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Houston Montrose Great Books - Ballot for April 5, 2007 (most descriptions below of titles are excerpted from wikipedia)
Plan is to vote on and select 5 titles out of those submitted
submitted by Helen:
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (432 pages)
first publ in Spanish in 1967, in English in 1970
Author is Nobel Prize wininer for Literature in 1982
Novel awarded Venezuela's prestigious Rómulo Gallegos Prize for literature in 1972.
Considered to be author's masterpiece, metaphorically encompassing the history of Colombia. The novel chronicles a family's struggle, and the history of their fictional town, Macondo, for one hundred years.
submitted by Alice:
MADAME BOVARY by Gustave Flaubert (403 pages)
first publ in French in 1857, in English in 1886
Considered to be one of the first modern realistic novels.... focuses on a doctor's wife who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the emptiness of provincial life. Though the basic plot is rather simple ...the novel's true art lies in its details and hidden patterns.
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger. (288 pages) publ in 1951
Holden Caulfield, the novel's protagonist, has become an icon for teenage alienation and fear. Written in the first person, ... relates Holden's experiences in New York City in the days following his expulsion from ...a college preparatory school...remains controversial to this day for its liberal profanity and portrayal of sexuality and teenage angst. Appears on Modern Library's top 100 best novels list.
submitted by Wendy:
ANTHEM by Ayn Rand (272 pages) publ 1938
Science fiction taking place at some future date when mankind has entered another dark age as a result of what the author saw as the weaknesses of socialistic thinking and economics. Technological advancement is now carefully planned (when it is allowed to occur at all) and the concept of individuality has been eliminated (for example, the word "I" has disappeared from the language.)
Included on the Reader's List of Modern Library's 100 Best Novels/. Also, Project Gutenberg e-text of ANTHEM available here
BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley (288 pages) publ 1932
Huxley uses the setting (London in 2540) and characters from this futurist fantasy to express widely held opinions, particularly the fear of losing individual identity in the fast-paced world of the future. Warfare and poverty have been eliminated in the world it describes. And the society is hedonistic deriving pleasure from promiscuous sex and drug use, especially the use of soma.
submitted by Laurie:
INTERPRETER OF MALADIES by Jhumpa Lahiri (excerpt listed is 93 pages) publ 1999
Won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award. .
About the lives of immigrant Indians (from Asia) who are caught between the culture they have inherited and the "New World" they now find themselves in. A Reader's Guide here is available. Titles to be discussed are limited to those 4 listed below so we can do justice to this prize winning collection.
Interpreter of Maladies
A Real Durwan
Sexy
Mrs. Sen's
FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury (208 pages) publ 1953
Set in a society where censorship is prevalent, and moronic citizens learn only from television. Most books are banned and critical thought is suppressed. Click here for a guide with questions..
submitted by Steve S.:
SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut (186 pages) publ 1969
Combines science fiction elements with an analysis of the human condition from an uncommon perspective, using time travel as a plot device and the bombing of Dresden in World War II, the aftermath of which Vonnegut witnessed, as a starting point. On Time Magazine's list of 100 best English novels
PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT by PhilipRoth (288 pages) publ 1969
a continuous monologue as narrated by Alexander Portnoy, to his psychoanalyst... weaves effortlessly through time ... with every recollection in some way touching upon his central dilemma: his inability to enjoy the fruits of his sexual adventures even as his extreme libidinal urges force him to seek release in ever more creative (and, in his mind, degrading and shameful) acts of eroticism. Included on Modern Library list of 100 best novels.
submitted by Marcella:
A DOLL'S HOUSE by Henrik Ibsen ( 81 pages) publ 1879
First of Ibsen's plays to create a sensation and is now perhaps his most famous play--
A scathing criticism of the traditional roles of men and women in Victorian marriage. Nora, the protagonist, leaves her husband in search of the wider world, after realizing that he is not the noble creature she has supposed him to be. To 19th-century Europeans, this was scandalous.
Text is available on line here
submitted by Susan:
THE HANDMAID'S TALE by Margaret Atwood (324 pages) publ 1985
Shortlisted for the 1986 Booker Prize
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are only valued if their ovaries are viable. Honor Roll Book of Fiction List
IRONWEED by William Kennedy (240 pages) publ 1983
1984 Pulitzer Prize
Story of an alcoholic, wandering man during the Great Depression, who left his family after accidentally dropping his infant son on his head and killing him while drunk. The novel focuses on his return to Albany, New York and is often interrupted by his hallucinations which result from a lifetime of chronic alcoholism. Guide compiled by Chicago Great Books here back to Home
Last Revised: April 5 2007
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