The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Title: The Secret Life of Bees

Author: Sue Monk Kidd

Publisher: Penguin Books 2003

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 352

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual - Top 100 YA, 21st Century Women Authors, Rory Gilmore; Goodreads Random

Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted black "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sister, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna. This is a remarkable novel about divine female power, a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.

A really beautiful coming-of-age story set in a fraught time period and place. I was rooting for Lily to find her place int he world away from her father and the ignorant perspectives of many in her community. I loved meeting the sisters and learning about beekeeping and their particular brand of religion. Many of the sequences feel very dreamlike. Almost like the opening scenes of Lily watching the bees swarm in her room. My only quibble with the book is the format. At times, the constant flashbacks muddled the prose. Transitions were not the best. Overall this was a lovely atmospheric book.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen

Title: Out of Africa

Author: Isak Dinesen

Publisher: 1937

Genre: Memoir

Pages: 399

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual (Rory Gilmore); Popsugar - Male pseudonym; Share-a-Tea

With classic simplicity and a painter's feeling for atmosphere and detail, Isak Dinesen tells of the years she spent from 1914 to 1931 managing a coffee plantation in Kenya.

This one has been on my list for years, especially after I read Circling the Sun. I was a little thrown off by the nonlinear nature to this book, but quickly got over the format. The volume is part memoir, part travelogue. I really fell into the atmosphere of Kenya and Karen's life there. Passages of this book were incredibly beautiful. It took me a bit of time to get through this one only because I had to reread some of the descriptive passages. 

Next up on the TBR pile:

Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Title: Living History

Author: Hillary Rodham Clinton

Publisher: Scribner 2004

Genre: Autobiography

Pages: 592

Rating:  3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Nonfiction Adventure; Rory Gilmore; TBR Reduction; Mount TBR; 52 Books - W9

Hillary Rodham Clinton is known to hundreds of millions of people around the world. Yet few beyond her close friends and family have ever heard her account of her extraordinary journey. She writes with candor, humor and passion about her upbringing in suburban, middle-class America in the 1950s and her transformation from Goldwater Girl to student activist to controversial First Lady. Living History is her revealing memoir of life through the White House years. It is also her chronicle of living history with Bill Clinton, a thirty-year adventure in love and politics that survives personal betrayal, relentless partisan investigations and constant public scrutiny.Hillary Rodham Clinton came of age during a time of tumultuous social and political change in America. Like many women of her generation, she grew up with choices and opportunities unknown to her mother or grandmother. She charted her own course through unexplored terrain -- responding to the changing times and her own internal compass -- and became an emblem for some and a lightning rod for others. Wife, mother, lawyer, advocate and international icon, she has lived through America's great political wars, from Watergate to Whitewater.The only First Lady to play a major role in shaping domestic legislation, Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled tirelessly around the country to champion health care, expand economic and educational opportunity and promote the needs of children and families, and she crisscrossed the globe on behalf of women's rights, human rights and democracy. She redefined the position of First Lady and helped save the presidency from an unconstitutional, politically motivated impeachment. Intimate, powerful and inspiring, Living History captures the essence of one of the most remarkable women of our time and the challenging process by which she came to define herself and find her own voice -- as a woman and as a formidable figure in American politics.

Hmmmm... I have mixed feelings about this one. I really liked the subject matter. Learning more about Clinton was my goal. She has been a very fascinating figure for the last twenty years. And yet, I found my mind wandering throughout the book. I finally realized that I am a fan of the writing style. The quick transitions between stories were somewhat jarring. Ultimately I finished the book, but not my favorite at all.

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Title: Ethan Frome

Author: Edith Wharton

Publisher: 1911

Genre: Classic Fiction

Pages: 99

Rating:  3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Rory Gilmore; 1001 Books; TBR Reduction; A to Z - E; 52 Books - W5; Classics - Name in Title

Perhaps the best-known and most popular of Edith Wharton's novels, Ethan Frome is widely considered her masterpiece. Set against a bleak New England background, the novel tells of Frome, his ailing wife Zeena and her companion Mattie Silver, superbly delineating the characters of each as they are drawn relentlessly into a deep-rooted domestic struggle. Burdened by poverty and spiritually dulled by a loveless marriage to an older woman. Frome is emotionally stirred by the arrival of a youthful cousin who is employed as household help. Mattie's presence not only brightens a gloomy house but stirs long-dormant feelings in Ethan. Their growing love for one another, discovered by an embittered wife, presages an ending to this grim tale that is both shocking and savagely ironic.

A classic author I have been meaning to read for years now. I have to admit that I was slightly disappointed in this novel. I just wasn't feeling any of the characters. I really enjoyed the descriptions of the bleak landscape. Those were where Wharton truly shined. But the characters and storyline just weren't that intriguing to me at all.

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Title: Beloved

Author: Toni Morrison

Publisher: Vintage 1988

Genre: Literature

Pages: 291

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall into Reading; Time Top 100; Rory Gilmore; 1001 Books; Ebook; Lucky 14 - Been There Forever

Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement.

I was intrigued by the storyline.  And the characters were great.  I really fell for Sethe and Denver.  But I must say that I was not a fan of the writing style. After almost 300 pages of the writing, I almost didn't make it to the end.  I wanted to see what happened to everyone, but the writing was getting to me.  My biggest complaint was the dialogue passages. Often I got very confused about who was speaking at any given time. Not a fan at all...

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Title: Bel Canto

Author: Ann Patchett

Publisher: HarperCollins 2001

Genre: Literature

Pages: 318

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 21st Century Women; Rory Gilmore; Mount TBR; Women Authors

Opera and terrorism make strange bedfellows, yet in this novel they complement each other nicely. At a birthday party for Japanese industrialist Mr. Hosokawa somewhere in South America, famous American soprano Roxanne Coss is just finishing her recital in the Vice President's home when armed terrorists appear, intending to take the President hostage. However, he is not there, so instead they hold the international businesspeople and diplomats at the party, releasing all the women except Roxanne. Captors and their prisoners settle into a strange domesticity, with the opera diva captivating them all as she does her daily practicing. Soon romantic liaisons develop with the hopeless intensity found in many opera plots. Patchett (The Patron Saint of Liars) balances terrorism, love, and music nicely here. 

This has been on my TBR list for ages.  We chose it for our book club selection for July and I was very excited to read the novel finally.  However, I ended up being not very impressed with the novel.  It's not to say that it's bad.  I imagine that many peiple love this volume.  I just didn't.  I never felt connected to any of the characters and became very detached about everything.  People rave about Patchett's writing, but I didn't find anything special about it.  It's a well written novel, but just not anything that really struck me as great.

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

Title: The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic and Murder at the Fair that Changed America

Author: Erik Larson

Publisher: Vintage Books 2003

Genre: U.S. History

Pages: 447

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Nonfiction Adventure; Rory Gilmore; Library Books; Monthly Key Word - Color

Erik Larson—author of #1 bestseller IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS—intertwines the true tale of the 1893 World's Fair and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.

I loved this book.  Initially I thought it was just about the serial killer H.H. Holmes, but in reality this book tells the story of the creation and destruction of The White City.  I was fascinated by the process of planning and building the World's Fair.  I did not realize the amount of famous to me people that either had a hand in building the fair or were attendees.  All throughout we get interludes about the murder spree of H.H. Holmes (only to be discovered after the fair).  Larson's writing is clear and concise but with a nice storytelling manner.  We get the inclusion of primary sources fitted seamlessly into the narrative.  Even switching between the two main story lines is done well.  Definitely a well written historical narrative.

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Title: The Nanny Diaries

Author: Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin 2002

Genre: Chick Lit

Pages: 306

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR; Movies; Rory Gilmore; 52 Books -- W6; Women Authors

Wanted: One young woman to take care of four-year-old boy. Must be cheerful, enthusiastic and selfless--bordering on masochistic. Must relish sixteen-hour shifts with a deliberately nap-deprived preschooler. Must love getting thrown up on, literally and figuratively, by everyone in his family. Must enjoy the delicious anticipation of ridiculously erratic pay. Mostly, must love being treated like fungus found growing out of employers Hermès bag. Those who take it personally need not apply.

Who wouldn't want this job? Struggling to graduate from NYU and afford her microscopic studio apartment, Nanny takes a position caring for the only son of the wealthy X family. She rapidly learns the insane amount of juggling involved to ensure that a Park Avenue wife who doesn't work, cook, clean, or raise her own child has a smooth day.

When the Xs' marriage begins to disintegrate, Nanny ends up involved way beyond the bounds of human decency or good taste. Her tenure with the X family becomes a nearly impossible mission to maintain the mental health of their four-year-old, her own integrity and, most importantly, her sense of humor. Over nine tense months, Mrs. X and Nanny perform the age-old dance of decorum and power as they test the limits of modern-day servitude.

Overall, a fairly disappointing book. I think the problem is that it is just so predictable.  I knew exactly how the relationships between Nanny and Mrs. X and Grayer would play out.  It feels like this story is just played out.  It's just not the book for me.  I seem to be on a trend lately of disappointing reads.  I hope they get better.  At least I am weeding out the not great reads from my bookshelves.  Off to Half Price Books to sell some books I go...

Movie:

The movie is fairly true to the book which of course bored me.  I just didn't really connect to any of the characters.  It's not a bad movie, just a tired storyline and stereotypical characters.  The movie may appeal to some, but I just didn't find myself wanting to see it again.

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

Title: High Fidelity

Author: Nick Hornby

Publisher: Riverhead Books 1995

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Pages: 323

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR; New Authors; Monthly Motif -- January Around the World; Book to Movie; Rory Gilmore Challenge

Rob is a pop music junkie who runs his own semi-failing record store. His girlfriend, Laura, has just left him for the guy upstairs, and Rob is both miserable and relieved. After all, could he have spent his life with someone who has a bad record collection? Rob seeks refuge in the company of the offbeat clerks at his store, who endlessly review their top five films (Reservoir Dogs...); top five Elvis Costello songs ("Alison"...); top five episodes of Cheers (the one where Woody sang his stupid song to Kelly...). Rob tries dating a singer whose rendition of "Baby, I Love Your Way" makes him cry. But maybe it's just that he's always wanted to sleep with someone who has a record contract. Then he sees Laura again. And Rob begins to think (awful as it sounds) that life as an episode of thirtysomething, with all the kids and marriages and barbecues and k.d. lang CD's that this implies, might not be so bad.

This is one of J's favorite books.  He's been bugging me to read this for years now.  I finally got around to it.  And I really did like the book.  My favorite aspect is the writing style.  Hornby writes as though Rob (the main character) is sitting across from you in some pub telling you his story. There's an easy-ness to the writing that I just loved.  As to the characters, Rob reminded me so much of J.  I can see why he really likes this book.  It's almost part of his life story.  Laura is a bit of a flat character, but that's okay.  The story isn't about the romance between Rob and Laura.  The story is about Rob's life now and his dreams and aspirations.  I really enjoyed getting to know Rob and his quirky sense of life.

Movie:

The movie is one of the truest adaptations of a novel that I've ever seen.  I really really like this movie.  It retains the conversational style of the novel.  It retains the quirky characters -- great casting, especially Jack Black as Barry.  They make minor changes (like some of the bands mentioned).  They make one major change (London to Chicago).  But those changes don't bother me at all.  The changes don't make a negative impact on the story.  Great movie.  Great music.  Great characters.

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

Title: A Room with a View

Author: E.M. Forster

Genre: Classics

Pages: 204

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR; Book to Movie; Back to the Classics -- 20th Century Classic; 1001 Books; Rory Gilmore

British social comedy examines a young heroine's struggle against strait-laced Victorian attitudes as she rejects the man her family has encouraged her to marry and chooses, instead, a socially unsuitable fellow she met on holiday in Italy. Classic exploration of passion, human nature and social convention.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed in this novel.  I had heard that it was a great social commentary piece.  I had heard that it had great characters.  I guess I can see those things.  However, throughout most of the book I was just bored.  Guess it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Movie:

Loved the actor choices for this novel. Loved the locations.  Thought it was a very good adaptation of the novel.  But, like the novel I was bored throughout most of the movie.  This will not be on my rewatch list.

2014 Reading Challenges -- Perpetual Edition

Overall, I want to focus most of my 2014 reading challenges of knocking out some of my perpetual reading challenges.  So I've chosen a few books from each challenge to help me reach my ultimate goals.

Fantasy Project: 20 Books

1. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
2. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
3. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
4. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
5. A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin
6. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
7. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
8. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
9. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
10. Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning
11. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
12. The Little Prince by
13. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein
14. TBD
15. TBD
16. TBD
17. TBD
18. TBD
19. TBD
20. TBD

Nonfiction Adventure: 20 Books

1. The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
2. Living History by Hilary Rodham Clinton
3. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
4. John Adams by
5. Washington by
6. American Lion by
7. Woodrow Wilson by
8. Alexander Hamilton by
9. The Private World of Georgette Heyer by Jane Aiken Hodge
10. What Ifs of American History by
11. A Vindication on the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft
12. Becoming Mona Lisa by Donald Sassoon
13. The Emperor of Maladies by
14. TBD
15. TBD
16. TBD
17. TBD
18. TBD
19. TBD
20. TBD

NPR Scifi and Fantasy: 10 Books

1. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
2. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
3. A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin
4. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
5. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
6. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
7. Neuromancer by William Gibson
8. Contact by Carl Sagan
9. Dune by Frank Herbert
10. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

NPR Teen Books: 10 Books

1. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
2. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
3. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
4. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
5. Dune by Frank Herbert
6. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
7. TBD
8. TBD
9. TBD
10. TBD

Top 100 YA Novels: 5 Books

1. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
2. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
3. Tithe by Holly Black
4. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
5. TBD

21st Century Women Authors: 5 Books

1. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
2. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
3. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
4. House of Riverston by Kate Morton
5. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

United States of YA: 5 Books

1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
3. TBD
4. TBD
5. TBD

Time Top 100: 5 Books

1. Neuromancer by William Gibson
2. Beloved by Toni Morrison
3. TBD
4. TBD
5. TBD

Rory Gilmore: 10 Books

1. The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
2. Living History by Hilary Rodham Clinton
3. The TIme Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
4. Beloved by Toni Morrison
5. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
6. Siddartha by Herman Hesse
7. The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
8. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
9. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
10. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

1001 Books: 10 Books

1. Neuromancer by William Gibson
2. Contact by Carl Sagan
3. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
4. Beloved by Toni Morrison
5. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
6. Siddartha by Herman Hesse
7. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
8. Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
9. The Little Prince by
10. The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul by Douglas Adams

U.S. Presidents: 5 Books

1. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
2. John Adams by
3. American Lion by
4. Washington by
5. Woodrow Wilson by

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Title: Vanity Fair

Author: William Makepeace Thackeray

Genre: Classics 1847

Pages: 912

Rating:  3/5 stars    Movie: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Classics -- 19th Century; Mount TBR; Fall into Reading; Rory Gilmore (Perpetual); 1001 Books (Perpetual)

How I Got It: I own it!

Scorned for her lack of money and breeding, Becky must use all her wit, charm and considerable sex appeal to escape her drab destiny as a governess. From London’s ballrooms to the battlefields of Waterloo, the bewitching Becky works her wiles on a gallery of memorable characters, including her lecherous employer, Sir Pitt, his rich sister, Miss Crawley, and Pitt’s dashing son, Rawdon, the first of Becky’s misguided sexual entanglements.

Filled with hilarious dialogue and superb characterizations, Vanity Fair is a richly entertaining comedy that asks the reader, “Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?”

Hmmm... I thought i would like this book more than I actually did.  The story is good.  The characters are good.  But I guess I just don't really like Thackeray's writing style.  There's something about the prose that annoyed me throughout the book.  Still, I would recommend this novel to those who already have a love of the 19th century classics.

Movie:

The movie was much more enjoyable than the book, probably because I didn't have to be annoyed by the writing style.  I loved this lengthy adaptation.  Reese Witherspoon is great as Becky Sharp, although I think she's nicer in the movie than the book.  Romola Garai is great as the meek Amelia.  And I so love Rhys Ifans as Dobbins.  Overall, a few changes from the novel, but I still really liked it.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Title: The Count of Monte Cristo

Author: Alexandre Dumas

Genre: Classics

Pages: 1276

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Classics -- Adventure; Mount TBR; Blogger Recommendations; Book to Movie; Fall into Reading; Rory Gilmore (perpetual)

How I Got It: iPad

Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and becomes determined not only to escape but to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. A huge popular success when it was first serialized in the 1840s, Dumas was inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment when writing his epic tale of suffering and retribution.

I had put off reading this classic for far too long.  When it showed up on the list for the Blogger Recommendations Challenge, I knew I had to add it to my 2013 TBR list.  After taking forever to finish it (I blame the baby and Dumas' lack of brevity), I found that overall I really enjoyed the book.

The Good

Dumas can create very interesting and intriguing characters.  I especially loved Dantes, but of course the audience is supposed to connect with him throughout the adventure. The other supporting characters play their parts well.   I also enjoyed the storyline even if I knew it before reading the book.  I couldn't wait to see what happened next.

The Bad

As this was published in serial form in the 1840s, the novel lacks any sense of editing.  Dumas rambles on and on, especially the dialogue sections.  Characters take 20 pages to say something that could have been conveyed in 2 pages.  There were times that I had to put the novel down because I was getting tired of the slow pace.  As such, it took me three weeks to finish it.  Also, I loved the passages with Dantes as the main point of view, but felt distracted by chapters from the other characters.  Those chapters just didn't seem as engaging.  The switching of narrators was tiresome.

While, I had some issues with the novel, this is a classic that everyone should experience at some time in their lives.

Movie:

We happened to own the 2002 version of the novel, so I watched that one.  While I enjoyed the film on its own, it definitely changes much of the novel.  Dantes is still imprisoned and enacts his revenge once he escapes.  But most of the other parts and even character relationships have been changed.  I found the weird renewed romance between Dantes and Mercedes to be the most troublesome aspect of the changes.  I just couldn't get behind it, even if they made Albert their son instead of Mercedes and Fernand's son.  On a much happier note, I loved the action scenes and the introduction of the Count by way of hot air balloon.  To any thinking they can watch this movie instead of reading the book, you will miss so much...  Go read the book first!

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Title: Middlesex

Author: Jeffrey Eugenides

Publisher: Picador 2002

Genre: Literature

Pages: 544

Rating:  4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Historical Fiction; Mount TBR; Book Bingo - 4 from everyone but me; 52 Books - W44; Rory Gilmore; 1001 Books; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: iPad Read (Book Club Selection)

"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of l974. . . My birth certificate lists my name as Calliope Helen Stephanides. My most recent driver’s license...records my first name simply as Cal."

So begins the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family who travel from a tiny village overlooking Mount Olympus in Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit, witnessing its glory days as the Motor City, and the race riots of l967, before they move out to the tree-lined streets of suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan. To understand why Calliope is not like other girls, she has to uncover a guilty family secret and the astonishing genetic history that turns Callie into Cal, one of the most audacious and wondrous narrators in contemporary fiction. Lyrical and thrilling, Middlesex is an exhilarating reinvention of the American epic.  Middlesex is the winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

This has been on my TBR list for years, but I've always been scared to dive in.  The subject matter is extremely serious.  How do we approach the subject of intersex?  Overall, I think Eugenides does a great job approaching the topic from a unique angle.  Cal is an intriguing character and narrator.  I found those the parts about Cal's life to be fascinating.  The first half of the book focusing on Desdemona and Lefty and Milton and Tessie dragged a bit.  The first half was difficult to connect to.  Because of my reluctance to dive completely into the book, I knocked off a star.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Title: The Jungle

Author: Upton Sinclair

Genre: Classics

Pages: 458

Rating:  3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Rory Gilmore (Perpetual); Classics -- Nonfiction; Mount TBR; Dusty Bookshelf; 52 Books -- W37

How I Got It: I own it!

1906 bestseller shockingly reveals intolerable labor practices and unsanitary working conditions in the Chicago stockyards as it tells the brutally grim story of a Slavic family that emigrates to America full of optimism but soon descends into numbing poverty, moral degradation, and despair. A fiercely realistic American classic that will haunt readers long after they've finished the last page.

Just to clarify: I know this isn't strictly a nonfiction book.  However, it reads in parts like nonfiction.  Plus it was written as an expose of the meat packing industry.  So, I have decided to include it in my nonfiction category for the Back to the Classics Challenge.

Moving to the book... I wasn't as excited about this tome as I thought I would be.  I am a fan of Theodore Drieser and the muckrakers of the Progressive Era.  But, I just wasn't a huge fan of this one.  Sinclair rambled way too much for my liking.  I wished he would focus more on the issues of the meat packing industry than the fictional story of Jurgis Rudkus.  I wanted this to be more of a nonfiction volume such as Jacob Riis' How the Other Half Lives.  Overall, a bit of a disappointment, but still a fairly interesting read.

Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge

The Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge 

How did I not add this one before now?  I loved The Gilmore Girls!  Now that I know about it, I am definitely adding this to my perpetual reading challenges.

My Progress: 77/341

(*Bolded* books that I've read.)

THE LIST

1. 1984 by George Orwell
2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
3. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
4. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
5. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
6. Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
7. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
8. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
9. Archidamian War by Donald Kagan
10. The Art of Fiction by Henry James
11. The Art of War by Sun Tzu
12. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
13. Atonement by Ian McEwan
14. Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
15. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
16. Babe by Dick King-Smith
17. Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi
18. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
19. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
20. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
21. Beloved by Toni Morrison
22. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney
23. The Bhagava Gita
24. The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews by Peter Duffy
25. Bitch in Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel
26. A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by Mary McCarthy
27. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
28. Brick Lane by Monica Ali
29. Bridgadoon by Alan Jay Lerner
30. Candide by Voltaire
31. The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
32. Carrie by Stephen King
33. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
34. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
35. Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
36. The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman
37. Christine by Stephen King
38. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
39. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
40. The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse
41. The Collected Short Stories by Eudora Welty
42. The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty by Eudora Welty
43. A Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
44. Complete Novels by Dawn Powell
45. The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton
46. Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker
47. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
48. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
49. Cousin Bette by Honor’e de Balzac
50. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
51. The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
52. The Crucible by Arthur Miller
53. Cujo by Stephen King
54. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
55. Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
56. David and Lisa by Dr Theodore Issac Rubin M.D
57. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
58. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
59. Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
60. Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
62. Deenie by Judy Blume
63. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
64. The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx
65. The Divine Comedy by Dante
66. The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
67. Don Quijote by Cervantes
68. Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhrv
69. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
70. Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
71. Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook
72. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
73. Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn
74. Eloise by Kay Thompson
75. Emily the Strange by Roger Reger
76. Emma by Jane Austen
77. Empire Falls by Richard Russo
78. Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol
79. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
80. Ethics by Spinoza
81. Europe through the Back Door, 2003 by Rick Steves
82. Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
83. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
84. Extravagance by Gary Krist
85. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
86. Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore
87. The Fall of the Athenian Empire by Donald Kagan
88. Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by Greg Critser
89. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
90. The Fellowship of the Ring: Book 1 of The Lord of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
91. Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein
92. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
93. Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce
94. Fletch by Gregory McDonald
95. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
96. The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
97. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
98. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
99. Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
100. Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
101. Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
102. Gender Trouble by Judith Butler
103. George W. Bushism: The Slate Book of the Accidental Wit and Wisdom of our 43rd President by Jacob Weisberg
104. Gidget by Fredrick Kohner
105. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
106. The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
107. The Godfather: Book 1 by Mario Puzo
108. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
109. Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Alvin Granowsky
110. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
111. The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford
112. The Gospel According to Judy Bloom
113. The Graduate by Charles Webb
114. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
115. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
116. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
117. The Group by Mary McCarthy
118. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
119. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
120. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
121. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
122. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
123. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry
124. Henry IV, part I by William Shakespeare
125. Henry IV, part II by William Shakespeare
126. Henry V by William Shakespeare
127. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
128. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
129. Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris
130. The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton
131. House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III (Lpr)
132. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
133. How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer
134. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
135. How the Light Gets in by M. J. Hyland
136. Howl by Allen Gingsburg
137. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
138. The Iliad by Homer
139. I’m with the Band by Pamela des Barres
140. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
141. Inferno by Dante
142. Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
143. Iron Weed by William J. Kennedy
144. It Takes a Village by Hillary Clinton
145. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
146. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
147. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
148. The Jumping Frog by Mark Twain
149. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
150. Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito
151. The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander
152. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
153. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
154. Lady Chatterleys’ Lover by D. H. Lawrence
155. The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000 by Gore Vidal
156. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
157. The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield
158. Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
159. Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
160. Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken
161. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
162. Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
163. The Little Locksmith by Katharine Butler Hathaway
164. The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen
165. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
166. Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton
167. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
168. The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
169. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
170. The Love Story by Erich Segal
171. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
172. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
173. The Manticore by Robertson Davies
174. Marathon Man by William Goldman
175. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
176. Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir
177. Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman by William Tecumseh Sherman
178. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
179. The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer
180. Mencken’s Chrestomathy by H. R. Mencken
181. The Merry Wives of Windsro by William Shakespeare
182. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
183. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
184. The Miracle Worker by William Gibson
185. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
186. The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion by Jim Irvin
187. Moliere: A Biography by Hobart Chatfield Taylor
188. A Monetary History of the United States by Milton Friedman
189. Monsieur Proust by Celeste Albaret
190. A Month Of Sundays: Searching For The Spirit And My Sister by Julie Mars
191. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
192. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
193. Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall
194. My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and It’s Aftermath by Seymour M. Hersh
195. My Life as Author and Editor by H. R. Mencken
196. My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru by Tim Guest
197. Myra Waldo’s Travel and Motoring Guide to Europe, 1978 by Myra Waldo
198. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
199. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
200. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
201. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
202. The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin
203. Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature by Jan Lars Jensen
204. New Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson
205. The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay
206. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
207. Night by Elie Wiesel
208. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
209. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism by William E. Cain, Laurie A. Finke, Barbara E. Johnson, John P. McGowan
210. Novels 1930-1942: Dance Night/Come Back to Sorrento, Turn, Magic Wheel/Angels on Toast/A Time to be Born by Dawn Powell
211. Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski
212. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
213. Old School by Tobias Wolff
214. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
215. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
216. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
217. The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan
218. Oracle Night by Paul Auster
219. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
220. Othello by Shakespeare
221. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
222. The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan
223. Out of Africa by Isac Dineson
224. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
225. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
226. The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition by Donald Kagan
227. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
228. Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
229. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
230. Pigs at the Trough by Arianna Huffington
231. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
232. Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
233. The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
234. The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
235. The Portable Nietzche by Fredrich Nietzche
236. The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill by Ron Suskind
237. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
238. Property by Valerie Martin
239. Pushkin: A Biography by T. J. Binyon
240. Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
241. Quattrocento by James Mckean
242. A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall
243. Rapunzel by Grimm Brothers
244. The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
245. The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
246. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
247. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
248. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin
249. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
250. Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad by Virginia Holman
251. The Return of the King: The Lord of the Rings Book 3 by J. R. R. Tolkien
252. R Is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton
253. Rita Hayworth by Stephen King
254. Robert’s Rules of Order by Henry Robert
255. Roman Holiday by Edith Wharton
256. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
257. A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
258. A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
259. Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
260. The Rough Guide to Europe, 2003 Edition
261. Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi
262. Sanctuary by William Faulkner
263. Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
264. Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller by Henry James
265. The Scarecrow of Oz by Frank L. Baum
266. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
267. Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
268. The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
269. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
270. Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman
271. Selected Hotels of Europe
272. Selected Letters of Dawn Powell: 1913-1965 by Dawn Powell
273. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
274. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
275. Several Biographies of Winston Churchill
276. Sexus by Henry Miller
277. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
278. Shane by Jack Shaefer
279. The Shining by Stephen King
280. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
281. S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton
282. Slaughter-house Five by Kurt Vonnegut
283. Small Island by Andrea Levy
284. Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
285. Snow White and Rose Red by Grimm Brothers
286. Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World by Barrington Moore
287. The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht
288. Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos by Julia de Burgos
289. The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker
290. Songbook by Nick Hornby
291. The Sonnets by William Shakespeare
292. Sonnets from the Portuegese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
293. Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
294. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
295. Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
296. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
297. The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
298. A Streetcar Named Desiree by Tennessee Williams
299. Stuart Little by E. B. White
300. Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
301. Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
302. Swimming with Giants: My Encounters with Whales, Dolphins and Seals by Anne Collett
303. Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber
304. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
305. Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
306. Term of Endearment by Larry McMurtry
307. Time and Again by Jack Finney
308. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
309. To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway
310. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
311. The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare
312. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
313. The Trial by Franz Kafka
314. The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson
315. Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett
316. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
317. Ulysses by James Joyce
318. The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950-1962 by Sylvia Plath
319. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
320. Unless by Carol Shields
321. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
322. The Vanishing Newspaper by Philip Meyers
323. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
324. Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground and Nico (Thirty Three and a Third series) by Joe Harvard
325. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
326. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
327. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
328. Walt Disney’s Bambi by Felix Salten
329. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
330. We Owe You Nothing – Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews edited by Daniel Sinker
331. What Colour is Your Parachute? 2005 by Richard Nelson Bolles
332. What Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell
333. When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
334. Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson
335. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee
336. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
337. The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum
338. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
339. The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
340. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
341. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole