The Tree of Heaven, May Sinclair’s 1918 bestseller, just misses being a great book.
The Harrisons are raising their four children in an English home whose backyard is dominated by a tree Frances calls by the country folks’ name Tree of Heaven and her timber-dealer husband calls an ash.
Frances’ life is wrapped up in her three [...]
Archive for the ‘Philosophical’ Category
Too Many Tantalizing Themes
Posted in 1918 Bestselling Novels, Philosophical on December 26, 2008 | Comments Off
Slender Bridge Destroyed by Weighty Prose
Posted in 1928 Bestselling Novels, Literary, Philosophical, Religious, tagged Inquisition, monk, Peru, Pulitzer Prize on September 3, 2008 | Comments Off
The Bridge of San Luis Rey won Thornton Wilder a Pulitzer Prize in 1928. The novel has since been ignored in favor of less literary but more entertaining reading.
Raintree County Is Impenetrable
Posted in 1948 Bestselling Novels, Historical, Literary, Philosophical, tagged American History, Indiana, nineteenth century on May 7, 2008 | Comments Off
Ross Lockridge Jr.’s Raintree County is one of the best novels you will never read. It’s only for the literati or readers serving consecutive life sentences.
Shrug This Novel Off
Posted in 1957 Bestselling Novels, Philosophical on August 26, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Atlas Shrugged is Ayn Rand’s philosophy poorly disguised as a novel. Readers who get through the 1000+ page novel deserve a prize—perhaps a “lifetime achievement award”—as compensation for getting so little pleasure.
