52 1001 Books in 2010

I thought I would sign up again for Read 10 1001 Books to read before you die books this year (2... , a challenge set by katrinat on Bookcrossing.  I managed to read a 1001 book a week last year, so here is this year's attempt.  A little slower this year, travelling makes it hard as I wasn't always able to find 1001 books in the book exchanges, though I did read some tomes, which I would have kept putting off at home.

1. The Old Man and the Sea-1001-Library Book 
2. The Grass Is Singing
3. Black Dogs
4. Watchmen (1001 Library Book) a graphic novel, recently filmed
5. A Kestrel for a Knave (Penguin Modern Classics)
6. The Midwich Cuckoos
7. The Siege of Krishnapur
8. Embers
9. Brideshead Revisited
10. The Plot Against America
11. Les Miserables (Penguin Classics)
12. Blue of Noon
13. Invisible
14. Vile Bodies
15. The Singapore Grip
16. The Nine Tailors (Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries), nice to a mystery on the list
17. The Red and The Black
18. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao 
19. The White Tiger
20. Professor's House
21. Love in a Cold Climate (Penguin Modern Classics)
22. The Water Babies: A Fairy Tale For A Land-Baby
23. The Return of the Native (English Library)
24. At Lady Molly's
25. August Is a Wicked Month (1001 book)
26. Troubles
27. Hangover Square
28. Life and Times of Michael K
29. Brothers Karamazov
30. The Divine Comedy: Inferno v. 1
31. 2666
32. North and South (Penguin Classics)
33. Madame Bovary
34. The Bell Jar
35. The Cranford Chronicles
36. The Children's Book
37. The French Lieutenant's woman
38. The Idiot
39. Bleak House
40. Of Mice and Men
41. The murder of Roger Ackroyd  reread
42. The Purloined Letter
43. Crash
44. Cold Comfort Farm
45. Schooling
46. The Inheritance of Loss
47. Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord
48. A Christmas Carol
49. Candide
50. Breakfast at Tiffany's

51. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

52. The Time Machine


I still think that  J.G. Farrell's books were really good (7,15 and 26), but the real gem was 2666 , a tome of a book, but worth every page.  It is actually 5 books in one volume, which makes it less daunting to read than say A Suitable Boy (a great book, but one I only read because I took it as my only book on a very long journey).  I also loved  Embers, a book I had never even heard of, a definite find.  My worst read was Bleak House, it just really didn't grab me.   Too much detail, too many characters, a struggle.

As I was due to be spending time travelling in Latin America, I wanted to read more of the books from that region, 2666 (written by a Chilean writer), Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord (set in a fictional country),  The Life and Times of Oscar Wao (a precocious Domincan Republican) and a surprise entry, Candide , in which the action moves around the world.


It is pleasing to see that the books ranged in years published, I did read some of the new additions:  The Children's Book,  Invisible , The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and The White Tiger.  I enjoyed all 4 and agree with their addition in the new editon.