Xuesheng's 1001 Progress

This is the placeholder for my list. I know that I have read about 50 books. Since I'm in my 50's, I have a long way to go and a short time to get there. I'm looking to make a huge dent in retirement whenever that happens.

I have the 2010 edition so my focus is on it, but I will also include books from the other editions.

Link to my 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up list - https://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=82253

Pre 1800 List

1. The Water Margin - My book was titled Outlaws of the Marsh - completed November 22, 2011

2006 Edition
2. Aesop's Fables

1800s

3. Rameau's Nephew - completed March 21, 2012
4. Sense and Sensibility
5. Oliver Twist
6. Jane Eyre
7. Wuthering Heights
8. David Copperfield
9. The Scarlett Letter
10. Moby-Dick
11. Bleak House
12. Great Expectations
13. Silas Marner
14. Les Misérables
15. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
16. Alice Through the Looking Glass
17. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
18. The Picture of Dorian Gray
19. Tess of the D'Urbervilles

2006 Edition
20. A Christmas Carol
21. A Tale of Two Cities
22. The Brothers Karamazov

1900s

23. Heart of Darkness
24. The Jungle
25. The Sun Also Rises
26. A Farewell to Arms
27. Brave New World
28. Tropic of Cancer
29. The Hobbit
30. Of Mice and Men
31. Rebecca
32. The Grapes of Wrath
33. Native Son
34. For Whom the Bell Tolls
35. The Little Prince
36. Animal Farm
37. Nineteen Eighty-Four
38. The Catcher in the Rye
39. The Old Man and the Sea
40. Invisible Man
41. Lord of the Flies
42. The Lord of the Rings
43. Things Fall Apart
44. Rabbit, Run
45. To Kill a Mockingbird
46. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
47. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
48. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
49. The Bluest Eye
50. Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy
51. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
52. The Handmaid's Tale - completed April 17, 2012
53. Kitchen
54. Like Water for Chocolate
55. Wild Swans
56. Smilla's Sense of Snow
57. All the Pretty Horses
58. The Shipping News
59. The Poisonwood Bible

2006 Edition
60. Tropic of Capricorn
61. The World According to Garp

2000s

62. Life of Pi
63. The Namesake

2006 Edition
64. Never Let Me Go

Outlaws of the Marsh listed as The Water Margin in the 1001 Book

I finished up Outlaws of the Marsh at the end of November. As much as I groaned, complained and whined my way through the five volumes of this book, I was sad to see it end. In spite of his gruesome crime, I grew to like Song Jiang and his constant concern for his band of Outlaws and desire for a pardon from the emperor. These ain't no choir boys and some stories are just wickedly violent, but somehow it is still fun to read about the assembly of the outlaws, their exploits in the North and South of China, and finally the breaking up of the band.

Rameau's Nephew
Finished: March 21, 2012

This book is written as a conversation between the author and Rameau's nephew. Rameau is Jean-Phillipe Rameau, an important French composer during the 18th century. The nephew is a scoundrel and makes his way by finding rich patrons off which to live. He has recently angered his latest benefactors and been tossed into the street. The conversation ranges through his recent indiscretion with his benefactors, morality, philosophy, the pursuit of happiness, and 18th century opera and music. Diderot uses the conversation to take various swipes at composers like Rameau and his critics--Diderot was working on a comprehensive encyclopedia and there were many critics of it.

This is a small 1001 book, only 125 pages in my edition and that includes a forward and an introduction; however, I wasn't drawn into the conversation and it took me two weeks to finish. Also, any time that I was reading it, I had to have an internet device nearby because of my lack of knowledge of 18th century French culture. Although I never encountered Rameau's Nephew before, this is the type of book that I can imagine being required reading in a college literature class to demonstrate satire and an essay from varying points of view. Yet, when I finished, I was left wondering why this small story was considered one of the 1001 books I must read before I die. So, I checked the entry in 1001 Books You Must Read before You Die to find out why. The explanation is that by being "part novel, part essay, part Socratic dialogue, it expanded the boundaries of what is possible in fiction." For me it is still 3 stars.

Two people on this list have recently read Outlaws of the Marsh, all 2000 pages of it! It sounds like something I need to read too. Next time that I am incapacitated for a month, I'll know what to keep by my bedside...

annamorphic, it took me 7 months to read it. I read several other books at the same time. I'm not sure I would have been able to read it straight through. Good luck with it!!

The Handmaid's Tale - Completed April 17, 2012

Offred is a Handmaid. The new US regime, one that assassinated the president and Congress in a coup, provides Handmaids to its Commanders and their Wives. The Handmaid's job is to become pregnant and have a child for them and then move on to the next childless couple. In this world the lives of women, and to a lesser extent men, are very controlled. You do your "job" and you don't step beyond those bounds. Those that do are found hanging on the wall in the center of town. Of course, with all totalitarian governments, the rules don't always apply to the higher ups, and Offred gets to see some of this world too.

This was my first Atwood book. I loved the plot even though it was disturbing. It was also a quick read for me. I'm looking forward to Margaret Atwood's other books on the list.

65. The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Completed May 1, 2012

I enjoyed The Elegance of the Hedgehog very much. I started out listening to this, but switched to reading it because of the depth and concentration needed. I enjoyed the two individuals doing the reading so much that their voices stayed in my head even as I read it.

Renée is a concierge for a small, exclusive apartment building in Paris. She hides behind a mask that she believes is expected of someone with her position and related class--low brow, uneducated, inept and ignorant of the finer pursuits in life. In reality, she is a self-taught student of various forms of art, philosophy, literature and film.

Paloma is the twelve year old daughter of one of the wealthy residents of Renée's building. As she tells us, she is "exceptionally intelligent" and already cynical about what lies ahead in life. Both Renée and Paloma live their lives in worlds where no one else is worthy, or so it seems, until Monsieur Ozu, a wealthy, retired Japanese businessman, purchases the apartment of a recently deceased resident and moves into the building. He is able to see and break through their individual pretenses and defenses. Once Monsieur Ozu arrives the lives of our narrators open from tightly shut camellia buds encased in their own obsessions to lovely, widespread blooms.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog is a book about class, art, philosophy and expectations of ourselves and others. I found some of the passages of philosophy difficult to follow, and I was glad that I read this on my nook because I constantly needed to look up references to the philosophers and philosophy mentioned as well as those to art, film, and other items. It was also a book that enchanted me, and one that I am certain has more to reveal with each reading.

Edited to add: I was surprised by the ending--it wasn't what I expected nor what I would have preferred. It was still a very good book.

2012

66. The Things They Carried - August 21
67. The Monk - October 1

2013

68. The Hound of the Baskervilles - January 4
69. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - January 27
70. Moll Flanders - February 18
71. The French Lieutenant's Woman - April 2
72. White Noise - July 19
73. Naked Lunch - August 8
74. Out of Africa - October 1
75. The White Tiger - November 8
76. To the Lighthouse - November 27

2014
77. In Cold Blood - January 2
78. Gulliver's Travels - April 6