September 2013 Books

This month, my reading of WWII has focused on individuals and their contribution to what will hopefully be known as the last World War.  In addition, I have given myself a huge pat on the back for finishing Tolstoy's epic War and Peace.

Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies by Ben Macintyre
Published: 2012
Rating: 4
Goodreads

My brother has a condo on Stratton Mountain, VT and whenever I visit, a trip to my favorite bookstore (Northshire) is an absolute must.  I am never disappointed.

Take this book, for example.  I've perused the WWII section of numerous bookstores and have never come across this gem.  But being prominently displayed at Northshire, it caught my attention.  I was hooked after the first couple of pages and finished it within a few days.  It reads like fiction, similar to Truman Capote's nonfiction fiction: In Cold Blood.  I would highly recommend.

In fact, two novelists who have written about WWII had this to say:

"How on earth, in 1944, did we dupe Berlin that we would attack the coast of France in completely the wrong place?  It was a deception that saved tens of thousands of Allied lives. In Double Cross, Ben Macintyre ingeniously explains exactly how it was done."    Frederick Forsyth

"Never before revealed facts about the workings of the Intelligence Service in the build-up to D-Day in the Second World War.  Ben Macintyre's remarkable book is a gripping revelation."  Jack Higgins

Two epigraphs:

Tangle within tangle, plot and counter-plot, ruse and treachery, cross and double-cross, true agent, false agent, double agent, gold and steel, the bomb, the dagger and the firing party, were interwoven in many a texture so intricate as to be incredible and yet true.
Winston Churchill 

The enemy must not know where I intend to give battle.  For if he does not know where I intend to give battle he must prepare in a great many places.  And when he prepares in a great many places, those I have to fight in any one place will be few.  And when he prepares everywhere he will be weak everywhere.
Sun Tzu

Other WWII espionage books by Macintyre:

• Agent Zigzag
• Operation Mincemeat

Audiobook - Hell in the Pacific: A Marine Rifleman's Journey from Guadalcanal to Peleliu by Jim McEnery with Bill Sloan
Published: 2012
Rating: 4
Goodreads

I found this audiobook at my local library and would highly recommend.

An honest, simply written memoir about an enlisted Marine's journey to hell and back.  Mac was in K/3/5 (K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division) and fought at Guadalcanal and Cape Gloucester (like Robert Leckie of Helmut for My Pillow) and at Peleliu, where he met E.B. Sledge, author of With the Old Breed.  

Published in 2012, this may be the last memoir published by a surviving WWII veteran - see video.   

What the young Marines endured in the Pacific campaign is beyond belief: horrible conditions, little food and water, malaria, jungle rot, constant fear, lack of sleep, seeing best friends die, close combat with K-bar (knife) and bayonets, knowing that you either "kill or be killed."  Mac eventually grew numb to the killing by considering it "his job".  It is what he had to do; it is what he was ordered to do.

His disdain for Army General, Douglas MacArthur or "Dougout Doug" (his infamous nickname after escaping to Australia), is palatable.  It is MacArthur that ordered the invasion of Peleliu, to cover his flank during the Allied invasion of the Philippines, resulting in thousands of Marine casualties.  In retrospect, the securing of the island was unnecessary.

Despite everything, it is clear that he is proud of being a Marine and especially proud of their stand on Guadalcanal, the first US offensive after Pearl Harbor, thereby being the first real test of green Marines.  The Japanese thought the "soft" Americans would turn and run.  Little did they know what courage, stamina, bravery and heroism lay in the soul of those extraordinary "greatest generation" citizen soldiers.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
First Published: 1869
Oxford University Press/Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude/Intro and notes by Henry Gifford
Rating: 5
Goodreads

Pending - to contemplate writing a blurb about this epic work is a bit overwhelming.  

Wings of Morning: The Story of the Last American Bomber Shot Down Over Germany in World War II by Thomas Childers
Published: 1996
Rating: 5
Goodreads

Childers is a history professor at the University of Pennsylvania and delivers one of my favorite audio courses produced by The Teaching Company: World War II: A Military and Social History.  

I LOVED this book and plan to read his other two WWII books: In the Shadows of War: An American Pilot's Odyssey Through Occupied France and the Camps of Nazi Germany (2003) and Soldier From the War Returning (2009)

Two epigraphs:

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me.
Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day....
Psalm 139

And in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war.....
It's about love and memory. It's about sorrow
Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried

The subject of this book, the bomber Black Cat and her crew, shot down days before the war's end is very personal to Childers as the radio operator was his uncle, Howard Goodner.

While going through his deceased grandmother's possessions, Childers discovered a pack of letters and photographs, postmarked 1943 - 1945.  One picture was of the Black Cat crew; 11 young men in the prime of life, dressed to fly, smiling in front of their plane.  It graces the book's cover (not sure why is does not show up here).   This discovery began a three year journey, taking the author to multiple states as well as a deserted English air base and small town's field in Germany.

The writing is immediate; the reader is right there, experiencing the long training of a bomber crew, the GI experience as part of the 8th Air Force stationed in England, flying the cumbersome Liberator B-24's, the milk runs, the harrowing runs, the frigid winter of 1944, the physical, emotional and mental challenge of flying bombing missions, the added pressure as the lead crew, the fateful last run and the author's quest to discover the truth.  Here are some of my favorite quotes:

About the never-ending British rain:

And, most mystifying and maddening of all, it came in the form so fine they could never feel anything as distinct as a drop, so invisible it failed to stir even the placid surface of a puddle, and yet after walking ten yards their faces, their jackets, their caps would be drenched as if they had somehow generated the moisture from some elusive internal source.

Preparing fore the Black Cat's first official run:

...the atmosphere was subdued, somber, as if each man in the crowded room had deserted the present and crawled into a small, secret space just behind his eyes.

 and

.....these final few minutes before takeoff crawled by, caught in the undertow of time.

 While on leave, walking alone in London, after being with his crew 24/7 for months:

It was a dreamy, luxuriant feeling, this fleeting sensation of solitude, of privacy, a sensation that belonged to another lifetime, like the simple, sensual steam of a shower.

Goodbye Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War by William Manchester
Published: 1979
Rating: 4
Goodreads

William Raymond Manchester is a renowned biographer, most known for American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964 and The Last Lion trilogy on Winston Churchill.

But as a young 23-year old Marine sergeant, he fought in one of the bloodiest engagements of the Pacific Theatre: Okinawa.

Three epigraphs:

Your old men shall dream dreams,
your young men shall see visions.
Joel 2:28 

War, which was cruel and glorious,
Has become cruel and sordid.
Winston Churchill 

But we....shall be remembered:
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother, be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition.
Henry V, Act IV, Scene iii

This is an interesting and intensely personal memoir.  In fact, it is a memoir of the quest to access the horrors of war which he had tried in vain to write about for years.  The memories were too deep for conscious recollection but manifested themselves in troubling dreams of a split persona - "the scrawny, Atabrine-yellow, cocky young Sergeant of Marines who had borne my name in 1945.  The other was the portly, balding, Brooks-Brothered man who bears it today."

The solution was self-evident - he would have to travel back to the Pacific.  So thirty-three years after the end of the war, Manchester embarks on an island-hopping journey to visit the sites of all the major engagements, beginning at Pearl Harbor to Corregidor, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Guam, Peleliu, Leyte, Manila, Iwo Jima and finally, Okinawa.  As a Marine, he served at two places: Guadalcanal (after the island was secured) and Okinawa.

So it is an unusual memoir with intermingled parts: 1) the sequential account of the war, 2) description of the impact three decades had on these "killing fields", 3) vivid accounts of Manchester's personal experience in Okinawa and 4) reconciliation of his split persona.

 To gain a better understanding of the somewhat complicated structure of this unique memoir, I will need to take pen to paper and write an outline and/or a chapter-by-chapter synopsis.

February 2013 Books

War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk
Published: 1978
Rating: 5
Good read
Author web site

The story picks up where The Winds of War left off: Pearl Harbor has been bombed and in one stroke, America abandons her isolationist policy and declares war on Japan which leads to Germany declaring war on the US.

Storytelling is an art, especially when the subject matter is as massive and well chronicled as WWII.  And Wouk is the supreme artist.  Continuing the saga of fictitious US naval officer Victor "Pug" Henry and his family, and using various literary techniques listed below, Wouk paints a graphic, unforgettable portrait of this global war, displaying the spectrum of human action - from heroic to inconceivable barbarism.

• Translated summary of war:  This device has continued from The Winds of War.   At deliberate intervals, Wouk inserts Pug's translations and commentary on sections of General Armin Von Roon's World Holocaust.  In it, Roon discourses on Hitler, the major battles, the "Jewish problem" and the Nazi's cold, calculated solution.  It is a clever and effective way of providing the Nazi viewpoint. 
• Diary excerpts:  In his private journal, prominent American author Aaron Jastrow writes about his attempts, along with his niece Natalie and her baby, Louis to leave Europe in the midst of the war.  Another clever device as the reader is privy to the thoughts and feelings of an eloquent Jew chronicling the nail-biting escape from the Nazis and tragic conclusion.  
• Epistolary:  Using letters from various members of the Henry family to one another and/or their love interests, Wouk is able to show what is happening in different parts of the world during the war.
• Interview excerpts: Taken from liberated Auschwitz victims, the interviews show the true horror of what happened.  

After finishing, I could not stop thinking of this book - the characters, the intimate portrayal of the Holocaust which was extremely emotional to read; I can't imagine where Wouk had to go internally to write it, the brutality of the Japanese soldiers, the incredible naval battles in the Pacific, the North African and Italian conflicts - basically the terrible sacrifices and ultimate consequences of WWII on individuals and nations.

To learn more, I have been watching the BBC DVD series on WWII, borrowed from my dad who is a war buff.  I have also begun watching the mini-series on Wouk's two works, starring Robert Mitchum as Pug Henry.  In my Netflix queue is the 1976 movie Midway starring Charlton Heston and Henry Fonda.

My new favorite section in the bookstore is Military History/WWII.  I am also interested in other WWII historical fiction works.  Who knew my reading journey would take this track, begun last fall during the reading of Ken Follett's Winter of the World?  This is why reading is such an adventure.

Jackdaws by Ken Follett
Published: 1996
Rating: 4
Goodreads

"Exactly fifty women were sent into France as secret agents by the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War.  Of those, thirty-six survived the war.  The other fourteen gave their lives.  This book is dedicated to all of them."

These four haunting sentences initiate the reader to the subject matter of this highly suspenseful book by the master of historical fiction.  French speaking women with certain skills are recruited, quickly trained and parachute into occupied France for a critical mission right before Operation Overlord or D-Day.  Led by smart, beautiful and cunning British agent, Felicity Claret or Flick, they must succeed against all odds. The antagonist is a cultured German intelligence officer whose successful interrogation techniques, specific to each prisoner, earns high accolades (and expectations) from Field Marshall Rommel.

The list of COE female agents in Wikipedia is sobering as the majority of those killed in action (KIA) died in German concentration camps.

I am realizing that it would take a lifetime or more to read all the books - non-fiction, biography and historical fiction - written about WWII.  I remain highly interested in this world-changing period so will continue until another un-named subject arrests and diverts my reading journey.

Audiobooks: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Published: 1847
Rating: 4
Goodreads

I listened to this audiobook after listening to Persuasion by Jane Austen.  Wow - what a difference.  From the refined, cultured rooms of Anne Elliott's home at rural Kellynch Hall and sophisticated Bath to the wild moors around Wuthering Heights, the difference was so stark and grating to the ear that I almost did not give it a chance. Good thing I did as it only took a couple of chapters to hook me into the story.

I had heard of the framework that Emily Bronte used in this novel: a story within a story, likened to the Russian dolls.  Mr. Lockwood is the first narrator - a tenant of Thrushcross Grange whose master is the strange Mr. Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights.  After an eventful overnight stay at Wuthering Heights where he meets Heathcliff, Mrs. Heathcliff, a young, but obviously unhappy beauty and a un-cultured man who seems neither servant nor son, Lockwood's curiosity mirrors our own.  Luckily for both, Mrs. Nellie Dean is the housekeeper at Thrushcross Grange and while Lockwood is recovering from an illness, she obliges by telling the story of the inhabitants of the Heights.

It is a story of unbridled passion which leads to the extremes of love and hate, jealousy and revenge.  The frustrated love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff is like a malignant cancer, destroying them and all associated innocents.  But in the end, it seems like true love prevails.

Listening to classics on audiobooks has become a favored way to utilize time in the car.  I would highly recommend it.

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
Published: 2011
Rating: 3
Goodreads

I bought this book at a local library sale due to my current interest in WWII.   It answers the question of how and why the German people allowed Hitler and his Third Reich, governed by their fanatical Nazi ideology, to take over every aspect of their lives.

William E Dodd, a history professor at the University of Chicago is tapped to be the US Ambassador to Germany in 1933 - the year that Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor.  His family's experiences as they leave Chicago and land in Berlin give us an "on-the-ground" view of the events surrounding Hitler's rise to totalitarian dictator as they unfold in real time.

We see his adult daughter's initial attraction to the young, vibrant, idealistic German men of the Third Reich.  She sees nothing wrong with their ambition and desire to restore Germany's position in the world.

As America's first family in Germany, they hob-nob with all the Nazi leaders from the Gestapo head, Rudolf Diels to Hermann Goring, commander of the Luftwaffe and Joseph Goebbels, master mind of the highly effective Nazi propaganda machine.

Their initial tolerance of the Nazi party turns to disbelief and horror as they witness first hand the deliberate persecution of Jews and ultimately anyone who does not sharply raise the "Heil Hitler" salute.

I would classify this as a non-fiction fiction, similar to In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, albeit a significant notch down from TC's beautiful prose.  The amount of research is staggering: the book ends on page 375, notes end on page 422 and the bibliography on page 434.

For those who write non-fiction books based on mountains of research, I wonder if a pre-requisite is a photographic memory.

The Pacific by Hugh Ambrose
Published: 2010
Rating: 4
Goodreads

Hugh Ambrose is son of deceased historian and biographer Stephen E. Ambrose, author of Band of Brothers, the book that inspired the HBO series produced by Steven Spielburg and Tom Hanks.

H. Ambrose takes up his father's banner when he signs on to assist with the research for the HBO series, The Pacific, also produced by Spielburg and Hanks.  The book is born out of that research.

The book follows the lives of 5 Marines who are involved in the major battles of the Pacific from Midway and Guadalcanal to Peleliu and Iwo Jima.  They found the Japanese a different kind of enemy; one that would rather die than surrender and whose conduct in war was indescribably barbaric, brutal and downright inhumane.

Two of the Marines, Robert Leckie and Eugene Sledge kept diaries during the war and from those, wrote detailed memoirs which formed the basis of the mini-series and book.  I would like to read them:  Helmut for My Pillow and With the Old Breed. 

It was helpful to watch the series while reading the book as I could visualize the beachhead landings and horrific battles for previously unknown islands in which the Japanese had mastered the art of concealment by using pillboxes, tunnels and caves from which the brave Marines had to clear one by one.

I can better understand why Truman decided to drop the atomic bombs and force Japan to surrender.  For if the Pacific theatre had dragged on, the next step was the invasion of mainland Japan.  The estimated casualty cost of young lives, based on the experience from previous battles would be too much - unbearably so.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Published: 2006
Rating: 5
Goodreads

My daughter gave me this book after she was done.  I almost did not take it; what a mistake that would've been!  I loved it - in fact, as soon as I was finished, I wanted to read it again.

On this "grief to reading journey" which started almost four years ago when my beloved Josh died, there are books which have stopped me in my tracks: making me think, cry, ponder, smile and ruminate on certain characters, situations, or even well constructed sentences which convey meaning so unmistakable it is like art. This is such a book.

Barbery, a professor of philosophy turned novelist, examines the meaning of life, books, art, friends, and family through the eyes of two characters, different by all external measures such as age and socio-economic class, but kindred spirits internally - where it matters.

The ending was a shocker but upon reflection, (even though I still would've preferred the Jane Austen "happily ever after" highly satisfying Elizabeth Bennett marries rich, intelligent, hopelessly-in-love-with-her Mr. Darcy), it worked.

I must share one quote in which the precocious 12-year old Paloma writes a description in her diary of her new friend, fifty-four year old concierge, Renee Michel.

Madame Michel has the elegance of the hedgehog: on the outside, she's covered in quills, a real fortress, but my gut feeling is that on the inside, she has the same simple refinement as the hedgehog: a deceptively indolent little creature, fiercely solitary - and terribly elegant.

January 2013 books

Hippolytus of Euripides, translated by David Greene
Published: 428 BC
Rating: 5

Handsome, strong, athletic, virile Hippolytus whole-heartedly worships Artemis, virgin Goddess of the Hunt.  He has absolutely no romantic interest in women and has gone so far as to call Aphrodite the "vilest of the Gods in Heaven."  Because of this, the vain Goddess of Love determines to punish Hippolytus by causing his step-mother, Phaedra to fall hopelessly in love with him.  In keeping these incestuous feelings a secret, Phaedra suffers mightily; becoming depressed and suicidal.

As in the vein of all Greek tragedies, nothing but death will finish the story.  There is much which resonates with me - see post on Josh' blog.

The Winds of War by Herman Wouk
Published: 1970
Rating: 5
Goodreads
Authors web site

My foray into WWII continues with a third historical fiction series, this time by Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, Herman Wouk.  This work covers the time period from March 1939 to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and American's entry into the war.  At the center is Victor "Pug" Henry, a commander in the US Navy whose clear-thinking, dispassionate analysis and prediction of Hitler's surprising non-aggression pact with Stalin leads to an assignment as Naval Attaché in Berlin.  With ease, Wouk introduces us to other members of the Henry family who allow the reader to see and experience the European War from various points of view.

Wouk also shows the German point of view via a military treatise written by a fictitious General Armin Von Roon.  Pug finds this document after the war and since he is fluent in German and believes this should be read by the English speaking public, he translates this work in retirement, complete with commentary.  It is a clever and unobtrusive way to interject the enemy's philosophy, motives and decisions throughout the war.

Through his various positions, Pug ends up meeting, conversing with and forming opinions about all the major world leaders: Hitler, Stalin, Churchill and FDR.

And through one of his sons, Byron, we are introduced to a Jewish family, the Jastrows.  At the close of the book, the principle members of this family, Aaron, Natalie and her baby have been stuck in fascist Italy, trying to get back to the US.  Just days before their departure, Hitler declared war on the United States with Mussolini following suite.

The two books, Winds of War and War and Remembrance were made into a TV mini-series which I remember watching as a young mother.  I don't remember much except that the part which followed the Jastrows, American Jews in Nazi Europe was very sad (multi-tissues, red nose, puffy-eyes-the-next-day, sad).   In the past, I have shielded myself from books and movies which address the Holocaust.  I live just outside Washington DC and have yet to visit the Holocaust museum for this very reason.   However, since our own tragedy, my soul is willing to bear witness to the tragedy of others.

Peony In Love by Lisa See
Published: 2007
Rating: 2.5
Goodreads
Author web site

What began as a book that I loved digressed into one that I could hardly finish....such an unusual experience!

The narrator is Peony, a privileged, highly educated sixteen-year old girl living in 17th century China - in a time of bound feet (described in excruciating detail), servants, concubines and arranged marriages. She lives an extremely sheltered life, unable to venture outside the walls of her family's villa.  Books teach her about the world and similar to Madame Bovary, she is drawn to romantic literature and poetry.  Her dream is to find true love which is tragically elusive.  I cannot share more of the plot without spoilers so will stop here.  Suffice it to say that I wrote many quotes in my journal and may write a post on Josh's blog with my thoughts.

Unfortunately, the rest of the book was difficult.  Many scenes required the suspension of disbelief so great, I found myself spontaneously writing "really?" or "no way!" in the margins.  Upon reflection, I don't think the author set up the ghost world enough in the first part of the book to support what came later. Perhaps it was impossible to do so because of the choice of narrator, for how could a living girl know about the dead?  Would choosing a 3rd person, omniscient narrator accomplished it?  Maybe...but at the sacrifice of Peony's compelling, strong voice which really pulls the reader in.  This is a dilemma of which I have no good answer.

The Liar's Club: A Memoir by Mary Karr
Published: 1995
Rating: 5
Goodreads

Mary Karr is a memoirist (Cherry and Lit are her two subsequently published books) and a songwriter but first and foremost, a poet.  This is a literary memoir. Beautifully written.  Gorgeous sentences.  Describing the most horrific experiences a young girl could ever live through.  I can't even imagine what it took for her to access her memories and write this.

The following reviews are spot on.

"Her poetic touch illuminates a thousand sentences."  Texas Monthly

"Karr's most powerful tool is her language, which she wields with the virtuosity of both a lyric poet and an earthly down-home Texan."  New York Times

Here are samples of her prose.

Describing what she smelled upon entering her grandmother's room:

It's not just the smell of death, but the smell of something thriving on death, a smell you link up to maggots, or those bacteria that eat up corpses one cell at a time.

Describing her mother's eyes while driving:

Nothing showed in those eyes but the road's white dashed lines, which seemed to be flying off the road and into the darkest part of her pupils, where they disappeared like knives.

Thought provoking epigram at the beginning of her book by R.D. Laing from The Divided Self

We have our secrets and our needs to confess.  We may remember how, in childhood, adults were able at first to look right through us, and into us, and what an accomplishment it was when we, in fear and trembling, could tell our first lie, and make, for ourselves, the discovery that we are irredeemably alone in certain respects, and know that within the territory of ourselves, there can be only our footprints. 

December 2012 Books

The Final Storm: A Novel of the War in the Pacific by Jeff Shaara
Published: 2011
Rating: 5
Goodreads

This book focuses on the brave marines who fought in the Pacific Theatre, specifically the Battle of Okinawa.  Lasting over two grueling months, this battle resulted in the highest number of casualties in the Pacific.

WOW - is what I wrote in my book journal.  In particular, the last chapters were gripping as the reader sees, hears and smells the battle from a marine's point of view.  It was a brutal and bloody fight for a key island only 400 miles from Japan.  Shaara writes vividly of the napalm used in flamethrowers, primarily to kill the Japanese soldiers hiding in caves.

The fight against Japan was different than in Europe as all rules of modern warfare were thrown out the window.  Additionally, the Japanese soldier was unlike any seen before; fanatical where death, either of himself or his enemy was the end game.  In contrast, US Marines saw the war as a duty or job and wanted to go home when it was finished.

There was also a suicidal culture within the Japanese army that went from the highest commander to the lowliest soldier.  They felt death was preferable to being captured.  Thus Japanese snipers were around, not to kill marines, but to kill fellow soldiers who were surrendering.

One gets a real sense of not only the physical challenges of this battle but also the psychological and emotional effect on the marines.

After reading this book, I began watching the HBO series, The Pacific.   I am also reading the book written by Hugh Ambrose, son of Stephen Ambrose who wrote Band of Brothers.  Both series and book are excellent.

Audiocourse: World War II: A Military and Social History by Professor Thomas Childers from The Great Courses
Rating: 5
Great Courses link

I would highly recommend this audio course as Professor Childers delivers the material in a very organized yet interesting and engaging way.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen  (audio book)
Published: 1817 posthumously
Rating: 4
Goodreads

While not my favorite Austen novel, I did enjoy it.  I listened to the audio book while driving in the car and found myself laughing at Austen's witty, sarcastic and ironic scenes.

It was interesting to hear Austen insert herself as the author in the work - giving commentary on fiction writers, on her heroine, Catherine Moreland and on the reader.

I liked seeing how much Catherine was affected by the books she read, in particular, The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe, a contemporary author to Austen and founder of the Gothic genre, which Austen parodies in this work.

Clever first and last sentences:

No one who had ever seen Catherine Moreland in her infancy, would have supposed her to be a heroine.

And

...I leave it to be settled by whomsoever it may concern, whether the tendency of this work be altogether to recommend parental tyranny or reward filial disobedience. 

I have now read all of Austen's six main works.  The order of preference is:

• Tied for first: Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion
• Tied of second:  Mansfield Park and Sense and Sensibility
• Third:  Emma
• Fourth:  Northanger Abbey

This is my least favorite Austen book as at the end of the day,  I was not invested in Catherine's fate - certainly not like other Austen heroines: Elizabeth Bennett, Anne Elliott, Elinor Dashwood or Fanny Price.  Also, I did not find Henry Tilney a likable hero; he seemed superficial, misogynistic and unattractively sarcastic, quite unlike Mr. Darcy, Captain Wentworth, Edward Ferras or Edmund Bertram. 

The Two Towers by J.R.R Tolkien (Lord of the Rings #2)
Published: 1954
Rating:5
Goodreads

My review of the trilogy is below.

The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings #3)
Published: 1955
Rating: 5
Goodreads

This epic, high-fantasy series was written over a dozen years, during the tumultuous backdrop of WWII and after.  Many have tried to read it as an allegory of the war which Tolkien vehemently denies in the forward of The Fellowship of the Ring as he very much disliked that particular literary device.  Instead, his primary motive was to try his hand "at a really long story that would hold the attention of readers, amuse them, delight them, and at times maybe excite them or deeply move them."   I would say he hit a grand slam.

It is the ultimate heroes quest whose main characters exhibit such honorable traits as courage, sacrifice, perseverance, and faith, even in the darkest hour.  It is a story of an unlikely fellowship, a band, or an alliance on a quest to rescue their world from evil, tyranny and domination (does sound a lot like the fight against Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan).  True victory lay in the hands of two most unusual and improbably heroes - a hobbit by the name of Frodo Baggins and his loyal friend, Samwise Gamgee who is the definition of an unsung hero.

One of my daughter's friends, and avid LOTR fan, suggested The Silmarillion, published posthumously by Tolkien's son, Christopher.  It is an account of the world prior to the LOTR.  I may tackle this book next year.

Heracles by Euripides
Published: 420 BC
Translated by Philip Vellacott/Penguin Classics publ. 1963
Rating: 5
Goodreads

Tragedy of tragedies - another account of Hera's jealousy, her evil meddling and resulting mayham and death.  It is also a surprising story of the value of a loyal and true friend.

Medea by Euripides
Published: 431 BC
Translated by Philip Vellacott/Penguin Classics publ. 1963
Rating: 5
Goodreads

Tragic play in which events are once again, initiated by Hera.  This time, however,  it is  because of favoritism.

Extreme and brutal violence, at the hands of a woman, Medea, is peppered throughout the play.  Gifted in magic, emotions (love and hate) drive her actions and no one is spared.  She is the epitome of the "woman spurned." I cannot think of another woman in literature that is driven so mad with jealousy, hatred and grief that she becomes abhorrent, inhuman and truly evil in her revenge.  Dumb Jason.

Challenge: "Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition"

Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition by Professors Elizabeth Vandiver, James A. W. Heffernan, Thomas F. X. Noble, Ronald B. Herzman  and Susan Sage Heinzelman.

Audiocourse by the Teaching Company
Rating: 5 so far!

It has been my recent practice to listen to audio courses while driving in the car.  I found this particular course, made up of 7 parts and 84 lectures at our local library and am really enjoying it.  Who knew that ancient literature could be so interesting?  I am sure it is due to the style and delivery of Professor Vandiver - she makes the material accessible which motivates me to want to read the original text.

Just as I've made my own challenge to read through the bibliography of another excellent audio course, The English Novel, I would like to do the same with this course.  Now I REALLY need to win the lottery so I can quit my job and stay home and read!

Part I: Near Eastern and Mediterranean Foundations - listened in February 2012

• Aeschylus I and II: The Complete Greek Tragedies by Aeschylus ed by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore.
• Euripides I - V: The Complete Greek Tragedies by Euripides ed David Grene and Richmond Lattimore.
• The Epic of Gilgamesh translated by Andrew George.
• The Illiad by Homer translated by Richmond Lattimore - read March 2012
• The Odyssey by Homer translated by Richmond Lattimore - read April 2012
• Greek Lyric: An Anthology in Translation by Andrew W. Miller.  Includes works by Alcaeus, Archilochus, Anacreon, Sappho and Pindar.  Prof. V says this is "readable and accurate". 
• The Complete Plays of Sophocles translated by Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb.  Ajax (read Feb 2012), Electra (read March 2012), Oedipus the King, Antigone, Trachinian Women, Philoctetes, Oedipus at Colonus. Finished in August 2012

Part II:  Literature of the Classical World - finished listening in March 2012

• The Aeneid by Virgil translated by Robert Fitzgerald (1984) - read July 2012
• Metamorphoses by Ovid translated by Charles Martin (1999)
• The Golden Ass by Apuleius translated by P.G Walsh (1999)
• Confessions by Augustine translated by R.S. Pine-Coffin (1961)

Part III: Middle Ages - finished listening in August 2012

• Beowulf A new version translation by Seamus Heaney (2001)
• La Chason de Roland (Song of Roland) student edition by Gerald J. Brault (1984)
• The Poem of the Cid translated by Rita Hamilton and Janet Perry. Introduction by Ian Michael. Harmondsworth Press (1984).
• Tristan & Isolt by Gottfried Von Strassburg. Translated by A.T. Hatto Penguin (1960).
• Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean du Meun.  Translated by Frances Horgan.  Oxford University Press (1994)
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.  Verse translation by John Ciardi (1961) or 3 volume with commentary by Mark Musa (Penguin Classics).
• The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio translated by Guido Waldman.  Oxford Univ. Press (1993)
• Sir Galwain and the Green Knight translated by Helen Cooper. Oxford Univ. Press (1998)
• The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer translated by David Wright.  Oxford Univ. Press (1986)

Part IV: The Renaissance - September 2012

• The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine De Pizan. Translation by Early Jeffry Richards. Persia Books, 1982.
• The Praise of Folly by Erasmus.  Translated by John Wilson.  University Michigan Press, 1965.
• Utopia by Thomas More.  Translated by Paul Tuner.  Penguin, 1965.
• Dr. Fausus & Other Plays by Christopher Marlowe. Oxford Univ. Press, 1998
• Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt, 2004.
• Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes.  Penguin Classic
• Paradise Lost by Milton John.  Edited by Merrit Hughes, Odyssey Press, 1962.

Part V: Neoclassic and 18th Century Literature - September 2012 

• Blake's Poetry and Designs by William Blake.  Mary Lynn Johnson and John E Grant, Norton, 1979.
• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.  Edited by Michael Shinagel, Norton, 1994.
• Faust Part I - by Johan Wolfgang von Goethe.  Transl. by Martin Greenberg, Yale Univ. Press, 1992.
• Faust Part II - by Johan Wolfgang von Goethe.  Transl. by David Luke, Oxford Univ. Press, 1994.
• The Major Works by Samuel Johnson.  Ed by Daniel Greene, Oxford Univ. Press, 2000.
• Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
• Life of Johnson by James Boswell.  Everyman's Library 1993.

Clarissa Volume 3 by Samuel Richardson

Clarissa or The History of a Young Lady by Samuel Richardson
Vol 3: Letters 93 - 154
Published: 1748
Rating: 5
Vol 1 post
Vol 2 post
Other posts: 2012 Year long reading co-hosted by Terri and JoAnn.  Post at Delaisse.
Challenge: The English Novel 

I have switched to reading the ginormous paperback bought a few weeks ago at a local library sale, mainly because the previous owned is like me, a "scribbler" (one of Richardson's favorite ways to describe his heroine's need for writing): underlining sentences, writing in the margins, circling words, writing the major theme of the page at the top, asking questions and displaying emotion with the occasional swear word, explained below.  I find it fascinating to see what another reader thought of the work.

This is my favorite volume - I couldn't read it fast enough.  In the first two volumes, the story is told primarily from Clarissa and her best friend, Anna's point of view with only 3 letters from Lovelace.  We are left dangling at the end of volume 2, when C confesses to A that she has run away with LL.  In volume 3, roughly one-third of the letters are from LL to his friend, John Belford.  So now, we are privy to his point of view - the cad and rogue.  Richardson has chosen to show the villain LL in all his vain, conceited and ugly glory (can you tell I can't stand the guy?)

I have been wracking my brains for the past few days to think of another villain in literature that is as bad as LL and had to resort to a Google search for help.  Here is a list called the "50 Greatest Villains In Literature", in which LL ranks six, beat out by 1) Satan in Paradise Lost, by John Milton, 2) Samuel Whiskers from The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter, 3) Cruella de Vil from The Hundred and One Dalmatians, by Dodie Smith, 4) Iago from Othello, by William Shakespeare and 5) Voldemort from the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling.  To round out the top ten, the villains that follow are 7) Ambrosio from The Monk, by M G Lewis, 8) Claudius from Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, 9) Mr Kurtz from Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad and 10) Vindice from The Revenger's Tragedy, by Thomas Middleton.

The only book I have read from this list is Harry Potter and would agree that Voldemort's cruelty and disregard for human life surpasses LL.  Some of these books are on my TBR so as time goes on, I will be able to form my own opinion on the order.  Suffice it to say, to be in the top ten is pretty bad.  Surprisingly, one character who did not make this list is the ultra creepy, self-justifying pedophile, Humbert Humbert from Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.  More interesting is that another character from the book, Clare Quilty is ranked 34.  I did read Lolita and do not remember Quilty so had to read the Wikipedia synopsis.  To me, HH should be in the list in lieu of Quilty and ranked higher.

Why is LL so bad and noted as a bastard several times by the previous owner of my book?  He is a pathological liar who reminds me of a sly, cunning, hungry cat that ultimately plans to kill and eat the poor, naive, innocent mouse but thoroughly enjoys toying and playing with it before delivering the fatal blow.  What follows are quotes that make my blood boil.

He proudly admits to manipulating C's entire family with the sole purpose of driving her to utter and total dependence upon himself.

I knew that the whole stupid family were in a combination to do my business for me....working for me, like so many underground moles; and still more blind than the moles...unknowing that they did so, I myself, the director of their principal motions; which falling in with the malice of their little hearts, they took to be all their own (Letter 97: LL to Belford).

To LL, it is all a game with Clarissa as the prize.

It was her character that drew me to her, and it was her beauty and good sense that riveted my chains, and now all together make me think her a subject worthy of my attempts, worthy of my ambition (Letter 110: LL to B).

In the midst of his game, he must show self-control but it is hard.  He dreams of the day when he can do what he wants.

....will kiss her when I please; and not stand trembling, as now, like a hungry hound who sees a delicious morsel within his reach (the froth hanging about his vermilion jaws), yet does not leap at it for his life (Letter 115: LL to B). 

The lies he tells to C are too many to note.  Then he writes this to Belford in Letter 127:

I love when I dig a pit, to have my prey tumble in with secure feet and open eyes; then a man can look down upon her, with an oh-ho charmer!  How came you there!

And even more horridly in Letter 152:

Here, I have been at work, dig, dig, dig, like a cunning miner at one time and spreading my snares like an artful fowler at another, and exulting in my contrivances to get this inimitable creature absolutely into my power.

Poor Clarissa!  She is intuitive enough to know that LL is not one who can be fully trusted but because of the increased estrangement from her family, largely due to LL's "contrivances", she has no choice but to rely upon him; a most unfortunate place to be.

Clarissa Volume 2 by Samuel Richardson

Clarissa or The History of a Young Lady by Samuel Richardson
Vol 2: Letters 45 - 92
Published: 1748
Rating: 5
Other posts: 2012 Year long reading co-hosted by Terri and JoAnn
Challenge: The English Novel audio course bibliography

Clarissa continues to be a prisoner in her own home yet somehow manages to continue her correspondence with her best friend, Anna Howe, and with Lovelace, the hated "libertine".  Regarding her contact with LL, I am reminded of the saying, "play with matches, you will get burned."

Her relationship with brother James and sister Bella continue to deteriorate.  So much so that Anna remarks in one of her letters, "A brother may not be a friend; but a friend will always be a brother" (Letter 47).

After a particularly cruel, heartless letter from James, Clarissa writes to Anna in Letter 52:  "But it is time to lay down my pen, since the ink runs nothing but gall."

In letter 56, Anna recounts a conversation between her friend, Sir Harry Downeton and Solmes in which  they were talking about women and marriage.  The horrid S is quoted as saying that "if LOVE and FEAR must be separated in matrimony, the man who make himself feared fared best!"  Anna wrote that "if my eyes would carry with them the execution which the eyes of the basilisk are said to do, I would make it my first business to see this creature."

Poor Clarissa describes her life as her family continues to pressure her to marry Solmes and LL is begging to rescue her.

How I am driven to and fro, like a feather in the wind, at the pleasure of the rash, the selfish, the headstrong!  and when I am as averse to the proceedings of the one, as I am to those of the other...what a perverse fate is mine! (Letter 80)

Volume 2 ends with a short letter 91 from C to A:

You will soon hear (if already you have not heard from the mouth of common fame) that your Clarissa Harlowe is done off with a man! - 

 Oh no, Clarissa, what have you done?!?

"Clarissa" Volume 1 by Samuel Richardson

Clarissa or The History of a Young Lady by Samuel Richardson
Vol 1: Letters 1 - 44
Published: 1748
Rating: 5
Other posts: 2012 Year long reading co-hosted by Terri and JoAnn
Challenge: The English Novel audiocourse bibliography

This has the distinction of being the longest English novel and at just under 1,500 pages, my paperback is HUGE.  I prefer reading the free downloads (9 volumes) on my iPad.

Like Pamela, Richardson's use of the epistolary format is brilliant, allowing the reader to see the events from each character's point of view.  In Volume I, most of the letters are from Clarissa to her best friend, Anna Howe but we also hear from both of C's parents, her uncles and one aunt, the horrible brother and sister, James and Arabella (think Cinderella's jealous and vengeful stepsisters, hundred fold); Mr. Lovelace, the handsome, rich scoundrel who relentlessly pursues Clarissa;  Mr. Solmes, the ugly and disagreeable chosen husband for Clarissa whom she despises, and Anna.  The view is close and personal.  Richardson uses all the novelist's tools within these letters: scene and setting, description and dialogue.  It is fascinating to read.

Regarding the plot, not a whole lot happens within the first 44 letters but the story remains interesting and the drama/tension between the characters is high.  Clarissa is pressured from all sides to marry Mr. Solmes, a wealthy man whose fortune, if tied with the Harlowe family could result in a coveted peerage for James.  When she continues to refuse, she suffers the ultimate "time-out", banished to her room, sees her personal maid dismissed and must resort to corresponding with her family members living in the same home via, you guessed it, letters.

I am taking notes while I read and writing down favorite quotes.  At this pace, I may be reading this book for most of the year!   Here are a few quotes and why I like them.

Anna writes very candidly about the greed and envy that motivates James and Arabella's actions against Clarissa.

Avarice and envy are two passions that are not to be satisfied, the one by giving, the other by the envied person's continuing to deserve and excel.  Fuel, fuel both, all the world over, to flames insatiate and devouring (Letter 10).   

Poisons and poniard have often been set to work by minds inflamed by disappointed love, and actuated by revenge.  Will you wonder, then, that the ties of relationship in such a case have no force, and that a sister forgets to be a sister? (Letter 15) 

...they must look upon you as a prodigy among them, and prodigies, you know, though they obtain our admiration, never attract our love.  The distance between you and them is immense.  Their eyes ache to look up at you.  What shades does your full day of merit cast upon them?  Can you wonder, then, that they should embrace the first opportunity that offered, to endeavor to bring you down to their level? (Letter 27)

Anna and Clarissa both recognize that wealth does not equal happiness.

...none of your family but yourself could be happy were they not rich.  So let them fret on, grumble and grudge, and accumulate; and wondering what ails them that they have not happiness when they have riches, think the cause is want of more, and so go on heaping up, till Death, as greedy an accumulator as themselves, gather them into his garner (Letter 10: A to C). 

I am fully persuaded, that happiness and riches are two things, and very seldom meet together (Letter 19: C to A). 

Both girls liken C's situation to being a bird caught in a snare.

My brother got me into his snares; and I, like a poor, silly bird, the more I struggle, am the more entangled (Letter 22: C to A).  

I most heartily despise that sex! ...but to be cajoled, wire-drawn, and ensnared, like silly birds; into a state of bondage, or vile subordination; to be courted as princesses for a few weeks, in order to be treated as slaves for the rest of our lives (Letter 27: A to C). 

In spite of tremendous pressure to marry Solmes, Clarissa remains stubborn in her refusal. 

But surely they will yield - Indeed I cannot.  I believe the gentlest spirits when provoked (causelessly and cruelly provoked) are the most determined.  The reason may be, that not taking up resolutions lightly - their very deliberation makes them the more immoveable (Letter 14: C to A).

Letter 30 - finally one from Mr. Lovelace to his friend, John Belford. This letter reveals LL's pursuit of C to be motivated by a selfish and vain love; she rejects him which makes him want her more. This is very reminiscent of Mr. B in Pamela. What is it with men?  They like the chase, the pursuit, the challenge, the conquest?  The following quotes show his true colors to the reader which makes it even more awful when we see Clarissa's skeptical distrust of LL slowly eroding.  I want to warn her - watch out!

He makes plans "to secure her mine, in spite of them all; in spite of her own inflexible heart; mine without condition; without reformation-promises....bringing that sordidly imperious brother to kneel at the footstool of my throne."  As he imagines his victory..."then the rewarding end of all!  To carry off such a girl as this, in spite of all her watchful and implacable friends and in spite of a prudence and reserve that I never met with in any of the sex; - what a triumph! - What a triumph over the whole sex! - and then such a revenge to gratify....."

With writing like this, I am looking forward to reading Volume II.

Pamela by Samuel Richardson

Pamela by Samuel Richardson
Published: 1740
Rating: 5
Lists: 1,001

This is the first book in my English Novel Challenge and I LOVED IT!  Considered one of the first books written in the novel format, Richardson tells the story through letters that the heroine Pamela wrote to her parents and through her diary.

At the beginning of the book, we are introduced to Pamela, a beautiful, young servant girl of sixteen.  After her Lady's death, she is pursued by the misogynistic unmarried son, Mr. B (Prof. Spurgeon likens him to Mr. Big in Sex and the City) who will not allow Pamela to return home.  While many girls in her situation may have welcomed and accepted being these advances, Pamela has been raised to honor God with her mind, soul and body. Therefore her virtue must be protected at all costs.  This is reinforced by her parents who write, "Arm yourself, my dear Child, for the worst; and resolve to lose your Life sooner than your Virtue."

The constant rejection drives Mr. B mad.  His treatment of poor Pamela worsens until he basically kidnaps and holds her prisoner at one of the family estates with a horrible woman keeper, Mrs. Jewkes.  Pamela's description is priceless and reminds me of Madame Thénardier in Les Miserable.

Now I will give you a Picture of this Wretch!  She is broad, squat, pursy, fat Thing, quite ugly, if any thing God made can be ugly; about forty Years old.  She has a huge Hand, and an Arm as thick as my Waist, I believe.  Her Nose is flat and crooked, and her Brows grow over her Eyes; a  dead, spiteful, grey, goggling Eye, to be sure, she has. And her Face is flat and broad; and as to the Colour, looks like as if it had been pickled a Month in Salt-petre: I dare say she drinks! - She has a hoarse man-like Voice, and is as thick as she's long; and yet looks so deadly strong, that I am afraid she would dash me at her Foot in an Instant, if I was to vex her - So that with a Heart more ugly than her Face, she frightens me sadly; and I am undone, to be sure, if God does not protect me; for she is very, very wicked - indeed she is.

What makes this story so interesting is to see the affect this beautiful but penniless and powerless girl has on others as they come to realize that her outward beauty is not her greatest asset; it is her inner character of virtue, humility, and kindness.  Mr. B comes to appreciate her after confiscating and reading her letters.  Beforehand, he thought she was like other women - rebellious, manipulative and playing games with his affections.  Her letters reveal something else entirely.  Some of my favorite quotes show the progression of Mr. B's realization.

You are possess'd of an open, frank and generous Mind; and a Person so lovely, that you excel all your Sex in my Eyes.  All these Accomplishments have engaged my Affections so deeply, that, as I have often said, I cannot live without you; and I would divide with all my Soul, my Estate with you, to make you mine upon my own Terms.  These you have absolutely rejected; and that, tho' in sawcy Terms enough, yet, in such a manner, as to make me admire you more.

He writes of the willingness to turn his back upon centuries of social expectation to marry beneath his class:

I found the Tables intirely turn'd upon me, and that I was in far more Danger from you than you was from me; for I was just upon resolving to defy all the Censures of the World, and to make you my Wife.

What he says to her on their wedding night:

Your Mind is as pure as that of an Angel, and as much transcends mine.  Your Wit and your Judgement, to make you no Compliment, are more than equal to mine: You have all the Graces that Education can give a Woman; improv'd by a Genius which makes those Graces natural to you.  You have a Sweetness of Temper and a noble Sincerity, beyond all Compare; and in the Beauty of your Person, you excel all the Ladies I ever saw.  Where then, my Dearest, is the Obligation, if not on my side to you?  But to avoid these Comparisons, let us talk of nothing henceforth but Equality; for if you will set the Riches of your Mind, and your unblemished Virtue, against my Fortune (which is but an accidental Good, as I may call it, and all I have to boast of) the Condescension will be yours; and I shall not think I can possibly deserve you, till, after your sweet Example, my future Life shall become nearly as blameless as yours.

What he says unashamedly to his friends as they are introduced to his wife:

My Pamela's person, all lovely as you see it, is far short of her mind; that first impressed me in her favor; but that only made me her Lover.  But they were the beauties of her mind, that made me her husband.

Through Pamela's conviction to live a virtuous and righteous life, Mr. B follows suit and their marriage ends up being fulfilled and happy.  Poetic justice prevails!  I look forward to reading Clarissa, Richardson's tragic novel.

On a side note, it is interesting to see passages that remind me of other works.   When Pamela is imprisoned, she thinks about escape.  "But let Bulls, and Bears, and Lions, and Tygers, and what is worse, false, treacherous deceitful Men stand in my Way...." Did the Wizard of Oz's "lions, tigers and bears, oh my!" come from this, I wonder?

When Pamela sees that plans are moving forward for her upcoming nuptials with Mr. B, she writes, "He was so good as to tell me, he had given Orders for the Chapel to be clear'd.  O how I look forward with inward Joy, yet with Fear and Trembling!"  This reminded me of Jane Eyre's overflowing happiness when she prepares to wed Mr. Rochester, the first time.  I wrote in the margin, "too good to be true?"

Challenge: "The English Novel"

The English Novel  by Professor Timothy Spurgin
Audiocourse by The Great Courses
Rating: 5
Listened:  November 2011

Borrowed from the library, I had high hopes for this course based on his other course, The Art of Reading.  I listen to the CD's while driving so one requirement is that they are interesting and this did not disappoint. This course begins with what is typically regarded as the first English novel, Pamela (1740) by Samuel Richardson and ends with notable contemporary works by Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie and Zadie Smith.  18th century books such as Tom Jones (1749) by Henry Fielding, Tristam Shandy (1759-1767) by Laurence Sterne and The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) by Ann Radcliffe have been added to my TBR pile.  Works by Sir Walter Scott (Waverly 1814) and Henry James (The Portrait of a Lady 1881) join other 19th century "to-be-read" authors: Austen, Bronte, Dickens, Thackeray and Eliot.  In Spurgin's discussion of a particular novel, he not only talks about the work itself, but spends time on the author's biography and the time period in which he/she wrote.  He ties in critical historical and social events that influence the writer and the work.  His love for literature is evident and so each lecture was a pleasure to listen to.  I would highly recommend.

In 2012, I have challenged myself to read half the novels in the course.  The number in parenthesis is the rating given to the book.  I use the GoodReads system. 

1 - didn't like it
2 - it was ok
3 - liked it
4 - really liked it
5 - it was amazing

Here is the list:

• 1719 - 1720 - Love in Excess by Eliza Haywood
• 1740 - Pamela by Samuel Richardson - read January 2011 (5)
• 1747 - 1749 - Clarissa by Samuel Richardson (divided into 9 ibook volumes)
•  Vol 1, Vol 2, Vol 3,  
• 1749 - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
• 1759 - 1767 - Tristam Shandy by Laurence Sterne
• 1778 - Evelina by Frances Burney
• 1794 - The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
• 1813 - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - read a while ago (5)
• 1814 - Waverley by Sir Walter Scott
• 1815 - Emma by Jane Austen - read in Feb 2011 (4)
• 1826 - Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper (American)
• 1836 - 1837 - The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
• 1837 - 1843 - Lost Illusions by Honore de Balzac (French)
• 1847 - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - read in Nov. 2009 (5) 
• 1847 - Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
• 1847 - 1848 - Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
• 1849 - 1850 - David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
• 1851 - Moby Dick by Herman Melville (American)
• 1852 - 1853 - Bleak House by Charles Dickens
• 1857 - Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert - read in May 2011 (3).  My dislike for M. Bovary affected how I felt about the book. I could appreciate the literary style but did not like the story. 
• 1860 - Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
• 1860 - 1861 - Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
• 1865 - 1869 - War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
• 1871 - 1872 - Middlemarch by George Eliot
• 1875 - 1877 - Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy- read in Sept 2011 (4)

"To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

Published: 1960
Read: 2011
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5
Review: Goodreads
Lists: Pultizer Prize (1961); 1,001 books







Harper Lee’s first and only novel published in 1960 was an immediate success, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and made into a movie with Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in 1962 (in my Netflix queue). 

The story is told in the first person by an older Scout, looking back on her life growing up in Maycomb, Alabama with her father whom she calls Atticus, her older brother, Jem and their cook, Calpurnia.  Her mother died when she was young.  She is a likable protagonist, a tomboy with spirit, gumption and a lively imagination.  The most excitement in their idyllic, sheltered life comes from trying to draw out the reclusive and mysterious Boo Radley until Atticus takes on a case which polarizes the community and brings racial tension straight into Jem and Scout’s world.  In short. Atticus is asked to defend Tom Robinson, an innocent black man accused of raping a “white trash” young woman.  There are no witnesses, it is her word against his.

While I have wanted to read this book after finishing other books about adolescents such as Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and J.D Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, it went to the top of my TBR list after seeing her name in the dedication page of another recently read book, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.  In fact, To Kill a Mockingbird is somewhat autobiographical as Lee grew up in the Deep South, loved to read (like Scout), her father was a lawyer (like Atticus) and one character, Dill was modeled after Capote.

Moral lessons abound within this quick read:

Atticus to Scout – on trying to teach her how to get along with people she may not agree with or understand:  

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.

Miss Maudie (neighbor) to Scout about Atticus: 

"Atticus Finch is the same person in his house as he is in public" and "People in their right minds never take pride in their talents."

Atticus to Scout on why he took the Robinson case: 

"This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscious.  I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man" and "before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself.  The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscious."

Jem and Scout had watched the trial and with the black/white and right/wrong idealism of youth, he was angry at the verdict. Atticus' explanation to Jem:

The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box.  As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it.  Whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.

When Jem and Scout are talking about classes in Southern society: 

J – I’ve thought about it a lot lately and I’ve got it figured out.  There’s four kinds of folks in the world.  There’s the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there’s the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump and the Negroes. 

S - Naw, Jem, I think ther's just one kind of folks.  Folks.

J - That's what I thought too when I was your age.  If there's one kind of folks, why can't they get along with each other?  If they're all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other?

Notable passages

For some reason, I love this sentence (about Aunt Alexandra's husband):

She married a taciturn man who spent most of his time lying in a hammock by the river wondering if his trout lines were full.

About Dill:

Thus we came to know Dill as a pocket Merlin, whose head teemed with eccentric plans, strange longings, and quaint fancies.

Great description of Maycomb (long but I couldn't pare down - all good):

Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it.  In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square.  Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer's day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square.  Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning.  Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.

People moved slowly then.  They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of the stores around it, took their time about everything.  A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer.  There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaires of Maycomb County.

On Scout's second cousin:

Talking to Francis gave me the sensation of settling slowly to the bottom of the ocean.  He was the most boring child I ever met.

When Jem and Scout visited Calpurnia's church:

The warm bittersweet smell of clean Negro welcomed us as we entered the church yard - Hearts of Love hairdressing mingled with asafoetida, snuff, Hoyt's Cologne, Brown's Mule, peppermint, and lilac talcum.

On why Aunt Alexandra was so irritable on the Lord's Day:

I guess it was her Sunday corset.  She was not fat, but solid, and she chose protective garments that drew up her bosom to giddy heights, pinched in her waist, flared out her rear, and managed to suggest that Aunt Alexandra's was once an hour-glass figure.  From any angle, it was formidable.

On being a Southern woman:

Why ladies hooked woolen rugs on boiling nights never became clear to me.

I must soon enter this world, where on its surface fragrant ladies rocked slowly, fanned gently and drank cool water.