 | Title: The turn of the screw
Author: Henry James
First publication: 1898
Comments: I was in Milan when I realized that I have forgotten the book I was reading (Baudolino) at home. I went to Feltrinelli and I bought this book. I have studied Henry James at high school, but my teacher did not spend any time on this gothic novel. It is a typical gothic novel, I did not like it so much. Tomas Hardy was right when he wrote that "[H. James says] nothing in infinite sentences".
Started: Sunday October the 7th, 2001, Milan Finished: Thursday October the 12th, Milan |
 | Title: Bartleby / Benito Cereno
Author: Hermann Melville
First publication: 1854
Comments: I thought that Melville wrote only long and boring books. It was a prejudice: the first novel is really interesting and modern. The language of the second is pretty hard and the plot is less interesting.
Started: October 2001 Finished: November the 26th, 2001 in Mestre |
 | Title: Favola d'amore
Author: Herman Hesse
First publication: 1922
Comments: "Solo in questo consiste per me la vita, nel fluttuare tra due poli, nell'oscillazione tra i due pilastri portanti del mondo. Vorrei con gioia far vedere sempre la beata varieta'
del mondo e anche sempre ricordare
che al fondo di questa varieta' vi e' un'unita'".
Started: 27th November 2001 Finished: 27th November 2001 |
 | Title: Frankenstein
Author: Mary Shelley
First publication: 1818
Comments: I think this is one of the best books I read in my all life. The book is modern and interesting,
the story is touching, the characters well-rounded and far from the typical gothic novel ones.
Started: 27th December 2001 Finished: 3rd December 2001 |
 | Title: Storia Vera
Author: Luciano di Samostata
First publication: 2ndo secolo avanti Cristo
Comments: Era da tempo che desideravo leggere questo racconto definito da molti
"primo esempio di letteratura fantascientifica". Divertente, interessante,
ma niente di eccezionale.
Started: December 2001 Finished: December 2001 |
 | Title: Northanger Abbey
Author: Jane Austen
First publication: 1818
Comments: I was expecting Jane Austen's book to be stupid sentimental novel. I was a way wrong.
This novel is full of wit and sarcasm. It is the story of a young girl turning into
a woman in a world that is surprisingly similar to the contemporary one.
Started: June, I stopped to read it when my parents arrived Finished: August, the 29th, 2002, Tucson, Arizona |
 | Title: Sense and Sensibility
Author: Jane Austen
First publication: 1811
Comments: I started this book back in June, but when my relationship was falling apart I decided to stop reading it. I wanted only light readings for a while. I could not read of the misfortune of Marianne and being at ease at
the same time since me and her were going through similar misfortunes... I really liked the book, but I am puzzled by the ending. I thought that Jane Austen was a modern woman, but... the
happiness of Elinor and the end of the relation between Marianne and Willoughby... they seems to suggest
to the reader to conform to the
archaic society rules of convenience. I was pretty disappointed.
Started: June, I stopped to read it when I arrived in Italy Finished: First September night, at Berkeley, really sad because what was going on with my ex |
 | Title: Delitto e Castigo
Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
First publication: 1866
Comments: Era da molto che non leggevo un libro in Italiano e da molto che non leggevo Dostoevsky...
Mi ha riportato indietro con la memoria, a quando lessi "L'idiota"... Devo dire che Dostoevsky
e' un genio! La descrizione dello stato morboso in cui si trova Raskolnikov e' a dir poco inquietante
da quanto ben riuscita. Uniche due note negative del libro: il fatto che solo a meta' il tema del
superuomo compaia e il finale aperto...
Started: October 2003 Finished: December 18th 2003, Berkeley |
 | Title: Jane Eyre
Author: Charlotte Bronte
First publication: 1847
Comments: I enjoyed reading the book. Some of its elements are interesting. It mixes gothic novel,
fairy tales and incredibly modern element. I like to compare Jane Eyre with Elinor of
Sense and Sensibility as a way to understand the woman conditions in England. I like also
the character of the first Mr Rochester wife, that can be seen as an avatar of the hidden
Jane, everything that Jane does not want to show because it is not proper...
Started: December 22nd, 2003 Finished: January the 6th, 2004 |
 | Title: Pride and Prejudice
Author: Jane Austen
First publication: 1813
Comments: So far the best Austen's novel I ever read.
Started: January the 7th, 2004 Finished: January the 24th, 2004 |
 | Title: Wuthering Heights
Author: Emily Bronte
First publication: 1847
Comments: I had high expectations on this book. I remember I read small part of it when I was at high
school. It is a story that shows the bad side of love, and how passion can turn into a curse.
Started: January the 24th, 2004 Finished: February the 9th, 2004 |
 | Title: The picture of Dorian Gray
Author: Oscar Wilde
First publication: 1890
Comments: I read this book translated in Italian many years ago and I did not like it at all.
I guess I was too young or the translation was poor. I read it in English and I have
been surprised: the book is full of wit! Many authors has hitherto wrote
that moral is often moralism. Dorian is the man that free himself from the moralistic
preconceptions of society. But he cannot handle such a freedom and he lose himself.
Started: February the 22nd, 2004 Finished: February the 28th, 2004 |
 | Title: A Tale of two Cities
Author: Charles Dickens
First publication: 1859
Comments: Interesting book. The author seems to report events almost unconnected and then
suddenly all the pieces come together.
Started: March the 4th, 2004 Finished: April the 7th 2004 |
 | Title: Little Women
Author: Louisa May Alcott
First publication: 1868
Comments: I found this book fascinating. I like that, at that time, people were able to sacrifice and improve themselves and the world around them using the strength of their morality. Nowadays
, on the contrary, moralism is used to spread hate and prejudice.
I found disconcerting the condition of the women at that time. Austen's book gave me an idea of
the situation, but the English writer at least was condemning the situation. On the contrary
Louisa seems to believe in a society where the goal of a woman is to get married and where young
girl should spend their time to prepare for the duties of the marriage.
Started: April the 16th, 2004 Finished: April the 30th 2004 |
 | Title: Uncle Tom's cabin
Author: Harriet Beecher Stowe
First publication: 1852
Comments: I start reading this book in May, then I moved to my new place, I had my prelims, I travel to Italy and I end up not
reading at all for months. Well Finally I am done and well... this is really a masterpiece. It is powerful and moving,
intense and breathtaking. It made me understand how important freedom is and how much we take for granted every day.
It made me understand this country better.
Started: May the 4th, 2004 Finished: November the 11th, 2004 |
 | Title: A room with a view
Author: E.M. Forster
First publication: 1908
Comments: I started this book when I was moving to my new place on Rose street. I had to stop reading because of the chaos
I was suddenly living in. The book is amazing. I loved to see Leonora waking up inside Lucy. I loved to see the struggle
between the Victorian "being proper" and the Italian "living your feeling". I loved this book!
Started: June, 2004 Finished: Dec 7th 2004, berkeley |
 | Title: Mansfield Park
Author: Jane Austen
First publication: 1814
Comments: With Mansfield park, Austen reaches her maturity. It is an enjoyable reading, but the most striking element of her previous books is gone. Her previous character came to realize
that public morality is just moralism used to justify convenience. The author appears liberal and
feminist there. In here... she plays the same themes, but with a conservative attitude. The society
is following convenience, morality has been forgotten. Fanny is almost as far from a feminist character
can be. Let's see how her following books are...
Started: Berkeley, Dec 2004 Finished: Berkeley, Feb 19th 2005 |
 | Title: Mrs. Dalloway
Author: Virginia Woolf
First publication: 1925
Comments: I understand the importance of this novel in revolutionizing fiction. I understand how original
is the storytelling style. I am fascinated by the way the story switch smoothly and seamlessly from
character to character but... the novel fails in being entertaining. I did not enjoy the reading at all.
Started: Berkeley, June 2004 Finished: Berkeley, Apr 27 2005 |
 | Title: Emma
Author: Jane Austen
First publication: 1925
Comments: I started it before one of the busiest period of my life. I'll remember summer 2005 as one of the most stresssul summer ever. By the way I finished this book while I was deep into my
PhD quals and it helped me a lot to escape from the reality for a while. Emma is a great book,
but I really prefer the first Austen. In her first work I could sense her rage and disapointment
over society. On her latest book she seems to be more cinical, and she seems to smile and laugh
over it.
Started: Berkeley, Apr 2004 Finished: San Francisco, August 21st 2004 |
 | Title: Walden
Author: Henry David Thoureau
First publication: 1854
Comments: When I finished this book I was so relieved. It is a hard book to read. Even if some of the concepts in the book are particularly interesting, the book is often repetitive or it wanders into strange and boring topics. I think this is one of the few books that would greatly benefit from abridging. It is amazing, as a final remark, how modern and how closely related to modern society this book is. The critique of man that works to cumulate treasures without having any time to live their life, the critique of travelers that want to explore farther and farther away without even starting to try to understand themselves... seems to be written by somebody living today and not 2 centuries ago.
Started: Feb the 25th 2006 Finished: March the 11th 2006 |
 | Title: Persuasion
Author: Jane Austen
First publication: 1818
Comments: This is the 100th not school related book I have read since I started to record my readings on this web-site. I decided to celebrate the occasion reading the only Austen's book I had not read yet. It was a bitter sweet pleasure to read it. Bitter because I ran out of book from one of my favorite authors. Sweet because I enjoyed it. Extremely interesting is to observe how the opinion of the time toward nobility and self-made men is changing. Something could be sensed in the dedication in Emma's, but in here the critique to the British nobility is one of the main themes.
Started: March 2006, San Francisco Finished: April 2006, San Francisco |
 | Title: The secret garden
Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
First publication: 1888
Comments: Some books that are meant for children turn out to be some of the most powerful books ever written. This book, as well as The Little Prince, are good example of what I have just stated. Moving.
Started: April 25th 2006 Finished: April 28th 2006 |
 | Title: Hard Times
Author: Charles Dickens
First publication: 1854
Comments: A classic novel in its structure, extremely powerful and captivating. It was meant to lure readers to purchase Dickens's weekly magazine. It worked and even today it is hard to put down the book once started. It reminds me a little of Voltaire's Candid, a book meant to discredit a particular philosopher. Leibniz in the case of the French writer, Malthus and the materialists in this case. It is a very successful description of the Industrial English suburbs, of the horrors of the life of the "hands" and the hypocrisy of the new materialistic approach to life.
Started: April 2006 Finished: May the 19th 2006 |
 | Title: Great Expectations
Author: Charles Dickens
First publication: 1860
Comments: This is the most interesting Dicken's book I've read so far. It is more modern in style, the omniscient narrator being substituted by the main character himself, an anti-hero often victim of snobbism and pride. It is a pleasant book, engaging, often humorous. The plot is pretty sad in itself, very autobiographical. I found it interesting in the its portrait of society and of its dynamics. As in Persuasion by Austen the book witness the event of people able to raise themselves in society, being rich without being born rich.
Started: July 2006 Finished: Sep the 19th 2006 |
 | Title: The red badge of courage and other stories
Author: Stephen Crane
First publication: 1895
Comments: War stories are not my favorites, but I realize how interesting is to place a man in such a context. The demonic and godly nature of men fight within each soldier while the battle rage outside. Anyway what is quite remarkable of this tales is showing how real people feel and behave within such major historical events. They are not Greek heroes, they are human, full of fears, weaknesses and courage.
Started: Oct 2006 Finished: Nov the 29th 2006, on a BART trian in West Oakland |
 | Title: The overcoat
Author: Nikolai Gogol
First publication: 1842
Comments: I realized I have to read this book before continue to read the namesake. Beside the fact it was really hard to find it at any bookstore (I managed to find a copy at a local library) it was quite an interesting short story to read. The story reminds me of some novel of Kafka, where the weak are crushed by the system for no reason and nothing is done to help them. The only think I did not really like was the ending, the almost gothic conclusion.
Started: May 15th 2007 Finished: May 15th 2007 |
 | Title: Oliver Twist
Author: Charles Dickens
First publication: 1838
Comments: A soap opera of the beginning of the 19th century. The plot is masterfully crafted so that all the pieces at the end perfectly fit. The writing style is quite classic, with a omniscient narrator that tells you what to look at and how to interpret it. Quite funny and wit at times, the author uses his work to describe and complains about the state of England and some of the modern laws (e.g. the Poor law). Quite breathtaking are some of the descriptions of the city of London. Something that I did not like is the xenophobic, sexist and classist innuendo of the book. I understand they were common in England at the time, still it really stain a book otherwise quite remarkable.
Started: September 2007 Finished: October 23rd 2007 |
 | Title: The portrait of a lady
Author: Henry James
First publication: 1880
Comments: I slowly read this book. Initially I was quite surprised because nothing really seemed to happen. Then suddenly everything fall in place. Suddenly everything single word has so much meaning. Characters so vivid, so realistic, so complex. The psychological motivations of each act are so adroitly orchestrated. I am in awe.
Started: Nov 2007 Finished: Feb 16th 2008, paloalto (CA) |
 | Title: Salome, Lady Windermere's fun, The importance of being Earnest
Author: Oscar Wilde
First publication: 1891-1895
Comments: I cannot avoid thinking how many more masterpieces Wilde would have produced if he was not being thrown in a jail because of homophobic laws. He was a genius, able to show the people of his time how hypocritical they were, with wit and sensibility. Just amazing.
Started: July 2008 Finished: August 2008 |
