Inverarity is not a Scottish village

An overwrought attempt at allegory that's really just a bit of upper-middle-class angst for the whole family.

Fourteen-year-old Trixie Stone is in love for the first time. She's also the light of her father, Daniel's life -- a straight-A student; a pretty, popular freshman in high school; a girl who's always seen her father as a hero. That is, until her world is turned upside down with a single act of violence. Suddenly everything Trixie has believed about her family -- and herself -- seems to be a lie. Could the boyfriend who once made Trixie wild with happiness have been the one to end her childhood forever? She says that he is, and that is all it takes to make Daniel, a seemingly mild-mannered comic book artist with a secret tumultuous past he has hidden even from his family, venture to hell and back to protect his daughter.

With The Tenth Circle, Jodi Picoult offers her most powerful chronicle yet as she explores the unbreakable bond between parent and child, and questions whether you can reinvent yourself in the course of a lifetime -- or if your mistakes are carried forever.

( Tonight, a Very Special Episode of pop-lit with pretensions. )

Verdict: I wanted to be fair-minded in my foray into "women's fiction," and I was really hoping I'd find hidden depths here, but no, The Tenth Circle is just utterly average and overwrought melodrama, suitable for exactly the use to which it was put, a cable TV movie of the week. It's not even a bad book that I can properly pan -- Picoult's writing is okay and the story was structured well and had enough twists that it should have been more interesting. If it was in a genre I liked, I'd probably rate it 3 or 3.5 stars and call it entertaining if unexceptional. But literary it is not, the tinge of moral panic worked against its well-intentioned introductory-level feminism, and I resent any author who tries to lead the reader by the nose. Jodi Picoult did not impress me as someone being unfairly denied Serious Author status because of her sex, but I've certainly read worse, from both sexes.

A historical epic of medieval Paris, it's really a gothic fantasy, and it's not really about Quasimodo and Esmeralda.

Set amid the riot, intrigue, and pageantry of medieval Paris, Victor Hugo's masterful tale of heroism and adventure has been a perennial favorite since its first publication in 1831. It is the story of Quasimodo, the deformed bell-ringer of the Notre Dame Cathedral, who falls in love with the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda. When Esmeralda is condemned as a witch by Claude Frollo, the tormented archdeacon who lusts after her, Quasimodo attempts to save her; but his intentions are misunderstood. Written with a profound sense of tragic irony, Hugo's powerful historical romance remains one of the most thrilling stories of all time.

( A classic you SHOULD read, and if you are only familiar with the Disney version, then hang your head in shame. )


Verdict: This book is why you should read classics, and why some books are worth a bit of persistence even if they don't grab you right away. I was expecting it to be a slog to get through Notre-Dame de Paris, and at first it was, but gradually it became more interesting, I began to appreciate both the epic scope of the story Victor Hugo had been building piece by piece, and also the sense of humor he'd been wryly displaying all along. No matter which film version you've seen, you have not gotten anything like the story of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" unless you've read Victor Hugo's novel in its entirety, and it absolutely deserves to be read, and to be on the list of 1001 books you must read before you die. I liked it so much that I was actually motivated to add Hugo's other big novel, Les Misérables, to my TBR list.

This was my twelfth assignment for the books1001 challenge.

Is the book always better? at bookish.

Tom-all-alone, the Court of Chancery, spontaneous human combustion, an illegitimate birth, and a murder mystery in Dickens's big bleak honkin' epic.

First published in monthly parts from March 1852 to September 1853, this novel follows the fortunes of three pedestrian characters; Esther Summerson, Ada Clare, and Richard Carstone. The story they tell embodies Dickens' merciless indictment of the Court of Chancery and its bungling, morally corrupt handling of the endless case of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce, giving the novel its scope and meaning.

Starting with Esther's account of her lonely, unhappy childhood, her role as protégée of the worthy John Jarndyce, Richard and Ada's guardian, the tale develops the relations between the three young people in the Jarndyce household. Numerous other characters contribute to the complex portrait of society which emerges from the novel. They include the romantic, effusive, and unworldly Harold Skimpole (based on Leigh Hunt, poet, journalist, and critic, who published The Examiner in which he introduced the public to Keats and Shelley); the boisterous, short-tempered Boythorn (based on Walter Savage Landor, poet and essayist, mentor to Robert Browning); Krook, the rag-and-bottle shopkeeper who dies a hideous death by 'spontaneous combustion'; Gridley and the crazed Miss Flite, both ruined by Chancery; Mrs. Jellyby, neglectful of domestic responsibilities in favor of 'telescope philanthropy'; the greasy Mr. Chadband, a parson 'of no particular denomination'; and Conversation Kenge and Mr. Vholes, lawyers both.

Of particular importance to the moral design of the novel is Jo, the crossing-sweeper whose brutish life and death are the instruments for one of Dickens' most savage judgments on an indifferent society.

( Dickens wants to kill all the lawyers. )

Verdict: An indictment of the Victorian legal system and society's discarding of all the poor, impoverished Tom-all-alones, Bleak House is one of Dickens's longer novels and requires some stamina to get through. I would not recommend it as a "starter" Dickens, but it's a complicated epic that's got everything that makes a Dickens novel great: humor, pathos, satire, and romance. (The romance, Dickens was usually better leaving alone.) There just may be a bit too much of it. I view Charles Dickens much like Stephen King (and I consider that in no way disparaging to either author): great tale-tellers who sometimes write much more than they need to to tell the tale, and yet you can't actually point to any parts that aren't entertaining.

Also by Charles Dickens: My reviews of A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, and Great Expectations.

Bleak House is on the list of 1001 novels you must read before you die, but I did not read it as part of the books1001 challenge.

The zany, nerdy sci-fi classic about the meaning of life.

Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.

Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why do we spend so much time between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!

( Don't panic! )

Verdict: Does The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy deserve to be on the list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die? It probably earned its place mostly for its prominent place in popular culture. It's been responsible for the naming of everything from IBM supercomputers to online translation engines, so its influence has certainly broken into the mainstream. But it's also a witty, clever, funny book that probably fills other people who are not me with happiness and joy; if you like this kind of humor, then Douglas Adams is at the top of his class. He packed a hell of a lot of funny and a pretty decent story into a very short book. So in that respect, HHG is an achievement that probably deserves its place on the books1001 list. Great literature, no, but a science fiction novel that remains popular and in print for over 30 years has proven staying power, and I think it has a reasonable chance of being remembered and read a hundred years from now.

This was my eleventh assignment for the books1001 challenge.

This comedy of manners is an ugly duckling story with not quite the sting or wit of Austen's other works.



Published in 1814, approximately 160,000 words. Available for free at Project Gutenberg.

Fanny Price, a poor relation of the rich Bertrams, is reluctantly adopted into the family, to be brought up at Mansfield Park, where she is condescendingly treated. Only her cousin, Edmund, a young clergyman, appreciates her fine qualities.

Fanny soon falls in love with him, but Edmund is, unfortunately, drawn to the shallow and worldly Mary Crawford. Fanny's quiet humility, steadfast loyalty, and natural goodness are matched against the wit and brilliance of her lovely rival. The tension is heightened when Henry Crawford, Mary's equally sophisticated and flirtatious brother, takes an interest in Fanny.

Jane Austen's subtle, satiric novel skillfully uses her characters' emotional relationships to explore the social and moral values by which they attempt to order their lives.

( Fanny Price was at this time just ten years old, and though there might not be much in her first appearance to captivate, there was, at least, nothing to disgust her relations. )

Verdict: Not my favorite Austen. Mansfield Park is somewhat of a departure from her other books, being as much prudish denouncement of "modern" ways as it is social satire and comedy of manners. The heroine was sweet but a bit on the insipid side, and none of the other characters were particularly memorable. This book is enjoyable enough for Austen fans, but I don't think it's a book that would turn anyone into an Austen fan.

Also by Jane Austen: My reviews of Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey.

I haven't done a movie review post in a while. Over the last couple of months, I've been catching up on all the superhero films I missed in theaters. I almost never go to see movies in theaters anymore. Netflix FTW.

I used to be a great big comic book fanboy. I mean, I had the collection, man. I still do. It's sitting there in long cardboard boxes in my closet, and someday maybe I'll sell it or something. It's not like I ever open up the mylar bags and reread them. Although it's not extremely valuable as comics collections go, I do have a lot of them, some of them moderately valuable (early X-Men and New Teen Titans and the like).

( My nerdiness, let me show you it. )

The most single-mindedly determined 14-year-old girl in the history of the West seeks justice for her father.



Simon & Schuster, 1968, 215 pages

Mattie Ross, a 14-year-old girl from Dardanelle, Arkansas, sets out to avenge her Daddy who was shot to death by a no-good outlaw. Mattie convinces one-eyed "Rooster" Cogburn, the meanest U.S. marshal in the land, to ride along with her. In True Grit, we have a true American classic, as young Mattie, as vital as she is innocent, outdickers and outmaneuvers the hard-bitten men of the trail in a legend that will last through the ages.

( People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father's blood, but it did not seem strange then, though I will say it did not happen every day. )

Verdict: The movies are almost as good as the book, but read the book to hear the story told by the toughest little girl ever to roam the Wild West. If Mattie Ross had an ounce of humility, self-consciousness, self-awareness, or reasonableness, she wouldn't be nearly as entertaining, but she doesn't, which makes her awesome. A very simple, engaging story with great characters (even though Mattie outshines them all), True Grit is a true classic which should be enjoyed even by people who don't normally like westerns. Personally, I think it should be on the books1001 list. It may not exactly be "literary," but there are certainly books on the 1001 books list that are neither as "classic" nor as good as True Grit.

Paranoia will destroy ya, especially if you're a childish, self-absorbed doormat. I was rooting for the evil housekeeper.



Gollancz, 1938, 384 pages

Rebecca, a dark psychological tale of secrets and betrayal, is Daphne du Maurier's best-loved work and was named Best Novel of the 20th Century at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention.

After a whirlwind romance and a honeymoon in Italy, the innocent young heroine and the dashing Maxim de Winter return to his country estate, Manderley. But the unsettling memory of Rebecca, the first Mrs. de Winter, still lingers within. The timid bride must overcome her husband's oppressive silences and the sullen history of the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, to confront the emotional horrors of the past.

( Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. )

Verdict: I've rarely seen a book mislabeled in so many different ways: "ghost story," "love story," "mystery," etc. All the editions with big swooshy cursive script that make it look like a romance novel particularly do this book an injustice. Rebecca is really the creepy but not quite as smart granddaughter of Jane Eyre and grandniece of Wuthering Heights. Moody and interesting, but full of characters I'd like to see drowned in the sea one and all, I'd recommend it to anyone who's a fan of gothic novels, but the Brontës did it better a hundred years earlier.

Precursor to every modern romantic trope and an entire genre of infinitely inferior imitations. And Mr. Rochester is almost as big an asshole as Heathcliff.



Published 1847, approximately 187,000 words.. Available for free at Project Gutenberg.

Initially published under the pseudonym Currer Bell in 1847, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre erupted onto the English literary scene, immediately winning the devotion of many of the world's most renowned writers, including William Makepeace Thackeray, who declared it a work "of great genius."

Widely regarded as a revolutionary novel, Brontë's masterpiece introduced the world to a radical new type of heroine, one whose defiant virtue and moral courage departed sharply from the more acquiescent and malleable female characters of the day.

Passionate, dramatic, and surprisingly modern, Jane Eyre endures as one of the world's most beloved novels.

( The story of plain Jane and that asshole Rochester. )

Verdict: An early milestone in the romance genre, Jane Eyre is imaginative, passionate wish-fulfillment fantasy. I hate some of the norms it established in the genre, but it is made memorable by complicated characters, a complex story with numerous twists (and a few improbable ones bordering on silly), a genuinely strong and likeable female protagonist, and writing that shines. Contrary to my expectations, this book is not boring, not hard to get through, and it is, for its time, original. But I still hate that asshole Rochester.

Jane Eyre is of course on the list of 1001 books you must read before you die, but I did not read it for the books1001 challenge.