"Classic" 50 book challenge

turgon

So far

1 Hard Times - Charles Dickens
2 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
3 The Adventures of Huck Finn - Mark Twain
4 A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
5 Last of the Mohican's - James Fenimore Cooper
6 Coming up for Air - George Orwell
7 Keep the Aspidistra Flying - George Orwell
8 The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
9 Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe

Currently on

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

And then

Burmese Days - George Orwell
A Clergymans Daughter - George Orwell
Dracula - Bram Stoker
The Last Man - Mary Shelly
The Leavetaking - John McGahern
The Beach - Alex Garland
Communist Manifesto-Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
The Pearl - John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

Which would be twenty

turgon

Not doing as well as Id like

11 Communist Manifesto-Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles
12 The Pearl - John Steinbeck
13 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
14 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
15 The Beach - Alex Garland

Currently on

16 Burmese Days - George Orwell

turgon

Considering this is half way through the year Im technically on target, but Im still not that satisfied!

16 Burmese Days - George Orwell
17 Dracula - Bram Stoker
18 The Leavetaking - John McGahern
19 The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
20 For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway
21 Amsterdam - Ian McEwan
22 A Passage to India - E.M. Forster
23 In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
24 The Spire - William Golding
25 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce
26 Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - RL Stevenson

Currently on

27 To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf

turgon

28 - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
Good book, that charts what society would be like if we were consumed by science. However far from being irrelevant, it actually can be applied to our lives to some extent. Its clear to see that Orwell took influence from it for 1984.

29 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
I had read this when I was 16 or so, I re-read it and I only fully understand it now. An absolutely fantastic book. The way Lee uses characters and event to give us an impression of people and society is a whole is great.

Currently on
30 - The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad.

turgon

Finished The Secret Agent. Pretty dark novel it seemed to me. I liked the parts where he "studyed" the anarchists.


Number 31 - Catch-22

turgon

After finishing some 70 pages of Catch-22, I took a detour, and in fact its only the second time Ive ever cut a book short. I saw a small book "Teach Yourself Economics" in my girlfriends house, and thought I would read it. Though not literature its certainly reading!

I wanted some knowledge in this area of study principally because of the socialistic discussions in the politics forum, in which I was uncomfortably aware of my own short comings on the economic theory aspect.

It was an old book, originally written before the second world war, with this "new edition" being only 43 years old. But at least it introduced some terminology, which according to Wikipedia hasnt changed. I intend in the near future to get a more detailed economics book; this may coincide with my studying it as a part of Maths Science in UCC next year.

So back to reading Catch-22. Welln at least until the book club books start arriving, which will probably be tomorrow. I dont mind too much, not really taken with Catch-22. Heres hoping that the final five sixths will be better than the first.

turgon

Finished no 32 Death and the Penguin.

On to no. 33, Dead Souls.

Then back to Catch 22 after that (if I can resist the Hemingway books coming tomorrow).

turgon

Finished:
33. Dead Souls - Nickoloi Gogol
34. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

Hoping to get Slaughterhouse 5 (Kurt Vonnegut) read between now and Monday morning, when I go on 30 days traveling around Europe. I will be bringing the following books with me:

A Farewell To Arms - Ernest Hemingway
The Trial - Franz Kafka
The Heart of the Matter - Graham Greene
On the Road - Jack Kerouac

turgon

Number 35. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.

A novel about the fire burning of Dresden during the closing months of WWII. Vonnegut has ingenious "aliens" in the story, that serve many purposes imo, such as being objective spectators of mankind. They also introduce the concept of being unstuck in time, which means that the protagonist can visit past moments of his life as if he were living them. Combined with this is the idea one cannot change these moments; one must simply live the moment. Combined with the biblical verse that is included "God grant me the serenity to accept the thing I cannot change", this concept gives us a guideline for dealing with the past.

The best war book Ive ever read, and one of the best books Ive ever read.

5/5 for sure. Compulsory reading material.

turgon

Ok I had brief synopsizes of these, ala Lemon Sherbert, but the page refreshed and I couldnt be bothered typing out again.

36 The Heart of the Matter - Graham Greene
An interesting book, where the scene of colonial Africa provides that background to an interesting evaluation of an dilema wrought man.

37 A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway
The most enjoyable Hemingway so far.

Pregnancy: metaphor for peace?

38 Freakonomics - two people I couldnt really care about
Dull, boring. Whats with the hype? One could summarize the whole book in 3 pages.

39 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
While I can see why people like it, it wasnt me. Still enjoyable, I suppose.

40 The Trial - Kafka
Was actually outside Kafkas house in Prague while I was reading this book. A strong central message that must be heeded even in this safe time of democracy and the EU. Had a poor translation that didnt employ paragraphs properly though, so it was a bit tedious. If one has any remote interest in law/judiciary matters this book is a must.

Currently on Kim by Rudyard Kipling. I have only read like 20 pages in a week though :eek:

turgon

41 The Road to Serfdom - FA Hayek
A political/economic book written in the middle of the second world war. Very popular amongst economic liberals. Hayek argues that socialism lead inevitable to totalitarianism. He talks about different kind of freedom, and how liberty is always lost in a centrally planned economy. He also discusses the lack of "truth" in such societies, and about the comparisons between Fascism and Socialism in practice. I think its a book that anyone who has any opinion or interest in matters of politics should read.

Hayek won the Noble Memorial Prize in Economics. Not actually a Nobel prize, but still prestigious.

42 Kim - Rudyard Kipling.
I dont know if this is a contradiction but despite the fact it took me 2 or 3 weeks to read this book, and that I couldn't really get into it, it is certainly the most enjoyable book about colonial India I have read. I suppose it takes a totally different perspective. Written in 1900. Weaves the spiritual in with the political, as it follows Kim and his priest across India in search of the river that will grant Nirvana. What I found so attractive was principally the main character Kim.


Currently on Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. I started it Sunday evening and Im already 3/4s the way through. Very funny. Funnier than Catch 22, in my opinion. Lots of irony and contradictions as it exposes American culture and society. Will report more when finished!

BossArky

turgon wrote: »

42 Kim - Rudyard Kipling.
I dont know if this is a contradiction but despite the fact it took me 2 or 3 weeks to read this book, and that I couldn't really get into it, it is certainly the most enjoyable book about colonial India I have read. I suppose it takes a totally different perspective. Written in 1900. Weaves the spiritual in with the political, as it follows Kim and his priest across India in search of the river that will grant Nirvana. What I found so attractive was principally the main character Kim.

I have that book for a few years. Must check it out.

turgon

43 Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
A pretty funny book that is essentially an attack on American society and this notion of free will. Vonnegut believes humans to be nothing more than machines and that we arent as free as we believe. At one point he describes the plot of a fictional book by Kilgore Trout, one of the main protagonists. The book is about the only man God has ever created with true free will. Every morning he goes up to a lake and shouts out a random phrase or word such as "cheese." At first I laughed at this mans stupidity. But then when you think of it you realize that the only reasos your not saying cheese and being so random is because you really dont have as much free will as you think. Your actions and words are very much set by society.

Lots to be read from Breakfast of Champions in my opinion. However its in no way heavy and the humour can be great. Especially when one of the sections in it is nothing more than Vonnegut listing out the penis dimensions of the main characters and himself. Good stuff!!! :pac:


Onto Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell, next.