This is neither a children's book--for the excessive amount of violence in it--nor an adult's book since it suffers from an annoyingly naive tone. Yet, given the time when it was written, and the mores of the time, I suppose what seems today as gratuitous violence would have been a necessity then. On the whole, I grew bored with the book. The religiosity didn't help either.

The issues, attitudes, and mores of Gopher Prairie are not just timeless but still poignant today--if you've ever lived in a small town, you will see yourself and your neighbors in this book.

To be culturally literate, you need to read at least some of the works by Lewis Carroll.

My Antonia was not for me. Not terribly artfully written, it was not helped by a fairly boring, prosaic narrative. If Willa Cather is a great writer, she did not prove it by this book, though I'm willing to give her a chance with one of her others . . . Just not right now.

I mean mammal. If you haven't read Moby Dick, you're not an American. Move to Canada. NOW!

Make sure you have plenty of vodka with you--to stay in the Russian frame of mind.

. . . be patient. It gets a little long.

Once again, the Hollywood version of this book is grotesquely oversimplified and omits some wonderful characters, such as the China People and the punchy Quadlings, to name just two. This just goes to show: Don't judge a book by its movie. I liked the book much better--for its grittiness, characters, and back stories.

This is a classic story of a man who not only experiences a mid-life crisis but challenges the assumptions of a conventionally successful life and the consequences of breaking from the mold of conformity. Unfortunately, and perhaps a reflection of the time in which it is written, Babbitt tends to endorse the conventional life--and at that point it seems to lose its deeper insights. Overall, a good book for people who wish to examine issues such as family and professional life, the nature of friendship, social climbing, infidelity, and the nature of happiness.

. . . even though some parts get a little tedious, such as descriptions of ice and squirrels. But when you're cooped up in a little shack, I suppose you tend to run out of things to talk about. Overall, an important book as a foundation for civil disobedience, self-reliance, and living in the moment--very Zen-like. If the old saying, "Classics are books that you'd like to say you read," then having read this one allows me to say that, yes, I actually read it.

Typical nineteenth century literature--heavy on vocabulary, overwritten (at least compared to contemporary styles), quaint, and a little over sentimental. I didn't really enjoy the book, but since it's a classic, I'm happy to have toughed it out for the sake of broadening my range of literacy. It's a lot like other challenging projects: Once done, it becomes a bit better. I think readers naturally become more sympathetic to works once they've actually finished them. But the journey itself was a challenge.

After House of the Seven Gables, Washington Square was a little tame by comparison--a little predictable, overall, a little bit okay.

I wanted to read this classic for its importance within the canon of English literature. However, after reading this novel, I can only assume that Darcy and Elizabeth, being in all ways proper, had on their wedding night sexual congress with the candles extinguished and their garments still tightly fastened about their naughty bits.