Great American Read List discussion

Hi, Following are the books on the list I remember reading (some from years ago). When they come up again I will probably re-read them.
#3 Harry Potter (only the first 3 in the series)
#5 The Lord of the Rings (read the series a long time ago)
#9 Chronicles of Narnia (I know I read the first book)
#15 The Great Gatsby
#17 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
#37 The Call of the Wild
#38 The Clan of the Cave Bear
#40 The Hunger Games (Don't know if I'll re-read this series)
#77 Left Behind (read 9 books in this series)
#91 Bless Me, Ultima (a favorite)
I'm excited to join the fun.
Read with the group..
#01-1 - To Kill a Mockingbird
#01-2 - Go Set a Watchman
#02-1 - Outlander
#02-2 - Dragonfly in Amber
#02-3 - Voyager
#02-4 - Drums of Autumn
#02-5 - The Fiery Cross
#02-6 - A Breath of Snow and Ashes
#02-7 - An Echo in the Bone
#02-8 - Written in My Own Heart's Blood
#02-9 - Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone
#03-1 - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Audio
#03-2 - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Audio
#03-3 - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Audio
#03-4 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Audio
#03-5 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Audio
#06 - Gone with the Wind
#07 - Charlotte's Web
#09-1 - The Magician's Nephew
#09-2 - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
#09-3 - The Horse and His Boy
#09-4 - Prince Caspian
#09-5 - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
#09-6 - The Silver Chair
#09-7 - The Last Battle
#12 - The Grapes of Wrath
#13 - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
#14 - The Book Thief
#16 - The Help
#18 - 1984
#19 - And Then There Were None
#21 - Wuthering Heights
#22-1 - Lonesome Dove
#23-1 - The Pillars of the Earth
#25 - Rebecca
#26 - A Prayer for Owen Meany
#31 - Where the Red Fern Grows
#32 - The Outsiders
#34 - The Handmaid's Tale
#36 - The Little Prince
#47 - Catch-22
#50 - War and Peace
#55 - The Picture of Dorian Gray
#60 - Beloved
#63 - Siddhartha
#64 - Crime and Punishment
#65 - The Sun Also Rises
#68 - Don Quixote
#69 - The Lovely Bones
#72 - Invisible Man
#75 - Gulliver's Travels
#76 - Ready Player One
#83 - Heart of Darkness
#84-1 - Gilead
#84-2 - Home
#84-3 - Lila
#85-1 - Flowers in the Attic
#85-2 - Petals on the Wind
#85-3 - If There Be Thorns
#85-4 - Seeds of Yesterday
#85-5 - Garden of Shadows
#87 - The Sirens of Titan
#89 - Americanah
#92 - Looking for Alaska
#93 - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
#96 - White Teeth
#97-1 - Ghost
#97-2 - Patina
#97-3 - Sunny
#97-4 - Lu
#99 - The Intuitionist

The Intuitionist Hope to start 3/1
3/4 - This past year I've been reading a "cozy-mystery" series, that I inherited from my MIL, there are about 29 books in "The Cat Who..." series, and I think I'm on 23, they are a very easy read. And then I started "The Intuitionist". Talk about switchin gears. It took several re-reads of the first 16 pages or so to learn the "voice" of the author. I really like the description of the geometric shapes that Lila sees when she's in the elevator, and I like the way the author is setting the story up for something to happen when he writes "She doesn't know" several times, there's lots of anticipation building.

There's some good books on that list! Looking at it, I realize that I've never read The Grapes of Wrath. I should read that, one of these days.

Andrew wrote: "There's some good books on that list! Looking at it, I realize that I've never read The Grapes of Wrath. I should read that, one of these days."

I read it in high school and just remember it being grey and gloomy. It will be interesting when I read it again how I see the story.

Here to give you an official welcome to the Great American Read List group and thank you for creating a personal bookshelf, Bridget (my apologies for the delayed response)!

I hadn't heard of Bless Me, Ultima before the GAR. You've noted that it's one of your favorites. What about it has made such a positive impression on you?

Thank you for sharing your initial thoughts on The Intuitionist. I started it today. I'm going to read a bit more tomorrow before I begin to comment on that list book's thread, but from what you've said—we're having a similar experience at the beginning.

As far as The Grapes of Wrath—I read it many years ago. I'm definitely due for a reread. I remember being shocked by the ending.

Lavan wrote: "Here to give you an official welcome to the Great American Read List group and thank you for creating a personal bookshelf, Bridget (my apologies for the delayed response)!

I hadn't heard of Bless..."

I'm excited to start reading with the group. I've never been one to read more than one book at a time. I tried to start "The Intuitionist" and just couldn't give it my full attention, so I have to finish up a book series I've started (only two books left) and then I'll be good to go. I saw your comment about "She doesn't know" and it makes for an interesting start to the story. Also I noticed the book is in two parts Up and Down.

I really liked "Bless Me, Ultima", the story was set in Northern New Mexico close to where I was raised, so I could relate to the story and the characters. It has been "Banned" several times and I wanted to see why. In my opinion there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, if I remember right it was banned because of witch-craft and maybe anti-catholic ideas, strong language, and some adult themes. But there was nothing I objected to. I will be happy to read it again.

I was the same way for most of my life. It wasn't until early last year that I started reading more than one book at a time. Now I read 2 - 6. I find challenging (writing style, vocabulary, non-English language/s, unfamiliar references, tomes, nonfiction, etc.) books easier when I set a specific amount of time (usually 1 hr / day or ½ hr / day for nonfiction) and have other books to enjoy in between. I know this doesn't work for all readers.

I just read the overview for Bless Me, Ultima. It sounds interesting. Two of my GoodReads friends rated it 5 stars and one rated it 4 stars. Add that to your high opinion and my curiosity is piqued!

There are some spoilers in my comments below so.... I finished The Intuitionist and enjoyed reading it. (view spoiler)[ I didn't try to get too caught up in the politics or the race aspects but saw them as important characters in the story. Lila Mae seems so committed to what she believes as an "intuitionist" and maybe a bit naive as to how politics work in the business of Elevator Inspectors. The description of the treatment of the newspaper reporter was pretty intense, and really hit home when the security guard was glad that his shift was over and he could go home. I liked the fact that nothing was as it seemed, not Fulton, not the Black Box, not who controlled the two parties. It was all a joke and a fantasy, and I liked the idea of Lila Mae continuing the story after Fulton had passed on. (hide spoiler)] I would re-read the story again, and would like to read other works by Colson Whitehead

Flowers in the Attic I decided to purchase the boxed set of the 5 stories in this series. The publisher decided to combine the 1st & 2nd story into one book, and the 3rd & 4th story in a second book. Each book is about 3 inches thick, and not very portable. Oh well.

"Flowers In the Attic" - 40-50% (The Christmas Party). This is an easy read, I like the way the author writes and her descriptions of the attic and the life the children are (or are not) living. But this story definitely leaves me with a feeling of sadness, and a great sense of irritation with the mother.

The Flowers in the Attic Saga: Flowers in the Attic/Petals on the Wind; If There Be Thorns/Seeds of Yesterday; Garden of Shadows I finished the first book of the series, I plan on reading the other stories as it will be interesting to see what happens to the characters. This was an easy read and I enjoyed it but I found the book sad and depressing and a bit frustrating, I guess that's a sign of a good writer. I don't know if I would recommend the book as a must read. It was okay.

The Help I'm excited to read this book. I've seen the movie and really enjoyed it.

I finished The Help. I will definitely keep this one on my book shelf. I found myself worrying about the characters when I wasn't able to read, and while the ending wasn't all pretty, it was a new beginning for everyone.

OK. now on to "Petals on the Wind" it might be kinda hard to switch gears, we will see.

Petals on the Wind So I have to admit the writer is good, but the story is just weird. I wanted to slap everyone. I think I'll take a break and read a lighter book before I jump into the next in the series. I found two more "Cat Who..." books I haven't read yet, they will be a nice change from all the drama.

Good news, I finished 15 out of my 15 book goal for the year, so I'm gonna bump it up to 20. (I started at 5)

I went ahead and read If There Be Thorns a bit ahead of schedule. some characters were good and some were frustrating. I think I'll go ahead and finish the series just to keep the flow of the story going. Then if I'm far enough ahead I might be able to catch up a bit.

I don't know whether I'm reading this series so quick because I just want to finish or because I enjoy it. Maybe both, anyway I just finished Seeds of Yesterday I'm thinking when I'm finished with all 5 books, they will be released into the wild where they can find another reader to torment.

Garden of Shadows Read this series rather quickly. I'm kinda glad to be finished. I didn't hate the stories, they were kinda fun to read, but I probably won't be keeping the books in my permanent library. With my extra time I think I'll catch up on what the group has read earlier.

Started The Sirens of Titan, talk about a change in pace, my first highlight was the acknowledgement. This should be fun.

That was a really fun book.

I went on vacation, finished "The Sirens of Titan" and started and finished "Looking for Alaska. Alaska will be added to my permanent library. I really enjoyed both of those stories, they were each so different. Now I've ordered "Siddhartha".

This version seems to have a lot of extras, different forwards, epilogues, and lists of characters. The copyright is 1942, an authorized translation by Louise & Aylmer Maude (who ever they are). Published on Kindle in 2014.

Bridget,
Glad you enjoyed Sirens of Titan and Looking for Alaska.
Siddhartha is an odd book, but I liked it, and it's pretty short. (I read the Susan Bernofsky translation.)

The Maude translation of W&P seems to be one of the more popular and accessible ones, from what I've read.

(20%)
So far I'm trying to enjoy the story and not get too wrapped up in the "Great & Powerful War and Peace epic"
It was interesting that Andrew was upset that the battles and reactions of other soldiers did not fit his romanticized idea of what war and honorable behavior should be, and on the other side Nicolas just wanted to go home and be done with it.

28% Book 4 - part 7 Pierre is irritating.

Bridget wrote: "28% Book 4 - part 7 Pierre is irritating."

Yeah, he is... I'm wondering where his character arc is heading. I'm a little further along than you, I think, where he (view spoiler)[starts getting involved with the Freemasons. (hide spoiler)] (Not a big spoiler, but just in case...)

One of the articles I read about War & Peace says this about the characters: "You will like some characters more than others, and there will be long stretches where a character you used to like irritates or frustrates you." (https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...)

I think Pierre may be one of those characters that goes from irritating/frustrating to likable at some point (then maybe back to irritating).

47% Starting Book 8 - I'm feeling sorry for all the young lovers.

I really feel I should be reading this with a serious attitude and find some sort of inspiration, but at 50% I'm like "what are you thinking?!!", oh that's right your not.

War & Peace 85% so close yet so far. It's not boring, but it suddenly turned into a struggle.

Bridget wrote: "War & Peace 85% so close yet so far. It's not boring, but it suddenly turned into a struggle."

I still haven't hit a point where it feels like a struggle to get through, but I'm not as far into it as you are. I did take a break from it yesterday, though, and read some much lighter stuff, to give myself a break.

Finished. I'm not sure how to link to my review on my book page, it's probably the longest review I've ever written. I'm glad I read this book. I don't think I would have read it without this group. Thank you :)

Gilead My next book to read, I'm about 15 pages in and I'm enjoying it. Favorite part so far...when the main character is a young boy, he and his friends decide they need to baptize kittens.

Bridget wrote: "Finished. I'm not sure how to link to my review on my book page, it's probably the longest review I've ever written. ..."

Wow, congratulations on finishing War and Peace! I'm still working on it. I may have slowed down a bit, but I'm still reading a chapter or two on most days.

Here's a link to your review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Andrew wrote: "Bridget wrote: "Finished. I'm not sure how to link to my review on my book page, it's probably the longest review I've ever written. ..."

Wow, congratulations on finishing War and Peace! I'm still..."

Thank you !!

I'm really enjoying "Gilead" and had an opportunity to start 1984. So far I'm only a few pages in and it's pretty interesting. I've tried to avoid "spoilers", because it seems the book gets pretty intense.

Finshed Gilead really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next two. Here is a link to my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

1984 This was such a strange book. I'm glad I read it, but have mixed feelings about it. The beginning was good, the middle was a bit hard to focus on, and the end was...the end.

Instead of The Stand by Stephen King, I'm going to read Lonesome Dove and get caught up a bit. I'll fit the rest of the series in when I can.

I finished Lonesome Dove Here is a link to my review. I could have written pages and pages about what I thought of the characters, but this will do for now. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Starting to reading Home. I'm surprised at the difficulty I had switching from Lonesome Dove to Home. Maybe because Lonesome Dove was so intense, and Home is rather mellow, I found it difficult to concentrate. So after a short break I'm thinking I can switch gears better. I've always been one to read the same "type" of book, or the same author, and I get comfortable. I like being out of my comfort zone a bit.

Finished Home, it was a good story and I enjoyed it. I liked how the author handled the cross- over sections, when she wrote about the same scene in Home as she had in Gilead but from different view points. Below is my review.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Hey, thanks for posting the links to your Lonesome Dove and Home reviews. I still haven't started Home yet.

Andrew wrote: "Hey, thanks for posting the links to your Lonesome Dove and Home reviews. I still haven't started Home yet."

Thanks, I think you'll enjoy Home, it's completely different than Gilead, a little philosophical but not as much

and that being said I have now finished Lila, it's a whole different feel from Gilead and Home. Gilead seemed to be about being thankful, optimistic, content. Home seemed to be about trust, secrets, protection, and Lila about trust, loss, fear. I think I'll keep these for a while. Here is my review. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

So, I've had two books sitting on my "currently reading" shelf for over a year. Uncommon Type and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine I think I'll try to finish them before I start Gone with the Wind in November.

I finished Uncommon Type , and I really enjoyed this book. It is not really deep or philosophical. Just a nice take-a-break book. The stories are well written and the characters are interesting, it doesn't have a whole lot of action or intrigue, so it might not fit those readers that like a fast pace and high drama. But I enjoyed it and I think Tom Hanks is a very good writer.

I started today. I'm glad I have the kindle version. My reading speed say's I'll finish this in about 43 hours, and at about 20 - 30 minutes a day, I'm sure I'll need all of the two months we have allotted for this one, but maybe I'll be surprised.

I got Gone With the Wind in audiobook. It's 49 hours and change. I'm finishing two other short books before I start. It will take awhile.

Yeah, I downloaded a sample of the Kindle version & I'm reading the introduction now. I'll probably buy the Kindle version once I get to the end of the sample.

I'm curious about the audiobook. It seems like the kind of novel that might work well in audio, with a good narrator.