Your reading during the year 2007

[grace86]

Virgil I might wander into the discussion and quote your comments. I'll have to check it out when I have more time. It was a horribly gruesome play.

Janine, I was rather surprised myself!! After listing everything that I have read and by looking at everyone else's list, I am actually currently underway in trying to form some sort of list for this new year. I've got three Lawrence novels in it already (S&L first, then either The Rainbow or Lady Chatterly...whichever comes first). I think I might also pursue more Shakespeare outside of a classroom setting...since I have the entire collection and all!!

Be prepared Janine for more Lawrence tutoring (as well as for your expertise in Shakespeare!)

[Dori]

I have recorded everything from Jan '07 to July 6, '07. My list includes:

LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
Imperium by Robert Harris
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay
Medicus by Ruth Downie
Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
The Agony and the Ecstacy by Irving Stone
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Candide by Voltaire
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Along with that I've read a fair amount of American and Russian literature (the former for school and the latter for pleasure).

One of my resolutions for 2008 is to record everything I read. Hopefully I wont stop half-way through like I did last year.

[Janine]

Virgil I might wander into the discussion and quote your comments. I'll have to check it out when I have more time. It was a horribly gruesome play.

Janine, I was rather surprised myself!! After listing everything that I have read and by looking at everyone else's list, I am actually currently underway in trying to form some sort of list for this new year. I've got three Lawrence novels in it already (S&L first, then either The Rainbow or Lady Chatterly...whichever comes first). I think I might also pursue more Shakespeare outside of a classroom setting...since I have the entire collection and all!!

Be prepared Janine for more Lawrence tutoring (as well as for your expertise in Shakespeare!)

That is a good idea to quote Virgil. He wrote some good observations in that thread...I did not participate but I did read some of the posts. I refused to read that play...too gruesome for me! I also read it was questionable, as to whether Shakespeare even wrote it or all of it; many of people will dispute that fact, though.

Grace, I have been fully prepared... that I would continue with my Lawrence tutoring....... and you know, I will always help you with Shakespeare - although I have not read all the plays, myself....just ask. How nice that you own them all. Actually, I do also in a very large book. I wish I have a more up-to-date set with notes on the side.
Funny you should mention Shakespeare, tonight I have been watching the early classic b/w adaptation film of 'Midsummer Night's Dream" - I am really enjoying it, although my worn-out player just quit on me It heats up and then I have to watch in half-hour installments, so will have to see more tomorrow night.

I would recommend "The Rainbow" second, since that would complete the first 3 novels of Lawrence's (asside from The White Peacock" - his first novel). That would round things out for you nicely. Also, "The Rainbow" is actually the prequel to "WIL", but it matters little which book one reads first. I plan a reading of "The Rainbow" early in the year, after I finish listening to "WIL" on audio CD - I am halfway through, and then I want to read "Kangaroo", which is not too long...then "The Rainbow" will be next on my list. "Lady Chatterly's Lover" was Lawrence's last fiction novel. I was hoping to read that in the late spring.

[iloveoscar]

After looking at these lists, I'm very disappointed in myself =( oh, well, This is what I've managed to read this year:
rereading the Harry Potter series (yes, I'm one of those nerds and proud of it)
The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien
On The Road - Jack Keroauc
The Jungle - Upton Sinclair
The Glass Menagerie - Tennessee Williams
The House of the Seven Gables - Nathaniel Hawthorne
Emma - Jane Austen
Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller
Antigone - Sophocles
King Lear - Shakespeare
Hamlet - Shakespeare
The Dharma Bums - Jack Keroauc
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead - Tom Stoppard
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde
My Antonia - Willa Cather
Trainsong - Jan Keroauc

[Dori]

After looking at these lists, I'm very disappointed in myself =( oh, well, This is what I've managed to read this year:
rereading the Harry Potter series (yes, I'm one of those nerds and proud of it)
The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien
On The Road - Jack Keroauc
The Jungle - Upton Sinclair
The Glass Menagerie - Tennessee Williams
The House of the Seven Gables - Nathaniel Hawthorne
Emma - Jane Austen
Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller
Antigone - Sophocles
King Lear - Shakespeare
Hamlet - Shakespeare
The Dharma Bums - Jack Keroauc
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead - Tom Stoppard
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde
My Antonia - Willa Cather
Trainsong - Jan Keroauc

Welcome, iloveoscar. I think there are several of us who feel disappointed in ourselves when it comes to what we've read in the past year. Or, perhaps, I am speaking for myself.

[Janine]

Good list, Dori!

I only read these, but not this past year:
The Hobbit & The Fellowship of the Ring, probably the next one (can't recall for sure) J.R.R. Tolkien
The Agony and the Ecstacy by Irving Stone (loved that novel, I should read it again)
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (loved the book and the older movie)
Candide by Voltaire
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (wonderful, great book!)

iloveoscar, Welcome to the forum! I have read these of your fine list:

The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
The House of the Seven Gables - Nathaniel Hawthorne
Emma - Jane Austen
Antigone - Sophocles
King Lear - Shakespeare
Hamlet - Shakespeare
The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde
My Antonia - Willa Cather (also recommend, if you have not already read these - Death Comes to the Archbishop -[great read!] and O'Pioneers!

I am impressed - you both read really fine literature!

I think there are several of us who feel disappointed in ourselves when it comes to what we've read in the past year. Or, perhaps, I am speaking for myself.

I can't imagine why. Some of us read more slowly and absorb more so we don't read as many books or we don't have the time. I think both of your read a good amount of good books last year.

[grace86]

Grace, I have been fully prepared... that I would continue with my Lawrence tutoring....... and you know, I will always help you with Shakespeare - although I have not read all the plays, myself....just ask. How nice that you own them all. Actually, I do also in a very large book. I wish I have a more up-to-date set with notes on the side.
Funny you should mention Shakespeare, tonight I have been watching the early classic b/w adaptation film of 'Midsummer Night's Dream" - I am really enjoying it, although my worn-out player just quit on me It heats up and then I have to watch in half-hour installments, so will have to see more tomorrow night.

I would recommend "The Rainbow" second, since that would complete the first 3 novels of Lawrence's (asside from The White Peacock" - his first novel). That would round things out for you nicely. Also, "The Rainbow" is actually the prequel to "WIL", but it matters little which book one reads first. I plan a reading of "The Rainbow" early in the year, after I finish listening to "WIL" on audio CD - I am halfway through, and then I want to read "Kangaroo", which is not too long...then "The Rainbow" will be next on my list. "Lady Chatterly's Lover" was Lawrence's last fiction novel. I was hoping to read that in the late spring.

Janine I was thinking of reading Much Ado About Nothing - you mentioned it online yesterday when I was speaking to you. But I've definitely had plenty of Shakespeare's tragedies to last me awhile, so I think I will try one, two or three comedies this year.

I had forgotten about The White Peacock and Kangaroo. Guess I have more Lawrence novels to purchase!!

Other than that I was planning to get through more book club choices and a couple here on my shelf that need to be put in the "read" stack!

[Janine]

Janine I was thinking of reading Much Ado About Nothing - you mentioned it online yesterday when I was speaking to you. But I've definitely had plenty of Shakespeare's tragedies to last me awhile, so I think I will try one, two or three comedies this year.

I had forgotten about The White Peacock and Kangaroo. Guess I have more Lawrence novels to purchase!!

"Much Ado About Nothing" is great and so is "Love's Labour Lost"..."Midsummer Night's Dream" is a must! You might, also try "Twelfth Night"...I like that one, too. I think they all have movies you can watch too to aid in your understanding.


Grace, Both books are hard to obtain; I think they are out of print now...I had to get used ones. I liked the first book, but many say it is his first novel, not exactly immature, but one has to say not quite polished as his others and not totally formed or developed, in meaning or concept. I think it has some very beautiful passages and it got the attention of publishers at the time, but one has to place it into L's biography...he was only 21 when he began that novel. Kangaroo is also hard to find. It is one of his more obscure novels. I think you have to know a little about his biography at the time he and his wife resided in Australia, to be interested in that one. I will talk to you later online about these two. Instead, I would recommend Lawrence novellas such as "Love Among the Haystacks" or "The Fox" - I loved both of them. I also liked another book by L, that is a little obscure called "The Lost Girl".

[Virgil]

Virgil, didn't you do "Sons and Lovers" too?.... and a few more of the Lawrence short stories such as: "The Shades of Spring" and "Odour of Chrysanthenmums"? At least I thought you did all those short stories.

Actually you're right. I forgot to write those down. Thanks.

I went back and edited my post to include those and another I had forgotten. Plus I created a blog of my 2007 reads. So you can check my blog if you're interested.

[manolia]

Books i've read in 2007

“Jane Eyre” – Charlotte Bronte
“Madame Bovary”- Gustave Flaubert
“The Count of Monte Cristo” – Alexandre Dumas
“Oliver Twist”- Charles Dickens
“Emma” – Jane Austen
“Frankestein” – Mary Shelley
“A Christmas Carol and other ghost stories”– Charles Dickens
“Women in love” – D. H Lawrence
“The name of the rose” – Umberto Eco
«To the Lighthouse» - Virginia Woolf
“Jitterbug perfume» - Tom Robbins
“Vanity Fair” – William Makepeace Thackeray
“The great Gatsby” – F Scott Fitzgerald
“Crime and punishment» - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
“The Dubliners” – James Joyce
“Sons and lovers” – D. H. Lawrence
“The old curiosity shop” – Charles Dickens
“1984” – George Orwell
“Peter Pan” – J. M. Barrie
“Master and Margarita» - Mikhail Bulgakov
"The Catcher in the Rye”- J.D Salinger
“The trial” – Frantz Kafka

[Lain]

New here, first post.

So, I've read 30 books in 2007, 10,863 pages in total. There aren't many classics in my list, and at the end of the year I was feeling more like reading chick lit, but there are definitely a lot of classics I want to read and those lists of yours are being useful. I'll add some of your recs to my 'to read' list of 2008.

February:
01. Cell, Stephen King.
02. The second summer of the Sisterhood, Ann Brashares.
03. South of the border, west of the sun, Haruki Murakami.

March:
04. Caperucita en Manhattan, Carmen Martín Gaite.
05. The girl who loved Tom Gordon, Stephen King.
06. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer.

April:
07. La noche que quemaron a la mendiga, Arturo San Agustín.

May:
08. Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami.
09. Travels in the Scriptorium, Paul Auster.
10. To kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee.

July:
11. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling. (Re-read)
12. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling.

August:
13. L'origen perdut, Matilde Asensi.
14. Dance Dance Dance, Haruki Murakami.
15. Northern Lights, Phillip Pullman.
16. Eragon, Christopher Paolini.

September
17. The Subtle Knife, Phillip Pullman.

October:
18. Kafka on the shore, Haruki Murakami.
19. An inconvenient truth, Al Gore.
20. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby.

November:
21. No Plot? No problem, Chris Baty.
22. Un riu d'esperança, Kim Manresa.
23. Stardust, Neil Gaiman.
24. The Amber Spyglass, Phillip Pullman.
25. Third summer of the Sisterhood, Ann Brashares.
26. Gossip Girl vol. 1, Cecily von Ziegesar.

December:
27. Forever in blue: the fourth summer of the Sisterhood, Ann Brashares.
28. The boy next door, Meg Cabot.
29. Gossip Girl vol. 2: You know you love me, Cecily von Ziegesar.
30. Boy meets girl, Meg Cabot.

[Nossa]

Welcome Lain...nice list of books..I see you're a fan of Haruki Murakami

[thelastmelon]

October:
18. Kafka on the shore, Haruki Murakami.

I'm actually reading Kafka on the Shore right now. I'm on page 200, or so.
How did you like it?

[Lain]

Thank you! Yes, I am a Haruki Murakami fan.

I enjoyed Kafka on the Shore immensely. At first, I thought nothing made sense and I was tempted to put the book down when that incident with the cats happened (I can't stand when animals are tortured), but then I remembered that I love Murakami, so I kept reading. And at the end, it didn't disappoint me, and I ended up loving the book just as much as I loved his other novels.

My favorite is Norwegian Wood, but I'll start reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle so maybe that changes, since I've heard so many good things about the latter.

Are you enjoying Kafka on the Shore so far?

[The E in M.E.]

The lists so far are amazing... way to go!
For the past few years I have kept lists of books I have read, but always from August to August, rather than January to January.
Here's my list for 2007, as far as I can make out.

Jane Austen:
Sense and Sensibility
Pride and Prejudice
Northanger Abbey

J.K.Rowling
All seven, I'm afraid

C.S. Lewis:
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of Dawn Treader

Charles Dickens:
Bleak House
The Cricket on the Hearth

Charlotte Bronte:
Jane Eyre
Villette

Anne Bronte:
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Christopher Paolini:
Eragon
Eldest

Brian Jaques:
Castaways of the Flying Dutchman
The Angel's Command
Voyage of Slaves

Eloise Jarvis McGraw:
Mara, Daughter of the Nile
The Golden Goblet
The Moorchild
The Seventeenth Swap
Pharaoh
The Money Room

Agatha Christie:
So Many Steps to Death
The Secret of Chimneys
Parker Pyne Investigates
The Secret Adversary
Partners in Crime
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Postern of Fate

Mary Shelley:
Frankenstein

Claire Tomalin:
Jane Austen: A life

George Eliot:
Silas Marner

Maria Trapp:
The Story of the Trapp Family Singers

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:
The Hound of the Baskervilles
A Study in Scarlet

Elizabeth Goudge:
Pilgrim's Inn

J.R.R. Tolkien:
The Hobbit
Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
Return of the King

Janet and Geoff Benge:
Cameron Townsend: Good News in Every Language

And I believe that's about it. Good luck on your reading this year, everyone!