The next up on my reading of the 305 greatest books is Wise Children by Angela Carter. The book can be found on the Observer Book List.
The Remnant...
"The Remnant of Dino Jim's Thoughts" is what is left over when you remove all of my geological thoughts and teachings. This is the place for my personal, literary, and Star Wars posts.
Monday, October 28, 2024
The 305 Greatest Books - #182: Wise Children by Angela Carter
Thursday, September 5, 2024
The 305 Greatest Books - #181: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The next up on my reading of the 305 greatest books is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. The book can be found on the BBC and My Book Lists.
I went into Rebecca having high hopes. It is in the top 21 books on the BBC Big Read list and several of my friends commented how fantastic a book it was when I started. So, although I don't like to have expectations going into a book, I definitely had mine. And they were beyond exceeded. Rebecca is a mystery novel, with most of the plot taking place as a flashback in the first person perspective of the central unnamed viewpoint character. Our main character is a servant of a less than ideal person when she meets this mysterious man, Maxim de Winter, whom she falls in love with and ends up marrying over a very short time period. Afterwards she is swept away to his mansion, Manderley, where she is thrust into the world of the aristocratic, complete with a whole host of servants whom now wait on her. The only problem is that there is something that falls over everything that our main character does in the story, and that's the shadow of Maxim's recently dead wife, Rebecca, whom was adored by nearly everyone. I was not prepared for the many twists and turns that the story took. While there is a sense of dread over the entire book, you kept waiting for the next shoe to drop, and each time I was surprised. The only one I caught on to before it happened was the final one as the book came to a close, but even that one had me flipping back to the first few chapters, before the flashback, to see how the story ties into them. This book was just so much fun to read. And while the story did drag a little bit in the middle, I feel that the story, and how the text just flowed off the page, made this by far a fantastic page turner. It is a definite recommend from me.
Saturday, August 3, 2024
The 305 Greatest Books - #180: In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
The next up on my reading of the 305 greatest books is In Search of Lost Time (AKA Remembrance of Things Past) by Marcel Proust. The book can be found on the Norwegian, Observer, and Zane Top 10 Book Lists.
In Search of Lost Time holds a couple of places in my heart. First and foremost, it is by far the longest book I have ever read. It is ranked as one of the longest books ever written and clocks in over 4,000 pages depending on the print and page size. However a better estimate is the word count which is 1.175 million words. For comparison War and Peace has only 0.56 million words. So this book is essentially two War and Peace length books. It also took me over a year to read because it is a brain strain. He writes in VERY long sentences. Counting out the words of one notable sentence had me at 203 words for that sentence alone.
Thursday, March 7, 2024
The 306 Greatest Books - #179: Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor. The book can be found on the Observer Book List.
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Wednesday, June 7, 2023
The 306 Greatest Books #178 - The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. The book can be found on the Observer Book List.
The version of The Thirty-Nine Steps that I had purchased was marketed as one of the best mysteries of all time, so I was excited because I love a good mystery. The book was also incredibly short, barely passing 120 pages in the hardcover version I had, making all the more appealing to me. However, the story immediately set me off, being rather antisemitic in several of comments throughout the first chapter. The first chapter was also very difficult to follow with characters written as if they were talking with an accent making it difficult to read and understand. I have trouble enough listening to people's accents and understanding them, I don't need to read them and also not understand them. Although, after the first chapter, the story kicked into high gear and was fairly straightforward to follow along with. Accents were limited and the story was clear cut. I do feel like I missed a chunk of the purpose that was mixed into the first chapter and by the time I got to the end I felt like I missed some parts along the way. The book is set shortly before the outbreak to World War I with a person in an apartment building being murdered, while the guy who's room he escapes to is essentially framed for that murder. Police are involved trying to track him down as well as a shadowy organization. Overall, it was alright and at times very unbelievable. I wouldn't equate it as a "great" mystery by any stretch of the imagination, but it was short and fun and fairly easy to read although I still don't know if I missed parts or they were being purposely obtuse.
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