This is the book I imagine Aaron Sorkin reading before writing the
scripts for The West Wing. It is a story of the US Senate and all it's machinations.
A good book with well developed characters. If you like political fiction, this is
for you.
A classic! This really is a great story (and movie with Gregory Peck).
This is the third time I have read this. There are only a handful of books
on the list that are "important" for their time. This is one. Remember this
book was released in 1961. The Selma marches didn't happen until 65. This
was the very beginning of the civil rights movement. It was a brave Pulitzer
pick given it's content. But I can't imagine how the committee could have
done anything different.
A long book that I wasn't sure I would like. It is about a dispirited
Catholic priest in New England. Not a bad read, but the opposite of a
Tom Clancy novel.
Yes, a much better book than Fable. This is a story about a 12 year old
who takes a road trip in his grandfathers model T with a disreputable companion.
There was quite a lot to like about this book. It has a wry sense of humor about
it throughout the book. Again Faulkner proves his mastery of the language.
My favorite passage in the book is one of Lucius' musings about his plight:
"...including the automobiles also which once where mere economic necessities but
are now social ones, the moment already here when, if all the human race ever stops
moving at the same instant, the surface of the earth with seize, solidify: there are too
many of us; humanity will destroy itself not by fission but by another beginning
with f which is a verb-active as well as a conditional state; ..." I howled at this
wry commentary.
OK book. It is a multigenerational story about a family that lives in
a house in the Midwest. It also has a racial sub-plot that must have been
controversial in 1965, but seems quaint now.
Didn't finish all of this one. I can see how her writing would appeal,
but I didn't take to it. Many of the stories are older, and so have what
seems like an out of date style. Skip this for something on the top 10.
Wikipedia says that Malamud is one of great Jewish/American writers.
I believe it. The Fixer is the first Malamud I have read. But I went on
to read The Natural and part of The Assistant. His stories are definitely
not 'light' reads, but I think he handles it well. And for his Oregon tie-in,
he was a teacher at Oregon State for many years ('49-'61).
OK book. Frankly the history and controversy around this book is more
interesting than the book itself (probably much to Styron's chagrin). Styron
is lambasted for writing a first person account of a black man. Styron's
friendship with James Baldwin, and the books these two men were writing at
the time, is itself a fascinating story.
