Genre Category: Fiction

Jazz by Toni Morrison

Filed under: Fiction, Reviews

Although I didn’t love Jazz as much as I loved Toni Morrison’s Beloved, I found it to have a similar depth. I know such depth requires me to reread it in order to truly sum up the main point of the novel. Because I’ve only read it once, I’m somewhat stumped as I go to [...]

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Filed under: Fiction, Reviews

In Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf captures a woman’s joys and frustrations in a single day by revealing her thought processes. Although some other character’s thoughts are captured as well, it was Clarissa Dalloway that I related to.

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

Filed under: Fiction, Reviews

Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop profoundly moved me.
Perhaps it was Cather’s perfect capture of New Mexico: while I have never been to New Mexico, I feel I now can perfectly imagine the place, the pain, and the joy that the setting evokes. Also, while there are religious elements in the book (after all, [...]

The Touchstone by Edith Wharton

Filed under: Fiction, Reviews

Today, I am delighted to welcome Edith Wharton to my blog via The Classics Circuit! For other Edith Wharton reviews in the month of January, visit the schedule.

As with the other two Edith Wharton stories I’ve read (The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth), The Touchstone deals with an individual’s challenge in turn-of-the-century [...]

My Antonia by Willa Cather

Filed under: Fiction, Reviews

I loved My Antonia by Willa Cather when I read it in high school, and when I went to pick it up, I had some dim memories of characters and setting. I recalled that it was about rural Nebraska. It was about a boy and a girl. They lived on farms and played together. It [...]

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

Filed under: Fiction, Reviews

Mary Barton is the only living child of John Barton, poor factory worker and Union leader in Manchester. He hoped for better for her, so he apprenticed her to a dressmaker, hoping that she could avoid the dreary life of a factory girl. Mary has high ambitions, hoping to snare the attentions of the young [...]

Carmen by Prosper Merimee

Filed under: Fiction, Reviews

I had previously seen the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet, so I thought I’d revisit it on CD during my opera phase in November. When I listened to the commentary CD for it (produced by the Chicago Lyric Opera), I discovered that the story was originally a novella by Prosper Merimee, so I downloaded the [...]

A Stop in South Africa (Two Novels by Alan Paton) + Giveaway

Filed under: Fiction, Reviews

In November, I reread Cry, the Beloved Country for my book club and then, because I loved that book so much, I read Too Late the Phalarope, also by Alan Paton.
Although I am glad I had a second experience with Paton’s South Africa, I still much preferred the first novel. I’d be happy to send [...]

Aucassin and Nicolette by an Out-of-the-Box Medieval Author

Filed under: Fiction, Poetry, Reviews

Aucassin et Nicolete was written in medieval France, but it’s not your typical roman d’amour.
I haven’t actually read any other medieval romances. My expectations of “typical” are all formed on stereotype. In many ways, Aucassin and Nicolette meets those fairy tale stereotypes. On the other hand, something goes quite “wrong” in this love story, for [...]

Victorian Second Helpings (The Moonstone by Collins and North and South by Gaskell)

Filed under: Fiction, Reviews

My experiences with Victorian novels had been quite positive, so I jumped in to read a few more. I enjoyed both The Moonstone and North and South very much.
I did give up on A Tale of Two Cities this week. While Oliver Twist seemed intuitive and easy to breeze through, Two Cities has been confusing, [...]

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