Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold

Every once in a while it is nice to just get a book/author recommendation and go ahead and read it right away instead of filing it into my internal "to read someday" list (which is always growing). So my uncle recommended the books of Lois McMaster Bujold and I picked up Falling Free to give her a shot. Overall I enjoyed it - maybe partially because I hadn't read a sci-fi book in awhile. And like most good sci-fi it tells a story about relevant topics (in this case the rights of a subjugated group and standing up to make a difference within an impersonal corporation). Maybe if I get a chance I'll read the next book in the series. B+

Book # 68 - The Portrait of a Lady - by Henry James

 

Well I guess The Portrait of a Lady was okay... Let's say B+. It is probably one of those novels that is better if you really read it carefully and try to eek out as much as you can from the text. My main complaint is that it totally does not resolve the main issue from the second half of the novel. It just ends before the main character makes her choice of what to do next. ARGH!

Horror Book # 19 - Carrie by Stephen King

When I was a teenager my dad showed me the film version of Carrie. I think he forgot how the movie began. Anyway, I enjoyed the book. Maybe because it was fairly short and really zipped along. A.

Book # 55 - A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

 In high school I read A Tale of Two Cities and going into it I couldn't really remember what the plot was. I did remember a number of scenes though... and this led me to the conclusion that the whole book is kinda oddly put together without a real central protagonist or main plot. The main problem that Darnay finds himself in doesn't even crop up until over half way through the novel. Anyway I still enjoyed it even though it seemed to me like I barely "knew" the characters. A-

Book # 77 Persuasion by Jane Austen

I'm not sure what to say about Persuasion...  I enjoyed Austen's style and the insight into the thoughts of the main character was interesting but I found that her passivity made the story a bit uninteresting. Really the "protagonist" does nothing proactive the entire novel - just luckily everything works out for her in the end without her really doing anything. B+

Book # 43 - The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

 You know I read The Sun Also Rises back in my twenties. I didn't really care for it back then. Reading it now in my forties "maybe" I understand the characters a bit better but still.... I don't care for it. At least it is an easy read. It has that going for it. B-

Book # 87 - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

Going into Tom Jones I didn't really expect too much. I saw the movie almost thirty years ago and remember nothing at all about it. Maybe I just expected a book from the 1740's to be a bit boring. Anyway, it turned out to be quite funny and very much a page turner. It was certainly influenced by Don Quixote which it even name-checks. Except for some spelling it doesn't read like a book that his 270 years old. Easily an A.

Book # 44 Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

Okay, going into reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles I knew absolutely nothing about the plot... and then I made the mistake of reading the back cover which somehow managed to spoil the entire story in the first sentence. So a big BOO to the dumb back cover blurb. Anyhow I still enjoyed it and would have probably been shocked by the end if it hadn't been given away. A.

Book # 10 - Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov

I read Lolita maybe 18 years ago... and in that length of time I can easily forget how something ended. But upon reading it this time I noticed that a MAJOR plot point is hidden right there on page two without much context and only hinted at again on the very last page. So maybe the first time I read it I missed that plot point. Also the book mentions Don Quixote, Les Miserables and Little Women. And since I've now read all those books I can see how themes in each of those novels are also represented in Lolita. Even rereading it now I still enjoyed it, Humbert may be a creep but he is definitely interesting and funny. A

Book # 59 Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

One of the things I kept thinking about while reading Midnight's Children is how was this book ever made into a two hour movie? I feel like I may have to check it out now. Anyway, I enjoyed the book even though I'm pretty sure I didn't "get" all of it and a lack of knowledge about the history of India probably didn't help. Still the book was often compelling and had a nice balance of seriousness and whimsy. A

Book # 86 - The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

At this rate it feels like I'll never finish this list of 100 books. Somehow it took me ten days to get through The Old Man and the Sea and I'm pretty sure it is meant to be read in one sitting. But I did really enjoy it and I don't have anything negative to say about it. Really even calling it a "novel" is a stretch because it is so short. A.

The Outsider by Stephen King

I rather enjoyed The Outsider by Stephen King. It seems like it had been awhile since I read anything "fun" and that zipped along nicely. A few list books are mentioned... Slaughter House Five, To Kill A Mockingbird and 1984. B+

The Age of Anxiety by Pete Townshend

Well if one of my favorite rock stars writes a novel I'll have to read it. The Age of Anxiety seems to be about too many different things all at once to really make an impact, especially for a book that is fairly short (it did fit in a Catcher in the Rye reference though). It is mostly about the narrator's godson, a rock star, and the various women in his life. It is also about the narrator himself and his feelings about aging. For the most part I really enjoyed the first 2/3 of the book. But the problem is there were just too many threads and many actually do come together a bit too perfectly in the end with a few cheesy soap opera type reveals. C+

Book # 40- Middlemarch by George Eliot

Ok, I need to make more progress on the main 100 list... I'm looking at what I posted last year and I only crossed three books off! This year let's make it 10. First off - Middlemarch.  I'm not really too sure what to say about it. It was long and mostly kept my interest but it isn't something I'm going to run out and recommend to people. But at least I get to check it off of my list. Also it is yet another book that mentions Don Quixote. Let's say an A-.