Book Talks

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Book Talks The purpose of this list is to give
you classic and contemporary novels of literary
merit. Main thing you need to do go to Amazon
and read reviews. Beware of spoilers. Not every
book from the list is in one of these categories.
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Magical Realism/Latin American Lit. The House of
Spirits Like Water for Chocolate 100 Years of
Solitude Bless Me Ultima This genre is often
about family relationships and generations and
the weirdness within. Love, violence, and war
often appear. People often die in these. You
dont always get resolution or happy endings, but
that doesnt mean that good things dont happen.
These blur the line between reality and history
and things happen that defy the laws of physics,
but theyre not fantasy genre.
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Dystopian Societies or Settings w/unique/weird
perspectives on life The Handmaids Tale (by
Margaret Atwood) Brave New World 1984 The
Fountainhead Objectivism- rational
self-interest, denounces altruism. Characters
exist as symbols to prove a point. Egoism is an
absolute moral good and therefore anything
(people, systems) that blocks individual freedom
is evil Atlas Shrugged tries to demonstrate what
would happen to the world if economic freedom
were lost collapse of production and rise of
corruption.
4
Period Pieces (usually English) that youd see on
Masterpiece Theater. Mostly 19th c. lit. for
Anglophiles. Pretty much all of these involve
romance, relationships, and complications
therein. Character-driven, but lots of plot.
Social class is often an issue, esp. w/people who
dont fit in. All have fascinating, complex
characters, lots of imagery, and rich
descriptions of people, not all of whom will
survive until the end of the book. Laughter and
tears.
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Period Pieces continued Jane Eyre, Wuthering
Heights Moll Flanders Edith Whartons stuff- an
American Jane Austen, except sadder, class cons.
and society George Eliots stuff - rural or
small villages in England, v. strong characters,
death/love, these tend to be long w/small
print. Thomas Hardys stuff stuff will happen in
these books, lots of plot. E. M. Forsters
stuff -English people abroad, love, social class
The English Patient - love triangle/tragedy/betra
yal/war/death Possession A. S. Byatt Madame
Bovary by Flaubert    
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Epic (and usually long) Novels w/casts of 100s
and lots of adventure Most things by Dickens and
Thackery Count of Monte Cristo, Three Musketeers,
Hunchback, Man in the Iron Mask, Ivanhoe
-medieval world, Saxon v. Norman, Xtian Knights
v. Jews, Robin Hood, jousting, v. descriptive
like you wouldnt believe. Great book but have
patience and take time w/it. Tom Jones Last of
the Mohicans
7
Small town/Turn of the Century America and the
Issues Therein Sister Carrie 18yr old country
woman moves to Chicago in 1900 and becomes a kept
woman Babbit, Main Street - Mark Twain-ish,
small town life and foibles of the people,
Thornton Wilderish The Jungle, A Tree Grows in
Brooklyn - tenement life, immigrants struggling
against the odds
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Asian/American Lit. The Good Earth - This is the
story of the cyclical nature of life, of the
passions and desires that motivate a human
being, of good and evil, and of the desire to
survive and thrive against great odds. It begins
with the story of an illiterate, poor, peasant
farmer, Wang Lung, who ventures from the rural
countryside and goes to town to the great house
of Hwang to obtain a bride from those among the
rank of slave. There, he is given the slave O-lan
as his bride. Snow Falling on Cedars (also
war-related) (2nd semester you can do Amy Tan and
Memoirs of a Geisha)
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War, Politics, Fitting into a New Culture Catch
22 All the Kings Men All Quiet on the Western
Front The Kite Runner (warning! Limited!) A
Farewell to Arms The Sun Also Rises
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Race, Ethnicity, Religious, Moral
Issues Invisible Man Cry Beloved
Country Beloved Bless Me, Ultima The Kite
Runner Davitas Harp, The Chosen The Scarlet
Letter Crime and Punishment
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Going to Other Countries, or Journeys Across This
One, and Trying to Deal Out of Africa (not much
plot/much imagery and mood) All the Pretty Horses
he rides his horse down to Mexico. Beautiful
story of a young man who falls in love with the
daughter of his boss on a Mexican ranch and the
stuff that happens on the way and afterwards.
Full of mood, imagery, setting stuff,
adventure The Grapes of Wrath Last of the
Mohicans A Farewell to Arms The Sun Also Rises