Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe
read: circa 1996
Guardian 1000 Novels

I had to read Robinson Crusoe as assigned summer reading before my junior year of high school.  It was my least favorite of all the books I had to read.  The plot outline - a mariner stranded on a desert island, relying on his wits to survive - sounds like an exciting story, but as I remember it largely consisted of lists of provisions.  Reading it was much less fun than going to the beach that summer.

The Coming Race

The Coming Race
by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
read: 2012
Guardian 1000 Novels

Baron Edward Bulwer-Lytton's The Coming Race is another "Lost World" novel.  But The Coming Race is less of an adventure story a la King Solomon's Mines and more of an allegorical societal critique a la Brave New World.  The narrator discovers an underground society composed of humanoid creatures called "Vril-ya" who have mastery of "Vril," which is kind of like "The Force" from Star Wars.  As a consequence, they have moved beyond war, needing to provide for themselves on a day-to-day basis, and many of the other struggles in our day-to-day life.  Ultimately, Bulwer-Lytton doesn't really choose sides.  There are pieces of the Vril-ya society that challenge flaws in human society; for instance, the gender roles among the Vril-ya are almost flipped, and their society has interesting means of dealing with over-population and new settlements.  But like in Brave New World, the society's advancements have casualties, as art is rendered completely superfluous and the Vril-ya seem almost passionless.  This even-handedness makes The Coming Race thought-provoking.

The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep
by Raymond Chandler
read: 2011
Time 100 Novels, Guardian 1000 Novels

I read The Big Sleep at about the same time I read the Dashiell Hammett novels and it all blurs together a little bit.  My recollection is that I preferred Raymond Chandler's writing to Hammett's and liked the more subtle style of Sam Spade versus the violence and aggressiveness of some of Hammett's protagonists.  It's the quality that makes a James Bond film a little more interesting than a typical action film.  I should check out some more Chandler.

King Solomon's Mines

King Solomon's Mines
by Henry Rider Haggard
read: 2012
Guardian 1000 Novels

I'm writing a story for a pulp publication some friends are creating (details to follow!).  I've settled on doing something in the adventure tradition, a la Henry Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines, but I'd never actually read any Haggard ... until now.

King Solomon's Mines is a really charming read.  The characters are vibrant: the vain, profane, competent Captain Good, brave and hotblooded Sir Henry Curtis, proud African Umbopa, and narrator Allan Quatermain, a wise sharp-shooter who claims to be a coward but risks his life at every turn.  The figures are larger than life, and even villains Thala and with Gagool are memorable.  The plot was probably more inventive at the time than it seems now, but the story is crisp and holds the reader's interest.  There are some passages and assumptions that would be considered racist by modern standards, but since it was written in 1885, I guess we can cut Haggard a little slack.  King Solomon's Mines will be good inspiration for my own literary endeavors.

The Thin Man

The Thin Man
by Dashiell Hammett
read: 2011
Guardian 1000 Novels

My favorite of the three Dashiell Hammett novels I've read.  I loved the banter between Nick and Nora Charles, the protagonists, and I thought the mystery was better-developed than in Red Harvest or The Maltese Falcon.  Definitely a lighter tone, though that belied what was a pretty disturbing mystery.

The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon
by Dashiell Hammett
read: 2011
Modern Library #56, Guardian 1000 Novels

Even if you don't know the novel or any of Hammett's oeuvre, the "Maltese Falcon" has entered the popular lexicon.  I think I first heard it on The Simpsons, though I imagine the film with Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade was the gateway for a lot of people.  Just those two words together conjures up the image of an artifact of value and mystery.

I enjoyed The Maltese Falcon less than Red Harvest and The Thin Man, the other two Dashiell Hammett novels I've read.  It was still a fun read.  I think the last quarter or so of the book raised some moral questions, but I don't think they were developed enough to be truly thought-provoking.

Red Harvest

Red Harvest
by Dashiell Hammett
read: 2011
Time 100 Novels, Guardian 1000 Novels

Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest is considered a giant of the noir genre.  Noir is a genre that I think works best on film, where the screen dances with moody blacks, whites, greys, and reds, and the actors can bring the dialogue to life with the machine-gun timing that the prose suggests.  Red Harvest is as much action movie as noir, featuring a couple large-scale gang shootouts that would explode on the big screen.  The novel is a good story and a fun read.