Bibliomusings: The Devil in the White City--Erik Larson

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

The Devil in the White City--Erik Larson

Genre: Non-fiction
Year Published: 2003
Pages: 447
Rating: 4

I'm not usually a fan of non-fiction, but this book was fascinating. The author weaves two stories--the creation of the Chicago World's Fair, and the crimes of Henry Mudgett, serial killer--seamlessly to paint a vivid picture of Chicago at the turn of the century. I enjoyed visualizing the White City as it grew on the lake shore, especially as a native Chicagoan who knows these areas well. I felt a part of the lives of the unfortunate young women who fell victim to Mudgett's fatal charm, as well as the architects who struggled to create their vision on the lakefront. Larson's research on the subject is nothing short of amazing, but it is his storytelling that makes this such a fantastic read.

Challenge/s: None
Book a Week # 22

No comments:

Previous Challenges

Best Books Ever!

In any random order:

To Kill a Mockingbird--Harper Lee
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter--Carson McCullers
Lord of the Flies--William Golding
The Narnia Chronicles--C.S. Lewis
Little Women--Louisa May Alcott
The Mists of Avalon--Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Hitchhikers Trilogy--Douglas Adams
Another Roadside Attraction--Tom Robbins
Factotum--Charles Bukowski
All the Pretty Horses--Cormac McCarthy
The Time Traveler's Wife--Audrey Niffenegger
The Dark Tower Series--Stephen King
The Stand--Stephen King
The Dragonlance Chronicles/Legends--Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
The Little Prince--Antoine de Saint Exupéry
The Prophet--Kahlil Gibran
Siddhartha--Herman Hesse
Brave New World--Aldous Huxley
A Clockwork Orange--Anthony Burgess
1984--George Orwell
The Handmaid's Tale--Margaret Atwood
Water For Elephants--Sarah Gruen
Memoirs of a Geisha--Arthur Golden
The Catcher in the Rye--J.D. Salinger
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest--Ken Kesey
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas--Hunter S. Thompson
The Color Purple--Alice Walker
The Life and Loves of a She-Devil--Fay Weldon
Bridge to Terabithia--Katherine Patterson
Bless Me Ultima--Rudolfo Amaya
A Fine and Private Place--Peter S. Beagle
Of Mice and Men--John Steinbeck
The Crossing--Gary Paulsen
The Secret Garden--Frances Hodgeson Burnett
The Thirteenth Tale--Diane Setterfield
The Road--Cormac McCarthy
The Poisonwood Bible--Barbara Kingsolver
Into the Wild--Jon Krakauer
The Devil in the White City--Eric Larson
Middlesex--Jeffrey Eugenides
The Book Thief--Markus Zusak

Great Quotes

"The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience." (Atticus, To Kill a Mockingbird; Harper Lee)

"But maybe the last part of the symphony was the music she loved the best--glad and like the greatest people in the world running and springing up in a hard, free way. Wonderful music like this was the worst hurt there could be. The whole world was this symphony, and there was not enough of her to listen." (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers)

"Dark of the invisible moon. The nights now only slightly less black. By day the banished sun circles the earth like a grieving mother with a lamp." (The Road; Cormac McCarthy)

"There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened." (The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Douglas Adams)

"I ought not to have listened to her," he confided to me one day. "One never ought to listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance. Mine perfumed all my planet. But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace. This tale of claws, which disturbed me so much, should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity."

And he continued his confidences: "The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her... I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little strategems. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her..." (The Little Prince; Anton de Saint-Exupery)

Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead. (Betting on the Muse; Charles Bukowski)

Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business. (Tom Robbins)

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears. (The Prophet; Kahlil Gibran)

You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body. (C.S. Lewis)

"For in a swift radiance of illumination he saw a glimpse of human struggle and of valor. Of the endless fluid passage of humanity through endless time. And of those who labor and of those who--one word--love." (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers)