"I have many important leather-bound books, and my apartment smells of rich mahogany."
The first two books of the 75 leather-bound collection have arrived. The Great Gatsby for "Great Books of the 20th Century" and Robert Frost for "Library of Great Poetry." Along with those two came a list of both the collections.
Library of Great Poetry
Robert Frost
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Robert Burns
Lord Byron
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Emily Dickinson
T.S. Eliot
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
William Shakespeare
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
William Wadsworth
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Sylvia Plath
Edgar Allen Poe
John Donne
William Blake
Emily Bronte
Robert Browning
e.e. cummings
Langston Hughes
John Keats
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Walt Whitman
W.B. Yeats
Great Books of the 20th Century
with blurbs
Light in August by William Faulkner
Considered by many as the finest work of Nobel Prize-winner William Faulkner, Light in August tells the unforgettable story of a mysterious drifter's struggle to escape the moral rigidity of the Deep South. "Faulkner at his best," wrote Malcolm Cowley, "has a power, a richness of life, an intensity to be found in no other American writer of our time."
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
A young girl with a compromising past tries to breathe life into the restrictive world of New York society, only to find it is a world she can never truly enter. "Edith Wharton is a writer who brings glory to the name of America, and this is her best book," wrote The New York Times of this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic. "[It is] a permanent addition to literature."
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Abused and betrayed by his human owners, Buck, a sledge dog in the icy Yukon, escapes his captors to become the leader of a wild pack of wolves. The best-loved and most widely renowned work of America's great Jack London, The Call of the Wild is a timeless depiction of civilization's sometimes harsh underside and the redeeming power of nature.
Ulysses by James Joyce
In a well-publicized list compiled by the Modern Library, James Joyce's Ulysses was named the single greatest, most influential work of the twentieth century. Featuring a revolutionary use of language and stylistic devices that would later become staples of later fiction, this landmark novel parallels Homer's Odyssey over the course of a single day in Dublin in June 1904.
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
"Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time." Kurt Vonnegut's classic novel follows an otherwise ordinary man who finds himself compulsively reliving the pivotal events in his life--including his survival of the horrifying WWII Allied firebombing of Dresden as prisoner of war. Slaughterhouse-Five is one of the world's great anti-war novels.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Into the upscale world of world of West Egg, New York, moves the mysterious Jay Gatsby, whose lavish lifestyle masks his obsession with Daisy Buchanan. The definitive novel of America's Jazz Age and one of the best-loved stories of the twentieth century, Fitzgerald's classic is an American masterpiece.
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
"BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU." In a future totalitarian state, Winston Smith, whose job it is to alter historical records for the Ministry of Truth, attempts to rebel. Although the actual year 1984 has come and gone, Orwell's masterpiece remains a timelessly relevant and cautionary portrayal of the evils of intrusive government, and one of the most haunting dystopian novels ever written.
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
Hans Castorp, a conventional young man, has his life completely transformed when, while visiting a sanitorium, he is suddenly diagnosed with tuberculosis. The masterpiece that helped earn Mann the Nobel Prize, The Magic Mountain is generally regarded as the greatest German novel of the twentieth century and an essential work of modern literature.
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Eager to prove himself, a patriotic German youth volunteers for the army, but is devastated by the realities of WWI trench warfare. Remarque's powerful classic defined the anti-war novel for the twentieth century and set the standard against which all others will forever be measured.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (my third copy)
Obsessed with his attraction to a 12-year-old nymphet, Humbert Humbert, a sophisticated European first marries the young girl's mother, then takes his beloved 'Lolita' on a memorable cross-country journey. Controversial and deeply ironic, Nabokov's scandalous novel survived the attempts of censors to suppress it and has become one of the defining literary woks of its era.
Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham
An orphan raised under his aunt and uncle's oppressively religious guidance, Philip Carey enters into an obsessive and passionate relationship with a troubled woman. Theodore Dreiser praised Maugham's classic coming-of-age as "a work of genius... One feels as though one were sitting before a splendid Shiraz of priceless texture and intricate weave, admiring, feeling, responding sensually to its colors and tones."
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (my second copy)
Howard Roark, a young architect driven to create a revolutionary building, must battle envious colleagues, repressive bureaucracies and even the woman he loves--anyone trying to compromise or destroy his vision. The New York Times hailed Ayn Rand as "a writer of great power. She has a subtle and ingenious mind and the capacity of writing brilliantly, beautifully, bitterly."
Invisible Man Ralph Ellison
"I am an invisible man." Never named, the narrator of Ralph Ellison's dazzling novel journeys from America's Deep South to tenement slums of Harlem, only to find himself manipulated and betrayed by supposed friends, black and white. Filled with visionary images and electrifying moments, Invisible Man was honored with the National Book Award.
Night by Elie Wiesel
Eloquent, haunting and compelling, Night follows a father and son--torn from their family by the Holocaust--as they desperately struggle to stay together and survive. "To the best of my knowledge," wrote Alfred Kazin of its Nobel Peace Prize-winning author, "no one has left behind him so moving a record."
The Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
In a sleepy Southern town, when lawyer Atticus Finch struggles to save an innocent man from violence and injustice, his children must learn the meaning of courage and compassion. Hailed on publication as a "remarkable triumph," Harper Lee's moving novel won the Pulitzer Prize and the acclaim of tens of millions of readers.
Rabbit, Run by John Updike
Hoping to escape a life filled with nothing but obligations and responsibilities, Rabbit Angstrom, a former star of his high school basketball team, deserts his wife and family to search for something better. This is the gripping novel that established the career of two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner John Updike, one of America's most acclaimed contemporary authors.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
A savage, not yet affected by an insidious scientific future government, is discovered in the wilds of New Mexico, and is quickly trapped in the sterile, repressive world of the 26th century. Huxley's eerily prophetic vision of the future is a science-fiction masterpiece.
All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning tale of corruption and ambition follows the career of Willie Stark, a visionary "man-of-the-people" who wins election as governor of Louisiana but succumbs to the temptations of high office. "It moves like an express train," wrote a critic at the time of its publication, "crackles with vitality and vibrates with emotional intensity."
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
On a November night in 1959, two young men entered a Kansas farmhouse and murdered an entire family. Truman Capote's haunting recreation of the crime and its aftermath blurred the line between reporting and literature to create a new form he called the "non-fiction novel." In Cold Blood ranks as one of the most influential American books of the twentieth century.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
"Fahrenheit 451--the temperature at which book-paper catches fire, and burns..." In a possible near future, Montag, a fireman whose job is to discover and destroy forbidden books, and if necessary their owners, begins to question his mission and soon the hunter becomes the hunted. A science-fiction masterpiece and literary treasure, Bradbury's tale is a timeless classic.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Autobiographical and intensely personal, the only novel by acclaimed poet Plath follows Esther Greenwood's harrowing descent into madness, her treatment and recover. Frank, witty and beautifully written, The Bell Jar is a classic of American literature that brilliantly captures the workings of a woman's inner life.
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
An affecting story of lifelong friendship between Bishop Jean Latour and Father Joseph Vaillant, Cather's masterpiece vividly portrays the opening of America's southwest frontier. Celebrated for her rich idealism, Willa Cather, in her natural, unsentimental style, uniquely captures the rich heritage of America's pioneer spirit.
Ficciones (Fictions) by Jorge Luis Borges
One of the great literary figures of the twentieth century, Borges, in this rich work, created a mysterious world of surreal labyrinths, fascinating dreams and complex puzzles that has delighted and intrigued generations of readers. This unique and creative collection of stories is his masterpiece.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Celie and Netti, two sisters trying to survive lives filled with abuse, turn to each other in the hope of finding love, support and redemption. A momentous book of the twentieth century, Walker's acclaimed novel cast a fresh light on a previously unexamined aspect of America's rural South and won the Pulitzer Prize.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Forced by the dust bowl of the 1930's to abandon their Oklahoma home, the Joad family sets off for California where they must learn to survive as migrant laborers. the Grapes of Wrath won the Pulitzer Prize and helped secure Steinbeck the Novel Prize. "[It] is the greatest American novel I have ever read," wrote Dorothy Parker.
Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth
In extremely candid confessions to his psychiatrist, Alexander Portnoy, a troubled lawyer trying to escape domination by his mother, reveals the sometimes moving, often hilarious, details of his life. Considered shocking on its publication, Philip Roth's most renowned book remains, in the words of The New York Times, "deliciously funny... absurd and exuberant, wild and uproarious... brilliantly vivid."
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
In a small Georgia town Mick Kelly, an adolescent tomboy poised on the rink of adulthood, finds herself drawn to a compassionate deaf-mute lodger in her family's home. Compassionate and beautifully written, Carson McCuller's stunning novel is an enduring portrayal of lost innocence.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
"There was only one catch... and that was Catch-22." The only way for American bombardier Yossarian to escape World Ward II is to plead insanity--but if he wants to go home, he can't be crazy! The New York Times book Review called this anti-war masterpiece "a monumental artifact of contemporary literature, almost as assured of longevity as the statues on Easter Island."
The Stranger by Albert Camus
On a beach outside Algiers, under a blinding sun, Meursault, an ordinary man in shock over the death of his mother, is drawn into a senseless murder. A high point of twentieth century literature, The Stranger established Camus as one of France's great writers and helped make him the second youngest author to win the Nobel Prize.
The Ambassadors by Henry James
On a mission to Paris to reclaim a young American from possible corruption, Lambert Strether finds himself becoming oddly attracted to the city's charms. One of the last major works by one of America's greatest masters, The Ambassadors was James's favorite among all his novels.
Darkness At Noon by Arthur Koestler
Rubashov, one of the great heroes of the Russian Revolution, suddenly runs afoul of the Party and finds himself in a desperate struggle for survival. In this brilliant and immortal work of fiction, Koestler captured for time the horrifying experience of the individual living under totalitarianism.
To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
This landmark work of twentieth century literature dazzlingly portrays the inner workings of an English family. "Radiant as it is in its beauty, there could be never be a mistake about it: here is a novel to last degree severe and uncompromising," wrote Eudora Welty. "She has shown us the shape of the human spirit."
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich bu Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Solzhenitsyn's classic follows Soviet prisoner Shukhov through one day of his ten-year sentence--in which he struggles as much to maintain his humanity as he does for food and warmth. Harrison Salisbury called the Nobel Prize-winning Solzhenitsyn "a literary genius whose talent matches that of Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy."
Native Son by Richard Wright
Bigger Thomas, a young black man from the slums of Chicago, gets caught up in a moment of panic and commits a murder, the consequences from which there is no escape. "The day Native Son appeared," said critic Irving Howe, "American culture was forever changed."
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The characters--Rhett Butler... Scarlett O'Hara... Ashley and Melanie Wilkes--rank among the most familiar in American literature. The moments--from the burning of Atlanta to the famous farewell scene-- are immortal. The Washington Post called Mitchell's monumental Pulitzer Prize-winning epic "the best novel that has ever come out of the South. In fact, I believe it is unsurpassed in the whole of American writing."
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
Set in revolutionary Mexico when the clergy is persecuted, a corrupt "whiskey priest" struggles to escape, but cannot resist the call of his office that throws him into danger. In the words of V.S. Pritchett, Graham Greene was "a master of storytelling... rich in exactly etched and moving portraits of real human beings... the tragic and comic ironies of love, loyalty and belief."
Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
Pasternak's sweeping epic of a young doctor caught up in the turmoil of the Russian Revolution earned him the Nobel Prize of Literature, an award the Soviet government forced him to decline. "Doctor Zhivago will, I believe, come to stand alone of the great events in man's literary and moral history," wrote Edmund Wilson. "His book is a great act of faith in art and in the human spirit."
On the Road by Jack Kerouac (my second copy)
A glorious ode to the restless energy of fifties America... late night jazz, wild parties, cross-country road trips... On the Road defined an era and made Jack Kerouac an icon for a new generation. Immediately recognized by critics as a major work, On the Road became the bible of the Beat Generation and remains a pillar of American literature.
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
Before he can find direction in his life, a sensitive young man must free himself from the control of a brutal father, trying to atone for the sins of his youth. Edmund Wilson called James Baldwin "not only one of the best black writers we have ever ha in this country, [but] one of the best writers that we have had... In writing about what it means to be a Negro he is writing about what it means to be a man."
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
In a violent future where teenage crime runs wild and brutal, young Alex find himself "reformed," stripped of his free will and helpless. At once a wicked coming-of-age story and an ironic affirmation of human freedom, A Clockwork Orange lives as one of the world's great anti-utopian novels.
Babbit by Sinclair Lewis
"[Babbit] is signed in every line with the unique personality of the writer," wrote Rebecca West. "It is saturated with America's vitality." A moving account of a hustling real estate broker in a small Indiana city who suddenly wants something more from life, Babbit would help Sinclair Lewis gain worldwide renown as the first American author to win the Nobel Prize.
Swann's Way by Marcel Proust
The taste of a small sweet cake suddenly floods Marcel, the narrator, with memories of his childhood in Paris and the provincial town of Combray.One of the twentieth century's most monumental works, Swann's Way,the first and most famous volume of Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, masterfully captures the experience of time and memory and brilliantly portrays an entire social world.
Beloved by Toni Morison
The spellbinding story of an escaped slave haunted by her experiences even after the Civil War, Beloved has been hailed by critics as "wonderful," "magnificent," "astounding," and "a triumph." In 1993, based in large part on this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, Toni Morison became America's last 20th century winner of the Nobel Prize of Literature.
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
Entranced by the exoticism pf Indian culture, Amanda Quested solicits Dr. Aziz to lead an expedition to the mysterious Caves of Marabar--where she believes she becomes the victim of attempted rape. Hailed by Margaret Drabble as "one of the great books of the twentieth century," A Passage to India tells a powerful tale of clashing cultures in Great Britain's colonial era.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Nobel Prize-winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez exploded onto the world's literary scene with this rich family saga set in an isolated jungle town. "One Hundred Years of Solitude is the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading to the entire human race," said The New York Times Book Review.
The Trial by Franz Kafka
"Had one to name the author who comes nearest to bearing the same kind of relation to our age as Dante, Shakespeare and Goethe bore to theirs," wrote W.H. Auden, "Kafka is the first one would think of." In The Trial, Kafka's masterpiece, Joseph K. is arrested for a crime that is never named and struggles to escape a bureaucracy bent on his destruction.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Irrepressible and larger-than-life, Randle Patrick McMurphy puts one over the judicial system so he can serve a soft sentence in a state mental facility rather than hard time in jail... only to find there may be no way out. An American classic, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is one of the century's great affirmations of individualism in the face of callous authority.
Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence
A captivating account of the affairs of two sisters--one leading to fulfillment, the other to destruction--Women in Love is the masterpiece that pulled together all of Lawrence's great themes: the intrusion of industrialism on individuals' inner lives, the devastating impact of the First World War and the difficulty of honest relations between the sexes.
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
From the cafes of Paris to the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Hemingway's classic novel captures the romance and drama of the "lost generation" of American and British expatriates after the First World War. One of the greatest works of one of the twentieth century's most influential writers, The Sun Also Rises established Ernest Hemingway as a modern master and helped secure him the Nobel Prize.
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Looking back on his youth during the difficult days of WWII, Charles Ryder relives his enchanting involvement with an ancient aristocratic British family. Critics hailed this tribute to the splendors of England's past as "Waugh's finest achievement," and said, "Brideshead Revisited has a magic that is rare... It is a world in itself, and the reader lives in it and is loath to leave it when the last page is turned."
It'll take around 4 years for all the books arrive. I don't like it, but that's how Easton Press works. The other thing that bothers me is that once we get our custom shelves, the books won't be arranged alphabetically by author. Mother has a bit of OCD when it comes to aesthetics and so mixing the paperbacks, hardcovers and leather-bounds like that would drive her nuts. I don't care how it looks as long as I can find what I'm looking for.
Library of Great Poetry
Robert Frost
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Robert Burns
Lord Byron
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Emily Dickinson
T.S. Eliot
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
William Shakespeare
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
William Wadsworth
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Sylvia Plath
Edgar Allen Poe
John Donne
William Blake
Emily Bronte
Robert Browning
e.e. cummings
Langston Hughes
John Keats
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Walt Whitman
W.B. Yeats
Great Books of the 20th Century
with blurbs
Light in August by William Faulkner
Considered by many as the finest work of Nobel Prize-winner William Faulkner, Light in August tells the unforgettable story of a mysterious drifter's struggle to escape the moral rigidity of the Deep South. "Faulkner at his best," wrote Malcolm Cowley, "has a power, a richness of life, an intensity to be found in no other American writer of our time."
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
A young girl with a compromising past tries to breathe life into the restrictive world of New York society, only to find it is a world she can never truly enter. "Edith Wharton is a writer who brings glory to the name of America, and this is her best book," wrote The New York Times of this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic. "[It is] a permanent addition to literature."
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Abused and betrayed by his human owners, Buck, a sledge dog in the icy Yukon, escapes his captors to become the leader of a wild pack of wolves. The best-loved and most widely renowned work of America's great Jack London, The Call of the Wild is a timeless depiction of civilization's sometimes harsh underside and the redeeming power of nature.
Ulysses by James Joyce
In a well-publicized list compiled by the Modern Library, James Joyce's Ulysses was named the single greatest, most influential work of the twentieth century. Featuring a revolutionary use of language and stylistic devices that would later become staples of later fiction, this landmark novel parallels Homer's Odyssey over the course of a single day in Dublin in June 1904.
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
"Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time." Kurt Vonnegut's classic novel follows an otherwise ordinary man who finds himself compulsively reliving the pivotal events in his life--including his survival of the horrifying WWII Allied firebombing of Dresden as prisoner of war. Slaughterhouse-Five is one of the world's great anti-war novels.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Into the upscale world of world of West Egg, New York, moves the mysterious Jay Gatsby, whose lavish lifestyle masks his obsession with Daisy Buchanan. The definitive novel of America's Jazz Age and one of the best-loved stories of the twentieth century, Fitzgerald's classic is an American masterpiece.
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
"BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU." In a future totalitarian state, Winston Smith, whose job it is to alter historical records for the Ministry of Truth, attempts to rebel. Although the actual year 1984 has come and gone, Orwell's masterpiece remains a timelessly relevant and cautionary portrayal of the evils of intrusive government, and one of the most haunting dystopian novels ever written.
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
Hans Castorp, a conventional young man, has his life completely transformed when, while visiting a sanitorium, he is suddenly diagnosed with tuberculosis. The masterpiece that helped earn Mann the Nobel Prize, The Magic Mountain is generally regarded as the greatest German novel of the twentieth century and an essential work of modern literature.
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Eager to prove himself, a patriotic German youth volunteers for the army, but is devastated by the realities of WWI trench warfare. Remarque's powerful classic defined the anti-war novel for the twentieth century and set the standard against which all others will forever be measured.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (my third copy)
Obsessed with his attraction to a 12-year-old nymphet, Humbert Humbert, a sophisticated European first marries the young girl's mother, then takes his beloved 'Lolita' on a memorable cross-country journey. Controversial and deeply ironic, Nabokov's scandalous novel survived the attempts of censors to suppress it and has become one of the defining literary woks of its era.
Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham
An orphan raised under his aunt and uncle's oppressively religious guidance, Philip Carey enters into an obsessive and passionate relationship with a troubled woman. Theodore Dreiser praised Maugham's classic coming-of-age as "a work of genius... One feels as though one were sitting before a splendid Shiraz of priceless texture and intricate weave, admiring, feeling, responding sensually to its colors and tones."
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (my second copy)
Howard Roark, a young architect driven to create a revolutionary building, must battle envious colleagues, repressive bureaucracies and even the woman he loves--anyone trying to compromise or destroy his vision. The New York Times hailed Ayn Rand as "a writer of great power. She has a subtle and ingenious mind and the capacity of writing brilliantly, beautifully, bitterly."
Invisible Man Ralph Ellison
"I am an invisible man." Never named, the narrator of Ralph Ellison's dazzling novel journeys from America's Deep South to tenement slums of Harlem, only to find himself manipulated and betrayed by supposed friends, black and white. Filled with visionary images and electrifying moments, Invisible Man was honored with the National Book Award.
Night by Elie Wiesel
Eloquent, haunting and compelling, Night follows a father and son--torn from their family by the Holocaust--as they desperately struggle to stay together and survive. "To the best of my knowledge," wrote Alfred Kazin of its Nobel Peace Prize-winning author, "no one has left behind him so moving a record."
The Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
In a sleepy Southern town, when lawyer Atticus Finch struggles to save an innocent man from violence and injustice, his children must learn the meaning of courage and compassion. Hailed on publication as a "remarkable triumph," Harper Lee's moving novel won the Pulitzer Prize and the acclaim of tens of millions of readers.
Rabbit, Run by John Updike
Hoping to escape a life filled with nothing but obligations and responsibilities, Rabbit Angstrom, a former star of his high school basketball team, deserts his wife and family to search for something better. This is the gripping novel that established the career of two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner John Updike, one of America's most acclaimed contemporary authors.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
A savage, not yet affected by an insidious scientific future government, is discovered in the wilds of New Mexico, and is quickly trapped in the sterile, repressive world of the 26th century. Huxley's eerily prophetic vision of the future is a science-fiction masterpiece.
All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning tale of corruption and ambition follows the career of Willie Stark, a visionary "man-of-the-people" who wins election as governor of Louisiana but succumbs to the temptations of high office. "It moves like an express train," wrote a critic at the time of its publication, "crackles with vitality and vibrates with emotional intensity."
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
On a November night in 1959, two young men entered a Kansas farmhouse and murdered an entire family. Truman Capote's haunting recreation of the crime and its aftermath blurred the line between reporting and literature to create a new form he called the "non-fiction novel." In Cold Blood ranks as one of the most influential American books of the twentieth century.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
"Fahrenheit 451--the temperature at which book-paper catches fire, and burns..." In a possible near future, Montag, a fireman whose job is to discover and destroy forbidden books, and if necessary their owners, begins to question his mission and soon the hunter becomes the hunted. A science-fiction masterpiece and literary treasure, Bradbury's tale is a timeless classic.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Autobiographical and intensely personal, the only novel by acclaimed poet Plath follows Esther Greenwood's harrowing descent into madness, her treatment and recover. Frank, witty and beautifully written, The Bell Jar is a classic of American literature that brilliantly captures the workings of a woman's inner life.
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
An affecting story of lifelong friendship between Bishop Jean Latour and Father Joseph Vaillant, Cather's masterpiece vividly portrays the opening of America's southwest frontier. Celebrated for her rich idealism, Willa Cather, in her natural, unsentimental style, uniquely captures the rich heritage of America's pioneer spirit.
Ficciones (Fictions) by Jorge Luis Borges
One of the great literary figures of the twentieth century, Borges, in this rich work, created a mysterious world of surreal labyrinths, fascinating dreams and complex puzzles that has delighted and intrigued generations of readers. This unique and creative collection of stories is his masterpiece.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Celie and Netti, two sisters trying to survive lives filled with abuse, turn to each other in the hope of finding love, support and redemption. A momentous book of the twentieth century, Walker's acclaimed novel cast a fresh light on a previously unexamined aspect of America's rural South and won the Pulitzer Prize.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Forced by the dust bowl of the 1930's to abandon their Oklahoma home, the Joad family sets off for California where they must learn to survive as migrant laborers. the Grapes of Wrath won the Pulitzer Prize and helped secure Steinbeck the Novel Prize. "[It] is the greatest American novel I have ever read," wrote Dorothy Parker.
Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth
In extremely candid confessions to his psychiatrist, Alexander Portnoy, a troubled lawyer trying to escape domination by his mother, reveals the sometimes moving, often hilarious, details of his life. Considered shocking on its publication, Philip Roth's most renowned book remains, in the words of The New York Times, "deliciously funny... absurd and exuberant, wild and uproarious... brilliantly vivid."
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
In a small Georgia town Mick Kelly, an adolescent tomboy poised on the rink of adulthood, finds herself drawn to a compassionate deaf-mute lodger in her family's home. Compassionate and beautifully written, Carson McCuller's stunning novel is an enduring portrayal of lost innocence.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
"There was only one catch... and that was Catch-22." The only way for American bombardier Yossarian to escape World Ward II is to plead insanity--but if he wants to go home, he can't be crazy! The New York Times book Review called this anti-war masterpiece "a monumental artifact of contemporary literature, almost as assured of longevity as the statues on Easter Island."
The Stranger by Albert Camus
On a beach outside Algiers, under a blinding sun, Meursault, an ordinary man in shock over the death of his mother, is drawn into a senseless murder. A high point of twentieth century literature, The Stranger established Camus as one of France's great writers and helped make him the second youngest author to win the Nobel Prize.
The Ambassadors by Henry James
On a mission to Paris to reclaim a young American from possible corruption, Lambert Strether finds himself becoming oddly attracted to the city's charms. One of the last major works by one of America's greatest masters, The Ambassadors was James's favorite among all his novels.
Darkness At Noon by Arthur Koestler
Rubashov, one of the great heroes of the Russian Revolution, suddenly runs afoul of the Party and finds himself in a desperate struggle for survival. In this brilliant and immortal work of fiction, Koestler captured for time the horrifying experience of the individual living under totalitarianism.
To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
This landmark work of twentieth century literature dazzlingly portrays the inner workings of an English family. "Radiant as it is in its beauty, there could be never be a mistake about it: here is a novel to last degree severe and uncompromising," wrote Eudora Welty. "She has shown us the shape of the human spirit."
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich bu Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Solzhenitsyn's classic follows Soviet prisoner Shukhov through one day of his ten-year sentence--in which he struggles as much to maintain his humanity as he does for food and warmth. Harrison Salisbury called the Nobel Prize-winning Solzhenitsyn "a literary genius whose talent matches that of Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy."
Native Son by Richard Wright
Bigger Thomas, a young black man from the slums of Chicago, gets caught up in a moment of panic and commits a murder, the consequences from which there is no escape. "The day Native Son appeared," said critic Irving Howe, "American culture was forever changed."
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The characters--Rhett Butler... Scarlett O'Hara... Ashley and Melanie Wilkes--rank among the most familiar in American literature. The moments--from the burning of Atlanta to the famous farewell scene-- are immortal. The Washington Post called Mitchell's monumental Pulitzer Prize-winning epic "the best novel that has ever come out of the South. In fact, I believe it is unsurpassed in the whole of American writing."
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
Set in revolutionary Mexico when the clergy is persecuted, a corrupt "whiskey priest" struggles to escape, but cannot resist the call of his office that throws him into danger. In the words of V.S. Pritchett, Graham Greene was "a master of storytelling... rich in exactly etched and moving portraits of real human beings... the tragic and comic ironies of love, loyalty and belief."
Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
Pasternak's sweeping epic of a young doctor caught up in the turmoil of the Russian Revolution earned him the Nobel Prize of Literature, an award the Soviet government forced him to decline. "Doctor Zhivago will, I believe, come to stand alone of the great events in man's literary and moral history," wrote Edmund Wilson. "His book is a great act of faith in art and in the human spirit."
On the Road by Jack Kerouac (my second copy)
A glorious ode to the restless energy of fifties America... late night jazz, wild parties, cross-country road trips... On the Road defined an era and made Jack Kerouac an icon for a new generation. Immediately recognized by critics as a major work, On the Road became the bible of the Beat Generation and remains a pillar of American literature.
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
Before he can find direction in his life, a sensitive young man must free himself from the control of a brutal father, trying to atone for the sins of his youth. Edmund Wilson called James Baldwin "not only one of the best black writers we have ever ha in this country, [but] one of the best writers that we have had... In writing about what it means to be a Negro he is writing about what it means to be a man."
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
In a violent future where teenage crime runs wild and brutal, young Alex find himself "reformed," stripped of his free will and helpless. At once a wicked coming-of-age story and an ironic affirmation of human freedom, A Clockwork Orange lives as one of the world's great anti-utopian novels.
Babbit by Sinclair Lewis
"[Babbit] is signed in every line with the unique personality of the writer," wrote Rebecca West. "It is saturated with America's vitality." A moving account of a hustling real estate broker in a small Indiana city who suddenly wants something more from life, Babbit would help Sinclair Lewis gain worldwide renown as the first American author to win the Nobel Prize.
Swann's Way by Marcel Proust
The taste of a small sweet cake suddenly floods Marcel, the narrator, with memories of his childhood in Paris and the provincial town of Combray.One of the twentieth century's most monumental works, Swann's Way,the first and most famous volume of Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, masterfully captures the experience of time and memory and brilliantly portrays an entire social world.
Beloved by Toni Morison
The spellbinding story of an escaped slave haunted by her experiences even after the Civil War, Beloved has been hailed by critics as "wonderful," "magnificent," "astounding," and "a triumph." In 1993, based in large part on this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, Toni Morison became America's last 20th century winner of the Nobel Prize of Literature.
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
Entranced by the exoticism pf Indian culture, Amanda Quested solicits Dr. Aziz to lead an expedition to the mysterious Caves of Marabar--where she believes she becomes the victim of attempted rape. Hailed by Margaret Drabble as "one of the great books of the twentieth century," A Passage to India tells a powerful tale of clashing cultures in Great Britain's colonial era.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Nobel Prize-winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez exploded onto the world's literary scene with this rich family saga set in an isolated jungle town. "One Hundred Years of Solitude is the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading to the entire human race," said The New York Times Book Review.
The Trial by Franz Kafka
"Had one to name the author who comes nearest to bearing the same kind of relation to our age as Dante, Shakespeare and Goethe bore to theirs," wrote W.H. Auden, "Kafka is the first one would think of." In The Trial, Kafka's masterpiece, Joseph K. is arrested for a crime that is never named and struggles to escape a bureaucracy bent on his destruction.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Irrepressible and larger-than-life, Randle Patrick McMurphy puts one over the judicial system so he can serve a soft sentence in a state mental facility rather than hard time in jail... only to find there may be no way out. An American classic, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is one of the century's great affirmations of individualism in the face of callous authority.
Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence
A captivating account of the affairs of two sisters--one leading to fulfillment, the other to destruction--Women in Love is the masterpiece that pulled together all of Lawrence's great themes: the intrusion of industrialism on individuals' inner lives, the devastating impact of the First World War and the difficulty of honest relations between the sexes.
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
From the cafes of Paris to the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Hemingway's classic novel captures the romance and drama of the "lost generation" of American and British expatriates after the First World War. One of the greatest works of one of the twentieth century's most influential writers, The Sun Also Rises established Ernest Hemingway as a modern master and helped secure him the Nobel Prize.
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Looking back on his youth during the difficult days of WWII, Charles Ryder relives his enchanting involvement with an ancient aristocratic British family. Critics hailed this tribute to the splendors of England's past as "Waugh's finest achievement," and said, "Brideshead Revisited has a magic that is rare... It is a world in itself, and the reader lives in it and is loath to leave it when the last page is turned."
It'll take around 4 years for all the books arrive. I don't like it, but that's how Easton Press works. The other thing that bothers me is that once we get our custom shelves, the books won't be arranged alphabetically by author. Mother has a bit of OCD when it comes to aesthetics and so mixing the paperbacks, hardcovers and leather-bounds like that would drive her nuts. I don't care how it looks as long as I can find what I'm looking for.