Average Rating:

.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > 20th Century Classics
by: Harper Lee

October 05, 1989
It's been ages since I've read this book so I'm not going to say much but this book should be read. Teachers have started not to study this book in schools because it has the word nigger in it (well in this country they have started to stop). It's more important now to read it them ever, this book promotes tolerance rather than racism. It's not the quickest book to read but it's a great book, I'm never going to give this book away.

Average Rating:

.

The Great Gatsby (Penguin Popular Classics)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > 20th Century Classics
by: F.Scott Fitzgerald

January 13, 1994
I am Gay and i think you'll find that this story still resonates but more like a just-polished cameo piece from a forgotten time. At the core of the book is the elaborate infatuation Jay Gatsby has for Daisy Fay Buchanan, a love story portrayed with both a languid pall and a fatalistic urgency. But the broader context of the setting and the irreconcilable nature of the American dream in the 1920's is what give the novel its true gravitas.

Much of this is eloquently articulated by Nick Carraway, Gatsby's modest Long Island neighbor who becomes his most trusted confidante. Nick is responsible for reuniting the lovers who both have come to different points in their lives five years after their aborted romance. Now a solitary figure in ... Read More:

Average Rating:

.

The Road

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > 20th Century Classics
by: Cormac McCarthy

June 01, 2007
An unnamed man and his sun struggle through a post apocalyptic American wasteland. As they struggle towards the coast, they have to deal with cannibals, with disease, thieves and above all the simple day to day challenge of staying fed and sheltered in a scorched earth where ash rains from the sky.

Everything in this unrelenting book is beautifully structured. The title is perfect, it is a "road" book, the journey is the story and the story is the journey. The blasted sparseness of the landscape is reflected in the sparseness of the prose. The characters are flattened, their dialogue is terse and emotionless, the palate in which the world is painted is flat and monochrome, all colour and life crushed out by the terrible grey, fatally ... Read More:

Average Rating:

.

1984 Nineteen Eighty-Four

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > 20th Century Classics
by: George Orwell

January 29, 2004
It is tempting with the `wisdom' of the twentieth century to dismiss as irrelevant a book guilty of false prophecy. However the achievement of George Orwell's masterpiece is not to be found in the accuracies of his predictions, but in its warning about the danger of power unchecked and the lengths to which those in power will go in order to remain there.

We are presented with a vision of the future (now our past) in which the world is divided amongst the totalitarian superpowers of Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. Our story is set in a London controlled by `The Party' - who presence is felt by the ubiquitous Big Brother and its enforcement arm the Thought Police; told through the figure of Winston Smith: a lonely and silently dissident low ... Read More:

Average Rating:

.

The Catcher in the Rye

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > 20th Century Classics
by: J.D. Salinger

August 04, 1994
Boring, over rated book.

I, like many others, was handed this book and told that it was a life changing read. It was an utter load of rubbish.

I think the people who recommend this book are suffering with a bad case of the Emperors New Clothes.

Average Rating:

.

Of Mice and Men (Penguin Red Classics)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > 20th Century Classics
by: John Steinbeck

January 26, 2006
This is the first Steinbeck book I have read.
I look forward to reading many more.
A simple and touching study of loneliness and all it entails.

Average Rating:

.

Lord of the Flies

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > 20th Century Classics
by: William Golding

June 03, 2002
Let me just say one thing; I am an avid reader. I love books. Whenever I begin reading, I cannot stop halfway through, even if it is an absolutely awful book. However, this book went beyond awful. It was so far past awful it made me want to throw up (and I wish I were exaggerating). Not just because the book is basically a doctoral thesis on human psychology wrapped in a plot stolen from 'The Coral Island', but mainly because it makes no sense.

Let's start at the beginning: The arrival. The pilot manages to safely land the plane on the one island in the middle of nowhere, while the cockpit is on fire. Having done this, the several tonne plane then washes out to sea, after all the boys have left, without a scratch on them. Not even a bruise, after an emergency crash-landing ... Read More:

Average Rating:

.

The Picture of Dorian Gray (Penguin Popular Classics)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > 20th Century Classics
by: Oscar Wilde

February 24, 1994
After reading a review of "The Ripper Code" in the TLS, I had to return to my school favourite and reread it. It was fascinating to read it in a new light.

Average Rating:

.

Heart of Darkness

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > 20th Century Classics
by: Joseph Conrad

April 28, 1994
I originally read this novel as a first year undergraduate in 1988. I found it dull and very hard work. I still remember having to force myself to read a page or two each night just to get through it. The horror indeed. I recently thought I would try reading it again as, after so long and with more mature tastes I might enjoy it. But no. I gave it my best shot - and then gave up. Maybe I'll have another go in 2028...

Average Rating:

.

On the Road (Penguin Modern Classics)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > 20th Century Classics
by: Jack Kerouac

February 24, 2000
I first read this book when I was 18 years old and as cliched as it may sound it changed my entire outlook on life. It illustrated to me that rebellion and individuality are the best of things and that even in a world as violent and corrupt as this one, love and friendship can still prosper. The visceral and profound honesty with which Kerouac writes takes the reader to the heart of the action and the unrelenting pace of the narrative propels one on and on, just like Sal and Dean themselves are propelled to "go go go". No literature fan can afford not to read this all time great, that Kerouac never really came close to matching. Simply beautiful.