Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion

Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I cannot believe the only options is The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night.

I think ones like Don Quixote or a few of the Dickens books for length alone... Those 900+ pages can be intimidating!

Any Jane Austen

Amanda wrote: "I don't want to read anymore JM Coetzee. Ever."

I'm seeing conflicting reactions to this author. What is it you don't like about him?

I don't want to read any more D.H. Lawrence

I am with Maggie..Jane Austen...yuk yukky!

Mandy wrote: "I am with Maggie..Jane Austen...yuk yukky!"

Hurrah!

I feel like Jane needs a defender. I love how witty she is and I always feel like I am part of the joke. I also like the strong female characters and I swoon over Darcy.

I've only read Sense and Sensibility and thought it was cute. Where does all this Austen hate come from?

Finnegans Wake by James Joyce. I really disliked A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses, so I think I'm done with this author.

Oh yeah, Finnegans Wake is never gonna happen. Not for me, anyway.

ETA: I'm not jumping up and down to read more Joseph Conrad or Henry James. I haven't ruled them out entirely, but I think I'll save them for last. ;o)

Sandi..I don't hate Austen, I simply dislike her style. Once you have read one, you have met all her characters for any other Austen novel you may read. Glorified romance novels which have somehow stood the test of time...apparently - just not for me. It really wouldn't do for us all to like the same thing otherwise it would be a boring world!
After all the question posed was "which books you don't want to read"... not "which books you don't want to read but please don't say Austen"

Paulo Coelho. I`ve read one of his books some time ago and thought it was pure and utter rubbish. So, not touching any of his books ever again.

Couldn't agree with you more on the Paulo Coelho pick. I thought I didn't have anything for this list but now you reminded me, thanks! Not my taste at all, very boring and self indulgent!

nope

Mandy wrote: "Once you have read one, you have met all her characters for any other Austen novel you may read."

As much as I've liked the Austen books I've read, I must agree with this statement. Because I read them quite a number of years ago, I sometimes forget which character was in which book. :-)

Well I've read this but really disliked it - The Secret History by Donna Tartt - won't be reading anything else by her in a hurry. Awful book.

I'd be happy to give Charles Bukowski a miss. And Harold Pinter. Sorry I just checked, luckily they aren't even on the list.

I'm not looking forward to Ulysses.

I really don't WANT to read anything else by Rushdie, but for the sake of the list, I'll muddle through even though I can't stand him. I know this is subjective, so my reason is that I just don't UNDERSTAND him.

Lisa wrote: "I really don't WANT to read anything else by Rushdie, but for the sake of the list, I'll muddle through even though I can't stand him. I know this is subjective, so my reason is that I just don't ..."

Lisa, Midnight's Children is much easier to decipher than The Satanic Verses. Those are the only two I have read by Rushdie, and I agree he does present a challenge to many of us! He is not for everyone, for sure!

I am not really looking forward to Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. I skimmed the first few pages and it just seems so dense.

The Water Babies. Tried it again recently and gave up - something I never do as a self confessed completist.

Sigh.

Corina wrote: "Paulo Coelho. I`ve read one of his books some time ago and thought it was pure and utter rubbish. So, not touching any of his books ever again."


Amen.

From reading and disliking the following books I don't want to read anything else by these authors:
Margaret Atwood- The Blind Assassin
Ian McEwan- Amsterdam
George Orwell- Animal Farm & Down and out in London and Paris

Although I enjoyed parts I thought Captain Corelli's Mandolin I thought it was quite strange so am not tempted by Louis de Bernieres's Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord.

I thought James Ellroy's LA Confidential was THE WORST BOOK I'VE EVER READ, so it'll take me until I've read all of the other books in existence before I read something else by him.

I read Sebastian Faulks's Devil May care and was unimpressed so I sharn't be reading Birdsong.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude was akin to 100 years of boredom so I'm not tempted by anything else by him.

I'm not looking forward to reading Nabokov's Lolita as it's pretty creepy subject matter.

Also want to avoid Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho, despite owning 2 copies after having read excerpts from a friend's novel which were pretty grim to say the least.

Dbolden wrote: "Corina wrote: "Paulo Coelho. I`ve read one of his books some time ago and thought it was pure and utter rubbish. So, not touching any of his books ever again."


Amen."

Amen....again.

Pilgrimage by Dorothy Richardson. Huge expensive out-of-print experimental novel unread by even most literature geeks. Yeah, I'm gonna let that one go.

Concerned by Ulysses; I might cry if I have to read another Thomas Hardy book and now having some doubts about Paulo Coelho. Yikes!

Ginny, I loved Thomas Hardy - so despite my urgghhh about Coelho I would still say give it a go....but borrow it either from library or a friend. Everyones tastes are different and that is a good thing. If you borrow it and you dont like it, then it hardly hurts.

it might be interesting to come back to this thread in 20 years and try some of those you now hate. What I'm noticing is that, as I grow older, writers I hated years ago (e.g. Hardy) are now striking a chord with me. It's almost as if I've discovered a lot of novels that hated me, rather than novels I've hated. I'm realising there are many books on the list I am not yet literally mature enough to read.

For a more details of books I hated check out pages of the two lowest ratings I award books I review (note that some of these aren't 1001 books but most are).
http://johnandsheena.co.uk/books/?tag...
http://johnandsheena.co.uk/books/?tag...

Arukiyomi wrote: "it might be interesting to come back to this thread in 20 years and try some of those you now hate. What I'm noticing is that, as I grow older, writers I hated years ago (e.g. Hardy) are now strik..."

I was such a pretentious cub in my teens and assumed that if I didn't like a classic novel, then it was obviously rubbish. So for years after trying to read Middlemarch at fifteen (and finding it dull), I avoided George Eliot. And then about two years ago, I read Adam Bede for a college course, found it much better than expected, and tried Middlemarch again that summer. Cried through the ending, and now Eliot's probably one of my favorite authors.

That said, I'm not sure I will ever be thrilled to read Look Homeward, Angel. I'll probably muddle through it on my second attempt (first attempt was aborted after about 100 pages), but for now, I wish it would just spontaneously combust out of every library in the world.

Chel wrote: "I'm not looking forward to Ulysses."

me neither, it has been sitting on my "to read" shelf at home for ages.

Kristine wrote: "Chel wrote: "I'm not looking forward to Ulysses."

me neither, it has been sitting on my "to read" shelf at home for ages."

Lol.... I have a couple of books that seem to be on the shelf, sneering at me, with a "you looking at me" attitude.

Mandy wrote: "Dbolden wrote: "Corina wrote: "Paulo Coelho. I`ve read one of his books some time ago and thought it was pure and utter rubbish. So, not touching any of his books ever again."

I'm glad I'm not the only one.

Amen."

Amen....again."

120 Days of Sodom, Crash, and Dead Babies are on my Do Not Bother list. Neither sexual fetishism nor dead babies are my cup of tea.

Veronica Decides To Die is one of my favorite books! Well so is Pride and Prejudice is also, but I have tried Emma several times and got nowhere.

I'm no longer reading anything by Graham Greene- The Heart of the Matter was the final straw

wow Laura. What put you off him? Dare I say that he might be one of those authors that you appreciate more the older you get?

Arukiyomi wrote: "wow Laura. What put you off him? Dare I say that he might be one of those authors that you appreciate more the older you get?"
He's a good writer but the stories are sooooo boring, and I'm sick of reading about Catholicism- who cares! :)

Well, I don't necessarily care about Catholicism either. I think the genius of Greene is that he captures the human condition so very precisely. For him, the crises were precipitated by his own dilemmas of Catholic faith. But all of us go through these things, but necessarily for the same reasons... and that's something we all care about I think. In other words, it not necessarily the stories but the characters and their pain that is the point.

Arukiyomi wrote: "Well, I don't necessarily care about Catholicism either. I think the genius of Greene is that he captures the human condition so very precisely. For him, the crises were precipitated by his own dil..."

As you say, it might be something appreciated with a little life experience. I'm sure that many (most?) of the books I read and appreciate now, I would not have appreciated 40 and more years ago.

Arukiyomi wrote: "Well, I don't necessarily care about Catholicism either. I think the genius of Greene is that he captures the human condition so very precisely. For him, the crises were precipitated by his own dil..."

Yes he definitely captures man's darkest thoughts and preoccupations which I enjoyed reading, I found that The Heart of the Matter really dragged and I would prefer to read a book where the main characters turmoil isn't caused by Catholicism.

I attempted to read Simon and the Oaks by Marianne Fredriksson about 12 years ago for a "mommy book club". (Although it was titled as "Simon and his family" or "Simon's family") I HATED that book. Actually "hate" is not even strong enough. I ended up having to special order it at full hardcover price, read about 50-100 pages, and then sold it at my local used bookstore as quickly as possible because I did not want it on my bookshelf in case I accidently picked it up again. No one in the book group liked it (Not even the Gal who chose it!!!), and I was not the only one who didn't bother finishing it -- and it's not like we were "chick lit" mommies, several of us had advanced degrees and we read several of the 1001 books in this group before the list came out! ... More than a decade has passed, and I am still ticked at that book. Nope, I'm not picking it up again anytime soon.
In fairness to Ms. Fredriksson, I wonder if part of it is that I do not seem to enjoy Swedish writing. Any Scandanavian novels I have picked up, I have disliked, even when others sing the book's praises.

Wow! This is interesting!
First, Coelho books are decent parables of the do- the -right- thing nature most have heard and now tell their children. Maybe valuable for the spiritually bereft during a soul-sucking crisis, odd for the list.

Second, the old writer's mantra regarding to write what you know could to be an issue here with others - say, Graham Greene. He stuck somewhat close to home. Or it may not be. It could be the readers disinterest in the writer's world. I am fond of Greene for his writing style, and for his honest religious and life conflicts.

But I also like Coetzee, Pynchon and other undesirables mentioned. Not all of their work; rarely can I say that.

I find it best to do a bit of homework before diving in to a lot of these books. A little intro to the author and some historical context helps me immensely.

As for Jane Austen - however literary pioneer-like - I too am glad she hasn't any others

This thread is a little discouraging for me to read!
So many of you swearing off authors that have so much to say and in such unique ways and from different points of view! I must admit I've had the same reaction to a few I've read from the list, but I'm almost always willing to try another one that has been critically acclaimed because it could be so very, very different.

Margaret Atwood is very different in each of the titles I've read by her: and, as far as I know, Greene never wrote anything else like "The Power and the Glory" and that was his darkest novel. And another example I think of is Paul Coehlo. I don't care for the novels I've read by him so far, but I'm looking forward to "Veronica Decides to Die" anyway.

Yes, it would be interesting to ask each person here how they feel 20 years from now if they tried some of these authors again!

There are definitely some writers who write the same book over and over, just changing details or situations; but by far the most of the ones on the list with multiple books did not do that.

Judith wrote: "Margaret Atwood is very different in each of the titles I've read by her..."

I, too, set aside The Blind Assassin. But I have been encouraged to try one of her others.

I will ... eventually ... I suppose ... if I have to.

(Actually, I've added some to my ever-expanding wish list.)

Have to agree Judith, The Power and the Glory is Greene's darkest that I've read. I've enjoyed the variety of the types of books he wrote, Brighton Rock-Crime, Our Man in Havana-Comedy, The end of the affair-love, The Quiet American-Drama. I've read others of his that aren't on the list, reading Travels with my Aunt and only wish I knew someone like Aunt Augusta.

I remember in high school we did a few of Margaret Atwood's poems and I hated them. I don't remember exactly why now but they seemed forced. Then I read Oryx and Crake and The Tent and loved them both! So I'm actually quite looking forward to reading The Blind Assassin.

One I'm not excited about is Moby Dick.

Just look at Moby Dick as a chance to see what people believed about whales, as well as being a good story.

I have no idea when I might get to Moby Dick (I will, eventually), but it's hard to have escaped some knowledge of the story. I read Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer (not a list book) several years ago, which gets my curiosity up. Apparently Ahab's wife gets a one sentence mention from Melville. The book is well-researched historical fiction which you might enjoy as background.