The 305 Greatest Books - #202: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

The next up on my reading of the 305 greatest books is The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. The book can be found on the BBC Book List.

I am of two minds about this book. I keep seeing people rave about this book (and the subsequent series) and I can understand it. The Pillars of the Earth is an intriguing and absorbing story that is essentially about the building of a cathedral in the small English town of Kingbridge, back in the mid 1100's. The trials and tribulations that it takes to build this cathedral are fun to watch and the in-depth analysis of revolutionary inventions of architecture are fascinating to read about. Doing outside research, I also discovered that the story is, more or less, historically accurate. Which makes this an even more enjoyable book to read. The principle character is Prior Phillip, who leads the creation and building of the church throughout the story. Besides him there are several characters who come and go throughout the story. And while some of them are probably considered our heroes, and some considered our villains, most of them were insufferable. While the story of the church was fascinating, the characters were the major drawback. It was the women in particular that I found problematic. This story emphasizes why I have been more drawn to stories written by women, because the few women in this story are used and abused by the other characters to such a point that I can't imagine any woman reading this story and actually enjoying it. To give the author credit, the main female character, Aliena, despite going through the worst ordeals possible throughout the story, still manages to become a person of some influence. However, many of the men throughout the story fail upwards. And while that may be akin to real life, I would prefer not to see it so plainly laid out on the page. So, while I am considering continuing on in the series with the other books, I can't in good conscious recommend this on my list. 

The 305 Greatest Books - #201: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

The next up on my reading of the 305 greatest books is I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. The book can be found on the BBC Book List.

Although I have never heard of this book, or the author before, I found out the author, Dodie Smith, had also written The Hundred and One Dalmatians, from which the Disney movie was based on. So I thought, ok, this could be good. The premise is that a family had moved into a long abandoned castle and were severely down on their luck. The book is written from the first person perspective of Cassandra Mortmain in the guise of diary entries. Her family all live within this castle, James, her father who is a world famous author having written one breakthrough novel but hasn't been able to write anything since. Her step-mother, Topaz, is a model who hasn't had much luck since the castle is far away from London and there isn't much work without travel. Her sister Rose, who really is useless. She apparently has a brother who is hardly mentioned, and a foster ward, Stephen, who is in love with Cassandra. And while I had assumed the book would be about this castle and perhaps their refurbishment of it, that is not in the least what the book was about. It is about their relationship with their new American landlords, who recently inherited the property, upon which the castle sits. While this book would be considered a character study, it is a rather boring one. I truly didn't care about most of the characters. And I felt no desire to go back to the book upon putting it down. I didn't hate the book, I just felt no desire to read it. It was meh. Even as the story ends on a "cliffhanger", you can see where the story is likely to go and be fine with the resolution. The writing is nice and the narrator does do a good job of keeping the listener informed but there is nothing compelling about the book. Overall it's ok. Nothing to write home about though.  

The 305 Greatest Books - #199: Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

The next up on my reading of the 305 greatest books is Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding. The book can be found on the BBC Book List.

I should note that this book is from the BBC's Big Read list, which is a compilation of survey responses across the UK asking for the general public's favorite novels during 2003. With that in mind, there are many books which would seem out of place on any other "100 Greatest Books" lists, this one included. With that being said, Bridget Jones's Diary was so much fun. I laughed quite a bit and generally enjoyed it. It was far from taxing to read and I breezed through it. It turned out to be the perfect beach read on my vacation. It is also very far from "higher lit" that I would equate with the 100 Greatest Books. But it is just simply a fun book to read. I was invested in Brigit's year and I loved the setup of the diary format throughout the year. The book also lends itself perfectly to being made into a movie, hence the reason I am not surprised whatsoever that it was made into a very popular movie (however I have not seen it at this point in time). Overall, it was just an easy to read, fun book, where you could turn off your brain and enjoy the drama on the page. 

The 305 Greatest Books - #198: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

The next up on my reading of the 305 greatest books is Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons. The book can be found on the BBC and My Book Lists.

Cold Comfort Farm was a rather surprising story. The plot follows Flora Poste, a recently orphaned twenty-year-old, who was left with a modest income from her parents. She decides she is going to lean on some of her ample family that she has for lodging, and ends up writing to many of them. She eventually decides to board with the Starkadder family at Cold Comfort Farm. And a more redneck variety of country bumkins I have rarely seen in literature. I would say this story has a white savior problem, but with the majority of the redneck family being white, they more have a rich cousin savior problem. Flora swoops in and really makes it her goal to fix everything in the farm and get it all sorted out before eventually flying off into the sunset (almost literally). The general premise of the story makes it seem insufferable, however, it is hilarious. While the majority of the story is clearly presented tongue firmly in cheek, the author gives us enough nods to know that she is indeed being farcical about the whole thing. And Stella Gibbons has a tremendous knack at sentences that turn her prose into a work of art in many instances. He descriptive terminology, analogies, and metaphors creates such a palette, that regardless with how insufferable many of the characters are, I am having a downright enjoyable time reading them. And the book is funny, often times laugh out loud so, further emphasizing the farcical narrative of the whole thing. If there is one issue I have with the story, it is the loose plot threads that are by no means insignificant in my opinion. Stella starts off the story with several reasons and mysteries for Flora to go to the farm, however by the end of the story few of those reasons are clarified or even explained. One is hinted at, however the others Flora outright says, "well I guess I'll never know". What was in the woodshed Stella!?!?! What was in the woodshed????? (I do hope her tombstone describes what was in the woodshed). Overall, I do recommend this one because it is short (always a plus), easy to read, enjoyable, and very well written. 

The 305 Greatest Books - #197: The Godfather by Mario Puzo

The next up on my reading of the 305 greatest books is The Godfather by Mario Puzo. The book can be found on the BBC Book List.

The Godfather is most notably known as the book that the award winning movie is based off of. And while I have seen the movie, and Part 2, I have not seen them in a very long time, and I could not tell you what parts of the book were in the movie, or not, or even if they differed at all. The book though was a lightning fast read. I was dialed in for the whole thing and could not put it down. And while that would seem like an instant recommend, I did have some grave concerns about the book. The story follows the Corleone family, specifically Don Corleone, who is the Godfather to this Sicilian crime family. The story bounces all over the place from Don's early childhood, to his later retirement, and everything in between. We also follow along with some of his children and godchildren, at least when they help propel the story forward. And while I did enjoy the story, I mean who doesn't love a good mafia story every now and again, my biggest gripe is with the women in the story. They were all written to be slapped or beaten around and to obey their husbands without question. When any of them deviated from this narrative, the men were actually forced to account, and they shouldered with the blame of what "their women" did. Most of this treatment though was front loaded in the book, so it felt like a steep drop off into uncomfortable territory. While the women characters mostly vanished later on in the book, with a few notable examples, none escaped the derogatory treatment. And so that is why, despite my generally enjoying the book, and have a nice time reading it, it does not stand up to today's standards, so I can't recommend it. My vague recollection of the movie though is that it generally fixed these problems and so I do want to go back and compare notes between the two. 

Corollary - After watching both The Godfather and The Godfather Part 2, I have found that reading novel did greatly enhance the movies. There are so many minor plot threads, or other tidbits of information, that the movie brings up and just drops, come out of nowhere, or are just background little tidbits, that are explained in detail within the book. For that reason I would recommend it.

The 305 Greatest Books - #196: Naughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman

The next up on my reading of the 305 greatest books is Naughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman. The book can be found on the BBC and My Book Lists.

This was an interesting read. It is one of the few YA (Young Adult) books on my list and being released in 2001, it is one of the most recent books to be on any of the lists (since I compiled my lists in ~2005). And being on the BBC's The Big Read, which was a search in April of 2003 for the "nation's best-loved novel", it likely made the list because it is a well written story that was prominent at the time. That doesn't mean it wasn't good though, and that it told a remarkable story. The premise of the story is a "what-if" universe where the races between white and Black people where flip-flopped in society. Where white skinned people are the fairly recently unslaved people and black skinned people are the ruling class of society. In this society the Black members are the Crosses, in references to Christianity, and the white members are Naughts, i.e. zeroes or o's, like a tic-tac-toe board. And while it felt like Blackman just flip-flopped the stereotypes of each society at first, the story takes on some interesting and well thought out "what-if" scenarios. Despite being what could be considered a Romeo and Juliet-esk story set within this universe and a YA novel on top of that, there were far more instances of outright suicide than I was anticipating, including teen suicide. There were also instances of terrorization, bombings, and just plain ole murder. It was an intense book. Overall the book is a fast read and it is the first book in a long time for me that had me coming back for more, reading more than my allotted amount each night because I had to find out what happened next. I loved it and I'm curious to see where the story goes from here (because there are several more in the series, although this book wraps up nicely at the end). I'm adding it to my recommended book list. 

The 305 Greatest Books - #194: Perfume by Patrick Süskind

The next up on my reading of the 305 greatest books is Perfume by Patrick Süskind. The book can be found on the BBC Book List.

I have been working my way through the BBC 100 Greatest Reads book list and this one piqued my interest. For one, it is pretty short, which always is a win for me but Two, the subtitle is "The Story of a Murderer". Ok, that sounds rather interesting and there aren't many murder mysteries in these book lists, so I will give it a shot. The story essentially follows the life of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a sociopath who is born without any scent of his own (i.e., no body odor), but has an inhuman ability to detect smells from miles away and is able to pick apart individual scent sources. While his goals shift depending on where we are in his life, he essentially wants to become a perfumer. Eventually his goals shift to wanting to create the perfect scent. This perfect scent, it turns out, comes in the form of newly pubescent girls of which he takes their scent from. And while not really sexual in nature, the book does take on an awkward Lolita vibe at times. My general feeling on the book is that is was "ok". I don't think it was a "great" read by any stretch of the imagination, however it was interesting. It does make you think about smells in ways that you never have though of before and the translation of the novel (originally in German) is super easy to follow. The ending of the book, though, felt rushed. For such a short novel, Süskind could have easily fleshed out the book a bit to make it not feel so rushed. He spends a rather long time describing smells of everything, then seems to skip over pivotal plot points at the end in order to surprise the reader with the denouement. Of which these skips don't feel overly earned because I question the timeline of things. But overall, it is an interesting story, kind of a let down at the end, but an easy and quick read. Not a "100 Greatest Book" level of good, but you'll not go wrong reading it. 

The 305 Greatest Books - #193: Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

The next up on my reading of the 305 greatest books is Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. The book can be found on the BBC Book List.

Set during WWII, the story is mostly told as a flashback to the main character, Charles Ryder's, remembrances of his times at a house known as Brideshead as well as the family that owned and occupied the house, the Flytes during the 20's. And while the book is initially set up like a mystery during the prologue, it is really anything but. I went into the book (following said prologue) excited for a mystery and expecting some twist to take place, but nothing every really does. The story can be broken into two parts (even though the book is divided into three main parts), Charles life with Sebastian and his life with Julia. This first part with Charles was by far the more interesting section and the one that led credence to the "mystery" aspect of the story. It had potential to go where I could not see but overall it felt like that storyline was just dropped and the story of Julia taken up in it's place. Sebastian was mysterious and was a fantastic companion character. He traveled around with a teddy bear and communicated with it as if it was a real person. I mean this was someone who could lead us down some awesome roads. However, it seemed he was just abandoned in the story when he could have been played with more. Julia then took over the plot and while she was in the first part, she didn't seem to play a prominent role. And her story, again, wasn't bad per say, it just wasn't as interesting as Sebastian's and I didn't really care what happened with her at the end of it. I would say at the end, the story turned out to be just fine. It's not a bad story. It is well written and enjoyable to read, and you can breeze through it fairly quickly. However, I feel like I was sold a bill of goods with the prologue, and I never got over it. Overall, I feel like this book had so much potential and it just didn't go in an interesting direction. 

The 305 Greatest Books - #191: Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

The next up on my reading of the 305 greatest books is Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. The book can be found on the Norwegian, BBC, and My Book Lists.

Salman Rushdie has become a rather infamous author over the last several decades, mostly because of another work of his, the 1988 work The Satanic Verses and the proceeding fatwa that was placed on him by the Ayatollah of Iran in 1989. Midnight's Children (1981) did not receive that sort of reception, however it is one of the few books I have left on my list that is on multiple 100 Greatest lists. Midnight's Children is about the life of Saleem Sinai who was born at the stroke of midnight on August 15th, 1947. Coincidently, the same day as India's Independence day from British rule. And because of this, Saleem had been gifted with "powers" (?), or maybe it is better termed "gifts". But not only him, but everyone born within that first hour of independence also had a wide range of gifts. And while that story sounds like it could be a fantastic fantasy novel, that is not this novel. While the book is named "Midnight's Children", the other children of midnight barely play a role within the novel, except here and there, and even then, they are sparingly used. So, if this book isn't about the powered people, then what is it about? And that is a good question because I'm still not entirely sure. We follow the course of Indian history, and Saleem's life, from a couple of generations before he is born, until he is in his thirties. And while Indian history plays a backdrop to the novel, at times it is directing the novel. Everything that is happening to him is due to India's primary players, people who actually do exist and events that had actually happened. And while the novel left me unfulfilled at the end, with an ending that wasn't really an ending, and characters plot lines that many of which were just left off or ended abruptly, I think that was the point of the story. And it made me think, while I didn't get the ending I wanted, the book ended in a way that it deserved. The writing style though I absolutely loved. So much so, that I immediately bought Rushdie's other book on my list, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, to begin reading immediately (a book that was referenced in Midnight's Children despite being written afterwards). So, yea, I would recommend this book because it was highly enjoyable, but prepare to have your expectations subverted. If you familiar with Indian history though, I feel you would get much more out of this book than those who are not (such as myself).   

The 305 Greatest Books - #189: Bleak House by Charles Dickens

The next up on my reading of the 305 greatest books is Bleak House by Charles Dickens. The book can be found on the BBC Book List.

Bleak House is my final Dickens' novel on my list and probably the hardest one for me to get through. At one point, I was around 1/3rd of my way through the book, I googled "Why is Bleak House so terrible". The return results were actually rather encouraging. I found that many people consider the first portion of the book (about where I was at) to be difficult to follow because the story bounces around a LOT. However, people had said it gets better from there and that a lot of people consider it his best work. That helped and so I kept going forward, and while the book did indeed get more streamlined and better, I never fell in love with the book as many people did. I was even told I was outright wrong for disliking the book (not maliciously). The problem is that so many of the characters were just overly simplified stereotypes in one way or another and they were just grating on my nerves. Add on top of that a story plot that bounced from one chapter to the next without a clear storyline. It just got to be a lot. There were also few characters that I actually enjoyed. Even the main character, Esther Summerson, whom much of the story was told from a first person perspective, would repeatedly relay other characters telling her how wonderful she was. Gag me with a spoon. This was obviously also written as a serialized story with each and every chapter from 8 to 14 pages in length, and while that made the story easy to digest, it allowed Dickens to just write and write and write, creating a very bloviated novel. Overall, I believe having finished it that if I went back would actually probably like it better now, however I have no desire whatsoever to do that. 

The 305 Greatest Books - #187: The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The next up on my reading of the 305 greatest books is The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. The book can be found on the Observer, BBC, and My Book Lists.

This is one of those books I would classify as your standard middle school novel, that I however was never tasked to read. Even though I had never read this before, this is one of those stories that has permeated society to the point that many (most?) people could give you a generalized overview of the story. The story follows a group of boys who are stranded on a deserted island and how their "society" degrades from there. What I was not expecting, but makes sense, is that this is a dystopian novel about essentially the aftereffects of a nuclear war. Comments had been made almost in passing throughout the novel, but it was interesting how the reader is bounced around between some hopeful characters interacting with those who "know" more about what has been going on in the world. On top of all that is just the general fall of society into barbarism with certain members of society fighting back against it with rules and those members losing over time to the more aggressive, violent members of society. I found the debates between the different members of society to be the most interesting, since these are life and death debates in their world and yet also brought down to a child's level. Absolutely wonderfully written. It is so easy to fly through the story (it being extraordinarily short helps), and it is gripping. I flew through the whole thing in less than a week and read half of it in about a day. It was also much darker and gruesome than I was anticipating for a story where children are the focus. There is some notable geological problems with the story, which also gets me giddy all over. However, overall, this book was a lot of fun and one that I would highly recommend. 

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. 

The 306 Greatest Books #177 - The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. The book can be found on the BBC and My Book Lists.

The Alchemist was actually something of surprise to me. I was expecting a dry historical tale, or something of the sort. However, what I was given was completely unexpected. This is essentially a folklore tale, told as if sitting around a campfire, about a kid who has been given a glimpse of a possible treasure in his future through his dreams and is told to pursue his dreams no matter what. What unfolds is a sheltered youth from Spain who experiences new cultures and new experiences as he transverses across the Sahara in pursuit of his dreams. Although the story does get a bit preachy in parts, it maintains a good balance of preachy to open-mindedness about what is out there and how all religions are different aspects of similar things. The story also emphasizes the reader to follow their dreams, despite hardships that may get in their way, and whatever obstacles may befall them. The path will be easy at the start, but as you get closer and closer to your dreams the path gets more and more difficult, with many opportunities to turn from the path, but if you keep going eventually your dreams can come true. It's a fairly uplifting and heartwarming tale and one that has a surprising bit of humor in it despite the negatives that befall the main character. Even as he gets disheartened at times he always finds himself in pursuit of his dream/ And there lies an analogy to the reader that as times get difficult, it just means you are getting closer to your dreams. This is a story that I can't help but recommend because not only is it short (a favorite feature of mine), it's fun and I could barely put it down. 

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The 306 Greatest Books #175 - The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas. The book can be found on the Observer, BBC, and My Book List.

The Count of Monte Cristo actually ended up being one of the longer books that I have read at 1,200 pages, which doesn't seem that long compared to some books, but this was a densely typed up book for those 1,200 pages. And although it was very long, and took me three continuous months to read, I actually greatly enjoyed it. The story follows Edward Dantès, who gets accused of a crime and locked away for many years. While in solitary confinement he befriends an abbe who is also locked up and helps him to not only escape but how to unearth a vast treasure. Upon his escape he plans meticulously at retribution against those that have wronged him. And while the story could potentially get tedious, it never actually does. It remains fresh and enjoyable throughout. The beginning part of the story takes place during the exile and eventual return of Napoleon, a period of time in French history that I am not as well acquainted with, and I found this little insight from the French point of view fascinating and how these events helped shape what the story became. My favorite parts were towards the beginning, while he is in prison, but even the latter half that turns into a Jane Austin novel, are also remarkably fun and enjoyable. My biggest problem was just keeping everyone straight and who did what to who and how they all are related to Edward, or the Count of Monte Cristo, as he eventually became known. Overall, this was an excellently paced novel and very well written, and I am putting it on my personal greatest books list as a recommend. 

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The 306 Greatest Books #173 - Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. The book can be found on the Observer and BBC Book Lists.

The phrase "Catch-22" has become transcendent from the original novel from which it was sparked but I never fully understood what a "Catch-22" was or how exactly it originated. I knew that it was something that was impossible because of conflicting events. You couldn't do A unless you did B first, but you couldn't do B unless you did A first. So it ends up being something impossible. However, I have now learned what it means in respect to the novel. Catch-22 is a war novel set during the latter days of World War II. In here a "Catch-22" is something that happens in response to a soldier trying to get discharged from the army because they was felt they were mentally unfit, or in essence "crazy". All one had to do was go to the doctor and tell them you were crazy to get discharged. However, if you were able to tell the doctor that you were crazy, then you had to be sane enough to know that, and so you were not in fact crazy and therefore couldn't be discharged. The story of the novel itself plays out much like a M*A*S*H or an F Troop (if anyone still remembers those shows) which are all satirical military stories. Throughout the novel there constantly are incidents and conversations that are downright laugh out loud funny. But as the novel proceeds, you can tell that the tone shifts from humorous to more serious as many of the main characters start to die or be killed off. It is an interesting take on the genre and one that I was fully invested in. At least, at first. As I proceeded through the novel I noticed that the vast majority of the characters were all male, most of whom were white, which would make sense for the time period and setting it was set in. However, all of the women in the story were either prostitutes or treated as such. All of them barely had any dialogue, if any at all, and most of them were treated in the worst ways possible. Sexual assault was treated as a joke while rape and murder were blown off by the local police because the woman didn't matter. The blatant misogyny was a bit overwhelming, but not only that but the complete disregard for women at all in the novel. They were set pieces to be used or abused as needed and then discarded when their time was over. And so while I can understand why this could be considered a great novel of its time, it has not weathered the test of time very well and I can't recommend that people wade into it unless they really want to. 

 

The 306 Greatest Books #172 - Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. The book can be found on the BBC and My Book Lists.

Night Watch is the 29th book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, with several other books having also made it onto the BBC 100 Greatest Books list including The Colour Magic, Mort, and Guards! Guards! Having started the first book of the series (The Colour Magic) I have slowly been working my way through all of them so that I could read them in release order, having finally gotten to Night Watch. Throughout the first 29 books (totaling more than 40 in the series), there have been multiple story lines that have appeared with many of the books having absolutely nothing to do with any of the other books except that the location was on the Discworld. Of these varying storylines, Night Watch is the 6th book focusing on the Night Watch, a series of books that began with Guards! Guards!. Having read them all (up until this point) I can say that the Night Watch novels have not been my favorite of the bunch, but they have generally been enjoyable. This book, however, was quite different from all of the preceding stories. Generally the books are about the Watch as a whole, led by Commander Vimes, with many other Watchmen included in the mix. The number of different Watchmen slowly increasing over the course of the series. And while you don't need to read the entire series to understand and enjoy the books, it definitely does help when character names are mentioned and previous plot points pop up here or there. In fact this entire story starts with the murder of a Watchman (off screen), which we had known from quite a few of the previous stories. We are quickly time traveling with Vimes (through the use of magic) to back when he was a young recruit in the Watch and his history takes an interesting turn. Although my feelings on the Watch novels are generally so-so, this one felt so different from the others that I did greatly enjoy it. It was new and fresh but with many of the same characters we had seen introduced in a wide array of the previous books. And although the Discworld books are generally satirical, I felt that this one was more serious in nature. Pratchett's writing is still spot on and hilarious at times but I felt he was more going for a serious narrative and one that he hit amazingly well. This is likely one of the best of the Discworld books and one I would definitely recommend. I feel that even if you were to read this book without all the backstory from the other books there isn't much you would be missing. Highly recommend. 

The 306 Greatest Books #169 - On the Road by Jack Kerouac

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is On the Road by Jack Kerouac. The book can be found on the Observer and BBC Book Lists.

As one of the seminal books of the Beat Generation, On the Road gets a sort of larger than life impression every time that I hear about it. Before I started the book I had thought it was a sort of autobiography/life lessons tale and that is sort of how it turned up after I read it. The book is essentially an autobiography, except with the names changed and, as far as I am aware, some of the circumstances adjusted for the narrative. The book essentially follows Sal Paradise in the first person role (standing in for Kerouac himself), along with the other prominent figure in the book, Dean Moriarty, standing in for his real life friend Neal Cassady. The narrative is broken up into 5 parts, each of which encompasses a unique cross country trip where Sal "just has to get away". Often times the trips are hitchhiking, bus travel, or driving a car into the dirt, and all of them are with Dean along with an assortment of other characters that come and go throughout the narrative. Taking place in the mid 1940's, post war, we are getting a different picture of America than we have today. Yes, things are cheaper, such as gas, but people are making much less and we see into the lives of those on the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum. We live with them through the book and talk to them and really get a sense about who they are and what matters to them. That along with the prose, which is absolutely riveting, really draws you into the story. The style of the book is written based on a rambling, run-on letter that Kerouac once received from Cassady with the sentences sometimes going on and on, and other times being cut rather short. Ideas, themes, and questions are often brought up in the story and then immediately dropped, never to be answered or even acknowledged again. Kerouac's descriptions though, and his often poetic prose, makes this a beauty to read with bits and pieces of contemplative fiction and philosophy creeping in that is often profound in its take. 

With all that being said, there is a major negative to the book. And that is that it's content is often homophobic, racist, misogynistic, pedophiliac, and probably lots of other negative adjectives that I can't think of at the moment. It's like these characters dive into these worlds of sex and drugs and are still able to pick out the negative stereotypes about everything. But it is weird, in that they "love" those stereotypes so it is a kind of "romanticized racism". With all of the gay characters in the book it is also super weird at how homophobic the book really is, however reading outside the book, I found out that Kerouac was rather a homophobe himself despite having almost all of his friends it seems in the LGTBQIA community. And although the book is often romanticized about it's "get out and see life" message, I see it as a tragedy, with the character of Dean slowly destroying his life through one method or another, and a character that could seriously have used medical and therapy intervention that could have perhaps helped with his constant downward spiral throughout the book. He gets to the point where he is often characterized as not being able to speak or make a sensical thought by the end of the book. If anything I see this book as a warning, and not necessarily a romantic adventure book. Overall, I would say that despite the beautiful prose, and the fantastic look at America in that time period, it is hard to recommend given all of the negatives throughout the plot and I would have to say unless you are really interested in reading it you could likely skip is and be fine.  

The 306 Greatest Books #159 - Magician

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is Magician by Raymond E. Feist. The book can be found on the BBC Book List.

After having read a few of the more historical fiction novels, I was in the mood for a fantasy novel. Looking through my list I found Magician, which even though it was a rather long book (at over 800 pages), it seemed like it would be a fun read. The book itself is set on the world of Midkemia in an age that resembles our Medieval time period mixed with the world of Lord of the Rings. The Lord of the Rings vibe actually struck a little too strongly. There is a land of elves, who are all very long lived, dwarfs, who live under mountains, goblins, wizards, and even a dragon on a pile of gold. It was so jarring at times that it seemed that Feist took the premise and characters of Lord of the Rings, placed them in a jar, shook them up, and spilled them onto the page for his set dressing. This was all disturbed when a race of aliens comes in through a rift in space. They begin to attack Midkemia, prompting a war that encompasses nearly the entire novel. I don't know if this rift in space was so different from the Lord of the Rings vibe that was set up but it felt off. I had a hard time reconciling this alien world with the medieval one already set up, and it took me a very long time through the story to feel like they belonged together. Looking at the characters in the book, there are many who appear throughout most of the story, however the primary character is Pug, a magician's apprentice. The story ends up taking place over more than a decade causing us to witness Pug go from apprentice to a full-fledged magician. It was Pug's interactions with both worlds on either side of the rift that made this novel enjoyable. While it took me a while to get into many of the other characters, I picked up on Pug the quickest. It was Pug's journey that made me care about the other characters and it was once he comes into his own that I really started to enjoy the book. Since the book was so long it felt like a slow crawl at times to get through, even though it is a fairly easy read and rather quick, but the Lord of the Rings aspects kept pulling me out of the story. It took until about 3/4's of the way through the book until I became fully enraptured and really started to plow through it. Even though I had a slow start to the book I am excited now to continue the series through the large number of sequels that have since been published. 

The 306 Greatest Books #157 - Brave New World

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.  This book can be found on the BBC, Observer, and My Book Lists.

Brave New World can be pictured as the original dystopian-future novel. Written in 1931, Brave New World envisions a world 600 years in the future where the principles of Henry Ford, of the Model T fame, have been taken to the extreme with human beings being produced on assembly lines and natural birth almost all but eliminated. It is definitely a unique view on the future I had not anticipated. Having seen many dystopian movies and read other dystopian novels this was interesting to go back and look at what the future looked like from a 1930's perspective. The "advanced" technology is exactly as you would envision 1930's "advanced" technology to be, kind of steam-punkish, not the technology of today. And it is less technologically advanced as more biologically advanced. In this future they have perfected making a society were nobody wants more in their station of life, by making sure people manufactured for their particular station. This means that many people are dumbed-down to feel better in more menial tasks and some are allowed to excel beyond these menial tasks. The story shows us how a kid who grew up in the "savage lands", a reservation exempt from this "utopia", would feel in such a land and how this utopia. Although referred to by the derogatory term of "Savage", I believe Huxley's point was to portray him as one of us thrust into this "utopia" of sorts and how we would feel in such a world. I would say my only major gripes with the novel was his depiction of women, who were essentially relegated to being sex-hungry, mindless, pieces of meat added as something for the main character to "deal" with, not as characters in their own right. But other than that the story was intriguing, wholly engrossing, and flowed nicely. I breezed through the novel much quicker than I was ever anticipating. I would definitely place this on my recommend list.

The 306 Greatest Books #154 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling. This book can be found on the BBC and My Book Lists.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the fourth and final Harry Potter book on my 100 greatest book lists. Up until this point, all of the Harry Potter books have been on the BBC Book list, which was chosen by a UK popularity vote in 2003. This also tells you why some of the other Harry Potter books did not make the cut, since they were not published by that point. Looking at the BBC Book List, the first 21 books have been ranked according to popularity with only one book per author appearing in the top 21. That is the reason books 22, 23, and 24 are all Harry Potter with this book taking the prize at number 5. So, by popular vote, book 4 was chosen as the best of the first four books of the series and I whole heartily agree with them.

Rowling has moved beyond the issues that plagued the first two books and worked this book into a fantastical masterpiece that will survive long into the future. The plot is riveting and the pace of the book is remarkably easy to flow through. The language used helps it to stay in the "teen lit" category but that just means that more people can enjoy it, it is not a knock to the content. The pattern of the novels was also mixed up a bit for this one, where the quidditch matches which were used as the background events helping to propel the finale of the story forward were discarded for an overarching Olympics type event. This tournament resulted in some real stakes for the characters where not everyone was left unscathed. It made the books very suspenseful and very difficult to put down. To top it off I had not seen this movie for several years, perhaps not even since it came out, so the overall plot and the surprise twist at the end completely caught me off guard. Needless to say I loved it and this is by far my favorite of the Harry Potter novels.