jdbosel
Member since February 2013
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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
You don't know about me, without you have read a book by the name of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," but that ain't no matter.You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter.
Nineteen Eighty-Four
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
Frankenstein
You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings.The event on which this fiction is founded has been supposed, by Dr. Darwin, and some of the physiological writers of Germany, as not of impossible occurrence. i- preface by P.B. Shelley/i
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before. It was a fine, thick piece of wood, bulbous-headed, of the sort which is known as a “Penang lawyer.” Just under the head was a broad silver band nearly an inch across. “To James Mortimer, M.R.C.S., from his friends of the C.C.H.,” was engraved upon it, with the date “1884.” It was just such a stick as the old-fashioned family practitioner used to carry—dignified, solid, and reassuring.
Animal Farm
Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the popholes.
Lord of the Flies
The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon.
The Call of the Wild
Buck did not read the newspapers, or he would have known that trouble was brewing, not alone for himself, but for every tide-water dog, strong of muscle and with warm, long hair, from Puget Sound to San Diego.
To Kill a Mockingbird
When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
"They're out there. Black boys in white suits up before me to commit sex acts in the hall and get it mopped up before I can catch them."They're out there.
The Martian Chronicles
One minute it was Ohio winter, with doors closed, windows locked, the panes blind with frost, icicles fringing every roof, children skiing on slopes, housewives lumbering like great black bears in their furs along the icy streets.
The Hobbit
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
A Christmas Carol
Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was good upon ’Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
These two very old people are the father and mother of Mr Bucket.
The Stand
Hapscomb's Texaco sat on Number 93 just north of Arnette, a pissant four-street burg about 110 miles from Houston."Sally."
It
The terror, which would not end for another twenty-eight years - if it ever did end - began, so far as I know or can tell, with a boat made out of a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain.
Jurassic Park
The late twentieth century has witnessed a scientific gold rush of astonishing proportions: the headlong and furious haste to commercialize genetic engineering.
Where the Wild Things Are
The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another, his mother called him wild thing. And so he said, "I'll eat you UP!" And so he was sent to bed without eating anything.
The Phantom Tollbooth
There was once a boy named Milo who didn't know what to do with himself—not just sometimes, but always.
Watchmen
Rorschach's Journal. October 12th, 1985: <br>Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face.
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary and yet somehow lovable.
The Catcher in the Rye
"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want the truth."
The Lord of the Rings
When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.
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It has been many years since I have read this book, so the details are a bit fuzzy. The thing I appreciated most about the Martian Chronicles were Bradbury's attempts to make life on Mars (and subsequent science fiction and space travel stories in this book) seem as normal as living in a suburban city, maybe in a cul-de-sac. Amidst the stories of space living were also interwoven tales of terror and fear. Such was Bradbury's writing style at the time. When I read this book, it was assigned reading in English class, so I was disinterested. I will try reading it again one of these days and I'm sure my rating will go up, as I have thoroughly enjoyed other works by Bradbury since then.
I'll admit that I had seen the film many times before reading the book. However, this was one of those rare instances where it didn't matter. The book and film share similarities, but there are drastic differences between the two. This is a wonderfully written story about existing within the walls of a mental institution. The story is told through the eyes of the Chief, a huge Native American who is deaf and dumb. The sterile, ordered life in the ward is shaken up when Randall Patrick McMurphy arrives and challenges the routine set forth by the head nurse. This story moves swiftly and eloquently, painting a fantastic picture of structured life, insubordination, consequences, and redemption. Definitely worth spending some time reading.
Racism, alcoholism, isolationism, fear, and violence. These are elements that children should not have to experience, but in Harper Lee's classic novel of the depression era American south these are exactly the sorts of things that Jem and Scout Finch encounter. As their father, lawyer Atticus Finch, works to defend a black man in Alabama, the children are faced with many challenges including dealing with the backlash of their father's job, the mysterious and terrifying Boo Radley, economic differences with other children, and a rabid dog. Lee approaches all of these events from Scout's point of view, and each occurrence in the novel is seen with an element of child-like wonder and confusion as she asks questions and deals with the answers. This book is solidly written and deserves the high honors and accolades it has earned over the years. Truly worthy of its classic status.
In Jack London's classic tale of the Alaskan wilderness, a sled dog, Buck, is forced to question his nature and decide if he is meant to pull a sledge across the barren Alaskan landscape or break free and live amongst the wolves. This story is relatively short, so I won't really go into detail, but I will say that London's atmospheric storytelling and visceral descriptions of events create a fantastic journey into a stark environment and desolate landscape that few of us will ever really see or experience.
The biggest question in regard to Lord of the Flies is whether or not it is accurate to say that the innocence of childhood is the closest we can get to our own primitive nature. When a group of boys become stranded on an island, they are left to their own devices to survive and create a functioning society. The problems they encounter and the obstacles the boys must overcome to survive later take a backseat to jealousy, fear, and paranoia as the boys break off into separate factions of those looking to survive and those looking for rescue. A fascinating look into human nature and the complications of holding together as a civilization.
Deep into World War 2, George Orwell created Animal Farm, an allegory for Stalin's governing of communist Russia. As Russia was an allied force at the time, Animal Farm was rejected by Britain's Ministry of Information so the publishing wouldn't upset one of the leaders of a nation fighting against Hitler (although it later became known that Orwell was pretty spot on with his story.) Animal Farm deals with an uprising of the working class against their ruler that then attempts to create a utopia for the animals on the farm. The socio-political commentary Orwell weaves into his deceptively simple storytelling takes a weighty subject and makes it approachable. This book is a fantastic read for those looking to get an intriguing perspective on the nature of the political machinations and the effects that dictatorship has on a society.
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