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The greatest, and most difficult book ever written.

What seems to be a narrative of a series of doomed prophetic movements in the middle ages turns out to be a profound study of the self-destructive impulse in human society at large. Strange and fascinating, this book offers a new theory about the apocalyptic strain in human consciousness. This book changed the way I think about mass movements both religious and secular, from christian heresies to communist revolutionary movements. Highly recommended even for those who don't read many history books.

A fascinating study not just of King Phillip's War but war in general. Through a process of careful research and explication, Lepore shines a light on the effects of war on civilian populations, on property, and on civilization. She also studies the often arbitrary distinctions that are made between aggressors and victims, civilized people and savages, the victors and the defeated. She discusses the loss of innocence and illusion that comes from war, the transformation of landscapes, and in a crucial final chapter, the way that memories of war are transformed over centuries of cultural transmission. Fascinating and highly recommended.

They used to show this movie to us every year in elementary school, and we all loved it. Recently, I watched parts of it again, and I still love it. The songs are terrific, the cast is top-notch, and the message is something that every child needs to hear: You are O.K. You can be anything you want to be. The feelings you have are natural. It's alright to be different. Looking back, I can see that I really internalized the message of this movie, and it has stayed with me my entire life.

I was sad to finish this book and didn't really know what to do with myself when I was no longer reading it. It's the story of a loser who finds the source of his strength in another world that he discovers at the bottom of a well. Funny, gripping, dramatic, and deeply spiritual, it's a meditation on identity, the violent legacy of history, and the power of love and self-awareness to transcend that legacy. Written in Murakami's usual sparse prose style, it ends up being deeply unsettling and profoundly moving. The best of his books that I've read so far, and it made me want to read more.

A highly disorienting and engrossing novel that puts the reader in the uncomfortable position of depending on a narrator who seems highly unreliable and may be insane. A postmodern puzzle of a novel that nevertheless succeeds by making the reader identify emotionally with its characters, the wise poet John Shade and the crazed commentator Charles Kinbote, who may also be the king of the fictional country of Zembla, or possibly a figment of someone's imagination. Pale Fire dares the reader to ask questions about the nature of fiction, authorship, identity, sanity and madness, but offers few answers to these questions. This book bothered me with these unanswered questions for a long time after I finished it.

Reading about WW1 is always a sobering experience, and this book is no different. What is uplifting about this book however is the bold approach to intellectual inquiry and historical analysis. Using themes and motifs gathered from literature, letters, memoirs, and other writings, Fussell creates a kaleidoscopic portrait of physical and psychological horror. Using irony as his overarching principle, he delves deeply into the individual and social psychology of the war. The best book I read this year.

A wonderful, hilarious novel about friendship, loyalty, poverty, and extreme alcohol consumption. An underrated work by the master.

Steinbeck doesn't get enough credit for how funny he is. This book is a great example of his humorous style. It also demonstrates his gift for dialog, his love for his characters, and his knack for telling simple stories that touch on universal themes. I loved it. Also check out Cannery Row and Tortilla Flat if you like this one.

Although seemingly little known in the english-speaking world, this is one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century. Like Madame Bovary or Tess, Effi is a naive but sympathetic woman who is completely destroyed by the oppressive society in which she lives. Fontane takes a more nuanced, even ambivalent view of these events than either Hardy or Flaubert, however. Instead of raging against puritanical society, Fontane explores the mutual dependency of that society with the individual. The film version by Fassbinder is also brilliant.

A dreamy but intense novel that takes its time revealing its secrets. The murder mystery at the core of the story is entwined with deep meditations on the nature of art and the gulf between East and West. Each chapter is told from a different character's point of view, which creates a sense of dislocation in the reader without undermining the unity of the story. Not for those who lack patience, but a very good read.

Very long and detailed, as might be expected of a book that recounts the entirety of human history, but well worth the effort. The author convincingly rebuts the notion that military conquest alone controls the fate of languages, instead asking far more nuanced questions about why languages survive, change, and prosper. Not just a fascinating way to look at language, but a fascinating prism through which to view history. Finishing this book is like coming to the end of a long journey and marveling at how far you've come, and how much you've changed.

Like Calvino's other hero Mr. Palomar, Marcovaldo tries to see the world in unusual ways, and fails, but fails in interesting ways. Trapped in a drab life of poverty, he seeks the solace of nature in the city, while scheming for his own improvement. His continual setbacks only reinforce his desire to try again. Calvino resembles his characters in that he isn't always successful, but his failures are always instructive. My favorite writer.

A terrific writer who deserves to be better known in the west. My favorites were 'In a Bamboo Grove' (the actual inspiration for Kurosawa's film, not the title story), 'Hell Screen', and 'Life of A Stupid Man'. The last one, written shortly before his suicide, is one of the most beautiful and harrowing stories I have ever read.

A Jungian hero's journey wherein the protagonist voyages into the dark center of his own deepest fears in order to return with the power of self-knowledge.

This book is excellent. It is fortunate that Ms. Tuchman did not live to see the war in Iraq, or this book would have been much longer.

Kafka's funniest, most sublime, and most underrated novel. It shows a much more optimistic, even whimsical side of Kafka, a side most readers may not know that he had. Despite this, it is conceptually unified with his other novels in it's portrayal of the solitude, confusion and surrealism of modern life. This time however, Kafka's hero finds a way to freedom.

In these writings, we see Benjamin begin to apply his philosophical method to a dizzying range of topics: art, politics, literature, even children's books. By doing this he demonstrates how philosophical insight can be generated through the application of method to even the most mundane objects of everyday life. Nearly every word in this book is intentional and purposeful, and all of it feeds into his overall conception, even when he is just writing to support himself financially. Beginners should start elsewhere, but this book is a revelation.

My only regret upon finishing this book was that I had only read the abridged version. Foner moves reconstruction from the periphery of American history to the center, and makes a strong case that it belongs there. In doing so he forces us to ask what lessons we can learn from an endeavor that was nearly a complete failure. Foner also places Andrew Johnson squarely where he belongs - on the list of the very worst American presidents.

This book is a bit uneven, like most of Miller's work, but when it's good it's really good. He seems to lose the thread of inspiration near the end, but when he starts rolling he writes as well as anyone ever has. The first half especially encapsulates all of Miller's strengths as a writer: technical mastery, improvisatory brilliance, raw sexuality, and experimental daring. My favorite of all his books that I've read, including Tropic of Cancer.

This book is an interesting read, even if you don't agree with it's conclusions, which I didn't for the most part. Kagan attempts to demonstrate cases where nations could have prevented or lessened the impact of war by being more bellicose rather than less. WWII is the most obvious and convincing of these examples, but other cases - WWI, the Peloponnesian war, are much less believable. Kagan's use of both evidence and hypotheticals is highly selective and often dubious. Moreover, for every example Kagan gives it's possible to demonstrate multiple occasions where war was the result of hubris, overreach, and unnecessary aggression. Kagan is an influential neocon, and this book provides a lot of insight into their world-view, for what it's worth.

I enjoyed reading this book and I liked the characters. However it has some of the worst sex scenes I have ever read, both hetero- and homo-sexual, and plenty of them. Eventually, I started skipping over the sex scenes to read the rest of the book, which is actually pretty good.

Beautiful and sad. The last lines stuck in my mind for years - I must have remembered them from the movie - but for some reason I thought they were from another book. Then I finished the book and there they were, much to my surprise: "He still loved her, he could never stop loving her, he would love her until death". A great example of how the ending of a book can change the meaning of everything that has come before.

Horrifyingly violent and utterly devoid of sentimentality. I was afraid to read this book for years, and I admit I was glad when it was over and I could turn to something more uplifting. While I was reading it however I was completely mesmerized. Readers looking for comforting moral messages, empathetic characters, or happy endings should look elsewhere. Reminded me of the later work of Burroughs, but without the drug use, gay sex, and time travel.

Little stories about perception, centering around the title character's attempts (usually failed) to understand the world. Although the book is mostly philosophical and has no real story, the character of Mr. Palomar is developed through his internal reflections. In the end we come to recognize ourselves in the character: his curiosity, his restlessness, his futility. Calvino's books are always fascinating.

A completely different kind of novel from Madame Bovary, Sentimental Education completely lacks the other novel's tragic sensibility. Instead it offers a vivid portrait of life in Flaubert's time, with characters that are memorable but deeply flawed, even despicable at times. Interesting to compare to Les Miserables, which portrays some of the same historical events, especially the revolution of 1848. Flaubert's characters take a much more cynical, ambivalent view of these events than Hugo's characters. Also a major influence on Walter Benjamin's arcades project, in its descriptions of the phantasmagoria of Paris in the nineteenth century.

Many of these stories revolve around the concept of double consciousness - someone who is simultaneously someone else, either in another place and time, an alternate reality, or a dream. This bizarre, almost insane idea is also prominent in the films of David Lynch and the life of Phillip K. Dick. Cortazar explores this theme from many different angles, creating an intense feeling of dislocation in the reader. Also included is his fantastic story "The Pursuer" about the life of Charlie Parker. A terrific writer who should be better known.

The key to understanding Kafka lies in his short stories and parables. Although it is well known that Kafka is a brilliant analyst of power and power relationships, the flip side of this is his conception of freedom. For Kafka, freedom comes from the painful stripping away of illusion and pretense. Because of this, freedom can be found even in the most desperate and oppressive situations. This is where Kafka takes on a profound spiritual quality, where freedom and individuality can be asserted even when power seems to overwhelm the self.

This book has many fascinating insights on the similarities between eyes, eggs, and testicles. In one memorable scene, two of these objects are actually impelled simultaneously in opposite directions.