en-US Wed, 07 Aug 2024 15:48:46 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 45032 488 Jane Austen Peter 4 3.86 1814
author: Jane Austen
name: Peter
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1814
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/08/07
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]]> 18522 153 Archibald MacLeish 0395083532 Peter 2 3.70 1958
author: Archibald MacLeish
name: Peter
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1958
rating: 2
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date added: 2009/05/01
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]]> 1885 Pride and Prejudice has remained one of the most popular novels in the English language. Jane Austen called this brilliant work "her own darling child" and its vivacious heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print." The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and her proud beau, Mr. Darcy, is a splendid performance of civilized sparring. And Jane Austen's radiant wit sparkles as her characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, making this book the most superb comedy of manners of Regency England.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780679783268]]> 279 Jane Austen 1441341706 Peter 5 4.28 1813
author: Jane Austen
name: Peter
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1813
rating: 5
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date added: 2009/05/01
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]]> 222932 A beloved tribute to Florence that blends history, artistic reflection, and keen social observationĚý

Renowned for her sharp literary style, essayist and fiction writer Mary McCarthy offers a unique history of Florence, from its inception to the dominant role it came to play in the world of art, architecture, and Italian culture, that captures the brilliant Florentine spirit and revisits the legendary figures—Dante, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and others—who exemplify it so iconically. Her most cherished sights and experiences color this timeless, graceful portrait of a city that's as famous as it is alluring.]]> 230 Mary McCarthy 0156027631 Peter 3 3.70 1956
author: Mary McCarthy
name: Peter
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1956
rating: 3
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date added: 2009/05/01
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]]> 1330522
Master & Commander;
Post Captain;
H.M.S. Surprise;
The Mauritius Command;
Desolation Island;
The Fortune of War;
The Surgeon's Mate;
The Ionian Mission;
Treason's Harbour;
The Far Side of the World;
The Reverse of the Medal;
The Letter of Marque;
The Thirteen-Gun Salute;
The Nutmeg of Consolation;
The Truelove/Clarissa Oakes;
The Wine-Dark Sea;
The Commodore;
The Yellow Admiral;
The Hundred Days.]]> 280 Patrick O'Brian 0393047172 Peter 3 4.86 1998
author: Patrick O'Brian
name: Peter
average rating: 4.86
book published: 1998
rating: 3
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date added: 2009/05/01
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]]> 68210 Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson returns with an intimate tale of three generations, from the Civil War to the 20th century: a story about fathers and sons and the spiritual battles that still rage at America's heart. In the words of Kirkus, it is a novel "as big as a nation, as quiet as thought, and moving as prayer. Matchless and towering." GILEAD tells the story of America and will break your heart.]]> 247 Marilynne Robinson 031242440X Peter 3 3.84 2004
author: Marilynne Robinson
name: Peter
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2004
rating: 3
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date added: 2009/05/01
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]]> 16631 Steppenwolf is a poetical self-portrait of a man who felt himself to be half-human and half-wolf. This Faust-like and magical story is evidence of Hesse's searching philosophy and extraordinary sense of humanity as he tells of the humanization of a middle-aged misanthrope. Yet his novel can also be seen as a plea for rigorous self-examination and an indictment of the intellectual hypocrisy of the period. As Hesse himself remarked, "Of all my books Steppenwolf is the one that was more often and more violently misunderstood than any of the others".]]> 256 Hermann Hesse 0140282580 Peter 2 Steppenwolf.

I found the early sections of the book dull, flat, pretentious, and swimming in its own vanity. But the later sections corrected some of these faults, and made the book interesting and worth reading overall.

My main problem with the early parts of Steppenwolf is that the novel is constantly tells us how fine a soul Harry Haller has: how intelligent he is, how spiritually enlightened, how artistically refined, how little he can tolerate the world of power and money and order and easy pleasures, or understand the lives of ordinary people, and how much he suffers.

But the novel is always telling us these things about Harry; it never shows us these qualities or convinces us that they are true. Harry’s uniqueness is described first in an introduction to the manuscript written by a middle class businessman of slight acquaintance with Harry; then by passages written by Harry himself; then in a magical “Treatise on the Steppenwolf� that Harry buys from a mysterious vendor.

Normally, one piece of sustained exposition is enough to set up a story the author can’t quite get going on its own. Three is too much. And the constant repetition of how exceptional Harry is makes me suspicious. Accomplished people go about the business of being accomplished. People who are not accomplished � but very much like the idea of being so � will announce their exceptional attributes constantly, substituting pronouncements for action.

The novel’s investment in Harry’s extraordinary qualities makes me believe that Hesse is also invested in them and that he is inviting us to invest in them as well. Only a great artist could bring a great artist alive on the page, is the implication: therefore I am a great artist. Only a truly intelligent and perceptive reader could understand a great artist; therefore you are an intelligent and perceptive reader.

This mutual admiration society constructed by Steppenwolf would be harmless enough if such vanity were not the most deadly enemy of art. All that is strange and delicate and inexpressible and irreducible in art � all its sublime alchemy � is thrown under the feet of flattery and easy compliment. The work exists only to puff up the ego and ambitions, and comfort the insecurities, of those associated with it.

This is harsh criticism, and it seems like it should be a fatal one. But as the book progresses, Hesse� destroys any sense we have that all of Harry’s accomplishments have any real value. The book still sees him as a unique and rare soul � but a unique and rare soul leading a useless existence, a man who has forgotten how to laugh, who has forgotten how to find pleasure in life, who is a fool, a baby, and a wretch who should be pity and scolded and taken by the hand and pulled away from his stubborn loneliness and self-importance. This humanizes Harry and gives the book blood.

Finally, Steppenwolf has an interesting structure. It’s a mess, but it’s a mess that works pretty well with the novel’s themes and characters. Harry is always talking about great composers, Baroque ones like Handel, Mozart above all, but it is Berlioz' “Symphonie fantastique� that really is playing throughout the book.

So two solid stars for Hesse� Steppenwolf. You could spend you time with many books, and many writers, far worse than this one.


]]> 4.15 1927
author: Hermann Hesse
name: Peter
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1927
rating: 2
read at: 2009/04/16
date added: 2009/04/17
shelves:
review:
Now that I’ve reached middle age, I thought it was time to revisit that classic of earnest adolescent angst (despite the fact the novel’s hero is nearly 50 years old), Hermann Hesse� Steppenwolf.

I found the early sections of the book dull, flat, pretentious, and swimming in its own vanity. But the later sections corrected some of these faults, and made the book interesting and worth reading overall.

My main problem with the early parts of Steppenwolf is that the novel is constantly tells us how fine a soul Harry Haller has: how intelligent he is, how spiritually enlightened, how artistically refined, how little he can tolerate the world of power and money and order and easy pleasures, or understand the lives of ordinary people, and how much he suffers.

But the novel is always telling us these things about Harry; it never shows us these qualities or convinces us that they are true. Harry’s uniqueness is described first in an introduction to the manuscript written by a middle class businessman of slight acquaintance with Harry; then by passages written by Harry himself; then in a magical “Treatise on the Steppenwolf� that Harry buys from a mysterious vendor.

Normally, one piece of sustained exposition is enough to set up a story the author can’t quite get going on its own. Three is too much. And the constant repetition of how exceptional Harry is makes me suspicious. Accomplished people go about the business of being accomplished. People who are not accomplished � but very much like the idea of being so � will announce their exceptional attributes constantly, substituting pronouncements for action.

The novel’s investment in Harry’s extraordinary qualities makes me believe that Hesse is also invested in them and that he is inviting us to invest in them as well. Only a great artist could bring a great artist alive on the page, is the implication: therefore I am a great artist. Only a truly intelligent and perceptive reader could understand a great artist; therefore you are an intelligent and perceptive reader.

This mutual admiration society constructed by Steppenwolf would be harmless enough if such vanity were not the most deadly enemy of art. All that is strange and delicate and inexpressible and irreducible in art � all its sublime alchemy � is thrown under the feet of flattery and easy compliment. The work exists only to puff up the ego and ambitions, and comfort the insecurities, of those associated with it.

This is harsh criticism, and it seems like it should be a fatal one. But as the book progresses, Hesse� destroys any sense we have that all of Harry’s accomplishments have any real value. The book still sees him as a unique and rare soul � but a unique and rare soul leading a useless existence, a man who has forgotten how to laugh, who has forgotten how to find pleasure in life, who is a fool, a baby, and a wretch who should be pity and scolded and taken by the hand and pulled away from his stubborn loneliness and self-importance. This humanizes Harry and gives the book blood.

Finally, Steppenwolf has an interesting structure. It’s a mess, but it’s a mess that works pretty well with the novel’s themes and characters. Harry is always talking about great composers, Baroque ones like Handel, Mozart above all, but it is Berlioz' “Symphonie fantastique� that really is playing throughout the book.

So two solid stars for Hesse� Steppenwolf. You could spend you time with many books, and many writers, far worse than this one.



]]> 5797 867 William Makepeace Thackeray 0141439831 Peter 4 3.80 1847
author: William Makepeace Thackeray
name: Peter
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1847
rating: 4
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date added: 2009/04/16
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]]> 30593 Pnin features his funniest and most heart-rending character. Professor Timofey Pnin is a haplessly disoriented Russian émigré precariously employed on an American college campus in the 1950's. Pnin struggles to maintain his dignity through a series of comic and sad misunderstandings, all the while falling victim both to subtle academic conspiracies and to the manipulations of a deliberately unreliable narrator.

Initially an almost grotesquely comic figure, Pnin gradually grows in stature by contrast with those who laugh at him. Whether taking the wrong train to deliver a lecture in a language he has not mastered or throwing a faculty party during which he learns he is losing his job, the gently preposterous hero of this enchanting novel evokes the reader’s deepest protective instinct.

Serialized in The New Yorker and published in book form in 1957, Pnin brought Nabokov both his first National Book Award nomination and hitherto unprecedented popularity.]]> 184 Vladimir Nabokov 1400041988 Peter 5 3.90 1957
author: Vladimir Nabokov
name: Peter
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1957
rating: 5
read at: 2008/01/01
date added: 2009/04/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 10975 366 William Faulkner Peter 4
The brilliant comes from Faulkner's quality as a writer. He delivers an astonishing range of different characters' and voices, seemingly without effort. Many of his descriptions are similarly excellent. I kept thinking, "Tell me Faulkner didn't read 'Ulysses' and see Picasso before he wrote this book," but he got his money's worth out of both. (Although I think he might owe them a finder's fee. Perhaps one estate can pay the other?) I had an instinctive sense that the book was whole and complete on the last page of the original text, without being able to explain why.

On the fraud side is that the story is as gothic as southern gothic gets, and I don't think I would have taken the book seriously for five minutes if Faulkner had told his story straight. The style and the innovative structure and (sometimes needless) complications all seem to exist to hid this fact.

For example, there are two Quentin's in the book, one male, one female, who exist at different times in the novel's chronology and it takes a while to make sense of it. (The famous opening section narrated from the point of view of a character with mental disabilities is similarly disorienting to the unwarned reader, but at least it's deeply justified by the character.)

I know it's a cubist picture, fracturing consciousness into a kaleidoscope, liberating the narrative from the constraints of time and place and setting and character and action, blah blah blah, but come on Will, you knew people were going to be confused by the two Quentins. I'm not a big fan of obscurity pretending to be profundity in novels, probably because the whole art form is lousy with it, particularly among the mass of writers whose ambitions exceeds their talents, and being a first-rate novelist doesn't get you a free pass in my neighborhood.

Finally, the Compson Appendix that was added later by Faulkner emphasized the fraud aspect for me. It helps make sense of the plot, but it brings out the weaker aspects of the book as a result, and it made me complain out loud: "You're kidding. THAT was Quentin Compson's problem. What a bunch of hooey."

Would I recommend you read the book? For all you lovers of "Big L" literature out there, yes. For the others, the going will be tough and life won't be getting any longer while you slog through.

Pete

]]> 3.86 1929
author: William Faulkner
name: Peter
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1929
rating: 4
read at: 2009/03/01
date added: 2009/04/08
shelves:
review:
I've started re-reading books from college or before. My reaction to TSATF keeps going back and forth between "Wow, Faulkner's brilliant" and "Man, this guy is getting away with fraud big time."

The brilliant comes from Faulkner's quality as a writer. He delivers an astonishing range of different characters' and voices, seemingly without effort. Many of his descriptions are similarly excellent. I kept thinking, "Tell me Faulkner didn't read 'Ulysses' and see Picasso before he wrote this book," but he got his money's worth out of both. (Although I think he might owe them a finder's fee. Perhaps one estate can pay the other?) I had an instinctive sense that the book was whole and complete on the last page of the original text, without being able to explain why.

On the fraud side is that the story is as gothic as southern gothic gets, and I don't think I would have taken the book seriously for five minutes if Faulkner had told his story straight. The style and the innovative structure and (sometimes needless) complications all seem to exist to hid this fact.

For example, there are two Quentin's in the book, one male, one female, who exist at different times in the novel's chronology and it takes a while to make sense of it. (The famous opening section narrated from the point of view of a character with mental disabilities is similarly disorienting to the unwarned reader, but at least it's deeply justified by the character.)

I know it's a cubist picture, fracturing consciousness into a kaleidoscope, liberating the narrative from the constraints of time and place and setting and character and action, blah blah blah, but come on Will, you knew people were going to be confused by the two Quentins. I'm not a big fan of obscurity pretending to be profundity in novels, probably because the whole art form is lousy with it, particularly among the mass of writers whose ambitions exceeds their talents, and being a first-rate novelist doesn't get you a free pass in my neighborhood.

Finally, the Compson Appendix that was added later by Faulkner emphasized the fraud aspect for me. It helps make sense of the plot, but it brings out the weaker aspects of the book as a result, and it made me complain out loud: "You're kidding. THAT was Quentin Compson's problem. What a bunch of hooey."

Would I recommend you read the book? For all you lovers of "Big L" literature out there, yes. For the others, the going will be tough and life won't be getting any longer while you slog through.

Pete


]]> 373755 316 William Faulkner 0679732187 Peter 0 currently-reading 3.98 1936
author: William Faulkner
name: Peter
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1936
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2009/04/03
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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