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December roundup:
5 new-to-me books finished and 1 in progress; 3 rereads

In progress: Dr. Zhivago

Finished:
High Fidelity, 4*
Red Shift, 2*
The Ascent of Rum Doodle, 4.5*
A Sentimental Journey, 4*
Life: A User's Manual, 3*

Reread the 3 Sherlock Holmes books via audiobook narrated by Stephen Fry (great for listening to in the car as I drove to and from my brother's house for the holidays!)

Overall in 2023 I read 34 new-to-me books from the list. I will have to up my game if I am going to keep up with Darren, lol!

6 more for me in January:

Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearne, The Moore, Brian - 4 Stars
Satanic Verses, The Rushdie, Salman - 3.5
Glass Key, The Hammett, Dashiell - 3.5
Fountain Overflows, The West, Rebecca - 4
Silence of the Grave Indriðason, Arnaldur - 3
Elmer Gantry Lewis, Sinclair - DNF

making 622 total

#141 - I finished the 1960s phenomenon


Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

I am at 602 books read, with 2 new-to-me in January:
Doctor Zhivago
Fight Club

3 more for me in "quality over quantity" February:

Steppenwolf Hesse, Hermann - 4 Stars
Grand Meaulnes, Le (aka "Lost Estate, The") Alain-Fournier, Henri - 4
Murder Of Roger Ackroyd, The (Poirot #4) Christie, Agatha - 5

making 625 total

Although I read 2 new-to-me books from the list in February, I am just at 603 since one of the 2 was from Balzac's Human Comedy.

New books read were:
The Black Sheep by Honoré de Balzac, 3.5*
The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro, 4*

5 more for me in, frankly, a quite low quality March:

We Need to Talk About Kevin - Shriver, Lionel - 2.5 Stars
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists - Tressell, Robert - 2.5
The Constant Gardener - le Carré, John - 3.5
The Mayor of Casterbridge - Hardy, Thomas - 3
Naked Lunch - Burroughs, William S. - 1.5

making 630 total

oh, and one that "Should Be In The List":
The Foundation Pit - Platonov, Andrei

#142 - I finished


The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

For the last year, I have read 9 more books and tried but did not finish 6.

So my total now is: 159 read, 19 did not finish and 20 known only from the movies/adaptations.

#143 - I finished the Booker Award-winning historical novel set in 1960s rural India


The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

#144 - I finished another excellent noir crime novel by one of my favorite authors


The Getaway by Jim Thompson
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

#145 - I finished the short novel


The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

2 more in April:
Great Fortune, The (Fortunes Of War: Balkan Trilogy #1) Manning, Olivia - 3 Stars
Kite Runner, The Hosseini, Khaled - DNF
6 more in May:
Day of the Triffids, The Wyndham, John - 3.5
Tender Is The Night Fitzgerald, F. Scott - DNF
Hollow Man, The Carr, John Dickson - 4
Prisoner of Zenda, The (Ruritania Trilogy#2) Hope, Anthony - 2.5
Bamboo Bed, The Eastlake, William - 4
Passion of New Eve, The Carter, Angela - 1.5

making 638 total

plus two that "Should Be On The List":
Voyeur, The Robbe-Grillet, Alain - 4
Mason And Dixon Pynchon, Thomas - 4.5

Darren wrote: "2 more in April:
Great Fortune, The (Fortunes Of War: Balkan Trilogy #1) Manning, Olivia - 3 Stars
Kite Runner, The Hosseini, Khaled - DNF
6 more in May:
Day of the Triffids, The Wyndham, John - 3...."

Darren -- "The Kite Runner," DNF?? You didn't like it? I liked that one quite a bit. But "Tender is the Night" was not a favorite of mine (I don't love Fitgerald).
I liked Prisoner of Zenda better than you did though ;)
I did love "Day of the Triffids"! Wyndham is a wonderful writer :)

You are doing great on your numbers!

#146 - I finished this short novel about bitter disappointment and the American Dream


The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

I don't post too frequently, but I just finished The Child in Time. That brings my total to 500.

Jason wrote: "I don't post too frequently, but I just finished The Child in Time. That brings my total to 500."

Congratulations on reaching the Big 500 Milestone!

half-way there, and downhill from here on in... ;o)

oh, and belated update for June - 3 more:
South Riding Winifred Holtby - 3.5 Stars
Les Enfants Terribles Jean Cocteau - 4
Enduring Love Ian McEwan - 3

making 641 total

#147 - I finished the first volume in the Book of the New Sun series


The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

#148 - I finished the Children's classic


The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

4 more in July:
Washington Square James, Henry - 3.5 Stars
Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, The Hogg, James - 2
Little Women Alcott, Louisa May - 2.5
Season In Sinji, A Carr, J. L. - 4

making 645 total

I finished my re-read of the Cold War espionage classic


The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

#149 - I finished the amusing memoir-ish


My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

2 more in August:
Doctor Zhivago Pasternak, Boris - 3 Stars
Memoirs Of A Gnostic Dwarf Madsen, David - 3.5

making 647 total

5 more in September:
Girl In Winter, A Larkin, Philip - 3.5 Stars
Greenmantle Buchan, John - 3.5
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Loos, Anita - 4
Cat's Eye Atwood, Margaret - DNF
Devil In A Blue Dress Mosley, Walter - 3

making 652 total

I finished my re-read of a classic anti-war novel


Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Rating: 5 stars
Review: /review/show...

5 more in October:
Little World Of Don Camillo, The Guareschi, Giovannino - 4 Stars
Room At The Top Braine, John - 4
East Lynne Wood, Mrs. Henry - 3.5
Notes From Underground Dostoevsky, Fyodor - 2.5
Disparition, La ("A Void") Perec, Georges - 4

making 657 total

oh, and one "should be on the list":
Fortunata and Jacinta Pérez Galdós, Benito 1887 - 4.5 Stars

through a weird glitch in my planning, and although I read a near personal record 16(!) books in November, I only managed a single G1000-er, namely:
Mansfield Park Austen, Jane - 3.5 Stars, and now my second-favourite Austen (after P&P natch)

thus making 658 total

but I do have 7 (seven) planned for December, so hopefully ending the year strongly... :oD

I did bring in 7 in December:

Claudine at School Colette - DNF
No Bed For Bacon Brahms, Caryl & Simon, S.J. - 3 Stars
As I Lay Dying Faulkner, William - 2.5
How Late it Was, How Late Kelman, James - 4
Berlin Alexanderplatz Doblin, Alfred - DNF
Money Amis, Martin - 3
Girls of Slender Means, The Spark, Muriel - 4

thus closing out the year on a total of 665

3 more in January:
Death of a Hero Richard Aldington - 4 Stars
Before Lunch Angela Thirkell - 3.5
Hurrah for St Trinian’s Ronald Searle - 3 (and shouldn't be in G1000 list cos not a novel!)

making total of 668

3 more in February:
True History Of The Kelly Gang Carey, Peter - 4 Stars
Personality O'Hagan, Andrew - 3.5
Go-Between, The Hartley, L.P. - 3.5

making total of 671

I see you also DNFd Berlin alexanderplatz. It was truly terrible I thought 😆