Modern Library's Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century Quest: #79

Title: A Room with a View
Author: E. M. Forster
Judgin' the Book By Its Cover: I think you know how I feel about mustaches... I'm titling this portraiting "Pensive 'Stache".

Thoughts: A Room with a View is the story of Lucy Honeychurch, a young girl who takes a fateful trip to Florence under the supervision of her spinster cousin, Charlotte. While in Florence, Lucy meets the Emersons, a father and son who revel in bucking societal conventions and preach the gospel of nonconformity to her. Predictably, an "unexpected" romance blossoms, and, although Lucy cannot bring herself to admit it, she finds herself head over heels in love and rethinking her entire worldview.

This frothy story was an incredibly quick read-- I blasted through the majority of it on a round trip bus ride to Baltimore and back. Don't get me wrong-- there are some complex metaphors at work here, and some interesting ideas are presented, but it was still a pretty light read. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would-- it could only be described as "witty" and was occasionally even laugh-out-loud funny. However, the romance was thoroughly unbelievable and the prose was somewhat tainted, in my opinion, by the sexism of Forster's perspective-- he frequently referred to women as "illogical" and even inferred that they are incapable of complex thinking. Icky!! But, it was likable enough, especially given the length (or lack thereof).

Modern Library's Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century Quest: #80

Title: Brideshead Revisited
Author: Evelyn Waugh
Judgin' the Book By Its Cover: Love this cover! It's hilarious.

Thoughts: Brideshead Revisited is the story of Charles Ryder, a young English student, and his acquaintance and eventual friendship with an eccentric, aristocratic family. Charles befriends the hard-drinking and flamboyant younger brother, Sebastian, at Oxford, and is quickly sucked into the dizzying world of the enigmatic Flytes. However, Charles ultimately remains an outsider because he cannot comprehend the force that simultaneously binds together and drives apart the family-- their Catholic faith.

I thought this was a really unique book. The characters are intriguing and the story, despite a lull towards the middle, is engaging. I especially likes the way that the Flytes were portrayed, warts and all-- they seemed incredibly real, despite their eccentricities. I also loved that the commonality held by all the disparate members of the family was their Catholicism. The ending is absolutely moving-- the kindling of the spark of faith in the patriarch's bosom (yeah, I just used "bosom" in a sentence) reignites the wholw family and even the virulently agnostic Charles can't help but be affected.

I'd been looking forward to reading this book for over a year now-- I originally purchased it to read with K-Dub, but alas, I abandoned her in pursuit of the Quest and she read it all by her lonesome. While I wish I had read it with her (I could've greatly benefited from her savory wit and sharp analysis), it was well worth the wait. Highly recommended.

Modern Library's Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century Quest: #81

Title: The Adventures of Augie March
Author: Saul Bellow
Judgin' the Book By Its Cover: Dude, it has a giant gila monster on it! Two thumbs up!!

Thoughts: This story, unsurprisingly, is about the adventures of one Augie March, a boy living in the Jewish slums of Chicago in the years before the Depression. The book follows him as he attends grows up, falls in love (over and over again), and eventually serves in World War II. It was quite difficult to get into this book, as the first 100 pages or so are spent describing various character's in Augie's neighborhood. Eventually, as Augie sets off on his journeys, things get more interesting. I especially enjoyed the passages describing his trip to Mexico with an unstable girlfriend bent on training a young bald eagle to hunt giant gila monsters (again, I can't get enough of the giant gila monsters!!).

I found Bellow's prose to be a bit off-putting-- he frequently used metaphors that were difficult to follow (or even nonsensical) and tended to be verbose where I would have preferred brevity. Moreover, I generally wasn't interested in Augie's search for meaning. He relegates all the events and people in his life to supporting roles for his grand theories about life, at times sacrificing story in doing so. There were definitely parts of the novel that I enjoyed, though, so it wasn't a complete fail, but this isn't a book I would return to anytime soon.

This week the Man Friend reminded me that it's been exactly one year since I embarked on this heroic quest, which depressed me quite a bit. It's been a long, strange trip (OK, not really, but I couldn't really resist a Dead reference), and it feels like forever since I read The Magnificent Ambersons, but I'm only 20% of the way done (not even, actually)! At this rate it will take me FOUR MORE YEARS to get through this list. I'm a bit intimidated, to be honest.

Mosaical

Here is a fun game from kristywes-- self-portraiture via photo mosaic! To make yours, type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search. Using only the first page of returned images, choose your favorite and copy-&-paste each of the URL’s into the Mosaic Maker (3 columns, 4 rows).

The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you attend?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10.What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your Flickr name.

Kristywes answered her questions, but I'm going to leave mine blank (and therefore mysterious). See if you can guess how I answered!

Modern Library's Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century Quest: #82

Title: Angle of Repose
Author: Wallace Stegner
Judgin' the Book By Its Cover: This cover doesn't do much justice to the story-- does it make you want to read the book?

Thoughts: Angle of Repose tells the story of Lyman Ward, an aging historian, crippled physically by disease and emotionally by his wife's betrayal, living in California in the early '70's. To stave off loneliness and to retain what he can of his independence, he embarks on a new project and begins digging into the letters, articles, and drawings left behind by his grandmother, an accomplished artist from New England who left a life of sophistication and culture to move to the Western frontier and marry a mining engineer. As Ward contemplates his life and his grandmother's, he draws startling conclusions about the nature of marriage and what holds relationships together.

The book was very absorbing, and really examined the lives and relationships of the characters. I found it challenging and difficult to read at times, especially as I watched marriages disintegrate and characters inflict wounds on each other that would never heal. It really made me think about my own relationship and the choices that you have to make to keep your life intersecting with the lives of others.

Modern Library's Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century Quest: #83

Title: A Bend in the River
Author: V.S. Naipaul
Judgin' the Book By Its Cover: This cover actually tells a lot about the book and about Naipaul's perspective-- the photo visually represents his impression of Africans as unknowable and obscured by ever-changing masks.

Thoughts: I really liked this book. It very thoughtfully depicted post-colonial life in an unnamed African country (although it is almost certainly Zaire/Congo). The book is narrated by Salim, a young merchant whose ancestors came to the African coast from India generations earlier. Salim takes over a trading post in the interior of the continent, and as the leader of the fledgling nation rapidly consolidates power, he and his compatriots are at first unwilling and later unable to leave. The events that follow are devastating, and the prose, though sparse, is evocative. Salim's impressions of Africa as an outsider and an insider at the same time are revelatory, and his description of the continent as a force separate from and transcending above humanity is powerfully enlightening.

Here's the first sentence of the book as a little teaser: "The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it."

Definitely recommended.

NOTE: I promise to stop reviewing books 2+ weeks after I finish reading them. OK, I promise to try-- you can't fault me for trying, can you?

Modern Library's Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century Quest: #84

Title: The Death of the Heart
Author: Elizabeth Bowen
Judgin' the Book By Its Cover: This isn't the cover that I have, but it's kind of funny. I have a totally tricked-out '70's version of the girl alone in posh surroundings... gotta love the used books at Housing Works...

Thoughts: Let's see... I finished this book over two weeks ago, but I'm still not sure what I think about it. The story is about Portia (the product of a father's middle-age infidelity), who is forced to live with her half-brother and his wife after the death of her parents. It's clear that her brother and sister-in-law view her as a burden and are unsettled by the unwavering gaze she fixes on them and their lifestyle. Like The Old Wives' Tale, the novel is a very close inspection of the interactions between family members who are emotionally distant.

As Portia feels more and more the distance between herself and her guardians, she draws near to Eddie, a clearly up-to-no-good older beau. The book seems to be a tale about a doomed romance that will certainly end with Portia as a ruined woman, but instead presents a probably more realistic and definitely more interesting look at first love and growing up. That said, it wasn't very much fun to read. It seems to be mainly about the cruelty of society and familial relations, and doesn't present much hope of overcoming this cruelty. So I can't really give it rave reviews. I'm learning more and more that the psychological novel isn't my favorite genre, although I'd be happy to change my mind on the subject (any suggestions?).