100 BEST NOVELS? PT. 10.

 

Here's the final 10 books on the list:

91.  Tobacco Road, Erskine Caldwell, 1932.  Caldwell's look at dirt poor white farmers in rural Georgia during the depression is one wild read.  Its characters are mostly foolish and engage in crazy behaviors  but there is a sadness to them also.  In some ways it reads like a more real, less poetic version of The Grapes of Wrath, and I would suggest reading both books together. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

92.  Ironweed, William Kennedy, 1983.  Set in the depression, this is the bleak story of one man returning to the hometown he left after he inadvertently caused a family tragedy.  Suffused with pain and sadness, this is no pleasant read,  but it's often worth it for Kennedy's moving style.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? Yes.

93.  The Magus, John Fowles, 1965.  This novel starts off in England years after WWII and it follows a young Englishman who moves to Greece to teach English.  There he runs into a wealthy recluse who may or may not have collaborated with the Nazis during their occupation of the town.  Gradually the older man draws the younger man into some bizarre head games (think Eyes Wide Shut).  This sometimes nutty book is fun to read, even if it often stretches credibility. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? Yes, this may be the silliest book on the list, but I can't say I didn't enjoy it!

94.  Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys, 1966.  Rhys did an interesting thing in this novel, she wrote a prequel to Charlotte Bronte's 1847 novel Jane Eyre, told from the point of view of that story's "mad woman in the attic", giving a more sympathetic portrayal of the character.   DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? Yes.  Honestly, this one is hard for me rate because I've never read Jane Eyre, (I've seen a movie version, but that doesn't really count) so I'm not quite sure how to respond to it since so much of it relies on knowledge of that novel.  I may need to reread it after reading Jane Eyre, but for now I'll keep it on the list.

95.  Under the Net, Iris Murdoch, 1954.  An amusing little shaggy dog story, Murdoch's novel deals with a low life writer who barely makes a living by doing translations.  His search for money and a place to stay leads him to some odd places (at one point he kidnaps a movie star dog!), and the novel is really more a  series of episodes than a single story. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? Yes, but I wouldn't call it great.

96.  Sophie's Choice,William Styron, 1979.  Based on Styron's own experiences and set in Brooklyn a few years after WWII, this is about a young writer who comes to know a married couple in his apartment.  Eventually he discovers that the wife was persecuted by the Nazis in Poland.  This is a lively and fun to read book that often uses humor to offset the sadness of the story. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? Yes.

97.  The Sheltering Sky, Paul Bowles, 1949.  A dark look at a failing relationship, Bowles's novel has a married couple traveling through the North African desert. The story takes some surprising turns, and  while I don't always believe all of the characters decisions, it's still an interesting read.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? Yes.

98.  The Postman Always Rings Twice, James M.  Cain, 1934.  A thrilling, exciting crime novel that pulsates with sex and violence, this is one fun read.  A young drifter gets a job at a diner and starts to fall for his boss's wife.  Together they plan to kill her husband, and that's just the beginning of the story. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? Yes.

99.  The Ginger Man, J. P. Donleavy, 1955.  American born Irishman Donleavy sets his novel in Dublin in 1947.  The main character is a reprobate, a drunken, unfaithful and abusive husband.  The novel features shifting tones and points of view, and while it's sometimes interesting, it felt to me like mostly 10 cent Joyce. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No.

100. The Magnificent Ambersons, Booth Tarkington, 1918.  Tarkington's well written account of a wealthy turn of the century American family's fall is an excellent look at the changes that occurred in the US during the industrial revolution. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? Yes.

Well, that's it.  All 100 of the books read and reviewed.  I hope anybody reading this will find some books on the list that interest them.  And for the record, there are 29 novels that I don't think deserve to be on the list.  I thought about doing a last list of 29 novels that I think should be on the list instead of those,  but I had a hard time coming up with that many great books (that I've read) in the 20th century.  So I'll just say again, I don't understand how To Kill a Mockingbird is not on this list!

100 BEST NOVELS? PT. 9

 Here's the next 10 titles on the list:

81.  The Adventures of Augie March, Saul Bellows, 1953.  Following the life of a relatively unexceptional individual, there's little real plot in this story as its protagonist drifts from one job to another without really finding a calling. Not bad, but at times the book feels as aimless as its main character.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No, Bellows is already represented by the superior Henderson the Rain King.

82.  Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner, 1971.  A excellent American tale; a 58 year old historian writes about the difficulties his grandfather had as a  miner a century earlier.  Stegner's use of authentic letters written by people of the time, along with his addition of real historical figures as characters adds to to the realism of this well written novel.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

83.  A Bend in the River, V. S. Naipaul, 1979.  Set in the mid 20th. century in an unnamed African country that has just become independent, Naipaul effectively looks at the changes that Africa went through at the time through the eyes of an Indian Muslim shopkeeper.  It's a dark look at the growing pains of a new country, told through the eyes of someone who sees himself as an outsider. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

84.  The Death of the Heart, Elizabeth Bowen, 1938.  A rambling story about an awkward and naive 16 year old girl and her inability to understand the adults around her.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No, while I hate to take a female author off the list, I found this book mostly slow and unengaging.

85.  Lord Jim, Joseph Conrad, 1900.  Another nautical Conrad tale, as a young seaman makes a tragic mistake on a voyage and then tries to redeem himself on another. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No, while this isn't a bad adventure yarn, Conrad already has 3 other titles on the list.

86.  Ragtime, E. L. Doctorow, 1975.  Set in the early years of the 20th century, Doctorow's novel is one of the most entertaining books on the list, as a wealthy New York family sees the changes that the new century brings.  It's laced with humor while not ignoring the difficulties of the time, and Doctorow weaves historical figures effectively into his story.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

87.  The Old Wives' Tale, Arnold Bennett, 1908.  A simple story about the lives of two very different sisters, one of whom runs off with a traveling salesman(!). DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No, this mostly slow and unmemorable, and as a chronicle of the difficulties that women faced at that time, it doesn't work as well as Edith Wharton's novels do.

88.  The Call of the Wild, Jack London, 1903.  London's most famous novel tells a terrific story  from the point of view of a dog that's kidnapped from its pampered pet lifestyle in California and forced to pull a  dogsled in Alaska.  As our canine hero spends more time with other dogs, it starts to feel the desire to leave humans behind. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

89.  Loving, Henry Green, 1945.  An upstairs/downstairs WWII novel, this is set in an Irish country house in which the conflicts between the servants and the masters rage on as the war does. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No, although this is a close call for me.  While I admire Green's wit and style, quite frankly there so many characters in this novel that keeping them all straight was a  bit dizzying for me.  

90.  Midnight's Children, Salmen Rushdie, 1981.  An unusual fantasy  (or magic realism) story about how a child born in India in 1947 at the stroke of midnight on the night that England turned the country over to India is endowed with magical powers, as are all the children of India born at that moment.  Rushdie's uses this fantastical story to paint a dark picture of India's transition. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes, although I'm not always a fan of stories that mix magic and history (like The Tin Drum), Rushdie does a good job of not going too far into the magical elements of the story, making this a very interesting tale.

100 BEST NOVELS? PT. 8

 

Here are the next 10 titles on the list:

71.  A High Wind in Jamaica, Richard Hughes, 1929.  When an English family living in Jamaica has their plantation ruined in a storm, they take a ship back to England and are beset by pirates.  This is an unusual nautical tale in that it's mostly about the family's children who wind up being held by the pirates, who aren't all bad.  There are some moments in the novel that don't ring true (one character's death is strangely shrugged off), but for the most part this a lively and interesting tale. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

72.  A House for Mr Biswas,V. S. Naipaul, 1961.  Set in rural Trinidad and Tobago, and loosely based on the life of Naipaul's own father, this is a very good look at one mans' difficult life.  It also makes some interesting points about colonialism and religion.  There are some slow parts, and the ending is an anticlimax, but it's mostly good. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

73.  The Day of the Locust, Nathanael West, 1939.  A rambling but engrossing look at an odd group of people mostly just getting by in Hollywood (the main character paints backdrops for movies).  A riotous movie premiere makes for a surprising (but fitting) ending. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

74.  A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway, 1929.  Based on Hemingway's own experiences serving in Italy during WWI, this is my personal favorite Hemingway novel.  Along with realistically depicting the war,  it's also a tender, sad love story.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

75.  Scoop, Evelyn Waugh, 1938.  Based partly on Waugh's own experiences working at The Daily Mail newspaper, this amusing satire is about a young columnist who is, due to a name mixup,  sent as a correspondent to a (fictional) East African country he knows nothing about. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? No.  While Waugh's cynical view of journalism is often clever, I don't think this novel reaches the level of greatness, and Waugh's better known Brideshead Revisited is more worthy of being on the list.

76.  The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark, 1961.  Set in 1930's Edinburgh, this novel tells the story of a school teacher and the six ten year old girls that she has a strong (but not always good!) influence on, even as they eventually leave her class.  What might at first seem like a sentimental look at an inspirational teacher winds up in a darker place. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

77.  Finnigan's Wake, James Joyce, 1939.  It took Joyce 17 years to write a followup to Ulysses, and the result was easily the most difficult to read famous novel ever written.  According to Wikipedia, Joyce created his own language for the novel "composed of composite words from some sixty to seventy world languages", and I don't doubt it.  Add to that the 10 examples of 100 letter words (!), and I'm sure you can understand why this novel took me longer to finish than any other. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? I'm going to say no for now, because too much of this book gave me a headache.  But famed literary critic Joseph Campbell has written a "translation" of the novel, and I may revisit it with his guidance.  

78.  Kim, Rudyard Kipling, 1901.  Set in India, Kipling tells a fun adventure story about a young orphan who embarks on a spiritual journey with a Tibetan Llama and gets mixed up in some British/ Russian spy intrigue.  Although a bit too long, Kipling's look at turn of the century India is always fascinating. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

79.  A Room With a View, E. M Forster, 1908.  A love story that begins in Italy in 1900,  this is a mostly successful, relatively straightforward story (that has an interesting anti religious undercurrent running through it). DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? No, while this certainly isn't bad, Forster's staid style keeps it from greatness.  The only Forster novel that I think should be on the list is A Passage to India.

80.  Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh, 1945.  Starting in 1923 and ending during WWII, Waugh's most famous novel deals with a young aspiring painter and his relationship with a wealthy family that live in an estate called Brideshead.  The various romantic entanglements  and the buildup to the war are all well described by Waugh.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

100 Best Novels? Pt. 7

 Here's the next ten books on the list:

61.  Death Comes for the Archbishop, Willa Cather, 1927.  More a collection of short stories around a theme than a novel, Cather's book is about Catholic missionaries in New Mexico in the late 19th. century.  Although at times slow, Cather's style is mostly engaging, and the sympathetic view of the Native Americans that the missionaries meet was very progressive for the time. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

62.  From Here to Eternity, James Jones, 1951.  So many stories have been told about soldiers at war, so few have told about soldiers at peace, which is the theme of this extremely entertaining novel.  Based on Jones's own experiences as a soldier based in Hawaii and  set in 1941 before the Pearl Harbor bombing (which does happen at the end), Jones goes into the details of everyday life for the soldiers, and it's not always pretty.  (Believe me, if you've only seen the famous 1953 movie, you really don't know this story!).  Surprisingly foul mouthed and honest about sexuality, this is a great read. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

63. The Wapshot Chronicles, John Cheever, 1957.   A semi-autobiographical novel about an eccentric family living in a fishing village in Massachusetts.  Perhaps better known as being the first book recommended by the Book of the Month Club that had the word "fuck" in it, and for having a main character that has  bisexual tendencies, then for its quality.  Although it certainly isn't a bad book, it's far from memorable. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No.

64.  The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger, 1951.  I first read this book in high school, and it spoke deeply to me.  Decades later I think it still holds up as the ultimate story about the difficulties of teenage boyhood.  Still taught in high schools to this day, this is an absolute classic. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes, in fact I think it should be higher up.

65.  A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess, 1962.  Another rare Science Fiction selection on the list, Burgess's dark tale told from the point of view of an amoral teenage thug was sharply prescient in its look at juvenile crime and government overreaction.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

66.  Of Human Bondage, W. Somerset Maugham, 1915.  Maugham's  semi-autobiographical novel about a young slightly crippled man and the waitress he becomes obsessed with is one of the best stories about sexual desire I've ever read.  A classic. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes, higher up.

67.  Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad, 1902.  Conrad's most famous novel, based on his own experiences traveling by steamer in the Congo, is a searing look at British colonialism and a powerfully written story that has influenced any number of movies and books over the years.   DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes, I would put it higher on the list and take off 2 of the other Conrad novels, Lord Jim and Nostromo.

68.  Main Street, Sinclair Lewis, 1920.  Set in the fictional town of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, this is an amusing novel about an ambitious, educated  young librarian who works in a Chicago library.  After she marries  a doctor, he convinces her to return to his small hometown  with him to live.  Almost immediately  she sets out to improve the town, causing some inevitable friction.  This is a charming, feminist story that has a likable lead who's far from perfect.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

69.  The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton, 1905.  Like her other novel on the list (The Age of Innocence), this is a sad novel about a young woman who's life is ruined by the sexism and classism of the time.  Bleak, but an interesting chronicle of a time and place. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

70.  The Alexandria Quartet, Laurence Durrell, 1957, 1958, 1958, 1960.  Set in Egypt during the 1930's, Durrell's 4 novels each tell the same story from different points of view.  The fact that the narrative often skips around in time without warning makes this already difficult series hard to follow.  And while there are some interesting parts, (the description of a homophobic hate crime in the second novel is certainly interesting, and unusual for the time)  overall the series feels too complicated and not worth the concentration. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No.

100 BEST NOVELS? PT. 6

 Here's the next 10 titles on the list:

51.  The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer, 1948.  Considered the first popular novel about WWII and based on Mailer's own military experiences, this is a painfully realistic and sharply written war novel.  Along with deglamorizing war, Mailer also works in some moments of absurd satire, beating Heller's Catch-22 to the punch by years. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

52. Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth, 1969.  Roth's funny story based on his own years of childhood and young adulthood has a breathless pace and was considered groundbreaking in its extremely honest look at a young boy's puberty. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes, but it's not my favorite Roth novel, I prefer The Human Stain and American Pastoral.

53.  Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov, 1962.  This novel is more famous for its unusual style than its story.  It mostly contains a long poem, with many footnotes.  The footnotes wind up telling a story, allowing the reader to either read the whole novel straight through in order, or to jump back and fourth from the poem to the foot notes.  (This is not  an easy book to read on a Kindle!)  And then there's ambiguity beyond that, making this a truly unusual read.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? No, the style may be interesting, but the story itself is not so engaging.  I think just Lolita from Nabokov is enough.

54.  Light in August, William Faulkner, 1932.  Another difficult but rewarding Faulkner novel that avoids traditional narrative as it illustrates the lives of Southern characters in the 1920's and the sexual and racial trauma they endure. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? Yes.

55.  On the Road, Jack Kerouac, 1957.  Written in 5 parts in a famously immediate style that details the travels of Kerouac and his friends as they take drugs, groove on jazz music, and have a wild time.  One of the most famous American novels ever, I think it really holds up well. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? Yes.

56.  The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett, 1930.  Probably the most famous detective mystery novel ever written, Hammett's terse style contains treacherous dames, sadistic villains, a twisty plot, and, of course, a hard boiled, hard drinking hero in a trench coat.  Wildly entertaining. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? Yes.

57.  Parade's End, Ford Maddox Ford, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1928.  4 Novels detailing the lives of some upperclass English people before during and after WWI.  While the war parts are interesting, much of what precedes it is quite dull. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? No, I  think that Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front and Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms are both better WWI novels.

58.  The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton, 1920.  The only female author to have 2 novels on the list, the American Wharton captured the sexist double standards of the time in both of them.  Here, she tells the story of a well off young man who falls in love with an unconventional, "fallen" woman that society prevents him from marrying,   DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? Yes.

59. Zuleika Dobson, MaxBeerbohm, 1911.  Painfully dated satire about a lovely young female magician's assistant whose arrival at Oxford sends the whole student body into a tizzy of romantic longing.  But she only thinks that she can love someone who doesn't love her!  I imagine that this novel was the height of wit over a 100 years ago, but now it just feels strange and unbelievable.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? No.

60.  The Movie Goer, Walker Percy, 1961.  Set in New Orleans, this is about a successful stock broker and Korean war veteran looking for meaning in the changing South.  Not a lot of plot, here, instead the book has much philosophizing (Percy was a big fan of  Kierkegaard).  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? Yes, as you can guess from the summary, this novel is not for everyone, but its odd style was worth following for me.

100 BEST NOVELS? PT. 5

 

Here's the next ten titles on the list:

41.  Lord of the Flies, William Golding, 1954.  Still taught in schools, this is an absolute classic about how even the most proper little English gentlemen can become savages under the right conditions.  It's a tragic disturbing story that still OK for kids to read.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes, how could it not be? 

42.  Deliverance, James Dickey, 1972.  Considering how many of these novels are reserved  in their style, it was bracing for me to read a modern  novel that's part adventure story and part dissertation on the savage nature of men.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

43.  A Dance to the Music of Time, Anthony Powell, 1951, 1952, 1955, 1957, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975.  If you're wondering about all the publishing dates, that's because this twelve volume series was counted as only one novel on the list!  Based on Powell's own life as a publisher, writer and officer during WWII, the sprawling narrative of this series begins just after WWI and ends in 1969.  While it's an impressive feat for Powell to have written all of it, quite frankly it's often tedious.  Not surprisingly, it's often hard to keep all the characters straight, and much of the novel feels like pointless gossip passed at social gatherings.  It's not all bad, Powell's writing about the way the different men in the war related to each other is interesting, and the odd recurring character of  Kenneth Widmerpool, a politician with possible Communist leanings who winds up in a hippie cult(!), is memorable.  But overall, this isn't worth the effort. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Obviously not, I think Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited covers much of the same ground in less time. 

44.  Point Counterpoint, Aldous Huxley, 1928.  Based on people Huxley knew, the style here eschews plot to tell several overlapping stories.  As an idea, it's ambitious, but as an actual novel it's not easy to follow.  The most interesting thread, not surprisingly, is that of an intellectual vainly looking for proof of the divine in the world.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No, I think one novel from Huxley is enough.

45.  The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway 1926.  Hemingway's melancholy look at Americans traveling from Paris to Spain in the 1920's is perhaps his most famous work.  While I certainly don't share his love of bullfighting, I still consider it a great novel. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

46.  The Secret Agent, Joseph Conrad, 1907.  The rare Conrad novel not about seafaring in foreign lands, this is a dark thriller about a foreign agent living in London who carries out terrorist attacks.  Sadly, decades later the main characters manifestoes influenced the Unabomber.  Still, a very good read. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

47.  Nostromo, Joseph Conrad, 1904.  Set in a fictional South American land, this deals with an Englishmen trying to get the rights to a silver mine.  While there are some exciting moments, much of the story bogs down into detail about the politics of the fictional country, making this a lesser Conrad novel.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Obviously not, especially given how Conrad has 3 other novels on the list.

48.  The Rainbow, D. H. Lawrence, 1915.  Set in England and spanning three generations of the same family, this was another controversial at the time novel for Lawrence, as one young woman's search for love leads her to another woman.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes, I would replace Your Sons and Lovers with this one.

49.  Women in Love, D. H. Lawrence, 1920.  A sequel to The Rainbow, this has far less scope and deals mainly with the marriages of two couples.  Once again, controversial in its sexual subject matter at the time. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No, I think The Rainbow is the only Lawrence that needs to be on the list.

50.  Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller, 1934.  Miller's novel is probably more famous for the controversy around its publishing than its content.  It was first published in Paris in 1934, didn't reach America until 1961, and was finally ruled "non obscene" by the US Supreme Court in 1964. Is it worth all the attention?  Well, it's certainly not dull.  Part autobiography, part fiction, written almost more as a sustained screed than a story (and the swearing is prodigious even by modern standards), it's not for everyone.. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes, but, again, not for everyone. 

100 BEST NOVELS ? PT. 4

 

Here's the next ten books on the list:

31.  Animal Farm, George Orwell, 1944.  Written 4 years before 1984, Orwell was already satirizing Communism in this amusing story of farmyard animals who overthrow their farmer oppressor, improving their lives for a short while, before corruption sets in.  While not exactly subtle this, stark view of a brutal society run by a dictator pig is almost as famous as 1984 is. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No, 1984 is so good that it can stand alone as the only Orwell, especially since both books are quite similar in their satire.

32.  The Golden Bowl, Henry James, 1904.  I've already made my strong dislike of James's writing known, and if you don't like one of his books, you won't like any of them as his style stayed the same.  This novel has a series of  romantic entanglements that  James envelopes in his  rambling manner, and it's as dull as usual. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No!

33.  Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser, 1900.  This covers a lot of the same territory as Dreiser's other book on the list, An American Tragedy, as it once again deals with class, sex and scandal in what was then modern America.  Here, "fallen" women Carrie becomes the mistress of more than one man before becoming an unlikely star of the stage. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No, as I felt with Animal Farm, I don't think 2 novels by the same author that cover similar ground need to be on the list.

34.  A Handful of Dust, Evelyn Waugh, 1934.  This is the first of 3 novels that the English Waugh has on the list.  It deals with a very restrained, English marriage and  affair that interestingly recounts the difficulties of obtaining a divorcee at that time.  The story takes an odd turn when the embittered husband goes traveling for a lost city in the Amazon! DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No, while this novel is quite good, I don't think that Waugh needs to have 3 on the list, so I would lose this one in lieu of the more famous Brideshead Revisited.

35.  As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner, 1930.  Easier to read than The Sound and the Fury, this dark, funny novel is told from the point of view of 15 different characters.  It's about a large Southern family trying to meet the last request of their mother that she be buried in her hometown.  Most of the novel is about the long, arduous journey they make together. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes, Faulkner's style here is bracing and original.

36.  All the King's Men,Robert Penn Warren, 1946.  Based on the life of Southern politician Huey Long, this tells the story of a corrupt, populist governor from the point of view of the reporter who follows his political rise.  Unfortunately, the story also goes into detail about the reporter investigating his own family's history, which I found nowhere near as interesting as the corrupt politician part.  This is one of the few novels that actually works better as a movie, (directed by Robert Rossen, it won Best Picture in 1949),  because it stuck to the political part of the novel and cut out the rest. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No, this is a close call for me, but I just found it too uneven to include it.

37.  The Bridges of San Luis Rey, Thornton Wilder, 1927.  Set in Peru during the 16th century, Wilder's novel has an intriguing premise.  After a rope bridge breaks and six people die, a local friar investigates their lives, trying to find meaning in their deaths.  Although the story rambles at  times, I mostly enjoyed it.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

38.  Howard's End, E. M. Forster, 1910.  Forster's second novel on the list deals with class and infidelity  in early 20th century England.  While Forster effectively lays out the various romantic stories well, the slowness of the novel sometimes sinks it for me.  I also found myself wishing that Forster's style weren't so bloodless, a common problem with early century English writing., Still, worth a read for most people. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No, again, when looking at authors with more than one book on the list, I think's it's best to be more critical of each, and this isn't as good as A Passage to India.

39.  Go Tell it on the Mountain, James Baldwin, 1953.  Baldwin's autobiographical tale of growing up the son of a preacher is great.  Baldwin poetically writes about the various lives of the church members as he also recalls his own childhood, and his style is gorgeous.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes, and I think that another Baldwin novel, Another Country, should also be on the list.

40.  The Heart of the Matter, Graham Greene,  1948.  Based on Greene's own experiences as a British intelligence officer in Sierra Leone during WWII.  The hero is in charge of security on the island and is in a loveless marriage with an unhappy wife.  Inevitably they both eventually fall into affairs, while the hero's position of authority pushes him towards corruption.  A bit slow, but mostly interesting, this is another tragic  story about British people in a foreign land. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? Yes.

100 BEST NOVELS? PT. 3

 Here's the next 10 titles on the list, and a chance to hear about my biggest disagreement with the list.

21.  Henderson the Rain King, Saul Bellow, 1953.  An odd, somewhat amusing look at middle aged 1950's while male disillusionment.  Bellow's hero is a fiftyish man who, disappointed with his well off life, travels to Africa.  But his attempts to play white savior there are not as successful as he expected them to be.  This is an amusing and mostly interesting novel, with some unusual plot twists.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes, even though I didn't love it.

22. Appointment in Samarra, John O'Hara, 1934.  A dark story about a reasonably well off Cadillac salesman who throws his life on the rails in the space of 3 days.  Controversial in its time for some frank sexual descriptions, this is a pretty bleak look at man self destructing for little obvious reason.  Not a fun read, but a good one.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

23.  U. S. A., John Dos Passos,  1930,1932, 1936.  A trilogy that features some innovative writing in an attempt to give a broad overview of the country at the time.  Passos follows a dozen characters, while also incorporating descriptions of news articles and song lyrics, short biographies of real historical figures of the time, and stream of consciousness memories to patch together a unique look at the US. Although the stream of consciousness sections  don't really work for me, and I wish that not  all 12 of the  characters in his overview were white, this is still an ambitious and impressive series.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

24. Winesburg Ohio, Sherwood Anderson, 1919.  Not really a novel so much as a short story cycle, Anderson provides short 22 snapshots of life in a fictional small town.  Loneliness and isolation are themes repeated as few people in the town seem truly happy.  This negative view of small town America is confirmed by the last story's uplifting ending.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

25.  A Passage to India, E.  M.  Forster,  1924.  Based on Forster's own experiences in India in the previous decade, this is a great look at the unjustness of the English colonial system in India.  It focuses on the trial of an Indian doctor and the well off white woman who accuses him of rape.  Powerfully written, and controversial in its day, it holds up well, in my estimation. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

26.  The Wings of the Dove, Henry James, 1902.  I first encountered James when I was assigned to read one of his short stories in college, and within the first paragraph I knew that I wasn't going to like him.  To put it kindly, his style is discursive, to put it honestly, it's painfully rambling.  His sentences and paragraphs seem to run on forever, with their meaning winding up lost to me.  There's the seed of an interesting love triangle here, but buried in this style it's not worth it!  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No!

27.  The Ambassadors, Henry James, 1903.  I just finished trashing James, and here I go again.  As always, I find his style unbearably dull, and this story of romance among Americans in Paris is as boring to me as The Wings of the Dove was. Amazingly, James has 3 three titles on this list, tying him with Faulkner for the most by an American author, so obviously he has admirers.  But Mark Twain wasn't one of them, as he's supposed to have said “Once you've put one of his [Henry James] books down, you simply can't pick it up again.”  Amen, brother!  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No!

28.  Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1934.  Fitzgerald based this sad story on his own disintegrating relationship with his mentally ill wife Zelda.  It's a bitter look at relationships as a psychologist and his wife engage in affairs and hurt each other repeatedly.  As a chronicle of Fitzgerald's own life, this is quite good, but as an actual novel I think it falls short, with its downbeat ending foreshadowed from the first page. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No, I think Gatsby is enough Fitzgerald.

29. Studs Lonigan,  James T. Farrell, 1932, 1934, 1935.   A trilogy of books about the life of a young man living in an Irish Catholic neighborhood in Chicago, starting from his teen years and ending when he's 30.  This is an honest and well written look at a young man who leads an unremarkable but always interesting life.  The hardest part about reading it is that it's almost too honest, with many characters having racist and antisemitic attitudes that lead to them carrying out what can only be called hate crimes.  While it's clear that Farrell himself does not agree with these beliefs, and that he's realistically portraying what people in that neighborhood at that time believed, it can still make for tough reading. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes, but like I said, it's not always an easy read.

30.  The Good Soldier, Ford Maddox Ford, 1915.  Told mostly in flashbacks, Ford uses an unreliable narrator to look at the breakdown of a seemingly perfect marriage.  Like James, I find Ford's style hard to get through at times, although there are some good parts here. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  No, Ford has another novel on this list, and I don't think that he needs 2.

THE 100 BEST NOVELS? PT.2

 So here's my take on the next ten novels on the list:

11. Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry, 1947.  Lowry's novel is the dark, brooding story of an alcoholic member of the British consul residing in Quauhnahuac, Mexico.  Told over the course of one day (which just happens to be The Day of the Dead), the consul considers his life, drinks heavily and gets a surprise visit from his estranged wife, who's trying to repair their relationship.  As you might imagine, this isn't the happiest of stories, and at times I found its bleakness tough to get through.  Still, this may inspire a lot of people to quit drinking, and that's something.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? Yes, but not so high up.

12.  The Way of All Flesh, Samuel Butler, 1903. A semi-autobiographical novel that traces 4 generations of one family, it's main theme is about the hypocrisy of the Victorian era church of England.  The main character, Ernest, finds himself becoming a priest and then losing his faith as his attempts to "save" the poor fail.  As an atheist, I'm sympathetic to this viewpoint, but the book's style is a little too formalized and dull for me to completely recommend it.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Again, yes, but not so high up.

13.  1984, George Orwell, 1948.  One of the most influential (and widely referenced) novels every written, Orwell's masterpiece continues to entrance.  Although his target at the time was Communist Russia, its themes of government dominance and surveillance were (and are) universal.  Truly, people who have never even heard of this novel know the words "Big Brother".  Yes, this is a very bleak novel (with an unforgettable ending), but it's one that still should be read and revered.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes, obviously.  In fact I think it should be higher.

14.  I, Claudius, Robert Graves, 1934.  Based on many historical texts, Graves tells the true story of unlikely Roman Emperor Claudius from his own point of view.  His depiction of ancient Rome as a hotbed of deceit, murder and madness makes for mostly gripping reading, with Claudius's mother Livia standing out as particularly sadistic character.    DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

15.  To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf, 1927.  The first novel on the list written by a woman, this is about a large family over the space of a decade.  It's an unusual novel in which there is little plot or dialogue, with most of it made up of different interior monologues by separate characters.  This makes it a challenging read, but one well worth trying.   It's actually very moving in some passages, especially towards the end, and the self doubting nature of aspiring painter Lily clearly reflects Woolf's own feelings about her art.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

16.  An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser, 1925.  Dreiser's excellent look at sexual relationships and class consciousness is a story that never dates.  A young man from a poor family has social ambitions, including marrying into a wealthy family.  But a woman from his past interferes, and he goes to drastic measures to deal with her unwanted pregnancy.  Based on a true story, this is gripping stuff.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? Yes.

17.  The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers, 1940.  McCullers is the second female author on the list, and honestly, I had never heard of her before.  For me, this novel was a revelation, and it's one of my favorite books on the list.  McCullers perspective of the American South in the 1930's  feels totally different  than that of, say Faulkner.    With it hints of homosexuality and discussions of radical political beliefs, McCullers's novel doesn't feel dated at all.  Great. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? Oh, Yes.

18.  Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut, 1969.  Vonnegut's surreal, funny, unusual style is an acquired taste for some.  Personally, I mostly love his work (I've read quite a few of his books), and this is probably his masterpiece.  Although it has a crazy, science fiction plot about a man unstuck in time, much of it is about Vonnegut's own experiences as a soldier in WWII during the bombing of the German town of Dresden. Episodic (to say the least), and don't expect it all to make sense.   DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes, and I think that Mother Night should be too.

19.  Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison, 1952.  The first novel written by a person of color, Ellison's wild, poetic, and sometimes surreal recount of one black man's life and his activities in  a civil rights group is often mesmerizing.  I imagine that it was considered even more surprising in 1952! The cynical view that Ellison takes of both unions and civil rights groups can make the story seem almost too down beat, but it's never boring. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

20. Native Son, Richard Wright, 1940.  This is the second book on the list by a person of color.  Wright's uncompromising, brutal and often violent look at race relations in America packs a wallop decades later.  A young black man  goes to work for a white family as a servant, which leads to shocking tragedy.  Although there may be one too many long discussions about Marxism, this is a mostly deeply engrossing and powerful novel. DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

THE 100 BEST NOVELS? PT.1

 

Way back in 1998, the Modern Library polled their board of review (which included such luminaries  as Gore Vidal and Edmund Morris) to make a list of the 100 best novels written in the English language in the 20th. century.  (I don't have space to show the whole list; you can link to it here).  As an avid reader, I scanned the list with interest and was a bit chagrinned to discover that I had only read a measly 19 of them, not to mention the fact that lot of them were completely unknown to me. The list stuck in my mind for a long time, and back in 2014 I decided to work my way through it; just days ago I finished the 81 novels I hadn't read. (Being in lockdown sped up the process). It's been quite the literary experience.

Before I get into the novels specifically, let's look the list overall: sadly, but not surprisingly, it's stacked with white men.  There are only 5 authors of color, only 9 novels written by women (Edith Wharton has 2), and no women of color.  The lack of diversity leads to some  omissions that are really surprising: Harper Lee's  To Kill  A Mockingbird is still taught in schools and is considered an American classic, but it's not on the list.  Neither is Erica Jong's hilarious Fear of Flying, Toni Morrison's Beloved, or Alice Walker's The Color Purple, the last two of which won Pulitzer Prizes.  

Yet another bias is shown in that most of the novels are written by British authors, and, putting it bluntly, "a story about the lives and loves of upperclass English white people" could summarize a lot of the novels on the list.  Another plot that arises often is a story about a white person traveling through an"exotic" and "mysterious" foreign country.  I imagine this was something that interested a lot of readers in England throughout the early to mid 20th century, as it pops up in novels as diverse as Evelyn Waugh's satirical Scoop and Joseph Conrad's bleak look at colonialism, Heart of Darkness.  (Conrad, it should, be mentioned, has 4 novels on the list, the most of any author). 

There's also a  downplaying of the importance of genre novels, with only a handful of Science Fiction novels, one mystery novel, and no horror, fantasy, or children's ones (although Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children has fantasy elements).  There's no Lord of the Rings, or I Robot, even though they were huge in their respective genres.  And don't forget that the highly influential The Wizard of Oz was written in 1900, and it should be on the list in my opinion.  So should something by Agatha Christie, sure she may have written formulaic mysteries, but she obviously had a lot of importance and popularity in that field, and deserves to have one novel on the list.  (And Then There Were None is perhaps her most influential novel, and one that's breaks the pattern of her other mysteries, so I think that should be the one).

Another bias is that most of the novels were published before 1950, with none from the 1990's chosen. A point could be made that this reflects the fact that the ones on the list  have withstood the test of time, but it also means that well regarded novels from the 90's,  like say Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh or the first Harry Potter book, were overlooked.

Despite all of those criticisms, I still thought it was a good thing to release the list, and I'm glad I read all the novels, even if I didn't care for them all.   (And, I will freely admit, I did often use wikipedia and some other online sources to help my understanding of some of them).  Here, then are my brief takes on the top ten novels, complete with a simple yes or no question at the end: DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  I'll post my feelings about the next novels on the list soon.

1.  Ulysses, James Joyce, 1922.  I read this novel in a college class decades ago, and sometimes we would spend half an hour dissecting the meanings and references of a single page.  Yes, this novel is famously dense and difficult, as it shifts tones and picks up stream of consciousness thinking; it's also often breathtaking and stunningly beautiful.  Leopold Bloom takes a walk around Dublin Ireland, and finds, well, that's the tricky part.  Controversial and banned in many places after its publication, it still exudes a fascination worth trying.  DO I THINK IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST? Yes, absolutely.

2.  The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald, 1925.  Fitzgerald's classic novel of lust and jealousy in the jazz age feels as evergreen as Ulysses.  It's still often taught in high school literature classes, and the reason is obvious: the themes of class and lost love still ring true.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

3.  A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce, 1916.  Joyce's first novel is by far his most accessible.  Written in the third person combined with free indirect speech, it deals with the young life of Joyce's literary stand in, Stephen Dedalus.  The story mainly deals with Stephen's internal battle between his human desires and his Catholic upbringing.  It's fascinating reading as the young man veers between visiting prostitutes and considering joining the priesthood.  Anyone interested in  but intimidated by Joyce's novels should start here.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

4.  Lolita, Vladamir Nabakov, 1955. Nabakov's groundbreaking, controversial story, told in the first person by self loathing pedophile Humbert Humbert, is at turns both funny, and disturbing.  It still stands as one of the great first person novels in which the narrator has a loathsome point of view.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST ?  Yes, but it's obviously not for everyone.

5.  Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, 1932.  The first Science Fiction novel to make the list, this dystopian story shows Huxley cynically foreseeing the future as a place where people will be forced to lead government prescribed lives based on genetic conditioning.  It's often compared to George Orwell's 1984, and personally I think that Huxley's novel falls short of Orwell's masterpiece.  But taken on its own merits, it's an interesting early example of futuristic Science Fiction.  DO I THINK THAT IT NOVEL DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes, but lower down on it.

6. The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner, 1929.  A famously difficult and confounding read, Faulkner employed stream of consciousness (like Joyce) and non linear storytelling to tell the story of one Southern family from different points of view.  I must admit that I needed wikipedia to help me sort it out, but once you get caught up in its rhythms, it contains many worthy passages.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes, but perhaps not in the top ten.

7.  Catch 22, Joseph Heller, 1961.  The title of Heller's satirical WWII novel has become a shorthand expression for anything that seems self defeating (like, how killing your enemies enrages their families, which  winds up making more enemies that must be killed).  Heller based the story on his own experiences as a bomber during the war, and he often tells the story from different view points out of sequence.  The tone of the story changes towards the end, when Heller really depicts the horror of war realistically.  Not always an easy read, but well worth it.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

8.  Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler, 1940.  A powerful takedown of Russian Communism, Koestler based this on his own membership and disillusionment with the party in the 1930's.  The Russian main character is imprisoned on trumped up charges during a brutal party purge.  The constant sense of doom (and the torture scenes) are not always easy to take, but this is an excellent observation of not just Communism but dictatorships in general.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes.

9.  Sons and Lovers, DH Laurence, 1913.    A woman of refinement enters into  a passionate marriage with a miner, but then finds herself unable to adapt to his poor lifestyle.  Instead she funnels her passion into her two sons, but she winds up overbearing them.  As the synopsis shows, there is a definite classist attitude in this story which I didn't like.  It's also often staid and dull; although  its sexual content was  considered quite racy by the standards of the time, it's pretty tame by today's standards.  DO I THINK THAT  IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  This is probably the first novel that I would argue doesn't need to be on the list.   But I imagine it was influential in its day. 

10.  The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck, 1939.  Steinbeck's legendary tale of "Oakies" trying to survive during the great depression is one of my personal favorite all time books.  From the heart breaking moments of hard work and desperation to Tom Joad's famously uplifting ending speech, this is just about perfect.  DO I THINK THAT IT DESERVES TO BE ON THE LIST?  Yes, in fact I wish it were higher.  (I also think that Steinbeck's other masterpiece, Of Mice and Men, should be on the list too).

MERRICK GARLAND'S DIFFICULT CHOICE

 

Buried under the coverage of Russia's brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the January 6th. Congressional Investigation Committee on Wednesday released a report that somehow was both shocking and not surprising; it officially announced that there is sufficient evidence to believe that former president Donald Trump and his presidential lawyer, John Eastman, committed crimes when they actively conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election.  While the committee does not itself have the power to bring charges against Trump and Eastman, they can recommend that Attorney General Merrick Garland should do so.  But will he?

On the one hand, the case against Eastman and Trump certainly seems strong; during the investigation the committee heard testimony from several former Trump administration members (including Jason Miller, his former Senior Campaign Advisor) that Trump was told, bluntly and openly, that he had lost the election.  Trump's own Attorney General, William Barr, also publicly stated that there was no widespread evidence of fraud that could overturn the election.  And Trump and Eastman still tried to push overturning the election in the courts.  This even included a message from Eastman to then Vice President Mike Pence asking him to delay certifying the election after the January 6th uprising.  Personally, I think that Trump committed a crime on that now infamous recorded phone call he had with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which he pleaded for Raffensperger to "find" him votes, even going so far as to hint that there might be legal repercussions for Raffensperger if he didn't.   This was, it should be mentioned, in a state that had already had an official vote recount that showed no change in the outcome. Really,  Trump's guilt seems obvious to me.

And it isn't just important for Trump to held accountable because he committed crimes, it also clearly sends a message to any future president that the kind of illegal games that Trump was playing will not be tolerated.  The next president as corrupt and criminal as Trump might also be more organized and better equipped to overturn an election; we can't allow Trump's criminality to go unpunished.  It would sent a terrible precedent.

On the other hand, any prosecution of a former Republican president  by an Attorney General serving under a Democrat can be spun as just a partisan attack.  Many Americans will see it as old news, assuming that the fact that Trump's scheming failed and that he eventually left the White House as punishment enough.  It could also build up sympathy for him with his base, who will reflexively rush to his defense, and he will inevitably use the case as an excuse to raise funds for his legal defense.  And  proving these charges in a court of law may be difficult; in an odd twist, Trump's lawyers could contend that Trump didn't intend to deceive anyone because he really thought that he had won the election and that his actions  were therefore done  in the best interest of the country!  This seems like an outright insanity defense, given how many people around Trump were telling him that he lost, but it just might work.

So Garland is left with a difficult choice: prosecute Trump in the hopes of getting a guilty verdict that will show that even the president is not above the law, even though he may be found not guilty and wind up in an even better place than before. Or,  not prosecute him and allow Trump to walk away unpunished, which would greatly tarnish the office of the presidency much more than Richard Nixon ever did.  Either way, I wouldn't want to be Merrick Garland right now.