OK, it was a quick fun read, and I got to check another book off the list. But there are lots of better children’s books, and why put this on the list and leave off “The Red Badge of Courage,” for example?

Beautifully written, but terribly sad. Reminiscent of Ian McEwan.

This book was very little help to me in reading GR. The section summaries did not summarize, and the explanations of the allusions did nothing to tie the book together.

I started this four times. This time I got almost halfway through with a little help from “A Companion to Gravity’s Rainbow” (which was really very little help). I was clearly not having fun—many pages had to be skipped because, while they were masses of useless information, they were also totally lacking in narrative appeal. I decided that since there are over 700 books on the list I have not read, I would go back to something that is a little bit of fun. When I’ve finished the other 1000, I’ll come back to this again.

Pretty good time travel SF. The ironic ending is wonderful.

Have you read all of “In Search of Lost Time”? I finished it last year. Can’t stop thinking about it. Probably the greatest novel of all time. Gerry

This is the best book I read in 2007. A Jewish mother abandons her toddler daughter in a small Russian village when the rest of her family is wiped out in a pogrom. She makes her way to New York, and a year later learns her daughter is probably alive in a Jewish settlement in Siberia. With no money, she makes her way west to Seattle, and north to Alaska, with the hope of getting to Siberia to reclaim her daughter. Read it and tell me what you think. —Gerry

Pullman, an avowed athiest, has been characterized as the most dangerous writer in Britain because these books attack the church, and the god who is a character is clearly the enemy, and the books are aimed at adolescents as well as adults. Despite that (or maybe because of it), it is a brilliant fantasy, with more imagination than Tolkein and Lewis combined. And a Christian can read it without danger merely by telling her/himself that the god in this book is just another fantasy character invented by the author, and has no relation to anyone’s personal religious beliefs. And these books are just as compelling for adults—perhaps moreso—than most of the bestseller adult fantasy series.

This is surely one of the best books I’ve read in several years. The fact-based story, though it is history now, is being repeated througout Africa every year. The characters are compelling and brilliantly depicted, and the ending, a surprise, is absolutely perfect!

I think this is the best war story every written. It’s a little slow getting into, but the payoff is worth it.