Monday, July 8, 2019

The A to Z of TBR


Jean and Brona have both recently done an A to Z listing of books on the TBR pile and likewise I thought I'd browse through as an incentive to look at some half-forgotten choices. The idea is to pick titles that begin with the letter in question. I had to cheat a little for X, but was able to make all the other letters...

A: Axel's Castle, by Edmund Wilson
B: Bible and Sword, by Barbara Tuchman
C: C, by Tom McCarthy
D: Diaries: 1899-1941, by Robert Musil
E: East Lynne, by Mrs. Henry (Ellen) Wood
F: Flood of Fire, by Amitav Ghosh
G: Girl With A Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier
H: Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis, by J. K. Rowling
I: Incident at Badamya, by Dorothy Gilman
J: Jacques the Fatalist, by Denis Diderot
K: Kalevala, assembled by Elias Lonnrot
L: Life Form, by Amelie Nothomb
M: Memoirs of Hadrian, by Marguerite Yourcenar
N: Near to the Wild Heart, by Clarice Lispector
O: Obasan, by Joy Kogawa
P: Present at the Creation, by Dean Acheson
Q: Quo Vadis, by Henryk Sienkewicz
R: Rates of Exchange, by Malcolm Bradbury
S: Save Me The Waltz, by Zelda Fitzgerald
T: Tigers Are Better Looking, by Jean Rhys
U: Under the Greenwood Tree, by Thomas Hardy
V: Vathek, by William Beckford
W: War and the Iliad, by Simone Weil and Rachel Bespaloff
X: The Anabasis with Vocabulary, by Xenophon
Y: You've Had Your Time, by Anthony Burgess
Z: Zibaldone, by Giacomo Leopardi

Since I had to cheat on the X, and go with the author's name rather than the book title, I can offer up titles beginning with a symbol:

$1000 A Week, and other stories, by James T. Farrell

and a number:

10:04, by Ben Lerner

Which have you read? Which look good to you?

8 comments:

  1. I read Under the Greenwood Tree a couple of months ago. It's not Hardy's best, but it's not a bad read.

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    1. Even second tier Hardy is still pretty good I expect. I really should read it, because I suspect I'd enjoy it.

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  2. Oh, if only I had not yet read Quo Vadis! I could have had it too. It was a fun read, btw.

    I like your "C." Bible and Sword is a very interesting book, but otherwise some of your titles are on my TBR too!

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    1. Good to know about Bible and Sword & Quo Vadis. Especially Quo Vadis, which I've got on my Classics Club list. It wasn't my only Q choice, either...

      The C choice did seem especially fun.

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  3. That doesn't seem like TOO much of a cheat!

    I've only read three of yours (Ghosh, Chevalier and Kogawa) but a couple of the others are on my TBR (Lerner, East Lynne).

    That's a fun exercise! Good luck with actually reading them now!

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    1. That is the trick! There are so many TBR books around to pick from, where do I start?!

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  4. Such an interesting list! I’ve read East Lynne, The Girl with the Pearl Earring and the Harry Potter (but in English!). I’ve only read the first in the Amitav Ghosh trilogy. I need to get back to that before I forget what happened in Sea of Poppies entirely!

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    1. The Harry Potter in Latin was a gift from a friend, and since I've read it in English (a few times) it should be easier, right?

      I've read Sea of Poppies, too, but now I figure I should reread it before carrying on with the trilogy. I decided I wanted the entire trilogy in hand before carrying on, but that took a while.

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