masterwordsmith-unplugged

This post is about is the Top 100 Best Novels as selected by various websites. I have added a reaction/ comment about my personal experience with those I have read. It is interesting how each site assesses the books differently and there are many books which are in all three lists.

 I have used the following key:
*read
**read and like
*** read and love
^ have not read
?gave up for one reason or another

 According to the book  The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books by J Peder Zane:

TOP TEN WORKS OF THE 20TH CENTURY

***Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
***The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
^In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
?Ulysses by James Joyce
^Dubliners* by James Joyce
***One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
^The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
***To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
^The complete stories of Flannery O’Connor
^Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

TOP TEN WORKS OF THE 19th CENTURY

***Anna Karenina* by Leo Tolstoy
***Madame Bovary* by Gustave Flaubert
***War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
***The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
***The stories of Anton Chekhov
***Middlemarch* by George Eliot
*Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
***Great Expectations* by Charles Dickens
***Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
***Emma by Jane Austen

TOP TEN AUTHORS BY NUMBER OF BOOKS SELECTED

William Shakespeare — 11
*never read any of his booksWilliam Faulkner — 6
Henry James — 6
Jane Austen — 5
Charles Dickens — 5
Fyodor Dostoevsky — 5
Ernest Hemingway — 5
Franz Kafka — 5
(tie) James Joyce, Thomas Mann, Vladimir Nabokov, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf — 4

TOP TEN AUTHORS BY POINTS EARNED

Leo Tolstoy — 327
William Shakespeare — 293
James Joyce — 194
Vladimir Nabokov — 190
Fyodor Dostoevsky — 177
William Faulkner — 173
Charles Dickens — 168
Anton Chekhov — 165
Gustave Flaubert — 163
Jane Austen — 161

Here's a list by The Best 100 lists.

*read
**read and like
*** read and love
^ have not read
?gave up for one reason or another

***To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
***1984 by George Orwell
***Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
***The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
***The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
***The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
***Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
***Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
***Animal Farm by George Orwell
***Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
***Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
^The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
***Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
***War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
***Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
***The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
***Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
***The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
***Lord of the Flies by William Golding
?Ulysses by James Joyce
***Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
***A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
***Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
***Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
***Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
***East of Eden by John Steinbeck
***One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
^Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling - I am NOT a Harry Potter fan.
***The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
***The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
***Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
**Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
***Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
**The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
***A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
***The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
***The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
***The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
***The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
***Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
***Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
^The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
***One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
*Moby Dick by Herman Melville
^Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
***The Stranger by Albert Camus
**Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
***A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
^The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
***Watership Down by Richard Adams
^His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
*The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
^On the Road by Jack Kerouac
***Dracula by Bram Stoker
^The Stand by Stephen King
*The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
***The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
^The Road by Cormac McCarthy
*Dune by Frank Herbert
***Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
***Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
***Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
***Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
***Life of Pi by Yann Martel
***Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
***Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
*David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
?A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
***A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
***Middlemarch by George Eliot
***For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
***Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust
***Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
***The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
?Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
?Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
?The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
***Persuasion by Jane Austen
***Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
*The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
***To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
***The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
**A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
?As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
?The Trial by Franz Kafka
***The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
^The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
^Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
*The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
***Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
***The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
***Emma by Jane Austen
***A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
***Siddharta by Hermann Hesse
*The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer
***Atonement by Ian McEwan
***Beloved by Toni Morrison
**The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
^Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
***The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

• This list of the 100 best books of all time was prepared by Norwegian Book Clubs. It is also listed in Wikipedia and The Guardian.

My reaction:
*read
**read and like
*** read and love
^ have not read
?gave up for one reason or another

***1984 by George Orwell, England, (1903-1950)

***A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, Norway (1828-1906)

^A Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert, France, (1821-1880)

^Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner, United States, (1897-1962)

***The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, United States, (1835-1910)

^The Aeneid by Virgil, Italy, (70-19 BC)

***Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, Russia, (1828-1910)

http://www.thebest100lists.com/best100novels/Beloved by Toni Morrison, United States, (b. 1931)

^Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Doblin, Germany, (1878-1957)

^Blindness by Jose Saramago, Portugal, (1922-2010)

^The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa, Portugal, (1888-1935)

*The Book of Job, Israel. (600-400 BC)

^The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor M Dostoyevsky, Russia, (1821-1881)

^Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann, Germany, (1875-1955)

?Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, England, (1340-1400)

^The Castle by Franz Kafka, Bohemia, (1883-1924)

^Children of Gebelawi by Naguib Mahfouz, Egypt, (b. 1911)

^Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges, Argentina, (1899-1986)

^Complete Poems by Giacomo Leopardi, Italy, (1798-1837)

^The Complete Stories by Franz Kafka, Bohemia, (1883-1924)

?The Complete Tales by Edgar Allan Poe, United States, (1809-1849)

^Confessions of Zeno by Italo Svevo, Italy, (1861-1928)

***Crime and Punishment by Fyodor M Dostoyevsky, Russia, (1821-1881)

^Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol, Russia, (1809-1852)

^The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy, Russia, (1828-1910)

^Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, Italy, (1313-1375)

^The Devil to Pay in the Backlands by Joao Guimaraes Rosa, Brazil, (1880-1967)

?Diary of a Madman and Other Stories by Lu Xun, China, (1881-1936)

**The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, Italy, (1265-1321)

***Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Spain, (1547-1616)

^Essays by Michel de Montaigne, France, (1533-1592)

***Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark, (1805-1875)

^Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Germany, (1749-1832)

^Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais, France, (1495-1553)

*Gilgamesh Mesopotamia, (c 1800 BC)

?The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, England, (b.1919)

***Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, England, (1812-1870)

***Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, Ireland, (1667-1745)

^Gypsy Ballads by Federico Garcia Lorca, Spain, (1898-1936)

*Hamlet by William Shakespeare, England, (1564-1616)

^History by Elsa Morante, Italy, (1918-1985)

^Hunger by Knut Hamsun, Norway, (1859-1952)

^The Idiot by Fyodor M Dostoyevsky, Russia, (1821-1881)

***The Iliad by Homer, Greece, (c 700 BC)

^Independent People by Halldor K Laxness, Iceland, (1902-1998)

***Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, United States, (1914-1994)

^Jacques the Fatalist and His Master by Denis Diderot, France, (1713-1784)

^Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Celine, France, (1894-1961)

**King Lear by William Shakespeare, England, (1564-1616)

^Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, United States, (1819-1892)

^The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne, Ireland, (1713-1768)

***Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, Russia/United States, (1899-1977)

***Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Colombia, (b. 1928)

***Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, France, (1821-1880)

^The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, Germany, (1875-1955)

?Mahabharata, India, (c 500 BC)

^The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil, Austria, (1880-1942)

^The Mathnawi by Jalal ad-din Rumi, Afghanistan, (1207-1273)

^Medea by Euripides, Greece, (c 480-406 BC)

^Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar, France, (1903-1987)

*Metamorphoses by Ovid, Italy, (c 43 BC)

**Middlemarch by George Eliot, England, (1819-1880)

?Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, India/Britain, (b. 1947)

**Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, United States, (1819-1891)

***Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, England, (1882-1941)

^Njaals Saga, Iceland, (c 1300)

^Nostromo by Joseph Conrad, England,(1857-1924)

***The Odyssey by Homer, Greece, (c 700 BC)

***Oedipus the King Sophocles, Greece, (496-406 BC)

^Old Goriot by Honore de Balzac, France, (1799-1850)

***The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, United States, (1899-1961)

***One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Colombia, (b. 1928)

^The Orchard by Sheikh Musharrif ud-din Sadi, Iran, (c 1200-1292)

**Othello by William Shakespeare, England, (1564-1616)

^Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo Juan Rulfo, Mexico, (1918-1986)

^Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren, Sweden, (1907-2002)

^Poems by Paul Celan, Romania/France, (1920-1970)

^The Possessed by Fyodor M Dostoyevsky, Russia, (1821-1881)

***Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, England, (1775-1817)

^The Ramayana by Valmiki, India, (c 300 BC)

*The Recognition of Sakuntala by Kalidasa, India, (c. 400)

^The Red and the Black by Stendhal, France, (1783-1842)

***Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust, France, (1871-1922)

^Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih, Sudan, (b. 1929)

***Selected Stories by Anton P Chekhov, Russia, (1860-1904)

***Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence, England, (1885-1930)

^The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, United States, (1897-1962)

^The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata, Japan, (1899-1972)

***The Stranger by Albert Camus, France, (1913-1960)

^The Tale of Genji by Shikibu Murasaki, Japan, (c 1000)

***Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Nigeria, (b. 1930)

***Thousand and One Nights, India/Iran/Iraq/Egypt, (700-1500)

^The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass, Germany, (b.1927)

***To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, England, (1882-1941)

^The Trial by Franz Kafka, Bohemia, (1883-1924)

^Trilogy: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett, Ireland, (1906-1989)

?Ulysses by James Joyce, Ireland, (1882-1941)

***War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Russia, (1828-1910)

***Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, England, (1818-1848)

^Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis, Greece, (1883-1957)


The following is the best 100 books prepared by Modern Library.
1. "Ulysses," James Joyce
*Gave up halfway but will try again. I could not understand or accept the fact that Joyce wrote such a thick book based on one day in the life of the protagonists. Paul Lewis described it as a long account of a single day in the lives of a group of Dubliners becomes a metaphor for the human condition and the author experiments with language almost to the point of unintelligibility -

2. "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald
*One of my favourite books. I have read it three times and watched the movie starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow more than 20 times!!! *coughs* Off-track comment : I am a die-hard fan of Robert Redford, Harrison Ford, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Depp, Jake Gyllenhaal

3. "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," James Joyce
*I first read this book in 1977 and laboured over it in an attempt to understand Joyce's stream of consciousness technique. It was only twenty years later that I really appreciated the book when I read it for the fourth time.

4. "Lolita," Vladimir Nabokov
*Regular blog readers would know I have blogged at least four times about this book. Definitely another must read!!!

5. "Brave  New World," Aldous Huxley
*Unbelievably far ahead of his time when he wrote this book in 1931!!! A futuristic novel that is not my cup of tea.

6. "The Sound and the Fury," William Faulkner
 Nil

7. "Catch-22," Joseph Heller
*Another must read that everyone should have in their collection.

8. "Darkness at Noon," Arthur Koestler
Nil

9. "Sons and Lovers," D. H. Lawrence
*I red this book after I studied "The Rainbow" for  my sixth form literature class and must say Lawrence is a gifted writer.  This is surely Lawrence's best work and a masterpiece to be treasured. My seniors in sixth form were lucky as their text was this novel!

10. "The Grapes of Wrath," John Steinbeck
*Definitely another must read!!!! I read it in 1972 when my father bought a set of hard cover classics that had in the collection "Lord Jim", "Rebecca", "Of Human Bondage", "Gone with the Wind" etc. It was an expensive set and almost four decades down the road, the books are still in mint condition with the exception of its slightly yellowed pages.

11. "Under the Volcano," Malcolm Lowry
Nil 

12. "The Way of All Flesh," Samuel Butler
 Nil

13. "1984," George Orwell
*A book that everyone must read!

14. "I, Claudius," Robert Graves
Nil

15. "To the Lighthouse," Virginia Woolf
Ahhhhhhhhh - my favourite of all her books!!!!

16. "An American Tragedy," Theodore Dreiser
Nil

17. "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," Carson McCullers
Nil

18. "Slaughterhouse Five," Kurt Vonnegut
*It took me three years to finally get my hands on this book. Tough read but well worth the effort!

19. "Invisible Man," Ralph Ellison
*Read this when I was in school and I believe it is the first book that made me question who I am and aspects of communism even at a young age.

20. "Native Son," Richard Wright
Nil 

21. "Henderson the Rain King," Saul Bellow
Nil 

22. "Appointment in Samarra," John O' Hara
Nil 

23. "U.S.A." (trilogy), John Dos Passos
Nil 

24. "Winesburg, Ohio," Sherwood Anderson
Nil 

25. "A Passage to India," E. M. Forster
*Slow and draggy but the contrasts used so skilfully by Forster makes it worthwhile ploughing through the thick book.

26. "The Wings of the Dove," Henry James
Nil 

27. "The Ambassadors," Henry James
Nil 

28. "Tender Is the Night," F. Scott Fitzgerald
*Anything by Fitzgerald is a firm favourite but this one is too melancholic :-( because it was his last book written during the saddest moments of his life.The title does not show the harsh painful bleakness of the story or his experiences but once you read it...sighs...

29. "The Studs Lonigan Trilogy," James T. Farrell
 Nil

30. "The Good Soldier," Ford Madox Ford
Nil 

31. "Animal Farm," George Orwell
Need I say more? Everyone MUST read this one!

32. "The Golden Bowl," Henry James
 Nil

33. "Sister Carrie," Theodore Dreiser
 Nil 

34. "A Handful of Dust," Evelyn Waugh
 Nil

35. "As I Lay Dying," William Faulkner
 Nil

36. "All the King's Men," Robert Penn Warren
Nil

37. "The Bridge of San Luis Rey," Thornton Wilder
 Nil

38. "Howards End," E. M. Forster
Yesssss! A Must Read!!!

39. "Go Tell It on the Mountain," James Baldwin
 Nil

40. "The Heart of the Matter," Graham Greene
*I have this book and a couple of others by Greene but all - not read yet.

41. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding
*Another masterpiece to be savored and appreciated!

42. "Deliverance," James Dickey
Nil 

43. "A Dance to the Music of Time" (series), Anthony Powell
Nil 

44. "Point Counter Point," Aldous Huxley
Nil 

45. "The Sun Also Rises," Ernest Hemingway
 Nil

46. "The Secret Agent," Joseph Conrad
 *Unforgettable!

47. "Nostromo," Joseph Conrad
 Nil

48. "The Rainbow," D. H. Lawrence
*I studied this book for my sixth form literature class. Tough read but fortunately, I had a fantastic teacher who brought to life the themes, characters and significance of his writings and how each were linked to what he had in mind.

49. "Women in Love," D. H. Lawrence
*The sequel to "The Rainbow" which provides a glimpse of English society in the pre-WWI days.

50. "Tropic of Cancer," Henry Miller
 Nil

51. "The Naked and the Dead," Norman Mailer
Nil 

52. "Portnoy's Complaint," Philip Roth
 Nil

53. "Pale Fire," Vladimir Nabokov
 Nil

54. "Light in August," William Faulkner
 Nil

55. "On the Road," Jack Kerouac
Nil

56. "The Maltese Falcon," Dashiell Hammett
Nil

57. "Parade's End," Ford Madox Ford
Nil

58. "The Age of Innocence," Edith Wharton
*The only Edith Wharton book I could finish apart from "Ethan Frome"....She uses her typical recipe of social tragedy in terms of plot.

59. "Zuleika Dobson," Max Beerbohm
 Nil

60. "The Moviegoer," Walker Percy
 Nil

61. "Death Comes to the Archbishop," Willa Cather
Nil 

62. "From Here to Eternity," James Jones
Nil 

63. "The Wapshot Chronicles," John Cheever
Nil 

64. "The Catcher in the Rye," J. D. Salinger
*LOVE IT. Cannot believe it was banned!!!

65. "A Clockwork Orange," Anthony Burgess
*Love this and the movie!!

66. "Of Human Bondage," W. Somerset Maugham
*Have read this about four times and I love love love this book and many of his other writings!

67. "Heart of Darkness," Joseph Conrad
*One that everyone must read before they reach adulthood. It is three stories about the three stages of life. Short, meaningful and impactful.

68. "Main Street," Sinclair Lewis
 Nil

69. "The House of Mirth," Edith Wharton
*I don't like Edith Wharton's books with the exception of "The Age of Innocence". I forced myself to finish her Ethan Frome. *gulps* Too depressing!

70. "The Alexandria Quartet," Lawrence Durrell
 Nil

71. "A High Wind in Jamaica," Richard Hughes
 Nil

72. "A House for Ms. Biswas," V. S. Naipaul
Nil 

73. "The Day of the Locust," Nathaniel West
Nil

74. "A Farewell to Arms," Ernest Hemingway
*Yet another favourite of mine from the 1970's. Planning to read it again soon.

75. "Scoop," Evelyn Waugh
Nil

76. "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," Muriel Spark
Nil

77. "Finnegans Wake," James Joyce
Nil but I have the book

78. "Kim," Rudyard Kipling
Love it!!

79. "A Room With a View," E. M. Forster
*A book which has to be read very slowly to fully appreciate its magnificence.

80. "Brideshead Revisited," Evelyn Waugh
*Read it but did not like it.

81. "The Adventures of Augie March," Saul Bellow
Nil

82. "Angle of Repose," Wallace Stegner
Nil

83. "A Bend in the River," V. S. Naipaul
Nil

84. "The Death of the Heart," Elizabeth Bowen
Nil

85. "Lord Jim," Joseph Conrad
*I read this when I was 12 in a bid to drown myself in words to assuage the pain and grief I suffered when my mom passed away. I should read it again.

86. "Ragtime," E. L. Doctorow
Nil

87. "The Old Wives' Tale," Arnold Bennett
Nil

88. "The Call of the Wild," Jack London
*Another favourite from my younger days.

89. "Loving," Henry Green
Nil

90. "Midnight's Children," Salman Rushdie
*There are only two books I could not really understand - "Ulysses" and this book but I daresay this one is more readable and easier to understand than "Ulysses" I made myself read it a few times but never went beyond page 60. By the time I reached page 30, I had forgotten what had happened in the earlier parts. :-(

91. "Tobacco Road," Erskine Caldwell
Nil

92. "Ironweed," William Kennedy
Nil 

93. "The Magus," John Fowles
Nil 

94. "Wide Sargasso Sea," Jean Rhys
Nil 

95. "Under the Net," Iris Murdoch
Nil 

96. "Sophie's Choice," William Styron
LOVE THIS ONE!!! Read it in mid 1980s.

97. "The Sheltering Sky," Paul Bowles
Nil 

98. "The Postman Always Rings Twice," James M. Cain
I prefer the movie to the book...

99. "The Ginger Man," J. P. Donleavy
Nil 

100. "The Magnificent Ambersons," Booth Tarkington
Nil

Happy Reading!!!! Please leave a comment to share your thoughts/response/recommendations about your favourite books. Thanks!

 A few days ago, The New York Times featured an excellent piece by Stephanie Coontz on The Myth of Male Decline. There, she wrote:

SCROLL through the titles and subtitles of recent books, and you will read that women have become “The Richer Sex,” that “The Rise of Women Has Turned Men Into Boys,” and that we may even be seeing “The End of Men.” Several of the authors of these books posit that we are on the verge of a “new majority of female breadwinners,” where middle-class wives lord over their husbands while demoralized single men take refuge in perpetual adolescence.

How is it, then, that men still control the most important industries, especially technology, occupy most of the positions on the lists of the richest Americans, and continue to make more money than women who have similar skills and education? And why do women make up only 17 percent of Congress?

These books and the cultural anxiety they represent reflect, but exaggerate, a transformation in the distribution of power over the past half-century. Fifty years ago, every male American was entitled to what the sociologist R. W. Connell called a “patriarchal dividend” — a lifelong affirmative-action program for men.

The size of that dividend varied according to race and class, but all men could count on women’s being excluded from the most desirable jobs and promotions in their line of work, so the average male high school graduate earned more than the average female college graduate working the same hours. At home, the patriarchal dividend gave husbands the right to decide where the family would live and to make unilateral financial decisions. Male privilege even trumped female consent to sex, so marital rape was not a crime.

The curtailment of such male entitlements and the expansion of women’s legal and economic rights have transformed American life, but they have hardly produced a matriarchy. Indeed, in many arenas the progress of women has actually stalled over the past 15 years.

Let’s begin by determining which is “the richer sex.”

CLICK HERE for the rest of the entry.

 I love dogs. From 1972 till 1986, I had six dogs and the last two were my favourite. Jody - a mongrel with some Alsation DNA - was with me for 9 years and was the most loyal and obedient canine darling anyone could have. She would only come as far as the floor mat of the living room. No matter how we persuaded her, she would just sit on the floor mat because when she was a puppy, my stepmom whacked her and told her never to step into the house. Three years later, my stepmom brought home Prince, a Spitz hyperactive puppy and that was when I learnt about status differences and discrimination.

Prince lived a princely life in his kennel placed in the airwell just in front of my parents' room. He could run around the house whenever he was unleashed and bullied Jody :-(. Regardless, Jody never bit him but always gave way to him. Never once did she wince knowing that Prince could be IN the house whereas she was always kept outside :-(.

Aside: Oh dear. I am being sentimental. I miss Jody and miss having dogs. *Tears*

Only Jody knew my darkest secrets and when she died four days before my wedding, I felt as though my world had crumbled. My wedding photos show the grief that still enveloped me on supposedly the happiest day of my life. It took me months to recover from her departure. It was not the same when Prince died or Goldie (the last dog I had - eight-month old Irish setter). From that day, my husband said I can never ever another dog because of the heartbreak that I always go through whenever any of them died.

Regardless, I treasure the memories of times shared with my canine darlings.

And I know many of you out there love pets - dogs, cats, birds (I used to rear birds too - at one point I had five cages but two were stolen (my merbuk and magpie) because I forgot to keep the cages inside the house) and would like to dedicate the following post to all pet lovers out there especially:

• TCK, loving owner of Alfie and Abbie
• Cat-in-Sydney who owns and loves so many cats
• Achibong who lovingly walks with his dog
• and any other reader who loves his/her pet regardless of type or breed

I have posted this story before long ago here and also my other blog but am reposting it because on a gloomy cloudy hazy Monday morning, I am thinking about my dogs, especially Jody, beloved white mouse Stewart and beloved hamsters Momo (grandma), Mimi (daughter of Momo),  Mei Mei (daughter of Mimi), Mau Mau (husband of Mimi), Kiki (husband of Mei Mei),  Mishy (son of Mei Mei and Kiki), Sashimi, Sushi etc. You can see their photos in a post I wrote about them AT THIS LINK. Enjoy the story, treasure the memories and may you always fill the lives of those around you - human or from the animal kingdom with love and kindness. Have a great day!!!

“Watch out! You nearly broad sided that car!” My father yelled at me.   ”Can’t you do anything right?”

Those words hurt worse than blows. I turned my head toward the elderly man in the seat beside me, daring me to challenge him. A lump rose in my throat as I averted my eyes. I wasn’t prepared for another battle.

“I saw the car, Dad. Please don’t yell at me when I’m driving.”

My voice was measured and steady, sounding far calmer than I really felt.

Dad glared at me, then turned away and settled back. At home I left Dad in front of the television and went outside to collect my thoughts. Dark, heavy clouds hung in the air with a promise of rain. The rumble of distant thunder seemed to echo my inner turmoil. What could I do about him?

Dad had been a lumberjack in Washington  and  Oregon  He had enjoyed being outdoors and had reveled in pitting his strength against the forces of nature. He had entered grueling lumberjack competitions, and had placed often.

The shelves in his house were filled with trophies that attested to his powers.

The years marched on relentlessly. The first time he couldn’t lift a heavy log, he joked about it; but later that same day I saw him outside alone, straining to lift it. He became irritable whenever anyone teased him about his advancing age, or when he couldn’t do something he had done as a younger man.

Four days after his sixty-seventh birthday, he had a heart attack. An ambulance sped him to the hospital while a paramedic administered CPR to keep blood and oxygen flowing.

At the hospital, Dad was rushed into an operating room. He was lucky; he survived… But something inside Dad died. His zest for life was gone He obstinately refused to follow doctor’s orders. Suggestions and offers of help were turned aside with sarcasm and insults. The number of visitors thinned, then finally stopped altogether. Dad was left alone.

My husband, Dick, and I asked Dad to come live with us on our small farm. We hoped the fresh air and rustic atmosphere would help him adjust.

Within a week after he moved in, I regretted the invitation. It seemed nothing was satisfactory. He criticized everything I did. I became frustrated and moody. Soon I was taking my pent-up anger out on Dick. We began to bicker and argue..

Alarmed, Dick sought out our pastor and explained the situation. The clergyman set up weekly counseling appointments for us. At the close of each session he prayed, asking God to soothe Dad’s troubled mind.

But the months wore on and God was silent. Something had to be done and it was up to me to do it.

The next day I sat down with the phone book and methodically called each of the mental health clinics listed in the Yellow Pages. I explained my problem to each of the sympathetic voices that answered in vain.

Just when I was giving up hope, one of the voices suddenly exclaimed, “I just read something that might help you! Let me go get the article.”

I listened as she read.. The article described a remarkable study done at a nursing home. All of the patients were under treatment for chronic depression. Yet their attitudes had improved dramatically when they were given responsibility for a dog.

I drove to the animal shelter that afternoon. After I filled out a questionnaire, a uniformed officer led me to the kennels. The odor of disinfectant stung my nostrils as I moved down the row of pens. Each contained five to seven dogs. Long-haired dogs, curly-haired dogs, black dogs, spotted dogs all jumped up, trying to reach me. I studied each one but rejected one after the other for various reasons too big, too small, too much hair.
As I neared the last pen, a dog  in the shadows of the far corner struggled to his feet, walked to the front of the run and sat down. It was a pointer, one of the dog world’s aristocrats. But this was a caricature of the breed..



Years had etched his face and muzzle with shades of gray. His hipbones jutted out in lopsided triangles. But it was his eyes that caught and held my attention.. Calm and clear, they beheld me unwaveringly.

I pointed to the dog “Can you tell me about him?”

The officer looked, then shook his head in puzzlement. “He’s a funny one. Appeared out of nowhere and sat in front of the gate. We brought him in, figuring someone would be right down to claim him. That was two weeks ago and we’ve heard nothing. His time is up tomorrow..” He gestured helplessly.

As the words sank in I turned to the man in horror. “You mean you’re going to kill him?”

“Ma’am,” he said gently, “that’s our policy. We don’t have room for every unclaimed dog.”

I looked at the pointer again. The calm brown eyes awaited my decision. “I’ll take him,” I said..

I drove home with the dog on the front seat beside me. When I reached the house I honked the horn twice. I was helping my prize out of the car when Dad shuffled onto the front porch. “Ta-da! Look what I got for you, Dad!” I said excitedly.

Dad looked, then wrinkled his face in disgust. “If I had wanted a dog I would have gotten one. And I would have picked out a better specimen than that bag of bones. Keep it! I don’t want it” Dad waved his arm scornfully and turned back toward the house.

Anger rose inside me It squeezed together my throat muscles and pounded into my temples. “You’d better get used to him, Dad. He’s staying!”

Dad ignored me. “Did you hear me, Dad?” I screamed.

At those words Dad whirled angrily, his hands clenched at his sides, his eyes narrowed and blazing with hate.

We stood glaring at each other like duelists, when suddenly the pointer pulled free from my grasp. He wobbled toward my dad and sat down in front of him. Then slowly, carefully, he raised his paw.

Dad’s lower jaw trembled as he stared at the uplifted paw. Confusion replaced the anger in his eyes. The pointer waited patiently. Then Dad was on his knees hugging the animal.

It was the beginning of a warm and intimate friendship. Dad named the pointer Cheyenne.  Together he and Cheyenne  explored the community. They spent long hours walking down dusty lanes.


They spent reflective moments on the banks of streams, angling for tasty trout. They even started to attend Sunday services together, Dad sitting in a pew and  Cheyenne lying quietly at his feet.

Dad and  Cheyenne were inseparable throughout the next three years. Dad’s bitterness faded, and he and Cheyenne  made many friends.

Then late one night I was startled to feel  Cheyenne’s cold nose burrowing through our bed covers. He had never before come into our bedroom at night. I woke Dick, put on my robe and ran into my father’s room.

Dad lay in his bed, his face serene. But his spirit had left quietly sometime during the night.

Two days later my shock and grief deepened when I discovered Cheyenne lying dead beside Dad’s bed..

I wrapped his still form in the rag rug he had slept on.

As Dick and I buried him near a favorite fishing hole, I silently thanked the dog for the help he had given me in restoring Dad’s peace of mind.

The morning of Dad’s funeral dawned overcast and dreary. This day looks like the way I feel, I thought, as I walked down the aisle to the pews reserved for family.

I was surprised to see the many friends Dad and Cheyenne had made filling the church. The pastor began his eulogy. It was a tribute to both Dad and the dog who had changed his life.

And then the pastor turned to Hebrews 13:2. “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

“I’ve often thanked God for sending that angel,” he said.

For me, the past dropped into place, completing a puzzle that I had not seen before: the sympathetic voice that had just read the right article….

Cheyenne ‘s unexpected appearance at the animal shelter. .. ..his calm acceptance and complete devotion to my father. . and the proximity of their deaths. And suddenly I understood. I knew that God had answered my prayers after all.

 Written by Catherine Moore

If you have time, please check out another of my favourite posts : The Rainbow Bridge. Take care and God bless you!!!

When 'Cupid' comes to mind, we often lapse into thoughts of love and even pictures of Cupid...

But there is more to Cupid than just arrows that hit the heart that make one fall in love with another.

This morning, I'd like to share with you two versions of the story of Cupid and Psyche. The first is by Paul Coelho and the second is the original story. May you be blessed and inspired by the tale and lessons within. Have a nice day!!!

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess, admired by everyone, but whom no one dared to propose to.

Desperate, the king consulted the god Apollo, who said that Psyche should be left alone, in a mourning dress, at the top of a mountain. Before daybreak, a serpent would come to her and marry her.

The king obeyed, and throughout the night the princess waited, terrified and freezing, for the arrival of her husband. She ended up falling asleep.

As she awoke, she was in a beautiful palace, transformed into a queen.

Every night her husband would come to her, they made love, and he had just one condition: Psyche could have anything she desired, but she should trust him completely and never see his face.

The young woman lived happily for a very long time; she had comfort, affection, joy, she was in love with the man who came to her every night.

Once in a while, however, she was afraid of being married to a horrible serpent. One night, while her husband slept, she illuminated their bed with a lantern and found Eros (or Cupid), a man of incredible beauty, beside her.

The light woke him up and he found out that the woman he loved wasn’t able to fulfil his only desire, and disappeared.

Every time I read this story, I asked myself: Will we never be allowed to discover the face of love? It was necessary that many years passed below the bridge of my life, until I could understand that love is an act of faith in another person, and her face shall stay covered in mystery.

Each moment shall be lived and enjoyed, but whenever we try to understand it, the magic disappears.

After I accepted this, I also allowed my life to be guided by a strange language, which I call ‘signs’. I know the world is talking to me, and I need to listen to it, and if I do that, I will always be guided toward what there is of the most intense, passionate and beautiful.

Of course it isn’t easy, and sometimes I feel like Psyche at the cliff, cold and terrified; but if I am able to overcome that night and surrender to mystery and to the faith in life, I always end up waking up in a palace. All I need is to trust in Love, even running the risk of erring.

Concluding the Greek myth: Desperate to have her love back, Psyche submits herself to a series of tasks imposed by Aphrodite (or Venus), Cupid’s (or Eros’s) mother, who was envious of her beauty.

One of these tasks was to give Aphrodite some of her beauty. Psyche becomes curious about the box that should contain the beauty of the goddess, and again, she isn’t able to deal with Mystery and decides to open it.

She didn’t find anything of beauty in the box, but an infernal sleepiness that left her inert, and without movement.

Eros/Cupid is in love as well, regretting not having been more tolerant toward his wife. He is able to enter the castle and wake her up from this profound sleep with the tip of his arrow and tells her once again: ‘You almost died due to your curiosity.’

This is the great contradiction: Psyche who sought to find safety in knowledge, found insecurity. Both of them went to Jupiter, the supreme God, to implore for this union never to be undone. Jupiter strongly advocated for the cause of the lovers and got Venus to agree. From that day on, Psyche (the essence of the human being) and Eros (love) are forever united.

Those who don’t accept it and always seek an explanation for the magic and mysterious, human relations will lose the best of what life has to offer.


Cupid and Psyche, also known as The Tale of Amour and Psyche and The Tale of Eros and Psyche, is a myth that first appeared as a digressionary story told by an old woman in Lucius Apuleius' novel, The Golden Ass, written in the 2nd century AD. Apuleius likely used an earlier tale as the basis for his story, modifying it to suit the thematic needs of his novel.

It has since been interpreted as a Märchen, an allegory and a myth. Considered as a fairy tale, it is neither an allegory nor a myth, but the folkloric tradition tends to blend these.

The Legend

Envious and jealous of the beauty of a mortal girl named Psyche, Venus asks her son Cupid (known to the Greeks as Eros) to use his golden arrows while Psyche sleeps, so that when she awakens, Venus (Aphrodite in the Greek tradition) would place a vile creature for her to fall in love with. Cupid finally agrees to her commands after a long debate. As he flies to Psyche's room at night, he becomes invisible so no one can see him fly in through her window. He takes pity on her, for she was born too beautiful for her own safety. As he slowly approaches, careful not to make a sound, he readies one of his golden arrows. He leans over Psyche while she is asleep and before he can pierce her shoulder with the tip of his arrow, she awakens, startling him, for she looks right into his eyes, despite his invisibility. This causes him to scratch himself with his arrow and fall deeply in love with her. He cannot continue his mission, for every passing second he finds her more appealing. He reports back to Venus shortly after and the news enrages her. Venus places a curse on Psyche that prevents her from meeting a suitable husband. Cupid is greatly upset, and decides that, as long as Psyche remains cursed, he will no longer shoot arrows, which will cause the temple of Venus to fall.

After months of no one — man or animal — falling in love, marrying, or mating, the Earth starts to grow old, which causes concern to Venus, for nobody praises her for Cupid's actions. Finally, she agrees to listen to Cupid's demands, allowing him his one desire, which is Psyche. Venus, upset, agrees to his demands only if he begins work immediately. He accepts the offer and takes off, shooting his golden arrows as fast as he can, restoring everything to the way it should be. People again fall in love and marry, animals far and wide mate, and the Earth begins to look young once again.

When all continue to admire and praise Psyche's beauty, but none desire her as a wife, Psyche's parents consult an oracle, which tells them to abandon their daughter on the nearest mountain, for her beauty is so great that she is not meant for mortal men. Terrified, they have no choice but to follow the oracle's instructions. But then Zephyrus, the west wind, carries Psyche away to a fair valley and a magnificent palace where she is attended by invisible servants until nightfall, and in the darkness of night the promised bridegroom arrives and the marriage is consummated. Cupid visits her every night to sleep with her, but demands that she never light any lamps, since he does not want her to know who he is until the time is right.

Cupid allows Zephyrus to take Psyche back to her sisters and bring all three down to the palace during the day, but warns that Psyche should not listen to any argument that she should try to discover his true form. The two jealous sisters tell Psyche, then pregnant with Cupid's child, that rumour is that she had married a great and terrible serpent who would devour her and her unborn child when the time came for it to be fed. They urge Psyche to conceal a knife and oil lamp in the bedchamber, to wait till her husband is asleep, and then to light the lamp and slay him at once if it is as they said. Psyche sadly follows their advice. In the light of the lamp Psyche recognizes the fair form on the bed as the god Cupid himself. However, she accidentally pricks herself with one of his arrows, and is consumed with desire for her husband. She starts to kiss him, but after a while, a drop of oil falls from her lamp onto Cupid's shoulder and wakes him. She watches him fly away, and she falls from the window to the ground, sick at heart.
Psyche then finds herself in the city where one of her jealous elder sisters lives. She tells her what had happened, then tricks her sister into believing that Cupid has chosen her as a wife on the mountaintop. Psyche later meets her other sister and deceives her likewise. Each sister goes to the top of the peak and jumps down eagerly, but Zephyrus does not bear them and they fall to their deaths at the base of the mountain.
Psyche searches far and wide for her lover, finally stumbling into a temple where everything is in slovenly disarray. As Psyche is sorting and clearing the mess, Ceres (Demeter to the Greeks) appears, but refuses any help beyond advising Psyche that she must call directly on Venus, who caused all the problems in the first place. Psyche next calls on Juno (Hera to the Greeks) in her temple, but Juno gives her the same advice. So Psyche finds a temple to Venus and enters it. Venus then orders Psyche to separate all the grains in a large basket of mixed kinds before nightfall. An ant takes pity on Psyche, and with its ant companions, separates the grains for her.

Venus is outraged at her success and tells her to go to a field where golden sheep graze and to retrieve some golden wool. A river-god tells Psyche that the sheep are vicious and strong and will kill her, but if she waits until noontime, the sheep will go to the shade on the other side of the field and sleep; she can then pick the wool that sticks to the branches and bark of the trees. Venus next asks for water flowing from a cleft that is impossible for a mortal to attain and is also guarded by great serpents. This time an eagle performs the task for Psyche.

Venus, furious at Psyche's survival, claims that the stress of caring for her son, made depressed and ill as a result of Psyche's lack of faith, has caused her to lose some of her beauty. Psyche is to go to the Underworld and ask the queen of the Underworld, Proserpina (Persephone to the Greeks), to place a bit of her beauty in a box that Venus had given to Psyche. Psyche decides that the quickest way to the Underworld is to throw herself off some high place and die, and so she climbs to the top of a tower. But the tower itself speaks to Psyche and tells her the route that will allow her to enter the Underworld alive and return again, as well as telling her how to get past Cerberus (by giving the three-headed dog a small cake); how to avoid other dangers on the way there and back; and most importantly, to eat nothing but coarse bread in the underworld, as eating anything else would trap her there forever. Psyche follows the orders precisely, rejecting all but bread while beneath the Earth.

However, once Psyche has left the Underworld, she decides to open the box and take a little bit of the beauty for herself. Inside, she can see no beauty; instead an infernal sleep arises from the box and overcomes her. Cupid (Eros), who had forgiven Psyche, flies to her, wipes the sleep from her face, puts it back in the box, and sends her back on her way. Then Cupid flies to Mount Olympus and begs Jupiter (Zeus) to aid them. Jupiter calls a full and formal council of the gods and declares that it is his will that Cupid marry Psyche. Jupiter then has Psyche fetched to Mount Olympus, and gives her a drink made from ambrosia, granting her immortality. Begrudgingly, Venus and Psyche forgive each other.
Psyche and Cupid have a daughter, called Voluptas (Hedone in Greek mythology), the goddess of "sensual pleasures", whose Latin name means "pleasure" or "bliss".

Source: Wikipedia

In early August this year, Natural News reported:

 Emerging research on the widespread degenerative brain disease known as Alzheimer's suggests that this prevalent form of dementia is actually a type of diabetes. Published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, a recent study out of Rhode Island Hospital (RIH) confirms that Alzheimer's is marked by brain insulin resistance and corresponding inflammation, a condition that some researchers are now referring to as type-3 diabetes.

Dr. Suzanne de la Monte from RIH is the one responsible for making this fascinating connection, having found in her research that diabetes is closely associated with several key neuronal factors implicated in dementia. It turns out that Alzheimer's progresses as a result of the brain developing resistance to insulin, which in turn prevents proper lipid (fat) metabolism. Over time, these lipids build up in the brain rather than properly absorb, which results in increased stress and inflammation, as well as the symptoms commonly associated with dementia.

"This study points out that once AD (Alzheimer's Disease) is established, therapeutic efforts should target several different pathways -- not just one," says Dr. de la Monte. "The reason is that a positive feedback loop gets going, making AD progress. We have to break the vicious cycle. Restoring insulin responsiveness and insulin depletion will help, but we need to reduce brain stress and repair the metabolic problems that cause the brain to produce toxins."

Eating more healthy saturated fats like coconut oil can help prevent, cure Alzheimer's

Since many elderly individuals that have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's take statin drugs to lower their cholesterol levels, the first logical step would be to stop taking these drugs. Not only have statins been shown to cause and exacerbate Alzheimer's, they have also been shown to cause diabetes. So taking them, as many elderly dementia patients do, runs contrary to common sense, and will only make the problem worse.

As we covered recently here at NaturalNews, the human body needs cholesterol in order to stay healthy. If your cholesterol levels are too high, or if cholesterol is clogging your arteries, it means that your body has an inflammation problem that is preventing the proper absorption and use of cholesterol. Cholesterol is not the problem, in other words -- your body's chronic inflammation is the problem.  CLICK HERE for more.

Another article in Global Post considered if  Alzheimer's really could just be another form of diabetes, caused by eating too much junk food.

If you have concerns/queries about diabetes, do check out THIS SITE.

And if you have concerns about your health, do start taking Virgin Coconut Oil. If you want to know more about VCO, check out my post VCO - Its Benefits.

Take care and God bless you with good health!