The Hunt for Red October

Title: The Hunt for Red October
Author: Tom Clancy
List: #81 on Modern Library Readers’ Best 20th Century Novels
Worth reading? Yes.

What do you expect from a thriller? Excitement? Suspense? Intrigue? If so, The Hunt for Red October certainly delivers. And as such, it is a nice change from the more strictly literary works on my list. As I’ve come to expect from thrillers, the quality of the writing isn’t always fantastic, but I don’t think that is what matters for this type of novel. What matters is that you start it and cannot put it down. But the thriller aspect, and its, perhaps, correlated reduced writing quality also explains why it is on the readers’ choice list.

I certainly had no problems with the level of excitement and pace of the novel while I was reading it, but when I watched the movie shortly after finishing the book, I realized there are some slightly slower parts—action-wise—that probably wouldn’t transfer very well to the big screen. And that perhaps explains why there were substantial discrepancies between the book and the movie. But it is definitely a good read and what I would consider an excellent “airplane book.” In other words, read it when you don’t want intense mental stimulation but have a lot of hours to get through!

Animal Farm

Title: Animal Farm
Author: George Orwell
List: #17 on Radcliffe’s Top 100 20th Century Novels, #20 on Modern Library Readers’ Top 100 20th Century Novels, #31 on Modern Library Board’s Top 100 20th Century Novels, #46 on BBC Top 100
Worth reading? I guess so, maybe.

When this book is in the top fifty on all four of my lists, and the top twenty of two of them, how can I say it is not worth reading? Maybe the impact of the novel has been lost over time as it has become such a staple of popular culture. I am sure that when it was first published it caused quite the sensation, but now I think I would be hard-pressed to find anyone who is unfamiliar with the story.

And so I am not quite sure what there is left for me to say. Yes, Animal Farm is quite the political allegory. Yes, it should probably be required reading for high school students learning about communist Russia and political revolutions in general. And yes, it has become a classic. But is it really relevant in the twenty-first century? Or for the future? I am not at all sure it is.

I suppose for now, even though the story will not come as a surprise, it may be worth reading just because the book and its theme are so pervasive in modern discourse.

To the Lighthouse

Title: To the Lighthouse
Author: Virginia Woolf
List: #15 on Modern Library Board’s Top 100 20th Century Novels, #34 on Radcliffe’s Top 100 20th Century Novels , #48 on Modern Library Readers’ Top 100 20th Century Novels.
Worth reading? Not really.

Apparently I am missing something. Not only did the Modern Library Board and the Radcliffe Publishing Course place this novel in the top 50, but Modern Library Readers did as well. And here I sit, having just finished the book, thinking about how reading To the Lighthouse was a complete waste of time. I just do not see what the point of the whole thing was. And if it had been any longer, and I did not have this crazy goal of reading all the books on the lists, I would not have finished it

Maybe the novel is supposed to be good because of the way the narrator intimately focuses on various characters, revealing their thoughts in a very “stream of consciousness” way. The stream of consciousness is so pronounced that a character’s thoughts slip brokenly from the present to the past and back to the present creating a story within a story that is extremely hard for a reader to follow, at least in the format in which I read the book. And maybe some people like a book written almost entirely in thoughts and observations with hardly any dialogue. And maybe it does not bother other people that half the book seems to take place in the thoughts of one character in one day while, after a brief odd interlude that is supposed to indicate a lapse of time, the rest of the novel is split between the thoughts of a few more characters on another day. And maybe to those people it is fine that nothing actually happens in the book. And maybe those people focus on and admire the language rather than thinking, like me, that the author seemed so wrapped up in the language that she forgot to write the story.

But clearly, this was not the book for me. And I am very glad it is finished.

Ender's Game

Title: Ender’s Game
Author: Orson Scott Card
List: #59 on Modern Library Readers’ Top 100 20th Century Novels
Worth reading? Yes.

Ender’s Game is a science fiction novel in many ways strongly reminiscent of Starship Troopers, which I read shortly before starting this blog. It takes place in a future where humans have narrowly escaped destruction by an insect-like alien race and have formed an international military unit to defend Earth from future attacks. This military unit apparently fears that another war with the “buggers” is imminent and is searching for a commander to lead the human forces to victory.

The interesting part is that the military is searching for this commander among children. These children, who are as young as five or six, are enrolled in a space station military training facility, called the Battle School, where they are trained as fighters. After Battle School, the children go on to Command School to learn how to lead forces, mainly spaceships, into battle.

The main character, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, is a prodigy sent to Battle School just before his sixth birthday. There the “game” begins where he fights other children as part of one of the school’s armies in the school’s zero gravity war games league. Most of the novel consists of Ender’s personal struggles but military successes at Battle School. In that respect, the novel is very male-oriented, violent, and militaristic.

However, the psychology behind the concept of training young children is quite intriguing, as are descriptions of how Ender adapts to zero gravity. The novel explains how Ender recognizes that in zero gravity he can decide for himself what is up and what is down and how that completely reorients his perspective on action that takes place in zero gravity. This reorienting of perspective is something that the other children have difficulty grasping and that Ender must try to teach his peers. Although the author describes this perspective change very well, I couldn’t help but think the concept would be much better explained visually. And then I found out that there are plans for a movie, set for release in March 2013. I hope that the filmmakers deal with the concept as well as the author intended.

As far as sci-fi novels go, most of Ender’s Game really isn’t that stellar or different. What sets it apart is its focus on children and an interesting twist at the end that I only predicted a couple pages before it was revealed. This twist is what makes the novel worth reading and the militarism worth slogging through.  As for the rest of the series, I haven't started any of them yet and the novel works quite well by itself.  However, I have heard from several sources that the second book clears up some questions from the first one so I may read that at some point in the future.

Watership Down

Title: Watership Down
Author: Richard Adams
List: #42 on BBC Top 100, #79 on Modern Library Readers’ Top 100 20th Century Novels
Worth reading? YES!!

Watership Down is a book about rabbits. “A book about rabbits?!” you may exclaim, “And why are you so adamant that it is worth reading?” Because it is completely unexpected and utterly amazing. Leaving aside the fact that it is about rabbits, the story is about a hero who risks everything for his convictions, faces seemingly insurmountable obstacles with bravery and cunning, and puts his own life at risk multiple times for the sake of his friends and followers. The hero doesn’t believe in leaving anyone behind and, most of the time, listens to the advice of even the littlest voices. Richard Adams’ storytelling makes you root for the hero and his followers and it is difficult not to keep reading chapter after chapter.

Integral to this adventurous tale is the fact that it is about rabbits. The magnificent hero of this story is not a human, but a rabbit leading his followers across the countryside to found a new rabbit warren. Richard Adams has perfectly captured the movements, spirit, and fears of rabbits. The tale is full of passages describing the rabbits’ progress as a short run, followed by a couple of hops, followed by sitting up and smelling around for predators, followed by freezing in place or running away in fear. If you’ve ever seen any wild rabbits in person or on film, you realize that Adams’ words perfectly describe rabbit behavior and progress and you can perfectly imagine the ragged bunch of rabbits crossing a field. Their fears are rabbit fears, their dreams are rabbit dreams, and their behavior is, unquestionably, rabbit behavior. Added to this is Adams’ charming description of rabbit language and folklore. Adams introduces readers to a bit of rabbit vocabulary and describes how, to pass the time, the rabbits tell stories about a rabbit trickster folk hero and his interactions with a god-figure and a grim reaper equivalent. Several of these stories are included in the book and are brilliantly told by one of the rabbits.

In every way, Watership Down is a fantastic adventure story that becomes even more charming because of the rabbit civilization Adams created. Although the novel was written for children, it is a story adults should not miss, so it may be best read aloud as a bedtime story!

Dune

Title: Dune (the complete series)
Author:  Frank Herbert
List:  #39 on BBC Top 100, #14 on Modern Library Reader’s Top 100 20th Century Novels
Worth reading?  Yes.

Technically, the lists refer only to Dune, the novel that started the Dune saga.  Frank Herbert added five other novels to the tale, and his son continued in his footsteps with prequels, sequels, and interquels.  This post will only discuss Frank Herbert’s six Dune novels.

Dune, the first novel, is a classic work of science fiction.  It manages to effortlessly convey a future where humans have created an interstellar empire with planetary fiefdoms controlled by noble houses.  Interplanetary travel is provided by the Spacing Guild, whose Navigators rely on “the spice,” or “mélange,” to pilot ships instantaneously from planet to planet.  Mélange is found only on the desert planet Arrakis, or Dune, and is also crucial for the survival of the powerful matriarchal order of the Bene Gesserit, whose members get advanced physical and mental abilities from the spice as well as through special training and conditioning.  After going through a ritual called the “spice agony,” Bene Gesserit Reverend Mothers have the ability to access the ego and memories of all their female ancestors.  The Bene Gesserit also have a secret, elaborate, and meticulously recorded breeding program that for millennia has had one goal: to produce the Kwisatz Haderach, a male equivalent of a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother.  The Kwisatz Haderach would be able to access male and female “other memory” as well as be able to bridge space and time.

At the beginning of the novel, Duke Leto Atreides has been granted the fief of Arrakis and he and his family are preparing to relocate to the spice planet.  The Duke’s concubine, the Lady Jessica, is a Bene Gesserit who, in accordance with the aims of the breeding program, is ordered to produce a daughter.  This daughter would then be bred to someone else to produce the Kwisatz Haderach.  Instead, Lady Jessica gives in to Duke Leto’s desire for a male heir, and they have a son, Paul.  The Atreides do not survive long on Arrakis before their rivals attack, which forces Jessica and Paul to flee into the desert to join forces with Dune’s local population, the Fremen.  Here, it becomes evident that Paul is the Bene Gesserit’s Kwisatz Haderach, born one generation early, and his choices and the choices of his children shape the future, as detailed in the next five books.

I started reading the Dune saga almost two and a half years ago, and only just finished the final book, which takes place around five thousand years after Dune.  Usually when I read a series the author has already completed, I find myself picking up the next book instantly because I cannot wait to see what happens next.  With the Dune series, I often felt so exhausted after finishing one book that I waited months before picking up the next one.  It is not that the books aren’t exciting or that I wasn’t interested in learning what happened next, but somehow getting through each Dune book took an immense amount of effort, and each book seemed to take an inordinate amount of time to finish.  Perhaps this was because the books are packed with dialogue and philosophical discussions, but, for the most part, not many actions scenes.  This may seem like I don’t recommend reading the books, but I do.  I really do.  Especially the first one.

Not only does Dune reveal a universe in the far distant future, it offers a different take on that universe than most other science fiction novels.  Instead of the classic model where computers and artificial intelligence control daily existence, Frank Herbert created a world in an era after humans decided to destroy all computers and artificial intelligences.  Humans had to adapt and rely on themselves to perform the functions that we are already accustomed to leaving to computers.  For example, the Spacing Guild specialized in mathematics, and special training gives some humans the ability to calculate and logically reason better than any computer could.

Dune also champions environmentalism.  It explores the idea of a planet as a complex living ecosystem functioning as a whole.  The Fremen on Dune recognize that if they want to change their planet from a desert planet to a verdant one, they must alter the entire ecology of the planet.  They also realize that they must balance their desire for water and greenery with the needs of the great sandworms, which are critical to spice production and which cannot survive in or near water.  Frank Herbert also extensively details the adaptation of life to Dune’s arid conditions.  In addition to the sandworms that require arid conditions, Dune boasts kangaroo mice that have learned to live with limited water.  The Fremen too have developed methods of sealing their residences and their bodies to conserve water, and they even reclaim water from the dead.

Frank Herbert has created a fascinating world full of intrigue, philosophy, and mysticism.  He explores politics, empire building, and the advent of new religions.  Try the first one, and if it appeals to you, go on to the second.  The other four are not quite as good, but still worth the read if the world of Dune intrigues you.  For my part, I think I’ll eventually read the two sequels co-written by Frank Herbert’s son, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson.  I’m not sure if I’ll go so far as to explore the prequels and interquels though…

Once upon a time...

A few years ago, a friend tagged me in a note on Facebook entitled "Book Nerds." It was one of those chain notes, you know the type, where I was supposed to copy the text into my own note and respond to the comments or questions. But unlike the majority of those kinds of notes, this one was quite interesting. It listed 100 books and claimed that the BBC believes most people have read only six of the books listed. Now I was interested, and I dutifully copied the text over in my own note and placed my check marks next to the books I had read. I discovered that thanks to a pretty great English program in high school and a, perhaps, interesting taste in literature as a child and teenager, I had already covered a pretty respectable 49 books. Of course, being a book nerd, my first thought was, “How could I be missing out on these other fantastic books?!”

At the time, I was in the middle of law school and had no time to read anything but casebooks and legal research, but I saved the list and decided that one day I would read all 100 books on the list. Over the next months, multiple versions of this list circulated on the internet and I compiled them all, because, even though they all claimed to be the BBC list of the top 100 books, no list was identical. Finally, in August 2009, after finishing law school and taking the Bar, I decided it was time to tackle my goal. I figured the six weeks I had before starting a job would be perfect for devouring all the fiction I had been craving for the past three years.

By this time my list had grown to over a hundred books, even though I condensed series into one listing. For example, instead of listing out all seven Harry Potter books, I felt it was sufficient to have one listing for the Harry Potter series. I also decided to look up this BBC to list to see what was actually on it.

Apparently, the list originated in April 2003 as part of the BBC’s search for the United Kingdom’s best-loved novel. The “Big Read” asked the public for nominations for the nation’s favorite book, and came out with a list of 200 books ranked by number of votes. Interestingly, the Big Read website does not opine that most people have read only six of the top 100 books, although that "fact" has been widely disseminated by Facebook users and bloggers worldwide. The internet top 100 list also includes books listed in the lower half of the list and even has books nowhere to be found on the BBC’s list. (Out of some faithfulness to the list that started me on my quest, I have not had the heart to delete the internet additions from my master list. Then again, one of those, The Shadow of the Wind, has become one of my all-time favorite books, so that seems like an excellent reason to leave them on.) The UK’s best-loved novel, by the way, is The Lord of the Rings. The official list can be found here, with the top 200 also listed here.

You might think that a list of two hundred novels would be enough to satisfy a fiction starved book worm, even if that book worm has read a good number of those books, but I recently stumbled across three other lists. I have now added the Modern Library Board’s top 100 20th century novels, the Modern Library Readers’ top 100 20th century novels, and Radcliffe Publishing Course’s top 20th century novels to my list. If it weren’t for duplicates and my trick of condensing series into one list entry, I might have a seemingly insurmountable task on my hands! And of course, there are other lists out there, but my bookshelves are groaning and I spend too much time at the library, so I may wait a few years before expanding my list again. Especially because I do occasionally, gasp, go off-list!!

But I have gotten ahead of myself. For the past two years, less a month, I have been working steadily through my list, enjoying the freedom of lunches, metro rides, and weekends. But only the other day did I decide that maybe somebody might be interested in good book recommendations or warnings. Clearly, all the books on this list are beloved by someone, or they wouldn’t be on the lists, but I am going to attempt to give my own frank opinions of the books. Don’t look for any in depth analyses of the authors’ intentions in writing the books or discussions of hidden imagery and meaning (forgive me fabulous high school English teachers!). I intend only to discuss the merits of each book as a good read, an interesting story, or, if I’m feeling poetic, fantastic use of language. Forgive me if I insult your favorite book (but I just cannot like Of Mice and Men) and remember that everything here is only my opinion and nothing more.

Also, as a starting point for this blog, my current list stands at 371 books with 248 more books to discover! (Apparently I have not spent enough time exploring 20th century literature!) My version of the combined list, in alphabetical order by author, is here.