A Bridge Gone Too Far Modern Library # 37 1927, Thornton Wilder What does one do when one realizes he needs to read nine "important" books in half a year in order to get back on the three books per year pace agreed upon with one's wife in 2002? One stops by books sales at the Newington Library when one finds the … [Read more...]

The Sin of Politics Modern Library #36 1946, Robert Penn Warren I picked up this book in a flight of fancy that said, "Read this book quickly in early September and then I will go out and enjoy the surely Oscar-worthy movie version starring Jude Law, Sean Penn, Anthony Hopkins, and Kate Winslet that premiers … [Read more...]

Mississippi Bundrening Modern Library #35 1930, William Faulkner At some point in my life, I got it into my head that Faulkner was unreadable. I don’t know how that thought got there, for I don’t think I’ve ever read anything by him before and it’s not like I hang out with a bunch of anti-Faulkner misanthropes. … [Read more...]

How Sista Got Her Groove Back Modern Library # 33 1900, Theodore Dreiser First, a mildly entertaining personal story about this book. Back in 2005, before our kids and other such grown-up nonsense, my wife Hoang and I used to go on fun little vacations. One such trip took us to South Beach. And yes, it surely … [Read more...]

Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss Modern Library # 31 1946, George Orwell I know... "Animal Farm?! The little novella about talking animals that we all read in 7th grade?" Yes, that's right. Even if I had read it prior - and I hadn't - the rules of the Top 100 game that Hoang and I are playing dictate … [Read more...]

But Not a Very Good Book Modern Library # 30 1915, Ford Madox Ford The coolest thing about "The Good Soldier" is the author's name: Ford Madox Ford. Totally out-Jolie-Pitted Jolie-Pitt a full century earlier. That being said, that means that the book itself wasn't all that cool. Admittedly, I read about 4 … [Read more...]

Don't Be a Dicole* Modern Library # 28 1934, F. Scott Fitzgerald *Dicole: Pronoun, the cutesy made up name used in the novel for the "perfect" married couple, Dick and Nicole Diver Yes, it's true... F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a Top 100 novel other than "The Great Gatsby," and the main characters really do … [Read more...]

This Burg Could Use Some Wine Modern Library # 24 1919, Sherwood Anderson Winesburg, Ohio contains a map of the town on the first page. For that, I already liked the book before I read a word of it. But once I got my head around how this book works, I liked the rest of it as well. This book could be another … [Read more...]

Ju-Ju Be Dead Modern Library # 22 1934, John O’Hara After suffering through the worst book I’ve ever read (To the Lighthouse), I was determined to immediately pick up another, vastly different and hopefully much better book with which to purge my brain of anything Virginia Woolfy. I was also under the gun (as it … [Read more...]

Raining on My Parade Modern Library # 21 1959, Saul Bellow The worst thing about this terrible book? Saul Bellow has another book on this Top 100 list. Ugh. After struggling through "Henderson" for a few months (and this, after a false start a few years ago), I'm still wondering how I could have missed the … [Read more...]