Reading The 1000 Books to Read Before I Die

“Ever since childhood, when I lived within earshot of the Boston and Maine, I have seldom heard a train go by and not wished I was on it.” Paul Theroux, The Great Railway Bazaar  The Great Railway Bazaar A Review by James Romano Hello 1000 Bookies, this next book I just completed was a treat for me.  Our next stop on the 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die is The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux.  In 1973, Mr. Theroux embarked on a trip from England to the continent and proceeded to travel by train through Europe to Istanbul in Turkey.  From IIstanbul, Mr. Theroux travelled via train throughout Asia.  According to James Mustich, Theroux traveled “[O]n some of the world’s greatest trains: The Orient Express, the Night Mail to Meshed, the Khyber Pass Local, the Golden Arrow, the Trans-Siberian Express.”   Paul returns to his family approximately on New Years Eve.  This story was the height of adventure to me. . Paul goes throughout Asia over ...

“Increasing vision is increasingly expensive” R.A. Janek A Review of The Andromeda Strain Greetings 1000 Bookies!  The next stop on our journey of reading and promoting the 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die we arrive in the late 1960s United States and enter the world of science fiction to discuss the classic novel, The Andromeda Strain .  In 2020 America, living under the burden of the Covid-19 virus, The Andromeda Strain does not seem that far fetched.  Candidly, the series of events raised in the book had never crossed my mind until reading—are there viruses in space?  And those viruses could attach to our probes and spacecraft?  The story shows that even with the best technology and communications system at the time, human error in decision making still plays a major role in processes and events.  The Andromeda Strain was published over 50 years ago.  The novel was the first published by famous author, Michael Crichton.  At approxima...

“I have always regretted that the historian allowed Vashti to drop out of sight so suddenly”, Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The Book of V By Anna Solomon Hey 1000 Bookies, I just finished the novel, The Book of V by Anna Solomon.   This is a fictional account of the Book of Esther in the Bible combined with a modern retelling.   The book is the story of 4 women, two are in the ancient times and two are set in more modern times.   To understand the story, reading the very short Book of Esther would not be a bad place to start.    According to legend and scripture, Esther was a Jewish woman growing up in Persia during the Babylonian Captivity.   At one point in the ancient world, Nebuchadnezzar and his empire conquered Jerusalem and moved a segment of the Hebrew people to Babylon and other cities in the empire as slaves.   Through a series of events Esther is married to King Ahasuerus, one of the successors of Nebuchadnezzar.   At some poin...

“Survival had to start with me. In my experience, a castaway’s worst mistake is to hope too much and do too little.” Yann Martel, Life of Pi  Life of Pi By Yann Martel To me, if a story grabs you as you are reading the first pages then the trip is going to be fantastic.  That is what exactly happened to me when I began reading Life of Pi .  This is the first book I have read by the author Yann Martel. Life of Pi is a popular book published in 2001 and the winner of 4 Academy Awards including Best Director for Ang Lee.  Honestly when I saw that Life of Pi was listed on the 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die , I was anticipating a book about a kid and a tiger on a boat.  What I did not anticipate was how much more to the story there was, and how much I was going to love reading this book.     The book takes place in the mid to late 1970s first in India, then for 7 months in the Pacific Ocean.  I have always been fascinated by In...

“The long, long ambiguity of Edgewood, the stifling sense of mysteries continually propounded, never solved, the endless waiting of purposes to be made clear and directions pointed out—all over.” John Crowley Little, Big Hello 1000 Bookies!! The latest book I completed off the list of 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die is a fantasy novel by John Crowley entitled Little, Big .  At 564 pages this book was big, not little and candidly a tough read for me.  I believe my wife was happier that I finished the novel than I was, she then would stop listening to me complain about the story during our morning jogs.  Little, Big is an acclaimed novel but its charm was lost on me.  Books are like wine; you like what you like no matter the awards or medals they win.  I was not wild about Little, Big.   The book was released in 1981 and has received acclaim in literary circles.  James Mustich writes about the story, “[C]alling it fantasy isn’t quite right, f...

If It Bleeds  By Stephen King A Review by Jonathan Hanson As a lifelong fan of Stephen King, I always look forward to his books. In fact, I previously reviewed my favorite book from his catalogue, IT. His newest book, If It Bleeds , is a collection of four novellas. Over the years, Mr. King has written a wide variety of short stories and novellas: Four Past Midnight , Nightmares & Dreamscapes , Skeleton Crew, Everything’s Eventual, etc. I really enjoy his collections because it allows the reader to explore various aspects of King’s writing, from the eerie and gory to the subtle and supernatural. In fact, some of the most famous movies based on Stephen King books were short stories: Rita Hayworth & the Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile , The Mist , and Jerusalem’s Lot are some examples. This new book contains four novellas, one of which is a sequel to earlier works. “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” is about the friendship formed between a young boy and a w...

“Age has its despairs, yet without its dimension, our lives lose their shape: A timeless life, without growth or change, would be drearier that the day is long” James Mustich Tuck Everlasting Hey 1000 Bookies!!!  After spending the most recent blog posts on books based in Great Britain, we arrive at our next destination of TreeGap, which I assume is located in the mid-western United States.  Our latest stop along the 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die is taking us to the 1880s and the novella, Tuck Everlasting .  This book, written by Natalie Babbitt, is a popular young adult book.  Written in 1975, Tuck Everlasting continues to be a favorite of school kids to this day.  The book is a quick read at 137 pages.  I sorely wish I had read this book when I was a teen or pre-teen.  The message that Tuck Everlasting contains about the understanding and the importance of death in our lives is a point of view most young people need to consider. The stor...