5. A History of God - Karen Armstrong
7. Beloved - Toni Morrison
8. 'Tis - Frank McCourt
9. The Host - Stephenie Meyers
10. The Constant Princess - Phillipa Gregory
11. Wicked - Gregory Maguire
12. The Six Wives of Henry the 8th - Alison Weir
13. Eleanor of Aquitaine - Alison Weir
14. Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom
15. The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien
16. The Two Towers - J.R.R. TOlkien
17. The Return of the King - J.R.R. Tolkien
18. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling
19. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K. Rowling
20. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling
21. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling
22. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling
23. Dracula - Bram Stoker
25. The Inferno - Dante
26. Towelhead - Alicia Erian
28. The Way the Crow Flies - Ann-Marie MacDonald
29. The Robber Bride - Margaret Atwood
30. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
32. Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman
33. American Gods - Neil Gaiman
34. Stardust - Neil Gaiman
35. Tess of the d'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
37. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
38. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
39. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
40. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
41. Deception Point - Dan Brown
42. Digital Fortress - Dan Brown
44. Lolita - Vladimir Nobokov
45. Atonement - Ian McEwan
46. All the King's Men - Robert Penn Warren
48. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
49. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
50. Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe
51. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
52. Scarlett - Alexandra Ripley
53. White Noise - Don De Litto
54. Their Eyes were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston
57. Ragtime - E.L. Doctorow
60. Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlasser
62. Memoirs - Pierre Trudeau
63. Shake Hands with the Devil - Romeo d'Allaire
64. Team of Rivals - Doris Kearns Goodwin
68. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
69. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - Douglas Adams
70. Life, the Universe and Everything - Douglas Adams
71. So Long and Thanks for All the Fish - Douglas Adams
72. Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams
74. The Manticore - Robertson Davies
75. World of Wonders - Robertson Davies
76. The Donnellys - James Reaney
77. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
78. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
79. Farenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
80. Not Wanted on the Voyage - Timothy Findlay
81. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
82. Coraline - Neil Gaiman
83. The Crucible - Arthur Miller
84. Mirror Mirror - Gregory Maguire
86. Sorbonne Confidential - Laurel Zuckerman
88. The Silver Linings Playbook - Matthew Quick
89. Hey Nostradamus! - Douglas Coupland
90. Girlfriend in a Coma - Douglas Coupland
91. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
92. The 5 People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
93. The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
94. Interview with the Vampire - Ann Rice
95. The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank
96. The Bonfire of the Vanities - Tom Wolfe
97. Guys and Dolls - Damon Runyon
99. He's Just Not that Into You - Greg Behrendt, Liz Tuccillo, Lauren Monchik
101. Jesus for the Non-Religious - John Shelby Spong
Davies packs so much into this novel! Much about human nature - the idea that we're all the stars of our own autobiographies, even if in the grand stage of the world we're simply 'Fifth Business' - or the extra person on stage (the best friend ... the confidant ... picture Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, for example). The 'star' of this book is Dunstan Ramsay, formerly Dunstable, who seems to be a bit player in everyone else's drama. But he puts a heavy importance on his own life and role - as evidenced by his undying loyalty to Mary Dempster, who was rendered 'simple', as they put it, by a blow to the head meant for Dunstable as a boy. Long past the time anyone remembered the incident, or even Mrs. Dempster herself (including the perpetrator of the blow, Dunstan's longtime frenemy - boys DO that? - Boy Staunton. This shows either Ramsay's overinflated (or others' underinflated) sense of his importance in the machinations of life.
Just that is a lot to encompass and incorporate into a novel. But add the other didactic levels it works on - as a tome of Canadian history covering both World Wars, the depression, the unification of the Methodist and Presbyterian churches, and so much more - as an analysis and discussion of religion (starting with Ramsay's insistence that Mary Dempster is a saint, leading to his studies of saints generally, and a lot of his connections in the Roman Catholic world) ... the 'coming of age and then some' aspect of Dunstan growing from 9-year-old-boy to nearly-70-year-old man ...
I have to admit with this book I cheated a bit - I had already read it in Senior English almost a dozen years ago. But I don't think I understood then just how many levels this book works at. It is not only at its core a good story - it touches on almost all of my areas of primary interest, from teaching to history to religion. Davies does this, and does it well. I recommend this book to anyone interested, and look so forward to reading the rest of the Deptford trilogy (not sequels per se - more roughly the same story from different perspectives, filling in gaps and yes, extending a little bit further into the future from where Dunstan Ramsay, as narrator, leaves off) - The Manticore and World of Wonders.
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