The Assistant by Bernard Malamud is the moving story of an Italian-American stranger who works his way into the lives of an immigrant Jewish shopkeeper and his family. Malamud perfectly portrays the grinding worries of running a mom-and-pop grocery, but also brings out bigger themes such as the importance of education and an individual’s ability to overcome bigotry. Focusing on the value of loyalty, repentance, and personal responsibility, it is a story of the redemptive power of love and forgiveness. Four stars.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Review of the Day: The Assistant
The Assistant by Bernard Malamud is the moving story of an Italian-American stranger who works his way into the lives of an immigrant Jewish shopkeeper and his family. Malamud perfectly portrays the grinding worries of running a mom-and-pop grocery, but also brings out bigger themes such as the importance of education and an individual’s ability to overcome bigotry. Focusing on the value of loyalty, repentance, and personal responsibility, it is a story of the redemptive power of love and forgiveness. Four stars.
List: Anthony Burgess
In 1984, Anthony Burgess (best known for A Clockwork Orange) published 99 Novels: The Best in English Since 1939 (reviewed here).
His book included mini-reviews of the 99 novels (some are sets or series), which he chose on the basis of personal preference. I read the book, but now I don't remember why he started his list in 1939 and limited it to 99 books instead of an even 100.
This is my go-to book list when I'm looking for something good. There is some crossover with other Must Read lists, but a lot of originality. There are many books I've read only because they were on this list and I they now have permanent spots on my list of all-time favorites.
So far, I've read 39 of the 99 books on this list. The ones I have read are in red. Those on my TBR shelf are in blue.
Here is the list, in the same chronological order by publication date that Burgess lists them in his book:
Party Going, Henry Green
After Many a Summer Dies the Swan, Aldous Huxley
Finnegans Wake, James Joyce (discussed here)
At Swim-Two-Birds, Flann O'Brien
The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene
For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
Strangers and Brothers, C. P. Snow (an 11-novel series; A Time of Hope, reviewed here; George Passant, reviewed here)
The Aerodrome, Rex Warner
The Horse's Mouth, Joyce Cary
The Razor's Edge, Somerset Maugham (reviewed here)
Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
Titus Groan, Mervyn Peake (reviewed here)
The Victim, Saul Bellow
Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry
The Heart of the Matter, Graham Greene
Ape and Essence, Aldous Huxley
The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer (reviewed here)
No Highway, Nevil Shute
The Heat of the Day, Elizabeth Bowen
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
The Body, William Sansom
Scenes from Provincial Life, William Cooper
The Disenchanted, Budd Schulberg
A Dance to the Music of Time, Anthony Powell (a 12-novel series; discussed here)
The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger
The Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight, Henry Williamson
The Caine Mutiny, Herman Wouk
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
The Groves of Academe, Mary McCarthy (reviewed here)
Wise Blood, Flannery O'Connor
Sword of Honour, Evelyn Waugh
The Long Goodbye, Raymond Chandler
Lucky Jim, Kingsley Amis
Room at the Top, John Braine
The Alexandria Quartet, Lawrence Durrell
The London Novels, Colin MacInnes (a trilogy)
The Assistant, Bernard Malamud (reviewed here)
The Bell, Iris Murdoch
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Alan Sillitoe
The Once and Future King, T. H. White
The Mansion, William Faulkner
Goldfinger, Ian Fleming
Facial Justice, L. P. Hartley
The Balkans Trilogy, Olivia Manning
The Mighty and Their Fall, Ivy Compton-Burnett
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
The Fox in the Attic, Richard Hughes
Riders in the Chariot, Patrick White
The Old Men at the Zoo, Angus Wilson
Another Country, James Baldwin
An Error of Judgment, Pamela Hansford Johnson
Island, Aldous Huxley
The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing
Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov
The Girls of Slender Means, Muriel Spark
The Spire, William Golding
Heartland, Wilson Harris
A Single Man, Christopher Isherwood (reviewed here)
The Defense, Vladimir Nabokov
Late Call, Angus Wilson
The Lockwood Concern, John O'Hara
The Mandelbaum Gate, Muriel Spark (reviewed here)
A Man of the People, Chinua Achebe
The Anti-Death League, Kingsley Amis (reviewed here)
Giles Goat-Boy, John Barth
The Late Bourgeois World, Nadine Gordimer
The Last Gentleman, Walker Percy
The Vendor of Sweets, R. K. Narayan
The Image Men, J. B. Priestley
Cocksure, Mordecai Richler
Pavane, Keith Roberts
The French Lieutenant's Woman, John Fowles
Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth
Bomber, Len Deighton
Sweet Dreams, Michael Frayn
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
Humboldt's Gift, Saul Bellow
The History Man, Malcolm Bradbury
The Doctor's Wife, Brian Moore
Falstaff, Robert Nye
How to Save Your Own Life, Erica Jong (reviewed here)
Farewell Companions, James Plunkett
Staying On, Paul Scott
The Coup, John Updike
The Unlimited Dream Company, J. G. Ballard
Dubin's Lives, Bernard Malamud
A Bend in the River, V. S. Naipaul
Sophie's Choice, William Stryon (reviewed here)
Life in the West, Brian Aldiss
Riddley Walker, Russell Hoban
How Far Can You Go?, David Lodge (reviewed here)
A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
Lanark, Alasdair Gray
Darconville's Cat, Alexander Theroux
The Mosquito Coast, Paul Theroux
Creation, Gore Vidal
The Rebel Angels, Robertson Davies (reviewed here)
Ancient Evenings, Norman Mailer
NOTES
Updated March 19, 2018.
OTHERS READING THESE BOOKS
If you would like to be listed here, please leave a comment with your links to any progress reports or reviews and I will add them here.
His book included mini-reviews of the 99 novels (some are sets or series), which he chose on the basis of personal preference. I read the book, but now I don't remember why he started his list in 1939 and limited it to 99 books instead of an even 100.
This is my go-to book list when I'm looking for something good. There is some crossover with other Must Read lists, but a lot of originality. There are many books I've read only because they were on this list and I they now have permanent spots on my list of all-time favorites.
So far, I've read 39 of the 99 books on this list. The ones I have read are in red. Those on my TBR shelf are in blue.
Here is the list, in the same chronological order by publication date that Burgess lists them in his book:
Party Going, Henry Green
After Many a Summer Dies the Swan, Aldous Huxley
Finnegans Wake, James Joyce (discussed here)
At Swim-Two-Birds, Flann O'Brien
The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene
For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
Strangers and Brothers, C. P. Snow (an 11-novel series; A Time of Hope, reviewed here; George Passant, reviewed here)
The Aerodrome, Rex Warner
The Horse's Mouth, Joyce Cary
The Razor's Edge, Somerset Maugham (reviewed here)
Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
Titus Groan, Mervyn Peake (reviewed here)
The Victim, Saul Bellow
Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry
The Heart of the Matter, Graham Greene
Ape and Essence, Aldous Huxley
The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer (reviewed here)
No Highway, Nevil Shute
The Heat of the Day, Elizabeth Bowen
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
The Body, William Sansom
Scenes from Provincial Life, William Cooper
The Disenchanted, Budd Schulberg
A Dance to the Music of Time, Anthony Powell (a 12-novel series; discussed here)
The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger
The Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight, Henry Williamson
The Caine Mutiny, Herman Wouk
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
The Groves of Academe, Mary McCarthy (reviewed here)
Wise Blood, Flannery O'Connor
Sword of Honour, Evelyn Waugh
The Long Goodbye, Raymond Chandler
Lucky Jim, Kingsley Amis
Room at the Top, John Braine
The Alexandria Quartet, Lawrence Durrell
The London Novels, Colin MacInnes (a trilogy)
The Assistant, Bernard Malamud (reviewed here)
The Bell, Iris Murdoch
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Alan Sillitoe
The Once and Future King, T. H. White
The Mansion, William Faulkner
Goldfinger, Ian Fleming
Facial Justice, L. P. Hartley
The Balkans Trilogy, Olivia Manning
The Mighty and Their Fall, Ivy Compton-Burnett
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
The Fox in the Attic, Richard Hughes
Riders in the Chariot, Patrick White
The Old Men at the Zoo, Angus Wilson
Another Country, James Baldwin
An Error of Judgment, Pamela Hansford Johnson
Island, Aldous Huxley
The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing
Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov
The Girls of Slender Means, Muriel Spark
The Spire, William Golding
Heartland, Wilson Harris
A Single Man, Christopher Isherwood (reviewed here)
The Defense, Vladimir Nabokov
Late Call, Angus Wilson
The Lockwood Concern, John O'Hara
The Mandelbaum Gate, Muriel Spark (reviewed here)
A Man of the People, Chinua Achebe
The Anti-Death League, Kingsley Amis (reviewed here)
Giles Goat-Boy, John Barth
The Late Bourgeois World, Nadine Gordimer
The Last Gentleman, Walker Percy
The Vendor of Sweets, R. K. Narayan
The Image Men, J. B. Priestley
Cocksure, Mordecai Richler
Pavane, Keith Roberts
The French Lieutenant's Woman, John Fowles
Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth
Bomber, Len Deighton
Sweet Dreams, Michael Frayn
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
Humboldt's Gift, Saul Bellow
The History Man, Malcolm Bradbury
The Doctor's Wife, Brian Moore
Falstaff, Robert Nye
How to Save Your Own Life, Erica Jong (reviewed here)
Farewell Companions, James Plunkett
Staying On, Paul Scott
The Coup, John Updike
The Unlimited Dream Company, J. G. Ballard
Dubin's Lives, Bernard Malamud
A Bend in the River, V. S. Naipaul
Sophie's Choice, William Stryon (reviewed here)
Life in the West, Brian Aldiss
Riddley Walker, Russell Hoban
How Far Can You Go?, David Lodge (reviewed here)
A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
Lanark, Alasdair Gray
Darconville's Cat, Alexander Theroux
The Mosquito Coast, Paul Theroux
Creation, Gore Vidal
The Rebel Angels, Robertson Davies (reviewed here)
Ancient Evenings, Norman Mailer
NOTES
Updated March 19, 2018.
OTHERS READING THESE BOOKS
If you would like to be listed here, please leave a comment with your links to any progress reports or reviews and I will add them here.
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