Author: Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway is like the stereotype of the great American author, or possibly of the manly American man, and I'm pretty sure that's why I first picked up his novels. He actually seems to have earned his towering reputation, which is why he was solidly in the I Definitely Want to Read More category.
Ernest Hemingway
I am pretty sure I read a few of Hemingway's short stories in high school English class, but I didn't pick up any of his novels until my 2009 Classic Book Resolution. That led to me reading two of his novels in that first year, and two more since. I enjoy his terse style, which isn't taken to the extreme that Cormac McCarthy does, but still manages to get right to the point.
Hemingway was one of the main drivers of the new book method, as I had read three of his books in 2009 and 2010, enjoyed two of them, and then didn't pick one up until 2017.
Start Here
I read The Old Man and the Sea in 2009. In high school many of classmates read it because it was one of the shortest books on the "pick from this list for your book reports", but I didn't, and I'm glad, because I'm sure I wouldn't have loved it as much as I did as an adult. It exhibits his style and some of his recurring themes in a short novella, so even if you hate it, you won't have wasted much of your life on it. Of course, if you already read it in high school, maybe don't start here.
I also really loved For Whom the Bell Tolls, which I read in 2010. This tale of the Spanish Civil War is occupied with, among other things, duty in the face of death.
If You Like Those
In 2017 I read The Sun Also Rises on my California trip. I can see why it made Hemingway's reputation, which terse but vivid descriptions that bring the scene and the characters and an era to life.
For Completists
I started with A Farewell to Arms, which I didn't much care for back in 2009. If it weren't for my general enjoyment of his prose style, I might not read another book.
What I Haven't Read Yet
Per Wikipedia, Hemingway published seven novels, six short-story collections, and two non-fiction works in his lifetime. There are also many post-humous works. I've only read four of the novels. Of the remainder, these stand out as things I want to read:
- I haven't read To Have and Have Not, but I have seen the heavily adapted film with Bogie and Bacall, which I enjoyed.
- I've heard many good things about the title story in the collection The Snows of Kilimanjaro.
- On the non-fiction front, I am interested in Death in the Afternoon (bullfighting) and A Moveable Feast (the Lost Generation in Paris, post-humous).
Probably Won't
A great deal of Hemingway's work was published after his suicide in 1961. A few of those have good reputations, but a lot of them seem to be the sort of "my editor and my wife heavily modified some unfinished works", and I probably don't care. They've also published his letters, which I suspect I don't care about either. I'll at least dip into his non-fiction and short stories, but I probably won't read all of them.
Ernest Hemingway
I am pretty sure I read a few of Hemingway's short stories in high school English class, but I didn't pick up any of his novels until my 2009 Classic Book Resolution. That led to me reading two of his novels in that first year, and two more since. I enjoy his terse style, which isn't taken to the extreme that Cormac McCarthy does, but still manages to get right to the point.
Hemingway was one of the main drivers of the new book method, as I had read three of his books in 2009 and 2010, enjoyed two of them, and then didn't pick one up until 2017.
Start Here
I read The Old Man and the Sea in 2009. In high school many of classmates read it because it was one of the shortest books on the "pick from this list for your book reports", but I didn't, and I'm glad, because I'm sure I wouldn't have loved it as much as I did as an adult. It exhibits his style and some of his recurring themes in a short novella, so even if you hate it, you won't have wasted much of your life on it. Of course, if you already read it in high school, maybe don't start here.
I also really loved For Whom the Bell Tolls, which I read in 2010. This tale of the Spanish Civil War is occupied with, among other things, duty in the face of death.
If You Like Those
In 2017 I read The Sun Also Rises on my California trip. I can see why it made Hemingway's reputation, which terse but vivid descriptions that bring the scene and the characters and an era to life.
For Completists
I started with A Farewell to Arms, which I didn't much care for back in 2009. If it weren't for my general enjoyment of his prose style, I might not read another book.
What I Haven't Read Yet
Per Wikipedia, Hemingway published seven novels, six short-story collections, and two non-fiction works in his lifetime. There are also many post-humous works. I've only read four of the novels. Of the remainder, these stand out as things I want to read:
- I haven't read To Have and Have Not, but I have seen the heavily adapted film with Bogie and Bacall, which I enjoyed.
- I've heard many good things about the title story in the collection The Snows of Kilimanjaro.
- On the non-fiction front, I am interested in Death in the Afternoon (bullfighting) and A Moveable Feast (the Lost Generation in Paris, post-humous).
Probably Won't
A great deal of Hemingway's work was published after his suicide in 1961. A few of those have good reputations, but a lot of them seem to be the sort of "my editor and my wife heavily modified some unfinished works", and I probably don't care. They've also published his letters, which I suspect I don't care about either. I'll at least dip into his non-fiction and short stories, but I probably won't read all of them.