Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Recap of Novels 21 - 30

Average rating 3.9 out of 5 Stars



One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest ★★★
Brideshead Revisited ★★★ 
Atonement ★★★
Blood Meridian ★★★
Don Quixote ★★
The Brothers Karamazov ★★★★
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ★★★★
Anna Karenina
★★★★½
Gone with the Wind
★★★★½
Moby Dick ★★★

Favorite: Gone with the Wind

Least Favorite: Don Quixote

Best Hero/Heroine: Scarlett O’Hara from Gone with the Wind

Most Villainous: The Judge from Blood Meridian

Most interesting/Complex character: Alyosha from The Brothers Karamazov. Honorable mention to Starbuck from Moby Dick.

Best Quotation: Father Zosima from The Brothers Karamazov, speaking of secular humanists: They aim at justice, but denying Christ, they will end by flooding the earth with blood. 

Best Subtitle: The Evening Redness in the West from Blood Meridian

Best film adaptation: Quite easily, Gone with the Wind. I just watched it on the big screen, for a 75th anniversary special event.

Worst film adaptation: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the 1960 version I randomly picked was pretty horrible.

9 comments:

  1. I really need to get to The Brothers Karamazov. It sounds like a book I will love. Moby-Dick is one of my favorite books of all time. I really liked it partly because of my experience working in taxonomy. The cetology chapters intrigued me. Starbuck is such a righteous man. It makes the end so much the more tragic. But Ishmael is my favorite. He is such a nerd! He tattooed the dimensions of a dead whale on his arm! You read some excellent books :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can heartily recommend the Bros K. I obviously didn't like Moby Dick as much as you....but I definitely agree about Starbuck. Thanks for the feedback!

      Delete
  2. I see that you have Wuthering Heights coming up. I can't wait to hear what you think about it.

    I quite liked Don Quixote. I'm reading Le Morte d'Arthur right now and I'm understanding better where the frantic, odd adventures come from.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the feedback. I hope you don't mind, but I added a link to your blog on mine (I can remove it if you object), but I'd be grateful if you'd care to return the favor. If I enjoy Wuthering Heights half as much as the author's sister's classic novel, I will enjoy it very much. I'll be sure to peruse your review once I'm finished.

      Delete
    2. Thanks, Joseph! I've added your blog to my blogroll too!

      Delete
  3. I see you like to discuss movie versions w/ your reviews and that you are ambivalent about Moby Dick. There is a film version coming out on the true story that inspired MD. It just looks too good not to share: In the Heart of the Sea (March 2015) http://youtu.be/Xs-JfPjgiA4

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Synchronisity....I just heard about this film from someone else for the first time yesterday. It does look fascinating.

      Delete
  4. I too disliked Don Quixote which on my list was book 1. I LOVE Brothers Karamazov and Anna Karenina however.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For my tastes, my list has gotten better the farther "down" I get. I think DQ suffers in translation, though it was better the second time I read it.

      Delete