Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Main 2025 Challenge

"The Matrix" - 49 G1000 titles comprised of 7 from each of 7 sub-categories;
plus 3 more from the "Ones That Got Away" additional titles:

. Crime... . Comedy... Family&Self SF&Fantasy StateNation War&Travel Love
+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Tiger In | Before.. | Good.... |MemoirsOf | Personal | Silver.. | The Go-..|
| TheSmoke | Lunch... | Behaviour|ASurvivor | ity..... | Stallion | Between..|
+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| The Big. |BrightLigh|HowGreenWs| Ingenious|This Sport| Death Of |Breakfast@|
| Blowdown |ts,BigCity|MyValley. | Pain.... |ing Life. | A Hero.. |Tiffany's |
+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Lush Life| Less Than|Invitation| Erewhon. |CaseOfComr| Covenant | Manon .. |
| ........ | Angels.. |ToTheWaltz| ........ |adeTulayev|With Death| Lescaut. |
+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
|Rogue Male| Nice Work| Face Of. | Golden . | Afternoon| Enigma . | Living . |
| ........ | ........ | Another. | Compass. | Men..... | ........ | ........ |
+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
|TrueHistry|DiaryProvi|Magnificen| The .... |GoodbyeTo | She .... | The .... |
|KellyGang |ncial Lady|tAmbersons| Prestige |Berlin .. | ........ | Parasites|
+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Jurassic | Saint .. | Sound Of |Girlfriend|Chronicle |ParadesEnd| Nightwood|
| Park ... | Trinian's| My Voice |In A Coma.|In Stone. |1SomeDoNot| ........ |
+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Live.... | Towers Of|My Name Is| Mysteries| Bete.... | Men At ..| Regency. |
| Flesh... | Trebizond| Asher Lev| OfUdolpho| Humaine. | Arms ....| Buck ... |
+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Night And| ........ | Niebla.. | ........ | Fortnight| ........ | ........ |
| The City | ........ |(Unamuno) | ........ | In Sept. | ........ | ........ |
+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+

making my normal total of 52 (1 per week)

N.B.those in bold are those assigned for the current month


*** INDEX OF CHALLENGES ***
Ongoing:
see Message 457 for Challenge: Balzac's La Comédie Humaine - no time limit...
(7 of 100 completed as of 15/01/25)
Archive:
see Message 77 for Challenge 1: "Crazy 88" (main 2016)
see Message 75 for Review of 2016 Challenge
see Message 206 for Challenge 2: "Sensible 60" (main 2017)
see Message 207 for Review of 2017 Challenge
see Message 262 for Challenge 3: "52 Few" (main 2018)
see Message 266 for Review of 2018 Challenge
see Message 331 for Challenge 4: "New 52 Few" (main 2019)
see Message 327 for Review of 2019 Challenge
see Message 379 for Challenge 5: "52 Few: Book-A-Week Surprise" (main 2020)
see Message 5 for "Book For Every Year Since Birth Challenge" - FINISHED (17/01/21)
see Message 2 for "101 Years Challenge" - FINISHED (31/12/21)
see Messages 403 & 404 for Challenge 6: "52 Few" (main 2021) & review
see Message 419 for Challenge 7: "52 Few" (main 2022) & review
see Messages 437 & 438 for Challenge 8: "52 Few" (main 2023) & review
see Message 284 for "33 Books for 33 Albums Challenge" (no time limit) - FINISHED (16/01/24)
see Messages 460 & 461 for Challenge 9: "52 Few" (main 2024) & review
*** END OF INDEX ***

101 Years Challenge

To read one book from each of the 101 years up to/including the year of my birth.
[idea copied from Manda (Thanks Manda!)]

101 Years Down, so... FINISHED! on 31/12/21.

✓ 1864: Uncle Silas [Journey To The Centre Of The Earth]
✓ 1865: Alice in Wonderland
✓ 1866: Crime and Punishment
✓ 1867: Thérèse Raquin
✓ 1868: The Moonstone
✓ 1869: Sentimental Education [War And Peace]
✓ 1870: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
✓ 1871: The Coming Race
✓ 1872: Middlemarch
✓ 1873: The Way of All Flesh [Around The World In 80 Days]
✓ 1874: Far from the Madding Crowd
✓ 1875: The Crime of Father Amaro
✓ 1876: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
✓ 1877: Anna Karenina
✓ 1878: The Europeans
✓ 1879: The Egoist
✓ 1880: Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
✓ 1881: The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas
✓ 1882: Ghosts
✓ 1883: Treasure Island [Thus Spoke Zarathustra]
✓ 1884: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions [La Regenta]
✓ 1885: Bel-Ami [Germinal]
✓ 1886: A Romance of Two Worlds
✓ 1887: A Study in Scarlet
✓ 1888: The Diary of a Nobody [The Man Who Would Be King]
✓ 1889: Three Men in a Boat
✓ 1890: Hunger
✓ 1891: The Picture of Dorian Gray
✓ 1892: The Yellow Wallpaper
✓ 1893: The Odd Women
✓ 1894: The Great God Pan [The Viceroys]
✓ 1895: The Red Badge of Courage [The Time Machine]
✓ 1896: Effi Briest (+ The Country Of The Pointed Firs)
✓ 1897: Dracula
✓ 1898: The War of the Worlds
✓ 1899: The Awakening [Dom Casmurro; Heart Of Darkness (written)]
✓ 1900: Sister Carrie
✓ 1901: Kim [The Hound Of The Baskervilles]
✓ 1902: The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains [Heart Of Darkness (published)]
✓ 1903: The Call of the Wild
✓ 1904: Nostromo
✓ 1905: The Four Just Men [Scarlet Pimpernel]
✓ 1906: The Man of Property (Forsyte Saga #1)
✓ 1907: Mother [The Willows]
✓ 1908: The Old Wives' Tale [A Room With A View; The Wind In The Willows]
✓ 1909: Jakob von Gunten (aka Institute Benjamenta) [The History of Mr Polly; The Gate]
✓ 1910: Howards End
✓ 1911: Zuleika Dobson
✓ 1912: A Princess of Mars [Death In Venice]
✓ 1913: Swann's Way (Remembrance of Things Past#1)
✓ 1914: Penrod [The Dead]
✓ 1915: The Rainbow [The Golem; Victory]
✓ 1916: The Home and the World
✓ 1917: South Wind [Summer]
✓ 1918: My Ántonia
✓ 1919: Winesburg, Ohio
✓ 1920: Main Street [A Voyage to Arcturus]
✓ 1921: The Good Soldier Švejk
✓ 1922: Ulysses [Kristin Lavransdatter]
✓ 1923: Confessions of Zeno [A Lost Lady]
✓ 1924: Augustus Carp, Esq... [The Magic Mountain]
✓ 1925: Mrs. Dalloway [The Trial; The White Guard]
✓ 1926: Lolly Willowes [Alberta & Jacob; The Castle]
✓ 1927: The Twelve Chairs
✓ 1928: Decline and Fall
✓ 1929: All Quiet on the Western Front [The Poisoned Chocolates Case; Pather Panchali]
✓ 1930: The Maltese Falcon
✓ 1931: Malice Aforethought
✓ 1932: Light in August [Cold Comfort Farm; Brave New World]
✓ 1933: Lost Horizon [Cheese]
✓ 1934: They Were Counted [And Quiet Flows The Don; Independent People]
✓ 1935: Mr Norris Changes Trains [Paths Of Glory]
✓ 1936: War with the Newts [Double Indemnity]
✓ 1937: Their Eyes Were Watching God [The Hobbit]
✓ 1938: Rebecca [They Drive By Night; Brighton Rock; Count Belisarius; The Tartar Steppe(written)]
✓ 1939: The Grapes of Wrath [The Big Sleep]
✓ 1940: For Whom the Bell Tolls [The Tartar Steppe(published)]
✓ 1941: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward [Herself Surprised; Hangover Square]
✓ 1942: Darkness Falls from the Air
✓ 1943: The Glass Bead Game
✓ 1944: The Horse's Mouth
✓ 1945: The Pursuit of Love [The Death Of Virgil; The Long Ships; The Bridge On The Drina]
✓ 1946: All the King's Men [Titus Groan]
✓ 1947: Under the Volcano [The Slaves Of Solitude]
✓ 1948: The Naked and the Dead
✓ 1949: Nineteen Eighty-Four [The Asphalt Jungle]
✓ 1950: A Town Like Alice
✓ 1951: A Dance to the Music of Time: 1st Movement [Catcher In The Rye; My Cousin Rachel]
✓ 1952: Invisible Man [Excellent Women; Wise Blood; The Palm-Wine Drinkard]
✓ 1953: Black Wings Has My Angel [Fahrenheit 451]
✓ 1954: Lucky Jim [The Lord Of The Rings; Unknown Soldiers]
✓ 1955: The Tree of Man [The Talented Mr Ripley; Andersonville]
✓ 1956: The Devil to Pay in the Backlands [My Family And Other Animals; The Stars My Destination]
✓ 1957: Angel [Arturo's Island; A Rage In Harlem; On The Road]
✓ 1958: The Leopard [Saturday Night and Sunday Morning]
✓ 1959: Zazie in the Metro [Billy Liar; Cider With Rosie]
✓ 1960: The Sot-Weed Factor [A Kind Of Loving]
✓ 1961: Revolutionary Road [Solaris; Riders In The Chariot]
✓ 1962: A Clockwork Orange [A Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich; We Have Always Lived In The Castle]
✓ 1963: V [The Bell Jar; The Spy Who Came In From The Cold; Hopscotch; The Group]
✓ 1964: Beauty and Sadness

(N.B. Titles in square brackets indicate other books that I've read for that year, which I've thought excellent)

I like this idea of grouping the classics, and throwing in a non-classic each month. Great list--you're obviously not a "slug"-ish reader!

This is not only a great idea but a great list too! I may have to follow your lead next year (this year I have waayyyyy too many reading commitments and challenges). I wish you lots of luck and look forward to hearing your comments on these books... and what the rest of your lists look like. ;-)

aaaand following on from 101 Years Challenge, leads naturally into:

Book For Every Year Since Birth Challenge:

CHALLENGE COMPLETED ON 17/01/21 - 56 books read before my 57th birthday!

✓ 1964 - Beauty and Sadness (Yasunari Kawabata)
✓ 1965 - The Magus (John Fowles) [Dune]
✓ 1966 - To Each His Own (Leonardo Sciascia)
✓ 1967 - Towards the End of the Morning (Michael Frayn)
✓ 1968 - Camp Concentration (Thomas M Disch) [True Grit; Kestrel For A Knave; Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?]
✓ 1969 - Portnoy's Complaint (Philip Roth) [The Godfather]
✓ 1970 - The Bluest Eye (Toni Morrison) [The Friends Of Eddie Coyle; Deliverance; Get Carter]
✓ 1971 - The Exorcist (William Peter Blatty)
✓ 1972 - The Harpole Report (JL Carr) [Roadside Picnic]
✓ 1973 - The Princess Bride (William Goldman)
✓ 1974 - Porterhouse Blue (Tom Sharpe) [Invisible Cities; Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy]
✓ 1975 - Hello Summer, Goodbye (Michael G Coney) [The History Man; Changing Places, The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin; High Rise]
✓ 1976 - The Hearing Trumpet (Leonora Carrington)
✓ 1977 - A Judgement in Stone (Ruth Rendell)
✓ 1978 - Tales Of The City (Armistead Maupin) [Life: A User's Manual]
✓ 1979 - A Dry White Season (Andre Brink) [H2G2]
✓ 1980 - The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum) [A Confederacy Of Dunces; Housekeeping]
✓ 1981 - Gorky Park (Martin Cruz Smith) [Darconville's Cat]
✓ 1982 - If Not Now, When? (Primo Levi)
✓ 1983 - Shame (Salman Rushdie)
✓ 1984 - Nights At The Circus (Angela Carter) [The Wasp Factory]
✓ 1985 - Lonesome Dove (Larry McMurty) [The New York Trilogy]
✓ 1986 - Extinction (Thomas Bernhard)
✓ 1987 - The Bonfire of the Vanities (Tom Wolfe) [Beloved]
✓ 1988 - Breathing Lessons (Anne Tyler) [The Coming Of The King]
✓ 1989 - Samarkand (Amin Maalouf) [The History Of Luminous Motion]
✓ 1990 - The Buddha Of Suburbia (Hanif Kureishi) [The Things They Carried; The Snapper]
✓ 1991 - The Famished Road (Ben Okri)
✓ 1992 - Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow (Peter Høeg) [Fatherland; Clockers]
✓ 1993 - The Shipping News (Annie Proulx) [The Virgin Suicides; Trainspotting; La Maravilla]
✓ 1994 - Only Forward (Michael Marshall Smith)
✓ 1995 - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Haruki Murakami) [Morvern Callar]
✓ 1996 - Infinite Jest (David Foster Wallace) [Death And The Penguin; Excession]
✓ 1997 - Great Apes (Will Self) [Underworld]
✓ 1998 - The Savage Detectives (Roberto Bolaño) [The Restraint Of Beasts]
✓ 1999 - Disgrace (JM Coetzee) [Cryptonomicon]
✓ 2000 - House of Leaves (Mark Danielewski) [The Minotaur Takes A Cigarette Break]
✓ 2001 - Bold as Love (Gwyneth Jones) [American Gods]
✓ 2002 - Everything Is Illuminated (Jonathan Safran Foer)
✓ 2003 - Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi)
✓ 2004 - Air (Geoff Ryman)
✓ 2005 - Beyond Black (Hilary Mantel)
✓ 2006 - White Man Falling (Mike Stocks)
✓ 2007 - Darkmans (Nicola Barker)
✓ 2008 - The Sacred Book of the Werewolf (Victor Pelevin)
✓ 2009 - The Gray House (Mariam Petrosyan)
✓ 2010 - Harmony (Project Itoh) [The Big Short]
✓ 2011 - The Sisters Brothers (Patrick deWitt)
✓ 2012 - Pig Iron (Benjamin Myers)
✓ 2013 - Ancillary Justice (Ann Leckie)
✓ 2014 - Station Eleven (Emily St.John Mandel)
✓ 2015 - A Little Life (Hanya Yanagihara) [The Field Of The Cloth Of Gold]
✓ 2016 - The Association of Small Bombs (Karan Mahajan)
✓ 2017 - 4 3 2 1 (Paul Auster)
✓ 2018 - Milkman (Anna Burns)
✓ 2019 - The Wall (John Lanchester)

--- END ---

Wow, you're like me with huge lists of books to read! I think I've read 10 that are on your list, a couple are my favourite ever books and a couple I hated, but there's plenty of great books to choose from. Good luck!

finished 9th & 10th books off this list over the weekend, namely:
The New York Trilogy and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
coincidentally the two best books I've read so far this year
although I can feel my first 5-Star will be along soon... ;o)

I read One Day in the Life last year and thought it was very good. I am not sure how people could survive the cold the way they did with scant clothing or little food.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich sounds fascinating Darren. I'm going to watch for your review.

Dune was indeed 5-stars as suspected
did a review for 1DITLOID

End of February Status: "Crazy 88" would require 14 books to be finished by now, and I've done 12, so not too far off...

End Of March Update:
4 more done and dusted
two 3 Stars - Three Soldiers and Novel on Yellow Paper - both very interesting stylistically but unsatisfying overall
two 4 Stars - Snow Crash (see review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) and Strangers on a Train which was very well written (would've been so easy for this to be very clunky/cliched)

so 16 so far - should be 22 after first quarter of year, so really need to focus on Crazy 88's for the next month or two to get on track...

End Of April Update:
6 more finished:
The Godfather - 5 Stars - Masterpiece.
Jane Eyre, After London: or, Wild England and The Kraken Wakes - 3 Star-ers
52 Pick Up and The War of the Worlds - 4 Star-ers
I need to be averaging 8 challenge books per month, so 6 seems a little short, but I have also read big chunks of American Gods, Hyperion and The Trial, so think I am just about still on track...

I see you've rated "Jane Eyre" 3-stars. I gave this and CBs "Villette" 2-stars each.

I liked Emily and Anne's books more than CBs two that I've read.

Darren wrote: "End Of April Update:
6 more finished:
The Godfather - 5 Stars - Masterpiece.
Jane Eyre, After London: or, Wild England and The Kraken Wakes - 3..."

Lots of great reading! And I must say "Yay" for The Godfather. Surprised me so much years ago how much I loved this book!

The fall-out from my abandonment of Hyperion continues!

Realised that I was going to have to invoke the reserve book from my post-1964 Sci-Fi category... which was Solaris... which was published in 1961 (doh!) - so I have replaced it with Iain M. Banks' Excession - I read the first four of his Culture series when they were first published, so will be interested to see how the 5th one compares/continues...

(*** Boring Explanantion Alert! *** The reason I made the mistake with Solaris is that I orginally split my two sci-fi categories at 1960, but didn't have quite enough candidates pre-1960, so moved the boundary to 1964 to drop "Stranger In A Strange Land" (1961) into the earlier category while retaining "Dune" (1965) in the later category - and justifying the new boundary at 1964 on the basis that it was the year I was born! *** Boring Explanantion Ends! ***)

Haha, I like your explanation for the boundary move! I hope you have better luck with Excession.

Wow, heavy list, go for it!

End Of May Update

OK so I had my readingest ever month with 14 (FOURTEEN) (count them!) books read in May ("Hoo-Yeah!" as Peggy Hill would say)

2 were non-challenge (The Wendigo and Siddhartha)
1 was Hyperion which I abandoned so doesn't really count (although I did get to page 300 before giving up)
11 were "Crazy 88"

three 5-Stars:
The Trial - Franz Kafka - astounding, after reading free gutenberg version felt compelled to buy physical copy in a more recent translation which I will be reading soon!
My Family And Other Animals - Gerald Durrell - as enchanting/delightful as I remembered it from reading when a teenager.
The Hound Of The Baskervilles - Arthur Conan Doyle - probably the book I've read most often in my life, always a joy.

five 4-Stars:
American Gods - Neil Gaiman - tremendous achievement, "petered out" a little towards the end.
Journey To The Centre Of The Earth - Jules Verne - another multiply-reread "comfy slipper" book.
The Pursuit Of Love - Nancy Mitford - beautifully written, funny, touching, close to 5 stars.
Atonement - Ian McEwan - difficult to explain why I didn't give this 5-stars, too good somehow!?
Ringworld - Larry Niven - unusual narrative style, good characterisation/dialogue, myriad of ideas, bit too much going on at once.

three 3-stars:
We - Yevgeny Zamyatin - unusual, ground-breaking, but clunky.
Emma - Jane Austen - v.well written, but excruciating.
Crome Yellow - Aldous Huxley - v.well written, but inconsequential.

so that's 33 down, 55 to go, so still need to be doing 8 per month...

Darren wrote: "End Of May Update

OK so I had my readingest ever month with 14 (FOURTEEN) (count them!) books read in May ("Hoo-Yeah!" as Peggy Hill would say)

2 were non-challenge (The Wendigo and Siddhartha)
1..."

Awesome, Darren. A great job well done and a such diverse selection at that. Amazing, congratulations!!!

Wowsers, well done, Darren! I hope you enjoyed your spectacular month of reading! :)

Congratulations Darren! I love the way you provided us a feel for these in such a few words--thanks! Can't wait to see what you get read in June. :-)

Darren wrote: "End Of May Update

OK so I had my readingest ever month with 14 (FOURTEEN) (count them!) books read in May ("Hoo-Yeah!" as Peggy Hill would say)

2 were non-challenge (The Wendigo and Siddhartha)
1..."

That's interesting to see your thoughts on books I've read and have been meaning to read! I agree The Hound of the Baskervilles is great, it was my first and continues to be my favourite Sherlock. On the other hand I really didn't care for Atonement at all. I've been meaning to read We and Crome Yellow for quite some time, so it's helpful to read what you've thought of these too. Well done for reading 14 books this month!

Darren wrote: "End Of May Update

OK so I had my readingest ever month with 14 (FOURTEEN) (count them!) books read in May ("Hoo-Yeah!" as Peggy Hill would say)

2 were non-challenge (The Wendigo and Siddhartha)
1..."


Okay that is very cool.

Pink - Thanks for your interest! :o)
Crome Yellow is quite short, amusing, easy-reading style - I whizzed through it and would recommend.
We is a bit "heavier", unusual and again quite short (so doesn't outlive its welcome) and worth reading from the POV of history of dystopian novels if nothing else.
Atonement I thought was "TOO good of a book"! The best way I can describe is to say that it struck me as an object lesson in how I imagine you're encouraged to write on a creative writing course - but it was actually so good it didn't seem contrived (i.e. I expect McEwan is naturally talented!). It was just a little bit "soulless" somehow - for instance, it was a bit TOO obvious that he'd done extensive research on the retreat to Dunkirk and on the nursing profession. I enjoyed reading it though, sweeping through it in short order.

I think of We as the dystopian classic I should try as a forerunner to Brave New World and 1984. Both of which I loved so it has a lot to live up to for me.

I read Atonement a few years ago and remember loving the first half, it's definitely a novel that sweeps you away, but I had major problems by the end and found it so contrived. On the plus side, I actually enjoyed the film version.

Darren wrote: "We is a bit "heavier", unusual and again quite short (so doesn't outlive its welcome) and worth reading from the POV of history of dystopian novels if nothing else."

Have you read Forster's The Machine Stops, 1909? Another influential early dystopian story that fits neatly into that progression through We to Brave New World.

Oh my, I read The Machine Stops countless times, I loved it! Good advice!

Jon - The Machine Stops is indeed on my radar as a short story - but thanks for reminding me cos I've just found free online text linked off the Wikipedia entry! :oD

It was always going to be a big ask to keep up the heady heights of May where I brought in 130 pages/day(!) and indeed I have felt like I was somewhat resting on my laurels in June, but still managed to log 85 pages a day and bring in a further 7 from the "Crazy 88":

One 3-Star:
The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen - Rudolf Erich Raspe - very entertaining, but episodic.

Two 4-Stars:
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers - very well written, but bit "worthy"
My Antonia - Willa Cather - simple wistful tale, succeeded well on it's own terms

Quality over quantity this month with FOUR 5-Stars:
A Kestrel for a Knave - Barry Hines - gritty, realistic, moving coming-of-age
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole - Coruscating lead character, don't remember last time I laughed out loud so much
The Master And Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov - amazing Russian fantasy, nooo idea what was going on!
Roadside Picnic - Arkady & Boris Strugatsky - unusual, atmospheric Russian sci-fi, inspired one of my fave movies (Tarkowsky's "Stalker")

so, at the half-way point of the year, that's 40 down, 48 to go - bang on 8 per month needed...

Could you elaborate your thoughts on Roadside Picnic a bit. I'm a fan of the film too, am I likely to be disappointed? My understanding is that it is a very loose adaptation.

Darren wrote: The Master And Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov - amazing Russian fantasy, nooo idea what was going on!

LOL! I appreciate your comment about The Master and Margarita. I, too, loved the book, but most of its meaning definitely escaped me. I knew it was supposed to be a satire of the Soviet Union, but beyond that, it just read like a fantasy. I felt like I was blindfolded, riding on a roller-coaster. Who knew what would happen next? I'll need to read it again, I think, with the help of a "companion to..." book to explain more of Bulgakov's satire to me.

MMG - I agree wrt need to re-read M&M - next time I will take it slower and try to understand all the allusions - but it was still a 5-Star "Roller-Coaster Read" the first time!

Jon - I would say that the basic premise and the overall "feel" of the book and the film are very similar - I think Tarkowsky distilled down the "essence" of the book and made a more minimalist film of that - whereas the book could be made shot-for-shot as a film and still be good (just not the one Tarkowsky made!)
I rate both book and film as 5-Star so I'd be very surprised if you were disappointed and would encourage you to read... :o)

130 pages a day? 85 pages a day?

I'm very impressed. You are a very speedy reader!

You are making good progress.

July was not a good month for the Crazy 88 challenge
got bogged down in three long/dense books (The Name Of The Rose, Nostromo and The Tin Drum)
so only completed 2 more from the list:

one 4-Star:
The Name Of The Rose - very well written, but a big long/too much going on.

one 5-Star:
Nostromo - masterpiece - Conrad rapidly becoming fave author - read this as free e-book, but will now buy a nice vintage hardback and have it sat on my favourites shelf to be multiply re-read into the future... :o)

so, 42 down, 46 to go, that's 9 per month now (gulp!)

Bogged down....but they looked like good reads! My August is lining up the same way with 3 big books instead of the usual smattering of shorter novels.

Good luck with the next 46 ;)

Darren, I love reading your updates -- keep up the amazing reading.

Pink - I did love all 3 books - by "bogged down" I just meant that because the writing was so "dense" I only read an average of 60 pages per day in July (as compared to 85 per day for January-June) - this in combination with the fact that they were also quite long meant that I completed very few books.

I am not helping myself in August by having started Underworld (824 pages!), but I am going to allow a few shorter books (The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Changing Places, The Death of Grass, Neuromancer) to "queue-jump" their way up the list in order to feel like I'm rattling a few off...

in fact since I recently finished The Stars My Destination I'm already down to 45 ;o)

Your list is great!
Since it's marked as next up, I hope you'll enjoy Brighton Rock as much as I did.
I'd be reading the Neuromancer soon too if I didn't have so many books feeling urgent too.

I thought I had seen your challenge, the Crazy 88! Love it. I recently downloaded Nostromo thinking I might make it my first Conrad rather than "Heart of Darkness". Glad to see you liked it.

update in advance of the final quarter of the year :oO

couple of reserves have been invoked (Tin Drum and Adventures Of Tom Sawyer) due to postponement of 100 Years Of Solitude and abandonment of The Golden Bowl

resulting in 8 more since last time:

Two 3-Stars:
Neuromancer - too much action/not enough characterisation
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - charming but inconsequential

Three 4-Stars:
The Tin Drum - very dense/unusual, lost way towards end
The Bridge of San Luis Rey - well written, but short stories disguised as novel!
The House of Mirth - well written, but difficult to sympathise

Three 5-Stars:
The Stars My Destination - inspiration for Neuromancer and shows how it should be done!
Underworld - masterpiece
The Information - funny, thought-provoking, well plotted, great characters, unusual style - everything a novel should have!

making:
50 finished
38 remaining

realistically, I'm not now going to read 13 per month... OR AM I!?!

Darren wrote: "update in advance of the final quarter of the year :oO

couple of reserves have been invoked (Tin Drum and Adventures Of Tom Sawyer) due to postponement of 100 Years Of Solitude and abandonment of ..."

You can do it! (maybe)

Darren wrote: "realistically, I'm not now going to read 13 per month... OR AM I!?! ..."

good luck, I'm in the same boat and sand is flying out of the 2016 hour glass, can I, can you, can we, finish in time? I hope so.

Good luck with your last 38!!

OK so 6 more in October:

2 x 5-Star (both from Film category!):
Howards End - Close to perfect on all levels, bought it in hardback!
Deliverance - Superb action/adventure overlaid seamlessly with poetic elements.

2 x 4-Star
The Unbearable Lightness Of Being - Good, but trying to do too many things at once.
Gormenghast - Good, but I thought Titus Groan didn't really need a sequel.

1 x 3-Star
The Sheltering Sky - Well Written, but thin plot.

1 x 2-Star
The Corrections - Just Terrible (don't get me started), except for Chip's storyline.

It is now blindingly obvious that I won't be completing this challenge :o( as initially set out, so it's time to start CHEATING! :op

I have made a minor start by marking 3 books as "Avoided"
this means that I am going to count the reserve book instead
in the case of Voss, I will be reading The Bluest Eye instead cos it's shorter!
in the case of Bourne Identity, I've already read The Strange Boarders of Palace Crescent
and in the case of Trainspotting, I will be reading The Shining anyway due to it being in my smaller Old&New challenge (which I am determined [grits_teeth] to finish).

This still means that I have 29 more books to go, so watch out for even more ingenious methods of CHEATING! in the coming weeks... ;o)

I have really enjoyed following your reading journey here Darren.

Wow!

Six books read in October!

What great progress!

Thanks Andrea! :o)
I actually read 8 though (2 weren't in this challenge - Moscow Stations and The Getaway)
my PB is 14 (back in May) (even I don't know how I did that!)

Nothing wrong with cheating! The books that you don't have time for but still want to read, can just be added to next years list!

right!
6 weeks to go, and time to face facts:
not going to manage 88 :o(
will remove 8 and rename challenge as "Crazy 80" (still sounds pretty good!)
have marked 5 as "Removed" already, but not 100% decided as to other 3...

There's no need to decide now, you can pick which 3 to cut later on. You've still done amazingly well this year. I didn't set myself a personal challenge at all this year, but I think I might for 2017.