How Sista Got Her Groove Back Modern Library # 33 1900, Theodore Dreiser First, a mildly entertaining personal story about this book. Back in 2005, before our kids and other such grown-up nonsense, my wife Hoang and I used to go on fun little vacations. One such trip took us to South Beach. And yes, it surely … [Read more...]

Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss Modern Library # 31 1946, George Orwell I know... "Animal Farm?! The little novella about talking animals that we all read in 7th grade?" Yes, that's right. Even if I had read it prior - and I hadn't - the rules of the Top 100 game that Hoang and I are playing dictate … [Read more...]

Don't Be a Dicole* Modern Library # 28 1934, F. Scott Fitzgerald *Dicole: Pronoun, the cutesy made up name used in the novel for the "perfect" married couple, Dick and Nicole Diver Yes, it's true... F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a Top 100 novel other than "The Great Gatsby," and the main characters really do … [Read more...]

This Burg Could Use Some Wine Modern Library # 24 1919, Sherwood Anderson Winesburg, Ohio contains a map of the town on the first page. For that, I already liked the book before I read a word of it. But once I got my head around how this book works, I liked the rest of it as well. This book could be another … [Read more...]

To The Lighthouse… To Climb Up and Hurl Myself Off the Top Modern Library # 15 1925, Virginia Woolf Where to begin reviewing the book I wanted to rate a 0, but Hoang didn’t allow it due to the fact that our 1-10 rating scale doesn’t allow for 0’s. How to fairly critique a book that I hated so much it took me … [Read more...]

War IS Peace, Man Modern Library # 13 1949, George Orwell Since you’ve all read 1984, I don’t really see much of a point discussing the book. Okay, okay, I will in a minute. But I have a story of my own to tell you first. In 1984 I turned 12. In 1985 I entered 7th grade. My English teacher was Mrs. Cundiff … [Read more...]