0527 | Tropic of Cancer | Henry Miller
A remarkable novel from start to finish on pretty much every level except, as my rating shows, on the development of any memorable character worth remembering or any plot. But…
-
-
0523 | Titus Groan | Mervyn Peake
I had no idea that the world of Gormenghast existed. Quite how I managed to get to my age without ever hearing about it seems a literary crime. It, and…
-
0522 | The Bridge on the Drina | Ivo Andrić
This is a masterful portrayal of Balkan history which, for anyone not familiar with it or, like me, familiar but confused, is a great way to gain more understanding. The…
-
0517 | The Collector | John Fowles
With this creepy tale of captivity, Fowles slinked onto the literary scene in the early 1960s. It’s one of the strongest debut novels you’re likely to read and also one…
-
0514 | The Graduate | Charles Webb
This is even more fun to read than the famous film that is lifted almost entirely from the written dialogue. It’s deceptively short and, as it consists almost entirely of dialogue,…
-
0512 | Clarissa | Samuel Richardson
Well, after finishing U.S.A. at 1,300 pages or so, what better way to follow it up than to write a review of a novel that’s even bigger? What surprised me…
-
0495 | Time’s Arrow | Martin Amis
Not read any of Martin Amis’ stuff since I started out with The Information which I rated mediocre 6 years ago. This, was far, far better. Time’s Arrow starts off a very…
-
0462 | The Kreutzer Sonata | Leo Tolstoy
A far cry in length from War & Peace but nonetheless this little novella packs quite the punch. On a train journey, passengers begin to gossip about a story they’ve…
-
0459 | Oliver Twist | Charles Dickens
Yet another Dickens down. The 1001 list is cram full of them. Twist is bit like Pride & Prejudice; a lot of us know the storyline but have never actually…
-
0432 | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings | Maya Angelou
This was and wasn’t what I expected. I think I underestimated the historical context and so failed to appreciate the significance of the story I was being told. I found…
-
0425 | I’m OK, You’re OK | Thomas Harris
About fourteen billion years ago when I was a young child, I remember my mother had this book on my parents’ bookshelf. I remember three things about it. Firstly, it…
-
0424 | The Secret Agent | Joseph Conrad
Been quite a while since I’ve read any Conrad. In fact, I started this back in about 2006 but never finished it. This time, I listened to it on Librivox…
-
0423 | A Confederacy of Dunces | John Kennedy Toole
I was hoping this was going to be funnier than it was. It’s a satirical look at the USAnian way of life through the eyes of one of the great…
-
0419 | The Tenant of Wildfell Hall | Anne Brontë
I usually breathe a sigh of relief when I finish a “classic” like Wildfell Hall. I certainly did after Persuasion which I shall review shortly. But Anne’s classic has a…
-
0416 | Novel with Cocaine | M. Ageyev
Very quick read this one and it’s been a while since I dipped my feet in Russian lit. This novel brought it all back to me and would be a…
-
0412 | Excellent Women | Barbara Pym
Never heard of Barbara Pym, let alone read anything by her. But she turned out to be a sardonically witty writer with a lot to say about life, particularly relationships…
-
0411 | JavaScript: The Missing Manual | David Sawyer McFarland
Long, long ago, in a country far away, I attempted to teach myself JavaScript. I wasn’t really sure why I was doing it and that’s probably why I never finished…
-
0406 | The Yellow Wallpaper | Charlotte Perkins Gilman
This is by a long way the shortest item you’ll read on the 1001 books list. I’m not really sure why it was included at all in a list of…
