The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

August 23, 2018 by Christina

Fiction — print. Ann Arbor Media Group, 2006. Originally published 1826. 414 pgs. Purchased. Set in 1757 during the French and Indian War (or, Seven Years’ War for non-Americans), the second novel in Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales follows two young women named Cora and Alice Munro as they travel through the woods from Fort Edward to join their father at Fort William Henry. The two women are escorted by Major Duncan Heyward of the British Army and a singing teacher named Gamut, and […]

Categories: 101 Great Books, 2018 Reads, 20BooksofSummer, Classics, Classics Club, Fiction, Indigenious Peoples, New England, North America, United States • Tags: James Fenimore Cooper

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

March 14, 2018 by Christina

Fiction — audiobook. Read by Maggie Gyllenhaal. HarperAudio, 2016. Originally published 1963. 7 hours, 24 minutes. Library copy. Sylvia Plath’s novel opens with her main character, Esther Greenwood, in the midst of spending the summer in New York City. Having won a fashion magazine’s contest, Esther is being mentored by editors and writers on both her chosen field and the state of her complexion — a combination of feminism and femininity — as she and the eleven other winners of the […]

Categories: 101 Great Books, 2018 Reads, Audiobook, Classics, Classics Club, Fiction, New England, New York, North America, United States • Tags: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Sylvia Plath

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

January 7, 2015 by Christina

Fiction — audiobook. Read by Anna Fields. Blackstone Audio, 2004. Originally published 1905. 13 hours, 42 minutes. Library copy. Set against the backdrop of the 1890s New York upper class society, Wharton’s fourth novel tells the story of Lily Bart, an unmarried woman, beginning with her visit to Lawrence Selden’s apartment. Lily has feelings for Lawrence but must marry a wealthier man in order to keep her social standing. An unexpected visit by Lawrence causes her to change her mind […]

Categories: 101 Great Books, 2015 Reads, AP Literature, Audiobook, Classics, Classics Club, Fiction, New York, North America, United States • Tags: Anna Fields, Edith Wharton

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

November 6, 2014 by Christina

Fiction — audiobook. Read by Pat Bottino. Blackstone Audio, 2000. Originally published 1894. 5 hours, 10 minutes. Library copy. Set during the American Civil War, Crane’s classic novel follows Henry Fleming, a young private in the 304th New York Regiment of the Union Army who deserts during battle after deciding the odds are in favor of the Confederate Army. When Henry reaches the rear of the army, he overhears a general stating that his regiment managed to hold the line and […]

Categories: 101 Great Books, 2014 Reads, Audiobook, Classics, Classics Club, Fiction, North America, United States • Tags: Pat Bottino, Stephen Crane

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

September 2, 2014 by Christina

Fiction — audiobook. Read by Richard Allen. Tantor Audio, 2008. Originally published 1852. 20 hours, 8 minutes. Library copy. Subtitled “Life Among the Lowly”, Stowe’s anti-slavery novel begins with Eliza learning her son, George, and the middle-aged Tom, who has a wife and children, have been sold by the Shelbys to pay off their debts. Eliza and Tom have been with the Shelbys since Arthur and Emily were children and the Shelbys consider themselves good, caring masters. But Arthur ignores his […]

Categories: 101 Great Books, 2014 Reads, AP Literature, Audiobook, Classics, Classics Club, Fiction, North America, United States • Tags: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Richard Allen

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

October 18, 2012 by Christina

Fiction — print. Translated from the Russian. Bantam, 1963. Originally published 1962. 203 pgs. Purchased. This story follows Ivan Denisovich Shukhov through a course of a single day in his life as an inmate in a Soviet forced labor camp. An innocent man, Ivan was accused of becoming a spy after capture by the Germans as a prisoner of war during World War II and sentenced to the Siberian work camp as punishment by the government. The novel is one […]

Categories: 101 Great Books, 2012 Reads, Awards and Prizes, Classics, Europe, Fiction, Nobel Prize, Russia, Russian, Translated • Tags: Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

October 10, 2012 by Christina

Fiction — print. Simon & Schuster, 2004. Originally published 1955. 453 pgs. Received from PaperBackSwap. Yossarian, a bombardier for the air force, is furiously scrambling to save himself from the horrible chances of war. His problem is Colonel Cathcart, who keeps raising the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempts to excuse himself from the perilous missions that he is committed to flying, he is trapped by the Great Loyalty […]

Categories: 101 Great Books, 2012 Reads, AP Literature, Chunkster, Classics, Europe, Fiction • Tags: Joseph Heller

Essays and Poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson (Part Four | Plato to Thoreau)

July 17, 2012 by Christina

Fiction — print. Edited by Peter Norberg. Barnes & Noble Classics, 2004. 520 pgs. Purchased. The last eight essays included in this collection are rather different from the previous sixteen as these essays are more biographical in nature. Essays on Plato, Shakespeare, Napoleon, and Thoreau are used as anecdotal evidence for how philosophers, poets, and politicians fit into the world. I would have to say that these essays were my least favorites in this collection, but that does not mean […]

Categories: 101 Great Books, 2012 Reads, Chunkster, Classics, Nonfiction, North America, Poetry, United States • Tags: Ralph Waldo Emerson

Essays and Poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson (Part Three | Friendship to Uses of Great Men)

July 13, 2012 by Christina

Fiction — print. Edited by Peter Norberg. Barnes & Noble Classics, 2004. 520 pgs. Purchased. The next eight essays in this collection largely focus on the nature of friendship and the use of language to facilitate relationships. The emotions developed through these interactions and felt towards others in poetry and common speech are “…likened to the material effects of fire; so swift, or much more swift, more active, more cheering are these fine inward irradiation. From the highest degree of […]

Categories: 101 Great Books, 2012 Reads, Chunkster, Classics, Nonfiction, North America, Poetry, United States • Tags: Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Odyssey by Homer

July 11, 2012 by Christina

Fiction — print. Translated from the Greek by E.V. Rieu. Penguin Books, 1964. Originally published 800 BC. 365 pgs. Purchased. The first time I read Homer’s epic was in high school. I remember this less because of the content of the story and more because – Holy Batman! – my classmates and I were terrible at keeping a straight face during my teacher’s dramatic reading, particularly during the final scene. I wanted to reread The Odyssey after reading a retelling […]

Categories: 101 Great Books, 2012 Reads, AP Literature, Classics, Europe, Fiction, Greek, Reread, Translated • Tags: Homer

Essays and Poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson (Part Two | Nature to Spiritual Laws)

July 9, 2012 by Christina

Fiction — print. Edited by Peter Norberg. Barnes & Noble Classics, 2004. 520 pgs. Purchased. I was surprised to find that many of the first eight essays in this collection are actually written transcripts of Emerson’s speeches and orations delivered before college students and professional organizations. The American Scholar, which my class read during my junior year of high school, was delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge in 1837. A year later, Emerson delivered An Address before […]

Categories: 101 Great Books, 2012 Reads, Chunkster, Classics, Nonfiction, North America, Poetry, United States • Tags: Ralph Waldo Emerson

Essays and Poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson (Part One | Introduction and Poems)

July 3, 2012 by Christina

Fiction — print. Edited by Peter Norberg. Barnes & Noble Classics, 2004. 520 pgs. Purchased. I purchase this tome over six years ago for English literature class my junior year of high school. According to the highlighting within, my classmates and I assigned just one essay – The American Scholar – during the section of the course on Emerson. That seems foolish considering we were required to purchase this 520 paged book, and I feel even more foolish admitting that […]

Categories: 101 Great Books, 2012 Reads, Chunkster, Classics, Nonfiction, North America, Poetry, United States • Tags: Ralph Waldo Emerson