1bayboi55
We made it through last year at fifty six books! Not 75, but better than I thought while juggling school. Hopefully this year, with graduation coming soon, I will have more time to read, and more will to read.
For Christmas, I received a 100 Essential Novels scratch off poster. Those will influence this year heavily. I was disappointed to see I'd only previously read five of the books, but I am very excited to dip into the likes of Dostoevsky, Jane Austen, and Steinbeck. Good luck to all this year!
For Christmas, I received a 100 Essential Novels scratch off poster. Those will influence this year heavily. I was disappointed to see I'd only previously read five of the books, but I am very excited to dip into the likes of Dostoevsky, Jane Austen, and Steinbeck. Good luck to all this year!
2thornton37814
Enjoy your 2025 reading!
4PaulCranswick
Welcome back, the numbers don't matter that much. Good luck with knocking off those remaining 95 classics.
5bayboi55
Book 1: Tampa by Alissa Nutting
Do not read this book. I fully regret opening this novel. With other bad books I've read, I haven't regretted reading them, I just didn't enjoy them. This one I regret.
On a technical level, this book is rough. There were a couple typos that somehow made it through editing, and I'm sure I missed more. There was a football analogy used, but the author got the positions in football wrong, stating that a linebacker protects the quarterback (offensive line protects the quarterback, linebackers' job is often to go hit the quarterback). Some characters seem really dumb, like comedically stupid. When someone walks in a room and two people are struggling to get their clothes back on, that is obvious, especially when one person's pants never get buttoned. But said person did not notice this.
On a thematic level, this book is disgusting. Spoiler alert, this is a reverse Lolita, with a 26-year-old female middle school teacher going after a 14-year-old boy. And while this theme can be spun into an interesting crime thriller, or a mental journey of self-loathing, this book is just smut. I don't know how this thing went to print with this much gross detail and explicit scenes. It reads like splatter punk would, where the only purpose is to shock the reader. And the female MC not only gets away with it, but relishes in it.
This thing was disgusting all around, so much so that I debated whether or not to count the book as a read for this year. It's that bad.
Do not read this book. I fully regret opening this novel. With other bad books I've read, I haven't regretted reading them, I just didn't enjoy them. This one I regret.
On a technical level, this book is rough. There were a couple typos that somehow made it through editing, and I'm sure I missed more. There was a football analogy used, but the author got the positions in football wrong, stating that a linebacker protects the quarterback (offensive line protects the quarterback, linebackers' job is often to go hit the quarterback). Some characters seem really dumb, like comedically stupid. When someone walks in a room and two people are struggling to get their clothes back on, that is obvious, especially when one person's pants never get buttoned. But said person did not notice this.
On a thematic level, this book is disgusting. Spoiler alert, this is a reverse Lolita, with a 26-year-old female middle school teacher going after a 14-year-old boy. And while this theme can be spun into an interesting crime thriller, or a mental journey of self-loathing, this book is just smut. I don't know how this thing went to print with this much gross detail and explicit scenes. It reads like splatter punk would, where the only purpose is to shock the reader. And the female MC not only gets away with it, but relishes in it.
This thing was disgusting all around, so much so that I debated whether or not to count the book as a read for this year. It's that bad.
6PaulCranswick
>5 bayboi55: I have heard elsewhere that this is a book that should be avoided at all costs. Thank you for confirming the same.
7bayboi55
Book 2: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
I see the appeal of this book, and I did thoroughly enjoy it, however, I don't think that it is the defining American novel like a lot of people do.
I am from the deep south and have studied the deep south, specifically Appalachia, in high academic settings. This felt disingenuous to real southern culture. Most of the actions are of a more "western" style of literature, and most of the language and slang is extremely southern, to the point of falsehood. That is my biggest gripe with this book.
As a novel, even as a classic of American Lit, Huck Finn stands as a testament to the power of American writers, and American culture. But as THE defining American novel, I would be quicker to hand that to The Great Gatsby, or, in more recent years, Blood Meridian.
EDIT: I originally mentioned The Scarlet Letter in my list of the defining American novel. See my comments on that book (book 32) to see why a change was made.
I see the appeal of this book, and I did thoroughly enjoy it, however, I don't think that it is the defining American novel like a lot of people do.
I am from the deep south and have studied the deep south, specifically Appalachia, in high academic settings. This felt disingenuous to real southern culture. Most of the actions are of a more "western" style of literature, and most of the language and slang is extremely southern, to the point of falsehood. That is my biggest gripe with this book.
As a novel, even as a classic of American Lit, Huck Finn stands as a testament to the power of American writers, and American culture. But as THE defining American novel, I would be quicker to hand that to The Great Gatsby, or, in more recent years, Blood Meridian.
EDIT: I originally mentioned The Scarlet Letter in my list of the defining American novel. See my comments on that book (book 32) to see why a change was made.
8bayboi55
Book 3: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
I see the allure in this book. And I see the criticism in this book. However, the allure far outweighs the criticism.
This book is ambiguous, in the best way possible. The setting is clear most of the time, but the characters that come and go, their interactions, and even whether they are alive or dead, is hard to discern. This would be a negative, however, in the novella format, being less than one hundred pages, I do not mind it at all. I like having to really think about things sometimes, and this made me think.
Yes, this book is rife with racism, however, anyone who thinks that it should be pulled from publication ignores the theme that the racism introduces. The main character is a white trader who embarks on a river journey hundreds of miles into Africa, and what he finds is that the darkness present in the jungle is no different than the darkness he can see in London.
The ending, by the way, could be the best ending to a book I've ever read.
I see the allure in this book. And I see the criticism in this book. However, the allure far outweighs the criticism.
This book is ambiguous, in the best way possible. The setting is clear most of the time, but the characters that come and go, their interactions, and even whether they are alive or dead, is hard to discern. This would be a negative, however, in the novella format, being less than one hundred pages, I do not mind it at all. I like having to really think about things sometimes, and this made me think.
Yes, this book is rife with racism, however, anyone who thinks that it should be pulled from publication ignores the theme that the racism introduces. The main character is a white trader who embarks on a river journey hundreds of miles into Africa, and what he finds is that the darkness present in the jungle is no different than the darkness he can see in London.
The ending, by the way, could be the best ending to a book I've ever read.
9bustellogirl
Happy reading! I'm interested to see which books you scratch off.
10bayboi55
>9 bustellogirl: Thank you!
11bayboi55
Book 4: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
This is the first classic that I've read this year that is getting added to my all-time favorites. This book does it for me, and I think it is because I have learned so much about the psychology of so many groups of people. I learned how the rich justify being rich, how the poor justify being poor, how cheaters justify their infidelity, how men justify their work passions, among so many others.
The characters in this story don't choose sides between good and evil, with the exception of two characters. The namesake character Anna Karenina is the embodiment of self-absorbed, arrogant, and uncaring evil. She ruins another life every time she does something, and she knows this. To counter this, Konstantin Levin, despite being a wealthy landowner, shows the good that can come from high society. He is devoted to his wife and child, to his work, and to his workers.
The landscape is breathtaking, and every single location that is explored has its importance. Within the cities of Moscow and Petersburg, the bustle of the people that seems to avoid the highest of society shows how these people lived as opposed to the rest of the Russian people. The constant balls and concerts and galleries that the rich are expected to enjoy is in stark contrast to the poverty of the "muzhik" (peasant). I can see why communism was allowed to explode in a place like this. The country in this story shows an unfiltered beauty that can come from toil and diligent work, while exploring how the high society exploit their land in any and every way. Hunting is a common affair, walking hundreds of acres is a break from the affairs that fill the household, and passions of the landowner are able to be explored. The class divide is stark, but due to Levin's character, is not something that is unbearably cruel.
This book taught me more than most college courses I have taken. From writing technique, to psychology, to religion, to love, this book sets out to teach right and wrong. And it does just that.
This is the first classic that I've read this year that is getting added to my all-time favorites. This book does it for me, and I think it is because I have learned so much about the psychology of so many groups of people. I learned how the rich justify being rich, how the poor justify being poor, how cheaters justify their infidelity, how men justify their work passions, among so many others.
The characters in this story don't choose sides between good and evil, with the exception of two characters. The namesake character Anna Karenina is the embodiment of self-absorbed, arrogant, and uncaring evil. She ruins another life every time she does something, and she knows this. To counter this, Konstantin Levin, despite being a wealthy landowner, shows the good that can come from high society. He is devoted to his wife and child, to his work, and to his workers.
The landscape is breathtaking, and every single location that is explored has its importance. Within the cities of Moscow and Petersburg, the bustle of the people that seems to avoid the highest of society shows how these people lived as opposed to the rest of the Russian people. The constant balls and concerts and galleries that the rich are expected to enjoy is in stark contrast to the poverty of the "muzhik" (peasant). I can see why communism was allowed to explode in a place like this. The country in this story shows an unfiltered beauty that can come from toil and diligent work, while exploring how the high society exploit their land in any and every way. Hunting is a common affair, walking hundreds of acres is a break from the affairs that fill the household, and passions of the landowner are able to be explored. The class divide is stark, but due to Levin's character, is not something that is unbearably cruel.
This book taught me more than most college courses I have taken. From writing technique, to psychology, to religion, to love, this book sets out to teach right and wrong. And it does just that.
12bayboi55
Book 5: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
I'll be honest, I don't see the hype behind this book. Don't get me wrong, it is very good and was an enjoyable read. However, I think there are flaws here that do not often get explored.
My biggest gripe with this is the low stakes environment that is forced to be high stakes. Romance and love is a very common way to inject meaning into a plot, and that is what drives this plot. But the amount of death, and tragedy, and evil that comes out of one love story is unrealistic to me. This book shades towards fantasy at times in its handling of death and the main character of Heathcliff. But it doesn't commit to supernatural, which makes it a little unrealistic to me. I also hate how characters are named in this, as so many new characters get named after existing characters, which confuses me.
On the good side, I love gothic literature, and this book is dark. Not in terms of content, but in terms of ambiance. The house of Wuthering Heights itself is a dark place that is devoid of literal and figurative light. I love dark and gritty, which does this book so many favors in my eyes.
This is a classic in every way, and it has earned that title. I would not recommend a baby reader open this, but seasoned page turners should have no problem.
I'll be honest, I don't see the hype behind this book. Don't get me wrong, it is very good and was an enjoyable read. However, I think there are flaws here that do not often get explored.
My biggest gripe with this is the low stakes environment that is forced to be high stakes. Romance and love is a very common way to inject meaning into a plot, and that is what drives this plot. But the amount of death, and tragedy, and evil that comes out of one love story is unrealistic to me. This book shades towards fantasy at times in its handling of death and the main character of Heathcliff. But it doesn't commit to supernatural, which makes it a little unrealistic to me. I also hate how characters are named in this, as so many new characters get named after existing characters, which confuses me.
On the good side, I love gothic literature, and this book is dark. Not in terms of content, but in terms of ambiance. The house of Wuthering Heights itself is a dark place that is devoid of literal and figurative light. I love dark and gritty, which does this book so many favors in my eyes.
This is a classic in every way, and it has earned that title. I would not recommend a baby reader open this, but seasoned page turners should have no problem.
13bayboi55
Book 6: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
This story, in the translation I got, was fifty-five pages. I could have read five hundred pages of it. This has proven to be the highlight of the reading year for me, and it's not close. Finished in one afternoon, and all I want to do is restart it tomorrow and read it all again.
The storytelling is quick and avoids all the crap meant to draw out a longer piece. This story is the perfect length. There isn't a page that was unnecessary. The plot is fast paced and has high stakes like I've never seen. The exposition is brilliant, and I can't quite figure out why. But in a matter of one or two pages, I had fallen in love with every character and felt despair at the plight of Gregor Samsa.
The theme of the story is amazing as well. Over the course of the story, you see how hard Gregor worked for his family in the past. He entered into a field he hated after going to college and joining the military, to pay off his father's debts. He travels most days of the year for work and is rarely home. He had kept this up for a while and was prepared to work even harder to send his sister to college. However, when the roles were forced to reverse, Gregor's family refused to do the same for him. It only took months for them to give up on him, knowing he was still a member of their family, despite his grotesque form. It is heartbreaking and breathtaking.
This story, in the translation I got, was fifty-five pages. I could have read five hundred pages of it. This has proven to be the highlight of the reading year for me, and it's not close. Finished in one afternoon, and all I want to do is restart it tomorrow and read it all again.
The storytelling is quick and avoids all the crap meant to draw out a longer piece. This story is the perfect length. There isn't a page that was unnecessary. The plot is fast paced and has high stakes like I've never seen. The exposition is brilliant, and I can't quite figure out why. But in a matter of one or two pages, I had fallen in love with every character and felt despair at the plight of Gregor Samsa.
The theme of the story is amazing as well. Over the course of the story, you see how hard Gregor worked for his family in the past. He entered into a field he hated after going to college and joining the military, to pay off his father's debts. He travels most days of the year for work and is rarely home. He had kept this up for a while and was prepared to work even harder to send his sister to college. However, when the roles were forced to reverse, Gregor's family refused to do the same for him. It only took months for them to give up on him, knowing he was still a member of their family, despite his grotesque form. It is heartbreaking and breathtaking.
14PaulCranswick
Three big hitters read in a row. I certainly agree with you that Anna Karenina is the superior work to Wuthering Heights even though I was brought up reasonably close to where the Bronte's hailed from. I haven't read Metamorphosis yet but have it on the shelves.
15bayboi55
Book 7: Oral History by Lee Smith
When I signed up for a Southern Literature class, I knew the reading list was going to be good. But, when I read the syllabus, only one classic, Huckleberry Finn, was present. The other two novels were more modern, which initially disappointed me. I was dying to dig into The Sound and the Fury or Blood Meridian. But Oral History came up on the list, and it didn't leave me wanting more.
Yes, this book is similar to a lot of William Faulkner's writing in that it shows every perspective possible of a story. Faulkner often uses a nuclear family going through a series of bad things. Lee Smith on the other hand, does it through the ancestry of a family. It goes almost one hundred years into the history of a rural Appalachian family, and the only common through line is the property they live on. Over that time period, Smith wrestles with rampant sexual deviance from the family, poverty, and an unwillingness to be happy from the family members. Every person in this story has a not great ending to their time on the pages.
I'm still upset my professor glossed over the classics, but this book almost made up for it.
When I signed up for a Southern Literature class, I knew the reading list was going to be good. But, when I read the syllabus, only one classic, Huckleberry Finn, was present. The other two novels were more modern, which initially disappointed me. I was dying to dig into The Sound and the Fury or Blood Meridian. But Oral History came up on the list, and it didn't leave me wanting more.
Yes, this book is similar to a lot of William Faulkner's writing in that it shows every perspective possible of a story. Faulkner often uses a nuclear family going through a series of bad things. Lee Smith on the other hand, does it through the ancestry of a family. It goes almost one hundred years into the history of a rural Appalachian family, and the only common through line is the property they live on. Over that time period, Smith wrestles with rampant sexual deviance from the family, poverty, and an unwillingness to be happy from the family members. Every person in this story has a not great ending to their time on the pages.
I'm still upset my professor glossed over the classics, but this book almost made up for it.
16bayboi55
>14 PaulCranswick: Metamorphosis is a perfect one day read. It might be the best thing I've read in one day ever. I would absolutely recommend carving out an afternoon to get into it. It's amazing.
17PaulCranswick
>16 bayboi55: I will try to do so soon, thanks for the nudge.
18bayboi55
Book 8: Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
Again, reading for a class, but I think this one meant more to me. A lot of lit class stuff is very cultural and filled with commentary on a specific group of people. This wasn't. It was just a quality story about a family whose business is in ruins. And it's so much fun.
A swamp family undergoing various coping mechanisms is very fun to read. Whether it be trying to assimilate to life in a city, secretly raising a red gator, or shacking up with a ghost, this family is filled with crazy stories. Worth the time.
Again, reading for a class, but I think this one meant more to me. A lot of lit class stuff is very cultural and filled with commentary on a specific group of people. This wasn't. It was just a quality story about a family whose business is in ruins. And it's so much fun.
A swamp family undergoing various coping mechanisms is very fun to read. Whether it be trying to assimilate to life in a city, secretly raising a red gator, or shacking up with a ghost, this family is filled with crazy stories. Worth the time.
19bayboi55
Book 9: Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
I read this book for class, one chapter a week. And the chapters vary wildly on their content, so I never really knew what I was getting myself into. But they all are pretty firmly connected to what it means to be a reader.
She has chapters about used bookstores, bookshelves, her collection of books, and certain works special to her. Most of the chapters are fantastic, but there are a couple awful chapters that made me want to put the thing down and never pick it up again. I'd be excited for my one chapter of the week, and it would ruin my mood for the day when I read it.
My first non-fiction book, and it was good for the most part. I would recommend it for any seasoned reader.
I read this book for class, one chapter a week. And the chapters vary wildly on their content, so I never really knew what I was getting myself into. But they all are pretty firmly connected to what it means to be a reader.
She has chapters about used bookstores, bookshelves, her collection of books, and certain works special to her. Most of the chapters are fantastic, but there are a couple awful chapters that made me want to put the thing down and never pick it up again. I'd be excited for my one chapter of the week, and it would ruin my mood for the day when I read it.
My first non-fiction book, and it was good for the most part. I would recommend it for any seasoned reader.
20bayboi55
Book 10: Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
I plan on reading One Hundred Years of Solitude, and wanted a Marquez warmup, to which he did not disappoint.
I love unreliable narrators, especially when it is shown why they are the way they are, and that is what Marquez delivers here. The romanticism of the end of life is beautiful, and the attitude towards love is stunning.
Marquez is an author I would absolutely recommend.
I plan on reading One Hundred Years of Solitude, and wanted a Marquez warmup, to which he did not disappoint.
I love unreliable narrators, especially when it is shown why they are the way they are, and that is what Marquez delivers here. The romanticism of the end of life is beautiful, and the attitude towards love is stunning.
Marquez is an author I would absolutely recommend.
21bayboi55
Book 11: Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
This is a book I've been waiting to read for about a year now, and I finally got to it. And there isn't anything I can say that hasn't already been said, but I will try anyway.
If you are a fan of the analysis of evil, there is no greater fiction work than this, and no greater (semi) fictitious character than The Judge.
The Judge is the best antagonist I've ever read, and the most evil character I've ever read, and that enough earned this book my five stars. And while the violence and sexual crimes of The Judge make him stand alone among evil characters, his philosophy makes him a great antagonist. McCarthy has written the devil in these pages, and it is outstanding.
Please. Read this book.
This is a book I've been waiting to read for about a year now, and I finally got to it. And there isn't anything I can say that hasn't already been said, but I will try anyway.
If you are a fan of the analysis of evil, there is no greater fiction work than this, and no greater (semi) fictitious character than The Judge.
The Judge is the best antagonist I've ever read, and the most evil character I've ever read, and that enough earned this book my five stars. And while the violence and sexual crimes of The Judge make him stand alone among evil characters, his philosophy makes him a great antagonist. McCarthy has written the devil in these pages, and it is outstanding.
Please. Read this book.
22bayboi55
Book 12: Be Mine by Jane McFann
Eh. This was alright. The premise is good, but the ending is lackluster, and there was never a really high stakes moment, even through a kidnapping. For a book I found at a free library exchange, I can't complain.
Eh. This was alright. The premise is good, but the ending is lackluster, and there was never a really high stakes moment, even through a kidnapping. For a book I found at a free library exchange, I can't complain.
23PaulCranswick
>21 bayboi55: I plan to re-read that one this month. It is very affecting isn't it?
24bayboi55
>23 PaulCranswick: It is. Out of all the literary masterpieces I've read this year, it made me think the most.
25bayboi55
Books 13-20: Love's in Sight! by Uoyama
Well, for the first manga of the year for me, I was not disappointed. It's cute, it has meaning, and it has decent pace.
Power outage during a storm forced me to pick this up and read through all eight volumes, which I'd gotten a box set of at a used book store.
Not worth paying full price for paperback copies, but if you can find it all used, or read it online on VIZ (I think), do it. It was a fun one.
Well, for the first manga of the year for me, I was not disappointed. It's cute, it has meaning, and it has decent pace.
Power outage during a storm forced me to pick this up and read through all eight volumes, which I'd gotten a box set of at a used book store.
Not worth paying full price for paperback copies, but if you can find it all used, or read it online on VIZ (I think), do it. It was a fun one.
26bayboi55
Book 21: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
This book made me lose hope in my own happiness, and for that, I give it five stars.
Marquez has the inate ability to create characters who have no hope in anything. They might have money, or military power, or sexual fulfillment, but every character in the Buendia family is in one way or another, in miserable Solitude.
Another thing Marquez does is call back to everything. No detail is ever mentioned only one time. Everything that is said means something and will continue to mean something throughout the novel. It's brilliant.
This book made me lose hope in my own happiness, and for that, I give it five stars.
Marquez has the inate ability to create characters who have no hope in anything. They might have money, or military power, or sexual fulfillment, but every character in the Buendia family is in one way or another, in miserable Solitude.
Another thing Marquez does is call back to everything. No detail is ever mentioned only one time. Everything that is said means something and will continue to mean something throughout the novel. It's brilliant.
27bayboi55
Book 22: Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
I loved this, it is everything I wanted it to be. This is like the hunger games, but it was written before, and in my opinion, tells a better story.
The best thing about this book is that it finds a way to tell the story of most of the 42 participants in its death game. While there are main characters, whenever a different person is about to die, it switches to their POV, and their motivations and fears are made clear. I loved it.
One of the more interesting things I had not thought about before reading was the fact that every student knew each other. They weren't picked from all over the country; their class was picked to fight each other. In other works like this, the evil in killing other children is only because its killing. In this, its people these students grew up with, fell in love with, and did life with, and are dying with.
Please read this. I beg of you.
I loved this, it is everything I wanted it to be. This is like the hunger games, but it was written before, and in my opinion, tells a better story.
The best thing about this book is that it finds a way to tell the story of most of the 42 participants in its death game. While there are main characters, whenever a different person is about to die, it switches to their POV, and their motivations and fears are made clear. I loved it.
One of the more interesting things I had not thought about before reading was the fact that every student knew each other. They weren't picked from all over the country; their class was picked to fight each other. In other works like this, the evil in killing other children is only because its killing. In this, its people these students grew up with, fell in love with, and did life with, and are dying with.
Please read this. I beg of you.
28bayboi55
Book 23: Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
Well, this is something.
I in no way aim to tear down this work. This novel is the definition of a masterpiece. But I think there comes a point where it goes too far. This is the type of work that does that. The novel is a 999-line poem, followed by a commentary on that poem by a fictional character.
There are millions of things happening all at once, which combined with Nabokov's complicated prose, makes Pale Fire confusing. I've read hefty pieces, and this still seemed like too much for me. The poem has to take a backseat to the commentary, because the commentary has nothing to do with the poem. There is a beautifully tragic story of the poet's daughter committing suicide, and it means very little because of the commentary. The story the commentary tells is not bad, but it needs its own book in my opinion, because it is completely removed from the poem.
Nabokov wrote a beautiful poem, and then, in my opinion, abandoned it.
Well, this is something.
I in no way aim to tear down this work. This novel is the definition of a masterpiece. But I think there comes a point where it goes too far. This is the type of work that does that. The novel is a 999-line poem, followed by a commentary on that poem by a fictional character.
There are millions of things happening all at once, which combined with Nabokov's complicated prose, makes Pale Fire confusing. I've read hefty pieces, and this still seemed like too much for me. The poem has to take a backseat to the commentary, because the commentary has nothing to do with the poem. There is a beautifully tragic story of the poet's daughter committing suicide, and it means very little because of the commentary. The story the commentary tells is not bad, but it needs its own book in my opinion, because it is completely removed from the poem.
Nabokov wrote a beautiful poem, and then, in my opinion, abandoned it.
29bayboi55
Book 24: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
I'm not the most intelligent in the world, however, I did not need to be in order to read this novel, which in 2025, is essential. Though written a hundred years ago, The Sun Also Rises seems built to last.
In order to understand, the theme of this book, you need two pieces of information. You need to understand that everyone in this story went through, in some way, the horrors of World War one. And you need to understand that Jake sustained an injury to his manhood during the war. I was fortunate enough to have been told these things before reading, and I was much the better for it.
But the book would have been just as good without that.
Hemingway tells a fantastic story, filled with alcohol, sexual escapades, and violent bullfighting, with characters who seem to lack any morals whatsoever. In my opinion, that is all a story needs to be captivating. Hemingway uses majority dialogue and does not rely on paragraph after paragraph of monologue. This not only makes the book easy for inexperienced readers, it also makes every action seem rushed and frantic, which is what the story is trying to portray.
If a student of mine asked me to suggest them a classic novel, this would be at the top of my list.
I'm not the most intelligent in the world, however, I did not need to be in order to read this novel, which in 2025, is essential. Though written a hundred years ago, The Sun Also Rises seems built to last.
In order to understand, the theme of this book, you need two pieces of information. You need to understand that everyone in this story went through, in some way, the horrors of World War one. And you need to understand that Jake sustained an injury to his manhood during the war. I was fortunate enough to have been told these things before reading, and I was much the better for it.
But the book would have been just as good without that.
Hemingway tells a fantastic story, filled with alcohol, sexual escapades, and violent bullfighting, with characters who seem to lack any morals whatsoever. In my opinion, that is all a story needs to be captivating. Hemingway uses majority dialogue and does not rely on paragraph after paragraph of monologue. This not only makes the book easy for inexperienced readers, it also makes every action seem rushed and frantic, which is what the story is trying to portray.
If a student of mine asked me to suggest them a classic novel, this would be at the top of my list.
30bayboi55
Book 25: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
This is something else. When I say this takes an intelligent person to read, I don't mean in terms of reading skill. I mean in terms of mental maturity. You HAVE to be able to think to read this.
I loved it though. As someone who is young(ish) preparing to teach young people, there could not be a better book to examine culture of the youth. It perfectly describes the desensitization that the youth have experienced in recent years. And it shows how to not fix it.
I'll leave it at that. However, if you buy this book, please make sure you get an edition with the "controversial last chapter." While I didn't see the controversy, it is nearly vital to the story, and understanding how young people break away from the habits of their youth.
This is something else. When I say this takes an intelligent person to read, I don't mean in terms of reading skill. I mean in terms of mental maturity. You HAVE to be able to think to read this.
I loved it though. As someone who is young(ish) preparing to teach young people, there could not be a better book to examine culture of the youth. It perfectly describes the desensitization that the youth have experienced in recent years. And it shows how to not fix it.
I'll leave it at that. However, if you buy this book, please make sure you get an edition with the "controversial last chapter." While I didn't see the controversy, it is nearly vital to the story, and understanding how young people break away from the habits of their youth.
31bayboi55
Book 26: Misery by Stephen King
I went on a cruise for a week and brought three books with me. This is one of them. It was what I've grown accustomed to with King, which is high quality, and boundary pushing.
Even the idea of the plight of the main character forces fear out of me. It makes me think twice about trying to publish books, because if it is even half decent, there will be a crazy person somewhere ready to lock me up and make me their writing slave.
The only critique I have is that pages fell out of the cheap copy I bought. My own fault for being too frugal and opting for the pocket-sized book.
I went on a cruise for a week and brought three books with me. This is one of them. It was what I've grown accustomed to with King, which is high quality, and boundary pushing.
Even the idea of the plight of the main character forces fear out of me. It makes me think twice about trying to publish books, because if it is even half decent, there will be a crazy person somewhere ready to lock me up and make me their writing slave.
The only critique I have is that pages fell out of the cheap copy I bought. My own fault for being too frugal and opting for the pocket-sized book.
32bayboi55
Book 27: The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
A classic of war, this novel is what I imagined to be the antithesis to the brutality of war movies today. Crane pulls no punches when discussing the awful nature of the civil war. He hits on death, both abrupt and drawn out. He hits on fear, cowardice, and desertion. He hits on "manhood," and how young men view their part in a war.
My favorite detail about this is that it never outright states a battle or a location (I think). It is ambiguous enough to be any battle in the civil war, which makes it seem like it is every battle all at once. I'm sure historians can guess the battle based on details, but that's no fun.
My second cruise ship book did not disappoint.
A classic of war, this novel is what I imagined to be the antithesis to the brutality of war movies today. Crane pulls no punches when discussing the awful nature of the civil war. He hits on death, both abrupt and drawn out. He hits on fear, cowardice, and desertion. He hits on "manhood," and how young men view their part in a war.
My favorite detail about this is that it never outright states a battle or a location (I think). It is ambiguous enough to be any battle in the civil war, which makes it seem like it is every battle all at once. I'm sure historians can guess the battle based on details, but that's no fun.
My second cruise ship book did not disappoint.
33bayboi55
Book 28: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
This concept is genius. King manages to accurately capture the mind of a child through not only the infatuation with a famous person, but also the terrifying reality of getting lost. I never felt like I was reading an adult pretending to be a child. This was convincing.
And it was terrifying in a real way. After reading Carrie, I knew Stephen King knew how to write supernatural horror. But this is purely natural horror, something that happens to people, and yes, children, every year. It is an awful thought to ponder.
I've been on a King kick recently, and the last book of the cruise was the cherry on top.
This concept is genius. King manages to accurately capture the mind of a child through not only the infatuation with a famous person, but also the terrifying reality of getting lost. I never felt like I was reading an adult pretending to be a child. This was convincing.
And it was terrifying in a real way. After reading Carrie, I knew Stephen King knew how to write supernatural horror. But this is purely natural horror, something that happens to people, and yes, children, every year. It is an awful thought to ponder.
I've been on a King kick recently, and the last book of the cruise was the cherry on top.
34bayboi55
Book 29: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
This will be the first book that I teach to my classes next month, so naturally I needed to read it. As a reader, I was more than impressed, as everyone is. Teaching might be more challenging though.
The beginning is a slog to get through, and the end seems to drag a little longer than it needs to. However, the middle, where I saw the monster and how it lived its brief and sad life, I was all in.
I am not a literature expert by any means, but for reading, and ESPECIALLY for teaching, this needs a trim. Still fantastic.
This will be the first book that I teach to my classes next month, so naturally I needed to read it. As a reader, I was more than impressed, as everyone is. Teaching might be more challenging though.
The beginning is a slog to get through, and the end seems to drag a little longer than it needs to. However, the middle, where I saw the monster and how it lived its brief and sad life, I was all in.
I am not a literature expert by any means, but for reading, and ESPECIALLY for teaching, this needs a trim. Still fantastic.
35bayboi55
Book 30: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger
I'm not sure what to make of this. On an enjoyment level, it was great. It's a fun story that is all over the place with a cynical main character that hates everything. But the theme is a gray area for me. If I had to guess this would be the big point:
Holden Caulfield has graduated into adulthood too fast due to the influences of the boys at the MANY all boys schools he's attended, as well as the death of his younger brother. He hates the insincerity of adults and wishes to be a kid in spirit again.
But I really have little clue as to if this is accurate. It was fun, but not impactful like I'd hoped it would be.
I'm not sure what to make of this. On an enjoyment level, it was great. It's a fun story that is all over the place with a cynical main character that hates everything. But the theme is a gray area for me. If I had to guess this would be the big point:
Holden Caulfield has graduated into adulthood too fast due to the influences of the boys at the MANY all boys schools he's attended, as well as the death of his younger brother. He hates the insincerity of adults and wishes to be a kid in spirit again.
But I really have little clue as to if this is accurate. It was fun, but not impactful like I'd hoped it would be.
36bayboi55
Book 31: The Long Walk by Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman)
Considering the movie will be out next week, and it apparently (as of my typing this) has a 95% on rotten tomatoes, it jumped to the top of my TBR. I have one word.
Compelling.
Stephen King has always been good at writing amazing characters, but he wrote about 6 or 7 of them here. Everyone, no matter how "bad" draws a painful amount of sympathy. More, in my opinion, than Carrie. I absolutely loved it.
Considering the movie will be out next week, and it apparently (as of my typing this) has a 95% on rotten tomatoes, it jumped to the top of my TBR. I have one word.
Compelling.
Stephen King has always been good at writing amazing characters, but he wrote about 6 or 7 of them here. Everyone, no matter how "bad" draws a painful amount of sympathy. More, in my opinion, than Carrie. I absolutely loved it.
37bayboi55
Book 32: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Wow. I had high expectations, and they were not met, not even close.
Characters and plot points and storyline is not the issue here. The writing is.
It drags, and drags, and drags. I am comfortable reading works from an older English style like Hawthornes, but I have a limit. When mixing that style with a very monologue heavy work like this, there needs to be enough variation. And I don't see that variation.
Every time Hester Prynne is talked about, it is the same thing. There a probably one hundred different page-long paragraphs describing her mental state, which never changes by the way. And in a two hundred page book, that leaves no room for quality storytelling or crazy literary techniques. I was just bored the whole time.
In my review of Huckleberry Finn, I mentioned that I believed that this book was more defining to American Literature than Twains work. I take that back, and will be editing that thread.
Wow. I had high expectations, and they were not met, not even close.
Characters and plot points and storyline is not the issue here. The writing is.
It drags, and drags, and drags. I am comfortable reading works from an older English style like Hawthornes, but I have a limit. When mixing that style with a very monologue heavy work like this, there needs to be enough variation. And I don't see that variation.
Every time Hester Prynne is talked about, it is the same thing. There a probably one hundred different page-long paragraphs describing her mental state, which never changes by the way. And in a two hundred page book, that leaves no room for quality storytelling or crazy literary techniques. I was just bored the whole time.
In my review of Huckleberry Finn, I mentioned that I believed that this book was more defining to American Literature than Twains work. I take that back, and will be editing that thread.
38bayboi55
Book 33: The Stand by Stephen King
Amazing. Just amazing.
I know that there is a debate about what the best work of Stephen King is, but there shouldn't be. This is a masterpiece of storytelling in every way. It is a gem of horror, suspense, and the grotesque. It is a beautiful examination of government, the human condition, and good vs evil.
This story is scary in a way that is hard to describe. It is not a traditional horror scary, but a dreadful scary. At every new chapter, I know that something horrifying is going to happen, and it is going to one-up the last horrifying thing. It happens so often, that the death of billions of people becomes normalized by the end of the book. And this I believe is intentional. King knows that his characters will eventually get used to seeing corpses every new place they go. The reader gets used to it along with the cast of characters, which makes the immersion real. And the suspense that comes from the actions of the large cast of people works very well alongside the disease death.
I love characters that are easy to hate. They seem more real than the stoic badass archetype characters. There are a couple in this. Harold Lauder is my favorite. While he is childish, arrogant, and painfully impulsive at times, he feels refreshing in a dystopia genre that is full of Katniss Everdeens who have no brain and are designed to entertain those with even less of a brain. Harold Lauder might be the best written character I've ever read outside of the namesake character of Anna Karenina.
I've heard that many people consider The Dark Tower Series to be Kings "Magnum Opus." While I have not read the fantasy series, I cannot imagine it overcoming this.
King should only be considered alongside Americas greats. With McCarthy and Faulkner. This is his masterpiece.
Amazing. Just amazing.
I know that there is a debate about what the best work of Stephen King is, but there shouldn't be. This is a masterpiece of storytelling in every way. It is a gem of horror, suspense, and the grotesque. It is a beautiful examination of government, the human condition, and good vs evil.
This story is scary in a way that is hard to describe. It is not a traditional horror scary, but a dreadful scary. At every new chapter, I know that something horrifying is going to happen, and it is going to one-up the last horrifying thing. It happens so often, that the death of billions of people becomes normalized by the end of the book. And this I believe is intentional. King knows that his characters will eventually get used to seeing corpses every new place they go. The reader gets used to it along with the cast of characters, which makes the immersion real. And the suspense that comes from the actions of the large cast of people works very well alongside the disease death.
I love characters that are easy to hate. They seem more real than the stoic badass archetype characters. There are a couple in this. Harold Lauder is my favorite. While he is childish, arrogant, and painfully impulsive at times, he feels refreshing in a dystopia genre that is full of Katniss Everdeens who have no brain and are designed to entertain those with even less of a brain. Harold Lauder might be the best written character I've ever read outside of the namesake character of Anna Karenina.
I've heard that many people consider The Dark Tower Series to be Kings "Magnum Opus." While I have not read the fantasy series, I cannot imagine it overcoming this.
King should only be considered alongside Americas greats. With McCarthy and Faulkner. This is his masterpiece.
39bayboi55
Book 34: Oedipus Burning by David Lang
Well, it definitely is something.
I am never one to trash a book for its sexual content. I hate when people do that to books designed for adults (not counting booktok, that is a whole other can of worms). But I think this relied too heavily on that type of writing for me to take the story and the message seriously. And the message is good in theory.
It deals with the social revival of the south in the early 20th century, by having a young boy in love with an older woman essentially face off with a court judge intent on keeping his way of life alive. Everyone in the town seems to want to move on from the antebellum, but no one does it due to the influences of a couple people. Instead, they lash out through their sexual escapades. Whether that be multiple women attempting to sleep with the main character Odie, or someone reading Ulysses (it was banned at the time). I enjoyed it when it was pg-13, but there was too much other stuff for me to take that type of story seriously.
Well, it definitely is something.
I am never one to trash a book for its sexual content. I hate when people do that to books designed for adults (not counting booktok, that is a whole other can of worms). But I think this relied too heavily on that type of writing for me to take the story and the message seriously. And the message is good in theory.
It deals with the social revival of the south in the early 20th century, by having a young boy in love with an older woman essentially face off with a court judge intent on keeping his way of life alive. Everyone in the town seems to want to move on from the antebellum, but no one does it due to the influences of a couple people. Instead, they lash out through their sexual escapades. Whether that be multiple women attempting to sleep with the main character Odie, or someone reading Ulysses (it was banned at the time). I enjoyed it when it was pg-13, but there was too much other stuff for me to take that type of story seriously.
40bayboi55
Book 35: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
I know I am not cut from the intellectual cloth, and don't have all the advanced literature degrees that some do, so many people would say I am not qualified to comment on a work by Joyce. If I read Finnegans Wake, I would agree. However, for this, I feel my BA in English is enough to qualify me to look critically at a work like this.
Joyce is a genius, and he knows it. I don't think that is a bad thing, Tolstoy is the same way, and I love his works. However, this doesn't come across as literary genius, rather philosophical genius. He knows so much about the world, and language, and the nature of man, however, I think he didn't quite know how to infuse it into literature. That is his only flaw, but a big one.
The first three parts of the novel showed that Joyce is very, very talented in the craft of prose. In part three, he tells, through a sermon, the most terrifying vision of hell I've ever read. His coming of age story is of high quality. But after that, for the back half of the book, after Stephen Dedalus has grown up and discovered who he is, this falls off. Hard. Because Joyce does not infuse his philosophy well, at all, into writing fiction.
All of part five is conversations between college colleagues, and all they talk about is their philosophical beliefs. The conversation is ABSOLUTELY NOT human in any way. It is only the method that Joyce uses to infuse his artistic philosophy into the story. It is extremely difficult to follow, and would be better read as a speech or a lecture out loud than dialogue.
And the philosophy is just, wrong? At least to me it is. I am of the firm belief that, to make art, you need to sacrifice only your time, nothing else. I am a writer, and a high school teacher, and I do both every day. I didn't need to sacrifice my financial well being, my families future, or my own comfort in order to create my art. Joyce argues the opposite, that one must abandon religion, family, comfort, wealth, and anything else in the world to properly make art of any kind. I disagree. He is also very adamant that art and Christianity can not both be a part of someone's life, which, as a Christian, I also vehemently disagree with.
Great story in the beginning, messy, questionable philosophy in the end.
I know I am not cut from the intellectual cloth, and don't have all the advanced literature degrees that some do, so many people would say I am not qualified to comment on a work by Joyce. If I read Finnegans Wake, I would agree. However, for this, I feel my BA in English is enough to qualify me to look critically at a work like this.
Joyce is a genius, and he knows it. I don't think that is a bad thing, Tolstoy is the same way, and I love his works. However, this doesn't come across as literary genius, rather philosophical genius. He knows so much about the world, and language, and the nature of man, however, I think he didn't quite know how to infuse it into literature. That is his only flaw, but a big one.
The first three parts of the novel showed that Joyce is very, very talented in the craft of prose. In part three, he tells, through a sermon, the most terrifying vision of hell I've ever read. His coming of age story is of high quality. But after that, for the back half of the book, after Stephen Dedalus has grown up and discovered who he is, this falls off. Hard. Because Joyce does not infuse his philosophy well, at all, into writing fiction.
All of part five is conversations between college colleagues, and all they talk about is their philosophical beliefs. The conversation is ABSOLUTELY NOT human in any way. It is only the method that Joyce uses to infuse his artistic philosophy into the story. It is extremely difficult to follow, and would be better read as a speech or a lecture out loud than dialogue.
And the philosophy is just, wrong? At least to me it is. I am of the firm belief that, to make art, you need to sacrifice only your time, nothing else. I am a writer, and a high school teacher, and I do both every day. I didn't need to sacrifice my financial well being, my families future, or my own comfort in order to create my art. Joyce argues the opposite, that one must abandon religion, family, comfort, wealth, and anything else in the world to properly make art of any kind. I disagree. He is also very adamant that art and Christianity can not both be a part of someone's life, which, as a Christian, I also vehemently disagree with.
Great story in the beginning, messy, questionable philosophy in the end.
41bayboi55
Book 36: Feed by M.T. Anderson
I will be teaching this book starting Dec. 1, and that is by my own choosing. I'm not sure how Anderson was able to pinpoint exactly what 2025 would feel like when writing from barely past Y2K. This is good, and I feel should be required reading for high school students across the country.
Most YA dystopia zooms in on atrocity and horrible government, which is totally fine. But this one hones in on something real, and something much more dangerous.
Cell phones.
I hope that my students take to this book, and apply it to their lives, I see every day how they rely on their phones every second to keep them entertained. It's sad. This book shows how dangerous that can be.
I will be teaching this book starting Dec. 1, and that is by my own choosing. I'm not sure how Anderson was able to pinpoint exactly what 2025 would feel like when writing from barely past Y2K. This is good, and I feel should be required reading for high school students across the country.
Most YA dystopia zooms in on atrocity and horrible government, which is totally fine. But this one hones in on something real, and something much more dangerous.
Cell phones.
I hope that my students take to this book, and apply it to their lives, I see every day how they rely on their phones every second to keep them entertained. It's sad. This book shows how dangerous that can be.
42bayboi55
Book 37: Tender Is The Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
When I was told about this book, I was warned about the graphic nature of it all, and told it would change how I read books for a while. I see where that feeling could come from, and I did love it, but it didn't cut me deep in the way it cuts most people.
A lot of book readers, especially modern readers, see things on the surface level and no further. And it is because what they read is shallow and not intellectual at all. Book tok is very surface level, even when it tries to be disturbing. It is just shock value stuff. This book became like the "darkest side" of booktok, with readers insisting that it was pure gorefest and no more. That is a disservice to this.
Yes, it is gory and disturbing on a technical level. But, it is much more horrifying than that when you consider why our main character operates how he does. He is a man whose lost his son to sudden death, his wife to distance caused by grief, and his father to age and illness. He desperately, desperately wants to put his family back together. The whole story is a journey of him doing anything it takes to fix his life. Anything. Hence the shockingly beautiful ending that I won't spoil. But it works.
And this evil main character takes the high road for all the pages but the last two. I mean that literally. He claims to be above eating people, becomes vegetarian, and is genuinely repulsed by the practice of farming humans like cattle to be slaughtered and eaten. Yet, to make his family whole again, he must go along with it, at least for the money he makes. But that turning up of the nose is deceptive, he is evil, just not like everyone else around him is.
He is the only one we see that recognizes the humanity in the people being eaten every day, and after knowing that, his actions become that much more haunting in the end.
And the haunting end is something that I appreciate from this. So many books can never leave at a truly horrifying ending. There always has to be some silver lining, some light at the end of the tunnel. Works like The Stand would be made better by sadder endings, and this has exactly what so many horror books need.
I loved it. The only reason I'm not a full five stars is that some of the things that happen, like the acceptance of the existence of the scavengers and the hunting parties, are far fetched, even for this concept.
When I was told about this book, I was warned about the graphic nature of it all, and told it would change how I read books for a while. I see where that feeling could come from, and I did love it, but it didn't cut me deep in the way it cuts most people.
A lot of book readers, especially modern readers, see things on the surface level and no further. And it is because what they read is shallow and not intellectual at all. Book tok is very surface level, even when it tries to be disturbing. It is just shock value stuff. This book became like the "darkest side" of booktok, with readers insisting that it was pure gorefest and no more. That is a disservice to this.
Yes, it is gory and disturbing on a technical level. But, it is much more horrifying than that when you consider why our main character operates how he does. He is a man whose lost his son to sudden death, his wife to distance caused by grief, and his father to age and illness. He desperately, desperately wants to put his family back together. The whole story is a journey of him doing anything it takes to fix his life. Anything. Hence the shockingly beautiful ending that I won't spoil. But it works.
And this evil main character takes the high road for all the pages but the last two. I mean that literally. He claims to be above eating people, becomes vegetarian, and is genuinely repulsed by the practice of farming humans like cattle to be slaughtered and eaten. Yet, to make his family whole again, he must go along with it, at least for the money he makes. But that turning up of the nose is deceptive, he is evil, just not like everyone else around him is.
He is the only one we see that recognizes the humanity in the people being eaten every day, and after knowing that, his actions become that much more haunting in the end.
And the haunting end is something that I appreciate from this. So many books can never leave at a truly horrifying ending. There always has to be some silver lining, some light at the end of the tunnel. Works like The Stand would be made better by sadder endings, and this has exactly what so many horror books need.
I loved it. The only reason I'm not a full five stars is that some of the things that happen, like the acceptance of the existence of the scavengers and the hunting parties, are far fetched, even for this concept.
43bayboi55
Book 38: Joyland by Stephen King
This book epitomizes the main issue that a lot of people have with Stephen Kings works, and it's that he doesn't know how to end a story.
King writes characters like no other. The cast of people in this story are no different. From about fifty pages in until near the end, I read in one morning. Because of who King can create and how lovable or dislikable he can make people. It is his greatest trait as a writer, and he does it on par with Cormac McCarthy and William Faulkner. Yet, he falls short when it comes to story resolutions somewhat often.
Here, the story ending is impossible to believe. I can suspend my disbelief when it comes to supernatural psychic abilities when they appear in the story. It's Stephen King for a reason. But I can't seem to do it when there is an impossible sequence of events outside that psychic stuff. It was disappointing.
This book epitomizes the main issue that a lot of people have with Stephen Kings works, and it's that he doesn't know how to end a story.
King writes characters like no other. The cast of people in this story are no different. From about fifty pages in until near the end, I read in one morning. Because of who King can create and how lovable or dislikable he can make people. It is his greatest trait as a writer, and he does it on par with Cormac McCarthy and William Faulkner. Yet, he falls short when it comes to story resolutions somewhat often.
Here, the story ending is impossible to believe. I can suspend my disbelief when it comes to supernatural psychic abilities when they appear in the story. It's Stephen King for a reason. But I can't seem to do it when there is an impossible sequence of events outside that psychic stuff. It was disappointing.
44bayboi55
Book 39: One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey
High, high quality read. I describe books often as 'genius' or 'masterpiece', but I never use the word 'clever.' This book is clever.
It is so fun on a sentence by sentence level. So many small, genius quips and remarks that you would miss if you weren't paying decent attention to each word. It's legitimately every page. It was so much fun to read. In the world of the "classics," it's so easy to get bogged down in these monster thousand page works or confusing stream-of-consciousness reads. This was so, so refreshing. And I needed it badly.
I loved each and every character in the psych ward. All of them were very likeable, very opinionated and entertaining to see, or at least they were all cleverly written in what they were dealing with. Characters drive the plot through their conflicts with themselves and each other, and all of the conflicts are character specific and mean something to the overall story.
And the ending, what a genius way to end it. You get your big final conflict between the two main oppositions, and then it seems that one character wins, but then it turns upside down and its tragic, but the tragedy gets turned into a freeing of nearly all our characters.
I can't say enough good about this book.
High, high quality read. I describe books often as 'genius' or 'masterpiece', but I never use the word 'clever.' This book is clever.
It is so fun on a sentence by sentence level. So many small, genius quips and remarks that you would miss if you weren't paying decent attention to each word. It's legitimately every page. It was so much fun to read. In the world of the "classics," it's so easy to get bogged down in these monster thousand page works or confusing stream-of-consciousness reads. This was so, so refreshing. And I needed it badly.
I loved each and every character in the psych ward. All of them were very likeable, very opinionated and entertaining to see, or at least they were all cleverly written in what they were dealing with. Characters drive the plot through their conflicts with themselves and each other, and all of the conflicts are character specific and mean something to the overall story.
And the ending, what a genius way to end it. You get your big final conflict between the two main oppositions, and then it seems that one character wins, but then it turns upside down and its tragic, but the tragedy gets turned into a freeing of nearly all our characters.
I can't say enough good about this book.
45bayboi55
Book 40: Mapping The Interior by Stephen Graham Jones
Very, very high quality coming of age story, in my opinion. And one that is perfect for people of the age it is written about, due to the length.
I love Stephen Graham Jones. I love everything about his style, the genre he has been defining recently, and the culture he has captured. I read his work My Heart is A Chainsaw in college for a class, and have recently been interested in getting back into his stuff.
This one hits for a few reasons.
I love stories of young children acting like young children. His level of maturity is not absurdly unbelievable. He has had to grow up faster due to the death of his dad, but is still a child. He is realistic. Because, what twelve year old child wouldn't be terrified if dogs attacked him? That scene got me as the best in the book, and it could have easily turned into some crazy standing up to the evil dogs thing, but it didn't.
I also love the duality of his opinion of his father. He sees him admirably in the beginning, with an ere of sadness at not only his death, but the sad life he lived. As we move through, and come to understand what the ghost of his father is doing to his brother, he doesn't have some yearning for the past he never got. Instead, he has a hatred for the thing that is killing his brother.
The ending is good and bad for me. The idea of mapping out the house comes back, which I love. But the dream state where he watches the death of his father from an adults POV is odd, and I had some trouble following it.
Great book, and at only 96 pages, a fantastic one-afternoon read for me.
The Only Good Indians and Don't Fear the Reaper have been amazoned, and are in the TBR.
Very, very high quality coming of age story, in my opinion. And one that is perfect for people of the age it is written about, due to the length.
I love Stephen Graham Jones. I love everything about his style, the genre he has been defining recently, and the culture he has captured. I read his work My Heart is A Chainsaw in college for a class, and have recently been interested in getting back into his stuff.
This one hits for a few reasons.
I love stories of young children acting like young children. His level of maturity is not absurdly unbelievable. He has had to grow up faster due to the death of his dad, but is still a child. He is realistic. Because, what twelve year old child wouldn't be terrified if dogs attacked him? That scene got me as the best in the book, and it could have easily turned into some crazy standing up to the evil dogs thing, but it didn't.
I also love the duality of his opinion of his father. He sees him admirably in the beginning, with an ere of sadness at not only his death, but the sad life he lived. As we move through, and come to understand what the ghost of his father is doing to his brother, he doesn't have some yearning for the past he never got. Instead, he has a hatred for the thing that is killing his brother.
The ending is good and bad for me. The idea of mapping out the house comes back, which I love. But the dream state where he watches the death of his father from an adults POV is odd, and I had some trouble following it.
Great book, and at only 96 pages, a fantastic one-afternoon read for me.
The Only Good Indians and Don't Fear the Reaper have been amazoned, and are in the TBR.
46bayboi55
Book 41: Lord of the Flies by William Golding
I believe that this book is the ultimate testament to how an ending can soil an amazing book.
When I was younger, fiction didn't really do it for me. I was, admittedly edgy, and wanted to step into the disturbing when I had free time. I think that is why horror movies and video games appealed to me so much. Stuff like 'Cabin in the Woods' and 'COD: Zombies' I gave reading many chances, and outside of a couple titles, The Hunger Games and The Road (odd combination I know), nothing hit that real, teenage angst disturbing that I wanted. But this book reawakened that in me, and I see now that myself as a teenager would have loved this. It is a shame I was never assigned to read it in school.
The premise is all too real for me. I can suspend my disbelief that all these kids survived a plane crash, because after that, there is no supernatural or unrealistic aspect to the story. Everything that happens is exactly what would happen in real life with a bunch of twelve-year-olds. The fighting over a leader, over priorities, and over control. The realism of one bad apple in the bunch ruining everything hits hard for me.
The characters are well written, not in crazy backstory or deep motivations and purpose, but just in their actions. They are, once again with the strength of this story, real. Ralph, our "hero" is still a jerk to the fat kid like most preteens would be. Jack, the villain, is a classic, but real bully, someone who knows how to have people on his side, and can convince them to commit very deep violence just because he is charismatic.
The events are meaningful as well. The deaths we see, though I won't spoil them, happen in a way that can be believed when you mix in the pressures the kids are dealing with. The first death is caused by a combination of fear/paranoia, and delirium brought on by malnourishment and exhaustion. The second death is forced by a young boy, who is beginning his journey in the way of manipulation, and on his way to becoming an adult devoid of empathy and emotion.
The ending, as I mentioned, is what killed me in the end. I know I am not the author, and I hate when people suggest different endings to works they didn't write, but the end feels like a cop out to me. I won't 'suggest' anything, I will simply say that Golding didn't hold back on realism and brutality until the end, where stories like this need that most. I can appreciate the thematic importance the ending has, but not much beyond that.
As I mentioned, I never read this in high school, so when one of my students wanted to read this on his own, then came to me asking questions about the characters, I had to take the weekend to lock in, and lock in I did.
I believe that this book is the ultimate testament to how an ending can soil an amazing book.
When I was younger, fiction didn't really do it for me. I was, admittedly edgy, and wanted to step into the disturbing when I had free time. I think that is why horror movies and video games appealed to me so much. Stuff like 'Cabin in the Woods' and 'COD: Zombies' I gave reading many chances, and outside of a couple titles, The Hunger Games and The Road (odd combination I know), nothing hit that real, teenage angst disturbing that I wanted. But this book reawakened that in me, and I see now that myself as a teenager would have loved this. It is a shame I was never assigned to read it in school.
The premise is all too real for me. I can suspend my disbelief that all these kids survived a plane crash, because after that, there is no supernatural or unrealistic aspect to the story. Everything that happens is exactly what would happen in real life with a bunch of twelve-year-olds. The fighting over a leader, over priorities, and over control. The realism of one bad apple in the bunch ruining everything hits hard for me.
The characters are well written, not in crazy backstory or deep motivations and purpose, but just in their actions. They are, once again with the strength of this story, real. Ralph, our "hero" is still a jerk to the fat kid like most preteens would be. Jack, the villain, is a classic, but real bully, someone who knows how to have people on his side, and can convince them to commit very deep violence just because he is charismatic.
The events are meaningful as well. The deaths we see, though I won't spoil them, happen in a way that can be believed when you mix in the pressures the kids are dealing with. The first death is caused by a combination of fear/paranoia, and delirium brought on by malnourishment and exhaustion. The second death is forced by a young boy, who is beginning his journey in the way of manipulation, and on his way to becoming an adult devoid of empathy and emotion.
The ending, as I mentioned, is what killed me in the end. I know I am not the author, and I hate when people suggest different endings to works they didn't write, but the end feels like a cop out to me. I won't 'suggest' anything, I will simply say that Golding didn't hold back on realism and brutality until the end, where stories like this need that most. I can appreciate the thematic importance the ending has, but not much beyond that.
As I mentioned, I never read this in high school, so when one of my students wanted to read this on his own, then came to me asking questions about the characters, I had to take the weekend to lock in, and lock in I did.
47bayboi55
Book 42:Animal Farm by George Orwell
I have two bachelors degrees, earned simultaneously, in History and English. That has only truly helped me two times when reading for pleasure. The first time being Anna Karenina, the second being this.
I can't say anything about this book that hasn't already been said. But I have one thing I would like to try and add.
The stupidity of the animals is something that I have only come to appreciate in recent years. I always studied history from the lens of me being superior to whatever group of people were subjected by brutal governments or tyrannical leaders. It wasn't until college, when I dug deep into both Soviet history, and cult history, did I come to understand how people can be subjected for so long. It takes the right leader, who knows how apply both the carrot and the stick to do it, and Animal Farm is the picture of that.
If I'd read this when I was younger like so many did, I would have assumed the animals were able to be subjected because they were dumb animals. But I know now that we as people are never safe from beings forced into the same thing the animals were.
Control the truth, control the world. Orwell showed us that in (in my opinion) his best work.
I have two bachelors degrees, earned simultaneously, in History and English. That has only truly helped me two times when reading for pleasure. The first time being Anna Karenina, the second being this.
I can't say anything about this book that hasn't already been said. But I have one thing I would like to try and add.
The stupidity of the animals is something that I have only come to appreciate in recent years. I always studied history from the lens of me being superior to whatever group of people were subjected by brutal governments or tyrannical leaders. It wasn't until college, when I dug deep into both Soviet history, and cult history, did I come to understand how people can be subjected for so long. It takes the right leader, who knows how apply both the carrot and the stick to do it, and Animal Farm is the picture of that.
If I'd read this when I was younger like so many did, I would have assumed the animals were able to be subjected because they were dumb animals. But I know now that we as people are never safe from beings forced into the same thing the animals were.
Control the truth, control the world. Orwell showed us that in (in my opinion) his best work.
48bayboi55
Book 43: The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
I enjoyed this book for a couple reasons, but nothing about it really stood out to me as amazing.
Character development, of everyone involved, was pretty good. I know what type of characters they are and what their motivations are pretty early into their various sections, but none of them were memorable. They are ordinary, which might be the point, but no one is story defining in my opinion. I would have loved to see more from the person who is recording all of this post-disaster, as that would shed some into why I should care about the story in the first place.
But my issue with the characters stems from the overall issue of the book, and that is I found myself bored. Which I hate being when I read. Even bad books can be entertaining, but books that are boring are the worst. I do consider this boring, literature purists be damned. And I won't pretend I can offer a solution. This seems similar in my opinion to One Hundred years of Solitude with the one South American town and a cast of characters, and Anna Karenina in the semi-aristocratic set of issues, as well as the themes of illness, love and tragedy. But those books gripped me, while this one didn't.
I love Wilder's writing, I will give him that. He dropped what might be the hardest quote I've seen this year when he said:
"Many who have spent a lifetime in it can tell us less of love than the child that lost a dog yesterday."
I loved the prose for every word, but the story just didn't grip me.
I enjoyed this book for a couple reasons, but nothing about it really stood out to me as amazing.
Character development, of everyone involved, was pretty good. I know what type of characters they are and what their motivations are pretty early into their various sections, but none of them were memorable. They are ordinary, which might be the point, but no one is story defining in my opinion. I would have loved to see more from the person who is recording all of this post-disaster, as that would shed some into why I should care about the story in the first place.
But my issue with the characters stems from the overall issue of the book, and that is I found myself bored. Which I hate being when I read. Even bad books can be entertaining, but books that are boring are the worst. I do consider this boring, literature purists be damned. And I won't pretend I can offer a solution. This seems similar in my opinion to One Hundred years of Solitude with the one South American town and a cast of characters, and Anna Karenina in the semi-aristocratic set of issues, as well as the themes of illness, love and tragedy. But those books gripped me, while this one didn't.
I love Wilder's writing, I will give him that. He dropped what might be the hardest quote I've seen this year when he said:
"Many who have spent a lifetime in it can tell us less of love than the child that lost a dog yesterday."
I loved the prose for every word, but the story just didn't grip me.
49bayboi55
Book 44: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Welp, I admittedly am not an expert in literature, and my opinion holds very little weight, but this bored me to death. Nothing enough happens for me to have been drawn in. But, romance has never been enough on its own to draw me in. I gave it my best shot, and can appreciate the good prose, but this is not for me.
Welp, I admittedly am not an expert in literature, and my opinion holds very little weight, but this bored me to death. Nothing enough happens for me to have been drawn in. But, romance has never been enough on its own to draw me in. I gave it my best shot, and can appreciate the good prose, but this is not for me.
50bayboi55
Book 45: Child of God by Cormac McCarthy
Classic McCarthy masterclass that I have been accustomed to reading. Even in his old style, which is slightly different than what made him famous, McCarthy can spin the south like not even William Faulkner can. I absolutely am in love with his writing.
The idea of the southern grotesque is prevalent in studies of southern literature, and this is one that should be included in whatever classes are taught on the subject. Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner do the grotesque, but not like McCarthy does here with Lester Ballard. The man in this story is the representation of everything that is wrong or has been seen as wrong about the south, and Appalachia especially. I am a SUCKER for Appalachian literature, and this does it like no one else.
I also love the smoothness of transition McCarthy achieves here. The cuts between frequent short chapters feel like scene changes in a play or screenplay, in the best way possible. The cast and setting are laid out quick, and then the audience is left to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.
I think that Cormac McCarthy, as an American author, stands alone in skill, choice of story, and greatness. He has not let me down, once again.
Classic McCarthy masterclass that I have been accustomed to reading. Even in his old style, which is slightly different than what made him famous, McCarthy can spin the south like not even William Faulkner can. I absolutely am in love with his writing.
The idea of the southern grotesque is prevalent in studies of southern literature, and this is one that should be included in whatever classes are taught on the subject. Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner do the grotesque, but not like McCarthy does here with Lester Ballard. The man in this story is the representation of everything that is wrong or has been seen as wrong about the south, and Appalachia especially. I am a SUCKER for Appalachian literature, and this does it like no one else.
I also love the smoothness of transition McCarthy achieves here. The cuts between frequent short chapters feel like scene changes in a play or screenplay, in the best way possible. The cast and setting are laid out quick, and then the audience is left to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.
I think that Cormac McCarthy, as an American author, stands alone in skill, choice of story, and greatness. He has not let me down, once again.
51bayboi55
Book 46: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
I love this books horror, and characters, and choice of conflict. But I hate just about every small thing in here. I'll explain.
The cast of four characters that break their own peoples laws and are forced to atone for it are all amazingly unique, fleshed out, and as real as fiction can get. They all attempt to escape their fate, even if some don't know they are escaping a fate at all. This is either through running away, the bottle, growing up (figuratively) and starting a family, or a combination of them. In terms of characters, they are great leads.
The horror here, which I have always considered Jones' greatest strength, is on full display. I absolutely love Native folklore and horror based around it. The concepts of horror are grotesque and brutally unforgiving here, in the best way possible. I won't give any more detail than that for risk of ruining it. It's so good.
But, the small things.
Every "minor" plot driver is exactly the same, and not only is that boring to begin with, but the mini plot driver of choice makes it even worse.
I do not give a crap about basketball. Every character in this book plays basketball, and they all do it for several pages, and while it technically drives the plot SOMETIMES, it is unbelievably boring after the first hundred pages. I can not stand it that twenty pages from the end of the book, in the middle of the climax, I have to hear a sequence of multiple pages of one-on-one basketball. It has no business being there. I get it sometimes, having something that drives the plot throughout can bring continuity, but that thing has to relate to the plot. Basketball doesn't AT ALL.
Worth the read, but the inclusion of dozens of pages of ultra-specific basketball talk brought this down from five to three stars in my mind.
I love this books horror, and characters, and choice of conflict. But I hate just about every small thing in here. I'll explain.
The cast of four characters that break their own peoples laws and are forced to atone for it are all amazingly unique, fleshed out, and as real as fiction can get. They all attempt to escape their fate, even if some don't know they are escaping a fate at all. This is either through running away, the bottle, growing up (figuratively) and starting a family, or a combination of them. In terms of characters, they are great leads.
The horror here, which I have always considered Jones' greatest strength, is on full display. I absolutely love Native folklore and horror based around it. The concepts of horror are grotesque and brutally unforgiving here, in the best way possible. I won't give any more detail than that for risk of ruining it. It's so good.
But, the small things.
Every "minor" plot driver is exactly the same, and not only is that boring to begin with, but the mini plot driver of choice makes it even worse.
I do not give a crap about basketball. Every character in this book plays basketball, and they all do it for several pages, and while it technically drives the plot SOMETIMES, it is unbelievably boring after the first hundred pages. I can not stand it that twenty pages from the end of the book, in the middle of the climax, I have to hear a sequence of multiple pages of one-on-one basketball. It has no business being there. I get it sometimes, having something that drives the plot throughout can bring continuity, but that thing has to relate to the plot. Basketball doesn't AT ALL.
Worth the read, but the inclusion of dozens of pages of ultra-specific basketball talk brought this down from five to three stars in my mind.
52bayboi55
Book 47: The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner
Faulkner is the best. There might not be another way to put it, he's the best. His words, his characters, his place in time and his choice of story are second to none. His authenticity is second to none.
I love southern literature; I've read a ton of it. I think that Cormac McCarthy and William Faulkner are the only two writers who have been able to truly and purely capture the south. Faulkner just slightly better. It's easy to create a realistic setting, but it is hard to create real people, and Faulkner does. My biggest gripe with the works of Twain is that it is all so fake, such a fake rendition of poor southern people written by a rich southern person. The Compson family is the realest southern family ever put to writing. That is the most I can say to do this book justice.
This work should be required reading for every college student in the south, regardless of field of study. The best American work I've read all year.
Faulkner is the best. There might not be another way to put it, he's the best. His words, his characters, his place in time and his choice of story are second to none. His authenticity is second to none.
I love southern literature; I've read a ton of it. I think that Cormac McCarthy and William Faulkner are the only two writers who have been able to truly and purely capture the south. Faulkner just slightly better. It's easy to create a realistic setting, but it is hard to create real people, and Faulkner does. My biggest gripe with the works of Twain is that it is all so fake, such a fake rendition of poor southern people written by a rich southern person. The Compson family is the realest southern family ever put to writing. That is the most I can say to do this book justice.
This work should be required reading for every college student in the south, regardless of field of study. The best American work I've read all year.
53bayboi55
Book 48: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
I finished this on New Year's Eve, and I believe it was a good way to finish the year of reading. Oscar Wilde is a wordsmith of talent, which is the strong suit of the story. Yes, this is a gothic tale and has elements of that, but in comparison to works like Frankenstein, less gothic things happen. It is one supernatural picture, and one murder. The strength of this work is the writing. It is decadent, tasteful, and very rich in what I like to see in writing.
While this can be a strength, it can also be a weakness. Authors who are better writers than storytellers tend to neglect the story at the expense of the prose, Joyce in my opinion is a prime example. Oscar Wilde gets close at times, lots of philosophy and opinionated points, but the story does not suffer because of it. I wish more had happened in Dorian Gray's pursuit of covering his secret, but that is a nitpick, and not because of any arrogant writing.
Great story, good gothic story, fantastically written story.
I finished this on New Year's Eve, and I believe it was a good way to finish the year of reading. Oscar Wilde is a wordsmith of talent, which is the strong suit of the story. Yes, this is a gothic tale and has elements of that, but in comparison to works like Frankenstein, less gothic things happen. It is one supernatural picture, and one murder. The strength of this work is the writing. It is decadent, tasteful, and very rich in what I like to see in writing.
While this can be a strength, it can also be a weakness. Authors who are better writers than storytellers tend to neglect the story at the expense of the prose, Joyce in my opinion is a prime example. Oscar Wilde gets close at times, lots of philosophy and opinionated points, but the story does not suffer because of it. I wish more had happened in Dorian Gray's pursuit of covering his secret, but that is a nitpick, and not because of any arrogant writing.
Great story, good gothic story, fantastically written story.
54bayboi55
The year in review:
What a year for me and my reading journey. I discovered a love of classics in this year, and I also believe I have found my favorite authors and stories. My identity as a reader will never be the same, in a good way. Here are my top five reads from the year.
HM: The Metamorphosis, The Sound and the Fury, Child of God
5: The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
4: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez
3: The Stand by Stephen King
2: Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
1: Blood Meridian by McCarthy
I have found that Cormac McCarthy is the greatest American writer to put pen to paper. I don't know how people don't see that. I understand the arguments for Faulkner, Melville, and Hemingway, but they don't hold a candle to McCarthy and what he can do. I do not understand the arguments for Twain and Hawthorne, Stephen Kings best works are better than those two.
There are two types of stories, brilliant storytelling, and brilliant prose. McCarthy does both like no one else could hope to.
Thank you 2025. I only read 48, but those 48 will stick with me forever.
What a year for me and my reading journey. I discovered a love of classics in this year, and I also believe I have found my favorite authors and stories. My identity as a reader will never be the same, in a good way. Here are my top five reads from the year.
HM: The Metamorphosis, The Sound and the Fury, Child of God
5: The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
4: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez
3: The Stand by Stephen King
2: Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
1: Blood Meridian by McCarthy
I have found that Cormac McCarthy is the greatest American writer to put pen to paper. I don't know how people don't see that. I understand the arguments for Faulkner, Melville, and Hemingway, but they don't hold a candle to McCarthy and what he can do. I do not understand the arguments for Twain and Hawthorne, Stephen Kings best works are better than those two.
There are two types of stories, brilliant storytelling, and brilliant prose. McCarthy does both like no one else could hope to.
Thank you 2025. I only read 48, but those 48 will stick with me forever.
