I've started reading The Plague, by Albert Camus since I liked The Stranger so much, and .... sigh. It's the same problem I had with Madame Bovary and to a lesser extent, Swan's Way. There are no characters, and just descriptions of things happening in a very passive, drawn back way. I don't know if …
The Stranger, by Albert Camus
I've broken my streak of giving up on French classics! This was a short, and somewhat disturbing read. The story opens with the character, Meursault, stating that his mother has died, though he's not exactly sure when, and then describes her funeral. We soon find that the Meursault does not seem to have any emotional connection to …
Foucault’s Pendulum, by Umberto Eco
This one was a bit of a trial. It took me several months to read because it got so bogged down in historical details that I don't care about. In this story, a group of editors decide to create their own conspiracy theory about the Templars in order to sell books. They go about it …
Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders
Love, death, ghosts, and history. What a sad, funny, interesting and heart-squeezing novel. From Wikipedia: Many years ago, during a visit to Washington DC, my wife's cousin pointed out to us a crypt on a hill and mentioned that, in 1862, while Abraham Lincoln was president, his beloved son, Willie, died, and was temporarily interred …
Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
While I enjoyed the story over all, I found this to be longer than needed, and with too much overblown prose for my taste. The story follows Pip, as he grows up an orphan, taken care of by his sister. We see him change as he comes into his 'great expectations', money and promise of …
Jonas David 