Recap of Novels 61-70

Average rating of novels 61-70 – 3.7 out of 5 stars

61. ★★★½        The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

62. ★★★½        A Farewell to Arms

63. ★★★★        American Pastoral

64. ★★★           A Bend in the River

65. ★★              Money
66. ★★★★        The Sheltering Sky
67. ★★★★        Tom Jones

68. ★★★★        Pride and Prejudice

69. ★★★★        War and Peace

70. ★★★★★     The Count of Monte Cristo

 

 

 

Favorite: The Count of Monte Cristo

Least Favorite: Money

Best Hero/Heroine: Princess Mary Bolkonskaya from War and Peace – she isn’t really heroic in the traditional sense, but she is the best person in any of these tales, and hence my choice.

Most Villainous: Danglars from The Count of Monte Cristo

Most interesting/Complex character: The Count of Monte Cristo aka Edmonde Dantes. Close second: a different count, from a different book, Count Pierre Bezukhov from War and Peace

Best Quotation:

…for the wicked are not so easily disposed of, for God seems to have them under his special watch-care to make of them instruments of his vengeance.  ~ The Count of Monte Cristo

Best Subtitle: Money: A Suicide Note  Opposite of a subtitle, Tom Jones is not the actual title of Fielding's novel, just a common shortened version of the full title: The Adventures of Tom Jones, a Foundling

Best film adaptation: I’m going to go out on a limb and say the 1963 rendition of Tom Jones (though I have not yet watched it). It won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and was nominated for 6 more.

Worst film adaptation: 2002 version of The Count of Monte Cristo