Farewell

After twenty-seven, almost twenty-eight months, I'm done.  Not that I'll not reread any books, but I won't be blogging about them.  I will, however, in the next few days start blogging about the movies I "own."  Many of these are based on books I own, so you may get a sense of de ja vu.

Thank you to everyone who's read my posts, especially those who took the time to comment.  I'll still stop by now and again, so feel free to keep reading and maybe commenting.

I used to picture making lists like "The Longest Titles" and "Most Disappointing Reread," but I just don't have the energy to go through all my posts in one sitting.  I will though give you my Top Ten and Bottom Ten Plus:

Top Ten (most of them with A-s)

1. Emma by Austen (quotable, clever, romantic, well-plotted)
2. The Importance of Being Earnest by Wilde (incredibly witty but also insightful, romantic but cynical)
3. The Land of Oz by Baum (also witty, fun, beautifully illustrated, ultimately feminist)
4. Reasonable Creatures by Pollitt (simply brilliant)
5. Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Sometimes Zeppo by Adamson (a book as good as the Marxes at their best)
6. Right Ho, Jeeves by Wodehouse (best in the series and jolly good fun)
7. Where the Girls Are by Douglas (raucous roller-coaster through several fascinating periods of pop history)
8. Pride and Prejudice by Austen (perhaps over-rated but still a great work)
9. Little Women by Alcott (for all its flaws, undeniably lovable)
10. (tough choice because there are 59 B+s, but OK) The Beatles Forever by Schaffner (still great almost thirty years after I first read it)

Bottom Seventeen (doing more than ten, in case you think it's unfair to pick so much on individual works by Shakespeare and want to omit them from the list, otherwise made up of four F+s, three D-s, five D's, and five D+s)

1. Titus Andronicus by Shakespeare (gross, racist, implausible, it's got it all)
2. Coriolanus by Shakespeare (BORING)
3. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: A Novel by Edwards (and you thought it couldn't be worse than the movie)
4. Salome (oh, Oscar, what were you thinking?)
5. The Crimes of Charlotte Bronte: A Novel by Tully (implausible and sexist, while also sexist and implausible)
6. Pericles by Shakespeare (speaking of implausible)
7. All's Well That Ends Well by Shakespeare (one of the great misnomers)
8. Caricature: The Wit and Humor of a Nation by various (unfunny humor collection that captures turn-of-last century racism, sexism, and other prejudice)
9. Armande by Colette (one of the most unpleasant romances I've ever read)
10. Cymbeline by Shakespeare (implausible and yet forgettable)
11. Timon of Athens by Shakespeare (no reason to care about Timon)
12. Venus and Adonis by Shakespeare (no reason to care about Venus or Adonis either)
13. The Moor's Last Sigh by Rushdie (again, no reason to care)
14. Once Upon a Time: A True Story by Vanderbilt (the worst biography)
15. A Very Brady Guide to Life by Briggs (painfully unfunny and a bit homophobic)
16. Delusions of Grandma by Fisher (very annoying style)
17. The Golden Notebook by Lessing (possibly the most disappointing book)