The Big Read

[alexsarll]

Well I've no patience for bold type so let's do this the simple way. I've read:
1984, george orwell
alice's adventures in wonderland
animal farm, george orwell
artemis fowl, eoin colfer
the bfg, roald dahl
brave new world, aldous huxley
brideshead revisited, evelyn waugh
bridget jones's diary, helen fielding
the catcher in the rye, jd salinger
charlie and the chocolate factory, roald dahl
a christmas carol, charles dickens
the colour of magic, terry pratchett
emma, jane austen
good omens, terry pratchett and neil gaiman.
great expectations, charles dickens
the great gatsby, f scott fitzgerald.
guards! guards!, terry pratchett
harry potter and the chamber of secrets, jk rowling
harry potter and the goblet of fire, jk rowling
harry potter and the philosopher's stone, jk rowling
harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban, jk rowling
his dark materials trilogy, philip pullman
the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, douglas adams
the hobbit, jrr tolkien
the lion, the witch and the wardrobe, cs lewis
the lord of the rings, jrr tolkien
the magic faraway tree, enid blyton.
the magus, john fowles
matilda, roald dahl
mort, terry pratchett
night watch, terry pratchett
perfume, patrick suskind (which is one chapter of A Rebours stretched to book length, and its presence here is a disgrace)
the secret history, donna tartt
to kill a mockingbird, harper lee
treasure island, robert louis stevenson
the twits, roald dahl
the wind in the willows, kenneth grahame
winnie-the-pooh, aa milne
wuthering heights, emily bronte

39.

In addition to which I started but deliberately abandoned on grounds of excessive rubbishness:
birdsong, sebastian faulks - trite and middlebrow.
the god of small things, arundhati roy - felt like I'd read it all before.
on the road, jack kerouac - totally lacking in narrative drive.
persuasion, jane austen - I'm with the Brontes on her. Where's the damn *passion*? She sees marriage as a matter of place settings.

Comments

[publicansdecoy.livejournal.com]

Oi, Barry, someone's asking a question about you on my journal. Get over there and answer it posthaste.

I think I'd read less than 10 of the books on that list. Stupid Harry Potter.

-x-

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I thought you'd read His Dark Materials?

[euphoricstimuli.livejournal.com]

whats the list thing to do with?

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

bbc.co.uk/bigread

[euphoricstimuli.livejournal.com]

aah,get it now.

[suicideally.livejournal.com]

I'd read 53 of them counting ones that I didn't finish but read enough to know I didn't need to read more.

[ksta.livejournal.com]

jane austen is reaqlly just all about cows. Like Tolstoy. But at least tolstoy had some action in it. Anna Karenina is wonderful, as long as you skip the political bit in the middle, which is all about corn. Hurrah.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

ooh no, cows are far too earthy and common for Jane Austen's characters to get close to them.
If she'd had the courage of her convictions she'd have been OK. Emma, "a heroine whom no one but myself will much like", is pretty cool. But the book grinds her down into 'acceptability', all the time making out it's a good thing.