For Whom the Bell Tolls

A perfectly written novel. Certainly rates among the very best American novels ever written. The final scene with Robert Jordan waiting to die is worth the read up until that point and may be the best prose ever written, comparable to the Used Car speech of Grapes of Wrather and Lee's instruction to Hamilton on the centrality of timshel in East of Eden.

Hemingway takes stream of consciousness a step further and shows a man's consciousness at war with itself, self-serving, self-denigrating, self-denying at the same time. It points to the sharpening of consciousness in the face of death, so much so that Robert Jordan feels that he has gained the meaning of a lifetime in 3 days’ time, and even knowing that his death was inevitable, much like that of a Greek tragedy.

If true suffering emerges on the other side of suffering, then Robert Jordan is the proto-man in his essential garb, facing death and determined to follow through with his destiny, even though he feels that it is wrong. I don't get it, in terms of a man sticking to and following orders for a cause, but Robert Jordan comes the closest in making me believe it.

Author: Hemingway, Ernest

Date Published: 1940

Length: 16hr 28min

Narrator: Scott, Campbell

Zen and Now

At first, I thought it was a blatant rip off of ZAMM, and I'm still not sure if it's not. But Richardson tries to follow Pirsig's route across western America, seeking to meet some of the people in the book, and putting a number of tidbits from Pirsig's life and his writing of the book into the journey. It does end up giving a lot more insight into Pirsig, but it doesn't have nearly the depth or the complexity of ZAMM. It makes a nice journey along the way, but somehow Richardson seems to miss the point of the original and seems just like another bozo on the bus rathern than contributing anything original to what was said. I liked him by the end of the book, but it took me quite a while to warm up to him. I think he tries to show Pirsig's feet of clay, but I also think anyone would recognize that before encountering Zen and Now.

http://www.zenandnow.org/

Author: Richardson, Mark

Date Published: 2008

Length: 10hr 1min

Narrator: Schirner, Buck

Ubik

This was a strange little book, but what would you expect from Philip K Dick? I'm not nearly as taken with Dick as many sci-fi  readers seem to be. While his stories have interesting premises, in the end they kind of bore me. Not as good a story as VALIS.

Author: Dick, Philip K.

Date Published: 1969

Length: 7hr 7min

Narrator: Heald, Anthony

Battle Cry of Freedom

For me, the definitive history of the civil war. This was another book that I read many years ago, and at 40 hours, it is certainly one of the longest books that I have listened to.

I am struck by the role of chance in the north's victory. This is seen most dramatically at little round top, of course, but it seems to play over and over again. Personalities have so much to do with it. A little more forceful there, a little less fearful there, and the outcome of the war may have been completely different. Then there are the completely unexpected victories that play such a huge role. 

I also think it's clear that Lincoln had greatness thrust upon him. He began as a bit player, torn by the vagaries and vicissitudes of the war,  but emerges finally as one of the great figures of history. McPherson doesn't make nearly as much about Sherman's march as Victor Davis Hanson, but that event really marks the end of the confederacy.

Author: McPherson, James

Date Published: 1988

Length: 39hr 43min

Narrator: Davis, Jonathan

East of Eden

My second time through in less than two years, and I still think of it as one of the great American novels. Hard to say which book I prefer--Grapes or Eden. Kathy is one of the enigmas of the book--she is so evil and self centered, that she does detract from the story, and you can see that instability come through Aron, and perhaps Cal, to a degree. But Samuel Hamilton and Lee are major heroes, great characters who redeem any of the weaknesses of the story.

And Steinbeck tells such good stories. The story of his mother flying with the World War I ace had both Sara and me cracking up and almost crying with laughter. I don't know; maybe it's not the novel that Grapes is, but the message of "Thou Mayest" has continued to resonate with me long after the book has finished.

Author: Steinbeck, John

Date Published: 1942

Length: 25hr 25min

Narrator: Poe, Richard