Timeless classics and modern masterpieces that challenge, inspire, and leave a lasting impact. Ideal for thought-provoking discussions.
Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War
Robert M. Gates, 2013
640 pp.
Book Review by Molly Lundquist
March, 2014
"One damn thing after another" is the way Robert M. Gates described a typical day at the helm of Defense. Being secretary was a job he didn't want and one he didn't like once he got there, but his love for the soldiers, and sense of commitment to them, trumped any personal desire.
That love, at times personal and nearly obsessive, served as the overarching theme of Gates's tenure at Defense and also of his memoir. In reading his 640-page blow-by-blow "report," we can only be grateful that someone—and, in this case that someone was at the very top—paid such close attention to the needs of the "kids" on the front lines.
Rebecca
Daphne du Maurier, 1938
384 pp.
Book Review by Molly Lundquist
February 2014
Frst published over 75 years ago, Rebecca remains one of the best loved of modern Gothics: a genre known for its old manses and heavy atmospherics. The sense of foreboding in du Maurier's book is brought to bear on an uneasy marriage—of a naive, untested bride and her sophisticate husband, a man twice her age.
In truth, Rebecca is the story of two marriages, one in the present...and one in the recent past. Our poor heroine finds herself competing for the affections of her husband with his dead wife...who seems all too alive.
David Copperfield
Charles Dickens, 1850
700-800 pp. (varies by publisher)
Book Review by Molly Lundquist
January, 2014
Dickens is wordy—that we know. Yet to read him is to revel in the abundance of the English language. Then there's the length and pacing: plotlines piling up one after another after another, propelling us forward until at last, nearly done in, we reach the end!
And finally—Dickens is funny, very funny. As dire as things get for little Davey Copperfield, it's impossible not to guffaw at the characters and many turns of phrase that flow from the author's gift for wordplay. All of it makes this work one of the most extraordinary, most exuberant reads of all time. It's pure joy.
Conspiracy
Anthony Summers, 1980
640 pp.
Book Review by Molly Lundquist
October, 2013
For those who love murder mysteries, Conspiracy is one of the all-time greats. It's the unsolved story of who killed President John F. Kennedy—and it is not a work of fiction.
I first learned of Conspiracy over 30 years ago in 1980. Robert MacNeil, then co-anchor of the PBS news show, was so shaken after reading it that he devoted an entire news program to its contents—an unheard of precedent. I happened to be watching that evening.
Advise and Consent
Allen Drury, 1959
638 pp.
Book Review by Molly Lundquist
September, 2013
Written over 50 years ago, Advise and Consent still remains America's best political novel. It is politics in the raw—an unappetizing mix of barter, bribery, even blackmail—all served up as a part of the democratic process.
What makes the story not only palatable but absolutely delicious is the depth of Drury's characters and the fact that he makes us privy to the reasoning and pressures behind their decisions. Drury does the impossible: he makes his politicans sympathetic, even admirable.