Tag: American literature
-
The Catcher in the Rye
Review: A very unusual, very interesting read. I always thought it was a book about baseball. Poignant, often very depressing, it brought back some vivid memories of my drunken history. I could feel, almost literally feel, the deep down to the bone exhaustion after drinking misadventures. **Shiver** If you asked me what the book is… Read more
-
Tender is the Night
Review: An excellent novel. Not quite on the same level as Gatsby or Paradise, but very good. A lot of the narrative involving alcohol reminded me perfectly of myself. Settings were beautiful, Nice, Cannes, Zurich. I had a hard time liking any of the characters, though. They were interesting and yet not fully likeable, like… Read more
-
Civil Disobedience
Review: Whiny little bitch. This book made me want to: punch a pond Overall rating: Readability: Plot: Other: Whinitude Read more
-
The Making of Americans
Review: So utterly awful I can barely contain myself. Utter and total waste of ink, pixels, trees, time, air, space and energy. I, Neilos, made it 26% of the way through, and I feel like suing the estate for damages. Zero stars. Ugh. Barf. Yecch. This book made me want to: open a vein and… Read more
-
The Beautiful and Damned
Review: A rare gem of a book. All the glory and drama and sadness of the end of the Gilded Age. Exploring the ephemeral nature of the present moment, of each generation discovering its youth and beauty, and then slowly seeing it pass away. The slow descent into alcoholism was like looking back on my… Read more
-
Song of Solomon
Review: Outstanding. A work that is so good it kept me reading for hours. Could not bear to put it down. 5 stars If I had to have a quibble, it would only be that Guitar Bains turns into a ninja near the end, but that helps to move the plot forward, if a little… Read more
-
The Great Gatsby
Review: Perfect. Like if Edith Wharton got high on coke. At once thoughtful, funny, provoking, sentimental. Just a great novel that deserves to be called a classic. Overall rating: How I discovered or acquired this book: — Noteworthy experiences while reading this book: Adding herring to taquitos is not as good as I thought Check… Read more
-
The Pilgrim’s Progress
Review: Christian allegory. But… actually very well done, and it’s old, but holds up well. For the time and audience that it was written for it sure got its message across. The first part was more gritty, the second a bit too “okay now we got a dude with superpowers to get this pilgrimage done… Read more
-
The Scarlet Letter
Review: A great testament about the poison that is religion. Superbly paced, characters are among the best developed in so short a space. It makes one angry, and sad, and passionate, all sorts of emotions. Makes me want to punch a priest in the throat. Superb job Mr. Hawthorne! Overall rating: How I discovered or… Read more
-
Walden
Review: Hypocritical preachy contradictory twaddle from a 44 year old virgin. Everyone should live by a pond (and go to Momma’s house daily) and spend too much idle time looking at sand and ice. Like Communism is great, as long as I get to keep my own stuff. Still, got it done, got my reps… Read more