Showing posts with label 10 novel recap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 10 novel recap. Show all posts

Sunday, July 26, 2026

Recap of Novels 251 - 260

  

Average rating of novels 251 – 260:  3.7 stars (out of 5)

 



251.  ★★★★              The Magus

252.  ★★★½              A High Wind in Jamaica

253.  ★★★★              The Remains of the Day

254.  ★★★                 TheAscent of Rum Doodle

255   ★★★★              LordJim
256.  
★★★½              Things Fall Apart
257.  
★★★½              Scoop

258.  ★★★½              Kim

259.  ★★★★             The Power and the Glory

280.  ★★★★             The Code of the Woosters

 

 

Favorite: Lord Jim

 

Least Favorite: The Ascent of Rum Doodle

 

Best Hero: Jim, the title character from Lord Jim

 

Best Heroine: Emily Thornton from A High Wind in Jamaica

 

Best Villain: Maurice Conchis or the magus. Very creepy, and even at the end it isn’t perfectly clear that he is a villain. He is.

 

Most interesting/Complex character: Unnamed priest from The Power and the Glory

 

Best Quotation: You can’t be a successful Dictator and design women’s underclothing. One or the other, not both. ~ Bertie Wooster

 

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Thursday, February 26, 2026

Recap of Novels 241 – 250

    

Average rating of novels 241 – 250:  3.5 stars (out of 5)

 


241.   ★★★★            The Dark Tower #7

242.   ★★★½            Rabbit, Run

243.  ★★★★             North and South

244.  ★★★★             O Pioneers!

245   ★★★½             Skellig
246.  
★★★★             Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
247.  
★★½                The Great God Pan

248.   ★★                  The Counterfeiters

249.   ★★★½            A Prayer for Owen Meany

250.  ★★★½             Loving

 

 

Favorite: The Dark Tower: The Dark Tower #7

 

Least Favorite: The Counterfeiters

 

Best Hero: George Smiley from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

 

Best Heroine: Tie – Alexandra Bergson from O Pioneers

                                Margaret Hale from North and South

 

Best Villain: Pan

 

Most interesting/Complex character: Owen Meany

 

Best Quotation: from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, regarding George Smiley, he feared…the secret fear that follows every professional to his grave. Namely, that one day, out of a past so complex that he himself could not remember all the enemies he might have made, one of them would find him and demand the reckoning.

 

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Friday, February 14, 2025

Recap of Novels 231 – 240

Average rating of novels 231 – 240:  3.7 stars (out of 5)

 

 

231.   ★★★½             Dandelion Wine

232.   ★★★★             For Whom the Bell Tolls

233.  ★★★½              Hangover Square

234.  ★★★★              The Day of the Jackal

235   ★★★½              The Dark Tower #1
236.  
★★★½              The Dark Tower #2
237.  
★★★½              The Dark Tower #3

238.   ★★★★             The Dark Tower #4

239.   ★★★★             The Dark Tower #5

240.  ★★★½              The Dark Tower #6

 

 

Favorite: Wizard and Glass: The Dark Tower #4

 

Least Favorite: The Wastelands: The Dark Tower #3

 

Best Hero: The Gunslinger; Roland Deschain from the Dark Tower Series

 

Best Heroine: Susannah Dean from the Dark Tower Series

 

Best Villain: The Jackal from The Day of the Jackal

 

Most interesting/Complex character: Roland Deschain

 

Best Quotation: Fault always lies in the same place, my fine babies: with him weak enough to lay blame. ~ Cort, the Gunslinger’s teacher

Sunday, June 30, 2024

Recap of Novels 221 – 230

Average rating of novels 221 – 230:  3.5 stars (out of 5)

 

221.   ★★★½             Killing Floor

222.   ★★★★             NeverLet Me Go

223.  ★★★½              A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

224.  ★★½                 Zuleika Dobson

225   ★★½                 Martin Chuzzlewit
226.  
★★★★             The Screwtape Letters
227.  
★★★★             The Clan of the Cave Bear

228.   ★★★½            A Fire Upon the Deep

229.   ★★★½            The Age of Innocence

230.  ★★★½             Pippi Longstocking

 

 

Favorite: The Screwtape Letters

 

Least Favorite: Zuleika Dobson

 

Best Hero: Jack Reacher from Killing Floor

 

Best Heroine: Ayla from Clan of the Cave Bear

 

Best Villain: Screwtape

 

Most interesting/Complex character: Pippi Longstocking

 

Best Quotation: I wanted the open road and a new place every day. I wanted miles to travel and absolutely no idea where I was going. I wanted to ramble. I had rambling on my mind. ~ Jack Reacher

 

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Thursday, August 3, 2023

Recap of Novels 211 - 220

Average rating of novels 211 – 220:  3.8 stars (out of 5)

 

211.   ★★★★½         The Blue Castle

212.   ★★★½            Legendsof the Fall

213.  ★★★★             Dombeyand Son

214.  ★★★½             Bangthe Drum Slowly

215   ★★★½             Daphnisand Chloe
216.  
★★★½             American Gods
217.  
★★★★             TheRoad

218.   ★★★★            The Last of the Mohicans

219.   ★★★               Foucault’s Pendulum

220.  ★★★★             The Member of the Wedding

 

 

Favorite: The Blue Castle

 

Least Favorite: Foucault’s Pendulum

 

Best Hero: The Man (unnamed) from The Road

 

Best Heroine: Valancy (Doss) Stirling from The Blue Castle

 

Best Villain: Wednesday from American Gods

 

Most interesting/Complex character: Frankie from The Member of the Wedding

 

Best Quotation: Ludlow was not fool enough to try to order a life already lived… ~ narrative from Legends of the Fall

 

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Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Recap of Novels 201 - 210

Average rating of novels 201 – 210:  3.6 stars (out of 5)

 

 

 

101.  ★★★½              Foundation

102.  ★★★½              Foundationand Empire

103.  ★★★½              Second Foundation

104.  ★★★½              Invisible Cities

105   ★★★½              The Last Unicorn
106.  
★★★                 Nightmare Abbey
107.  
★★★                 A House for Mrs. Biswas

108.  ★★★★             The Maltese Falcon

109.  ★★★★             The Wind in the Willows

110.  ★★★★             The Pilgrim’s Progress

 

 

Favorite: The Maltese Falcon

 

Least Favorite: Nightmare Abbey

 

Best Hero: Sam Spade from The Maltese Falcon

 

Best Heroine: The Last Unicorn

 

Best Villain: King Haggard from The Last Unicorn

 

Most interesting/Complex character: Hari Seldon from The Foundation series

 

Best Subtitle, alternate title, or in this case, full title that is not commonly used: The Pilgrim’s Progress from this World to that which is to Come Delivered under the similitude of a Dream

 

Best Quotation: …intelligence, espionage, and spy stuff are at best a sordid business of routine betrayal and bad faith. ~ Capt Han Pritcher from Foundation and Empire

 


Friday, July 1, 2022

Recap of Novels 191 - 200

 

Average rating of novels 191 – 200:  3.3 stars (out of 5)



191.  ★★★½              Ender’s Game

192.  ★★★★½          The Cellis of Sarajevo

193.  ★½                     The Recognitions

194.  ★★★                 Go Set a Watchman

195   ★★★½              Stardust
196.  
★★★½              The Death of the Heart
197.  
★★                     Portnoy’s Complaint

198.  ★★★½              Midnight’s Children

199.  ★★★½              Oliver Twist

210.  ★★★★              The Princess Bride

 

 

Favorite: The Cellist of Sarajevo


Least Favorite: The Recognitions


Best Hero: Ender from Ender’s Game


Best Heroine: Arrow from The Cellist of Sarajevo


Best Villain: The Six-Fingered Man aka Count Rugen from The Princess Bride


Most interesting/Complex character: Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride


Best Subtitle (or alternate title: The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure, The “Good Parts” Version


Best Quotation: I’ll put it in my own words: the time your friends need you is when they’re wrong, Jean Louise. They don’t need you when they’re right. ~ Uncle Jack from Go Set a Watchman


Runner Up: …she is, at once, sure of two things. The first is that she does not want to kill this man, and the second is that she must. ~ narrative regarding Arrow from The Cellist of Sarajevo


Honorable mention: “Adventures are all very well in their place”, he thought, “but there’s a lot to be said for regular meals and freedom from pain.” ~ Tristran Thorn from Stardust

 

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