Naked Lunch

You guys, I just can't do this one. I got to page 12 and called it quits. The moment I saw Kerouac's name mentioned in the prologue, I knew it was going to be tough, but even The Road I was able to suffer through to the last page. But this one—William Burroughs' Naked Lunch—is gonna be a solid no from me.

Which brings me to my first breakthrough decision about this 1001 list. There are just going to be some books that I can't stand to bear and will henceforth feel okay giving up on trying to finish. Lunch is the first work that I have officially marked as "abandoned".  I already know that Finnegan's Wake will probably also follow in Lunch's footsteps from what I have read/heard from it so far, but up until this point I had every intention of trying again someday.

Anyway, here's what I gathered from 12 pages + prologue:

It's a work based entirely on drug addiction, and was written by the author while he was suffering from this "disease".  Naturally, this subject matter makes the tone gritty, but the additional nonsensical beatnik quality is exactly the type of prose that I absolutely cannot enjoy.  There is no storyline and I swear to god I did not get any meaning out of any of the words that were being put into my brain within any of the pages I read after the prologue.  Clearly, this was a complete waste of time for me, which is why I have chosen to stop.

So back to Half Price Books this book goes...but, I'm feeling good about this new development in identifying things that I dislike enough to give up on.

Current stats on my progress:

Finished/read: 162/1001
Abandoned: 1

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was my first Agatha Christie novel. True to her reputation, it's a classic whodunit mystery with little for me to speak to. This one specifically had an interesting twist (thankfully) at the end, which is why I assume it was included in this list. In today's world filled with stories riffing off others from the past, the ending didn't come as quite a shock to me, but I can see it being quite an inventive storyline in the 20's when this one first came out.

Overall, it was a quick, fun read but I'm not sure I am interested enough to pick up any more of Christie's works.  There's only so much you can do with this kind of genre...(but that's me deciding that without much context so I'm willing to be proved wrong)

Sidenote, did "clue" used to be spelled "clew"?? So weird.

The Castle of Otranto

The internet tells me that The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole is the first gothic novel, and in true gothic form it's an extremely theatrical read. From the very first page, Walpole wastes no time—he has us running at full speed into the middle of the action (a wedding day, no less) without any formal introductions.

There's playfulness veiled in the dark and frightening events that the characters are experiencing which pushes the absurd even further: the prince dies from a giant helmet falling on him from the sky, there's giant armored limbs all over the castle, etc etc.

Also, men are just gross in this old-timey world.  Manfred is pretty rapey in his pursuit of Isabella, not to mention his easy dismissal of Hippolita in order get his mitts on the newer, younger girl.  But he's not the only gross one. Frederic, nice as he is, also fell in love with Matilda who is his own damn daughter's age. Ugh why are old men so creepy.  On the other hand, the women are on the total other side of the spectrum, acquiescing to everyone else's needs and putting their feelings first (in Matilda's case, all the way to her dying breath).  #TimesUp, ladies.

It seems unfair that Isabella should be saved and Matilda sacrificed, but I guess it shakes out that the main point of all of the bad things that happened was for Manfred to suffer.  I was quite surprised that he cared at all that Matilda died though, to be honest.  I guess he was human after all.

Gone with the Wind

It feels like I've been reading Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind for half a year now, but I see from my last post that's it's actually only been 2 months. In that time, I've spent 9 years (1448 pages) with Scarlett O'hara from age 19, all the way through the Civil War, 3 husbands, and 3 children. I don't think I've ever read a book that spans such a lengthy timeline, covering so many life events for the main character as Wind has done. Every time a new husband or a new child or a new death came along, I felt each layer get added to a growing mountain of history that I've never experienced in fiction.  Truly, no one can deny that this book is epic.


For the majority of the book, I loathed Scarlett and couldn't understand why any women ever felt a connection to her (much less to the degree of wanting to be her). My copy was prefaced by Pat Conroy who went on and on about how his mother obsessed over Scarlett and identified her as someone worth idolizing.  All I could see in the young Scarlett was a self-absorbed uneducated brat who cared nothing of anything but herself.  Mitchell even made it clear that that was Scarlett's main characteristic time and time again, and yet all of the characters in Clayton adored her to a degree that made me question whether I was reading a satirical joke. Honestly, it was blowing my mind I was so confused.  If you're going to choose a woman in this book to want to be, it should be Melanie. She is literally perfection, and all of the characters even say so. Are human women idiots? Wtf is going on in society that people want to be the true villain.  Sidenote, I hate her "fiddle dee-dee"s and "if XX doesn't stop, I'll scream" taglines more than anything. Girl, stfu.

I also thought that Ashley made it painfully clear that he  didn't ever want her early on, but then when he did respond to Scarlett throwing herself at him, I was sincerely taken aback and disappointed. Rhett, on the other hand, was almost identical to Ashley in every way save for one minor trait (that of being a damn suave badass) and I couldn't see how Scarlett didn't realize she loved the same person twice. He and Ashley could have been great friends had it not been for Scarlett, I think.

In the very end, Scarlett does seem to do a tiny bit of growing up. At least she's finally true to her feelings and admits her weaknesses (love, in more ways than one). I found the final page to be surprisingly perfect. Scarlett, finally facing the results of all of her terrible behavior for the past 1440 pages, yet pushing toward hope and clawing her way back—the story will go on.

Dangerous Liaisons

Shortly after I moved to Minneapolis, with all the time I had on my hands with no friends in a new city, I made a robe a la francaise. Riding that 18th century kick, I started Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. I've seen the movie, which I found to be quite boring (except for the pretty costumes), but I thought the book had its exciting points.

First off, the preface said that Marie Antoinette herself had this book in her library, which I find charming. It's gossipy AF which I guess is all the French court had to keep themselves entertained, but its nice to know my girl Marie was reading trash too.

The story centers around two giant asshole nobles who toy with everyone around them for their own fun and games. It's a bit sad to see poor, pure little Tourvel get driven into madness by Valmont and Merteuil's self-centered plots, though I could have done with a few less letters of her changing her mind back and forth about Valmont's credibility. Make up your damn mind, woman. It's so much easier to live your life when religion isn't a factor.

I like that it went into all-out war against the central characters at climax. They turned on each other and got what they deserved and it was satisfying to get that. I guess I have to give credit to people who put so much work into scheming for a bit of "fun", though. I could never find the energy.

Anyway, here's the dress I made, for good measure!

The Corrections

It was refreshing to read a modern book after so many older ones, but man does Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections remind you of the intolerability of every human being. Just as you start to like a character, you realize they're a terrible person.  And you know what?  That's the absolute truth of everyone on this earth—even the ones we love the most.  It's just that in real life you don't have access to their selfish and irrational thoughts and emotions so you just don't realize how awful they really are.

Gary, Caroline (really, I hated Caroline the most. So childish) and Enid's self-centeredness are infuriating. Denise and Chip's somewhat-relatable emotionally driven-priorities cause self-reflection.  Alfred's mental condition is terrifying.  But the biggest surprise and softed part of the book for me, was the level of love that Alfred had for his children that was uncovered by his dementia. So powerful.

The Corrections was honest and entertaining, though often uncomfortable and heartbreaking. That's the nature of real family life though, which is what gives it so much strength.

A World of Love

I could tell I was going to forget the entire plot/experience of A World of Love by Elizabeth Bowen before I even finished the book. It's just 149 pages of 5 people resenting each other for their own  failures and misgivings, and I couldn't wait until it was over and I could throw it into my box of books I need to get rid of.

To me, dealing with this house full of women playing victim was cringe-worthy and with nothing else happening throughout the storyline, I didn't find anything especially worthy of this book for its place on the 1001 list. The only redeeming thing about the hours spent on the book is that the names Liliana and Antonia are very pretty (L.O.L). I honestly don't even know what else to say—I didn't get anything out of this this book.

Finally, the end was strange. I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean. The start of a romance amidst failed relationships? I don't know but it's kind of off-putting and tacky if that's what it is. Womp womp.