20 of 1001 Books: H.G. Wells' The Time Machine

After reading The Time Machine, I'm unsure why our 12th grade AP literature teacher had us read Timeline instead of The Time Machine. I don't even remember her mentioning H.G. Wells that pioneered the genre. Don't get me wrong, as an 18 year old I found more Timeline to be enjoyable, and even to do this day I remember it as a good book, but Wells seems to have more historical and literary aspects to explore when teaching.

Summary: An unnamed explorer recounts his travels to a group of men. These aren't just any travels though, but his travels through time. In the world he travels to he finds to different races. The Eloi who he finds some welcome with, and the Murdocks, who are scary and he believes are keeping his time travelling machine from him. Beyond the debacle of trying to get his time machine back, the explorer also sees a scary tomorrow in the future race if men don't change their ways. The hatred between the two groups has cast them apart from each other, and in different realms.

I should be honest and admit that I do have Spark Notes open while reading through older books, especially if they were written before the 1900s. My skill in reading the style is lacking, but I think it's slowly building as I practice reading slower. The Time Machine for the most part, I read just fine. It's not one that is too complicated to read. My main problem is that I'm not a huge science fiction fan, but I understand it's a popular genre. This also builds up more of a respect I can have for what H.G. Wells did for people who love the genre, by giving them the genre.

I've also come to enjoy exploring how writers then conveyed the way their own narrators in the story told their stories. In Frankenstein the book is a man writing to his love about a man they found stranded on an island with his monster. In The Time Machine it is an explorer telling his tale of a future land to other men, perhaps in the hopes of warning them away from a future he saw, but only one person seems to have any further inkling to explore the explorer's tale to heart. For most the books from then it doesn't seem people just imagined telling a tale as if it was happening in that moment. It was people referring to their past in the form of storytelling.

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You probably won't realize how innovative the book was unless you think of the time it was created in. No cars existed yet, electricity was just being explored, and a book like this is invented. It also shows that people have always perceived earth to have an inevitable Dsytopian future that still has yet to be seen. Not saying it isn't further dsytpia than what was, but nothing like The Time Machine and many others have seen thus far.

It is also interesting all the possible political undertones in the novel. I'm not familiar with British history, so I would know very little about what Wells' implies in his novel as far as his own views, but if you're familiar with the time of then, you would surely pick up on it.

The Victorian England setting and the weaving of technology seem a surefire way to inspire subculture fans, including steampuns, even to this day. In a way it's sort of awe inspiring and intriguing just how much Wells left an impact on the earth. In writing a book about the future and it's destination he actually spun many things into the world that I wonder if he even expected?

21 of 1001 Books: Guy de Maupassant's Bel Ami

Bel Ami was the book I picked up next on the 1001 list. I'm not sure why I was drawn to reading this one next, but it turned out to be an unexpected intriguing read. The story centers around an unlikable cast of characters and shows the depth of human depravity. In a way Breaking Bad reminds me of the same sentiments. Anyways, the story shows how far one many will go to get what he wants, and also enjoy the attention on the way there.

Summary: Georges Duroy has been in the military in Algeria, and now is back in France after his deployment. Starting out as a poor ex-military, he's looking to garner power and money in the society. He meets with a former comrade, Forestier, who helps him become a journalist for minor news. Madeleine, helps Duroy with his articles. She is also Forestier's wife. They grow closer as he advances as the paper, until he is advanced to chief editor. Even though he has grown close to her, he also has several other women he is interested in, and Duroy isn't looking for any single commitment.

There have been several versions of Bel Ami adapted to screenplays. Including a movie starring Robert Pattinson, which I'm curious to see as Pattinson seems suiting to the lead character. Actually, the cast of that movie looks good. The other was a television movie.

Back to the story though. The story takes place in France, and for me this added to the intrigue, especially since the culture there, especially in the late 1800s, seems drastically different than American culture and standards. The book was written in 1885 and set in Paris. There are lots of affairs and sex. Not only that, but the novel sets deeper motives than love and lust for the advances.

I was hoping Duroy would get his, but as the world works, so does this novel. Everyone else was justifiably as bad as him, so it may take the sting of his out of his taking advantage of these women's power accordingly. Instead well he goes and does what he need to to keep going.

The story is provocative, and there is something alluring about the characters in the story. Even though they are unlikable, they don't ever seem to be intended to make us like them. Instead of just feels like the lower bottom of the branch of humanity has been brought up in this story to show how far people will and go betray others for what they want.

Don't worry though, you won't walk away from this story as depressed as it seems, but it will be on your mind still. It's one of the better classics, particularly from before the 1900s I've read, so I take that as a positive and a hope for future readings from this era.

22 of 1001 Books: Mikhail Lemontov's A Hero of Our Time

I don't know I will ever be a fan of books romanticizing the superfluous man. Does anyone like Pechorin after reading this? He portrays a distinct type of character in this novel. One that doesn't live by social norms doing whatever he wants. In the wake of doing whatever he wants he leaves the world flipped upside down for some. Women heartbroken and men dead. For the traveler though this book sparks the imagination and wanderlust stirring you to read on with the vivid descriptions of the Caucasus Mountains.

19 of 1001 Books: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Frankenstein might be a book you were assigned in high school to read, but in high school we never got around to it. Here I am a few years later though picking it up to read, and see about around the time of Halloween. For a book written by a lady no older than 18 though, I have to say that Shelley had incredible insight and depth in the human heart and insecurities that makes it a compelling read. Also, unlike the many movie versions I've seen you get a view of the monster that is a little less barbaric and one of a frustrated and troubled being.

Summary: Frankenstein leaves for school, and while there ends up creating a monster that he regrets. The monster though isn't quite the monster that everyone seems to want to make it out the be, but more so a misunderstood creation that was left abandon by it's creator. Throughout the novel because Frankenstein abandons his creation there is much to follow involving murders, the monster's search for belonging, and Frankenstein experiencing his own lost in the chaos that follows.

Characters: I thought the characters were complex, and the best part of the story. Everything from you ending up despising Frankenstein to feeling terribly for the monster feels real. I almost felt like I was watching a modern TV drama. I also felt terribly for the victims in all the process, because it seemed if there should have been one victim it would have been Frankenstein.

Writing: I'm not going to lie I don't seek out most books written in this style and time frame for reading pleasure. I felt like I have matured since checking out the last book wrote in this style. Maybe that book was Dracula? I can't remember. Throughout this book I began thinking through why a person from the 1800's was commonly writing a book as if the lead was narrating or writing letters, and it's interesting for someone in a completely different time to grasp the concept that many authors from this time were coming from the tradition of oral storytelling and sending letters to people. It adds realness to the book in getting the vibe of that time.

If there is one aspect that seems to lull and veer it's the part where a lot of hours of the book are spent with the monster lurking and stalking some unexpecting admirers. This does build up the moment though that most readers by now know will turn to tragedy as the monster tries to find people accepting of him. I have to say even those aspects of the book broke my heart.

Mary Shelley wrote an impressive book for her age, and it also gets me to thinking about the generation of her time that we now treat as if they are pretty incapable. Not only does Shelley book seem to make a great read for any adult or teen, but it also seems to be a lesson in that age isn't a hindrance to accomplishing something.

18 of 1001 Books: Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca

I remember seeing Rebecca in my middle school library when I was a kid, but I am now reading the book at 25. I might have never read the book had I not found it on my list. Why Rebecca was in a library for kids 12-14 I don't know. It's a great book, but I certainly don't believe I would have been compelled by it at that age. What's interesting about Maurier is that she also wrote the short story The Birds, which is what the Alfred Hitchcock movie would be based on when he filmed it in the 60's. Rebecca takes a bit to get interesting, but once the book gets rolling it's a riveting suspense.

Summary: The unnamed lead character takes us inside Manderly. She narrates the story, and we are introduced to her as a companion for a wealthy woman, Ms. Van Hooper. When the mysterious Maxim De Winter catchers her eye she begins to fall for him, and marries him, and is able to leave her life as a companion. Once arriving to Manderly she is welcomed by servants like Frank, but others like Ms. Danvers seem to be uninviting to her appearance so soon after the death of Rebecca, Maxim's first wife. The longer she is married to Maxim the more she sees how Rebecca's is still very much alive at Manderly despite having been dead a year.

17 of 1001 Books: F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night

F.Scott Fitzgerald is best known for his work The Great Gatsby, but Tender is the Night is another novel known in the ones he wrote. There is definitely a great story in the pages, but also the reflections of a very troubled artist who was struggling in his marriage after his wife, Zelda, had been institutionalized, and he was struggling with his own alcohol problems. The works has great moment, but there are many moments where it rambles, and even is disjointed in storytelling. If there is something to be beautiful about it it is the inner workings of characters that strongly reflect the reality of the writer.

Summary: Dick and Nicole Diver fascinate Rosemary, a young star rising to fame. Rosemary though is even more intrigued by Dick who she is falling in love with. Rosemary's interest in Dick though will be the first crack in the facade they've made that their family is normal like anyone else's. As Nicole's weakness are revealed it sends Dick scrambling, and questioning where real happiness lies. In his work or with true love, that just might not happen to be with Nicole and their two kids?

16 of 1001 Books: Joseph Heller's Catch-22

Joseph Heller really has wrote a book like no other I've read with Catch-22. The beginning of the book is really tough to get through, but once you get rolling a hundred or pages so in then you get a better grasp on the satirical humor that Heller has created, and you even begin to get oddly attached to some of the characters like Yossarian and Nately. The humor may not be something you laugh out loud at though unless you've read or seen a lot of war stories. For those who aren't into anti-war books it may make you a bit uneasy to read how idiotic some of the military personnel is portrayed.

Summary: Bombardier, Yossarian, wants out of the war. He has complete the number of missions that he must fly in, and he doesn't the point of continuing to have his life threatened by people he has never met. Every time he nears the number of complete missions he was to be on Colonel Cathcart begins to raise the number again. This prevents anyone new from being brought in, and the keeps the current guys flying out. Yossarian is hoping he can prove himself insane though without having to say it because as Catch-22 paraphrased says, if a man is flying out on these missions he is crazy, but if he request to leave because he is then he has proven he is sane.

15 of 1001 Books: Stephen King's The Shining

Everyone might be well acquainted with the version that Stanely Kubrick directed in the 70's adapted from the King novel. The significant differences in the story have brought on a long time debate about which is better. I haven't ever watched the movie so I couldn't tell you, but I think it would be incredibly hard to beat the inner terror of the family being haunted, and a father being the weak link even though he wants to make up for the past hurts he has caused his family.

Summary: Jack Torrance has taken a job at the Overlook Hotel where he will be the caretaker while the staff and guests are moved out for the winter before it snows in. Torrance is also bringing his wife, Wendy, and his son, Danny, along with him to live in the hotel in the months that it is closed to the public. Not long after arriving though Danny is made aware of the horrors that have happened in the hotel, and with Danny's special abilities he becomes the prime target of seeing into the heart of the hotel. By the time the family discovers what lies within the hotel it might be too late.

14 of 1001 Books: J.D Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye

Holden Caulfield might be one of the saddest characters I've read. His character also seems to be a huge draw of a line between whether you hate or love the book though. As I was reading though all I found was a boy who probably had some severe trauma happen in his past, and now as a teen his rebellion toward has what has happened is manifesting itself. I understand not particularly liking Holden, but I feel it would be difficult to not be empathetic to what he hints has happened to him. J.D. Salinger uses his talent for the first person and dialogue though to bring a book that feels real and is controversial.

Summary: Holden Caulfield feels alienated from the world. His peers he thinks are phonies, the girls seem not too interested in him, and his parents could be less than observant about their son. After getting kicked out of another prep school, Caulfield decides he will rent a motel room in New York where he will spend time till Wednesday, when he is supposed to return from school. His time in the city only further depresses him though. The only person that he seems to be set on being around and cares about is his sister, Phoebe.

13 of 1001 Books: Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina

I'm still puzzling why this is called Anna Karenina despite it just being a character in the book. I suppose she was the connecting character for all that took place, but it just seemed there could have been a more insightful title. Anyways, I had been really wanting to read Tolstoy, and this was my first stop. Stop parts were great, some were boring, and some I wasn't even sure why it was in the book. I mean get it is significant to the development, but the prose is well long winded. I've got to say I'm one who does fall for a tragic romance though.

Summary: The book opens with Kitty, Levin, and Vronsky. Kitty must choose between the two men, but feels a more secure future with Vronsky. Her wrong choice leads to heartache and uncertainty, and Levin is embarrassingly now keeping his distance after the rejection of her love. Vronsky though has fallen for Anna, who is married. Anna though will not let that even stop her and the two work to try to see each other as if they are any other normal couple around her marriage. Levin and Kitty continue to try to forge a bond, but as one relationship grows into something beautiful one will die.

12 of 1001 Books: Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange

It's only been a few minutes after finishing A Clockwork Orange that I am still pondering over it. How do you feel toward a book where the lead perspective is from a mad men who takes pleasure in pain in any form? He's not that likable and the way society lets him off so easily doesn't leave for there to be many other likable characters either. It is one of the darkest books out there, and makes sense considering the author, Anthony Burgess, wrote it after his wife was beaten and molested by a gang.

Summary: Alex is a fifteen year old in the not so distant future who roams the night with his friends and wreaks havoc on the people. They break into houses, rob, rape, beat, and murder people who wander the streets or reside in the neighborhood. When Alex gets caught though the Government has a new plan to reform violent psychopaths, but it's met with controversy because it enables a lack of choice to do good or bad, and leaves the person only able to choose the good. Alex is desperate to do anything to be free again.

11 of 1001 Books: Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird

There probably is no other more beautifully written book, by a one-time author, than To Kill a Mockingbird. Published in 1960, I'm sure it was controversial and a welcome from those hoping to see American make the progressions it would in the 60's in overpowering the huge racial barrier we had to over come, on top of that there are many other things that Harper Lee brings to light that doesn't get discussed much including the idea of what a woman is, the class system in the south, and how growing up means in some of losing your innocent view of the world as Scout Finch has to.

Summary: Scout Finch is a young girl just beginning school in Alabama. She is looked after by her father Atticus, and the house helper, Cal. She also takes company with her brother, Jem. They spend most their summers wondering and trying to get a peek into the Radley house, who they believe harbors a dangerous man, Boo, who only stalks the world at night. There are things though that begin to become real horrors of the world, and distract them from their childhood games, such as the accusations from a troublesome white family, The Ewells thrown against a black man, Tom Robinson, for raping a woman. The kids witness a world were justice doesn't always prevail and real violence is beyond what the mind can imagine.

10 of 1001 Books: D.H Lawerence's Women In Love

After reading The Rainbow I may have got a little more excited than I should have to read Women in Love. Women in Love though seems like a lot more philosophical pondering and less story than The Rainbow had. Ursula almost seems to all have but forgotten the past rocky loves she had, and Gundrun is her sister that is more expanded on in this novel. What keeps the novel a bit more interesting is the two men they fall for, who seem to have a bit of a crush on each other. I would have appropriately retitled this one Men In love.

Summary: Gundrun is an art teacher, and Ursula is still a school teacher, but the two somehow seem to have also fallen into a higher society at the introduction of Hermoine that is apart from the lifestyle they grew up in Beldover in. The two women meet Rupert and Gerald, who are best friends. Ursula falls for Rupert, and Gundrun falls for Gerald. You can't help to wonder why the artist falls for the industrialist though while the school teacher falls for the more intellectual of the two. The reverses just seem better suited. While the women just want the men to love them, it seems the men seem to debacle with their own feelings toward each other, and their own places in the world and what drives them.

9 of 1001 Books: D.H Lawrence's The Rainbow

At the moment I have mixed feelings about the book. On one hand I enjoyed it quite a bit, but there were parts that were so difficult to read through. The novel caused quite a stir though for certain imagery presented in the book. With the three generations establishing the progression of the world they also do change in how they lives their lives from generation to generation. Many of the women express themselves sexually, though not graphically. In 1915 though it was very graphic for the time.

Summary: This book follows three generations of the Brangwen family as it shows their family grow from Tom, who is a hard working farmer who marries a Polish woman, to Anna Brangwen, who marries her cousin, Will, and begins a very volatile marriage, and lastly Ursula, who has quite an adventurous personality leading her to be a prestige teacher with many dramatic relationships including Anton her first love, and a lesbian relationship with a teacher. Each life is changed by the job and relationships they decide to bring in their lives as the backdrop of the economy and politics of Britain changes behind them.

8 of 1001 Books: F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

For some reason my high school completely skipped over ever reading The Great Gatsby in high school, and maybe that was a good thing because for some reason I don't think as a teen I appreciated classics as much as I do now. The Great Gatsby is a book that takes time to sink in though. While reading it does run slow, but it is a book that sits with you a good while after reading because the themes are ones that extend beyond the very detailed and rich time period Fitzgerald set it in.

Nick Carraway is a new residence in a ritzy neighborhood set in the roaring 1920s. One day when he goes to visit his cousin, Daisy, all the talk seems to be about Jay Gatsby, his next door neighbor. Not long after he is invited to a party of Gatsby's. At the end of the night it seems the puzzle of Gatsby's past begins to open up. Gatsby is wanting Nick to do him a favor that will begin to reveal to him who he is, and the need for his long lost love to return to him.

7 of 1001 Books: Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

This is my second time reading Wuthering Heights and I was really hoping my perceptions would be different as I've gotten older and do enjoy a lot more books that weren't as enjoyable to be at a younger age. Emily Bronte's only work probably did well with the help of her very popular sister, Charlotte Bronte who helped get the novel published after Emily's death. The story is very dramatic and in a lot of ways reminds me of a soap opera. I was hoping that perspective still didn't stay with me.

After Heathcliffe is adopted into the Earnshaw family he falls for Catherine, but their romance is complicated even as children. Believing that she doesn't love him, and under the constant bullying of Hindley, he leaves the estate. Catherine and him age, and when Heathcliffe returns he is more refined, and definitely not the orphan that they once adopted. Catherine has married another man, Edgar, in the hopes of one day helping Heathcliff, but he has done well on his own. Now Heathcliff is back and wants revenge on the family that he believes made him miserable including the children that Catherine had and his own.

6 of 1001 Books: Jose Saramago's The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis

Upon opening this book I didn't think I would like it as much as I did but, the character and story grew on me as I continued on. Jose Saramago is a very unique writer in the way he depicts his character's threw his style. While my unfamiliarity with Portuguese's history did hurt my ability to understand some areas it did make me more curious to learn. The setting also helps in the time of 1936 which, seems to give the story a beautiful backdrop.

The year is 1936 and, Ricardo Reis has returned to Portugal from Brazil  after a 16 year stay in the middle of huge countries for the country. A new dictator is beginning his reign and, Reis is settling into the very bland city of Lisbon. In Lisbon he lives in a hotel before settling into an apartment where he falls into two different attractions with two different women, one the daughter of a rich man and, the other a chambermaid. He also begins meeting with the ghost of a dead poet, Fernando Pessoa, who is beginning the process of leaving earth in 9 months.

5 of 1001 Books: Robert Musil's The Confusions of Young Torless

Robert Musil's debut novel grows more interesting as you read, and you might even be puzzled as to the target audience who could read this. It's about young adults, but the sexual content, and lack of direction they take doesn't seem suitable for a teen, and an adult may be a little past the age group of wanting to read about boys at a boarding school. Overall, it sort of seemed like Harry Potter was a cleaner version of The Confusions of Young Torless. The book did meet with controversy upon it's 1906 release though. The dealings with the young boys, and the sexual nature of the book did meet it with resistant.

Reiting, Beinberg, and Torless are three friends at an all boy's boarding school. Basini is caught stealing from one of the boys, and instead of turning him in they decide to torture him themselves with their own payback, and by getting him to grant their own wants. Torless' friends begin mentally, physically, and sexually abusing Basini. Torless is confused by his own moral, and sexual stance so he begins experimenting in the abuse against Basini. Basini tries to justify what is happening to him because he is attracted to other boys. Along with this happening, Torless also ponders his relationship with a local prostitute, grapples deep conversations with his math teacher, and ponders his own parents disconnect from him quite often.

4 of 1001 Books: Javier Marias' Your Face Tomorrow

Javier Marias is one of the most critically acclaimed writers still living, and in his work featured on the 1001 list he has a series that titled, Your Face Tomorrow, that really takes all three novels to fully grasp considering it reads as one work divided into three. The first volume, Fever and Spear, the second, Dance and Dream, and the final called, Poison, Shadow and Farewell, all come together to piece together this epic tale of a guy called Deza, and the interactions he has with the humans around him.

The volumes come together to piece together prominent people, and happenings in Deza's life. We begin by becoming familiar with his acquaintences, Wheeler, and Tupra. Tupra is a bit of a sketchy guy who has no problem killing if he must. Wheeler is retired from the group of psychic spies, but seems to be a father figure to Deza. In the second we become more familiar Perez Nuiz, a fellow member of the group, and one of the only females. Deza begins to encounter the darker side of Tupra as he works with him among people at a night club. In the final, and most memorable novel of the three, we finally see the bond up close of Deza and his wife Luisa, as he deals with a man who he believes is threatening her life, and suffers several losses in his life, and discovers the life of Wheeler, that he has been unwilling to share so far.

3 of 1001 Books: Vassilis Vassilikos' Z

Vassilis Vassilikos takes a chance with this fictionalized political thriller to share the assassination of a controversial figure in Greece, under the name Z., which isn't the real guys name he based this on. To write this novel Vassilikos had to conceal a lot of people's name to protect himself, and the story he was sharing. I think in a time where society has become fascinated by governments like in The Hunger Games, and 1984 that this novel presents an idea of people revolting against their government, and losing their leader in this revolt. The letter Z symbolizes that though they lost their leader to this movement against the right-wing movement in Greece at the time they did not lost their leaders ideas they carried on.

In Z, we explore how the police and members of a left-wing party have said to have been working together to take down a right-wing strong voice, Z. Their are some characters that are very strong in expressing their emotions after his passing such as his wife, who mourns her husband despite his imperfections. There are also other characters that fear for the investigation taking place to discover if the incident that killed Z was really an accident or not.  Each part explores the lead up, and inevitable tension of the investigation involving a lot of parties.

Personally, I'm not huge on political thrillers, but the fact this one was so controversial for Vassilikos to write when he did it does make it interesting. Though it is fictionalized it is rooted in some things that occurred at that time. The more I read the more interested I became in the characters, and the story forming based off the character Z.

I think the fact there were so many characters made it difficult to follow some times. At times I had no idea whose part I was reading. There were also certain characters I became invested in that I would have loved to read more from like Z's wife. I also thought Yango, and Vango were interesting, yet keeping their names straight was confusing. I kept thinking about this actually happening, which kept me intrigued though.

At the end the book begins to loose the capture it peaks at in the middle. I like how it does build up to that point in the middle where you just want to continue reading though. After a slow start, and a slow ending it does capture you where it needs to to keep the reader interested. In all honesty, this book is a beginning of a history lessen I want to further read about because to be honest I don't know a lot about the Greek situation featured in this novel. It is the start of learning a lot more about that culture, and it's history.

Rating 3 of 5.

"Nevertheless, the first principle of justice is the just distribution of responsibilities."
- Vassilis Vassilikos