1. David Copperfield (B). Dickens's favorite of his novels, but you can definitely tell he is being paid by the word. I think a writer's workshop (if they had existed in his day) would have admonished him to tighten things up.
2. Postmodernism 101 by Heath White (2006, A-). A short (165 pp.) book written from a Christian (but academic) perspective. I found it very helpful.
3. The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch (1978, B). Written in the form of the memoirs of a director recently retired from the London stage. As a woman, Murdoch is eerily effective at representing the thoughts of a prideful, slightly unhinged older, but still vigorous, man. I think this is the first book I've ever read with an "unrealiable narrator," but perhaps someone who has studied literature seriously might disagree with that assessment. In addition to being a prolific novelist, Murdoch was an accomplished philosopher, and her brilliance shines through from time to time. But I must say it is a strange book. I would recommend The Bell to a first time reader of Murdoch.
4. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim (1922, A). My daughter recommended it to me, and it's probably fair to call it a women's novel, but I very much enjoyed it. It's about women that are stifled in their daily lives in London finding, each in her own way, a new joy in living -- while staying at a seaside castle in Italy for the month of April.
5. Love & Mercy, a screenplay by Oren Moverman (2012, B). My daughter-in-law is a screenwriter and recommended this to me. The story centers on Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, specifically his descent into mental illness, and how he is eventually rescued from tyrannical and unproductive psychiatric care by a woman who becomes his girlfriend and steadfast advocate. I haven't yet seen the movie, but it had an A-list cast.
