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+