tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-192556732024-03-08T19:18:43.153+00:00Century of BooksMy project to read the top 100 English-language books of the twentieth century.Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-47734934117306666272008-11-02T08:00:00.000+00:002008-11-02T08:00:00.890+00:00My Ántonia by Willa CatherPublished 1918, My Ántonia is considered one of the greats of American literature. It's about pioneer families in Nebraska in the 19th century and in particular tells of the immigrant experience. The tale is narrated by Jim Burden, who moves west from Virginia to live with his grandparents after his parents die, but the focal character is Ántonia who moves with her family to Nebraska from Bohemia as a young girl.<br /><br />I was surprised by the similarities between the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and My Ántonia. It's true that both are set in the American Mid West in the 19th century but the Ingalls Wilder books are written for children so I was not expecting too many parallels. However, the landscape described in Cather's book, with the flat land and waving red grasses and dug-out houses, was very familiar to me from reading <span style="font-style:italic;">Little House in the Prairie</span> as a child. The description of Black Hawk, the small town where Burden goes to school and Ántonia works as a hired girl, reminds me of the town where Laura and her family move for her high school years in the sequel <span style="font-style:italic;">Little Town on the Prairie</span>. However, I don't remember the immigrant theme being particularly developed in the Ingalls Wilder books and this was central to My Ántonia.<br /><br />It was really interesting to have the book peopled with Bohemians and Russians and Norwegians and to show the differences and commonalities with everyone else. For example, the importance the Bohemian family attaches to finding a Catholic priest to say masses for their father's soul, rather than buying a new coat for the youngest girl to wear in winter. Or how the oldest children don't get the chance to go to school because they have to work and help support the family, but the younger ones do. We see all of this through the narrator's eyes and he is a great champion for the immigrants - passionate about how full of life and vigour the immigrant girls were compared with everyone else. <br /><br />The structure of the novel is quite interesting - the story is told in episodes from various stages of the narrator's life. Although it's more or less chronological, in some ways it feels more like a portrait than a novel. I mean that in a good way - I found it very easy to read with wonderful language but the lasting impression at the end is a snapshot of particular people at a particular place over a number of years in a particular period in time rather than one character's story. <br /><br />41 down, 59 to go.Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-86284114782940359562008-01-25T12:28:00.000+00:002008-01-25T12:34:25.045+00:00A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty SmithThis is the tale of the Francie Nolan and her family, growing up poor in early 20th century Brooklyn. It's a portrait of the poor people of Brooklyn and of Francie herself, an intelligent, imaginative child. The dogged determination of the tree growing up towards the sunlight, no matter what the obstacles, is a poignant metaphor for Francie's coming of age. The writing has a deft but light touch and interesting in the way that it does not progress in a strictly linear fashion. <br /><br />It reminded me a fair bit of Ruth Park's <i>The Harp in the South</i>, which is set in the slums of inner-city Sydney during the Great Depression. It's also about a poor Irish immigrant family in the new world and the challenges and prejudices they face, although it's set about 20-30 years later than <i>A Tree Grows in Brooklyn</i> and in a different city, on a different continent.<br /><br />40 down, 60 to go...Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-26015828363406420352007-12-01T12:18:00.000+00:002007-12-01T12:20:00.970+00:00Things Fall Apart by Chinua AchebeThis is about the loss of identity and sense of self of the tribal people of what is modern day Nigeria during the colonisation by England in the 19th century. <br /><br />It is told through the experience of one man and his own loss of identity and sense of self as he grapples with the changing world around him. He was once a proud and strong - and often cruel - leader of men but now everything that was once certain is changing. <br /><br />It's a slim book; very short and very easy to read. It provides a fascinating insight into the culture of the Nigerian tribes (it reminded me in many ways of the Highland tribes of Papua New Guinea) and it is also a moving emotional journey.<br /><br />39 down, 61 to go...Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-79942537118023291882007-05-01T14:18:00.000+01:002007-05-01T14:19:55.315+01:00Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys<span style="font-style:italic;">Wide Sargasso Sea</span> is set mostly in the West Indies and the writing feels as lush and vivid as its setting. A young girl marries a man she barely knows. He is attentive at first but then gossip poisons his mind against her, with devastating results. <br /><br />The time is the mid-nineteenth century and it was extremely interesting reading about the post-slavery society and the relationship between black and white people. Many of the white people have fallen on very hard times so their lives are not always as different as one might imagine.<br /><br />Particularly interesting for literature fans is the fact that the novel was inspired by Charlotte Bronte's <span style="font-style:italic;">Jane Eyre</span>. Although it never says so explicitly, Antoinette's husband is Rochester and this is the story of her unfolding madness.<br /><br />I haven't read <span style="font-style:italic;">Jane Eyre</span> in years but it's tempting to do so as I think <span style="font-style:italic;">Wide Sargasso Sea</span> would be worth re-reading with the Bronte novel fresh in my mind.<br /><br />38 down, 62 to go.Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-42322543708837674902007-01-28T16:18:00.000+00:002007-01-28T16:45:38.557+00:00Animal Farm by George OrwellI first read <i>Animal Farm</i> for English class in high school, back when I was fifteen years old. We were told of course that it was based on the Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalinist Russia, but I was yet to formally study Russian history. Re-reading it now, it is striking how closely the plot of <i>Animal Farm</i> follows Soviet history. Orwell invents almost nothing and all his characters are either modelled on real historical figures (eg. Napoleon is Stalin and Snowball is Trotsky) or broader social groups (eg. Boxer is the working classes, while Mollie is the bourgeoisie). At the time of <i>Animal Farm</i>'s publication, Stalin was a crucial ally in the war against Nazi Germany and fascism and it was considered very impolitic to criticise him. The novel was almost not published because of the prevailing political mores and the self-censorship of British publishers at the time. <br /><br />Clearly, it was not many years later that criticising Stalin and Soviet Russia became decidedly less controversial in the West. However, the novel did not lose its ability to disturb the Powers That Be, especially in the United States, when publishers learned that Orwell intended the novel to apply to the inherent dangers of <i>all</i> revolutions and not just the particular case of Russia. <br /><br />Despite the close parallels to Soviet history, the novel clearly has broader relevance. The central lesson of <i>Animal Farm</i> is that power corrupts and the citizens of a country need to be eternally vigilant about loss of freedom or civil rights. Governments should be trusted only as far as is absolutely necessary and be held to regular account. This does not apply only to revolutions, for the situation was not much better under Mr Jones in the novel or the Romanovs in real life.<br /><br />We all have a duty to vote and to engage with the political process at all levels. The alternative is the erosion of freedom and the encroachment of tyranny. Britain is now a full-on surveillance state, with <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6108496.stm" target="_new">one CCTV camera for every 14 people</a>. Just as the pigs of <i>Animal Farm</i> would cry "you don't want Jones back, do you?" to justify any decision, from appropriating the apples to abolishing weekly meetings, our governments frequently use the threat of terrorism or criminality to justify restricting our freedom. <br /><br />Of course, I'm not trying to say that Blair is Stalin or anything of the sort; what I am saying, is that we shouldn't just accept something like ID cards with the blithe argument that "if you're not a terrorist or a criminal, you don't have anything to worry about". I know of too many cases where police have planted evidence (eg. in the 1970s the police would raid hippie houses and if they didn't find any drugs, they would plant them, reasoning that they must have hidden them) to be that trusting. And I know too much about technology to believe that the government has the know-how to keep a central database of every citizen's private information secure from hackers, some of whom may be the very criminals and terrorists we're supposed to be protected from.<br /><br />Since I've already read this, I'm still at 37 down, 63 to go...Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1158259313185236052006-09-14T19:19:00.000+01:002006-09-14T19:49:24.993+01:00A Passage to India by E. M. Forster<i>A Passage to India</i> was published in 1924, as India stood on the threshold of great changes. The portrait it paints of Anglo-India (the British in India) is quite damning and the portrayal of the Indians is not especially flattering either. The Brits were nearly all close-minded snobs and the natives were overly emotional and inclined to value form and courtesy over truth and genuine compassion.<br /><br />I felt claustrophobic reading this novel as if I were forced to choose between the tiresome and confined world of the Anglo-Indians or the grinding poverty and daily humiliation of the Indians. There was no sense of openness or freedom; everything seemed narrow and closed.<br /><br />To be completely honest, I found this book a hard slog. I didn't find any of the characters especially sympathetic, the plot was hardly gripping and the device of Adela's psychological condition after the incident in the caves felt contrived and untrue. The novel covers rich thematic territory but without the emotional engagement it all felt a bit abstract.<br /><br />I know Forster is rated very highly and I would be willing to try again with some of his other novels such as <i>Howard's End</i> or <i>A Room with a View</i>. I am not saying that <i>A Passage to India</i> is a bad novel and indeed I can see why others might like it. However, it is my personal response to literature that matters to me and ultimately this novel neither moved nor interested me.<br /><br />I read this book through BookCrossing - see <a href="http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/3312597" target="_new">all journal entries</a> for this copy here.<br /><br />37 down, 63 to go...Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1157921858279289502006-09-10T21:53:00.000+01:002006-09-14T19:52:07.170+01:00Of Mice and Men by John SteinbeckThis is really a novella rather than a novel and it certainly doesn't have the epic scope of <i>The Grapes of Wrath</i>. However, it is a moving portrayal of friendship, betrayal and hard decisions. I found it easy to read, tightly structured and well paced. The contrast between dreams and reality was quite striking, especially the recurring evocation of the dream farm with its the rabbits.<br /><br />36 down, 64 to go...Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1156176511570324232006-08-21T16:58:00.000+01:002006-08-21T17:14:23.333+01:00The Grapes of Wrath by John SteinbeckIt was not until the second half of the book when the Joad family were in California and on the heartbreaking quest for work and a decent living that this book really started to move me. The first half was enjoyable enough and there was much in the writing to admire but it felt more like a long introduction, while the second half felt like the main story.<br /><br />The book works slowly, building up a picture line by line and layer by layer until the full devastation hits you. Perhaps it hits different people at different times but for the book became really gripping around the time the family arrived in the government camp in California. The emotional intensity builds to the very end and the ending, although a little surreal, brings home the way people can lose everything and be at rock bottom, yet they still have more to give and there is always someone worse off.<br /><br />This is a deeply important book about an aspect of American history that is little written about. Stories about the Great Depression tend to be urban and little is known about the great westward migrations and the dispossession from the land. I was familiar with the term "Okies" to mean "hick" or "redneck" but had no idea of its origins. I knew nothing about the Hoovervilles across the country – named for President J. Edgar Hoover who was blamed for his economic crises – and the shameful role of the police in persecuting people who had already lost everything. (This is not covered by the book but the biggest Hooverville was in Washington DC where it was one General Macarthur who was responsible for razing the shanty town to the ground and slaughtering thousands of Americans).<br /><br />Yet this book, although published in the late 1930s about what was then very recent history, is not just about the past. The story of dispossession and exploitation and repression goes on. It is still the case that food production is in the hands of fewer and fewer owners and that farmers find it difficult to compete unless they are involved in processing as well. It is still the case that migrant – or these days immigrant – workers are lured into jobs on false pretexts and kept on casual contracts at minimum wages for years, often under the most dire conditions in terms of health and safety. The problem is now globalised so that vast tracts of Amazon rainforest are now cleared to grow soy crops for cattle feed to supply the burger industry at the lowest possible cost. Books like Eric Schlosser’s excellent and entertaining <I>Fast Food Nation</I> or Felicity Lawrence’s <I>Not on the Label</I> tell of this more recent history and current events. The shame is that we no longer have the Great Depression to blame for it. <br /><br />This copy is from BookCrossing - see <a href="http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/1773835" target="_new">all journal entries</a> here.<br /><br />35 down, 65 to go...Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1153325719431924442006-07-19T16:32:00.000+01:002006-07-24T00:15:52.066+01:00A Suitable Boy by Vikram SethI have tamed the beast! 1474 pages and I am done. Woo hoo!<br /><br /><i>A Suitable Boy</i> was definitely worth the effort. I already admired Seth for <i>An Equal Music</i> and in this, very different, book he doesn't let me down. <br /><br />I enjoyed it from the beginning, although it is true that it was slow to begin with. Over the course of the novel, the characters seeped into my consciousness and came to life. By the end it had the familiarity and comfort of a long-running soap opera and I cared deeply for Lata and Maan and their families - the Mehras, the Chatterjis, the Kapoors - and friends. Without spoiling the plot, suffice it to say this made certain events in the novel quite heartbreaking.<br /><br />Yet this is as much the story of India as it is of the characters in this book. It is set in the early 1950s, after independence and during the time of the first general election and it reveals all the richness and ructions of the fledgling nation, its prejudices and norms. It is a time of arranged marriages, frictions between Hindu and Muslim, colourful religious festivals, stifling snobbery, and great joy in life. It makes me more keen than ever to visit India.<br /><br />The central theme, as the title suggests, is love and marriage. Next are the wider social and political themes of religious tolerance and intolerance, class consciousness from the poverty of the bonded labourers to the Anglophile snobbery still so prevalent in post-colonial India, and the struggle for independence and democracy.<br /><br />Interestingly and less obviously, music is an important theme, though it less obviously so than in <i>An Equal Music</i>. There is a passage early in the book (by the book's standards this could be anywhere in the first 700 pages!) where Seth articulates the nature of Indian music, how it introduces themes and returns to them and expands on them, until it builds a coherent whole. Unfortunately, I didn't mark out the passage and it would take some time to find but it is quite clear that this explanation also serves as an exposition of the structure of the novel itself. Music is certainly a recurring motif, with the constant singing of raags and especially with several of the characters who are either musicians or patrons of music.<br /><br />34 down, 66 to go... (That's nine so far this year and this book probably accounted for a good proportion of the pages).<br /><br />This copy was from BookCrossing - see <a href="http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/3315654" target="_new">all journal entries</a> here.Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1152474945631081442006-07-09T20:43:00.000+01:002006-07-09T20:57:44.573+01:00The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullersThis is a beautiful, haunting book about loneliness and the human condition. It is set in a small town in the American South in the 1930s and follows the interwined lives of five people: Singer the mute; Mick Kelly, the young girl with a passion for music; Dr Copeland, the Negro doctor; Jake Blount, the troubled revolutionary; and Biff Brannon, the cafe owner. It's true that not much happens in terms of plot - the inner lives of the characters, all misfits of some kind, provide all the action. The book explores isolation and the quest for self fulfilment and how each person's loneliness manifests itself in different ways.<br /><br />I hadn't heard of this book before I started researching for this list but I'm so glad I have had the opportunity to read it. It's amazing to think that the author wrote this, her first book, when she as just twenty three!<br /><br />This is a BookCrossing copy - you can read all journal entries <a href="http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/1017886" target="_new">here</a>.<br /><br />33 down, 67 to go ...Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1150924935246592162006-06-21T22:08:00.000+01:002006-06-21T22:22:15.266+01:00The Color Purple by Alice WalkerWhat a fabulous book! I can see why this is considered one of the great books of the twentieth century. I wonder if it's on all the lists - it certainly should be.<br /><br />When writing instructors tell their students to "show, not tell", they should simply point them in the direction of <i>The Color Purple</i> by Alice Walker. It's incredibly evocative of character, setting and emotion yet it is not heavy-handed. Books about injustice often fall into the trap of <i>telling</i> you what to think and feel but Walker never falls into that trap. <br /><br />It was heartbreaking to read about life as a poor black woman in the early twentieth century and devastating to read about the annihilation of the Olinka - African tribal people displaced by roadbuilding and rubber plantations. Walker doesn't flinch from the truth yet she also shows us great love, compassion, loyalty and happiness.<br /><br />I found this book very easy to read. I really enjoyed both Celie and Nettie's voice. Often I find that when authors try to write in dialect or show an uneducated grammar and vocabulary it doesn't work very well and distracts me from the story. Even something like Irvine Welsh's <i>Trainspotting</i> worked much better for me as a film than a book and that's probably an example of where it's done better than the norm. But Walker does this effortlessly so that you barely notice but it helps to evoke character.<br /><br />I love at the end that Walker thanks the characters in her novel "for coming".<br /><br />32 down, 68 to go...<br /><br />PS I am most of the way through <i>A Suitable Boy</i>!Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1149461393766099762006-06-04T23:18:00.000+01:002006-06-06T08:47:57.983+01:00Brave New World by Aldous HuxleyWhen it comes to dystopian visions of the future, George Orwell's <i>1984</i> gets all the attention but I think <i>Brave New World</i> is the superior book. It's thematically very cogent with a strong central argument and it's also scarily prophetic with many of Huxley's darker imaginings coming true.<br /><br />I read this book virtually in one sitting on a plane journey on my way to a two-week holiday in Italy. The book was quite powerful and although the ideas it expressed and the problems it explored were not new to me, it still had me pondering them more deeply. It showed quite clearly and dramatically the deep flaw at the heart of the seemingly benign utilitarian principle of 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number'. But does it mean that happiness is not the point? This is Huxley's contention as he seems to be arguing for the existence of God and a striving for the divine and self betterment as being more important than mere happiness. I'm more or less an atheist so I don't have such easy answers yet the world of the novel is clearly abhorrent to me. Perhaps I can believe in a higher good than happiness without God or religion? Or perhaps it's a question of defining happiness and whether I think true happiness is possible without freedom and self determination?<br /><br />The book was intended as a comment on both the Soviet Union (note the names like Marx and Lenina and Trotsky) and also, as the forward points out, the consumerism of the United States. And indeed the book has its strongest resonance not as a critique of communims but as a warning against the danger of corporate tyranny. It looks increasingly like the corporation, rather than the nation, will be the defining force of the 21st century and we need to think very seriously about how to retain autonomy and freedom as individuals and a society. <br /><br />So much of the book is already coming true and not just the obvious stuff like the advances in genetic engineering. To name a few, there's the indoctrination from birth in rampant consumerism (it's axiomatic in Huxley's dystopia that 'ending is better than mending' and in our own society many toddlers can pick out the McDonald's logo before they recognise numbers or letters), the increased sexual freedom (which frankly is not all bad), the shallowness of mass entertainment (reality TV anyone?), the preoccupation with celebrity (note how they gush over the savage but shun his mother for being fat and old), and the crazy tabloid antics of the news media. <br /><br /><i>Brave New World</i> is the template and inspiration for many, many similar works of the twentieth century. Reading it was quite a revelation.<br /><br />31 down, 69 to go...<br /><br />PS I am one-third (a bit over 500 pages) of the way through <i>A Suitable Boy</i>.Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1147890321557812522006-05-17T19:19:00.000+01:002006-05-17T19:25:21.590+01:00More women authorsOver seventy per cent of the authors on my list are male and I think this is a flaw in the list. I don't believe in quotas and I am not going to deliberately make the list fifty-fifty as the books have to make it on their own merits. However, there is the counter argument that my list is based largely on The Canon - mainly American men writing literary fiction in mid twentieth century. It's hard to say whether the lack of female authors is because of a lack of great output or because they do not get the recognition that the male writers do - in the same way that genre or children's writing is often marginalised even when it's great.<br /><br />I am trying to think whether I have missed out anyone essential and so far I have come up with Carol Shields with The Stone Diaries and Anne Tyler with Breathing Lessons (which both won the Pulitzer prize). I would be interested to know what my readers think - should these two be added and if so who would we remove? And are there any other glaring omissions from the list?<br /><br />Keep in mind the boundaries of the list - the books must be published between 1900 and 1999, must be written originally in English (no translations) and only novels are eligible.Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1145746786281065372006-04-22T23:51:00.000+01:002006-04-22T23:59:46.313+01:00The Heart of the Matter by Graham GreeneThe Heart of the Matter is set in a British colony in west Africa during one of the world wars, I think the Second World War. Scobie, a police officer, is above reproach until he is passed over for promotion and forced to borrow money from a Syrian trader to send his wife on holiday. In her absence he falls in love with a young widow and inexorably his conscience and love of God lead him to disaster.<br /><br />This is an extraordinary book. I'd previously read <i>The Quiet American</i>, also by Greene, and that was pretty good but I think this is far superior. It's not as political as <i>The Quiet American</i> but the human story is far more compelling and convincing. Scobie is a middle-aged man and a Catholic living in a very different time and place and yet, despite being so utterly different to me, I really felt like I was inside his head and his heart. The novel explores the notion of what love is and where love and pity intersect and which is the stronger emotion. Scobie's downfall comes because he is not able to put his own eternal salvation above the happiness of the women he loves.<br /><br />I'm quite keen to read more of Greene's books. They seem to be set in all different places from Vietnam to Cuba. <I>The Power and the Glory</i> is meant to be another of his best and I we have a copy of <i>The Comedians</i> somewhere.<br /><br />30 down, 70 to go...Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1142505039483217702006-03-16T10:30:00.000+00:002006-04-17T09:39:52.913+01:00Perspectives on Lolita<i>Reading Lolita in Tehran</i>, a memoir of an English literature professor in revolutionary Iran, gives an interesting perspective on <i>Lolita</i> and Nabokov in general. Her reading of <i>Lolita</i> is that it is fundamentally about one person stealing another's life - we know how Lolita ended up but we don't know what she could have or would have become.Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1142381956739127672006-03-15T00:16:00.000+00:002006-03-15T16:56:10.196+00:00First amendment: Lessing for HemingwayIt's been pointed out to me that I have three novels by Ernest Hemingway on the list: <I>The Old Man and the Sea, Farewell to Arms</i> and <i>The Sun Also Rises</i>. Since I have a self-imposed rule that I am allowing a maximum of two books per author and there are a number of books on the waiting list, I am making my first amendment since posting the <a href="http://bookcentury.blogspot.com/2005/11/one-hundred-books-of-century-list.html" target="_new">complete list</a> on the blog. I am removing <i>The Sun Also Rises</i> and replacing it with Doris Lessing's <i>The Golden Notebook</i>.Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1142381440774141952006-03-14T23:52:00.000+00:002006-03-15T16:57:16.866+00:00Lolita by Vladimir NabokovAah the infamous <i>Lolita</i>. It's good to finally see what all the fuss is about. I think I saw, or at least partly saw, the movie years ago but the book is quite a different matter since it's told in first person by the pedophile. That's quite confronting since in most books you are meant to identify with the narrator so psychologically you want to accept his version of events and empathise with his liking for so-called nymphets and love and lust for Lolita. Then you remember that he is a pedophile and that Lolita is a child. It makes for quite interesting reading.<br /><br /> I'd always envisaged Lolita as about sixteen but at the start of the book she is only twelve. A precocious twelve but twelve all the same. Our narrator, Humbert Humbert, makes it quite clear that he only likes little girls - once they reach fifteen or sixteen, they are too old. One might ask what Nabokov was trying to achieve or teach but as he makes quite clear in the epilogue, his book is not meant to be didactic but only artistic. If you read to the end it's quite clear that he is not trying to condone pedophilia. By the end of the book, Humbert's self-illusions were stripped away, making the monstrosity of his crimes more evident but also inviting you to pity him.<br /><br />I enjoyed Nabokov's writing and intend to seek out <i>Pale Fire</i> at some stage. It's meant to be very good and in terms of the quality of writing, some say it's better than <i>Lolita</i>.<br /><br />I am planning to read <a href="http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/2347291" target="_new"><i>Reading Lolita in Tehran</i></a> by Azar Nafisi next as I thought it would be an interesting exercise to pair the two.<br /><br />I'm still working on <i>A Suitable Boy</i> but I can't take it on the Tube as it's so large so it could take a while.<br /><br />29 down, 71 to go ...Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1140607855214758432006-02-22T11:29:00.000+00:002006-02-22T11:31:20.526+00:00Started on A Suitable BoyI've started reading Vikram Seth's <i>A Suitable Boy</i>. It's enormous and I have a few BookCrossing books to read as well so it might be a while before I finish it.Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1138400084991416912006-01-27T22:07:00.000+00:002006-01-28T12:54:57.386+00:00A Portrait of the Artist as a Young ManI finished <i>A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man</i> by James Joyce this afternoon and felt that I should immediately turn back to page one and start again. I enjoyed the novel and it's not particularly difficult to understand but I had this constant feeling that I was missing something, as if I was only scratching the surface and the true mysteries were buried deep and inaccessible to the uninitiated. I think part of this was because Joyce seems to write for mood and resonance of meaning rather than simple narrative, which of course all good writers do but he seems to do more than most. <br /><br />The novel is about an artist's childhood, youth and growth into manhood and self realisation as an artist, shaking off the demands of religion and country and family along the way. At times it has some very long passages on the hell fire lectures of his school days or the protagonist's musings on aestheticism but these are quite interesting and obviously pivotal in the character's development. The ending, where the narration switches to first person, is triumphant. I would be interested to know how closely autobiographical the novel is.<br /><br />28 down, 72 to go...Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1135493228630762932005-12-25T06:39:00.000+00:002005-12-25T06:47:08.646+00:00Slaughterhouse FiveI finished <i>Slaughterhouse Five</i> by Kurt Vonnegut yesterday. The book is inspired by his experiences as a prisoner of war in Dresden in World War II. It's the only World War II novel I've ever read that also features time travel and space aliens! Vonnegut is an innovative writer and in <i>Slaughterhouse Five</i> he plays with non-linear storytelling, motifs and an alien philosophy on life. Definitely worth reading.<br /><br />27 down, 73 to go... This was another short one but I'm going to tackle the mammoth <i>A Suitable Boy</i> by Vikram Seth next. I've got some holiday books to finish first and some <a href="http://www.bookcrossing.com" target="_new">BookCrossing</a> book-rings on the way but I'll get to it soon.Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1134405302384972682005-12-12T16:19:00.000+00:002005-12-12T16:36:40.606+00:00References for the listI have been asked what references I used when compiling this list. <br /><br />The first port of call was <a href="http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/6/2948756/-One-hundred-books-of-the-century---My-friends-list" target="_new">my friend Betsi's list</a>, which is her adaptation of a number of other lists.<br /><br />I altered it according to my own ideas to make it more international and include more contemporary works. I also discussed it with people on the <a href="http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/6/2899385/subj_-One-hundred-books-of-the-century" target="_new">BookCrossing forum</a> who gave me lots of ideas.<br /><br />I had a look at the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml" target="_new">BBC Big Read</a> but this was not particularly useful for my purposes as it is a) based on popularity with the general public and b) for all time not just the twentieth century.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/6/2901294/-The-Folio-Societys-Books-of-the-Century" target="_new">Folio Society's books of the 20th century</a> is worth a look but it's not all fiction. Maybe that's one for another project?<br /><br />There are also the following lists: <ul><li><a href="http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html" target="_new">Time magazine</a><br /><li><a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html" target="_new">Random House</a><br /><li><a href="http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1061037,00.html" target="_new">The Obsever</a> (but again, this is a list of all time not the twentieth century)<br /><li> There is even a <a href="http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/greatbks.html" target="_new">list of lists</a></ul>Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1133992530392506982005-12-07T21:38:00.000+00:002005-12-07T21:55:39.620+00:00Waiting for the BarbariansI have just finished reading <em>Waiting for the Barbarians </em>by J.M.Coetzee, the South African writer who won the <a href="http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/2003/index.html" target="_new">Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003</a>. The book was published in 1980 and is set in an outpost settlement of an Empire in no particular time and place but it has resonance for all times and seems particularly poignant in the light of recent history.<br /><br />The story is about an aging Magistrate who desires nothing more than to live out his days in obscurity but is thrust into the thick of imperial politics when the Empire decides to crack down on the neighbouring Barbarians. His attempts to protect the Barbarians from the barbarity of the Empire lead to him being imprisoned and tortured as an enemy of the state and a brush with madness. The book is ultimately about the struggle, both internal and external, of decency against political expediency and what happens when a regime puts survival over justice.<br /><br />It's brilliantly done - very complex and subtle and not at all didactic. It's a very short book - at 156 pages in my paperback edition it's really more a novella. Although it's got great intellectual heft, it's not a difficult read.<br /><br />It's interesting too that Coetzee, who lived through the Apartheid era in South Africa, is now choosing to live out his life in the obscure outpost settlement of Adelaide in South Australia.<br /><br />This is the second book I have read by Coetzee; the first was <i>Disgrace</i>, which was good but not a patch on this.<br /><br />This was a <a href="http://www.bookcrossing.com" target="_new">BookCrossing</a> copy. Please see <a href="http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/865985/Fire-Dragon/book_-Waiting-for-the-Barbarians-J.M.-Coetzee" target="_new">here</a> for all journal entries.<br /><br />26 down, 74 to go...Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1133094818765795732005-11-27T12:19:00.000+00:002005-11-27T12:36:50.956+00:00What I've read so farI have read some of the books on the list already. Some of them (eg. <i>White Noise</i> by Don DeLillo or <i>Rebecca</i> by Daphne du Maurier), I have read recently and I will not re-read them. Others (eg. <i>On the Road</i> by Jack Kerouac or <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> trilogy), I might choose to revisit. I might also do some substitutions for books I've already read (eg. I have read <i>Oscar and Lucinda</i> by Peter Carey but not <i>Jack Maggs</i>).<br /><br />Already read<br />1 <em>The Great Gatsby</em> F. Scott Fitzgerald<br />2 <em>The Catcher in the Rye </em>J.D. Salinger<br />3 <em>To Kill a Mockingbird </em>Harper Lee<br />4 <em>Beloved</em> Toni Morrison<br />5 <em>1984 </em> George Orwell<br />6 <em>Catch-22 </em>Joseph Heller<br />7 <em>The Old Man and the Sea </em>Ernest Hemingway<br />8 <em>Animal Farm </em>George Orwell<br />9 <em>On the Road </em>Jack Kerouac<br />10 <em>White Noise</em> Don DeLillo<br />11 <em>Fahrenheit 451 </em>Ray Bradbury<br />12 <em>The Lord of the Rings Trilogy </em>JRR Tolkien<br />13 <em>The Handmaid's Tale </em>Margaret Atwood<br />14 <em>Oscar and Lucinda </em>Peter Carey<br />15 <em>The Left Hand of Darkness </em>Ursula Le Guin<br />16 <em>The Magic Pudding </em>Norman Lindsay<br />17 <em>Rebecca </em> Daphne du Maurier<br />18 <em>The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe </em>C.S.Lewis<br />19 <em>Anne of Green Gables </em>L.M.Montgomery<br />20 <em>Housekeeping</em> Marilynne Robinson<br />21 <em>The Wind in the Willows </em>Kenneth Graeme<br />22 <em>The Chrysalids </em>John Wyndham<br />23 <em>Amsterdam </em> Ian McEwan<br />24 <em>The Pursuit of Love </em>Nancy Mitford<br />25 <em>In the Skin of a Lion </em>Michael Ondaatje<br /><br /><br />Never read<br />1 <em>The Grapes of Wrath </em>John Steinbeck<br />2 <em>The Color Purple </em>Alice Walker<br />3 <em>Ulysses</em> James Joyce<br />4 <em>The Lord of the Flies </em>William Golding<br />5 <em>Lolita </em> Vladimir Nabokov<br />6 <em>Of Mice and Men </em>John Steinbeck<br />7 <em>Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man </em>James Joyce<br />8 <em>Brave New World </em>Aldous Huxley<br />9 <em>As I Lay Dying </em>William Faulkner<br />10 <em>A Farewell to Arms </em>Ernest Hemingway<br />11 <em>Heart of Darkness </em>Joseph Conrad<br />12 <em>Song of Solomon </em>Toni Morrison<br />13 <em>The Heart of the Matter </em>Graham Greene<br />14 <em>One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest </em>Ken Kesey<br />15 <em> Slaughterhouse-Five </em>Kurt Vonnegut<br />16 <em>Ironweed </em> William Kennedy<br />17 <em>The Call of the Wild </em>Jack London<br />18 <em>To the Lighthouse </em>Virginia Woolf<br />19 <em>A Passage to India </em>E.M. Forster<br />20 <em>The House of Mirth </em>Edith Wharton<br />21 <em>The Fountainhead </em>Ayn Rand<br />22 <em>The Jungle </em>Upton Sinclair<br />23 <em>A Clockwork Orange </em>Anthony Burgess<br />24 <em>My Antonia </em>Willa Cather<br />25 <em>Howard's End </em>E.M. Forster<br />26 <em>Midnight's Children </em>Salman Rushdie<br />27 <em>The Sun Also Rises </em>Ernest Hemingway<br />28 <em>Sophie's Choice </em>William Styron<br />29 <em>In Cold Blood </em>Truman Capote<br />30 <em>Naked Lunch </em>William S. Burroughs<br />31 <em>Brideshead Revisited </em>Evelyn Waugh<br />32 <em>The Maltese Falcon </em>Dashiell Hammett<br />33 <em> Confederacy of Dunces </em>John Kennedy Toole<br />34 <em>Tropic of Cancer</em> Henry Miller<br />35 <em>Kim </em> Rudyard Kipling<br />36 <em>The Remains of the Day </em>Kazou Ishiguro<br />37 <em> A House for Mr. Biswas </em>V.S. Naipaul<br />38 <em>The Ginger Man </em>P.D. Donleavy<br />39 <em>The Good Earth </em> Pearl S. Buck<br />40 <em>The Naked and the Dead </em>Norman Mailer<br />41 <em> Gravity's Rainbow </em>Thomas Pynchon <br />42 <em>I, Claudius </em>Robert Graves<br />43 <em>Voss</em> Patrick White<br />44 <em>The Outsiders </em>S.E.Hinton<br />45 <em>The Long Goodbye </em>Raymond Chandler<br />46 <em>A Town Like Alice </em>Neville Shute<br />47 <em>Couples </em> John Updike<br />49 <em>Money </em> Martin Amis<br />50 <em>Lucky Jim </em>Kingsley Amis<br />51 <em>Possession</em> A.S.Byatt<br />52 <em>A Suitable Boy </em>Vikram Seth<br />53 <em>Waiting for the Barbarians </em>J.M.Coetzee<br />54 <em>Schindler's Ark </em>Thomas Keneally<br />55 <em>The Invisible Man </em>Ralph Ellison<br />56 <em> Native Son </em> Richard Wright<br />57 <em>Sons and Lovers </em>D.H. Lawrence<br />58 <em>Things Fall Apart </em>Chinua Achebe<br />59 <em>Ragtime</em> E.L. Docorow<br />60 <em>Of Human Bondage </em>W. Somerset Maugham<br />61 <em>A Tree Grows in Brooklyn </em>Betty Smith<br />62 <em>The Heart is a Lonely Hunter </em>Carson McCullers<br />63 <em>From Here to Eternity </em>James Jones<br />64 <em>Main Street </em>Sinclair Lewis<br />65 <em>The Way of All Flesh </em>Samuel Butler<br />66 <em>Darkness at Noon </em>Arthur Koestler<br />67 <em>Henderson the Rain King </em>Saul Bellow<br />68 <em>Appointment in Samarra</em> John O'Hara<br />69 <em>The Wapshot Chronicles </em>John Cheever<br />70 <em>The Day of the Locust </em>Nathanael West<br />71 <em>The Sheltering Sky </em>Paul Bowles<br />72 <em>The World According to Garp </em>John Irving<br />73 <em>The French Lieutenant's Woman </em>John Fowles<br />74 <em>Waterland</em> Graham Swift<br />75 <em>Go Tell it on the Mountain </em>James BaldwinCaitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19255673.post-1132785176115494472005-11-23T22:16:00.000+00:002006-05-17T19:26:04.706+01:00One hundred books of the century: The ListOn my recent trip to the US, I made a new friend and was inspired by her project to read the top one hundred books of the twentieth century. <br /><br />I have taken her original list and modified it according to my own tastes and ideas, along with some reference to other published lists and also the <a href="http://www.bookcrossing.com" target="_new">BookCrossing</a> community. Some of the books I have read, some I have always intended to read and others, quite frankly, I know very little about. But for one reason or another these are the books that made the cut.<br /><br />I followed a few rules in compiling this list. Firstly, one hundred books only and each author gets no more than two books each. Secondly, the books must be originally written in English - translated works belong in a different list. Thirdly, the list contains only fiction novels (no short stories, memoirs or biographies). Finally, all books must be published between 1900 and 1999. <br /><br />Within those parameters, I tried to avoid it being a list solely of dead white males, as many of the published lists tend to be. I wanted to include authors from all over the English-speaking world, women and minorities, genre writers and ensure a selection from the early, middle and late decades of the century. However, the primary factor was merit, in so far as I can judge it without having read all the books in question.<br /><br />So here's the list. It's a work in progress and I'd be glad to hear your feedback. It's not in any particular order.<br /><br />1 <em>The Great Gatsby</em> F. Scott Fitzgerald<br />2 <em>The Catcher in the Rye </em>J.D. Salinger<br />3 <em>The Grapes of Wrath </em>John Steinbeck<br />4 <em>To Kill a Mockingbird </em>Harper Lee<br />5 <em>The Color Purple </em>Alice Walker<br />6 <em>Ulysses</em> James Joyce<br />7 <em>Beloved</em> Toni Morrison<br />8 <em>The Lord of the Flies </em>William Golding<br />9 <em>1984 </em> George Orwell<br />10 <em>Lolita </em> Vladimir Nabokov<br />11 <em>Of Mice and Men </em>John Steinbeck<br />12 <em>Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man </em>James Joyce<br />13 <em>Catch-22 </em>Joseph Heller<br />14 <em>The Old Man and the Sea </em>Ernest Hemingway<br />15 <em>Brave New World </em>Aldous Huxley<br />16 <em>Animal Farm </em>George Orwell<br />17 <em>As I Lay Dying </em>William Faulkner<br />18 <em>A Farewell to Arms </em>Ernest Hemingway<br />19 <em>Heart of Darkness </em>Joseph Conrad<br />20 <em>Song of Solomon </em>Toni Morrison<br />21 <em>The Heart of the Matter </em>Graham Greene<br />22 <em>One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest </em>Ken Kesey<br />23<em> Slaughterhouse-Five </em>Kurt Vonnegut<br />24 <em>Ironweed </em> William Kennedy<br />25 <em>On the Road </em>Jack Kerouac<br />26 <em>The Call of the Wild </em>Jack London<br />27 <em>To the Lighthouse </em>Virginia Woolf<br />28 <em>A Passage to India </em>E.M. Forster<br />29 <em>The House of Mirth </em>Edith Wharton<br />30 <em>The Fountainhead </em>Ayn Rand<br />31 <em>The Jungle </em>Upton Sinclair<br />32 <em>A Clockwork Orange </em>Anthony Burgess<br />33 <em>My Antonia </em>Willa Cather<br />34 <em>Howard's End </em>E.M. Forster<br />35 <em>Midnight's Children </em>Salman Rushdie<br />36 <em>The Golden Notebook</em> Doris Lessing [added 14/3/06 to replace <em>The Sun Also Rises </em>Ernest Hemingway]<br />37 <em>Sophie's Choice </em>William Styron<br />38 <em>In Cold Blood </em>Truman Capote<br />39 <em>Naked Lunch </em>William S. Burroughs<br />40 <em>Brideshead Revisited </em>Evelyn Waugh<br />41 <em>The Maltese Falcon </em>Dashiell Hammett<br />42<em> Confederacy of Dunces </em>John Kennedy Toole<br />43 <em>White Noise</em> Don DeLillo<br />44 <em>Tropic of Cancer</em> Henry Miller<br />45 <em>Kim </em> Rudyard Kipling<br />46 <em>The Remains of the Day </em>Kazuo Ishiguro<br />47<em> A House for Mr. Biswas </em>V.S. Naipaul<br />48 <em>The Ginger Man </em>P.D. Donleavy<br />49 <em>Fahrenheit 451 </em>Ray Bradbury<br />50 <em>The Good Earth </em> Pearl S. Buck<br />51 <em>The Naked and the Dead </em>Norman Mailer<br />52<em> Gravity's Rainbow </em>Thomas Pynchon <br />53 <em>I, Claudius </em>Robert Graves<br />54 <em>The Lord of the Rings Trilogy </em>JRR Tolkien<br />55 <em>The Handmaid's Tale </em>Margaret Atwood<br />56 <em>Oscar and Lucinda </em>Peter Carey<br />57 <em>The Left Hand of Darkness </em>Ursula Le Guin<br />58 <em>The Magic Pudding </em>Norman Lindsay<br />59 <em>Rebecca </em> Daphne du Maurier<br />60 <em>Voss</em> Patrick White<br />61 <em>The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe </em>C.S.Lewis<br />62 <em>Anne of Green Gables </em>L.M.Montgomery<br />63 <em>Housekeeping</em> Marilynne Robinson<br />64 <em>The Outsiders </em>S.E.Hinton<br />65 <em>The Long Goodbye </em>Raymond Chandler<br />66 <em>The Wind in the Willows </em>Kenneth Graeme<br />67 <em>A Town Like Alice </em>Neville Shute<br />68 <em>The Chrysalids </em>John Wyndham<br />69 <em>Amsterdam </em> Ian McEwan<br />70 <em>The Pursuit of Love </em>Nancy Mitford<br />71 <em>Couples </em> John Updike<br />72 <em>The Bell </em>Iris Murdoch<br />73 <em>Money </em> Martin Amis<br />74 <em>Lucky Jim </em>Kingsley Amis<br />75 <em>Possession</em> A.S.Byatt<br />76 <em>In the Skin of a Lion </em>Michael Ondaatje<br />77 <em>A Suitable Boy </em>Vikram Seth<br />78 <em>Waiting for the Barbarians </em>J.M.Coetzee<br />79 <em>Schindler's Ark </em>Thomas Keneally<br />80 <em>The Invisible Man </em>Ralph Ellison<br />81<em> Native Son </em> Richard Wright<br />82 <em>Sons and Lovers </em>D.H. Lawrence<br />83 <em>Things Fall Apart </em>Chinua Achebe<br />84 <em>Ragtime</em> E.L. Docorow<br />85 <em>Of Human Bondage </em>W. Somerset Maugham<br />86 <em>A Tree Grows in Brooklyn </em>Betty Smith<br />87 <em>The Heart is a Lonely Hunter </em>Carson McCullers<br />88 <em>From Here to Eternity </em>James Jones<br />89 <em>Main Street </em>Sinclair Lewis<br />90 <em>The Way of All Flesh </em>Samuel Butler<br />91 <em>Darkness at Noon </em>Arthur Koestler<br />92 <em>Henderson the Rain King </em>Saul Bellow<br />93 <em>Appointment in Samarra</em> John O'Hara<br />94 <em>The Wapshot Chronicles </em>John Cheever<br />95 <em>The Day of the Locust </em>Nathanael West<br />96 <em>The Sheltering Sky </em>Paul Bowles<br />97 <em>The World According to Garp </em>John Irving<br />98 <em>The French Lieutenant's Woman </em>John Fowles<br />99 <em>Waterland</em> Graham Swift<br />100 <em>Go Tell it on the Mountain </em>James BaldwinCaitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01118423043759580862noreply@blogger.com8