Oct 24
I’m jealous of authors who manage to write brilliant first-time novels.
I’m not a novelist, and I honestly have no plans to be one. But how do these authors knock it out of the park on their first attempt?
It’s a recurring theme throughout this project. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been doing preliminary research on a book and realized it was the author’s first novel.
Here are just a few examples:
1961 was quite a year for books.
In that year, Walker Percy released The Moviegoer, Joseph Heller released Catch 22, and Richard Yates released Revolutionary Road.
All three books were finalists for the 1962 National Book Award, which The Moviegoer eventually won.
Fifty years later, all three of these incredible novels celebrate their golden anniversary. Jim Santel from The Millions recently discussed how these three books—but mainly The Moviegoer—affected him.
Jul 26
Was Joseph Heller famous for the wrong book? (Source: MDCarchives/Wikimedia Commons)
Is an author’s best book always his most well-known book?
That’s the question John Self of The Guardian asked last week, and his opinions sparked quite a discussion in the comments of his article and on Twitter. For instance, he mentions Kurt Vonnegut, who is probably most famous for Slaughterhouse Five. But Self says Cat’s Cradle was his best work.
Self commented on several authors who have books on the Time list–including one of my current favorites, Catch 22. Speaking of…
Jul 12
Time to justify my rankings.
I update them after each book, but after every five novels I feel the need to explain myself—otherwise, I’d be like a college football coach voting in the coach’s poll (If you get that joke, raise your hand.) As always, you can see how I’ve ranked all 20 on My Rankings page.
So here goes my nonsensical explanations for books 16-20:
Jul 11
The last 10 of the first 20.
Well, I’m back live today. Thanks for hanging around during the week of “reruns.”
I thought I’d start off this week by looking back on the first 20 books of this project, something I’ll do after each ten reads. If you need a reminder, here’s my look back on the first ten.
Now, for a few of my mostly subjective thoughts:
Jun 29
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.
“That’s some catch, that Catch-22,” he observed.
“It’s the best there is,” Doc Daneeka agreed.
And that is the gist of a Catch-22, a concept dreamed up by Catch-22 author Joseph Heller. You know an author and his book have had a powerful influence on culture when a new word or phrase from the novel becomes a part of the lexicon.
Jun 27
I’m a fan of Catch 22. Like, a big fan. This one will probably be high in my rankings.
What I love about Catch 22, and satire in general, is that there’s truth in it. Sure, the truth has been twisted and exaggerated enough to make it funny, but satire always makes a subtle point.
A lot of Catch 22 deals with the government bureaucracy and mind-numbing amount of rules that a soldier must endure. If this novel could be summed up in one paragraph, the following might do it.
The setting: Colonel Scheisskopf has just been assigned to General Peckem, who gives Scheisskopf the responsibility of writing letters “to let everyone know how good we are and how much work we’re turning out.”
Jun 20
I’ve never read a book quite like Catch 22. And, if you’ve read it, you probably know what I mean.
To me, this is an absolutely hilarious novel. But it’s one of those books that you’ll either love or hate. Heller’s use of humor reminds me a lot of movies like Airplane or maybe something like Monty Python. Either you laugh your butt off, or you don’t laugh at all.
Yossarian, the main character, runs the show. Here’s one of my favorite lines so far. Doc Daneeka and Yossarian are discussing Daneeka’s fear of flying (he’s a bombardier in the Air Force) and trying to figure out a way Daneeka can get out of it. Doc Daneeka says:
Jun 1
I say “big reveal” in jest, I hope you know. I doubt very many of you woke up this morning and anxiously asked yourself, “I absolutely cannot wait to hear what Robert Bruce at 101 Books will be reading over the next few weeks.”
Thanks to those of you that voted yesterday, though. I always love to hear your thoughts on the books I have and haven’t read. So here are the next 5 novels, in no particular order:
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