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443 reviews

Darwin by James Moore, Adrian Desmond

challenging dark informative sad medium-paced

4.75

Easily readable tome, portraying Darwin as a sort of listless figure whose life was either enveloped in tragedy or anticipating it. And yet, he revolutionized human knowledge despite all this, and in some part, maybe because of it.

The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

challenging informative slow-paced

4.75

Somewhat detail-heavy to warrant the label of "popular science", perhaps, but compelling in its methodology and in how casually Darwin lays out his case while admitting the holes in said theory (and why he's comfortable accepting said theory despite the flaws). A must for everyone interested in science history, but you knew that already.

The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

3.25

Difficult for me to rate this higher on principle - masterful poetry dragged down by a very of-its-time white savior approach to the narrative, which I feel comfortable counting as a major strike against it.

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

People cry at the end of this book? Really? Never once did I get the sense that Emma is a sympathetic figure - Flaubert doesn't mock her per se, but he seems to want us to fear her, draw the reader into the same paranoia that consumes our central character throughout much of this narrative. In that sense, it takes the idea of the romance novel and perverts it, causing us to question our ideas of what it means to love, and whether devotion is as healthy as culture presents it as.

Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

Color me surprised at the score of this one - take the mystery and darkness of Bleak House and ground it with a stronger central character dynamic (that is, a sympathetic love story), and it really succeeds. Dickens' most underappreciated collection of characters, perhaps.

Les Fleurs Du Mal (The Flowers of Evil) by Charles Baudelaire

4.75

Sweeping survey of the human condition (and the feline's, in a couple of excerpts) that deserves reading as one unit first and isolated pieces after the fact.

The Worst President--The Story of James Buchanan by Garry Boulard

fast-paced

2.25

Hardly even a book, not especially well-written and certainly not a straight-up biography. Interesting enough information, but even the worst of U.S. presidents have stories that deserve more in-depth tellings than this.

Imperfect Union: How Jessie and John Frémont Mapped the West, Invented Celebrity, and Helped Cause the Civil War by Steve Inskeep

adventurous informative fast-paced

4.25

Very good introductory work that will introduce some to John and many more to Jessie, even with the title being as hyperbolic as it seems. Not quite full biographies of either of them, but a demonstration of their importance that's presented in an engaging manner.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

challenging emotional relaxing sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Add another vote for the Pride and Prejudice comparisons, but with much more bloodshed (figuratively).

Crimea: The Great Crimean War 1854-1856 by Trevor Royle

2.5

Rather dry prose with some sloppy syntax hurts what should be a more interesting book than it is.