If a Body Meet a Body, Give Them This Book Modern Library # 64 1945, J.D. Salinger [I write CT Beer Reviews too. They aren't typical beer reviews at all - like this one in particular which, if you're reading this page, you may enjoy a little bit.] I begin this review with a plea: If you haven’t read this book … [Read more...]
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ML56. The Maltese Falcon
Twisting the Night Away Modern Library # 56 1929, Dashiell Hammett I read an article a couple weeks ago lamenting the current state of television with respect to the asinine obsession with ridiculous plot twists and shocking (for the sake of shocking) surprises. I didn’t watch Lost but know enough to know that I … [Read more...]
ML55. On the Road
Beat Down Modern Library #55 1955, Jack Kerouac I’m a pretty cool guy. Just ask me. So it may shock you to learn that I’d never read a word of Kerouac before cracking this book open. Okay, so maybe I'm not so cool. Or does that make me cooler somehow? On the Road is one of the books on THE LIST that I pretty … [Read more...]
ML52. Portnoy’s Complaint
Oy Vey! Modern Library # 52 1967, Philip Roth This may perhaps be the most difficult Top 100 Book Review I'll ever do. Not because I loved it so much I can't find the words and not because I hated it either. No... it's because "Portnoy's Compaint" is so downright dirty and sex-filled that I wouldn't know how to … [Read more...]
ML45. The Sun Also Rises
Great Book. No Bull. Modern Library # 45 1926, Ernest Hemingway I love Ernest Hemingway. There, I said it. Anti-Semite, racist, mysoginist, drunkard, jerk... On and on the epithets go - but I'm judging the man's work, not his personality. I'm reading my Hemingway "up;" from the shorter stuff like "Snows of … [Read more...]
ML36. All the King’s Men
The Sin of Politics Modern Library #36 1946, Robert Penn Warren I picked up this book in a flight of fancy that said, "Read this book quickly in early September and then I will go out and enjoy the surely Oscar-worthy movie version starring Jude Law, Sean Penn, Anthony Hopkins, and Kate Winslet that premiers … [Read more...]
ML35. As I Lay Dying
Mississippi Bundrening Modern Library #35 1930, William Faulkner At some point in my life, I got it into my head that Faulkner was unreadable. I don’t know how that thought got there, for I don’t think I’ve ever read anything by him before and it’s not like I hang out with a bunch of anti-Faulkner misanthropes. … [Read more...]
ML33. Sister Carrie
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...]
ML31. Animal Farm
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...]
ML28. Tender is the Night
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...]