More "Best of the Decades"? Books

JAMES HILTON's "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" (1934) rates 5* only because of its brevity and ease of reading. Rather than being touched by Mr. Chips's personality I became extremely annoyed by his umph-ing interspersed speech. As my school Latin is quite rusty, I missed almost all the jokes, too. JA
MARJORIE KINNAN RAWLINGS's "Cross Creek", published in 1942 is a mildly interesting perspective on daily life in rural 1940's Florida, including outrageous political incorrectness as well as some insightful ecological concerns. 5*. non-fiction. JA
L. H. Oswald is the "Libra" in DON DELILLO's novel published in 1988. Unless one is a big fan of J. F. K. assassination theories, the feeling and ambiance are the thing. I was only 11 when this thing went down. So which characters are unreal in this "historical fiction"? I wouldn't know. But the tension is palpable and Jacqueline still gets brain matter on her. 7*. JI
I tried to read "Midnight's Children" as my '80s book. No Way! 60 pages in I gave up, and had no clue what I had read.
"The Evolution Man or How I Ate My Father", by ROY LEWIS (1960), is a humorous tale of the Pleistocene Age, including the discovery of fire, with amusing insight into humans' progress. 7*. JA
BERYL BAINBRIDGE's "The Birthday Boys" (1991) features strong characters in a descriptive, touching fictional account of a 1912 try (Wales) for the South Pole. 8*. JA

Genius...Brilliant......and ?Blonde?

Originally published in installments in Harper's Bazaar, 1925's "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" by ANITA LOOS fits all the criteria for a great book: 1) It's very good. 2) It's very short. 3) It's good and short.
It is a diary by a blonde for blondes. Just by co-instance, nothing much practically happens (as Lorelei would say). One thing I did learn: "...it seems that Munchen is practically full of Germans..." She means Munich.
I can only give it 8 1/2* as it can get a bit over-underwhelming (cause I'm not blonde). JI

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