The O’Keefe family is breaking. Reader’s can feel their hearts breaking and aching along with the O’Keefe family in Jodi Picoult’s newest novel Handle with Care. With each bone Williow O’Keefe breaks, readers experience her pain too.
You see, Williow was born with Osteogenesis imperfect (or as it’s more commonly known as, brittle bone disease). Over the course of her lifetime she could break hundreds of bones. Through Williow, Picoult creates a vivacious, fun-loving character who braves her five-year-old smile through all her breaks, despite her family’s mounting and ever increasing hospital bills.
But watching your daughter grow up with such a rare disorder is no picnic. Nestled down in the bottom of Charlotte O’Keefe’s heart is the undying urge to protect her fragile daughter. It isn’t until a lawyer discovers the family has a plausible grounds to file a wrongful birth lawsuit, that Charlotte realizes she can do something to help her daughter become comfortable. If not physically, then maybe financially.
With a wrongful birth lawsuit filed, Charlotte has to pretend that had she known earlier in her pregnancy that Williow would be born with OI that she would have terminated the birth. There’s just one problem, filing the suit means she’d have to sue her best friend, Piper Reece.
Picoult has written another page-turner. Readers are flooded with a wide realm of emotions. One can’t help but collapse with a heavy heart as you watch the characters spiral out of control.
In terms of qualifying this as a Picoult novel, all of the proper elements are there: intriguing ethical dilemmas, emotional lawsuits and engrossing adventures. I consider Handle with Care a must read for anyone who considers him or herself a devoted Picoult fan. I simply wish Picoult had take the time to spare me at least 20 more pages to tie up some loose ends. By the end of the book I think I was as unhappy as the characters … if not more. Following the closing verdict of the trial, Picoult quickly cops out with a quick ending, offering readers no sense of closure. She neglects to update us on how her characters are coping post trial. We spend 400 plus pages investing ourselves in the characters only for Picoult to walk away with so many unanswered questions. It seemed that Picoult was stuck in a rut and didn’t know how to write her way out of the complex and depressing web of a story she created.
At least Picoult isn’t facilitating the belief that happy endings do exist. I guess you could say maybe she simply was trying to be realistic? But then, why read FICTION for the reality effect?
Friday, August 21, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Good-Bye Bad Book Blues
The handsome and talented Nicholas Sparks saved me. He swept me off my feet and serenaded me with his newest novel “The Lucky One.”
Okay, okay. I admit it; I am a hopeless romantic. But there’s no denying that Sparks rescued me from my unfortunate string of disappointing novels. If nothing else, Sparks has rekindled burning desire to believe in something as passionate as “fate” and “destiny.”
When Logan Thibault, U.S. Marine, finds a photograph of a smiling young woman half-buried in the sands during his third tour of duty in Iraq, it becomes his lucky-charm. The book begins as Thibault (pronounced like T-Bow; it’s French!) is searching for the woman in the photograph. Finding her changed his life … and hers … and her jealous cop ex-husband’s too
The strongest part about the novel was Spark’s intricate character development. Readers can’t help but detest Keith (Beth’s ex). The first time readers are introduced to the man, he’s playing peeping Tom in the woods. And every time Keith mispronounces Thibault’s name (thigh-bolt) I wanted to spit in his face. It’s the little things like this that really deepens the characters.
But anyone who knows me well knows my book grading scale. If I reach the middle of the book and I want to know how the book ends, then it’s a good book. If I actually flip to the last page and read the final few paragraphs, it’s a great book. Based on that scale, “The Lucky One” is a great book. I read the last page, made my predictions and then kept reading.
Although I’m sickeningly talented at predicting most endings (just ask my boyfriend), Sparks really threw me for a loop. The last 30 minutes I read at a feverish pace, allowing myself to be as lost in the moment as the characters. All my predictions were wrong. But thankfully, I love it when authors can surprise me.
But Mr. Sparks can’t hog the spotlight tonight. Mr. James Patterson helped continue my good reading streak. “The Quickie” proved to be one hell of a murder/detective novel. I honestly think I’m going to read the Alex Cross books now.
That’s all for tonight. More to come later, when I’m not in a procrastinating mood.
Okay, okay. I admit it; I am a hopeless romantic. But there’s no denying that Sparks rescued me from my unfortunate string of disappointing novels. If nothing else, Sparks has rekindled burning desire to believe in something as passionate as “fate” and “destiny.”
When Logan Thibault, U.S. Marine, finds a photograph of a smiling young woman half-buried in the sands during his third tour of duty in Iraq, it becomes his lucky-charm. The book begins as Thibault (pronounced like T-Bow; it’s French!) is searching for the woman in the photograph. Finding her changed his life … and hers … and her jealous cop ex-husband’s too
The strongest part about the novel was Spark’s intricate character development. Readers can’t help but detest Keith (Beth’s ex). The first time readers are introduced to the man, he’s playing peeping Tom in the woods. And every time Keith mispronounces Thibault’s name (thigh-bolt) I wanted to spit in his face. It’s the little things like this that really deepens the characters.
But anyone who knows me well knows my book grading scale. If I reach the middle of the book and I want to know how the book ends, then it’s a good book. If I actually flip to the last page and read the final few paragraphs, it’s a great book. Based on that scale, “The Lucky One” is a great book. I read the last page, made my predictions and then kept reading.
Although I’m sickeningly talented at predicting most endings (just ask my boyfriend), Sparks really threw me for a loop. The last 30 minutes I read at a feverish pace, allowing myself to be as lost in the moment as the characters. All my predictions were wrong. But thankfully, I love it when authors can surprise me.
But Mr. Sparks can’t hog the spotlight tonight. Mr. James Patterson helped continue my good reading streak. “The Quickie” proved to be one hell of a murder/detective novel. I honestly think I’m going to read the Alex Cross books now.
That’s all for tonight. More to come later, when I’m not in a procrastinating mood.
Friday, August 7, 2009
The Adventures and Misadventures of the Boston Public Library
After knocking ten books off the bucket list, I decided it was time to reward myself. So I nestled down with some non-classics. Sunday was a treat. I read “Sundays at Tiffany’s” by James Patterson and I couldn’t put it down. In three hours flat I devoured the book. I called home to tell Mom she had to get this book, only to discover that she too had just finished reading the book too!
Monday I was still running on a reader’s high—you know, that feeling you experience when you’ve just finished a great book that’s almost as satisfying as Thanksgiving dinner. So bright and early Monday morning I headed over to Boston Public Library to get myself some more “special treats.” Hey, I just read Jane Eyre in three days; I think I deserve to read another book that’s not on the list.
Prowling the shelves I hunted for my favorite authors. First up, Nicholas Sparks. To date I had read all but two of his books. (I refuse to read A Walk to Remember because I watched the movie before I even knew who Nicholas Sparks was. I love the movie so much that reading the book runs the risk of ruining the movie for me. What if I read the book and think, they’re right, the book IS better than the movie???) Anywho … I remember my best friend Chelle telling me about Spark’s newest book, “The Lucky One.” It had been out for a while now, but I still hadn’t read it. I found it peaceful resting on the shelf and immediately grabbed it to check out.
“So what else should I check out?” I wondered. I have a little over a week left in the city. Without a doubt I knew I could finish “The Lucky One” in a day tops. I transitioned to the “P” aisle and searched for Patterson. I have read some Patterson (Sundays at Tiffany’s, Susanne’s Diary for Nicholas, Jen’s letters to Sam) but I had never ventured toward reading his murder books. There’s no time like the present. I grabbed “The Quickie” because I thought the title would offer a good change of pace from Spark’s sappy romantic novel.
“Hum, two books and nine days to read, I’d better grab more. Well, if I’m trying new things, why not try a new author?” I mentally pictured my aunt’s bookcase. “Koontz” flashed through the vision. All right, I’ll try a Dean Koontz book I thought as I grabbed “One Door Away from Heaven.”
Excited about this expedition of branching out, I decided to try Stephen King too. This posed more of a problem though. Kings novels are HUGE … and heavy. Huge + Heavy + Subway Commute= Unpleasant Reading Circumstances. I grabbed the thinnest King novel I could find: The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon. At the time I thought this choice would be appropriate because the main character is obsessed with Boston Red Sox’s player Tom Gordon. What better place to read a King book with Boston references than, hum, well BOSTON?!?!
Well, I could not have been more wrong. First of all, let me just say that for a KING novel, it wasn’t creepy, scary … and in fact I thought it was totally predictable. The book was published in 1999. For only being ten years old, the book is ALREADY dated. For those of you who haven’t had the misfortune of reading this book, it’s about a young girl (age 10) who gets lost in the woods while hiking with her newly divorced mom and her argumentative brother.
The whole time I’m reading this I’m thinking, “Why doesn’t she just pull out her phone and see if she has service.”
Wow Sarah. What has this world to if I think a 10-year-old should have a cell phone. I had to constantly remind myself the setting was June 1998. Back then, cells were the sizes of bricks and only kids like Zack Morris had them.
But that’s not the only thing that dated the book. The kid had a CASSETTE player in her backpack. Not a CD player, not an iPod … a cassette player. She could switch the player to RADIO and listen to the Sox’s games for comfort while she was lost in the eerie woods. Wow, if I got lost in the woods today, I wouldn’t be able to listen to the radio at all. I’d just have to pray that I remembered to charge my iPod.
Anyway, the book felt so dated that it ruined my ability to suspend my disbelief and just get lost in the book.
After finishing the novel with much dissatisfaction, I tried the Koontz book. About 400 pages into the text and I’m still waiting for the three plot lines to weave together. What is the deal? Was Sunday’s at Tiffany’s that good that I’m having trouble finding a book that tops it? Hum, maybe, maybe not. Just because Koontz is a best selling author it doesn’t mean that his genre and writing style have to be my cup of tea. I was starting to think that maybe Koontz just wasn’t for me after all.
For the time being, I’m putting him down. I’ll turn my attention to Sparks to cure this book reading rut I’ve driven myself into. He’s the one man who hasn’t let me down yet. And maybe when work is a little less chaotic, I’ll give Koontz another try.
Oh, and if you’re still wondering what ten books I checked off the bucket list they are:
1984 by George Orwell
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Ender’s Game by Scott Orson Card
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Monday I was still running on a reader’s high—you know, that feeling you experience when you’ve just finished a great book that’s almost as satisfying as Thanksgiving dinner. So bright and early Monday morning I headed over to Boston Public Library to get myself some more “special treats.” Hey, I just read Jane Eyre in three days; I think I deserve to read another book that’s not on the list.
Prowling the shelves I hunted for my favorite authors. First up, Nicholas Sparks. To date I had read all but two of his books. (I refuse to read A Walk to Remember because I watched the movie before I even knew who Nicholas Sparks was. I love the movie so much that reading the book runs the risk of ruining the movie for me. What if I read the book and think, they’re right, the book IS better than the movie???) Anywho … I remember my best friend Chelle telling me about Spark’s newest book, “The Lucky One.” It had been out for a while now, but I still hadn’t read it. I found it peaceful resting on the shelf and immediately grabbed it to check out.
“So what else should I check out?” I wondered. I have a little over a week left in the city. Without a doubt I knew I could finish “The Lucky One” in a day tops. I transitioned to the “P” aisle and searched for Patterson. I have read some Patterson (Sundays at Tiffany’s, Susanne’s Diary for Nicholas, Jen’s letters to Sam) but I had never ventured toward reading his murder books. There’s no time like the present. I grabbed “The Quickie” because I thought the title would offer a good change of pace from Spark’s sappy romantic novel.
“Hum, two books and nine days to read, I’d better grab more. Well, if I’m trying new things, why not try a new author?” I mentally pictured my aunt’s bookcase. “Koontz” flashed through the vision. All right, I’ll try a Dean Koontz book I thought as I grabbed “One Door Away from Heaven.”
Excited about this expedition of branching out, I decided to try Stephen King too. This posed more of a problem though. Kings novels are HUGE … and heavy. Huge + Heavy + Subway Commute= Unpleasant Reading Circumstances. I grabbed the thinnest King novel I could find: The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon. At the time I thought this choice would be appropriate because the main character is obsessed with Boston Red Sox’s player Tom Gordon. What better place to read a King book with Boston references than, hum, well BOSTON?!?!
Well, I could not have been more wrong. First of all, let me just say that for a KING novel, it wasn’t creepy, scary … and in fact I thought it was totally predictable. The book was published in 1999. For only being ten years old, the book is ALREADY dated. For those of you who haven’t had the misfortune of reading this book, it’s about a young girl (age 10) who gets lost in the woods while hiking with her newly divorced mom and her argumentative brother.
The whole time I’m reading this I’m thinking, “Why doesn’t she just pull out her phone and see if she has service.”
Wow Sarah. What has this world to if I think a 10-year-old should have a cell phone. I had to constantly remind myself the setting was June 1998. Back then, cells were the sizes of bricks and only kids like Zack Morris had them.
But that’s not the only thing that dated the book. The kid had a CASSETTE player in her backpack. Not a CD player, not an iPod … a cassette player. She could switch the player to RADIO and listen to the Sox’s games for comfort while she was lost in the eerie woods. Wow, if I got lost in the woods today, I wouldn’t be able to listen to the radio at all. I’d just have to pray that I remembered to charge my iPod.
Anyway, the book felt so dated that it ruined my ability to suspend my disbelief and just get lost in the book.
After finishing the novel with much dissatisfaction, I tried the Koontz book. About 400 pages into the text and I’m still waiting for the three plot lines to weave together. What is the deal? Was Sunday’s at Tiffany’s that good that I’m having trouble finding a book that tops it? Hum, maybe, maybe not. Just because Koontz is a best selling author it doesn’t mean that his genre and writing style have to be my cup of tea. I was starting to think that maybe Koontz just wasn’t for me after all.
For the time being, I’m putting him down. I’ll turn my attention to Sparks to cure this book reading rut I’ve driven myself into. He’s the one man who hasn’t let me down yet. And maybe when work is a little less chaotic, I’ll give Koontz another try.
Oh, and if you’re still wondering what ten books I checked off the bucket list they are:
1984 by George Orwell
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Ender’s Game by Scott Orson Card
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The Book Bucket List
The objective is to read all 200 of these books before I die.
1. ULYSSES by James Joyce
2. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
4. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
5. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
6. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
7. CATCH-22
8. DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler
9. SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence
10. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
11. UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
12. THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler
13. 1984 by George Orwell
14. I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
15. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
16. AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser
17. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
18. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
19. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
20. NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
21. HENDERSON THE RAIN KING by Saul Bellow
22. APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA by John O'Hara
23. U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos
24. WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson
25. A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster
26. THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James
27. THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James
28. TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald
29. THE STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY by James T. Farrell
30. THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford
31. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
32. THE GOLDEN BOWL by Henry James
33. SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser
34. A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh
35. AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
36. ALL THE KING'S MEN by Robert Penn Warren
37. THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder
38. HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster
39. GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin
40. THE HEART OF THE MATTER by Graham Greene
41. LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
42. DELIVERANCE by James Dickey
43. A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (series) by Anthony Powell
44. POINT COUNTER POINT by Aldous Huxley
45. The Sun Also Rises
46. THE SECRET AGENT by Joseph Conrad
47. NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad
48. THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence
49. WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence
50. TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
51. THE NAKED AND THE DEAD by Norman Mailer
52. PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT by Philip Roth
53. PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov
54. LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
55. ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
56. THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett
57. PARADE'S END by Ford Madox Ford
58. THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton
59. ZULEIKA DOBSON by Max Beerbohm
60. THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
61. DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather
62. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones
63. THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLES by John Cheever
64. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
65. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
66. OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
67. HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
68. MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis
69. THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton
70. THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Lawrence Durell
71. A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA by Richard Hughes
72. A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS by V.S. Naipaul
73. THE DAY OF THE LOCUST by Nathanael West
74. A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
75. SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh
76. THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE by Muriel Spark
77. FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce
78. KIM by Rudyard Kipling
79. A ROOM WITH A VIEW by E.M. Forster
80. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh
81. THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow
82. ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner
83. A BEND IN THE RIVER by V.S. Naipaul
84. THE DEATH OF THE HEART by Elizabeth Bowen
85. LORD JIM by Joseph Conrad
86. RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow
87. THE OLD WIVES' TALE by Arnold Bennett
88. THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
89. LOVING by Henry Green
90. MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie
91. TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell
92. IRONWEED by William Kennedy
93. THE MAGUS by John Fowles
94. WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys
95. UNDER THE NET by Iris Murdoch
96. SOPHIE'S CHOICE by William Styron
97. THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
98. THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. Cain
99. THE GINGER MAN by J.P. Donleavy
100. THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Booth Tarkington
101. ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand
102. THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand
103. BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
104. THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
105. ANTHEM by Ayn Rand
106. WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand
107. MISSION EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
108. FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard
109. DUNE by Frank Herbert
110. THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert Heinlein
111. STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert Heinlein
112. A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute
113. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
114. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
115. GRAVITY'S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon
116. SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
117. GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
118. SHANE by Jack Schaefer
119. TRUSTEE FROM THE TOOLROOM by Nevil Shute
120. A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving
121. THE STAND by Stephen King
122. THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN by John Fowles
123. BELOVED by Toni Morrison
124. THE WORM OUROBOROS by E.R. Eddison
125. MOONHEART by Charles de Lint
126. ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner
127. WISE BLOOD by Flannery O'Connor
128. FIFTH BUSINESS by Robertson Davies
129. SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING by Charles de Lint
130. YARROW by Charles de Lint
131. AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS by H.P. Lovecraft
132. ONE LONELY NIGHT by Mickey Spillane
133. MEMORY AND DREAM by Charles de Lints
134. TRADER by Charles de Lint
135. THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams
136. THE HANDMAID'S TALE by Margaret Atwood
137. BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy
138. ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute
139. GREENMANTLE by Charles de Lint
140. ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card
141. THE LITTLE COUNTRY by Charles de Lint
142. THE RECOGNITIONS by William Gaddis
143. STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert Heinlein
144. THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving
145. SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury
146. THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson
147. THE WOOD WIFE by Terri Windling
148. THE DOOR INTO SUMMER by Robert Heinlein
149. ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert Pirsig
150. AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS by Flann O'Brien
151. FARENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury
152. ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis
153. WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams
154. NAKED LUNCH by William S. Burroughs
155. THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER by Tom Clancy
156. GUILTY PLEASURES by Laurell K. Hamilton
157. THE PUPPET MASTERS by Robert Heinlein
158. IT by Stephen King
159. V. by Thomas Pynchon
160. DOUBLE STAR by Robert Heinlein
161. CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY by Robert Heinlein
162. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST by Ken Kesey
163. SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION by Ken Kesey
164. MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather
165. MULENGRO by Charles de Lint
166. SUTTREE by Cormac McCarthy
167. MYTHAGO WOOD by Robert Holdstock
168. ILLUSIONS by Richard Bach
169. THE CUNNING MAN by Robertson Davies
170. THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie
171. The Complete Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan Doyle
172. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
173. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
174. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
175. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 2006
176. The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain 07.09
177. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court By Mark Twain
178. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
179. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
180. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway 07.09
181. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
182. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
183. Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
184. Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
185. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
186. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
187. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas pere
188. Daisy Miller by Henry James
189. David Cooperfield by Charles Dickens
190. Dracula by Bram Stoker
191. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
192. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 09.08
193. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
194. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
195. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
196. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
197. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
198. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
199. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
200. You Can’t Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe
List adapted from:
http://www.cincinnatilibrary.org/booklists/?id=classics
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html
http://www.listsofbests.com/list/5884?page=2
1. ULYSSES by James Joyce
2. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
4. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
5. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
6. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
7. CATCH-22
8. DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler
9. SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence
10. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
11. UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
12. THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler
13. 1984 by George Orwell
14. I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
15. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
16. AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser
17. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
18. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
19. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
20. NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
21. HENDERSON THE RAIN KING by Saul Bellow
22. APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA by John O'Hara
23. U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos
24. WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson
25. A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster
26. THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James
27. THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James
28. TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald
29. THE STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY by James T. Farrell
30. THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford
31. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
32. THE GOLDEN BOWL by Henry James
33. SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser
34. A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh
35. AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
36. ALL THE KING'S MEN by Robert Penn Warren
37. THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder
38. HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster
39. GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin
40. THE HEART OF THE MATTER by Graham Greene
41. LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
42. DELIVERANCE by James Dickey
43. A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (series) by Anthony Powell
44. POINT COUNTER POINT by Aldous Huxley
45. The Sun Also Rises
46. THE SECRET AGENT by Joseph Conrad
47. NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad
48. THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence
49. WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence
50. TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
51. THE NAKED AND THE DEAD by Norman Mailer
52. PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT by Philip Roth
53. PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov
54. LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
55. ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
56. THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett
57. PARADE'S END by Ford Madox Ford
58. THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton
59. ZULEIKA DOBSON by Max Beerbohm
60. THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
61. DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather
62. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones
63. THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLES by John Cheever
64. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
65. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
66. OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
67. HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
68. MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis
69. THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton
70. THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Lawrence Durell
71. A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA by Richard Hughes
72. A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS by V.S. Naipaul
73. THE DAY OF THE LOCUST by Nathanael West
74. A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
75. SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh
76. THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE by Muriel Spark
77. FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce
78. KIM by Rudyard Kipling
79. A ROOM WITH A VIEW by E.M. Forster
80. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh
81. THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow
82. ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner
83. A BEND IN THE RIVER by V.S. Naipaul
84. THE DEATH OF THE HEART by Elizabeth Bowen
85. LORD JIM by Joseph Conrad
86. RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow
87. THE OLD WIVES' TALE by Arnold Bennett
88. THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
89. LOVING by Henry Green
90. MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie
91. TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell
92. IRONWEED by William Kennedy
93. THE MAGUS by John Fowles
94. WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys
95. UNDER THE NET by Iris Murdoch
96. SOPHIE'S CHOICE by William Styron
97. THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
98. THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. Cain
99. THE GINGER MAN by J.P. Donleavy
100. THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Booth Tarkington
101. ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand
102. THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand
103. BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
104. THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
105. ANTHEM by Ayn Rand
106. WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand
107. MISSION EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
108. FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard
109. DUNE by Frank Herbert
110. THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert Heinlein
111. STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert Heinlein
112. A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute
113. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
114. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
115. GRAVITY'S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon
116. SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
117. GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
118. SHANE by Jack Schaefer
119. TRUSTEE FROM THE TOOLROOM by Nevil Shute
120. A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving
121. THE STAND by Stephen King
122. THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN by John Fowles
123. BELOVED by Toni Morrison
124. THE WORM OUROBOROS by E.R. Eddison
125. MOONHEART by Charles de Lint
126. ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner
127. WISE BLOOD by Flannery O'Connor
128. FIFTH BUSINESS by Robertson Davies
129. SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING by Charles de Lint
130. YARROW by Charles de Lint
131. AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS by H.P. Lovecraft
132. ONE LONELY NIGHT by Mickey Spillane
133. MEMORY AND DREAM by Charles de Lints
134. TRADER by Charles de Lint
135. THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams
136. THE HANDMAID'S TALE by Margaret Atwood
137. BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy
138. ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute
139. GREENMANTLE by Charles de Lint
140. ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card
141. THE LITTLE COUNTRY by Charles de Lint
142. THE RECOGNITIONS by William Gaddis
143. STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert Heinlein
144. THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving
145. SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury
146. THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson
147. THE WOOD WIFE by Terri Windling
148. THE DOOR INTO SUMMER by Robert Heinlein
149. ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert Pirsig
150. AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS by Flann O'Brien
151. FARENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury
152. ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis
153. WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams
154. NAKED LUNCH by William S. Burroughs
155. THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER by Tom Clancy
156. GUILTY PLEASURES by Laurell K. Hamilton
157. THE PUPPET MASTERS by Robert Heinlein
158. IT by Stephen King
159. V. by Thomas Pynchon
160. DOUBLE STAR by Robert Heinlein
161. CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY by Robert Heinlein
162. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST by Ken Kesey
163. SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION by Ken Kesey
164. MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather
165. MULENGRO by Charles de Lint
166. SUTTREE by Cormac McCarthy
167. MYTHAGO WOOD by Robert Holdstock
168. ILLUSIONS by Richard Bach
169. THE CUNNING MAN by Robertson Davies
170. THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie
171. The Complete Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan Doyle
172. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
173. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
174. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
175. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 2006
176. The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain 07.09
177. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court By Mark Twain
178. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
179. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
180. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway 07.09
181. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
182. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
183. Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
184. Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
185. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
186. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
187. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas pere
188. Daisy Miller by Henry James
189. David Cooperfield by Charles Dickens
190. Dracula by Bram Stoker
191. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
192. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 09.08
193. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
194. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
195. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
196. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
197. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
198. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
199. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
200. You Can’t Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe
List adapted from:
http://www.cincinnatilibrary.org/booklists/?id=classics
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html
http://www.listsofbests.com/list/5884?page=2
Confessions of a Bookaholic
Pressures for the world pound on me every day, trying to force me to grow up become an adult, and focus on graduating college. But this summer I finally took a step back from my coffee and chaos and I thought ‘What’s the rush? Why am I in such a hurry to grow up?’
So how do I slow down? How do I stop the subliminal force from doing its job?
Well, that’s been a question that I’ve been thinking about all summer. What could I do that would really be enjoying, calming, all while allowing me to delay growing up … even if it were for only 15 minutes a day.
I could meditate, I thought. Yeah, that’s calming and peaceful. I set an alarm for 15 minutes, turned on some classical music and closed my eyes. Torture soon ensued; my back ached from sitting upright in those meditation poses you always see in movies. So I lay down and tried again. I felt my muscles relax. I let the music sweep over my body and cleanse my stress. Yes, it had worked, until I opened my eyes and saw that I had only been “meditating” for three minutes. “What? That’s it!” ugh, and the relaxation was swept away with that one thought.
So I put off trying to find something relaxing. I hadn’t given it more thought until I was leaving my roommate Zoe’s birthday party. Before saying good-bye Adam, my other roommate Laurel’s boyfriend, and I started talking about the books we were reading., He a former English major and I, an English minor, got totally lost in conversation. As I grabbed my purse to leave Adam asked, “Really quick, if you had to pick, what would be your three favorite books of all time?”
I answered with the first three books that came to my head. But days later, I still found myself haunted by his question. No, what really were my favorite books? Could I choose one? Or Two?
No, I can’t. I love books too much. If I start making a list of books that have effected me personally or touched a special place in my heart, the list would look more like a library index.
I have always been a bookworm. My mother is an elementary teacher. From an early age she showed me the adventures and friends that await us in the pages of a good book. As I grow older and mature, I have really come to love my mother (and my aunt and her beautiful library) for the pure passion for reading.
Books offered me a safe place to escape the troubles of the world. Books offer me wisdom and understanding. But most of all books have inspired my imagination to run wild. Even at age 21 I continue my childhood dreams of fairy-tale lands and mystical adventures.
So in a roundabout way, Adam’s question inspired me. Reading is relaxing. Why not read for at least 15 minutes everyday. Easy enough, I think I can make time during the school year for that.
But even more so, I decided it was finally time to take charge and start working on one of my life goals. If I’m so inspired by books, then why is it that I’ve never read “The Sound and The Fury” or “Pride and Prejudice” or “A Tale of Two Cities”??? No, it is time I started honoring the classics. So, I’ve complied a list of classic novels … 200 to be exact. The goal? To read them all before I die. If I live for another 50 years, then I that’s only four books a year (a modest goal, I think.)
But, what good is reading a classic novel, or any novel for that matter, if you can’t share it with someone. That’s why I’ve started this blog. May fellow bookworms be inspired to read their way through my list. May bookworms all over the world find as much comfort in these pages as I do.
Stay tuned for my up and coming blog, which will include the list and my rules.
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