Book Blogger Hop, Follow Friday and other memes

Book Blogger HopIt's another Friday and it's time for me to start rejoining some memes because I've missed them!


Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Billy over at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer and Follow Friday is hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee. This week's BBH question is:

Do you think you will ever read every book on your TBR list?

Alison Can Read Feature & FollowMost definitely not. The list just keeps growing and expanding and has taken on a life of its own. Not only is there an actual pile and an actual list, there is also a mental list that grows by the minute. But I think I like it that way. I will never run out of books I want to read, books I can read and books I am looking forward to. I can't imagine how I feel when I've run out of books to read, but it has to be a pretty terrible feeling because what would I do with my life?


This weeks FF question only adds to my TBR pile:
What books are you looking forward to reading in 2014?

So many, it's ridiculous. But here are a random ten:

The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (I have already started it but this novel is so long it hardly counts)
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
Watership Down by Joseph Adams
Candide by Voltaire
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Call of Wild by Jack London
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Paradise Lost by John Milton
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin

Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader and Friday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice.

This week I'm using All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque for these two memes. I just read and reviewed (review here)  it for my "serie" 'Literature of the First World War' which I'm doing until the 28th of June this year. It is also part of my 100 Classics.

BB:
'We are at rest five miles behind the front. Yesterday we were relieved, and now our bellies are full of beef and haricot beans. We are satisfied and at peace.'
I think this beginning is incredibly strong. Most people who start this book know that it is about the War and its effect on soldiers. These first three sentences are both simple and almost cruel. The narrator is happy when his stomach is full and he is at rest, but it is the last time in the novel he is satisfied or at peace.

F56:
'We are forlorn like children, and experienced like old men, we are crude and sorrowful and superficial--I believe we are lost.'
This is a very good example of the honesty of the novel. The narrator and author are convinced that these soldiers are partially ruined by the war, alienated from their families and ordinary life and lost. It moved me to tears.

So, how about you? Do you think you'll ever be done with your TBR pile?

Comments

  1. Great prose in your excerpts! Thanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog.

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  2. There's a reason this book is a classic, and its opening and the excerpt from Page 56 show why.
    Here's the link to my Friday post: PICTURING PERFECT.

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  3. I had to read All Quiet on the Western Front in high school. I was probably too young to appreciate it then. You've shared some moving passages.

    Thanks for visiting The Busy Mom's Daily.

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  4. My "virtual" TBR list is much longer than my actual TBR pile--thank goodness! I don't think my house could hold everything that I want to read!

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  5. I love the idea of never running out of books to read, which is probably why I just keep adding books to my list! Great answer.

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  6. I really want to read Watership Down soon!! Great picks! I'm a new follower via gfc :)

    Pivot Book Reviews FF

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  7. Sad and yet beautiful 56.

    Happy weekend!

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  8. O God No! I finish one book and three more are added. ARGHH!

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  9. Excellent snippet! I never read this one.

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  10. I love books set in war times
    good choice
    and thnks for visiting my blog
    Ruty@THE FRIDAY 56

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  11. Nice excerpts. I have seen this book around but have never been tempted to pick it up. Now I might be. Happy reading!

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  12. What a great challenge! I tend to read a lot of books set during WWI (and WWII). I remember reading--and liking--All Quiet on the Western Front when I was in high school.

    Thanks for visiting my blog...have a great weekend!

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  13. I've never attempted War and Peace but always think I should - it's one of those which always gets mentioned in the 'must read' lists. I did read The Time Machine, and have Fahrenheit 451 on my TBR pile as I love dystopian.

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  14. My TBR pile is like yours; never ending!! I'd like to think I'll eventually read them all, but I probably wont (:

    Tina @ Pages of Comfort
    My Blogger Hop

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  15. I too keep heaping up books, especially ebooks....

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  16. Really interesting choices! My TBR pile is never ending and willlast a lifetime!

    New GFC/Bloglovin follower.

    Thea @ Gizzimomo's Book Shelf

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  17. Great post, along with some deep thoughts for #56... Little by little my book pile shrinks, but just a tad! Have a great week ahead!

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