Timeless classics and modern masterpieces that challenge, inspire, and leave a lasting impact. Ideal for thought-provoking discussions.
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen, 1813
~250-300 pp. (varies by publisher)
Book Review by Molly Lundquist
March, 2012
Some time ago, I received an email from someone struggling through Pride and Prejudice. Why, she wondered, is it considered a great classic? It's wordy and dense, making it difficult to cut through the pile of verbiage to get to the meaning.
It's an excellent question!—and all the more interesting because of the vital role Jane Austen played in the development of the young novel.
The Natural
Bernard Malamud, 1952
231 pp.
February, 2012
In his beloved baseball classic, Bernard Malamud bestows mythic status on America's national past-time. Baseball becomes the quest of the Arthurian hero facing down forces of evil, both internal and external.
We first meet our hero, Roy Hobbs, on the cusp of adulthood, staring at his reflection in a train window. He may be Narcissus gazing at himself in the pond—a self-love that can only bring disaster. Or perhaps the reflection mirrors back to him his own purity, which neither he nor the world will enable himself to live up to.
The Last Tycoon (Aka The Love of the Last Tycoon)
F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1941
208 pp.
Book Review by Molly Lundquist
August, 2012
Fitzgerald died before he finished The Last Tycoon. But as critic Edmund Wilson wrote at the time, despite its unfinished and unpolished state, "it is far and away the best novel of Hollywood we have." Many think it remains so 70 years later.
Monroe Stahr, the eponymous tycoon, is a film producer at the top of the Hollywood heap. Charismatic, brilliant, and expert in every aspect of filming, Stahr has built the production system over which he rules. He is Hollywood royalty. And he falls in love.
Death of a Salesman
Arthur Miller, 1949
pp. 144
January 2012
Long considered a defining drama of American theater, Death of a Salesman is typically seen as a tragedy of the common man. The focus is on Willy Loman, a man caught up in the calculating world of commerce—a sphere that strips away human dignity.
Yet the more I've read the play, seen it performed, and taught it to students, the more I see it as the story of Willy's son, Biff, and his struggle to achieve manhood. For me, the story centers on Biff as much as Willy.
Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad, 1899
160 pp.
Book Review by Molly Lundquist
June, 2012
Gandhi was asked once what he thought of Western civilization. "It would be a good idea," he quipped. That exchange is very much at the heart of Heart of Darkness, a novel that in many ways was ahead of its time.
Conrad wrote his novel at the height of European colonialism, a system he witnessed in much of its gory brutality. Yet he was also writing for a British audience, which believed that bringing civilization to "untamed" lands was a sacred imperative.