en-US Mon, 31 Jan 2022 23:32:38 -0800 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 34
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkeness bind them

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, The Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit.

In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.
--back cover]]> 398 J.R.R. Tolkien 0618346252 Donna (weegraydog) 5 4.36 1954
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 4.36
book published: 1954
rating: 5
read at: 2020/06/07
date added: 2022/01/31
shelves: bbc-big-read, fantasy, favorites, mla-30-books, young-adult, banned-books
review:

]]> 348914 Alternate cover edition for ISBN: 9780141439556.

Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange, situated on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord. There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before; of the intense relationship between the gypsy foundling Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw; and how Catherine, forced to choose between passionate, tortured Heathcliff and gentle, well-bred Edgar Linton, surrendered to the expectations of her class. As Heathcliff's bitterness and vengeance at his betrayal is visited upon the next generation, their innocent heirs must struggle to escape the legacy of the past.]]> 359 Emily Brontë Donna (weegraydog) 5 3.84 1847
author: Emily Brontë
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1847
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/12/19
shelves: chick-lit, classic-lit, mla-30-books, historical-fiction, britain, bbc-big-read
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]]> 18512 here.

The Companions of the Ring have become involved in separate adventures as the quest continues. Aragorn, revealed as the hidden heir of the ancient Kings of the West, joined with the Riders of Rohan against the forces of Isengard, and took part in the desperate victory of the Hornburg. Merry and Pippin, captured by Orcs, escaped into Fangorn Forest and there encountered the Ents. Gandalf returned, miraculously, and defeated the evil wizard, Saruman. Meanwhile, Sam and Frodo progressed towards Mordor to destroy the Ring, accompanied by SmEagol--Gollum, still obsessed by his 'precious'. After a battle with the giant spider, Shelob, Sam left his master for dead; but Frodo is still alive--in the hands of the Orcs. And all the time the armies of the Dark Lord are massing. J.R.R. Tolkien's great work of imaginative fiction has been labeled both a heroic romance and a classic fantasy fiction. By turns comic and homely, epic and diabolic, the narrative moves through countless changes of scene and character in an imaginary world which is totally convincing in its detail.]]> 404 J.R.R. Tolkien Donna (weegraydog) 5 4.54 1955
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 4.54
book published: 1955
rating: 5
read at: 2020/09/15
date added: 2020/09/15
shelves: fantasy, young-adult, mla-30-books, favorites, bbc-big-read
review:

]]> 15241
Frodo and his Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. They have lost the wizard, Gandalf, in a battle in the Mines of Moria. And Boromir, seduced by the power of the Ring, tried to seize it by force. While Frodo and Sam made their escape, the rest of the company was attacked by Orcs.

Now they continue the journey alone down the great River Anduin -- alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go.]]> 322 J.R.R. Tolkien 0618346260 Donna (weegraydog) 5 4.45 1954
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 4.45
book published: 1954
rating: 5
read at: 2020/07/25
date added: 2020/07/27
shelves: fantasy, young-adult, mla-30-books, favorites, bbc-big-read
review:

]]> 2619 here

Dickens's magnificent novel of guilt, desire, and redemption
The orphan Pip’s terrifying encounter with an escaped convict on the Kent marshes, and his mysterious summons to the house of Miss Havisham and her cold, beautiful ward Estella, form the prelude to his “great expectations.” How Pip comes into a fortune, what he does with it, and what he discovers through his secret benefactor are the ingredients of his struggle for moral redemption.]]> 512 Charles Dickens 0141439564 Donna (weegraydog) 5 3.73 1861
author: Charles Dickens
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1861
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/01/26
shelves: classic-lit, historical-fiction, mla-30-books, britain, bbc-big-read, oprahs-book-club
review:

]]> 526493 1024 Margaret Mitchell Donna (weegraydog) 5 4.32 1936
author: Margaret Mitchell
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1936
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/12/16
shelves: historical-fiction, mla-30-books, america, bbc-big-read, favorites, womens-fiction
review:

]]> 7853157 2106 Anonymous 0718020847 Donna (weegraydog) 4 4.00 1901
author: Anonymous
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1901
rating: 4
read at: 2010/03/12
date added: 2017/09/07
shelves: bibles, christianity, mla-30-books
review:

]]> 1167751 Written in 1948, 1984 was George Orwell's chilling prophecy about the future.

While 1984 has come and gone, Orwell's narrative is more timely than ever. 1984 presents a "negative utopia", that is at once a startling and haunting vision of the world — so powerful that it's completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the power of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of entire generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions — a legacy that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time.]]> 268 George Orwell Donna (weegraydog) 5 4.12 1949
author: George Orwell
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1949
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2017/08/04
shelves: classic-lit, sci-fi, mla-30-books, bbc-big-read, well-educated-mind, dystopian-fiction
review:

]]> 623401  
Since 1926, Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends—Piglet, Owl, Tigger, and the ever doleful Eeyore—have endured as the unforgettable creations of A.A. Milne, who wrote this book for his son, Christopher Robin, and Ernest H. Shepard, who lovingly gave Pooh and his companions shape. 

These characters and their stories are timeless treasures of childhood that continue to speak to all of us with the kind of freshness and heart that distinguishes true storytelling.

"Winnie-the-Pooh is a joy; full of solemn idiocies and the sort of jokes one weeps over helplessly, not even knowing why they are so funny, and with it all the real wit and tenderness which alone could create a priceless little masterpiece." Saturday Review,  1926]]> 161 A.A. Milne 0140361219 Donna (weegraydog) 5 4.33 1926
author: A.A. Milne
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1926
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2015/09/08
shelves: children, mla-30-books, bbc-big-read, animals, fantasy, favorites
review:

]]> 970917 "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

"To Kill A Mockingbird" became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film.]]> 296 Harper Lee 0397001517 Donna (weegraydog) 5 4.35 1960
author: Harper Lee
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1960
rating: 5
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date added: 2015/04/04
shelves: classic-lit, mla-30-books, nea-big-read, young-adult, bbc-big-read, favorites
review:

]]> 425797 Anonymous 0310926041 Donna (weegraydog) 5 bibles, mla-30-books 4.69 1985
author: Anonymous
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 4.69
book published: 1985
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2014/02/09
shelves: bibles, mla-30-books
review:

]]> 4395 The Grapes of Wrath is a landmark of American literature. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. Although it follows the movement of thousands of men and women and the transformation of an entire nation, The Grapes of Wrath is also the story of one Oklahoma family, the Joads, who are driven off their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity.

First published in 1939, The Grapes of Wrath summed up its era in the way that Uncle Tom's Cabin summed up the years of slavery before the Civil War. Sensitive to fascist and communist criticism, Steinbeck insisted that "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" be printed in its entirety in the first edition of the book—which takes its title from the first verse: "He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored." At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck’s fictional chronicle of the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s is perhaps the most American of American Classics.]]> 455 John Steinbeck Donna (weegraydog) 4 3.88 1939
author: John Steinbeck
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1939
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2010/09/06
shelves: america, mla-30-books, nea-big-read, bbc-big-read, pulitzer-winners
review:

]]> 11016 A newer edition is here. An older one can be found here.

A gothic masterpiece of tempestuous passions and dark secrets, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is edited with an introduction and notes by Stevie Davies in Penguin Classics.

Orphaned Jane Eyre grows up in the home of her heartless aunt, where she endures loneliness and cruelty, and at a charity school with a harsh regime. This troubled childhood strengthens Jane's natural independence and spirit - which prove necessary when she finds employment as a governess to the young ward of Byronic, brooding Mr Rochester. As her feelings for Rochester develop, Jane gradually uncovers Thornfield Hall's terrible secret, forcing her to make a choice. Should she stay with Rochester and live with the consequences, or follow her convictions - even if it means leaving the man she loves? A novel of intense power and intrigue, Jane Eyre dazzled readers with its passionate depiction of a woman's search for equality and freedom.]]> 578 Charlotte Brontë Donna (weegraydog) 5 4.23 1846
author: Charlotte Brontë
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1846
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2009/10/22
shelves: chick-lit, classic-lit, historical-fiction, britain, mla-30-books, bbc-big-read, well-educated-mind
review:

]]> 31241
This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition includes a new Introduction by Pulitzer Prize finalist David Gates, in addition to new explanatory notes.]]> 821 Charles Dickens 0679783415 Donna (weegraydog) 5 3.91 1850
author: Charles Dickens
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1850
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2009/10/18
shelves: classic-lit, historical-fiction, mla-30-books, britain, bbc-big-read
review:

]]> 394424
The Prophet is a collection of poetic essays that are philosophical, spiritual, and, above all, inspirational. Gibran’s musings are divided into twenty-eight chapters covering such sprawling topics as love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, work, joy and sorrow, housing, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion, and death.

Each essay reveals deep insights into the impulses of the human heart and mind. The Chicago Post said of The Prophet: “Cadenced and vibrant with feeling, the words of Kahlil Gibran bring to one’s ears the majestic rhythm of Ecclesiastes . . . If there is a man or woman who can read this book without a quiet acceptance of a great man’s philosophy and a singing in the heart as of music born within, that man or woman is indeed dead to life and truth.”

With twelve full-page drawings by Gibran, this beautiful work makes an incredible gift for anyone seeking enlightenment and inspiration.]]> 130 Kahlil Gibran 0394404289 Donna (weegraydog) 2 4.25 1923
author: Kahlil Gibran
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1923
rating: 2
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date added: 2009/10/18
shelves: classic-lit, mla-30-books, philosophy
review:

]]> 5659 “All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.”

For more than a century, The Wind in the Willows and its endearing protagonists—Mole, Water Rat, Badger, and, of course, the incorrigible Toad—have enchanted children of all ages. Whether the four friends are setting forth on an exciting adventure, engaging in a comic caper, or simply relaxing by the River Thames, their stories will surprise and captivate you.

Hailed as one of the most enduringly popular works of the twentieth century, this story is a classic of magical fancy and enchanting wit. Penned in lyrical prose, the adventures and misadventures of the book’s intrepid quartet of heroes raise fantasy to the level of myth. Reflecting the freshness of childhood wonder, it still offers adults endless sophistication, substance, and depth.

The animals’ world embodies the author’s wry, whimsical, and unfailingly inventive imagination. It is a world that succeeding generations of both adult and young readers have found irresistible. But why say more? To use the words of the estimable Mr. Toad himself: “Travel, change, interest, excitement!...Come inside.”]]> 197 Kenneth Grahame 0143039091 Donna (weegraydog) 5 4.02 1908
author: Kenneth Grahame
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1908
rating: 5
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date added: 2009/10/18
shelves: children, classic-lit, mla-30-books, bbc-big-read
review:

]]> 6329250
When Lord of the Flies appeared in 1954 it received unprecedented reviews for a first novel. Critics used such phrases as "beautifully written, tragic and provocative...vivid and enthralling...this beautiful and desperate book...completely convincing and often very frightening...its progress is magnificent...like a fragment of a nightmare...a dizzy climax of terror...the terrible spell of this book..." E.M. Forester chose it as the Outstanding Novel of the Year. Time and Tide touched upon perhaps the most important facet of this book when it said, "It is not only a first-rate adventure story but a parable of our times," and articles on this and subsequent Golding novels have stressed these twin aspects of Golding: a consummate control of the novel form, and a superb all-encompassing vision of realitty which communicates itself with a power reminiscent of Conrad.

Cover design by Barbara Koontz]]> 192 William Golding Donna (weegraydog) 5 3.73 1954
author: William Golding
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1954
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2009/10/18
shelves: classic-lit, young-adult, mla-30-books, bbc-big-read
review:

]]> 5669151 62 Charles Dickens 1440423911 Donna (weegraydog) 5 4.06 1843
author: Charles Dickens
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1843
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2009/10/18
shelves: classic-lit, mla-30-books, bbc-big-read
review:

]]> 1618 226 Mark Haddon 1400032717 Donna (weegraydog) 5 3.89 2003
author: Mark Haddon
name: Donna (weegraydog)
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2009/10/14
shelves: mla-30-books, favorites, mystery-misc
review:

]]>