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A review by mattycakesbooks
Twenty-Five Books That Shaped America: How White Whales, Green Lights, and Restless Spirits Forged Our National Identity by Thomas C. Foster
4.0
I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. Generally I don't like list books, for the reason that I usually disagree with the list and want my own favorites to make an appearance, but he's smart (and humble) enough in the beginning to say that his list is not remotely definitive, and that he reserves the right to write and break the rules. Which is fair enough. Any objective criteria applied to this endeavor would be idiotic.
A few thoughts:
It seemed, a number of times, that he was less focused on a book as much as an author. It seemed like "Go Down Moses," "Song of Solomon," and "The Sun Also Rises" were all chosen more because he wanted an appearance by Faulkner, Morrison, and Hemingway, rather than he thought these books legitimately shaped our collective identity. Other times, he makes the right choice in that regard (Huck Finn, On the Road), without bowing to an author he particularly liked. Not to say that Hemingway wasn't incredibly influential on American writing, just that it seems like he picked The Sun Also Rises because it was Hemingway's first, rather than its individual impact (I think A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea could all beat out his first in that regard).
And I'm doing what I promised myself I wouldn't do: naming my choices instead. The only other thing I'll note for the time being is that this guy is obviously an English professor, so what you get from him is going to be very literary. Popular books don't make as much of an appearance: it's mostly serious literature - with the exception of The Cat in the Hat - so don't expect anything that wouldn't be on a required reading list.
A few thoughts:
It seemed, a number of times, that he was less focused on a book as much as an author. It seemed like "Go Down Moses," "Song of Solomon," and "The Sun Also Rises" were all chosen more because he wanted an appearance by Faulkner, Morrison, and Hemingway, rather than he thought these books legitimately shaped our collective identity. Other times, he makes the right choice in that regard (Huck Finn, On the Road), without bowing to an author he particularly liked. Not to say that Hemingway wasn't incredibly influential on American writing, just that it seems like he picked The Sun Also Rises because it was Hemingway's first, rather than its individual impact (I think A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea could all beat out his first in that regard).
And I'm doing what I promised myself I wouldn't do: naming my choices instead. The only other thing I'll note for the time being is that this guy is obviously an English professor, so what you get from him is going to be very literary. Popular books don't make as much of an appearance: it's mostly serious literature - with the exception of The Cat in the Hat - so don't expect anything that wouldn't be on a required reading list.