• Oliver Twist

    I ran into some books I didn’t want to read on my list of Great American Novel contenders—Absalom, Absalom (I read the first couple of pages and decided…

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    4 min read

  • Gentlemen Prefer Blonds

    This is another truly terrible book. There is really nothing to commend about it, and I simply do not understand why this would make the list for top…

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    4 min read

  • The Great Gatsby

    This was an entertaining book with plenty of interesting-enough characters, some moving parts, and drama. However, as far as a contender for the Great American Novel goes, I…

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    4 min read

  • McTeague

    Wow. This was the least-enjoyable book I’ve read in a long while. It reads like a horror-dystopian film with a green-black tint over every scene, and characters with…

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    4 min read

  • The Red Badge of Courage

    The Red Badge of Courage started very poorly and got a little better over time, but not much. When I write reviews, especially less-than-favorable ones, my tendency is…

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    4 min read

  • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    I must confess that it has been years since I’ve read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and I did not re-read it for this week’s blog because I didn’t…

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    4 min read