The 306 Greatest Books #10 - Death of a Salesman

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. This book can be found on the Sybervision Book List.

Death of a Salesman is often considered to be one of the greatest plays of the 20th century. The play is about a a salesman named Willy Loman, who undergoes severe depression that quickly spirals out of control as he sees his life crumbling apart. The best part about the play is that it is made up of real life characters, whom the viewer (reader) can sympathize with. It is the strong emotion and the treating of the characters as if they are real people in real-life situations that has made this play resonate with so many. The story offers a view into the real-life world of depression and what could go wrong if nothing is done to help the depressed. Heartbreaking to say the least. 

The 306 Greatest Books #9 - Moby Dick

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is Moby Dick by Herman Melville. This book can be found on the Sybervision, Observer, the Norwegian Book Lists.

Moby Dick is often cited as the analogy for relentlessly pursuing your dreams, often to the detriment of everyone around you. My introduction to this book was not all that great, having been forced to read it in my senior year of high school and never fully appreciating it at the time. Besides the plot of the book, one of the things it is most known for is perhaps being one of the most famous introductory lines in all of literature: "Call me Ishmael." In general, the story is about a man while trying to take control of his fears ends up being destroyed in the process. The book reads slowly and the chapter describing whales escaped my understanding as to why it was even in the book (at least for my high school self). This is a not recommend by me but maybe this could improve with a rereading (although I don't see that ever happening).

The 306 Greatest Books #8 - Hamlet

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is Hamlet by William Shakespeare. This book can be found on the Sybervision, Norwegian, and the Zane Top 10 Book Lists.

Hamlet is often considered to be Shakespeare's best play, and this is a rating I can get behind. The tale is about a man trying to find the murderer of his father, while dealing with the slowly ensuing madness of most of the characters around him. Unlike Macbeth, I found Hamlet to be intriguing and quotable. Several of the scenes are memorable, even now, many years after having last read/seen the play. If I had to point people to only one Shakespeare's play to read or watch, this would be the one.