Dune

I watched the recent movie of this and found it to be a snooze fest, a nearly three hour long movie of desert shots. Then I read an internet review where they called the book unfilmable so I decided to give it a shot. I liked it. It's not one of my favorite books but it was good and it makes the list of one of the longest books I've read. It influenced Star Wars that much is clear. It's an epic about a boy named Paul, his family, and an addictive spice that rules their desert world. It took me a couple of months to read it and I had to throw it away since it was in way too poor condition to keep by the end. It was intriguiing enough to keep me interested throughout it's 700+ pages. I can see why it's one of the most popular science fiction books of all time. It is well thought out and imaginative. It's one of those science fiction books that will be labeled as literature an hundred years from now.

The Robber

I found Robert Walser's last novel to be kind of hard to follow. It wasn't my favorite of his. A robber has a couple of relationships but he can't win the attention of his indifferent lover Edith. It's written by a narrator who may or not be the main character, This wasn't published during Walser's lifetime and written before his stay in a sanatorium.

Pornografia

I really wish the author came with a less shocking title. It threw me off for years and made me not wish to read this 1960s Polish classic. Eventually I caved in. During World War II two old men experiment with two teenagers, a boy and a girl. After failing to get them to fall in love, eventually murder replaces their plans. This isn't Gombrowciz's most famous book. Rather Ferdydurke is. The novel is dreamlike and you often question what is really going on. It's not for everyone but I liked it.

Peppermints in the Parlor

This is another Wallace book about an orphan but she does such a good job at it. Emily comes to live at a mansion only it doesn't have the memory she once had of it. She becomes a servant at what is now an old folks home. She and a boy Kipper begin to form friendships with the old folks and yes there is a subplot about peppermints. This wasn't my favorite Wallace book but it was all right. People compare it to A Little Princess a lot on the internet but come on so many books are.