Appointment in Samarra, by John O’Hara, describes in ambiguous detail the self-destruction of the central character Julian English over the course of a short three-day period. Although he seems to have it all as a wealthy car dealer and member of the social elite of his town, along with his wife Caroline, he acts impulsively … Continue reading The Social Elite and Samarra – #22
Tag: Modern library
Invisible No Longer – #19
Prior to reading Invisible Man, the only thing I knew about Ralph Ellison was that his smiling face greeted me from my Kindle in a rotation with John Steinbeck, Charlotte Bronte, and a few others. I’m glad I got to actually read his milestone work, which was his first novel and was originally conceived after … Continue reading Invisible No Longer – #19
So it Goes – Slaughterhouse Five – #18
Confession time – At almost a fourth of the way through Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, I was still expecting for the main character to somehow get to the Chicago slaughterhouse district because I had confused this novel with The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, which I read in high school. Whew! That literary fail is … Continue reading So it Goes – Slaughterhouse Five – #18
Mastering the List
Well, Andi’s assessment of my summer and fall that she detailed in this post was spot on. Although I did fine reading through Modern Library’s Top 100 Books of the 20th Century when I just had work, family, and teaching responsibilities, starting graduate school tipped the scales just enough where the only thing I felt … Continue reading Mastering the List
