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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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.

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"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

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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

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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

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