The Big Money by John Dos Passos

The Big Money by John Dos Passos
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'm not sure why I continued with the trilogy when I wasn't especially impressed with the first two books. I found them historically interesting mostly. I wasn't riveted by the writing.

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Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara

Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Even if this wasn’t taking place during the Great Depression, the characters would still have seemed pretty self-absorbed. The sentence writing is good but the plot feels disorganized and most of the characters feel extraneous. The best parts were about the relationship between Julian and Caroline English.

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Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It took two attempts for me to finish this book. The first time I lost interest in the beginning. The second time, I lost interest half-way through and finished it anyway. There's a lot of great writing and I was somewhat engaged in the female characters, but Dick always seemed lacking somehow, and that feeling just increased. I also wasn't interested in the meandering plot. So this was not the most enjoyable read for me.

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1919 by John Dos Passos

1919 by John Dos Passos
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is one of my dad’s books, otherwise, I wouldn’t have read the sequel to a book I didn’t like that much in the first place. The second book was a lot like the first, though I was more interested this time by how modern everything seemed in 1919, particularly with regards to sexual mores. (Assuming Dos Passos got that right, and I suspect he did.)

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Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a wonderfully paced, dramatic, and tense story. The experience of reading this is like running through a maze with beautiful monsters on your trail.

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Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner

Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was really challenging. There were a lot of amazing thoughts threaded throughout, and there was a certain satisfaction in figuring out the storyline as things are revealed out of order, but it was also excruciating.

Have you seen the movie Memento? That's the idea, the entire storyline is out of order, constructed from gossip and different point of views, and sometimes pure speculation. And it's conveyed in sentences that are a paragraph long (though my husband assures me they are not "run-on" because the grammar is correct).

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Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a beautiful and perfect novel. Beautiful sentences, soulful, and even an incredible plot. While I'm not of the belief that the main character needs to be likable, I also loved the main character, Janie, and her unconquerable spirit. My heart couldn't even handle her third love, Tea Cake. I have read hundreds of books and something this well-written is rare. There are no words worthy of it. This is one I hope to read again and again.




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Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I didn’t like this book when I read it in high school. On reread, I hate it. What was wrong with Steinbeck? He always writes life at its cruelest.

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The 42nd Parallel by John dos Passos

The 42nd Parallel by John dos Passos
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I just didn't enjoy this. I had to drag myself through the little character sections. Though I did find the experimental format interesting and liked the headlines and songs to give me a sense of the time period. I'm trying to decide whether I should just drag myself through the rest of the trilogy since I own it or give up while I'm ahead.

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Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A lot of interesting things to consider, but I can’t swallow the reduction and even near-banishment of suffering as synonymous with slavery. The first clue is when you consider pure slavery is synonymous with suffering. The second clue is that Huxley’s world isn’t a real improvement in suffering, as for example, when we cured polio. No one would legitimately claim we were in any way better off with polio. Instead, Huxley’s world is devoid of true joys like parenting and full of things that bring momentary pleasure like sexual encounters devoid of intimacy and drugs. So in that regard, he fails to sell me.

On the other hand, the Brave New World is more similar to the current world in 2017 than it was in the 1930s when it was written. The dogma of capitalism and positivity as religions does appear to rule our society for the worse. So as pure prediction Brave New World succeeds.

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Candida by George Bernard Shaw

Candida by George Bernard Shaw
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very original play. Looks into the inner workings of a marriage through a strange love triangle (a bit of a love square even).

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Anthem by Ayn Rand

Anthem by Ayn Rand
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm not a fan of Ayn Rand's philosophy, but as the child of Cuban immigrants, I can't discount the horrors of "socialism" turned repressive regime. I know European countries have until recently prospered under systems that are more socialist than in the United States, and I'm generally in support of the progressive reforms of the left. However, I have a great distaste for the hero worship of leaders such as Che Guevara that helped bring about the oppressive regime of Castro in Cuba. So I do think Ayn Rand's work in Anthem, though a very heavy-handed allegory, has some value. Especially since Anthem is mercifully short and has a romantic subplot. Extra star for the love interest actually.

What I think is really too far is the idea that God is the ego, when it seems quite the opposite. In my opinion, God is closer to what happens when you voluntarily abandon the ego. A philosophy of the ego as God seems childish and as dangerous as the totalitarian socialism Rand opposes.

Also: Ayn Rand - How Is This Still A Thing?: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

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The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene

The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My impression as an adult is that it’s outlandish. Drew puts herself in mortal danger and her father doesn’t even mind. However, I appreciate what the book suggests about values with regard to money and inheritance.

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The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Despite the adorable cover, this is the one where the Ingalls family almost all starves to death.

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By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Things have not been going well since the second novel when the Ingalls family got malaria or the third novel where their new wheat farm was ravaged by a grasshopper plague. This book opens with the Ingalls family recovering from Scarlet Fever. So the solution is to move back West again! Seriously, this is the third move and each place has resulted in worse and worse conditions. Really what was wrong with that first place in The Big Woods? It looks pretty good in retrospect. Even their dog Jack is getting tired of this nonsense.

Oh, and Mary is blind now. She didn't make a full recovery from the Scarlet Fever. Laura isn't too worried about it. I get that Laura is only about 12 years old, but a little sympathy here?

Anyway, this time Pa works for a train company, forces his family to run an impromptu bed and breakfast, and seeks to claim a homestead near a wolf den where his daughters Laura and Carrie almost get eaten. Nonetheless, he neglects to watch his baby Grace when outdoors. Can’t wait to see what horrors await the family in the next book! There are some suggestions that child marriage might be next.

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On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Starts off well, as the family moves into what is essentially a hobbit house, but unbelievably they don't like this and spend a bunch of money they don't have to buy wood for a new house on credit. Terrible plan, Pa!

Leeches, grasshoppers, and little children bullies galore. Not my favorite one.

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Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is crazy to read as an adult. It's largely about the white settlers breaking treaties with the Native Americans and expanding Westward into their territory. Of course, I missed the importance of all this when I read it as a kid obviously. It's definitely worth an adult-reread. The father moves the family from Wisconsin to future Kansas over treacherous terrain and then builds a new house from scratch, including all the furniture. Unfortunately, he builds the house basically on top of a Native American trail so they proceed to have a lot of interesting interactions with numerous different tribes.

I'd give it 5 stars now, but I'm sticking with my childhood rating of 4. (I kept a reading journal as a kid. Are you surprised?)

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Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Takes place in the semi-wilderness of 1870s in Wisconsin, US. Takes us through a year in the life of a middle sister age 4 (celebrates her 5th birthday during the book). There are at least 4 stories just about bears in this book.

I think I like this book even better as an adult. It's like a survival guide for the zombie apocalypse or a pandemic.

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How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I avoided this book for a while despite numerous recommendations because I have friends and I wasn't particularly interested in manipulating people. However, I read a particularly good recommendation recently (possibly in the Bill Bryson book Home?) and I decided to bite the bullet and read it.

Rather than being morally dubious as I suspected, I think the book gave a lot of good advice on how best to be a kind, considerate, thoughtful human being. Yes, it also gave advice on how to convince other people of your point, but I think mostly by following some of the same advice regarding showing other people respect.

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The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A solid adventure story about a small frightened person using his strength of character to save the world as he knows it. I only took off the one star because when I read it as a kid I got very bored and stuck about midway through. I appreciate it a lot more as an adult.

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