Book challenge 2015

Last year I started to get through a couple of hundred books. In different languages, of different length. The list is still growing. This year it’s a new approach. I removed books read last year and added a few new ones. And we’ll see how long time this will take.

Here’s the list:

1. Adam Bede – George Eliot
2. Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton
3. Agnes Grey – Anne Brontë
4. All is Well That Ends Well – William Shakespeare
5. Allan Quatermain – H. Rider Haggard
6. Ambassadors – Henry James
7. Anthony and Cleopatra – William Shakespeare
8. As You Like It – William Shakespeare
9. Atonement – Ian McEwan
10. Autumn – Ayn Rand
11. Awekening – Kate Chopin
12. Barchester Towers – Anthony Trollope
13. Barnaby Rudge – Charles Dickens
14. Beautiful and Damned – F. Scott Fitzgerald
15. Black Arrow – Robert Louis Stevenson
16. Black Beauty – Anna Sewell
17. Bobbitt – Sinclair Lewis
18. Charlotte’s Web – E.B White
19. Chłopi– Władysław Reymont
20. Comedy of Terrors – William Shakespeare
21. Confessions of a Opium Eater – Thomas De Quincey
22. Connecticut Yankee – Mark Twain
23. Cranford – Elisabeth Gleghorn Gaskell
24. Daniel Deronda – George Eliot
25. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
26. Dead Souls – Nikolai Gogol
27. Deerslayer – James Fenimore Cooper
28. Diary of a Nobody – George and Weedon Grossmith
29. Divine Comedy- Durante Alaghieri aka Dante
30. Dombey and Son – Charles Dickens
31. Dracula – Bram Stoker
32. Emma – Emily Brontë
33. Farenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
34. Father Goriot – Honoré de Balzac
35. Foundation – Isaac Asimov
36. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
37. Grapes of the Wrath – John Steinbeck
38. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
39. Hard Times – Charles Dickens
40. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J. R. Rowling
41. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J. R. Rowling
42. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – J. R. Rowling
43. Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince – J. R. Rowling
44. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J. R. Rowling
45. Henry V – William Shakespeare
46. Henry VI part 1- William Shakespeare
47. Henry VI part 2- William Shakespeare
48. Henry VI part 3- William Shakespeare
49. Henry XIII – William Shakespeare
50. Hound of Baskervilles – Arthur Conan Doyle
51. Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo
52. Hunger – Knut Hamsun
53. Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison
54. Ivanhoe – Walter Scott
55. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
56. Julius Caesar – William Shakespeare
57. Just So Stories – Reynard
58. Kidnapped – Robert Louis Stevenson
59. Kim – Rudyard Kipling
60. King Lear – William Shakespeare
61. King Solomon’s Mines – H. Rider Huggard
62. Last of the Mohicans – Fenimore Cooper
63. Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman
64. Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
65. Lives of Twelve Ceasars – Suetonius (Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus)
66. Lolita – Vladimir Nabukov
67. Lord Fauntleroy – Frances Hodgson  Burnett
68. Lord Jim – Joseph Conrad
69. Lorna Doone – Richard Doddridge Blackmore
70. Love’s Labours Lost – William Shakespeare
71. Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez
72. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
73. Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
74. Man in the Iron Mask – Alexandre Dumas
75. Man Who Was Thursday – Gilbert Keith Chesterton
76. Man Who Would Be King – Runyard Kipling
77. Main Street – Sinclair Lewis
78. Mansfield Park – Jane Austen
79. Mayo of Casterbridge – Thomas Hardy
80. Meassure for Meassure – William Shakespeare
81. Merchant of Venice – William Shakespeare
82. Merry Wives of Windsor – William Shakespeare
83. Middlemarch – George Eliot
84. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
85. Mill on the Floss – George Eliot
86. Moll Flanders – Daniel Defoe
87. Moonstone – Wilkie Collins
88. Napoleon Notting Hill – Gilbert Keith Chesterton
89. New York Trillogy (1): City of Glass – Paul Auster
90. New York Trillogy (2): Ghosts – Paul Auster
91. New York Trillogy (3): The Locked Room – Paul Auster
92. Nicholaas Nickelby – Charles Dickens
93. Nightmare Abbey – Thomas Love Peacock
94. Northager Abbey – Jane Austen
95. Nostromo – Joseph Conrad
96. Notes from the Underground – Fyodor Dostoyevskij
97. Old Curiosity Shop – Charles Dickens
98. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
99. Othello – William Shakespeare
100. Persuation – Jane Austen
101. Phantom of the Opera – Gaston Leroux
102. Pickwick papers- Charles Dickens
103. Pilgrims Progress – John Bunyan
104. Pride and Prejudice – Janr Austen
105. Prisoner of Zenda – Anthony Hope Hawkins
106. Professor – Charlotte Brontë
107. Rob Roy – Walter Scott
108. Robinson Cruzoe – Daniel Defoe
109. Room with a View – Edward Morgan Forster
110. Scarlet letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
111. Secret Agent – Joseph Conrad
112. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
113. Shirley – Charlotte Brontë
114. Silas Marner – George Elliot
115. Sister Carey – Theodore Dreiser
116. Sketchbook Geoffrey Crayon – Irving
117. Sons and Lovers – D. H. Lawrence
118. Study in Scarlet – Arthur Conan Doyle
119. Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
120. Taming of thr Shrew – William Shakespeare
121. Tanglewood Tales – Nathaniel Hawthorne
122. Tess Durbervilles – Thomas Hardy
123. The Brothers Karamazov – Fjodor Dostoyevskiyj
124. The Decameron – Giovanni Boccaccio
125. The Doll’s House – Henrik Ibsen
126. The Forsyte Saga – John Galsworthy
127. The Idiot – Fjodor Dostoyevskyj
128. The Kite Runner –  Khaled Hosseini
129. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
130. The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
131. The Prince – Niccolé Machiavelli
132. The Red and Black – Stendahl
133. The Red Badge of Courage – Stephen Crane
134. The Tale of Ganji – Murasaki Shikibu
135. The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
136. The Princess and Curdie – George MacDonald
137. The Tin Drum – Günter Grass
138. The Trial – Franz Kafka
139. The Turn of the Screw – Henry James
140. The Winter’s Tale – William Shakespeare
141. Therese Raquin – mile Zola
142. Three men in a Boat – Jerome K. Jerome
143. Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
144. Time Machine – H.G. Wells
145. Timon of Athens – William Shakespeare
146. Titus Andronicus – William Shakespeare
147. Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
148. Tristram Shandy – Laurence Sterne
149. Twelth Night – William Shakespeare
150. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea – Julius Verne
151. Two Noble Kinsmen – William Shakespeare
152. Ulyses – James Joyce
153. Uncle Toms Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe
154. Under Greenwood Tree – Thomas Hardy
155. Utopia – Thomas More
156. Utvandrarna (1): Utvandrarna – Wilhelm Moberg
157. Utvandrarna (2): Invandrarna – Wilhelm Moberg
158. Utvandrarna (3): Nybyggarna – Wilhelm Moberg
159. Utvandrarna (4): Sista Brevet till Sverige – Wilhelm Moberg
160. Walden – Henry David Thoreau
161. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
162. Waterbabies – Charles Kingsley
163. Waverley – Sir Walter Scott
164. Way We Live Now – Anthony Trollope
165. Venus in Furs –   Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
166. Way of All Flesh – Samuel Butler
167. White Fang – Jack London
168. Wildfell Hall – Anne Brontë
169. Villette – Charlotte Brontë
170. Woman in White – Wilkie Collins

New books this year

Here a few new books I’ve been reading this year. I started to put a grade after each.

1. Förvandlerskan – Charlotta Larsson – 3/10
2. Gaudy Night – Dorothy L Sawyers – 5/10
3. Goldfinch – Donna Tartt – 8/10
4. Into The Wild – Jon Krakauer – 6/10
5. Jaktpilot i RAF – Geofferey Williams
6. Jag Heter inte Miriam – Majgull Axelsson 5/10
7. Out of Africa – Karen Blixen – 9/10
8. Stoner – John Williams – 7/10
9. Tell the Wolves I’m home – Carol Rifka Brunt 4/10
10. The Bad Girl – Mario Vargas Llosa – 7/10
11. The Enigma – Alan Turing – 3/10

Well, actually some books are already checked from this list, many more to come. I will return to this list over and over again. I will put the books that I already have read/listened to in cursive and the book that I’m currently listening to in bold. How about that! My goal is three books a week. Some will take much longer, some much less. Will I make it during 2014? Wish me luck!

Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa

Yet another book. This time of Nobel-prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa.

The story

Good and somewhat naive boy falls in love with a bad girl. His name is Ricardo. When we first meet them we get to know her by the name of Lilly. She has a younger sister and they are inseparable. They are from Chile, but live in Peru. Ricardo is trying to get Lilly, but she always says no.

Ricardo works as translator and ends up in Paris and UNESCO, which somehow is his goal. He travels around the world with his job as well and also learns Russian in order to get more jobs.

And he meets the bad girl again. This time her name is different and she is on her way for military training in Cuba. They have a short love story again, or well, he is in love, she is just playing. The love-story is woven with political story about political movement in Peru with gerilla movement and unstable situation.

After a while Ricardo meets the bad girl again. Her name is different, she has married a quite rich man who is UNESCO-official. They star to meet in secret… again. Until she disapears again.

Next time we meet the bad girl is in London. She had stolen all the money from her husband and moved to London. Now she is married even richer to a jelaus horse dealer that spends all his days on horse tracks. Another love story, more hurt feelings. Until she dissapers again.

But guess what, we meet her again. This time in Japan. Now she is together with a Takyo gangster who is not really nice.

After Ricardo being hurt again he moves back to Paris. On a trip to Peru he meets a strange man, who supposely is the bad girl’s father. We learn her real neme, totally different from the ones we know.Back in Paris s time the bad girl comes after Ricardo. This time she is hurt in really bad shape and he helps her to get back on her legs.

And as thanks she fins yet another man, not Ricardo. And he does that too. He meets an younger woman and moves to Madrid. And one more time, the bad girl finds him there. She is sick, in bad shape and this time she has been left. The man who lived with her goes back to his wife and kids. And Ricardo goes back to the bad girl.

What did I think

I loved this book. And I hated it. I didn’t like this book and I couldn’t put it down. I liked the language and I think it was straight forwad. I didn’t really like the bad girl for beeing so hungry for wealth and money and I didn’t like Ricardo for being so naive. I liked some of his friends but many of them died for one reason or another.

My grade? 7 out of 10.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

The Challenge

This is a part of my reading challenge. Take a look at this list to see it. Do you think That I can make it this year and next? Or will it take one more year? We’ll see.

About this book

This time I’ve finished Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. Did I like it? No. I’ve tried to read it a couple of times before, once in High School and found it so boring and uniteresting, so I gave up. This time I actually made it all the way. The book was not better this time, but I made it.

Catch-22 is a satirical novel by the American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. It is set during World War II from 1942 to 1944. It is frequently cited as one of the greatest literary works of the twentieth century. It uses a distinctive non-chronological third-person omniscient narration, describing events from the points of view of different characters. The separate storylines are out of sequence so that the timeline develops along with the plot.

The novel follows Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bombardier. Most of the events in the book occur while the fictional 256th Squadron is based on the island of Pianosa, in the Mediterranean Sea, west of Italy. The novel looks into the experiences of Yossarian and the other airmen in the camp. It focuses on their attempts to keep their sanity in order to fulfill their service requirements so that they may return home.

The phrase “Catch-22” has entered the English language, referring to a type of unsolvable logic puzzle. The chatch-22 said that no one can stop flying missions and go home unless he is insane and have to ask for that first. But an insane person will never ask for that. As soon as you ask for being sent home you are sane and cannot go home.

The development of the novel can be split into segments. The first (chapters 1–11) broadly follows the story fragmented between characters, but in a single chronological time in 1943. The second (chapters 12–20) flashes back to focus primarily on the “Great Big Siege of Bologna” before once again jumping to the chronological “present” of 1943 in the third part (chapter 21–25). The fourth (chapters 26–28) flashes back to the origins and growth of Milo’s syndicate, with the fifth part (chapter 28–32) returning again to the narrative “present” but keeping to the same tone of the previous four. In the sixth and final part (chapter 32 on) while remaining in the “present” time the novel takes a much darker turn and spends the remaining chapters focusing on the serious and brutal nature of war and life in general.

While the first five parts “sections” develop the novel in the present and through use of flash-backs, the novel significantly darkens in chapters 32–41. Previously the reader had been cushioned from experiencing the full horror of events, but now the events are laid bare, allowing the full effect to take place. The horror begins with the attack on the undefended Italian mountain village, with the following chapters involving despair (Doc Daneeka and the Chaplain), disappearance in combat (Orr and Clevinger), disappearance caused by the army (Dunbar) or death of most of Yossarian’s friends (Nately, McWatt, Mudd, Kid Sampson, Dobbs, Chief White Halfoat and Hungry Joe), culminating in the unspeakable horrors of Chapter 39, in particular the rape and murder of Michaela, who represents pure innocence.^[4] In Chapter 41, the full details of the gruesome death of Snowden are finally revealed.

Despite this, the novel ends on an upbeat note with Yossarian learning of Orr’s miraculous escape to Sweden and Yossarian’s pledge to follow him there.

 

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne

The Challenge

This is a part of my reading challenge. Take a look at this list to see it. Do you think That I can make it this year?

About this book

Around the World in Eighty Days (French: Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is a classic adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, published in 1873. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a £20,000 wager (roughly £1.6 million today) set by his friends at the Reform Club. It is one of Verne’s most acclaimed works.

Plot of the book

The story starts in London on Tuesday, October 1, 1872. Fogg is a rich English gentleman living in solitude. Despite his wealth, Fogg lives a modest life with habits carried out with mathematical precision. Very little can be said about his social life other than that he is a member of the Reform Club. Having dismissed his former valet, James Foster, for bringing him shaving water at 84 °F (29 °C) instead of 86 °F (30 °C), Fogg hires a Frenchman by the name of Jean Passepartout as a replacement.

At the Reform Club, Fogg gets involved in an argument over an article in The Daily Telegraph stating that with the opening of a new railway section in India, it is now possible to travel around the world in 80 days. He accepts a wager for £20,000 (equal to about £1.6 million today) from his fellow club members, which he will receive if he makes it around the world in 80 days. Accompanied by Passepartout, he leaves London by train at 8:45 P.M. on Wednesday, October 2, 1872, and is due back at the Reform Club at the same time 80 days later, Saturday, December 21, 1872.

The itinerary

London, United Kingdom to Suez, Egypt	rail and steamer across the Mediterranean Sea	7 days
Suez to Bombay, India	steamer across the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean	13 days
Bombay to Calcutta, India	rail	3 days
Calcutta to Victoria, Hong Kong	steamer across the South China Sea	13 days
Hong Kong to Yokohama, Japan	steamer across the South China Sea, East China Sea, and the Pacific Ocean	6 days
Yokohama to San Francisco, United States	steamer across the Pacific Ocean	22 days
San Francisco to New York City, United States	rail	7 days
New York to London	steamer across the Atlantic Ocean and rail	9 days
Total		80 days

Fogg and Passepartout reach Suez in time. While disembarking in Egypt, they are watched by a Scotland Yard detective named Fix, who has been dispatched from London in search of a bank robber. Because Fogg matches the description of the robber, Fix mistakes Fogg for the criminal. Since he cannot secure a warrant in time, Fix boards the steamer conveying the travellers to Bombay. Fix becomes acquainted with Passepartout without revealing his purpose. Fogg promises the steamer engineer a large reward if he gets them to Bombay early. They dock two days ahead of schedule.

After reaching India they take a train from Bombay (now Mumbai) to Calcutta (Kolkata). Fogg learns that the Daily Telegraph article was wrong—the railroad ends at Kholby and starts again 50 miles further on at Allahabad. Fogg buys an elephant, hires a guide, and starts toward Allahabad.

They come across a procession in which a young Indian woman, Aouda, is led to a sanctuary to be sacrificed by suttee the next day by Brahmins. Since the young woman is drugged with opium and hemp and is obviously not going voluntarily, the travellers decide to rescue her. They follow the procession to the site, where Passepartout takes the place of Aouda’s deceased husband on the funeral pyre on which she is to be burned. During the ceremony he rises from the pyre, scaring off the priests, and carries the young woman away. The twelve hours gained earlier are lost, but Fogg shows no regret.

The travellers hasten to catch the train at the next railway station, taking Aouda with them. At Calcutta, they board a steamer going to Hong Kong. Fix has Fogg and Passepartout arrested. They jump bail and Fix follows them to Hong Kong. He shows himself to Passepartout, who is delighted to again meet his travelling companion from the earlier voyage.

In Hong Kong, it turns out that Aouda’s distant relative, in whose care they had been planning to leave her, has moved, probably to Holland, so they decide to take her with them to Europe. Still without a warrant, Fix sees Hong Kong as his last chance to arrest Fogg on British soil. Passepartout becomes convinced that Fix is a spy from the Reform Club. Fix confides in Passepartout, who does not believe a word and remains convinced that his master is not a bank robber. To prevent Passepartout from informing his master about the premature departure of their next vessel, Fix gets Passepartout drunk and drugs him in an opium den. Passepartout still manages to catch the steamer to Yokohama, but neglects to inform Fogg.

Fogg discovers that he missed his connection. He searches for a vessel that will take him to Yokohama, finding a pilot boat that takes him and Aouda to Shanghai, where they catch a steamer to Yokohama. In Yokohama, they search for Passepartout, believing that he may have arrived there on the original boat. They find him in a circus, trying to earn the fare for his homeward journey. Reunited, the four board a steamer taking them across the Pacific to San Francisco. Fix promises Passepartout that now, having left British soil, he will no longer try to delay Fogg’s journey, but support him in getting back to Britain to minimize the amount of his share of the stolen money that Fogg can spend.

In San Francisco they board a transcontinental train to New York, encountering a number of obstacles along the way: a massive herd of bison crossing the tracks, a failing suspension bridge, and the train being attacked by Sioux warriors. After uncoupling the locomotive from the carriages, Passepartout is kidnapped by the Indians, but Fogg rescues him after American soldiers volunteer to help. They continue by a wind powered sledge to Omaha, where they get a train to New York.

In New York, having missed the sailing of their ship, Fogg starts looking for an alternative to cross the Atlantic Ocean. He finds a steamboat destined for Bordeaux, France. The captain of the boat refuses to take the company to Liverpool, whereupon Fogg consents to be taken to Bordeaux for $2000 (roughly $39,569 today) per passenger. He then bribes the crew to mutiny and make course for Liverpool. Against hurricane winds and going on full steam, the boat runs out of fuel after a few days. Fogg buys the boat from the captain and has the crew burn all the wooden parts to keep up the steam.

The companions arrive at Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland, in time to reach London before the deadline. Once on British soil, Fix produces a warrant and arrests Fogg. A short time later, the misunderstanding is cleared up—the actual robber was caught three days earlier in Edinburgh. However, Fogg has missed the train and returns to London five minutes late, certain he lost the wager.

Fogg apologises to Aouda for bringing her with him, since he now has to live in poverty and cannot support her. Aouda confesses that she loves him and asks him to marry her. He calls for Passepartout to notify the minister. The following day, at the minister’s, Passepartout learns that he is mistaken in the date, which he takes to be Sunday, December 22, but which is actually Saturday, December 21, because the party travelled eastward, gaining a day. The wager can still be won, but there is very little time left.

Passepartout hurries to inform Fogg, who reaches the Reform Club just in time to win the wager. Fogg marries Aouda and the journey around the world is complete.

My personal opinion

I really liked this book. The adventure is not as easy a it should have been today, when you can fly around the world in much shorter time. Is it easier to travel today? Was it more exciting back then? I’d like to travel at least once that way, but I think that I prefer traveling the way we do today.

Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

The Challenge

This is a part of my reading challenge. Take a look at this list to see it. Do you think That I can make it this year?

About this book

Clockwork Orange is a dystopian novella by Anthony Burgess published in 1962. Set in a not-so-distant future English society that has a culture of extreme youth violence, the novel’s teenage protagonist, Alex, narrates his violent exploits and his experiences with state authorities intent on reforming him. When the state undertakes to reform Alex—to “redeem” him—the novel asks, “At what cost?”. The book is partially written in a Russian-influenced argot called “Nadsat”. According to Burgess it was a jeu d’esprit written in just three weeks.

Alex causes death of one innocent person in one of his violence raids. He ends up in prison, where, after a while, he is put into the reform preogram, where he has to watch violent and evil films, while he is made sick. He pukes and him mind connects the feeling with violence. And he is cured. Or is he? The violent films have classical music, music he loves and his head cennects also the music to feeling sick. He gets out of prison and every time he thinks about violence, he is sick, so he is nice. But there is the same with his favourite classicak music. Well…

He returns home, but his parents rent out his room.Since his parents are now renting his room to a lodger, Alex wanders the streets homeless. He enters a public library where he hopes to learn a painless way to commit suicide. There, he accidentally encounters the old scholar he assaulted earlier in the book, who, keen on revenge, beats Alex with the help of his friends. The policemen who come to Alex’s rescue turn out to be none other than Dim and former gang rival Billyboy. The two policemen take Alex outside of town and beat him up. Dazed and bloodied, Alex collapses at the door of an isolated cottage, realizing too late that it is the house he and his droogs invaded in the first part of the story. Because the gang wore masks during the assault, the writer does not recognize Alex. The writer, whose name is revealed as F. Alexander, shelters Alex and questions him about the conditioning. During this sequence, it is revealed that Mrs. Alexander died of injuries inflicted during the gang-rape, while her husband has decided to continue living “where her fragrant memory persists” despite the horrid memories. Alex reveals in his description that he has been conditioned to feel intolerable deathly nausea on hearing certain classical music. Alexander, a critic of the government, intends to use Alex’s therapy as a symbol of state brutality and thereby prevent the incumbent government from being re-elected, but a careless Alex soon inadvertently reveals that he was the ringleader during the night two years ago. Frightened for his own safety, Alex blurts out a confession to the writer’s radical associates after they remove him from F. Alexander’s home. Instead of protecting him, however, they imprison Alex in a dreary flat not far from his parents’ residence. They pretend to leave, and then while he is sleeping in a locked bedroom subject him to a relentless barrage of classical music, prompting him to attempt suicide by leaping from a high window.

Alex wakes up in a hospital, where he is courted by government officials anxious to counter the bad publicity created by his suicide attempt. With Alexander placed in a mental institution, Alex is offered a well-paying job if he agrees to side with the government. As photographers snap pictures, Alex daydreams of orgiastic violence and reflects upon the news that his Ludovico conditioning has been reversed as part of his recovery: “I was cured, all right”.

In the final chapter, Alex finds himself half-heartedly preparing for yet another night of crime with a new trio of droogs. After a chance encounter with Pete, who has reformed and married, Alex finds himself taking less and less pleasure in acts of senseless violence. He begins contemplating giving up crime himself to become a productive member of society and start a family of his own, while reflecting on the notion that his own children will be just as destructive—if not more so—than he himself.

In 2005, A Clockwork Orange was included on Time magazine’s list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923, and it was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. The original manuscript of the book is located at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada since that institution purchased the documents in 1971.

I encountered this story first time when I was in high school, when my psychology teacher used this story as an example for psychological mechanisms. Well, the film that we watched and that is based on the book is cruel, but the book is worse. It’s cruel and evil. Did I like it? I find it interesting.