Gentle Reader:
Anne Thompson at Variety.com links to a website that publishes one of those lists: "1001 Books to Read before You Die."
DIH has been perusing the list ( I gotta start doing the crosswords again).
I got to book #60 before I found one I read. then it turned out I was wrong. "City of God" by E.L. Doctorow. I read the one by that other guy.
Although I'm sure I've got copies of 72 and 86 somewhere, the next oneI'd read was #112, , The Information by Martin Amis. Read #129 (Captain Corelli's Mandolin) AND saw the movi--l that's got to be wotrth double points, right?
Read #147, The Secret History by Donna Tartt. No, wait- the spouse read that one and told me about it. Drat.
Saw the movie of #156 , The English Patient. Ech. Read #183, A.S. Byatt's "Possession." Hey- saw the movie of #157, too (Smilla's Sense of Snow). About as riveting as #156. Also saw movie of #190, The Remains of the Day. Also a highbrow yawner.
Yikes. I'm up to #200 and I'm not doing so good. And to think I went to college.
Wait! I read #218, Th Bonfire of the Vanities! In hardback no less! AND I saw the movie, the week it came out! Now that's definitely double points. Maybe even triple.
228, 229, 245- yup, read them. Saw the movies of 240 and 242and 272- The Color Purple. What a terrible movie! Even Speilberg seemed embarassed, as I recall from his appearance on the morning talk show circuit..
Read #291, A Confederacy of Dunces. Now we're getting somewhere! Wonderful book, with a preface by my fave, Walker Percy. Oh, and saw the miniseriesw of #295, Smiley's People by John le Carre.
Well that's about all the humilyt practice I can take for one night. If you go to
http://robstroy.blogspot.com/2007/07/1001-books-you-have-to-read-before-you.html
maybe you can work on your humility, too.
DIH has been perusing the list ( I gotta start doing the crosswords again).
I got to book #60 before I found one I read. then it turned out I was wrong. "City of God" by E.L. Doctorow. I read the one by that other guy.
Although I'm sure I've got copies of 72 and 86 somewhere, the next oneI'd read was #112, , The Information by Martin Amis. Read #129 (Captain Corelli's Mandolin) AND saw the movi--l that's got to be wotrth double points, right?
Read #147, The Secret History by Donna Tartt. No, wait- the spouse read that one and told me about it. Drat.
Saw the movie of #156 , The English Patient. Ech. Read #183, A.S. Byatt's "Possession." Hey- saw the movie of #157, too (Smilla's Sense of Snow). About as riveting as #156. Also saw movie of #190, The Remains of the Day. Also a highbrow yawner.
Yikes. I'm up to #200 and I'm not doing so good. And to think I went to college.
Wait! I read #218, Th Bonfire of the Vanities! In hardback no less! AND I saw the movie, the week it came out! Now that's definitely double points. Maybe even triple.
228, 229, 245- yup, read them. Saw the movies of 240 and 242and 272- The Color Purple. What a terrible movie! Even Speilberg seemed embarassed, as I recall from his appearance on the morning talk show circuit..
Read #291, A Confederacy of Dunces. Now we're getting somewhere! Wonderful book, with a preface by my fave, Walker Percy. Oh, and saw the miniseriesw of #295, Smiley's People by John le Carre.
Well that's about all the humilyt practice I can take for one night. If you go to
http://robstroy.blogspot.com/2007/07/1001-books-you-have-to-read-before-you.html
maybe you can work on your humility, too.
Hey! I saw "The Color Purple", on the recommendation of a good friend, a black woman, by the way. I thought it was a great movie, but I didn't read the book. Why didn't you like it?
ReplyDeleteDon't feel too bad, Sue. In the first 25, there were only two I'd even heard of, let alone read. I also noticed a number of science fiction novels there, among them I, Robot and the Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov, The Day of the Trifids by John Wyndham, and others. Good books? Sure. Must read before you die? Please.
ReplyDeleteAnd I reached something like 525 before I found a single title by John Steinbeck. Over 500 down the list! Sacrilege...