literature mockingbird entertaining slaughterhouse

books:

Robert Ludlum's (TM) The Bourne Sanction

11 reviews
Eric Van Lustbader

Grand Central Publishing, 2008

This is the best of the Lustbader-Bourne novels to date...
Since Mr. Van Lustbader isn't trying to re-invent the wheel here (and let's face it: he'd be stupid to even try), he has taken on quite a daunting task of picking up where Ludlum left off with his most beloved character: Jason Bourne/David Webb. The Bourne Legacy was actually pretty good--as long as you weren't Hell Bent on directly comparing it to the Ludlum-written Bourne novels. The Bourne ...

The Things They Carried

693 reviews
Tim O'Brien

Broadway, 1998

TIMELESS
"First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha . . . ." And I will always carry this book in my heart and mind. It is unforgettable.

How Fiction Works

10 reviews
James Wood

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008

The Cover is the Key
The retro cover says it all. Farrar, Straus knew that it had the next big thing and that the next big thing consisted of a return to the best of the past. The book is receiving a great deal of attention, confirming their prescience. How Fiction Works is a study of something that is very old-fashioned these days: craft. It is an examination of key elements of fiction and how they are most ...

Fahrenheit 451

1256 reviews
Ray Bradbury

Del Rey, 1987

Timeless piece
This is a book that really get writers hooked. A society that didn't care fore book... Oh my! What will happen to mankind if the wisdom of time pass weren't available anymore? and then what will happen to you, if you were to oppose the silence of the books? A great tale and a lot of wisdom. Anna del C. Author of "The Elf and the Princess" and "Trouble in the Elf City"

The Gate House
Nelson DeMille

Grand Central Publishing, 2008

#1 New York Times bestselling author Nelson DeMille delivers the long-awaited follow-up to his classic novel The Gold Coast . When John Sutter's aristocratic wife killed her mafia don lover, John left America and set out in his sailboat on a three-year journey around the world, eventually settling in London. Now, ten years later, he has come home to the Gold Coast, that stretch of land on the North Shore of Long Island that once held the ...

To Kill a Mockingbird

1753 reviews
Harper Lee

Grand Central Publishing, 1988

Everyone's Favorite . . .
I honestly have no idea how many times I have read this book. I read it first as an assignment in the eighth grade; most recently, at the age of 41, I read it aloud to three of my children. As with the more recent readings that I recall, I choked up a bit at the end as Scout is experiencing the tragedy and love that surrounds her in the form of her conservatively eccentric father, her ...

The Catcher in the Rye

2762 reviews
J.D. Salinger

Back Bay Books, 2001

Young and foolish
I love this little book. And I am not completely sure why. No, it is not the most engaging and brilliant of stories. It's simply a rambling journey of 16 year old Holden-and his subsequent misadventures. Would I have liked a guy like Holden in high school back in the day? Probably not! But the genius of this little story is the way Salinger brings the reader into his world. His observations--his ...

The Great Gatsby

1127 reviews
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Scribner, 1999

Breathtaking
It has been a while since I read a book in one sitting. It has also been a while since I first read "The Great Gatsby". Since then, I read articles and saw movies about F. Scott Fotzgerald and his wife Zelda. It is hard not to draw some similarities between Fitzgerald's best work and the way his own life ended. Without going thru the plot, this is all american story about difference between ...

Night (Oprah's Book Club)

622 reviews
Elie Wiesel

Hill and Wang, 2006

Haunting and Unforgettable
Should be required reading for . . . for everyone who can read. Puts a face, a voice, a mind, a spirit to something that is so hard to comprehend that it often can feel more like an idea than a reality. A truly moving book. Also, I would recommend the PBS documentary made about Wiesel that was produced, written and edited by David Grossbach and Rob Gardner.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

210 reviews
Anne Fadiman

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998

What else can I add? Except this is my favorite book, ever.
If anyone's been patient enough to read all hundred-plus reviews up to this point, they already know what this book is about, how well-written it was, how well researched, and how terribly humane. All I can add is that, though I read (well, start, at any rate) about a hundred books a year, and have been doing so for about three decades now, this is the single best book I've ever read.

1984 (Signet Classics)

1378 reviews
George Orwell

New American Library, 1961

Big Brother is watching you!
"1984" is George Orwell's warning of the dangers of a totalitarian society. The main character in the novel, Winston Smith, is a low-ranking member of the ruling Party in the country of Oceania. Winston and his fellow citizens are monitored everywhere they go, even in their own homes. Party members spy on everyone using ever-present telescreens, and pictures of "Big Brother," the Party's leader, ...

Slaughterhouse-Five

696 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut

Dial Press Trade Paperback, 1999

Essential Vonnegut, still relevant today...
I don't care who you are, you absolutely need to read this book. It's justly considered a classic. The thing about it is that it isn't really a "humor book" like some of Vonnegut's other, justly famous works (Cat's Cradle, Breakfast of Champions, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater). Parts of it are funny - I especially like the segments with the bitter Kilgore Trout, a sci-fi author reputed to be one ...

The Stranger

525 reviews
Albert Camus

Vintage, 1989

Perfect
I think to say some one doesn't like some one because they can't REALLY grasp/understand it is one of the most arrogant things some one can do, usually; but in this case its necessary. The Stanger is nothing short of life-changing. Simple fact. People that don't admit it are either too stupid, too jealous, or too afraid to come to terms with it. I say too afraid because of the ...

How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines

60 reviews
Thomas C. Foster

Harper Paperbacks, 2003

It may ruin literature for you unless you can both appreciate your opinion and the authors.
Most people I encounter, after reading this book, complain that it is pushing a single opinion about the meaning of a story. That's not the case. While it does convey the language that people use to communicate, since that is what literature is supposed to do, it still does recognize that everyone will hear a story differently, due to the intertextuality it even mentions. This is an excellent ...

In Odd We Trust

25 reviews
Dean Koontz

Del Rey, 2008

Exciting Prequal to ODD THOMAS
I really enjoyed "In Odd We Trust!" It was so interesting to "see" Odd and Stormie as they solved the case and caught the "butcher." I would recommend it to everyone. It really doesn't read like a "funny book" as we used to call comics, or that style. It was a real page turner as are all of Dean's wonderful, sometimes terrifying tales.

World Without End

386 reviews
Ken Follett

Dutton Adult, 2007

PAGE BURNER
After I read Pillars, I thought to myself, "no I want more," and then I found out, "hey there was more." I think this one might even surpass pillars in the emotional connections the reader makes with the characters. I finished this one in 3 days, KEN FOLLETT GIVE ME MORE!!!!!!!

The Assassin: A Novel

4 reviews
Stephen Coonts

St. Martin's Press, 2008

Action Packed Adventure!
Owen Winchester is killed by a roadside bomb while serving in Iraq. His father Huntington Winchester a billionaire, decides to retaliate against the forces of terrorism. He forms a vigilante group composed of wealthy friends to combat the forces of terrorism, Simon Cairnes an American banker,Oleg Tchernychenko a Russian oilman,Wolfganf Zetsche a German shipping tycoon,Jerry Hay Smith an American ...

Lord of the Flies (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)

1268 reviews
William Golding

Penguin (Non-Classics), 1999

Grrrr-8 Book!
This is a great book to read! Very interesting and intense. Great reading material.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

400 reviews
Zora Neale Hurston

Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006

Their Eyes Were Watching God
Please read this book! I'm serious! The writing is pure poetry, with fantastic images that will stay with me forever. Also, the historical value cannot be exaggerated. The author, Nora Neale Hurston, gave us a tremendous gift.

Brave New World (P.S.)

727 reviews
Aldous Huxley

Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006

Dystopia, i long for thee
I purchased Brave New World after reading 1984, and while I must confess that I enjoyed Orwell's book just a little bit more, Huxley's work was still an immediately compelling read. I think what I liked best was just how "british" this future was, by which I mean, everything seemed so very posh and hip and how we Americans would tend to see the British, as opposed to (sorry to keep drawing ...

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