God bless us, everyone.

I had never read A Christmas Carol before this week! I was shocked at how short it was - I had thought all Dickens works were ridiculously long.  It was a very quick read.  I knew the general story, but it was nice to read the original anyway. I especially liked the descriptions of the spirits. I really enjoyed this one.

Not a hotel.

I asked Mike if he had ever read The Childermass by Wyndham Lewis.  He told me no, but commented that Wyndham Lewis sounded like the name of a hotel.  "We're staying at the Wyndham Lewis tonight."  "Can you please take us to the Wyndham Lewis so that we can check in?"  Hee.

Unfortunately, the actual reading of this book did not give me too much of a smile.  I don't really care for Wyndham Lewis, the author.  His books are thick, dry and I can never really tell what is going on in them.  Until I read the Wikipedia entry, that is.  This one apparently takes place in purgatory.  Interesting since he alludes to it but I could not actually figure that out for myself just in reading the book.

I'm glad to be through this one (I pretty much skimmed once I realized I wasn't going to get anything out of it anyway) and onward and upward!

Choke.

I got stuck reading Choke on vacation this summer.  Well, first I read Going Clear, by Lawrence Wright - which was amazing.  I loved it and was totally fascinated by every word.  But alas, that was not one of the 1001 books.  So then I went back to Choke.

The quality of Choke is totally over my head.  It is graphic and gross.  I didn't wind up caring about the characters.  I wasn't surprised by the "surprise" plot twist at the end.  I just wanted it to be over.  I understand there is some sort of literary value in this book - I just didn't personally enjoy it all that much.