ALL THE PRETTY HORSES - Cormac McCarthy

This hasn't stood up since I last read it 30 years ago. A good adventure but not worth re-visiting

 

FATHERS AND SONS - Ivan Turgenev

 

Great writing but the story becomes very predictable. The caused a stir when first published but that was 163 years ago.

THE WHITE GUARD -Mikhail Bulgakov

 

Four armies, one family and friends during the Russian civil war. Very interesting reading about all the factions involved.

THE TURN OF THE SCREW- Henry James

 

A good little ghost story

CANCER WARD - Alexander Solzhenitsyn

A cancer ward is used as a microcosm of Soviet society.  The have and have nots are all in he same ward with their differing views and beliefs.  Amazing writing.  It is staggering to think that some still insist that communism has something going for it
 

GREAT RUSSIAN SHORT STORIES - edited by Paul Negri

 

And great sort stories they are- Puskin, Gogol, Tolstoy etc.

MY MORTAL ENEMY - Willa Cather

 

A novella, beautiful writing but its not a must read

WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE- Shirley Jackson

Don't annoy Mary Kate.
 

THE STRANGER- Albert Camus

 

Didn't get this at all, I just didn't see the point in the whole exercise. Just a bit slow perhaps to see all the hidden meanings that some rave about.

EREWHON - Samuel Butler

 

Understandable why this has never been out of print in a 150 years.  A scathing satire on Victorian England.  There is a lot of forethought in the book as well.  Butler predicts AI & the rise of the machines

Excellent reading

VERY OLD BONES -William Kennedy

 

This is the eighth book I've read in the eight book "Albany cycle' by Kennedy.

I read them out of order which is a good thing but I lucked out by leaving this until the last .

Worth tracking the set down and reading them all.  Families

MANHATTAN TRANSFER - John Dos Passos

 

I thought William Kennedy could write dialogue but Dos Passos takes it to another level entirely.  Published in 1925 a novel about New York and its inhabitants, the poor, the rich, the clever and the stupid.

A fantastic read

BILLY PHELAN'S GREATEST GAME -William Kennedy

 

The seventh I've read of the eight 'Albany cycle' by Kennedy.  This is top five.  A small time hustler gets caught up in a politicians son's kidnapping .  As always the dialogue is simply brilliant.

IRONWEED -William Kennedy

 

You see books that win major prizes and wonder why, then you read books that win major prizes and its blindingly obvious.  This is outstanding, very depressing subject matter but brilliant writing. Another in Kennedys Albany cycle