Yeah, See, It's a Good Book, See Modern Library # 98 1934, James M. Cain "Economy of words." That's the phrase my 11th grade English teacher taught me regarding the works of Ernest Hemingway, perhaps my favorite author. I'm a lazy reader by nature, so perhaps that's why this terse, direct style of … [Read more...]

Getting Their Just Deserts Modern Library # 97 1949, Paul Bowles I feel sort of weird sitting down to write this review. Now I realize that when a board selects 100 top books out of the hundreds of thousands written over the course of one hundred years, they all should be nearly perfect. Of course, as I’m … [Read more...]

Just Bummin' Around, Readin a Book Modern Library # 92 1979, William Kennedy I am such a bum when it comes to acheiving my goal of reading 3 Modern Library Top 100 books per year. Not only am I a bum because I didn't read any in the first two years of this project (whereas my wife is still on target to be … [Read more...]

I Love a Good Buck Modern Library # 88 1903, Jack London I realize choosing the 100 greatest English Language novels of the 20th century must have been nearly impossible. Ranking them; even worse. But I can't imagine that I'm going to be reading 87 books better than The Call of the Wild. I'll admit … [Read more...]

A Ragtimes to Riches Story Modern Library # 86 1975, E.L. Doctorow Throw this book onto the pile of books that I was to have read in my youth but somehow never did. I think there are about 20 of those books on this list. If I recall correctly, I think I was supposed to read this in 10th grade... But I didn't. … [Read more...]

Not All Portias Are Fast Modern Library # 84 1938, Elizabeth Bowen Oh dear, I must confess I found this book to be most detestable. Though, one must contemplate one's scholarly achievement in light of finishing this horrid little tome. (OK, enough Bowen-esque blather). Actually, this sea cucumber-paced … [Read more...]

Take the Skinheads Bowling Modern Library # 76 1961, Muriel Spark A prime number is a natural number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself. Now I know Muriel Spark wasn¹t trying to be mathematically clever with her title, but I think it still bears mentioning. Jean Brodie is in … [Read more...]

The Grass Isn’t Always Greener Modern Library # 73 1939, Nathanael West I was so happy to read this book. Really and truly. For one, it’s nice and short. (So short that Hoang picked it up and read it in a 24-hour block over the last two days of 2010, for no other reason than to rub it in my face that she is … [Read more...]

Disrupt, Corrupt or Interrupt Me Modern Library # 70a 1957, Lawrence Durrell While only a quarter of the way through the Modern Library list, I can’t help myself from making the following bold statement: Lawrence Durrell might just be the best writer I’d never heard of before being “forced” to read his stuff. That … [Read more...]

Not Such a Horror Modern Library # 67 1910, Joseph Conrad Do not be afraid of this book. Heck, it's less than 100 pages long! What is there to fear? Well, two things actually. This little work has a reputation for being difficult to read and in a lesser sense, a "scary" journey into the shadow's of man's evil … [Read more...]