The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This book is about Jay Gatsby, a mysterious young millionaire who lives on Long Island and seems to be in love with his married neighbor Daisy.  I find this hard to understand, as I find Daisy kind of annoying.  Gatsby makes a big sacrifice for her, so the story is kind of sad.  Forbidden love and sad endings are not my usual favorites, but I still enjoyed this book.  Of course Fitzgerald is  great writer which always helps.

It is a quick easy read, especially for a literary great.  It is easily worth the time.

Jazz by Toni Morrison

This is a very strange book.  Morrison tends to write odd stories, but this one is particularly disjointed.  It is like the music it is named after--a great deal of improvisation around a theme and sometimes it is only the tiniest bit related to the central theme.  The story starts with Joe, a 50-year-old man who shoots and kills his young lover.  His wife, Violet, tries to cut up the young woman's face at her funeral.  The story swirls around the two of them and their lives.  I didn't love it; I would prefer more of a straight narrative style.  And the story never really seems to go anywhere.

It's a pretty short easy read but not worth the time.

The Door into Summer by Robert Heinlein

Heinlein is always a very creative science fiction writer.  This book includes cryogenics and time travel.  It tells the story of Dan Davis, an electronics engineer who invents household robot help.  His partner and fiance conspire to betray him and steal his technology and place him into the "long sleep" for thirty years.  Thirty years later Davis wakes to a new world that he loves, but he soon feels it is important to go back to the past to change things for him and his former partners and discovers someone who can do so.  It ends with everything happy and those who deserve punishment being punished. 

It is a quick easy read.  It is also fast-paced enough to keep your attention in spite of not being particularly deep.  The title is clever, though, as it is explained early on and resonates with our experiences.

Lady Vernon and Her Daughter by Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway

This is an expansion of Austen's novel Lady Susan, so for this review to make sense you need to know something about that novel as well.  A lot of my reactions come from the differences between the characters in the two novles.  Lady Susan is Austen's earliest effort at writing but wasn't published until after her death.  It is a novel completely composed of letters.  In it, Lady Susan Vernon is a manipulative flirt who is determined to get herself and her daughter married well.  Marrying well is a legitimate endeavor in Austen's time and novels, but Lady Susan does go about it in an unpleasant manner.  In the original book Lady Susan's letters show her to be an heartless coquette who doesn't care for her daughter or seemingly anyone else. 

In Lady Vernon and Her Daughter, Lady Susan is a very admirable character.  Her reputation as a flirt is undeserved.  She has a good relationship with her daughter, who is also a much better character in this version.  In Lady Susan the daughter Frederica is uneducated and not socially adept.  In this expansion, she prefers nature because of a scholarly bent and is socially timid and inexperienced while still being polite and pleasant.  I prefer Lady Vernon and Her Daughter as far as liking the characters.  The authors try to stay true to Austen, the book contains a great many letters.  Some of the lines and dialogue in Lady Vernon are taken straight from Austen.  It isn't of course as good as Austen (because nothing is!)  The letters interfere with the flow of the narrative somewhat.  Becuase the authors have changed Lady Susan's character, it raises some questions about the story.  I kept wondering why Lady Vernon and her daughter did nothing to correct the misconceptions of those around them.  It is also odd that Lady Vernon would be close friends with Mrs. Johnson, the Manwarings, etc, when she is too good for them in this version.

It was an unusual story as they changed so much from Austen's original character.  It was nice, though, to get a more positive story that felt more like Austen's usual style.  Lady Susan didn't fit Austen's usual heroines.   It's also always fun to get more about Austen's world and characters and these authors do a good job of it.  It is a fairly long book for what it actually contains, but it is worth the time if you're a fairly fast reader.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

This is a very hard book to read, not because of its reading level, but due to its content.  Lolita tells the story of Humbert Humbert and is told from his perspective.  Humbert is a pedophile and becomes obsessed with a 13-year-old girl.  This book tells of his seduction of her after she is his stepdaughter, when she is 15.  Can you see why it is hard to read?  The book surprised me because in popular idiom, a "Lolita" is a sexually precocious girl, so that's what I was expecting.  Although Humbert Humbert believes this of his stepdaughter and therefore portrays her that way in the story, she is only fifteen and he is middle-aged, so it certainly doesn't ring true.  Obviously Humbert Humbert has a warped view of the world.  He tries hard to engage the sympathy of the reader, but I can't imagine that happens very often.

It is an interesting book just because it is so different.  It is fairly short and reads easily.  I found it challenging, probably partly because I'm a mother!

The Importance of Being Seven by Alexander McCall Smith

This is the latest book in the 44 Scotland Street series.  The title is a bit misleading as Bertie does not turn seven and is actually still six at the end of the book, as he has been for almost the entire series.  It is fun to catch up with the characters and see the changes they are making in their lives.  Sadly, Bruce's changes seemed to be temporary, and he is apparently back to being his old obnoxious, narcissistic self.  Things are looking up for Bertie as his father helps him join cub scouts and find at least a small escape from his overbearing mother.

McCall Smith always writes very well with clever, intelligent characters.  He makes Edinburgh feel wonderful and real.  It is a quick read as it has short chapters that go really quickly.  It is easily worth the time.

A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute

What a marvelous book!  I really loved it.  It is the story of Jean Paget told from the point of view of her trustee.  Miss Paget is working in Malaya during the second world war and is taken prisoner by the Japanese.  The women and children she is with are not put into a prison camp but are instead marched all over the country, dying on the way.  She survives the war and then receives an inheritance from an uncle.  She heads to the Australian outback where she helps build a "town like Alice" Springs.  It is interesting to read descriptions of Malaya and the Australian outback and the way life is lived there.  It is an intriguing story that is very different from my daily life but still feels completely believable.  It is definitely worth the time.

The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler

This book tells the story of four generations of the Pontifex family.  It particularly focuses on Ernest, a young man of the latest generation.  He struggles with questions about his faith.  He assaults a young woman and serves a term in jail.  He becomes a tailor and marries a woman who ends up being an alcoholic who is already married.  Clearly his life isn't wonderful, and it makes for a rather depressing story.  He does reach an age where he gets a financial legacy from an aunt that improves things, so it's nice that it isn't all bad. 

I didn't love it.  It's fairly interesting and well-written but it's also sad and quite unpleasant.  It isn't too long, though, so it is still worth the time. 

The Unbearable Lightness of Scones by Alexander McCall Smith

This is another installment in the 44 Scotland Street series.  These books were originally written and published in The Scotsman as serial novels.  This makes them very fast-paced and easy to read with short chapters and many characters with fast-paced storytelling.  One of the things I enjoy about these novels is that McCall Smith narrates from all different perspectives.  It is fun to see how successfully he can change from view to view, a precocious child to a scholarly woman to a committed bachelor to a dog!  This particular book has Bertie continuing to struggle with his overbearing mother, although his father does help him join cub scouts.  Matthew marries and goes on his honeymoon.  And Bruce undergoes a great change that bodes well for his likeability.

This is an easy, entertaining read that is definitely worth the time.  Because of its structure, the book seems to fly by.

Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson

This book tells the story of a young man who is banished from his family by mutual consent and sent to be the laird of a nearby family property.  He falls in love with a young lady there.  The story is confusing as two characters have the same name, and Stevenson didn't finish it, so it cuts off at an inopportune moment.

It reads fairly easily, so it's worth the time if you're a fan of Stevenson.  If not, you may not like to read it, since he never finished it.

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

I know this book is widely hailed as a masterpiece and is, of course, on many best books lists.  But I couldn't make it through!  I started it.  It is very "literary" and has many disjointed vignettes and stream-of-consciousness type passages.  Pynchon shuns the traditional narrative form.  It is also very long, and I wasn't enjoying it at all, so I quit!  It was also not awarded a pulitzer because of a scene of someone receiving sexual pleasure from feces (I never got to that part.), which I find quite gross and didn't want to read.  I guess I'm not a very "literary" person.  It definitely isn't worth the time.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

This is a great book, particularly for younger readers.  I first read it as a kid and read it much more that time.  I had my son read it as well (he's 13), and he quite liked it, in spite of the fact that he mostly loves fantasy and doesn't usually read a lot of adventure.  Treasure Island tells the story of Jim Hawkins, almost completely from his point of view.  Jim helps take care of an old pirate at a boarding house his mother runs.  When the pirate is dying, he gives Jim a treasure map.  Jim decides to find the treasure and adventure ensues, including meeting Long John Silver, the very famous one-legged pirate with a parrot who is one of the few characters in children's literature who fits in the moral "gray" area.

It's a quick easy read that is fun and adventure-filled.  It's worth the time.

Evening by Susan Minot

This book made me think of As I Lay Dying.  Obviously Minot isn't another Faulkner, but the story line has definite similarities.  Evening tells the story of Ann Lord, who is bedridden and dying.  It tells some of the things that are happening with her family while she is there (like Faulkner's story), but it the most linear and coherent story line is her memory of the great love of her life, Harris Arden.  Even though she only knew him briefly, at the end of her life that was where her focus went.  It is well written and mostly interesting.  It does have paragraphs/small sections of rambling that doesn't mean much if anything.  I don't enjoy that sort of thing and prefer a narrative style, but they are short enough and infrequent enough to be tolerable.

Ann's reminisces include some sexual activity with Arden, so it isn't a squeaky clean book, which I prefer.  It is also quite sad as Arden is engaged before he meets Ann and stays with his pregnant fiance, even though Ann at least seems to feel a very important connection. 

It is a fairly quick read and well written but not wonderful.

Looking Backwards by Edward Bellamy

This book is more a political statement than a story.  It tells of Julian West, who is put into a hypnotic sleep and due to a series of circumstances doesn't wake for 113 years until the year 2000.  He is still in Boston, but it is now a socialist utopian society.  A large part of the book consists of Julian West asking his guide, a local doctor, questions about the society and how it runs and the doctor answers these questions.  It's almost like a really long, fictional lecture about Bellamy's views.  There are some interesting parts, as Bellamy makes some fairly accurate predictions about consumerism and technology, but he is much more concerned with societal changes.  I suppose I am just too steeped in American capitalism and its ideas because this utopian society seemed unrealistic and impossible to me!  It isn't a book I would choose to read.

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

I first read this book as a teenager and didn't really love it.  I read it again since it was on the list and still didn't love it.  It's an interesting subject and story but isn't very well written and is very preachy.  It is a quick read for how long it is, so that's nice.  I would say it isn't really worth the time unless you're interested in the subject for some reason:  the historical time period, slavery, abolition, etc.

Germinal by Emil Zola

This book surprised me.  I don't know what I was expecting, but certainly not such an involved story of mining in the 1860's.  It seemed extremely realistic and made me wonder if it really was.  It made me curious as to how accurate the depiction of the mining process was.  It definitely seemed real, and the writing is good enough to get a person very involved in the story and the lives of his characters as they suffer so much the miners choose to strike.  Étienne Lantier arrives in a mining town and finds a job in the mines.  He gets involved with the people in the city, particularly those on his mining team, including a young woman he falls in love with.  There is a dangerous anarchist involved in the strike.  He blows the mine when some of the miners go back to work and traps them in the mine.  The story has a sad end, too, made more sad by the fact that the reader is very involved with the characters by the end of the book.

The story has many social implications.  It also deals a little with genetic predispositions in our current behavior and choices.  It is a rather long book and takes some time to read, but it is worth the time.

Erewhon by Samuel Butler

I didn't particularly like this book and even found it very boring at times.  The main character visits the country of  Erewhon, which is supposed to be "nowhere" backwards.  At first it seems like a utopian society, but it is quickly clear that it has some serious problems.  I don't enjoy utopian-type books or satires about society in general, so this wasn't a favorite of mine.  Occasionally it reminded me of Swift's Gulliver's Travels.  It read fairly quickly, so that was a plus, but I would still say it isn't worth the time.

Love Over Scotland & The World According to Bertie by Alexander McCall Smith

I finished Love Over Scotland and didn't want the story to end, so I immediately started The World According to Bertie.  These are books three and four in the 44 Scotland Street series.  It was fun to read about the characters we have come to know and love and see how they are doing.  Bertie continues to be my favorite story line.  He is a 6-year-old with a demanding mother who pushes him too hard and won't let him be a little boy.  It was also fun to read about Domenica's experiences with the pirates she left to study at the end of the second book.  In The World According to Bertie, I liked the character of Pat less.  I'm hoping I will like her again as she makes better choices in the next books.  I'm also looking forward to things improving for Bertie.

Alexander McCall Smith's books are always enjoyable.  He writes a clever story.  These two books are entertaining and are also quick easy reads.  They're definitely worth the time.

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

I checked this book out from the library because it is on the British Big Read list of 200 best books.  I didn't know anything about it, so I read the front flap and the comments on the back cover before starting to read.  These areas included the comments:  "stirringly erotic" and "the most erotic."  I don't believe in reading books that fit those categories, so I decided not to read this book.  I wanted to include a review, though, since it is on the list and maybe somebody else also believes in not reading books of that type.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

This is a different book for Charles Dickens.  There are similarities to Dickens' other books, like the lack of personality of the female character.  But the style is different and it breaks the mold more than any of Dickens' other books.  It is also shorter, which makes it an easier read than the usual tale by Dickens.

This book largely tells the story of the dissolute Sydney Carton during the French revolution.  His story also involves Charles Darnay, a French aristocrat, and Lucie Mannette whose father is a doctor involved in the revolution.  The combination of characters causes some interesting conflicts and culminates in a dangerous situation for Darnay and a sacrifice by Carton.

I love this book, not as a great example of Dickens (which it really isn't), but a great book in its own right.  I have read it many times because I enjoy it so much.  It is also a much easier read than the usual Dickens' book and goes pretty quickly.  It is definitely worth the time.