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Book List, Part 1

This list of novels starts with the world's first novel:

The Tale of Genji
by Lady Murasaki Shikibu
This work was probably published between 1008 and 1012

If you want to be involved in a subtle, colorful, sensual, classic novel with no plot, and don’t mind aging along with numerous characters over several generations of aristocrats from long ago Heian era Japan, then perhaps The Tale of Genji is for you.

Weighing in at over a thousand pages, this epic with many names and places has challenged readers’ imaginations for almost a millenium. Long considered the world’s first literary novel (1000th anniversary celebrations begin next year in Japan), The Tale of Genji was written by a lady of the Heian court in what is now Kyoto, Japan.

Intended as entertainment for other court ladies as a series of stories that evolved into an epic of fifty-four chapters loosely connected, there has been speculation as to who the people are in the novel. To which emperor, whose wives, mistresses, and offspring, legitimate and otherwise, could this engrossing fiction be referring? A thousand years later, the debate still continues.

The main character is the Shining Prince Genji, whose father is the Emperor; his mother was not the Empress, but a favored court lady. Soon a motherless child, we develop sympathy for Genji as he grows into an attractive playboy of rare appearance and odour. We follow his naughty exploits, and read reflections upon his impulsive behavior. He seems never to stop his consideration for a woman once he has known her, visiting occasionally, usually late at night, or bringing her into his surroundings surreptitiously, even building her a home. How commendable. Though, he is a rascal.

The Shining Prince rises in the ranks, takes on more responsibilities, produces children; and eventually, they take over the narrative in the final chapters.

I found winter nights the best time to take up a chapter and see where it went. The best memory help for this type of reading comes in the 2001 Penguin edition of The Tale of Genji, translated by Royall Tyler. Each of the chapters begins with a list of names and their relation to the story. Characters are referred to by rank or station as status changes, along with their story name and age. Story names are often a poetic reference found in the chapter where a character first appears that readers and scholars have given the characters over time. The chapter opening identity hints are essential for continuity. Genji itself is not a given name. It refers to his being a member of the Minamoto clan and nothing more. His father so favored Genji that he made him a commoner to keep him around the palace. We never learn his real name.

Aside from being attractively designed and a pleasure to read, the Penguin edition has the best on-the-page footnotes, explaining the subtleties of the poetry, and of Heian era custom and culture. You could skip them, but you would miss some of the richness of this novel. So much detail and delicately implied meaning. What is the hurry?

Please enjoy this masterpiece. The paperback in one volume is very nice, too. It’s possible to put the book down for months, then pick it up again, and soldier on. Just remember to reclaim yourself by book’s end. You may wander ancient halls ever after, longing for the scent or a glimpse of the Shining One. [From Reader #4]

Notes: The author’s actual name is not known. Her father was in the "Bureau of Ceremony," or Shikibu. The author has since been given the name of Genji’s main love, Murasaki, by her adoring readers.

Here is a brief, eloquent essay by the translator, Royall Tyler.

The Tale of Genji in film:
In 1987, Gisaburo Sugii directed Genji Monogatari, an animated film based on the novel.   It is considered THE definitive work.   The film won a special designation from Japan's Ministry of Education as one of the most significant movies ever produced in Japan.   The Japan Film Appreciation Society honored this film as a "cultural masterpiece." [From the Editor]

1984
by George Orwell, June 8, 1949

Orwell's anti-totalitarian classic, 1984, is still in print in every medium known: paperback, hardback, ebook, and audio CD.   Two movies have been made of it, the best one in the year 1984.

1984 is the story of Englishman Winston Smith, who has been living in a totalitarian Britain most of his life.   His job is to rewrite history and news archives according to the latest political directives and then, like all good citizens of "Oceania", to forget that things were ever different.   His tiny apartment is dominated by a video monitor through which the Party can and does watch his every move and dictate many of them, as when the screechy-voiced aerobics instructor wakes him up for compulsory "physical jerks" -- and monitors him to make sure he does them.

This is not only a totalitarian society, ridden with fear, deception, and self-deception; it is a drab, cold, undernourished society in which only the "proles," of laborers, are exempt from the incessant indoctrination.   It is a profoundly anti-sexual society, since sex and love give people happiness not controlled or dictated by the state.   This book ends in one of the most chilling lines in all horror fiction, "He had learned to love Big Brother."

A good many terms from 1984 have gone into the English language, most notablly, "doublespeak."

Like many dystopian works of science fiction, this one has played a large part in preventing the society it describes. Each year, the national members and affiliated organizations of Privacy International present the "Big Brother" awards to the government and private sector organisations which have done the most to threaten personal privacy in their countries.   Since 1998, over forty ceremonies have been held in sixteen countries and have given out hundreds of awards to some of the most powerful government agencies, individuals and corporations in those countries. [From Reader #3]

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain, 1876.

Mark Twain, known to some of you as Samuel Clemens, wrote a story about a boy’s life, featuring the girls and boys who orbit around him.   Some reviewers see Tom as a "bad boy."   He is not a particularly bad boy; he’s just a boy.   What boy hasn’t wanted to run away from home and do what boys do best: adventuring, hanging with friends, and being mischievous — you probably wouldn’t want to hear about my boyhood.   Tom, through his cleverness, has found strategies to stay out of school, to camp out on an island in the middle of the Mississippi, and to trick his friends into doing his chores, most notably whitewashing a picket fence.   All of us have probably done something similar. Or, wish we had.

Tom is a red-blooded American boy with a wild and creative imagination.   Through their adventures, Tom and his best friend, Huckleberry Finn, have learned the "great law of human action, without knowing it — namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain."   He also learns humility through his boyish terror and superstitions, when a drunken Injun Joe, who murders a young doctor, must hang for his crime.

Unlike Huckleberry Finn (1884), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer doesn’t carry any social commentaries on race, slavery, prejudice or personal freedoms.   This early Mark Twain work is engaged in spinning a wonderful tale about the workings of a boy’s mind.   It’s the very nature of a boy’s imagination to be very different from an adult’s.   Mary, Tom’s sister, is the honest, sweet, polite child in the family — perhaps to the annoyance of Tom.   Becky, the other girl in his life, shares a mutual infatuation with Tom.   She’s sweet on Tom, giving him a pansy to show love.   What else could this mean?   Huck, Tom’s best friend, thinks every woman aims to civilize a fellow.   When Huck is adopted by the widow Douglas, he sums up civilized life:

"She makes me get up just at the same time every morning; she makes me wash, they comb me all to thunder; she won't let me sleep in the woodshed; I got to wear them blamed clothes that just smothers me, Tom; they don't seem to let any air git through 'em, somehow; and they're so rotten nice that I can't set down, nor lay down, nor roll around anywher's… everything's so awful reg'lar a body can't stand it." — Ch. 35 Mark Twain; The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

In light of that, perhaps Mark Twain is making some sort of social commentary. [From Reader #10]

Andersen's Fairy Tales.
Hans Christian Andersen,
1835 in Danish and 1846 in English.

This book is NOT for those who completely believe in Disney Studios' version.   For example: the Little Mermaid does NOT live happily ever after on land; she pays a very heavy price for changing elements.

The Ugly Duckling's great discovery has somewhat more depth than Chicken Little finding her attractive.   The Duckling has to survive all manner of trials and tribulations.   In the end, the Duckling finds the swans, which is a far better ending than Disney's, IMO.

Life can be a hard place.   "The Little Match Girl" does NOT have a happy ending.   And, one hopes the next time the good burghers of Copenhagen saw a homeless child on the streets, they were moved to help.

It's also a funny book.   "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" break curfew and sneak out to dance all night . . . nothing any *modern* parents can relate to here, is there?   Can you say Rave?   And, being a "princess" is back in fashion.

"The Steadfast Tin Soldier."   Doesn't that title tell it all?   Perhaps, Mr. Andersen was using these fairy tales to make a gentle social commentary?   Happily and sadly, this book is timeless, because it is still quite relevant today. [From Reader #3]

Andersen's Fairy Tales in film:
My favorite movie version is Hans Christian Andersen (1952) with Danny Kaye as Andersen. The "Thumbelina" song and dance routine is precious and the tune is catchy. You might start humming it in spite of yourself. [From the Editor]

Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley, 1932

Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World just as the world was just getting used to mass-produced entertainment, consumer goods, and the sexual revolution of the 1920s.   The eugenic theories of the previous fifty-odd years were still in the air and would wait until the Holocaust to be discredited.   While just as much a dystopia as 1984, this is a soft dystopia of sex, drugs, and consumerism.   Social Critic Neil Postman contrasts the worlds of 1984 and BNW in the foreword of his 1986 book Amusing Ourselves to Death thusly:

"What Orwell feared were those who would ban books.   What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.   Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information.   Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism.   Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us.   Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.   Orwell feared we would become a captive culture.   Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy.   As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions."   In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain.   In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure.   In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us.   Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us."

The main point about Brave New World is that it could be done in contemporary dress today -- as in the 1990s version with Leonard Nimoy as the World Controller -- and people would notice the similarities immediately.   The class of school children learning about death at the deathbed of John's mother?   It's being done today.   The pill popping as the answer for everything?   Dates back to Valium.   Everybody sleeping with everybody else? Go watch an episode of Grey's Anatomy.   Orgy-porgy?   Every weekend at your local rave club.   On the other hand, check out urban life in the Roman Empire and pick your period.   Augustus tried to being back morality.   So did Vespasian.   Marcus Aurelius more or less shrugged and issued a handbook on how to be virtuous if you chose to be.   We're seeing urbanization at its peak.   The only thing not contemporary is its caste system, which is much more rigid than the economics-based systems of our own culture.

On the other hand, Brave New World's consumerism ignores the fact that resources are not infinite.   Population is controlled, since everyone is born by replicator and that is controlled by the State.   Still, the people of BNW could not possibly keep consuming at the rate the book shows them as going without running out of raw materials.   Technical advances?   More or less at a standstill.

Brave New World also ignores the fact that some trends may become generational targets. The upcoming generation gets totally bored with the existing cultural climate and creates their own, often in rebellion against what they see.   Ask anyone in their fifties about that!

Brave New World, unlike some dystopias, has not triggered a movement to prevent it from happening.   On the contrary, it is happening now. [From Reader #3]

Dune
by Frank Herbert, 1965

Though Dune had been initially serialized in the magazine Analog as Dune World from 1963 to 1964 and Dune Prophet from January to May 1965, Frank Herbert had a hard time finding a publisher to print the complete book.   He was turned down at least 20 times before hitting it off with Chilton Publishing, a publisher better known for producing books about car care than fiction.   Dune took the SF world by storm and hit the right note with fandom in general.   It won a Nebula award in 1965 and a Hugo 1966.   Dune is often billed as the best selling science fiction novel of all time.

"Dune, Arrakis, Desert Planet."   It is a planet which has no open running water, dangerous and intriguing to any who dare to step upon it.   Dune is the home of the nomadic Fremen, huge worms and most importantly, home of the spice, melange.   It is a book full of adventure, intrigue, plots within plots and characters worth remembering.   There are politics, machinations, religious and ecological issues, as well as desires of a repressed people who dream of freedom and for a planet upon which water could flow freely.   Indeed, ecology is intertwined with religion, elevating the whole to a new level in human consciousness in a way which had never before been explored by an author.

Herbert also used the book to expound on the dangers of hero worship and how it can blind people to the fact that heroes are human too, and can make mistakes.   His characters often reflect rather cynically on the use of not only power (economical, political, personal), but also religion, in order to gain whatever it is they want.

Herbert furthered his explorations of the evolution of the Dune mythos with five more books -- Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, Dune Emperor, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune -- exploring not only the dangers of hero worship but also other topics such as history, changing cultures and language and how all interplay with each other.   Although the book came out over forty years ago, it still has a lot to say about the way we interact with our environment, both culturally and naturally, as well as with each other.

The Movies of Dune
To date, two movies have been made of Dune, David Lynch's Dune and the Sci-Fi Channel mini-series Frank Herbert's Dune (2000), as well as The Children of Dune (2003), which incorporates the books Dune Messiah and The Children of Dune.   While each movie has its flaws, each also has something to contribute to the whole.

David Lynch's Dune (1984), was the first attempt to put this complex book on the big screen.   Though Herbert approved and, by all accounts, actually liked the script, audiences were less than enthusiastic about the movie at the time it came out.   It fell short of the book, often (over)simplifying the complex issues in which the book delves in depth, but just how much detail can be put into a two-hour movie?

Yet, for all its flaws, Lynch's masterpiece has many things to recommend it, such as the capturing of the space - time flow which Paul experiences with his prescience.   Characters such as the Baron Harkonen and his nephews are shown as grotesques, putting the ugliness within on the outside where you can see just how depraved this family truly is, especially when compared to the stateliness and grace of the Atreides.   The destruction of the shield wall and the entry into Arakeen by the Fremen legions riding on the great worms is just brilliant.   The best line of all, by Shadam VI (Jose' Ferrer): "Bring in that floating fat man!" There are currently two versions out of this movie out: the original theatrical release and the extended version, both on the same DVD, distributed by Universal Studios.

Sci-Fi Channel's Frank Herbert's Dune (2000) was a mini-series extravaganza which showed over three successive nights, with elaborate sets, a large cast and plenty of chutzpah, if nothing else.   Ok, ok!   Overall this version is not bad. However, where Lynch's film managed to capture the essential character of the written book, this series tends to iincorporate the dialog of the book.   Regardless, there are several scenes which make no sense whatsoever, i.e. the totally unnecessary appearance of Princess Irulan in the banquet scene.   While the Baron's lines are straight out of the book, you don't get the sense of his underlying scheming nastiness.   And, don't let the fact that William Hurt is billed as "the star of the show" fool you.   His appearance as Paul's father, Leto Atreides, is both fairly brief and unmemorable.   The worms and Dune itself should take top billing.   Frank Herbert's Dune is distributed by Artisan Entertainment

Children of Dune (2003) picks up where Dune left off, focusing on the twins, Leto and Ghanima, the children of Paul and Chani, who are heirs to the empire as well as the Atreides' legacy: prescience.   It chronicles the beginnings of Leto II's reign.   On the whole, this series is much better acted/directed.   Children of Dune is distributed by Buena Vista Television. [From Reader #5]

Green Eggs and Ham
by Dr. Seuss, August 12, 1960.

This Dr. Seuss masterpiece was published in 1960 and I loved it the moment I read it.   This book, along with One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, has influenced the way I behold and evaluate all parody.   The bright, whimsical pictures and the rhyming couplets are captivating.   Sam-I-am is persistent and pushy -- ever the optimist.   Although, I have always wondered whether he might have succeeded earlier, by using the magic word, "please."   Fortunately, the last page tips its hat to Miss Manners, by teaching children the value of saying "thank you."   Regardless, the dialogue is plain and persuasively memorable:

"Would you like them in a house?
Would you like them with a mouse?....
Would you eat them in a box?
Would you eat them with a fox?"

This book is rated for children, aged 4 to 8, but I think this book is a timeless classic for children of all ages.   It's silly and fun and it gladdens the heart.

Green Eggs and Ham and Other Stories (2000) is available on DVD.   And, a group of university students filmed a parody called Green Eggs and Hamlet (1995).   I have not seen this movie, but I will jump at the chance to do so.   Here is the preview from IMDB.com: "Shakespeare's classic tale retold in Dr. Seuss-style rhyme.   Prince Hamlet seeks to avenge his father's murder, while his loyal servant SamIamlet tries to get him to sample a new food dish." [From Reader #2]

Green Smoke
by Rosemary Manning, 1957
This book is out of print. A complete synopsis is forthcoming [From Reader #12].

I, Robot
by Isaac Asimov, 1950
The nine original stories were serialized in Astounding and Super Science Fiction from 1940 to 1950.
A complete entry is forthcoming [From Reader #3].

The Hound of the Baskervilles
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1902
The Hound of the Baskervilles was serialized in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902.
This is the most famous of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries.   A complete entry is forthcoming [From Reader #2].

The Lord of the Rings
by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
Published in 3 volumes 1954 & 1955 in England

LotR is a huge medieval romance.   Four fairly young Hobbits (diminutive people, basically), a rural, rustic and bucolic folk, go on a quest to save the world.   They succeed, growing and maturing in surprisingly different ways.

That is, of course, an unreasonably short synopsis of a tale of over a thousand pages, with ten to twenty major characters (your mileage may vary) set in an ages-long, hugely complex history of three (or four or five -- mileage again) distinct "races" of human and human-like beings, some very un-human-like beings, a very real pantheon of not-exactly-gods, one exactly-God, detailed created languages, and a few scattered individuals whose status and genesis are rather unclear.   Mostly, LotR fired my desire to understand the history of Middle Earth, which was (largely) fulfilled by The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.   The other History of Middle Earth series filled in a lot of cracks... and widened some others.

At a personal level, this work affected me (and still affects me) as has no other piece of fiction I've encountered.   It pulled me in.   The tale absorbed me in a manner and to a depth that nothing else I've read has ever done.   I acknowledge the everyman in us all, certainly.   "Everyman" isn't particularly virtuous, or lacking in virtue.   "Everyman" isn't mean, but is the mean.   It's predictability, I suppose.

LotR made me want to tour Middle Earth, and maybe even live there.   Gondor, under Elessar's reign, would have been a great place to live.   No worries about Sauron, and no disease with which to concern oneself, except old age.   I'd love to tour Aglarond, go over Rauros in a barrel, go rock climbing in the Emyn Muil, visit the Lonely Mountain.   I guess Khazad Dum was still an unhealthy place, so I'd probably skip that.   Maybe I'd stow away on a boat for the Undying Lands, although that could have catastrophic consequences -- see The Akallabeth.

On a more general level, it's affected quite a few people I've known, and a huge number I've never known.   A substantial number of labor-of-love sites on the Net are dedicated to JRRT & Middle Earth, which gives insight to their sponsors / developers interests in JRRT.   He affects people in a wide variety of ways.   Some just get into Hobbits, which I find too everymanish (see above) to be particularly interesting.   Others have tried reading LotR and bogged down, finding it completely uninteresting.   Two people I've known declined to sample LotR, based on the avuncular style of The Hobbit. Different strokes . . . .

Films:
The Lord of the Rings: An animated film by Ralph Bakshi, distributed by United Artists in 1978.   This is a compression of the first half of Tolkien's story into a single not-unusually-long film.   A technology called "rotoscoping" allowed pseudo-animation based films of actual people, and using stock film, a great deal of detailed action was produced very effectively and very inexpensively.   Reviews were mixed, and even though the film returned comfortably over three times its investment domestically, United Artists was not impressed and refused to finance Bakshi's making of the second part of the story.

The Return of the King: In 1980, Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. released a made-for-TV animated version of the last volume of Tolkien's trilogy.   It was a followup of a 1977 version they produced of The Hobbit, done by the same animators and sharing much of the style.   Again, the reviews were mixed. As Bakshi had done, they squashed a tremendously complex novel into a short story.

The Lord of the Rings: A trio of films named after the three volumes of Tolkien's original work was released by New Line Cinema in the Decembers of 2001, 2002 and 2003.   Directed by Peter Jackson, these very long films were live action, abetted by computer-generated imaging technology, that was completely unavailable to the earlier moviemakers.   Even at this scale, a great deal of Tolkien's long and complex tale was necessarily abridged, but Jackson managed to do an amazingly good job of presenting the tale on the big screen. [From Reader #8]

The Lost World
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1912
Professor Challenger and Lord Roxton discover dinosaurs deep in the Amazon.   Hijinx ensue.   A complete entry is forthcoming [From Reader #2].

The Mayor of Casterbridge
by Thomas Hardy, 1886
The story was serialized in Graphic from 2 January to 15 May, 1886.
A complete entry is forthcoming [From Reader #9].

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
by Robert A. Heinlein, 1966
A complete entry is forthcoming [From Reader #8].

One hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
1982 Nobel Prize Laureate
Cien Anos de Soledad, 1967 (Spanish), 1970 (English)

As one might expect, the novel spans 100 years.   The story deals with the lives, loves, and losses in the Buendia family in the village of Macondo, Columbia.   It is mystical, hysterical and tragic.   I have read the book many times since I first discovered it as a teenager and will no doubt read it many more times.   No movie has ever been made from this novel. [From Reader #7]

The Prince and the Pauper
by Mark Twain, 1881.
A complete synopsis is forthcoming [From Reader #5].

Ringworld
by Larry Niven, 1970
A complete entry is forthcoming [From Reader #8].

The Sign of Four
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1890
This is the finest of the Sherlock Holmes novels.   And, this is the world's first murder-in-a-locked-room mystery.   A complete entry is forthcoming [From Reader #2].

Stranger in a Strange Land
by Robert A. Heinlein, 1961
A complete entry is forthcoming [From Reader #8].

The Time Machine: An Invention
H.G. (Herbert George) Wells, 1895

What to say about someone who many consider to be the father of modern Science Fiction?   It would not be an overstatement to say that Wells was the first to write about many of the themes and ideas, which later authors would pick-up and explore.   What makes Wells unique from earlier authors (such as Jules Verne) was his interest in and explorations of the theories of Charles Darwin, who published The Origins of the Species (1859).   Wells would explore these theories in a number of ways throughout his writing career, but especially in books such as The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896) and The War of the Worlds (1898).

Wells was the right person, at the right time, and in the right place, to begin exploring man's evolutionary future.   By combining his thorough background in science, his talent for writing, and an equally talented imagination, Wells wrote The Time Machine as a lens though which he could explore the possibilities of Darwin's theories and their effect on mankind's future.

The (time) machine itself is truly the first of its kind, suggesting that time could be controlled and manipulated by human intervention, rather than by accident (such as in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court).   The machine, however, while important for traveling, is really a background prop as Wells had other issues he wanted to explore.   By setting the story in a remote future, Wells allows for the passage of enough time for significant changes to have occurred in both the human race and the landscape.   As "the Time Traveler" stops at various points in time, we are given glimpses of our potential futures.   Although Wells' ultimate view of the future is not particularly bright, and over 100 years have passed since its first publication, The Time Machine is a book that still has the power, imagination, and influence to entertain and move us.   It is a book that has somehow managed to transcend time, itself. [From Reader #5]

The Wizard of Oz
by Frank Baum, 1900.
A complete synopsis is forthcoming [From Reader #11].