WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Somewhere between "The day broke gray and dull." and "...the sun was shining." things got better for our main character Philip. Alas, not for dear reader though. 600 pages to find out "Philip asked himself what was the use of living. It seemed quite inane." But in 85 pages more the sun was shining (because thank goodness, the book was over). W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM's 1915 "Of Human Bondage" gives me a 4* headache. JI
Oh yeah, 10 years later on the American continent THEODORE DREISER's "An American Tragedy" ran into the same problem. It's author also got paid by the word. At least Clyde (this main character) killed his girl. She shouldn't have got pregnant if she wanted to live. Something happened in almost 900 pages. I guess the tragedy was he wasn't satisfied with his lot. It wouldn't have been that abortion was illegal? Not in 1925. 5*. JA

So take your choice of European or American blah blah. None for me thanks, nice titles though.

WEBSITE

"Little Boy" Speaks Large

I first read JOHN HERSEY's 1946 publication "Hiroshima" a very long time ago. When I get to the part about the hand and arm skin coming off of a bomb victim's body "like a glove", I still wish it was fiction. And that's not the worst of it! A new worthwhile chapter, "The Aftermath", was added by the original author in 1985. This important book is still a very short read. A matter of hours offers one much introspection. Yeah, Dad fought at Guadalcanal but I still can't reconcile the Enola Gay with humanity. 8*. JI

WEBSITE

More "Best Of" Disappointment

HARPER LEE's "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1960) was voted best novel of the century (20th.) by librarians. Guess I'm not a librarian. It won a Pulitzer. Guess I'm not a boxer. I liked the movie better, and that never speaks well of a novel. 6*. JI
I'm going with Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire" (1968) to replace the "...Mock..."

QUINTESSSSSENTIAL HORROR GENRE-the "Best of '70s"

"The Shining", "hack" Stephen King's "hack" tale published in 1977, lacks his 200 page "character development" fixation. That's what I like best about this one. He jumps right into a good story here. The story even held up in a movie adaptation. That's unusual for a King book.
8* JI

WEBSITE

One of the Best Ever Books-"The Catcher in the Rye", 1951

WARNING: VULGAR AND IRREVERENT!
It took the author about 10 years to finish the book, but you couldn't tell by the perfect flow. I read it in 6 hours, couldn't put it down. I can't remember that happening ever before. I'm not a fast reader. The dialogue is incredible in this mini-biography re: many men. Problem is, it is told by some moron who's thinking stuff like "she was lousy with rocks". I would call this J. D. Salinger thing a novella. All the more incredible for a classic. 9 STARS if you can take it.
JI

WEBSITE

One of the Best Books of the '30's-"Grapes of Wrath"

...or "The Human Condition", John Steinbeck's 1939 landmark story of human compassion and cruelty, of hope and hopelessness in an intriguing vernacular gets 9 of 10 stars. Despair has no answer for the will to exist.
JI

WEBSITE

Decades' Best Books-An American Treasure Disappoints

MARK TWAIN's (Samuel L. Clemens) "The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg and other Essays and Stories" 1900, gets 6* of 10 out of respect. In fairness, most of the compilation is from the 1800s. My opinion: read "Huck' Finn".
JI

More bad "Best of the Decades'" from a well-respected published source. In other words, we disagree:

PAT CONROY's "The Prince of Tides" 1986, this is too wordy for a good story (which it is). 5*. JA
ANNE MORROW LINDBERG's "Gift from the Sea" 1955, 4*. The best thing: short, worst: aristocratic. JA
SHERWOOD ANDERSON's "Winesburg, Ohio" 1919, some good descriptive phrases in a story of repression. 5*. JA
MILES FRANKLIN's (Stella Maria Sarah Franklin) "My Brilliant Career" 1901, 6* and surprisingly well written by a teenager near the turn of the century. JA
JEFFREY EUGENIDES's story published in 1993, "The Virgin Suicides", is best of what? Best hip 1990's story? In my doddering old age I hadn't been cognizant of the romanticizing of suicide. I didn't get it but the story's worth 7*. It at least has one of my favorite lines: "Don't waste your time on life". JI
JACK FINNEY's 1970 novel "Time and Again" carries the usual 7* blah blah blah review. "It's a good story with a couple of interesting turns". He tries his hand at historical fiction, and knows his NYC history. JA

Hey, where's "The Wind in the Willows" (1908, K. Grahame) on the '00's best list? Oh for the love of Toady, Mole and Water Rat!

The best of the 1700s: "Gulliver's Travels", 1726 and revised 1735, J. Swift (real title, get this, "Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships"), "Robinson Crusoe" (the first novel in English? I was surprised how little of the book was about R. C.'s man Friday. I think that you will be also. The book is written in "Old English" vernacular. That's a struggle. No pain no gain. It's worth the trouble.), D. Defoe, 1719.

And the 1800s? Not the S. L. Clemens "...Hadleyburg..." thing. I guess "Call me Ishmael." if you will.

WEBSITE HERE