The Magnificent Ambersons, Chapters 11-15

Man, things are getting SERIOUS in these next five chapters.  While life is still okay far for our not-so-lovable protagonist Georgie, we do get our first real instance of Georgie facing some emotional adversity, and Tarkington begins to allude to a potentially not-so-bright future for our favorite pampered heir. Read on, and cackle at the coming misfortune, dear readers!

The Magnificent Ambersons, Chapters 5-10

Alright, time for the next five chapters.  Sorry it’s been a few days since the last post – spent the latter half of last week job searching, which ended up with me getting a part-time retail gig. Nothing too fancy, but at least it’s some form of income! My co-workers also seem pretty rad, so that’s dandy. I then spent the weekend celebrating the fact that I was employed…. and last night celebrated a bit tooooo much.

Anyway, I’m going to start blogging on a regular schedule, updating the site with new posts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of every week.  Since that was the schedule most of my classes were on in college, it’ll be pretty easy for me to keep up with, while also giving me enough structure to keep me motivated and on pace.  And, of course, to keep you all entertained! I’ll probably keep up the five chapters per post pace, at least for this book.  Now, let’s get on to the book!

*insert Geocities under-construction animated .gif*

When I originally started this blog, I assumed that a couple of friends would check it out, and maybe a few old professors.  But as of yesterday, a few hundred of you have stopped to visit :O

First of all, thank you to everyone that passed on the blog through Twitter, Facebook, e-mails, etc. I have no illusions that I’ve hit the internet big-time, but it is an awesome feeling to know that people are looking at this!

Second, as you can tell, I switched the layout from that god-awful weird green and orange and brown mess that it was to something extremely simple and minimalistic. Hopefully this is just temporary while I poke around the internet learning about how to customize the blog’s appearance. Any tips you can leave in the comments would be greatly appreciated!

The next post on The Magnificent Ambersons will probably go up sometime tomorrow, as I should really work on job applications today. Thanks for reading everyone!

The Magnificent Ambersons, Chapters 1-5

Didn’t expect my first post to go up this soon, but since purchasing the book I’ve been really into it. Tarkington’s writing is very smooth and easy to understand, and I especially enjoy the way he does dialogue. As a warning, if you do not enjoy dialogue written in a way to reflect accents and dialects, you are going to quickly grow tired of this book.  But, you shouldn’t let that stand in your way, because in the first five chapters Tarkington has so far given me an extremely interesting protagonist, as well as a couple of themes and motifs that I want to keep my eye on as I make my way through the rest of the novel. Read on past the jump for the nitty gritty…

#100: The Magnificent Ambersons

Written by Booth Tarkington and published in 1918, The Magnificent Ambersons is “the epic story of an American family’s traumatic tumble from the dizzying heights of fame and fortune.”  It is the second book in a trilogy written by Tarkington known as the Growth trilogy, according to that academic sage known as Wikipedia.  It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1919 (fancy!) and was remade into a movie in 1942 of the same name, which was directed by Orson Welles. But sorry readers, just like college, NO you cannot watch the movie instead of reading the book.  Bad reader! Bad!

More musings and information on the book (Including how you can read along with your own copy FOR FREE!!!) after the jump!

Where to start…

Last night, while up at 4 AM (as I am wont to do since I am unemployed), I was berating a good friend of mine, who will go nameless, for having not read some of my favorite books of all time — in particular, The Sun Also Rises. I told her, not only did I like it, but I’m sure it’s considered one of the best novels of all time. So I turned to Google to find an “authoritative” list of the best modern novels, and happened upon The Modern Library’s list of The 100 Best Novels.  A quick glance at the list revealed that while my original suspicions were correct – The Sun Also Rises clocks in at 45 on their Editors’ List – I discovered that I had only read 14 of these great novels, and, even worse, only three of the top ten.

So, I figured, why not read them all? Explanations for my madness in the tried and true internet format of an FAQ after the jump…