Post Office

40) 1984

Hit my original reading challenge target! Not sure I'm gonna get to 100.

How the feck have some people already read 100 books? Do they not work, have a family, have a life?!

41) Nerd Do Well

42) Just Kids

43) Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

44) Put Out More Flags

45) Catch-22

46) The Subterraneans

47) Pic

48) No Country for Old Men

49) Screwjack If you buy this book online, on a whim, like I did...beware it's actually only 40 or so pages, in large print...so for a fiver it's a bit tough to quantify it's value!

50) Closing Time

51) Hell's Angels

52) Animal Farm

53) To Kill a Mockingbird

54) Fahrenheit 451

55) Back To Front Benjy

56) Breakfast of Champions

57) The Talented Mr. Ripley

58) Survivor

OK. So I didn't exactly get that close to the 100. But I did smash my initial target of 40 so not all that bad!