Do you need to read less? here's what to focus on.
The Great Gatsby
- Green: Nick’s Welcome to the Eggs 5 Read THE CHAPTER
- Dr. T.J. Eckleberg: Party with the Mistress 27 Read 40-42
- They’re REAL! A Party at Gatsby’s 43 Read 43-54
- Romance in all its forms: Gatsby’s Request 65 Read 68-73 and 79-85
- Recapturing the Past: Gatsby and Daisy Reune 86 Read 90-98
- Uncommunicable Dream of the Past: Gatsby’s Story 103 Read 115-118
- Confrontation and Wreckage 119 Read 136-153
- God Sees Everything: The Holocaust is Complete 154 Read 168-170
- Boats against the Current: A Small Funeral 171 Read THE CHAPTER
The Grapes of Wrath
The starred chapters are called "intercalary" chapters: they do not deal with the story of the Joad family in any direct way. Instead, they give background, symbolism, description of the world the Joads are passing through and living in. Other than chapters 1 and 3, which set the terms of the novel; chapters 14, and 15, which convey the heart of the book; and chapter 29, which is necessary to understand the ending, skip as many of the intercalary chapters as you need to to keep up. Gee, Chapters 21 and 25 are pretty important, too, if you can manage.
- * Dust Bowl 3 ... read
- A Good Guy 8 ... read
- * Turtling 20 ... read
- Toward Home with Casy 23 ... read
- * Who’s the Monster 42
- Muley’s welcome 54 ... read
- * Used Cars for Sale 83
- Homecoming 90 ... read
- * Sell our Lives 117
- Setting Off 122 ... read
- * Tractored Houses 157
- * Along Rte 66 160
- Wilsons and Joad join together 167 ... read
- * The Difference between “I” and “We” 204 ... read
- * Mae’s Compassion 208 ... read
- Fixing the Car 222 ... read
- * Camp World 264
- California Clean 274 ... read
- * Hooverville and the Force of History 315
- Oriented to Hooverville 327 ... read
- * Fermenting Anger 385 ... read
- Welcome to Weedpatch 389 ... read
- * Looking for Pleasure 444
- Change a comin’ 452 ... read
- * Grapes of Wrath 473 ... read
- Strike on the Road 476 ... read
- * Cotton Pickers Wanted 554
- Tom’ll be There 558 ... read
- * Floods 589 ... read
- Weathering 593 ... read
No abridging here yet, but the chapter titles might help
The Catcher in the Rye
- Feeling Good-bye 1
- Life’s a Game (Spencer) 6
- Hunting Hat—Roommates 16
- Stradlater prepares for Jane 26
- Allie’s Mitt 35
- Jealous Rage and Pain 40
- Sleep Tight, ya Morons! 46
- Morrow’s Mom 53
- Perverts and all 59
- Three Witches 66
- Jane 76
- Phoneys and Ducks 81
- Sunny the Prostitute 88
- Maurice and the Movies 98
- The Nuns 105
- All about Change 113
- A Disastrous Date 123
- Phoneys and Movies 135
- Luce and Psychoanalysis 141
- Drunk Despair 149
- Phoebe Knows: 157
- Catcher in the Rye 166
- Good Cry 174
- Antolini’s “help” 180
- A New Flight Plan and Phoebe’s Love 194
- Sort of Missing Everybody 213
All the King's Men
1--(1) Jack’s assignment
2--(76) How he got the job
3--(164) A Study in Ethics All The King’s Men
4--(235) Jack’s First Excursion into the Past Robert Penn Warren
5--(286) And his Second.
6--(343) The Use and Results of the Truth
7--(405) Driving West: A meditation on Love and Purpose
8--(469) Killing the Father
9--(534) The Theory of Historical Costs
10--(605) The Agony of Will