fun
My First Ultra
This past Saturday I ran my first ultra, 50K at the North Face Endurance Challenge in Sterling, VA. I finished in 08:20:51. It took way longer than I thought it was going to and the humidity and heat was just brutal. Below is my full, totally long winded race report.
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Pre-race – I got up at 4AM and put on all the things I laid out the night before. Had a plain bagel with PB&J like usual and gathered my gear. I had a camelbak filled with watermelon nuun and packed with snacks, TP in a ziploc, and lip balm with sunblock (which I didn’t use and fortunately didn’t need.) J. and I have an agreement where she only has to come to new race distances (or if I talk her into a destination race where she’s just kind of there already and we can meet up at the end) so she took her duties very seriously and drove me out to the suburbs of VA, dropped me off and agreed to be back at 1ish, the earliest possible moment I thought I would be done.
I saw two Mr. Sweaty-Tops-Off before I was even on the shuttle. The ride took about 15 minutes to the race site, which is gorgeous. I’ve never been there before and I was treated to a breath taking sunrise over the river which really pumped me up; I felt so lucky to be there. So I hung out, I hit the port-o-johns like 16 times, and eventually meandered towards the start with the rest of the crazy folks, who weren’t crazy enough to do the 50 miler. Dean Karnazes announced the start, and say what you will about that man, he is crazy fit.
My plan was to hydrate every mile at least until I felt thirsty, and save my ipod which was strapped to my wrist, until I needed it.
Miles 0-5 – These were pretty uneventful miles. I knew that I just needed to pace myself so I tried to hang back a bit. So I just found people to pace off of. Paced off of two chicks who looked younger than me and super fit until like mile 4ish (to discover later that they were more than a decade younger than me and finished more than an hour after me – small victories). I knew the hills were coming around the five mile markers of the race and sure enough the elevation started around mile four. I was also trying to figure out the passing thing on the single track. I mean I know you kind of announce that you’re coming and where but I knew that I shouldn’t be going all out, certainly not at this point, but I really felt like I could be going faster at some points and just kind of felt conflicted about what to do. In retrospect I wish I had pushed it more when it was cooler, because later in the heat, it was just impossible.
But I ran behind a woman for a mile or so in head to toe pink with flowers in her hair who was talking about the litany of ultras she’d participated in – Javelina, the Vermont 100, then mentioned that she got hit by a car, possibly in two separate instances while volunteering at Badwater and then ran into the emergency room doctor that treated her later at another ultra. I hung out for a while just to hear her story and moved along.
Miles 6-10 – Aid station two came around mile 5.7. The first one was really early and small so I had a cup of water and pretty much ignored it. The second one was the famed ultra buffet and it was a wee bit overwhelming. I wasn’t really hungry but knew I should take fuel so I grabbed some water and unpacked some sports beans and had a few. Already I was having that long run reaction where as soon as I put the food in my mouth I was like, meh… I don’t want this. It really made me wish I did better with gels.
There was a significant amount of grassland in the single track of the first section which I didn’t anticipate (in places the grass was shoulder height) but this section was more of what I anticipated in terms of wooded canopies next to the river which was nice. Even though I face planted somewhere around mile six (no pokey sticks to the face or gut, so no worries) I was feeling pretty good for these miles, it was hot but not crazy, and I was pretty happy with my times. Mile ten-ish took me over some hills that I knew I’d be crossing again. They were pretty tough, tougher than I expected based on the elevation maps as it was less than 400 feet of elevation gain at the peak but it was a series of ups and downs for each hill set. I could already feel the effort in my quads a bit but it was totally dealable.
Miles 11-15 – Great Falls came around mile 12 and this is where we were co-mingled with the 50 milers doing these crazy sadistic not-quite-loops. Around mile eleven I saw a guy, dead behind the eyes who looked like he might fuel by reaching into a tree and grabbing a live squirrel. My guess was that he was the winner. The aid station here was this crazy triangle set-up with tons of snacks. I refilled my camelpak here, shocked that I had drunk at least two-thirds of my nuun. I had a shot blok, and orange slice and a piece of boiled potato. I really did not want to eat, which made me nervous this early on so I just made a decision to consume whatever seemed appealing. So I had a cup of water, the Clif electrolyte drink (which I think I really like) and some Mountain Dew, disgusting on a normal day, but suuuper awesome during the run. I hit the port-o-john and moved on.
The course is really gorgeous here. I put on headphones just after the aid station and had saved this week’s AMR podcast for this week for the race. There was one point where Dimity was recounting catching a glimpse of her shadow during her Ironman training race on the bike, saying that her own legs moved “like pistons” and getting choked up, almost in disbelief that she was capable of undertaking such an effort. I paused the podcast when I heard the rush of the river over the rocks to my left, and felt my feet hit the ground almost silently as I’d trained myself to do, and saw the runners coming towards me after they hit the turn-around, quads flexing, arms swinging saying, “hey good job” as they passed me, and I got a bit choked up myself. I was there. I was running my ultra. It’s so cliche to always point back to the post-cancer accomplishments, but at this point in my life I am just amazed at what my body is capable of. I descended to the turn-around point, rounded the turn and took the ascending hill at a run.
Miles 16-20 – The Old Dominion aid station was mid-loop through the 50 miler loop and it was crazytown. I lost so much time here because I was totally overwhelmed. There were multiple tables, tons of volunteers, and I just didn’t know what to do with myself. It looked like a sweaty party — maybe I should mingle? I also started to realize that I was soaked. I couldn’t have been more wet if I had jumped in the river, which I started to fantasize about. Fortunately the race volunteers were amazing. An EMT doused me with a gallon of cold water, another opened a bag of pretzels for me as my hands were too wet to do so, I grabbed a shot block, had a single pretzel, an orange slice and the water, soda, electrolyte drink combo that I decided seemed to be working for me. I chatted with a 50 miler in the port-o-john line who was super nice, had put in 32 miles already and let me go in front of him because I would be quick, and he had stomach issues. I wished him luck and was back on my way.
This section also hit Great Falls again around mile twenty. I was feeling tired at this point and knew I wasn’t taking in enough nutrition. So I had a couple of bites of a banana, and more soda, water, electrolyte drink. I should have refilled my camelbak here but I was afraid of how long it would take and I felt like my hands, and brain quite frankly weren’t working and I just couldn’t process how to make a refill happen and didn’t just go to a volunteer and say hey, can you do this? Which I totally should have done.
Also somewhere in here was the rock scrambling section which the coach (who is wonderful and wildly encouraging) I had enlisted to help me about two and a half months prior had mentioned encountering when she ran it the previous year, and then there were all of these crazy wooden stairs. That part was super fun and exciting. I did some fancy downhill footwork around miles 18-19 (I usually love these miles in a marathon for some reason) and passed some volunteers who seemed a little surprised at my speed and good spirits.
Miles 21-25 – I had my first down moment around mile twenty – twenty-one. I knew it would come and I was prepared for it. I remembered what fun I had hiking the AT in the Poconos back in April, so I just decided to speed hike it until my joy came back and sure enough, within about a mile I felt better. This was the next section of hill repeats so there was a lot of necessary walking through here. Also at some point my Garmin got off track because I thought I was way further along than I was as was evidenced by the extra mile it said that I ran on Saturday.
There’s a flat section around miles twenty-three to about maybe twenty-seven, twenty-eight. This is where the wheels came off for me. The heat peaked and I just felt like I was baking. I started looping around the same group of runners. All of us would run a bit, walk a bit, try to encourage each other. For a few miles I fell into a group of about six guys who were trail and ultra seasoned and really interesting. One fellow had run Bear Mountain earlier in the year and was running about a marathon a weekend for several weeks. Another guy had run with Scott Jurek and Chris McDougall earlier in the week. So we chatted and just walked for a while. I just didn’t have the will to move any faster. I knew I was low on water and nutrition. I tried to eat but it just wasn’t working. I felt like I was going to puke if I moved any faster.
Miles 26-finish – It felt forever to the next aid station. I felt like I could feel the entirety of my quad muscles and where they attached to my leg as a whole. I fell back in with the ultra guys for a few miles and then just broke away. I tried to run two minutes, walk a minute which descended to running thirty-seconds, walking for two. I chatted with runners and we tried to pass out encouragement. There were smaller hills here, which felt huge and my quads were screaming and I realized that camelbak had possibly chafed a huge section of skin off of my back. It was uncomfortable but I really didn’t care. Fortunately after the last big section of hills it felt a little cooler and I started to run/walk with more frequency. Unfortunately, it was this point where I realized for certain that my Garmin was at least a mile off, if not more, and before I reached the finish, I would have to hit that aid station that seemed so close to the start.
Along the way I passed a couple of people just laying or sitting next to the trail. There was a woman pouring water on the head of another runner who was puking into the grass. A few runners asked if she needed help and she asked if we could send someone back at the next aid station. Even though the marathoners still had a loop at the next aid station, we were all still so close. At this point I realized that just finishing was enough.
At the aid station I had two cups of soda, electrolytes, and water. An volunteer pulled a gallon of water from a cooler and asked if I would like to have some poured on me too cool me off I said absolutely, mentioned that my phone was in my pack, so he told me to tip my head back and poured the water over the bill of my cap and it rushed down over me. I gasped. It was a shock to the system, a fantastic one. I thanked him profusely and asked how far it was to the end. He said one and six tenths of a mile.
So I took off, walking one minute, running (really, shuffling) for a minute. There started to be spectators, which helped. Once I saw the finish I was able to shuffle for the rest of the way. I heard my name as I approached the finish and saw J. coming towards me with the camera and I couldn’t believe it. I was done. It was over. I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. I think I did a little of both.
Post-race – I wanted ice bath, beer, t-shirt in that order. I chatted with some of the runners that I spent time with on the trail. I drank a ton of water. I was a little disoriented but so, so happy.
The bad: I think I needed to run more trails and hills and maybe I should have overdressed for some of my runs, but I’m not sure how I could have prepared adequately for that heat and humidity. I need to rethink my camelbak and/or practice quick filling it or just be okay with taking the time to fill it because I was definitely out of water around mile twenty-five.
Also, sure I am sore but the worst is the roof of my mouth, towards the back of my throat is sore and my jaw is distractingly achy. What’s up with that?
The good: Listening to Steve Reich in the woods is pretty amazing. I met a lot of cool people. The volunteers were incredibly accommodating. I didn’t walk away hating endurance racing or the distance but for now I think I’ve hit the limit of the distance I’m prepared to cover and I’m okay with that. I’m looking for my next race.
Later that evening: After getting some food we decided we could make it the house of dear friends for their housewarming-turned-engagement party. My friends expressed their surprise that I made it and made a fuss over me, which was sweet, poked at my quads which was actually kind of funny and indulged my race story blow-by-blow race accounts.
In DC when you chat with new people everyone always asks what you do – it can get pretty tedious. This was the first time that instead, what I did that day was a topic. The race had been a floating topic of conversation. One fellow had heard the distance and looked at me and said, “So it was a cycling race.” I replied no, and watched him think for a minute. “Wait, so you were running?” I said yes. “So you ran almost 32 miles.” Yes. “That’s crazy!” Sometimes people say this about marathons and I pass it off, because ultimately it’s hard, but not totally out there. But that evening, I took a sip of my adult beverage, looked at him, and agreed.
Race Report – Richmond Marathon
Yesterday I ran my second marathon in Richmond, VA. I ran my first in Pittsburgh, PA this past year in May after a Christmas Party agreement with my cousin’s husband, Luke last year. After we recovered a bit from Pittsburgh we talked about doing the Marine Corps, here in DC but it filled too quickly so I pitched the idea of running Richmond because it’s still pretty close and is supposed to be a nice time and a good course.
With Joanna gone in Maine for a few months, I thought that I would have plenty of time to train and would get tons and tons of miles in. While I did have a good deal of time I also took on a freelance editing project and work got really crazy. On top of this I ended up visiting in Maine more than I anticipated. A wonderful thing, but the traveling did leave me more tired than I anticipated from time to time. I also ended up being sick on and off for two weeks or so before the marathon. That said, as the marathon came closer, I kept reminding myself that I was averaging about 5 more miles per week in training than I had for the last marathon, was running faster, had been doing more controlled training, like speedwork and tempo runs and was feeling better during and after my long runs. As Luke and I walked out of the hotel to position ourselves at the start I remember talking about how we were each nervous but ultimately, it was like any other weekend – we were heading out for a long one.
My family was coming from around the Morgantown area and were kind enough to offer to pick me up and take me back – I had planned on taking the train as the thought of driving after the marathon sounded completely miserable. So they arrived just after noon on Friday. We had an easy drive down to Richmond, stopping on the way for lunch where we ate carbs, carbs, carbs. We hit the expo and picked up our race packets. Luke got a headband to cover his ears in the cold and I introduced him to BodyGlide. I’m not sure how he has survived running this long without it.
We checked in to our hotel, the Comfort Inn on the north western part of Richmond. It was a bit of a lackluster pit whose advertised internet didn’t work. But it was cheap and we booked it just a few weeks before marathon time. Finding dinner the night before proved to be a complete and unanticipated fiasco. It never occurred to me that we should book a reservation but we found no wait under an hour at any of the restaurants we tried in Carytown so we gave up and hit the chain restaurants just outside of the city. At that point it was a relief just to find a place to relax and I played word games with their son as Luke and my cousin worked out the logistics of the next day.
I was nervous, but I didn’t feel as overwhelmed or anxious as I had before Pittsburgh, maybe because it wasn’t a complete unknown. We went back to the hotel. I got my things together, talked to Joanna on the phone, took a shower and went to bed about midnight.
The next morning I ate a spare bagel Luke had brought with honey and almond butter (I found these great packages where a nut butter and a sweetener is combined in a little packet. Really convenient.) I had a little bit of coffee, and some gatorade. I met up with everyone and we headed out to the car to drive to the start. My cousin, Sherea and Perry were going to try to meet us at a couple of points during the marathon but really, most of the city was blocked off in some way from the marathon. Figuring that out was going to be a real trick for them and as we got further downtown we were noting streets that were open and where they were in relation to the marathon course.
It was freezing when we got to the start. Both Luke and I were wearing top layers. I planned to chuck mine at some point along with the cheapie gloves that I was wearing. Luke was planning to give his shirt to Sherea at mile 3. Instead of stand in line at the porta-potties Sherea located a Starbucks inside the Marriott on the same block as the starting line so she and Perry got beverages while Luke and I stood in line with a bunch of other runners inside the nice warm hotel once, and then again. I will say that the entire marathon, for being as large as it was, wasn’t a hectic experience. We didn’t head outside to line up, maybe 10 minutes before the marathon start, finding plenty of room around the midway point for our respective corrals. I ended up ditching my sweatshirt just before the gun went off and we headed off and were able to cross the actual start pretty quickly.
Last marathon Luke totally went out too fast and bonked a bit at the end so my good pace is his reserve pace so we ran where I felt like I was making a little effort and used my Garmin to reign in our pace around a 10 minute mile from miles 1-4. It was nice to hang out, chat and actually get a little running time in together. It’s funny that we do running events together but haven’t actually run together until this marathon! Somewhere around mile 1, we were still downtown and on a straightaway before me I see a man with a mike, a small speaker and a huge sign that starts with the word, “repent” – no good ever comes after that word, especially on a sign. I quickly scanned the sign and sure enough partway down I saw the word, “homosexuals.” There’s nothing like being condemned to hell within the first 10 minutes of a race. I couldn’t help myself, as we passed the man, I leaped in the air, hands waiving and yelled, “I’m gay! I’m gay!” a second later we heard, “and God loves gay people, too…” I apologized for my outburst but Luke seemed to think it was pretty funny. Around 2.5 miles I ditched my gloves. As we approached the first turn at mile 3 we began to look for Sherea and Perry but didn’t see them so Luke ended up stashing his shirt at the corner of a building, hoping that it would still be there if we came back to look for it post-race.
At mile 4 Luke and I split up because I decided to hit the bathrooms. I grabbed some water at the stop and as I waited in the port-a-potty line there was a guy in front of me with very cool green stripy arm warmers. He was also drinking water and as he turned towards me I noticed that his bib said, “moose”. Being a little over-excited from the initial race endorphin rush, I slapped him on the arm a few times and pointed to my own bib which said, “m00se”. He was very gracious about it and only spilled a little on himself. I got back on the road and had a few sports beans. The back pocket of my knickers was loaded with various energy things and it looked like I had a weird tumor growing out of my back so unloading the oddly shaped things first seemed like a good idea.
Though I was warm from running and I could tell that the temperature was rising, I noticed that my hands were absolutely freezing. This has happened to me a few times recently, that my hands get so cold during a run that by the end I can barely move them. I really wanted those gloves back. It was getting difficult to even change songs on my MP3 player. So, around mile 6 I started scanning the ground for abandoned gloves.
I found a really cute pink striped pair but spotted the mate too late to make a grab. I was still keeping up a great pace for me, about a 10 minute mile, but I was missing pacing myself off of someone for whom the pace seemed effortless. As I was thinking about this I noticed a younger fellow in red shorts and a white top. We seemed to be running at about the same pace. So without thinking I just kind of tried to keep up with him for a while. It wasn’t hard, and didn’t require me to push myself too much but it was just nice to have a focal point for the run. I could keep running and pretty much know that I was on target in terms of pace without looking at my watch all the time. I kept this up until I stopped to make a pit stop around mile 12.
As I ran over the Huguenot Bridge at mile 7 I spotted a black pair of gloves almost identical to the ones I had tossed previously. I thankfully put them on my freezing hands as I took in the view from the bridge. We were entering the more rural part of the run along the James River. It was simply gorgeous. There were some houses but for the most part they were off to our right with the river on the left and a gorgeous canopy of autumn leaves above us. This was probably my favorite part of the whole run. It was funny how serene it felt even surrounded by all those other runners.
This was also about the point in the race where the crowd support got kind of funny. Richmond is hailed as the friendliest marathon course. So far I hadn’t seen it, but I didn’t really have much to compare it too besides Pittsburgh. Except for a mile or two here or there, the Pittsburgh course felt like a party the whole way, despite the lousy weather. The support over the course of the Richmond Marathon wasn’t as constant but it did have it’s quirks. After we left the riverside, we ran though a more residential area, passing a woman standing at the edge of her lawn with a noisemaker a huge bowl filled with pretzels held out the the runners. Lawn or even living room furniture filled with spectators was a common sight as was people out on their stoop or leaning out of a window shouting support. At one point I high-fived a little girl in footie pajamas still wearing a bit of breakfast on her cheeks. I remain awed by the support one finds when running a marathon not only from fellow runners but from the spectators. Before we took off Luke and I were discussing the way running in a marathon felt, how you could have this little rockstar experience that one might not get in any other context. It is hard to explain, but it is crazy to spend a few hours with people holding signs, screaming, telling you that you can do it, and you’ve got this, and you look great, passing you food and beverages and cops stopping traffic for you. Really, it’s just wild.
Remember those abandoned gloves? Without thinking, from mile 7 until about 12 I proceeded to take those gloves of unknown origins and wipe my entire face with them. Those gloves were on the ground and probably had been run over by a few hundred runners. Long distance running, as a general rule, is pretty gross. Around mile 10 I took a Gu gel which in retrospect was a mistake. I think the gel really screwed with my stomach for the next 10 miles forcing bathroom stops at miles 12, 14, and 16. I didn’t feel completely terrible, but I didn’t feel great either which sucked after the first 10 miles, which were pretty great. As I waited in line for the port-a-john at mile 12 I tucked my gloves into my bra, then realized it had warmed up and I really didn’t need them any more so back to the ground they went.
Around the halfway point I ran for a bit behind a woman who had a sign on her back saying that she was running in honor of her late husband who had died earlier this year. It was a sobering way to think about running as a solitary experience, even in the sea of runners. I saw her several times over second half of the race.
I hadn’t really poured over the course map the way I had for Pittsburgh. According to what I had read, something happened around mile 15, a hill or something. I knew whatever it was, it was coming and I was trying to prepare myself for it. Despite the stomach issues, I really wasn’t feeling too bad, but kept having weird thoughts about quitting, which was strange for me because that rarely happens. As I approached the marker for mile 15 I saw a long bridge stretch out to my left and I got excited because I love running bridges, then I realized that this was the dreaded thing. I couldn’t figure out why just looking at it so I made the turn with just a little pang of dread but still, looked forward to running the bridge. I got a “lookin’ good” from a cute cop as I hit the overpass. I allowed myself to think that she actually meant it just for the ego boost. Then I saw a sign that said, “Make the Lee Bridge Your Bitch.” It seemed like a good plan of attack. The view of the James River from the Lee Bridge was just extraordinary. This was a nice distraction until about ¾ of the way across the bridge when I realized that the problem was the bloody headwind. It felt like you were fighting for every step as the end of the bridge got closer, but then just like that it was over.
My stomach felt the worst miles 16 though 19. I was afraid that it was just going to get worse but as I ran on to mile 20 there was a drastic improvement. Somewhere in here I was offered pretzels, I don’t think it was from the designated junk food stop at mile 16 (where I had a gummy bear and tossed the rest of them. I don’t know how anyone eats a gummy bear while running). Again, a testament to how disgusting running is – the woman offering the pretzels, God bless her, had a hand full suspended over a bowl and deposited them directly into my hands after we made eye contact. Brilliant, because I didn’t even slow down. Disgusting because, well it was. I think double dipping amongst a group of marathoners wouldn’t even be an offense. Eating and running is something that I’ve been afraid of as I’m clumsy and figured that the focus required to chew and run would automatically result in my tripping right into a ditch, but I happily munched on 6 or 7 pretzels over the next few miles. I finally saw my cousin and her son at mile 19 which was a welcome sight and gave me a nice boost as I approached the last 6.2 miles.
Mile 20 always seems kind of scary because you’re tired, and maybe a little bored and you know that “the wall” is supposed to come and flatten you and grind you into the pavement. I made my last pit stop here and as I left decided that I should check out the local NPR station on the radio because I was bored with my music. A little clicking around revealed only a classical music station and no fun weekend NPR shows which was a disappointment, so back to the music. The beginning of mile 22 was a glorious festival of people and snacks. First the usual water and Powerade stop, then no kidding, a homemade sign showing pretzels and beer. As I was offered a cup I said, “beer?” to the nice lady and she nodded as I said “brilliant!” as I trotted off. Part of me wondered if this was a good idea. Theoretically I knew it was not, however as I gazed into the fizzy head atop my little dixie cup of light beer swill (yum!) I said what the hell and took a sip. It was good. I felt good. It was awesome.
As I approached mile 23 I saw what looked like someone stretching in the middle of the street off in the distance. I thought to myself, come on man, you’re going to do that, right there? You can’t move off to the side? As I got closer I saw a man crouched down with his right leg stretched out at an angle in front of him. In typical me fashion I was still a little annoyed even though there was plenty of room to get around him. I waited for him to switch legs and stretch out the other. A few more steps and I saw that his left leg was fitted with a running prosthetic. I don’t know how many times I have to prove to myself what an asshole I am. Running for me has always been a quantifiable way to know that I was improving at something. Distance running especially is a chance to see how I can push myself, to literally see how far I can go. Here was another reminder that there are other ways of pushing myself, to not be so quick to judge and quick to annoyance. Sometimes, yes you do just have to stretch right there in the middle of the street and everyone else will just have to get out of the way. As I passed I sped up and felt the full weight of my body on each foot as it touched the ground, grateful for each step. I cried right through to the water stop at mile 23.
I have a bad habit of wanting to be done with a run just before I hit my target distance. It’s like my body knows how far I need to go and really doesn’t want to go a single step farther and just to ensure that this doesn’t happen wants to stop just a mile or two before I’m done. This was mile 24. I kept flipping songs, looking for the right one and telling myself just two miles, you can do two miles without even trying. This is so easy, just keep going. At mile 25 I picked it up and “In for the Kill” by la Roux came on around mile 25.5. I booked it right into mile 26 and hit repeat. There is a short sharp downhill at the start of mile 26 which I actually think kind of sucked because the grade felt severe on my tired quads. The descent was short though and there was the finish line right in front of me. I surprised myself by running even faster, tired though I was, and was running about an 8 minute a mile pace as I crossed the finish. I hope to learn to maintain that kind of speed through the whole race in the future.
My official time was 4:51:06. It was better than my first by about 22 minutes, but not as good as I had secretly hoped. It was sub-5 hours and that was a time I could live with. I am happy that I learned to eat and run and to know how good a little beer can taste on the race course. I think I need to ditch the Gu for good and find something else that works for me, the bathroom stops are killing me and I’m far to slow to absorb them. Overall it was a fun and quirky race but I don’t think I feel the need to make it a repeat event, but thanks Richmond for a great race!
this is old…
Originally uploaded by l@in
but isn’t it bloody adorable?
weekend round-up
Honestly, it’s been difficult to strike a balance between getting things done in the house and taking some time to just chill out and enjoy the summer. This weekend, though, I think we came close to hitting the mark. Friday we went out and tried Sakana in Dupont and then saw Woody Allen’s new film. The sushi was actually quite good, and the oyster roll was excellent. The film was not quite what I expected, but was hilarious. If you get a chance, you should see it. Saturday we went and picked out a treadmill to replace our gym membership, then we finished painting the bedroom. It is a really gorgeous shade of blue now. Today we did the trim after hitting the Takoma Park farmer’s market and having brunch at Mark’s Kitchen. An indulgence, I’m almost embarrassed to say, we’ve succumbed to for the past three Sunday mornings. I also ran into an old college friend while looking for melon’s which was a nice surprise.
So, now the first round of improvements to the house are really finished. Time to unpack, put the books on the shelves, mow the damn lawn, and find some patio furniture so we can finally enjoy that deck we were so excited about.
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
From the list created by Dr. Peter Boxall. I thought it would be fun to see which ones I’ve read (listed in bold below). I haven’t had much time to contemplate the list itself. That said, these things usually make me crazy, because the always seem skewed in some fashion.
Which ones have you read?
- 2000s
- Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
- Saturday – Ian McEwan
- On Beauty – Zadie Smith
- Slow Man – J.M. Coetzee
- Adjunct: An Undigest – Peter Manson
- The Sea – John Banville
- The Red Queen – Margaret Drabble
- The Plot Against America – Philip Roth
- The Master – Colm Tóibín
- Vanishing Point – David Markson
- The Lambs of London – Peter Ackroyd
- Dining on Stones – Iain Sinclair
- Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
- Drop City – T. Coraghessan Boyle
- The Colour – Rose Tremain
- Thursbitch – Alan Garner
- The Light of Day – Graham Swift
- What I Loved – Siri Hustvedt
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
- Islands – Dan Sleigh
- Elizabeth Costello – J.M. Coetzee
- London Orbital – Iain Sinclair
- Family Matters – Rohinton Mistry
- Fingersmith – Sarah Waters
- The Double – José Saramago
- Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer
- Unless – Carol Shields
- Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami
- The Story of Lucy Gault – William Trevor
- That They May Face the Rising Sun – John McGahern
- In the Forest – Edna O’Brien
- Shroud – John Banville
- Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
- Youth – J.M. Coetzee
- Dead Air – Iain Banks
- Nowhere Man – Aleksandar Hemon
- The Book of Illusions – Paul Auster
- Gabriel’s Gift – Hanif Kureishi
- Austerlitz – W.G. Sebald
- Platform – Michael Houellebecq
- Schooling – Heather McGowan
- Atonement – Ian McEwan
- The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen
- Don’t Move – Margaret Mazzantini
- The Body Artist – Don DeLillo
- Fury – Salman Rushdie
- At Swim, Two Boys – Jamie O’Neill
- Choke – Chuck Palahniuk
- Life of Pi – Yann Martel
- The Feast of the Goat – Mario Vargos Llosa
- An Obedient Father – Akhil Sharma
- The Devil and Miss Prym – Paulo Coelho
- Spring Flowers, Spring Frost – Ismail Kadare
- White Teeth – Zadie Smith
- The Heart of Redness – Zakes Mda
- Under the Skin – Michel Faber
- Ignorance – Milan Kundera
- Nineteen Seventy Seven – David Peace
- Celestial Harmonies – Péter Esterházy
- City of God – E.L. Doctorow
- How the Dead Live – Will Self
- The Human Stain – Philip Roth
- The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood
- After the Quake – Haruki Murakami
- Small Remedies – Shashi Deshpande
- Super-Cannes – J.G. Ballard
- House of Leaves – Mark Z. Danielewski
- Blonde – Joyce Carol Oates
- Pastoralia – George Saunders
- 1900s
- Timbuktu – Paul Auster
- The Romantics – Pankaj Mishra
- Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson (have gotten part-way through this like 3 times)
- As If I Am Not There – Slavenka Drakuli?
- Everything You Need – A.L. Kennedy
- Fear and Trembling – Amélie Nothomb
- The Ground Beneath Her Feet – Salman Rushdie
- Disgrace – J.M. Coetzee
- Sputnik Sweetheart – Haruki Murakami
- Elementary Particles – Michel Houellebecq
- Intimacy – Hanif Kureishi
- Amsterdam – Ian McEwan
- Cloudsplitter – Russell Banks
- All Souls Day – Cees Nooteboom
- The Talk of the Town – Ardal O’Hanlon
- Tipping the Velvet – Sarah Waters
- The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
- Glamorama – Bret Easton Ellis
- Another World – Pat Barker
- The Hours – Michael Cunningham
- Veronika Decides to Die – Paulo Coelho
- Mason & Dixon – Thomas Pynchon
- The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
- Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
- Great Apes – Will Self
- Enduring Love – Ian McEwan
- Underworld – Don DeLillo
- Jack Maggs – Peter Carey
- The Life of Insects – Victor Pelevin
- American Pastoral – Philip Roth
- The Untouchable – John Banville
- Silk – Alessandro Baricco
- Cocaine Nights – J.G. Ballard
- Hallucinating Foucault – Patricia Duncker
- Fugitive Pieces – Anne Michaels
- The Ghost Road – Pat Barker
- Forever a Stranger – Hella Haasse
- Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace
- The Clay Machine-Gun – Victor Pelevin
- Alias Grace – Margaret Atwood
- The Unconsoled – Kazuo Ishiguro
- Morvern Callar – Alan Warner
- The Information – Martin Amis
- The Moor’s Last Sigh – Salman Rushdie
- Sabbath’s Theater – Philip Roth
- The Rings of Saturn – W.G. Sebald
- The Reader – Bernhard Schlink
- A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
- Love’s Work – Gillian Rose
- The End of the Story – Lydia Davis
- Mr. Vertigo – Paul Auster
- The Folding Star – Alan Hollinghurst
- Whatever – Michel Houellebecq
- Land – Park Kyong-ni
- The Master of Petersburg – J.M. Coetzee
- The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami
- Pereira Declares: A Testimony – Antonio Tabucchi
- City Sister Silver – Jàchym Topol
- How Late It Was, How Late – James Kelman
- Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres
- Felicia’s Journey – William Trevor
- Disappearance – David Dabydeen
- The Invention of Curried Sausage – Uwe Timm
- The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx
- Trainspotting – Irvine Welsh
- Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
- Looking for the Possible Dance – A.L. Kennedy
- Operation Shylock – Philip Roth
- Complicity – Iain Banks
- On Love – Alain de Botton
- What a Carve Up! – Jonathan Coe
- A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
- The Stone Diaries – Carol Shields
- The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides
- The House of Doctor Dee – Peter Ackroyd
- The Robber Bride – Margaret Atwood
- The Emigrants – W.G. Sebald
- The Secret History – Donna Tartt
- Life is a Caravanserai – Emine Özdamar
- The Discovery of Heaven – Harry Mulisch
- A Heart So White – Javier Marias
- Possessing the Secret of Joy – Alice Walker
- Indigo – Marina Warner
- The Crow Road – Iain Banks
- Written on the Body – Jeanette Winterson
- Jazz – Toni Morrison
- The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje
- Smilla’s Sense of Snow – Peter Høeg
- The Butcher Boy – Patrick McCabe
- Black Water – Joyce Carol Oates
- The Heather Blazing – Colm Tóibín
- Asphodel – H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)
- Black Dogs – Ian McEwan
- Hideous Kinky – Esther Freud
- Arcadia – Jim Crace
- Wild Swans – Jung Chang
- American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis
- Time’s Arrow – Martin Amis
- Mao II – Don DeLillo
- Typical – Padgett Powell
- Regeneration – Pat Barker
- Downriver – Iain Sinclair
- Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord – Louis de Bernieres
- Wise Children – Angela Carter
- Get Shorty – Elmore Leonard
- Amongst Women – John McGahern
- Vineland – Thomas Pynchon
- Vertigo – W.G. Sebald
- Stone Junction – Jim Dodge
- The Music of Chance – Paul Auster
- The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
- A Home at the End of the World – Michael Cunningham
- Like Life – Lorrie Moore
- Possession – A.S. Byatt
- The Buddha of Suburbia – Hanif Kureishi
- The Midnight Examiner – William Kotzwinkle
- A Disaffection – James Kelman
- Sexing the Cherry – Jeanette Winterson
- Moon Palace – Paul Auster
- Billy Bathgate – E.L. Doctorow
- Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
- The Melancholy of Resistance – László Krasznahorkai
- The Temple of My Familiar – Alice Walker
- The Trick is to Keep Breathing – Janice Galloway
- The History of the Siege of Lisbon – José Saramago
- Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel
- A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
- London Fields – Martin Amis
- The Book of Evidence – John Banville
- Cat’s Eye – Margaret Atwood
- Foucault’s Pendulum – Umberto Eco
- The Beautiful Room is Empty – Edmund White
- Wittgenstein’s Mistress – David Markson
- The Satanic Verses – Salman Rushdie
- The Swimming-Pool Library – Alan Hollinghurst
- Oscar and Lucinda – Peter Carey
- Libra – Don DeLillo
- The Player of Games – Iain M. Banks
- Nervous Conditions – Tsitsi Dangarembga
- The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul – Douglas Adams
- Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – Douglas Adams
- The Radiant Way – Margaret Drabble
- The Afternoon of a Writer – Peter Handke
- The Black Dahlia – James Ellroy
- The Passion – Jeanette Winterson
- The Pigeon – Patrick Süskind
- The Child in Time – Ian McEwan
- Cigarettes – Harry Mathews
- The Bonfire of the Vanities – Tom Wolfe
- The New York Trilogy – Paul Auster
- World’s End – T. Coraghessan Boyle
- Enigma of Arrival – V.S. Naipaul
- The Taebek Mountains – Jo Jung-rae
- Beloved – Toni Morrison
- Anagrams – Lorrie Moore
- Matigari – Ngugi Wa Thiong’o
- Marya – Joyce Carol Oates
- Watchmen – Alan Moore & David Gibbons
- The Old Devils – Kingsley Amis
- Lost Language of Cranes – David Leavitt
- An Artist of the Floating World – Kazuo Ishiguro
- Extinction – Thomas Bernhard
- Foe – J.M. Coetzee
- The Drowned and the Saved – Primo Levi
- Reasons to Live – Amy Hempel
- The Parable of the Blind – Gert Hofmann
- Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez
- Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit – Jeanette Winterson
- The Cider House Rules – John Irving
- A Maggot – John Fowles
- Less Than Zero – Bret Easton Ellis
- Contact – Carl Sagan
- The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
- Perfume – Patrick Süskind
- Old Masters – Thomas Bernhard
- White Noise – Don DeLillo
- Queer – William Burroughs
- Hawksmoor – Peter Ackroyd
- Legend – David Gemmell
- Dictionary of the Khazars – Milorad Pavi?
- The Bus Conductor Hines – James Kelman
- The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis – José Saramago
- The Lover – Marguerite Duras
- Empire of the Sun – J.G. Ballard
- The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
- Nights at the Circus – Angela Carter
- The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera
- Blood and Guts in High School – Kathy Acker
- Neuromancer – William Gibson
- Flaubert’s Parrot – Julian Barnes
- Money: A Suicide Note – Martin Amis
- Shame – Salman Rushdie
- Worstward Ho – Samuel Beckett
- Fools of Fortune – William Trevor
- La Brava – Elmore Leonard
- Waterland – Graham Swift
- The Life and Times of Michael K – J.M. Coetzee
- The Diary of Jane Somers – Doris Lessing
- The Piano Teacher – Elfriede Jelinek
- The Sorrow of Belgium – Hugo Claus
- If Not Now, When? – Primo Levi
- A Boy’s Own Story – Edmund White
- The Color Purple – Alice Walker
- Wittgenstein’s Nephew – Thomas Bernhard
- A Pale View of Hills – Kazuo Ishiguro
- Schindler’s Ark – Thomas Keneally
- The House of the Spirits – Isabel Allende
- The Newton Letter – John Banville
- On the Black Hill – Bruce Chatwin
- Concrete – Thomas Bernhard
- The Names – Don DeLillo
- Rabbit is Rich – John Updike
- Lanark: A Life in Four Books – Alasdair Gray
- The Comfort of Strangers – Ian McEwan
- July’s People – Nadine Gordimer
- Summer in Baden-Baden – Leonid Tsypkin
- Broken April – Ismail Kadare
- Waiting for the Barbarians – J.M. Coetzee
- Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
- Rites of Passage – William Golding
- Rituals – Cees Nooteboom
- Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
- City Primeval – Elmore Leonard
- The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco
- The Book of Laughter and Forgetting – Milan Kundera
- Smiley’s People – John Le Carré
- Shikasta – Doris Lessing
- A Bend in the River – V.S. Naipaul
- Burger’s Daughter – Nadine Gordimer
- The Safety Net – Heinrich Böll
- If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler – Italo Calvino
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
- The Cement Garden – Ian McEwan
- The World According to Garp – John Irving
- Life: A User’s Manual – Georges Perec
- The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch
- The Singapore Grip – J.G. Farrell
- Yes – Thomas Bernhard
- The Virgin in the Garden – A.S. Byatt
- In the Heart of the Country – J.M. Coetzee
- The Passion of New Eve – Angela Carter
- Delta of Venus – Anaïs Nin
- The Shining – Stephen King
- Dispatches – Michael Herr
- Petals of Blood – Ngugi Wa Thiong’o
- Song of Solomon – Toni Morrison
- The Hour of the Star – Clarice Lispector
- The Left-Handed Woman – Peter Handke
- Ratner’s Star – Don DeLillo
- The Public Burning – Robert Coover
- Interview With the Vampire – Anne Rice
- Cutter and Bone – Newton Thornburg
- Amateurs – Donald Barthelme
- Patterns of Childhood – Christa Wolf
- Autumn of the Patriarch – Gabriel García Márquez
- W, or the Memory of Childhood – Georges Perec
- A Dance to the Music of Time – Anthony Powell
- Grimus – Salman Rushdie
- The Dead Father – Donald Barthelme
- Fateless – Imre Kertész
- Willard and His Bowling Trophies – Richard Brautigan
- High Rise – J.G. Ballard
- Humboldt’s Gift – Saul Bellow
- Dead Babies – Martin Amis
- Correction – Thomas Bernhard
- Ragtime – E.L. Doctorow
- The Fan Man – William Kotzwinkle
- Dusklands – J.M. Coetzee
- The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum – Heinrich Böll
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – John Le Carré
- Breakfast of Champions – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
- Fear of Flying – Erica Jong
- A Question of Power – Bessie Head
- The Siege of Krishnapur – J.G. Farrell
- The Castle of Crossed Destinies – Italo Calvino
- Crash – J.G. Ballard
- The Honorary Consul – Graham Greene
- Gravity’s Rainbow – Thomas Pynchon
- The Black Prince – Iris Murdoch
- Sula – Toni Morrison
- Invisible Cities – Italo Calvino
- The Breast – Philip Roth
- The Summer Book – Tove Jansson
- G – John Berger
- Surfacing – Margaret Atwood
- House Mother Normal – B.S. Johnson
- In A Free State – V.S. Naipaul
- The Book of Daniel – E.L. Doctorow
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter S. Thompson
- Group Portrait With Lady – Heinrich Böll
- The Wild Boys – William Burroughs
- Rabbit Redux – John Updike
- The Sea of Fertility – Yukio Mishima
- The Driver’s Seat – Muriel Spark
- The Ogre – Michael Tournier
- The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison
- Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick – Peter Handke
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
- Mercier et Camier – Samuel Beckett
- Troubles – J.G. Farrell
- Jahrestage – Uwe Johnson
- The Atrocity Exhibition – J.G. Ballard
- Tent of Miracles – Jorge Amado
- Pricksongs and Descants – Robert Coover
- Blind Man With a Pistol – Chester Hines
- Slaughterhouse-five – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
- The French Lieutenant’s Woman – John Fowles
- The Green Man – Kingsley Amis
- Portnoy’s Complaint – Philip Roth
- The Godfather – Mario Puzo
- Ada – Vladimir Nabokov
- Them – Joyce Carol Oates
- A Void/Avoid – Georges Perec
- Eva Trout – Elizabeth Bowen
- Myra Breckinridge – Gore Vidal
- The Nice and the Good – Iris Murdoch
- Belle du Seigneur – Albert Cohen
- Cancer Ward – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
- The First Circle – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
- 2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick
- Dark as the Grave Wherein My Friend is Laid – Malcolm Lowry
- The German Lesson – Siegfried Lenz
- In Watermelon Sugar – Richard Brautigan
- A Kestrel for a Knave – Barry Hines
- The Quest for Christa T. – Christa Wolf
- Chocky – John Wyndham
- The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test – Tom Wolfe
- The Cubs and Other Stories – Mario Vargas Llosa
- One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel García Márquez
- The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov
- Pilgrimage – Dorothy Richardson
- The Joke – Milan Kundera
- No Laughing Matter – Angus Wilson
- The Third Policeman – Flann O’Brien
- A Man Asleep – Georges Perec
- The Birds Fall Down – Rebecca West
- Trawl – B.S. Johnson
- In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
- The Magus – John Fowles
- The Vice-Consul – Marguerite Duras
- Wide Sargasso Sea – Jean Rhys
- Giles Goat-Boy – John Barth
- The Crying of Lot 49 – Thomas Pynchon
- Things – Georges Perec
- The River Between – Ngugi wa Thiong’o
- August is a Wicked Month – Edna O’Brien
- God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater – Kurt Vonnegut
- Everything That Rises Must Converge – Flannery O’Connor
- The Passion According to G.H. – Clarice Lispector
- Sometimes a Great Notion – Ken Kesey
- Come Back, Dr. Caligari – Donald Bartholme
- Albert Angelo – B.S. Johnson
- Arrow of God – Chinua Achebe
- The Ravishing of Lol V. Stein – Marguerite Duras
- Herzog – Saul Bellow
- V. – Thomas Pynchon
- Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut
- The Graduate – Charles Webb
- Manon des Sources – Marcel Pagnol
- The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – John Le Carré
- The Girls of Slender Means – Muriel Spark
- Inside Mr. Enderby – Anthony Burgess
- The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
- One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
- The Collector – John Fowles
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey
- A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
- Pale Fire – Vladimir Nabokov
- The Drowned World – J.G. Ballard
- The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing
- Labyrinths – Jorg Luis Borges
- Girl With Green Eyes – Edna O’Brien
- The Garden of the Finzi-Continis – Giorgio Bassani
- Stranger in a Strange Land – Robert Heinlein
- Franny and Zooey – J.D. Salinger
- A Severed Head – Iris Murdoch
- Faces in the Water – Janet Frame
- Solaris – Stanislaw Lem
- Cat and Mouse – Günter Grass
- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Muriel Spark
- Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
- The Violent Bear it Away – Flannery O’Connor
- How It Is – Samuel Beckett
- Our Ancestors – Italo Calvino
- The Country Girls – Edna O’Brien
- To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
- Rabbit, Run – John Updike
- Promise at Dawn – Romain Gary
- Cider With Rosie – Laurie Lee
- Billy Liar – Keith Waterhouse
- Naked Lunch – William Burroughs
- The Tin Drum – Günter Grass
- Absolute Beginners – Colin MacInnes
- Henderson the Rain King – Saul Bellow
- Memento Mori – Muriel Spark
- Billiards at Half-Past Nine – Heinrich Böll
- Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote
- The Leopard – Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
- Pluck the Bud and Destroy the Offspring – Kenzaburo Oe
- A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
- The Bitter Glass – Eilís Dillon
- Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
- Saturday Night and Sunday Morning – Alan Sillitoe
- Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris – Paul Gallico
- Borstal Boy – Brendan Behan
- The End of the Road – John Barth
- The Once and Future King – T.H. White
- The Bell – Iris Murdoch
- Jealousy – Alain Robbe-Grillet
- Voss – Patrick White
- The Midwich Cuckoos – John Wyndham
- Blue Noon – Georges Bataille
- Homo Faber – Max Frisch
- On the Road – Jack Kerouac
- Pnin – Vladimir Nabokov
- Doctor Zhivago – Boris Pasternak
- The Wonderful “O” – James Thurber
- Justine – Lawrence Durrell
- Giovanni’s Room – James Baldwin
- The Lonely Londoners – Sam Selvon
- The Roots of Heaven – Romain Gary
- Seize the Day – Saul Bellow
- The Floating Opera – John Barth
- The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Talented Mr. Ripley – Patricia Highsmith
- Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
- A World of Love – Elizabeth Bowen
- The Trusting and the Maimed – James Plunkett
- The Quiet American – Graham Greene
- The Last Temptation of Christ – Nikos Kazantzákis
- The Recognitions – William Gaddis
- The Ragazzi – Pier Paulo Pasolini
- Bonjour Tristesse – Françoise Sagan
- I’m Not Stiller – Max Frisch
- Self Condemned – Wyndham Lewis
- The Story of O – Pauline Réage
- A Ghost at Noon – Alberto Moravia
- Lord of the Flies – William Golding
- Under the Net – Iris Murdoch
- The Go-Between – L.P. Hartley
- The Long Goodbye – Raymond Chandler
- The Unnamable – Samuel Beckett
- Watt – Samuel Beckett
- Lucky Jim – Kingsley Amis
- Junkie – William Burroughs
- The Adventures of Augie March – Saul Bellow
- Go Tell It on the Mountain – James Baldwin
- Casino Royale – Ian Fleming
- The Judge and His Hangman – Friedrich Dürrenmatt
- Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison
- The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
- Wise Blood – Flannery O’Connor
- The Killer Inside Me – Jim Thompson
- Memoirs of Hadrian – Marguerite Yourcenar
- Malone Dies – Samuel Beckett
- Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham
- Foundation – Isaac Asimov
- The Opposing Shore – Julien Gracq
- The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
- The Rebel – Albert Camus
- Molloy – Samuel Beckett
- The End of the Affair – Graham Greene
- The Abbot C – Georges Bataille
- The Labyrinth of Solitude – Octavio Paz
- The Third Man – Graham Greene
- The 13 Clocks – James Thurber
- Gormenghast – Mervyn Peake
- The Grass is Singing – Doris Lessing
- I, Robot – Isaac Asimov
- The Moon and the Bonfires – Cesare Pavese
- The Garden Where the Brass Band Played – Simon Vestdijk
- Love in a Cold Climate – Nancy Mitford
- The Case of Comrade Tulayev – Victor Serge
- The Heat of the Day – Elizabeth Bowen
- Kingdom of This World – Alejo Carpentier
- The Man With the Golden Arm – Nelson Algren
- Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
- All About H. Hatterr – G.V. Desani
- Disobedience – Alberto Moravia
- Death Sentence – Maurice Blanchot
- The Heart of the Matter – Graham Greene
- Cry, the Beloved Country – Alan Paton
- Doctor Faustus – Thomas Mann
- The Victim – Saul Bellow
- Exercises in Style – Raymond Queneau
- If This Is a Man – Primo Levi
- Under the Volcano – Malcolm Lowry
- The Path to the Nest of Spiders – Italo Calvino
- The Plague – Albert Camus
- Back – Henry Green
- Titus Groan – Mervyn Peake
- The Bridge on the Drina – Ivo Andri?
- Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
- Animal Farm – George Orwell
- Cannery Row – John Steinbeck
- The Pursuit of Love – Nancy Mitford
- Loving – Henry Green
- Arcanum 17 – André Breton
- Christ Stopped at Eboli – Carlo Levi
- The Razor’s Edge – William Somerset Maugham
- Transit – Anna Seghers
- Ficciones – Jorge Luis Borges
- Dangling Man – Saul Bellow
- The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- Caught – Henry Green
- The Glass Bead Game – Herman Hesse
- Embers – Sandor Marai
- Go Down, Moses – William Faulkner
- The Outsider – Albert Camus
- In Sicily – Elio Vittorini
- The Poor Mouth – Flann O’Brien
- The Living and the Dead – Patrick White
- Hangover Square – Patrick Hamilton
- Between the Acts – Virginia Woolf
- The Hamlet – William Faulkner
- Farewell My Lovely – Raymond Chandler
- For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway
- Native Son – Richard Wright
- The Power and the Glory – Graham Greene
- The Tartar Steppe – Dino Buzzati
- Party Going – Henry Green
- The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
- Finnegans Wake – James Joyce
- At Swim-Two-Birds – Flann O’Brien
- Coming Up for Air – George Orwell
- Goodbye to Berlin – Christopher Isherwood
- Tropic of Capricorn – Henry Miller
- Good Morning, Midnight – Jean Rhys
- The Big Sleep – Raymond Chandler
- After the Death of Don Juan – Sylvie Townsend Warner
- Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day – Winifred Watson
- Nausea – Jean-Paul Sartre
- Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
- Cause for Alarm – Eric Ambler
- Brighton Rock – Graham Greene
- U.S.A. – John Dos Passos
- Murphy – Samuel Beckett
- Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
- Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
- The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Years – Virginia Woolf
- In Parenthesis – David Jones
- The Revenge for Love – Wyndham Lewis
- Out of Africa – Isak Dineson (Karen Blixen)
- To Have and Have Not – Ernest Hemingway
- Summer Will Show – Sylvia Townsend Warner
- Eyeless in Gaza – Aldous Huxley
- The Thinking Reed – Rebecca West
- Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
- Keep the Aspidistra Flying – George Orwell
- Wild Harbour – Ian MacPherson
- Absalom, Absalom! – William Faulkner
- At the Mountains of Madness – H.P. Lovecraft
- Nightwood – Djuna Barnes
- Independent People – Halldór Laxness
- Auto-da-Fé – Elias Canetti
- The Last of Mr. Norris – Christopher Isherwood
- They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? – Horace McCoy
- The House in Paris – Elizabeth Bowen
- England Made Me – Graham Greene
- Burmese Days – George Orwell
- The Nine Tailors – Dorothy L. Sayers
- Threepenny Novel – Bertolt Brecht
- Novel With Cocaine – M. Ageyev
- The Postman Always Rings Twice – James M. Cain
- Tropic of Cancer – Henry Miller
- A Handful of Dust – Evelyn Waugh
- Tender is the Night – F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Thank You, Jeeves – P.G. Wodehouse
- Call it Sleep – Henry Roth
- Miss Lonelyhearts – Nathanael West
- Murder Must Advertise – Dorothy L. Sayers
- The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas – Gertrude Stein
- Testament of Youth – Vera Brittain
- A Day Off – Storm Jameson
- The Man Without Qualities – Robert Musil
- A Scots Quair (Sunset Song) – Lewis Grassic Gibbon
- Journey to the End of the Night – Louis-Ferdinand Céline
- Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
- Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
- To the North – Elizabeth Bowen
- The Thin Man – Dashiell Hammett
- The Radetzky March – Joseph Roth
- The Waves – Virginia Woolf
- The Glass Key – Dashiell Hammett
- Cakes and Ale – W. Somerset Maugham
- The Apes of God – Wyndham Lewis
- Her Privates We – Frederic Manning
- Vile Bodies – Evelyn Waugh
- The Maltese Falcon – Dashiell Hammett
- Hebdomeros – Giorgio de Chirico
- Passing – Nella Larsen
- A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway
- Red Harvest – Dashiell Hammett
- Living – Henry Green
- The Time of Indifference – Alberto Moravia
- All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque
- Berlin Alexanderplatz – Alfred Döblin
- The Last September – Elizabeth Bowen
- Harriet Hume – Rebecca West
- The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner
- Les Enfants Terribles – Jean Cocteau
- Look Homeward, Angel – Thomas Wolfe
- Story of the Eye – Georges Bataille
- Orlando – Virginia Woolf
- Lady Chatterley’s Lover – D.H. Lawrence
- The Well of Loneliness – Radclyffe Hall
- The Childermass – Wyndham Lewis
- Quartet – Jean Rhys
- Decline and Fall – Evelyn Waugh
- Quicksand – Nella Larsen
- Parade’s End – Ford Madox Ford
- Nadja – André Breton
- Steppenwolf – Herman Hesse
- Remembrance of Things Past – Marcel Proust
- To The Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf
- Tarka the Otter – Henry Williamson
- Amerika – Franz Kafka
- The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway
- Blindness – Henry Green
- The Castle – Franz Kafka
- The Good Soldier Švejk – Jaroslav Hašek
- The Plumed Serpent – D.H. Lawrence
- One, None and a Hundred Thousand – Luigi Pirandello
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie
- The Making of Americans – Gertrude Stein
- Manhattan Transfer – John Dos Passos
- Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
- The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Counterfeiters – André Gide
- The Trial – Franz Kafka
- The Artamonov Business – Maxim Gorky
- The Professor’s House – Willa Cather
- Billy Budd, Foretopman – Herman Melville
- The Green Hat – Michael Arlen
- The Magic Mountain – Thomas Mann
- We – Yevgeny Zamyatin
- A Passage to India – E.M. Forster
- The Devil in the Flesh – Raymond Radiguet
- Zeno’s Conscience – Italo Svevo
- Cane – Jean Toomer
- Antic Hay – Aldous Huxley
- Amok – Stefan Zweig
- The Garden Party – Katherine Mansfield
- The Enormous Room – E.E. Cummings
- Jacob’s Room – Virginia Woolf
- Siddhartha – Herman Hesse
- The Glimpses of the Moon – Edith Wharton
- Life and Death of Harriett Frean – May Sinclair
- The Last Days of Humanity – Karl Kraus
- Aaron’s Rod – D.H. Lawrence
- Babbitt – Sinclair Lewis
- Ulysses – James Joyce
- The Fox – D.H. Lawrence
- Crome Yellow – Aldous Huxley
- The Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton
- Main Street – Sinclair Lewis
- Women in Love – D.H. Lawrence
- Night and Day – Virginia Woolf
- Tarr – Wyndham Lewis
- The Return of the Soldier – Rebecca West
- The Shadow Line – Joseph Conrad
- Summer – Edith Wharton
- Growth of the Soil – Knut Hamsen
- Bunner Sisters – Edith Wharton
- A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce
- Under Fire – Henri Barbusse
- Rashomon – Akutagawa Ryunosuke
- The Good Soldier – Ford Madox Ford
- The Voyage Out – Virginia Woolf
- Of Human Bondage – William Somerset Maugham
- The Rainbow – D.H. Lawrence
- The Thirty-Nine Steps – John Buchan
- Kokoro – Natsume Soseki
- Locus Solus – Raymond Roussel
- Rosshalde – Herman Hesse
- Tarzan of the Apes – Edgar Rice Burroughs
- The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists – Robert Tressell
- Sons and Lovers – D.H. Lawrence
- Death in Venice – Thomas Mann
- The Charwoman’s Daughter – James Stephens
- Ethan Frome – Edith Wharton
- Fantômas – Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre
- Howards End – E.M. Forster
- Impressions of Africa – Raymond Roussel
- Three Lives – Gertrude Stein
- Martin Eden – Jack London
- Strait is the Gate – André Gide
- Tono-Bungay – H.G. Wells
- The Inferno – Henri Barbusse
- A Room With a View – E.M. Forster
- The Iron Heel – Jack London
- The Old Wives’ Tale – Arnold Bennett
- The House on the Borderland – William Hope Hodgson
- Mother – Maxim Gorky
- The Secret Agent – Joseph Conrad
- The Jungle – Upton Sinclair
- Young Törless – Robert Musil
- The Forsyte Sage – John Galsworthy
- The House of Mirth – Edith Wharton
- Professor Unrat – Heinrich Mann
- Where Angels Fear to Tread – E.M. Forster
- Nostromo – Joseph Conrad
- Hadrian the Seventh – Frederick Rolfe
- The Golden Bowl – Henry James
- The Ambassadors – Henry James
- The Riddle of the Sands – Erskine Childers
- The Immoralist – André Gide
- The Wings of the Dove – Henry James
- Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
- The Hound of the Baskervilles – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- Buddenbrooks – Thomas Mann
- Kim – Rudyard Kipling
- Sister Carrie – Theodore Dreiser
- Lord Jim – Joseph Conrad
- 1800s
- Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. – Somerville and Ross
- The Stechlin – Theodore Fontane
- The Awakening – Kate Chopin
- The Turn of the Screw – Henry James
- The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells
- The Invisible Man – H.G. Wells
- What Maisie Knew – Henry James
- Fruits of the Earth – André Gide
- Dracula – Bram Stoker
- Quo Vadis – Henryk Sienkiewicz
- The Island of Dr. Moreau – H.G. Wells
- The Time Machine – H.G. Wells
- Effi Briest – Theodore Fontane
- Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
- The Real Charlotte – Somerville and Ross
- The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- Born in Exile – George Gissing
- Diary of a Nobody – George & Weedon Grossmith
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- News from Nowhere – William Morris
- New Grub Street – George Gissing
- Gösta Berling’s Saga – Selma Lagerlöf
- Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
- The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
- The Kreutzer Sonata – Leo Tolstoy
- La Bête Humaine – Émile Zola
- By the Open Sea – August Strindberg
- Hunger – Knut Hamsun
- The Master of Ballantrae – Robert Louis Stevenson
- Pierre and Jean – Guy de Maupassant
- Fortunata and Jacinta – Benito Pérez Galdés
- The People of Hemsö – August Strindberg
- The Woodlanders – Thomas Hardy
- She – H. Rider Haggard
- The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
- The Mayor of Casterbridge – Thomas Hardy
- Kidnapped – Robert Louis Stevenson
- King Solomon’s Mines – H. Rider Haggard
- Germinal – Émile Zola
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
- Bel-Ami – Guy de Maupassant
- Marius the Epicurean – Walter Pater
- Against the Grain – Joris-Karl Huysmans
- The Death of Ivan Ilyich – Leo Tolstoy
- A Woman’s Life – Guy de Maupassant
- Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
- The House by the Medlar Tree – Giovanni Verga
- The Portrait of a Lady – Henry James
- Bouvard and Pécuchet – Gustave Flaubert
- Ben-Hur – Lew Wallace
- Nana – Émile Zola
- The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky
- The Red Room – August Strindberg
- Return of the Native – Thomas Hardy
- Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
- Drunkard – Émile Zola
- Virgin Soil – Ivan Turgenev
- Daniel Deronda – George Eliot
- The Hand of Ethelberta – Thomas Hardy
- The Temptation of Saint Anthony – Gustave Flaubert
- Far from the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
- The Enchanted Wanderer – Nicolai Leskov
- Around the World in Eighty Days – Jules Verne
- In a Glass Darkly – Sheridan Le Fanu
- The Devils – Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Erewhon – Samuel Butler
- Spring Torrents – Ivan Turgenev
- Middlemarch – George Eliot
- Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There – Lewis Carroll
- King Lear of the Steppes – Ivan Turgenev
- He Knew He Was Right – Anthony Trollope
- War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
- Sentimental Education – Gustave Flaubert
- Phineas Finn – Anthony Trollope
- Maldoror – Comte de Lautréaumont
- The Idiot – Fyodor Dostoevsky
- The Moonstone – Wilkie Collins
- Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
- Thérèse Raquin – Émile Zola
- The Last Chronicle of Barset – Anthony Trollope
- Journey to the Centre of the Earth – Jules Verne
- Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
- Our Mutual Friend – Charles Dickens
- Uncle Silas – Sheridan Le Fanu
- Notes from the Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky
- The Water-Babies – Charles Kingsley
- Les Misérables – Victor Hugo
- Fathers and Sons – Ivan Turgenev
- Silas Marner – George Eliot
- Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
- On the Eve – Ivan Turgenev
- Castle Richmond – Anthony Trollope
- The Mill on the Floss – George Eliot
- The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
- The Marble Faun – Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Max Havelaar – Multatuli
- A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
- Oblomovka – Ivan Goncharov
- Adam Bede – George Eliot
- Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
- North and South – Elizabeth Gaskell
- Hard Times – Charles Dickens
- Walden – Henry David Thoreau
- Bleak House – Charles Dickens
- Villette – Charlotte Brontë
- Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lonely – Harriet Beecher Stowe
- The Blithedale Romance – Nathaniel Hawthorne
- The House of the Seven Gables – Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Moby-Dick – Herman Melville
- The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
- David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
- Shirley – Charlotte Brontë
- Mary Barton – Elizabeth Gaskell
- The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – Anne Brontë
- Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
- Agnes Grey – Anne Brontë
- Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
- Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
- The Count of Monte-Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
- La Reine Margot – Alexandre Dumas
- The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
- The Purloined Letter – Edgar Allan Poe
- Martin Chuzzlewit – Charles Dickens
- The Pit and the Pendulum – Edgar Allan Poe
- Lost Illusions – Honoré de Balzac
- A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
- Dead Souls – Nikolay Gogol
- The Charterhouse of Parma – Stendhal
- The Fall of the House of Usher – Edgar Allan Poe
- The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby – Charles Dickens
- Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
- The Nose – Nikolay Gogol
- Le Père Goriot – Honoré de Balzac
- Eugénie Grandet – Honoré de Balzac
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo
- The Red and the Black – Stendhal
- The Betrothed – Alessandro Manzoni
- Last of the Mohicans – James Fenimore Cooper
- The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner – James Hogg
- The Albigenses – Charles Robert Maturin
- Melmoth the Wanderer – Charles Robert Maturin
- The Monastery – Sir Walter Scott
- Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott
- Frankenstein – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
- Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
- Persuasion – Jane Austen
- Ormond – Maria Edgeworth
- Rob Roy – Sir Walter Scott
- Emma – Jane Austen
- Mansfield Park – Jane Austen
- Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
- The Absentee – Maria Edgeworth
- Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
- Elective Affinities – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Castle Rackrent – Maria Edgeworth
- 1700s
- Hyperion – Friedrich Hölderlin
- The Nun – Denis Diderot
- Camilla – Fanny Burney
- The Monk – M.G. Lewis
- Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- The Mysteries of Udolpho – Ann Radcliffe
- The Interesting Narrative – Olaudah Equiano
- The Adventures of Caleb Williams – William Godwin
- Justine – Marquis de Sade
- Vathek – William Beckford
- The 120 Days of Sodom – Marquis de Sade
- Cecilia – Fanny Burney
- Confessions – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Dangerous Liaisons – Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
- Reveries of a Solitary Walker – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Evelina – Fanny Burney
- The Sorrows of Young Werther – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Humphrey Clinker – Tobias George Smollett
- The Man of Feeling – Henry Mackenzie
- A Sentimental Journey – Laurence Sterne
- Tristram Shandy – Laurence Sterne
- The Vicar of Wakefield – Oliver Goldsmith
- The Castle of Otranto – Horace Walpole
- Émile; or, On Education – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Rameau’s Nephew – Denis Diderot
- Julie; or, the New Eloise – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Rasselas – Samuel Johnson
- Candide – Voltaire
- The Female Quixote – Charlotte Lennox
- Amelia – Henry Fielding
- Peregrine Pickle – Tobias George Smollett
- Fanny Hill – John Cleland
- Tom Jones – Henry Fielding
- Roderick Random – Tobias George Smollett
- Clarissa – Samuel Richardson
- Pamela – Samuel Richardson
- Jacques the Fatalist – Denis Diderot
- Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus – J. Arbuthnot, J. Gay, T. Parnell, A. Pope, J. Swift
- Joseph Andrews – Henry Fielding
- A Modest Proposal – Jonathan Swift
- Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
- Roxana – Daniel Defoe
- Moll Flanders – Daniel Defoe
- Love in Excess – Eliza Haywood
- Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
- A Tale of a Tub – Jonathan Swift
- Pre-1700
- Oroonoko – Aphra Behn
- The Princess of Clèves – Marie-Madelaine Pioche de Lavergne, Comtesse de La Fayette
- The Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan
- Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
- The Unfortunate Traveller – Thomas Nashe
- Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit – John Lyly
- Gargantua and Pantagruel – Françoise Rabelais
- The Thousand and One Nights – Anonymous
- The Golden Ass – Lucius Apuleius
- Aithiopika – Heliodorus
- Chaireas and Kallirhoe – Chariton
- Metamorphoses – Ovid
- Aesop’s Fables – Aesopus
Not here… because I’ve been elsewhere
So I still haven’t done a proper write up on the Israel trip. I still mean to do it; we’ll see if it happens. We did go visit friends in Vermont last week and had a blast. We took the train, which is a lengthy, but an inexpensive and relaxing trip. We hung out in Burlington and in Island Pond in the NE Kingdom (I kept calling it the magic kingdom -oops.) It was my first time in VT and my first time seeing the businesses my friend has been running in IP and it was a very good time, indeed. Island Pond is so isolated and beautiful and Burlington is crunchy and friendly. I’d happily go back. Perhaps skiing this winter?
Anyway, thanks to all who fed and housed and hung out with us. We’d love to do it again.
current objects of my affection
– smashed garlic thrown into any old thing
– philosophy supernatural powder
– wine, in general
– leftover candy bars from the trip
– wedge heels
– olives. especially garlic stuffed olives
– reading random books
report on the trip to come before i forget what we did/where we went.
Tina Fey is Awesome
Recently we watched the first season of 30 Rock, and were really impressed by the show and how funny and well written it is. So we watched Saturday Night Live last night for the first time in I don’t even know how long because Tina Fey was going to be on. We were not disappointed. This was by far the best moment in the show: