| Vol.
I, No. 6 | Sugaring
/ Spring Equinox | Mar.
16th, 2001 |
Books
& Literature
Links to Books & Lit On-Line
. Links
to Books & Lit On-Line  | Reading
Room
Library of Congress |
The amount of info on the web is enormous, as anyone who's ever tried to run a
search can attest to. And, to put it all in context, best estimates say
that only a fraction, maybe 20 - 40 % of what's out there is actually making its
way to the search engines.
Well ... Here
at DownStreet, we'd like to try to help. So each issue, we post a
few links in Books & Lit to sites that might interest you. Sometimes
the links will be related to one another ... sometimes we'll just
offer up a somewhat random sampling. In either case, we think we might be
able to help you find the kind of site you've been looking for.
Of course, while we can't vouch for the fact that every link we provide will be
of interest to everyone, we do our best to filter out the noise and the
bustle. ... A
Bit of Lit History Just as this month's Book
Worm review shows, there are many ways to slice the literary pie. This
month's selection of links will take you on a little historical tour of
literature. ... The
New York Times Book Review: Best Books Free registration
may be required to access this site, but it's worth it, especially if you're
a bit behind on your reading. ... The link here actually takes
you to the December 5th, 2000 issue. But it's the link at the top of
the page that's of primary interest in this context -- The Editors' Choice
for the best books ... from 1981 to the present. ... Any
idea what was on the list 10 years ago? {... The English Patient
by Michael Ondaatje, Jazz by Toni Morrison, Lincoln At Gettysburg:
The Words That Remade America by Garry Wills, and The Lost Upland
by W. S. Merwin, among others.} ... 20 years ago?
{... The Burning House by Ann Beattie, Waiting For The
Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee, Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally,
The Fate Of The Earth by Jonathan Schell, and Dinner At The
Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler, among others.} ...
.
The
Times Book Review Site is worth a visit. But this collection of best
books makes it something of an historical tour. Take it.
Rating:
**** [4 stars]
Modern
Library: 100 best nonfiction, the lists
Modern
Library: 100 best novels, the lists The Modern Library
caused something of a stir when it, like so many other ventures of this
kind, decided to come up with a list of the 100 best novels and non-fiction
books published in English since 1900. ... But whatever the
commentary along the way, at the very least, the collections are
interesting. ...
Each of the lists actually presents two
separate lists -- one, the selections of the editorial board of The Modern
Library, the other, a Readers List, voted on between July 20th and October
20th, 1998, for the fiction list, and between April 29th and September 30th,
1999, for non-fiction. Among the curiosities? ... For its
top of the non-fiction list, the Board chose The Education Of Henry Adams
by Henry Adams; readers, on the other hand, chose what has to be the closest
to that book's opposite, The Virtue Of Selfishness by Ayn Rand.
In fact, books by or about Ayn Rand filled three of the top six spots for
the readers non-fiction list. ... On the fiction side, the
Board's top five included Ulysses, The Great Gatsby, A
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Lolita, and Brave New
World. The readers, however, again weighed in with Ayn Rand's Atlas
Shrugged and The Fountainhead in the #1 & #2 spots, followed
by Battlefield Earth, The Lord of the Rings, and To Kill a
Mockingbird.
.
It's probably
inevitable that you'll find some books here to agree with. But mostly,
lists like this leave you wishing a book was placed higher or lower on the
list ... or not placed at all. Nonetheless, if you missed it the first
time around, you may want to take a look at the full lists for yourself.
Rating:
***1/2 [3-1/2 stars]
The
Atlantic Online Fiction Our
last review this month goes to The Atlantic magazine's on-line
offering. ... Hands down, it's the best of the three. ... The
Atlantic has pulled together here, not simply some of the better modern
fiction. They have also ... and very generously for much of what's
available on-line from such power-houses ... made accessible a lot that is
of both general interest and historical significance. ... For
example? ... Try a few selections from Vladimir Nabokov, one
from last year, and a pair from 1941 issues of the magazine. Or take a
peak at some of the selections from Henry James, including his first
published short story which appeared in The Atlantic in 1865,
"The Story of a Year" ... or the several titles available
from Louisa May Alcott, including "A Modern Cinderella: or The Little
Old Shoe," from October 1860.
.
The
continuous archives of The Atlantic go back to the Fall of
1995. But, in addition, there's also a fair bit in The Atlantic
"Unbound" that doesn't appear in the print version, but that's
nonetheless worth a read.
Rating: ***** [5 stars]
.
*******
******* If you know of any
links that you think are worthwhile, why not send them along to ...
links@downstreetmagazine.com
... If we agree, we'll be happy to include
them in an upcoming issue to pass the word along. ...
Thanks. *******
******* .
|
