It's April 3, 2012. In the last year and a day, I have read 50 books.
** ACTUALLY, only that sentence is from April 3, 2012. Just after April 3, 2012, I as a student teacher interviewed for and obtained an excellent job teaching high school English at an amazing high school in St. Louis, MO, and my life became busier than I had ever imagined possible.
However, I still find time to read. I read some amazing books this summer, and I feel the urge to begin another blog to discuss those books. When I get that figured out, I'll add the link here. For now, I just want to say this:
Learning about my own reading has been, really, kind of crazy. I read a lot of books I didn't like this year, strangely enough, but I figured out more about how I choose books. I finally learned how to put down a shitty book and I continued my time-consuming habit of reading late into the night, at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, in waiting rooms and in lines at just about anywhere, when I found a book I loved. And, ultimately, I've learned a lot about how to think about (and write about) books -- a skill that I am sure will come in handy starting on Tuesday, August 14th, when I start teaching high school students why reading still matters.
That was ultimately my idea when starting this book: I wanted to be able to show my future students that I, as their teacher, truly love reading and still find time to read as an adult. I wanted to show reading as a legitimate pursuit of knowledge and fun, an idea that seems to be dying in the modern high school community and an idea that I do NOT, under any circumstances, want to die. I want to inspire my students to read, and so I have tried to document my efforts, reactions, critiques, and loves about reading over the course of this year.
I hope that something good will come out of this blog, I really do. I will try to continue to write about my love of reading, but next time I won't be counting the books I'm reading or writing about every single one. Instead, I want to choose those books that I found stunning, incredible, meaningful, dark, comedic, everything that I love about stories, and share that love with my students.
I have no idea if anyone is following/reading this blog, but if you are, thank you, and hopefully I'll see you on a new blog about books before too long.
- M, 8/12/2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
50. A Game of Thrones
50. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (3/19/2012 - 4/3/2012)
In a year and a day, I read 50 books, and I have to say that this was the perfect book to end that year on. This book starts the nearly-legendary series A Song of Ice and Fire, which now totals five enormous books and is the foundation for the HBO series "Game of Thrones."
I don't even know where to begin to describe this book (or this series, for that matter). There is so much to it! There are so many characters, so many backstories, and so, SO much conflict. This is a series where, and I don't think I'm really giving anything away but nonetheless, SpoilerAlert!, characters are constantly being moved in an out of the narrative, usually due to a sudden and only barely expected death. But despite this, A Game of Thrones is a fascinating and totally compelling book. It's a long read, but it is so worth it.
I won't even try to describe it -- I'm not sure I could accurately summarize it anyway -- but I will say this: read this book. And then read the next book, and the rest of the series, and give yourself about three months to devote your life to this task, because these books will take over your life. They sure took over mine.
It is a testament to how amazing this book is that, upon finishing its 807 pages, I briefly paused to grab some nourishment and then immediately opened A Clash of Kings to keep reading the series.
In a year and a day, I read 50 books, and I have to say that this was the perfect book to end that year on. This book starts the nearly-legendary series A Song of Ice and Fire, which now totals five enormous books and is the foundation for the HBO series "Game of Thrones."
I don't even know where to begin to describe this book (or this series, for that matter). There is so much to it! There are so many characters, so many backstories, and so, SO much conflict. This is a series where, and I don't think I'm really giving anything away but nonetheless, SpoilerAlert!, characters are constantly being moved in an out of the narrative, usually due to a sudden and only barely expected death. But despite this, A Game of Thrones is a fascinating and totally compelling book. It's a long read, but it is so worth it.
I won't even try to describe it -- I'm not sure I could accurately summarize it anyway -- but I will say this: read this book. And then read the next book, and the rest of the series, and give yourself about three months to devote your life to this task, because these books will take over your life. They sure took over mine.
It is a testament to how amazing this book is that, upon finishing its 807 pages, I briefly paused to grab some nourishment and then immediately opened A Clash of Kings to keep reading the series.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
49. Love is a Mix Tape
49. Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield (3/16/2012 - 3/18/2012)
This is one of my favorite books of all time. The love story that Rob Sheffield shares is rich in detail, full of odd humor and depth and the ideas of what makes love possible for everyone. I read this book about once a year because I like being reminded that I am not the only one who experiences love like this; I recognize that others do, of course, but the story that flows forth from these pages is truly incredible.
Rob and Renee Sheffield got married relatively young, in their mid-twenties, after an unusual friendship and about two years of dating. They lived a happy, full life on almost no money for about five years, exploring life, comparing their upbringings, and battling each other over everything from which words are banned in fights to why they should wait til they were more stable to have kids -- in other words, just about every major and minor topic that most loving couples also fight over. A little more than five years after getting married, Renee stood up one Sunday afternoon, and fell over -- dead, from a pulmonary embolism. She had no warning signs whatsoever; one moment she was there, the next she was gone.
The book is not just this tragic story; it is also the story of how one begins to move past the loss of the love of his life. Sheffield does not sugarcoat his grief. He explores every facet of it, from his sudden obsession with Jackie Onassis Kennedy to driving for hours with Renee's dog, a pet he no longer knew what to do with.
I like this book so much because there is so much in it for me, as someone young and in love and desperately afraid of losing the love of my life. There are so many circled, underlined, dog-eared passages in my copy of this book, so many shared moments between my fiancee and myself in its pages, and so many ways that Sheffield is able to perfectly and simply capture love.
I cannot recommend this book more highly. It truly is amazing.
This is one of my favorite books of all time. The love story that Rob Sheffield shares is rich in detail, full of odd humor and depth and the ideas of what makes love possible for everyone. I read this book about once a year because I like being reminded that I am not the only one who experiences love like this; I recognize that others do, of course, but the story that flows forth from these pages is truly incredible.
Rob and Renee Sheffield got married relatively young, in their mid-twenties, after an unusual friendship and about two years of dating. They lived a happy, full life on almost no money for about five years, exploring life, comparing their upbringings, and battling each other over everything from which words are banned in fights to why they should wait til they were more stable to have kids -- in other words, just about every major and minor topic that most loving couples also fight over. A little more than five years after getting married, Renee stood up one Sunday afternoon, and fell over -- dead, from a pulmonary embolism. She had no warning signs whatsoever; one moment she was there, the next she was gone.
The book is not just this tragic story; it is also the story of how one begins to move past the loss of the love of his life. Sheffield does not sugarcoat his grief. He explores every facet of it, from his sudden obsession with Jackie Onassis Kennedy to driving for hours with Renee's dog, a pet he no longer knew what to do with.
I like this book so much because there is so much in it for me, as someone young and in love and desperately afraid of losing the love of my life. There are so many circled, underlined, dog-eared passages in my copy of this book, so many shared moments between my fiancee and myself in its pages, and so many ways that Sheffield is able to perfectly and simply capture love.
I cannot recommend this book more highly. It truly is amazing.
Friday, March 2, 2012
48. Eating the Dinosaur
48. Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman (2/27/2012 - 3/15/2012)
This book upset me. I love Chuck Klosterman, I really do. I have read all but his most recent book, and Killing Yourself to Live, his non-fiction account of traveling across the country investigating the deaths of rock stars, is one of my favorite books of all time.
But not this book. Too many of these essays are just out and out boring -- they almost feel like Klosterman is being intentionally dense and boring just to fuck with me as a faithful reader. The voice is still entirely his, of course, but he seems to have lost some of the clever humor that made me love his nonfiction in the first place. What remains is the voice of a self-indulgent guy who enjoys thinking deeply about just about anything that's not actually relevant.
For example, the first essay in the book runs about 40-50 pages and discusses, at length, why people feel compelled to answer when they are being interviewed. I'll grant that there is probably deep psychological reasoning behind why we do in fact answer intimate questions from strangers in an interview setting, but I suspect that it can be summed up in just a few words about most people's inherently self-promoting outlooks. I'm not saying that all people are selfish; I'm saying that people like to talk about themselves. Isn't that an established fact? I seem to encounter it a lot as a great way to get to know someone on a date when I happen to flip through Cosmo in a checkout-line. Look: people like to talk about themselves. I just saved you from reading this awful essay.
While I skipped the essay on why football is essential to American society, I do have to say that there were several awesome essays in this book. In one, Klosterman delves into the scary-true predictions made by the Unabomber's manifesto about technology, and the results in this essay are fascinating. Additionally, while writing about Alfred Hitchcock, Klosterman asserts that "learning should be the primary goal of living," an idea that, as a educator, I tend to agree with. So the book is overall not without its gems, but I suspect that if you just google "Hitchcock's Vertigo Chuck Klosterman," you'll turn up with that essay and you can skip the rest of the book.
Finally, I'd like to recognize that the most memorable part of this book was when Klosterman states that, as far as he's concerned, the best possible result of time travel would be being able to eat a dinosaur. Awesome.
This is a fairly confusing book -- I'd prefer to re-read Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs instead.
This book upset me. I love Chuck Klosterman, I really do. I have read all but his most recent book, and Killing Yourself to Live, his non-fiction account of traveling across the country investigating the deaths of rock stars, is one of my favorite books of all time.
But not this book. Too many of these essays are just out and out boring -- they almost feel like Klosterman is being intentionally dense and boring just to fuck with me as a faithful reader. The voice is still entirely his, of course, but he seems to have lost some of the clever humor that made me love his nonfiction in the first place. What remains is the voice of a self-indulgent guy who enjoys thinking deeply about just about anything that's not actually relevant.
For example, the first essay in the book runs about 40-50 pages and discusses, at length, why people feel compelled to answer when they are being interviewed. I'll grant that there is probably deep psychological reasoning behind why we do in fact answer intimate questions from strangers in an interview setting, but I suspect that it can be summed up in just a few words about most people's inherently self-promoting outlooks. I'm not saying that all people are selfish; I'm saying that people like to talk about themselves. Isn't that an established fact? I seem to encounter it a lot as a great way to get to know someone on a date when I happen to flip through Cosmo in a checkout-line. Look: people like to talk about themselves. I just saved you from reading this awful essay.
While I skipped the essay on why football is essential to American society, I do have to say that there were several awesome essays in this book. In one, Klosterman delves into the scary-true predictions made by the Unabomber's manifesto about technology, and the results in this essay are fascinating. Additionally, while writing about Alfred Hitchcock, Klosterman asserts that "learning should be the primary goal of living," an idea that, as a educator, I tend to agree with. So the book is overall not without its gems, but I suspect that if you just google "Hitchcock's Vertigo Chuck Klosterman," you'll turn up with that essay and you can skip the rest of the book.
Finally, I'd like to recognize that the most memorable part of this book was when Klosterman states that, as far as he's concerned, the best possible result of time travel would be being able to eat a dinosaur. Awesome.
This is a fairly confusing book -- I'd prefer to re-read Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs instead.
No # -- The Love of Stones
The Love of Stones by Tobias Hill (2/20/12 -- )
This book was downright awful. I was less than 30 pages in before I stopped reading it. In theory, the plot sounds fairly interesting: a women is searching for an infamous brooch worn by Elizabeth I that has been lost in history. The brooch consists of 3 gigantic rubies framed by 3 perfect pearls -- it can actually be seen in some portraits of Elizabeth I, which is really cool.
But, unfortunately: the writing is terrible. The book is super dense and -- remember that I have a degree in English literature and am in graduate school to teach English -- I had an incredibly hard time even deciphering the plot. The story switches back and forth from present to past from paragraph to paragraph, and frankly, the past isn't very interesting. It's something about the first guy who wore this brooch but who ultimately lost his land and life to a battle with the French king in somewhere between 1400-1550. The text is so dense that I actually couldn't figure out when this even was taking place.
Once the story gets into the present tense and stays there, it does not, unfortunately, get more interesting. The main character has an in-depth knowledge of gems and their value, origins, black market trafficking, etc. But she is thoroughly un-empathetic; she is written as cold and presumably calculating. The author was probably going for gem-smuggling bad-ass female protagonist, but he just didn't pull it off. I felt nothing for this character and when she meets with failure in her first underground jeweler meeting, I had no thoughts or feelings of empathy whatsoever -- actually, no feelings of sympathy either, which is an extra-bad sign in literature. Great authors evoke empathy; good, even just decent, authors evoke sympathy. Here, I had nothing.
I put this book down within a few days and I will not be picking it back up.
This book was downright awful. I was less than 30 pages in before I stopped reading it. In theory, the plot sounds fairly interesting: a women is searching for an infamous brooch worn by Elizabeth I that has been lost in history. The brooch consists of 3 gigantic rubies framed by 3 perfect pearls -- it can actually be seen in some portraits of Elizabeth I, which is really cool.
But, unfortunately: the writing is terrible. The book is super dense and -- remember that I have a degree in English literature and am in graduate school to teach English -- I had an incredibly hard time even deciphering the plot. The story switches back and forth from present to past from paragraph to paragraph, and frankly, the past isn't very interesting. It's something about the first guy who wore this brooch but who ultimately lost his land and life to a battle with the French king in somewhere between 1400-1550. The text is so dense that I actually couldn't figure out when this even was taking place.
Once the story gets into the present tense and stays there, it does not, unfortunately, get more interesting. The main character has an in-depth knowledge of gems and their value, origins, black market trafficking, etc. But she is thoroughly un-empathetic; she is written as cold and presumably calculating. The author was probably going for gem-smuggling bad-ass female protagonist, but he just didn't pull it off. I felt nothing for this character and when she meets with failure in her first underground jeweler meeting, I had no thoughts or feelings of empathy whatsoever -- actually, no feelings of sympathy either, which is an extra-bad sign in literature. Great authors evoke empathy; good, even just decent, authors evoke sympathy. Here, I had nothing.
I put this book down within a few days and I will not be picking it back up.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
47. Beneath a Marble Sky
47. Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors (2/12/2012 - 2/18/2012)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It wasn't particularly deep, more of a romantic romp through the history of the Taj Mahal intermixed with the horrors of living in the 17th century in India. But that lack of depth is overshadowed by beautiful prose and, really, a simple and beautiful story.
The plot focuses on the life of Jahanara, the daughter of the famous lovers Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan, who was the ruler of India at the time, and her relationship with Isa, the creator of the Taj Mahal. The story spans the death of Mumtaz Mahal, which inspired Shah Jahan to commission this gorgeous building, through the Taj Mahal's completion and the aftermath of Shah Jahan's death. The turbulence of the years after his reign are hinted at through the mysterious nature of endpieces of the novel, but the novel itself is quietly beautiful. Shors' prose is calm and simple, painting images in your mind that are almost as detailed as the Taj Mahal itself. Jahanara is a compelling female character, challenging the ideas of her time while dealing with constant threats due to her personal relationships with her husband, her lover, and her power-hungry brother.
The book is a love story overall, but it's not just the love story of Jahanara; it's the love story between Mumtaz and her husband, between her husband and the building of the Taj Mahal, and the love among a family that can't be together.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It wasn't particularly deep, more of a romantic romp through the history of the Taj Mahal intermixed with the horrors of living in the 17th century in India. But that lack of depth is overshadowed by beautiful prose and, really, a simple and beautiful story.
The plot focuses on the life of Jahanara, the daughter of the famous lovers Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan, who was the ruler of India at the time, and her relationship with Isa, the creator of the Taj Mahal. The story spans the death of Mumtaz Mahal, which inspired Shah Jahan to commission this gorgeous building, through the Taj Mahal's completion and the aftermath of Shah Jahan's death. The turbulence of the years after his reign are hinted at through the mysterious nature of endpieces of the novel, but the novel itself is quietly beautiful. Shors' prose is calm and simple, painting images in your mind that are almost as detailed as the Taj Mahal itself. Jahanara is a compelling female character, challenging the ideas of her time while dealing with constant threats due to her personal relationships with her husband, her lover, and her power-hungry brother.
The book is a love story overall, but it's not just the love story of Jahanara; it's the love story between Mumtaz and her husband, between her husband and the building of the Taj Mahal, and the love among a family that can't be together.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
46. Two Little Girls in Blue
46. Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark (2/10/12 - 2/11/12)
Do not mistake the speed with which I read this book for enthusiasm. On the contrary: this book, while interesting, was stunningly poorly written, which allowed me to breeze right through it. I was pretty irritated by this book, especially since this author is a huge bestseller, so I definitely gave away some key plot points in this post -- you've been warned.
It's not that the content of the book was that bad -- the plot was fairly interesting, and involved enough that I wasn't sure of who the criminal mastermind was until the very end. Two twin girls are kidnapped, and while one is eventually returned alive, the other is claimed dead. However, she isn't -- the kidnappers have decided to keep her as their own kid. The girls can still communicate through 'twin talk,' and this ultimately helps the FBI and the parents understand that the other girl is still alive. Eventually, of course, this little girl is returned alive. (I would claim spoiler alert, but it's pretty obvious throughout the book that Clark isn't going to kill the second little girl.)
So: the plot sounds pretty good. But the conversational language of the book was completely stilted -- everyone talked like they were in Victorian England and would be kicked out of society for using contractions. And, even though two of the characters were three-year-olds, they still spoke in the exact same way as all of the adults. Clark isn't even a talented enough writer to consider the fact that a little kid will not speak in full sentences or perfect English, and she is certainly not a good enough writer to implement that fact in her book. In addition, in my personal opinion, there were a lot of religious overtones that I did not find either interesting or even slightly relevant to the plot of the book.
Plus, and it really irritates me when authors do this, the ending of the book is really cliche and preachy. It ends with everyone sitting in the family's living room, watching the reunited twins play, and the FBI agent starts thinking things like, "It's too bad all kidnapping cases don't have happy endings like this one." Frankly, that's too picture-perfect -- I don't want to read a book that paints a portrait of a perfect world. There is no such thing -- Clark totally ignores the potential for the second little girl to suffer from PTSD or flashbacks over how she was treated, or that the girls may never want to leave their home again, or that the mom is totally going to become so overprotective she never lets the girls do anything, ever. All of this is ignored in favor of "everything is perfect now, and too bad all kidnapped kids don't live." Really?!
I was so disappointed with this book. I don't think I'll ever touch a Mary Higgins Clark mystery ever again. As far as I'm concerned, this is just an example of why the title of "New York Times Bestseller" does absolutely NOT mean that the book is actually a quality read.
Do not mistake the speed with which I read this book for enthusiasm. On the contrary: this book, while interesting, was stunningly poorly written, which allowed me to breeze right through it. I was pretty irritated by this book, especially since this author is a huge bestseller, so I definitely gave away some key plot points in this post -- you've been warned.
It's not that the content of the book was that bad -- the plot was fairly interesting, and involved enough that I wasn't sure of who the criminal mastermind was until the very end. Two twin girls are kidnapped, and while one is eventually returned alive, the other is claimed dead. However, she isn't -- the kidnappers have decided to keep her as their own kid. The girls can still communicate through 'twin talk,' and this ultimately helps the FBI and the parents understand that the other girl is still alive. Eventually, of course, this little girl is returned alive. (I would claim spoiler alert, but it's pretty obvious throughout the book that Clark isn't going to kill the second little girl.)
So: the plot sounds pretty good. But the conversational language of the book was completely stilted -- everyone talked like they were in Victorian England and would be kicked out of society for using contractions. And, even though two of the characters were three-year-olds, they still spoke in the exact same way as all of the adults. Clark isn't even a talented enough writer to consider the fact that a little kid will not speak in full sentences or perfect English, and she is certainly not a good enough writer to implement that fact in her book. In addition, in my personal opinion, there were a lot of religious overtones that I did not find either interesting or even slightly relevant to the plot of the book.
Plus, and it really irritates me when authors do this, the ending of the book is really cliche and preachy. It ends with everyone sitting in the family's living room, watching the reunited twins play, and the FBI agent starts thinking things like, "It's too bad all kidnapping cases don't have happy endings like this one." Frankly, that's too picture-perfect -- I don't want to read a book that paints a portrait of a perfect world. There is no such thing -- Clark totally ignores the potential for the second little girl to suffer from PTSD or flashbacks over how she was treated, or that the girls may never want to leave their home again, or that the mom is totally going to become so overprotective she never lets the girls do anything, ever. All of this is ignored in favor of "everything is perfect now, and too bad all kidnapped kids don't live." Really?!
I was so disappointed with this book. I don't think I'll ever touch a Mary Higgins Clark mystery ever again. As far as I'm concerned, this is just an example of why the title of "New York Times Bestseller" does absolutely NOT mean that the book is actually a quality read.
45. The Bell Jar
45. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (2/3/12 -- 2/9/12)
Since I am familiar with Sylvia Plath's life story, I was expecting this book to be really depressing. After all, The Bell Jar is largely autobiographical, and Sylvia Plath suffered from major depression for years and finally killed herself when she was 30 by sticking her head in an oven.
But I think going into this book with that knowledge helped make it a lot less depressing. That's not to say that this story isn't difficult, emotionally, to read; Esther Greenwood, the main character, is gradually spiraling into a black hole of depression and this book chronicles her experiences, many of which are both totally realistic and shocking, and of course frightening in the accuracy of their description. I've read before that experts have recognized many diagnostic symptoms of schizophrenia in the works of Sylvia Plath, so even though she was never officially diagnosed, she was most likely writing from her own experience of this disorder.
The plot itself is not so important as is the character of Esther Greenwood. At first, she seems like a quiet, rather awkward young woman who is working on a scholarship job in New York. But as that job ends and she goes back to her life and home, as she gets turned down for jobs and classes she applied for, as she struggles to find a career that she will find emotionally satisfying, she fades. Before long, she is seeing things and having fits and ultimately tries to kill herself -- which ends up putting her into a mental hospital.
I don't want to give away the ending; the book is definitely worth reading. But there is something eerie about this book, especially for me as an aspiring writer. Writing is something that Esther loves and that she is reasonably good at; she can see the connections between things expanding in her mind's eye in a way that is startlingly familiar to a writer like me. So, even though I know I'm not depressed or anything else that she is, the mental impact of that is a little shocking.
Since I am familiar with Sylvia Plath's life story, I was expecting this book to be really depressing. After all, The Bell Jar is largely autobiographical, and Sylvia Plath suffered from major depression for years and finally killed herself when she was 30 by sticking her head in an oven.
But I think going into this book with that knowledge helped make it a lot less depressing. That's not to say that this story isn't difficult, emotionally, to read; Esther Greenwood, the main character, is gradually spiraling into a black hole of depression and this book chronicles her experiences, many of which are both totally realistic and shocking, and of course frightening in the accuracy of their description. I've read before that experts have recognized many diagnostic symptoms of schizophrenia in the works of Sylvia Plath, so even though she was never officially diagnosed, she was most likely writing from her own experience of this disorder.
The plot itself is not so important as is the character of Esther Greenwood. At first, she seems like a quiet, rather awkward young woman who is working on a scholarship job in New York. But as that job ends and she goes back to her life and home, as she gets turned down for jobs and classes she applied for, as she struggles to find a career that she will find emotionally satisfying, she fades. Before long, she is seeing things and having fits and ultimately tries to kill herself -- which ends up putting her into a mental hospital.
I don't want to give away the ending; the book is definitely worth reading. But there is something eerie about this book, especially for me as an aspiring writer. Writing is something that Esther loves and that she is reasonably good at; she can see the connections between things expanding in her mind's eye in a way that is startlingly familiar to a writer like me. So, even though I know I'm not depressed or anything else that she is, the mental impact of that is a little shocking.
43. The Last King of Scotland
43. The Last King of Scotland by Giles Foden (1/15/12 - 1/26/12)
I absolutely loved this book. Having been born in the late eighties, raised largely in the nineties, and having reached some level of self-awareness and world-awareness by the early 2000s, I knew nothing about Idi Amin Dada. (In all of the surprisingly many world history classes I've taken, contemporary African history never seems to be covered very well, if at all, so this book and the research I did while reading it were the first times I encountered the story of this Ugandan dictator.)
The book is written as Garrigan's reflections on his time in Africa from a far-distant future. The world of Nicholas Garrigan as he moves from the UK into the middle of nowhere in Uganda is totally, 100% believable at all times; the horrors he describes treating, the violence he witnesses, and the absolute absurdity of Amin Dada's rule are all perfectly written. Garrigan is a thoroughly likable character, and one whose desires to help the poor of Africa while still being pretty self-centered are extremely empathetic. After all, while I can't speak for everyone, I know that while I want to help people, I would have trouble adjusting to a living in a hut and working in a super dangerous disease-ridden hospital.
And even though some of the things he does are somewhat despicable, I still liked his character. The ultimate plot of the book is how Garrigan became and served as Amin's personal doctor for the final years of his regime. Garrigan is basically forced into this service; Amin was a dictator so obviously he is not easy to say "no" to, not if you wanted to live. So Garrigan becomes his doctor, treating a wide variety of real and imagined ailments in both the dictator and his family. But before too long, Amin's dictatorship starts to decay and Garrigan finds himself on the run from both Amin's personal vendetta against him and the Tanzanian forces that are trying to remove Amin from power.
I sincerely think that this may be one of the best books I've ever read. Garrigan is an incredibly empathetic character; even in the moments when I absolutely hated him, when I wanted to kick him, I still understood exactly why he was doing what he was doing and could feel how scared he was.
If you have any interest in African history -- and really, even if you don't -- read this book. It will blow you away.
I absolutely loved this book. Having been born in the late eighties, raised largely in the nineties, and having reached some level of self-awareness and world-awareness by the early 2000s, I knew nothing about Idi Amin Dada. (In all of the surprisingly many world history classes I've taken, contemporary African history never seems to be covered very well, if at all, so this book and the research I did while reading it were the first times I encountered the story of this Ugandan dictator.)
The book is written as Garrigan's reflections on his time in Africa from a far-distant future. The world of Nicholas Garrigan as he moves from the UK into the middle of nowhere in Uganda is totally, 100% believable at all times; the horrors he describes treating, the violence he witnesses, and the absolute absurdity of Amin Dada's rule are all perfectly written. Garrigan is a thoroughly likable character, and one whose desires to help the poor of Africa while still being pretty self-centered are extremely empathetic. After all, while I can't speak for everyone, I know that while I want to help people, I would have trouble adjusting to a living in a hut and working in a super dangerous disease-ridden hospital.
And even though some of the things he does are somewhat despicable, I still liked his character. The ultimate plot of the book is how Garrigan became and served as Amin's personal doctor for the final years of his regime. Garrigan is basically forced into this service; Amin was a dictator so obviously he is not easy to say "no" to, not if you wanted to live. So Garrigan becomes his doctor, treating a wide variety of real and imagined ailments in both the dictator and his family. But before too long, Amin's dictatorship starts to decay and Garrigan finds himself on the run from both Amin's personal vendetta against him and the Tanzanian forces that are trying to remove Amin from power.
I sincerely think that this may be one of the best books I've ever read. Garrigan is an incredibly empathetic character; even in the moments when I absolutely hated him, when I wanted to kick him, I still understood exactly why he was doing what he was doing and could feel how scared he was.
If you have any interest in African history -- and really, even if you don't -- read this book. It will blow you away.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
42. And Then There Were None
42. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (1/4/2011 - 1/11/2011)
This is a classic murder mystery by Agatha Christie. I've read it before and read it this time because I'm teaching it to my English III class during my student teacher. This is actually one of the most popular murder mysteries of all time -- and it is virtually unsolvable without the epilogue at the end.
Ten individuals are drawn to Indian Island through a series of complicated ruses. Once there, an unseen host accuses each of being a murderer; each crime is one that is basically not punishable by law because they can't be proven, such as governess who eggs the child in her care to swim out too far into the ocean. The child drowns, but the governess almost dies trying to 'save' him, so she is absolved from punishment. The other murders are equally unsolvable and unpunished. The individuals on the island gradually begin dying off until, at last, all of them are dead.
Christie has done something amazing with this book -- it is unsolvable without inside information or the epilogue, yet she never has her characters lie in their own thoughts. The story is extremely entertaining because it is so suspenseful -- when the characters start dying, the reader is just as confused as every other character. As characters make accusations and try to solve the mystery, I as the reader am doing the same thing. I am hoping that my students will be just as involved in the story as we keep reading -- we're only around Ch 4 right now, so we still have some work!
Update 2/10: My students just finished this book, and they HATED it. I actually can't believe how much they hated it. Of course, they all looked up who the killer was on the Internet as soon as we started reading, and frankly in a book like this, if you remove that suspense, it probably would be ruined. But still. I'm frustrated that this will probably turn them off both Agatha Christie (who has many, many great mystery novels) and possibly mystery novels themselves.
I truly do worry about the future of the American education system. And the future of the American public, frankly.
This is a classic murder mystery by Agatha Christie. I've read it before and read it this time because I'm teaching it to my English III class during my student teacher. This is actually one of the most popular murder mysteries of all time -- and it is virtually unsolvable without the epilogue at the end.
Ten individuals are drawn to Indian Island through a series of complicated ruses. Once there, an unseen host accuses each of being a murderer; each crime is one that is basically not punishable by law because they can't be proven, such as governess who eggs the child in her care to swim out too far into the ocean. The child drowns, but the governess almost dies trying to 'save' him, so she is absolved from punishment. The other murders are equally unsolvable and unpunished. The individuals on the island gradually begin dying off until, at last, all of them are dead.
Christie has done something amazing with this book -- it is unsolvable without inside information or the epilogue, yet she never has her characters lie in their own thoughts. The story is extremely entertaining because it is so suspenseful -- when the characters start dying, the reader is just as confused as every other character. As characters make accusations and try to solve the mystery, I as the reader am doing the same thing. I am hoping that my students will be just as involved in the story as we keep reading -- we're only around Ch 4 right now, so we still have some work!
Update 2/10: My students just finished this book, and they HATED it. I actually can't believe how much they hated it. Of course, they all looked up who the killer was on the Internet as soon as we started reading, and frankly in a book like this, if you remove that suspense, it probably would be ruined. But still. I'm frustrated that this will probably turn them off both Agatha Christie (who has many, many great mystery novels) and possibly mystery novels themselves.
I truly do worry about the future of the American education system. And the future of the American public, frankly.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
41. Mockingjay
41. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (12/22/2011 - 12/23/2011)
The final book in the Hunger Games series provides a strong and satisfying ending to the trilogy and I really enjoyed it.
Again, if you are just starting with this post for some reason, Mockingjay is the third book in The Hunger Games series, and I will definitely have spoilers in this post. So: Spoiler Alert! If you have not read this book, don't keep reading this post. Go to your library or bookstore, get a copy of the series, and get started reading.
After reuniting with her family in District 13, Katniss must undertake the rebellion's mission of placing her as the figurehead. She goes through a lot of inner turmoil; parts of this book perfectly illustrate the idea of "internal conflict." But when she eventually joins the rebellion officially, she insists that she be part of the on-the-ground work. The Capitol obviously wants her dead, badly, and so she is always a target -- it seems like every mission she's on undergoes some sort of battle or siege in an attempt to kill her. While this is going on, Peeta is being rescued from the Capital, where he was left behind when the rebellion saved Katniss. He has been tortured in a unique way: all of his good memories of Katniss have been destroyed or mutilated. Anytime he sees her, he is instantly driven into a murderous rage. Needless to say, this does not go over well. Throughout the book, Katniss is constantly drawn back and forth between Peeta and Gale still, even after Peeta tries to kill her. There is so much going on in this book!
Between the constant battles, murderous plots, romance, and an amazing Capitol-centered finale, I could not put this book down. Frankly, even though I like Catching Fire better, this is an incredible end to the Hunger Games trilogy. I would recommend it to almost any reader.
The final book in the Hunger Games series provides a strong and satisfying ending to the trilogy and I really enjoyed it.
Again, if you are just starting with this post for some reason, Mockingjay is the third book in The Hunger Games series, and I will definitely have spoilers in this post. So: Spoiler Alert! If you have not read this book, don't keep reading this post. Go to your library or bookstore, get a copy of the series, and get started reading.
After reuniting with her family in District 13, Katniss must undertake the rebellion's mission of placing her as the figurehead. She goes through a lot of inner turmoil; parts of this book perfectly illustrate the idea of "internal conflict." But when she eventually joins the rebellion officially, she insists that she be part of the on-the-ground work. The Capitol obviously wants her dead, badly, and so she is always a target -- it seems like every mission she's on undergoes some sort of battle or siege in an attempt to kill her. While this is going on, Peeta is being rescued from the Capital, where he was left behind when the rebellion saved Katniss. He has been tortured in a unique way: all of his good memories of Katniss have been destroyed or mutilated. Anytime he sees her, he is instantly driven into a murderous rage. Needless to say, this does not go over well. Throughout the book, Katniss is constantly drawn back and forth between Peeta and Gale still, even after Peeta tries to kill her. There is so much going on in this book!
Between the constant battles, murderous plots, romance, and an amazing Capitol-centered finale, I could not put this book down. Frankly, even though I like Catching Fire better, this is an incredible end to the Hunger Games trilogy. I would recommend it to almost any reader.
40. Catching Fire
40. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (12/20/2011 - 12/21/2011)
This is by far my favorite book of the Hunger Games series. So much happened in this book that I never, ever predicted, and I just loved the adventure of reading it.
Once again, if you are just starting with this post for some reason, Catching Fire is the second book in The Hunger Games series, and I will definitely have spoilers in this post. So: Spoiler Alert! If you have not read this book, don't keep reading this post. Go to your library or bookstore, get a copy of the series, and get started reading.
The book starts where The Hunger Games left off. Katniss and Peeta have won the Games and are living their daily lives about 6 months later back in their home of District 12. But the Games have changed everything about their lives (this is an unfortunate but totally necessary cliche, and one of few in this book) -- Katniss and Gale are not the same kind of friends they were before the games, Peeta is in love with Katniss but she doesn't really return the feeling or know how to interact with him, and they now live in relative wealth and the District is kept further from starvation thanks to the prizes and food that the winners of the Games bring to their homes.
What they don't know is that, thanks to their proposed suicide plan in the arena, some of the districts have begun to rebel against the Capitol; Katniss has become the symbol of the rebellion without even realizing it. She is directly threatened by the President of the country that she must stop the uprising -- during a tour of the country, she and Peeta act like they are insane with love, with Peeta even proposing to her on TV, in an effort to stop the districts. But, of course, this doesn't work. Most of the story to this point is pretty predictable; I wasn't really surprised by much. The next part, though, was genius: the tributes for the next Hunger Games have to come from the still-living former winners -- meaning that, guaranteed, Katniss is going back into the arena and Peeta ends up going as well.
I won't give away what happens this time around in the arena, but it is really incredible -- the second time in the arena is so different from the first time that I'm not really sure how to describe it without sharing too many details. But the arena is incredible -- this is my favorite book in the series!
This is by far my favorite book of the Hunger Games series. So much happened in this book that I never, ever predicted, and I just loved the adventure of reading it.
Once again, if you are just starting with this post for some reason, Catching Fire is the second book in The Hunger Games series, and I will definitely have spoilers in this post. So: Spoiler Alert! If you have not read this book, don't keep reading this post. Go to your library or bookstore, get a copy of the series, and get started reading.
The book starts where The Hunger Games left off. Katniss and Peeta have won the Games and are living their daily lives about 6 months later back in their home of District 12. But the Games have changed everything about their lives (this is an unfortunate but totally necessary cliche, and one of few in this book) -- Katniss and Gale are not the same kind of friends they were before the games, Peeta is in love with Katniss but she doesn't really return the feeling or know how to interact with him, and they now live in relative wealth and the District is kept further from starvation thanks to the prizes and food that the winners of the Games bring to their homes.
What they don't know is that, thanks to their proposed suicide plan in the arena, some of the districts have begun to rebel against the Capitol; Katniss has become the symbol of the rebellion without even realizing it. She is directly threatened by the President of the country that she must stop the uprising -- during a tour of the country, she and Peeta act like they are insane with love, with Peeta even proposing to her on TV, in an effort to stop the districts. But, of course, this doesn't work. Most of the story to this point is pretty predictable; I wasn't really surprised by much. The next part, though, was genius: the tributes for the next Hunger Games have to come from the still-living former winners -- meaning that, guaranteed, Katniss is going back into the arena and Peeta ends up going as well.
I won't give away what happens this time around in the arena, but it is really incredible -- the second time in the arena is so different from the first time that I'm not really sure how to describe it without sharing too many details. But the arena is incredible -- this is my favorite book in the series!
39. The Hunger Games
39. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (12/19/2011 - 12/20/2011)
I surprised myself by how much I ended up liking this book. When I first started reading it, I did not enjoy it. The general set-up of the book was riddled with cliches -- Katniss volunteering as tribute in place of her sister, her friendship with Gale, the death of her father and her subsequent taking over providing for her family, her relationship with Peeta, her fellow tribute, etc. Even the games I frankly did not find to be very original -- it just seems like a device that's been used before. I tried to get past it, though, because reading The Hunger Games was an assignment from my future students -- I spent a day in my student-teaching classroom prior to the start of my semester teaching and my students said that, since I hadn't read this book, I absolutely had to before the start of the next semester. So when I started reading this book, I had to remind myself that this is meant as a book for young adults -- younger readers don't have the same reading experiences that I've had, so they probably don't see the same cliches there that I do.
But by the time I actually got into the meat of the book, I was pretty impressed with the content. I'm still not fully convinced that this plot is 100% original, but I did manage to get past it. Katniss lives in a society ruled by the Capitol, a controlling and completely self-indulgent government that created the Hunger Games as a reminder of the power they hold over the 12 Districts that make up the rest of the country. Each district must present one boy and one girl as tribute for the Games, which means that they get entered into a competition wherein only one person can or will survive -- that person must outlive or kill all the others in the Games in order to win. Katniss's sister Prim's name gets pulled from their district's pool and Katniss volunteers in order to protect Prim's life. Katniss and her fellow tribute, Peeta, are of course the underdogs of the Games, and they slowly rise to national attention as the preparation for the Games heats up.
All of these things I found to be pretty cliche-ridden, but the rest of the book is pretty awesome. I don't want to give anything away, but I did read the rest of the series, so here is the Spoiler Alert: I will give away what happens. If you as a reader of this blog do not want to know what happens next, stop reading RIGHT NOW and skip the next TWO POSTS, as they are about the next two books in the Hunger Games' series.
Katniss and Peeta of course manage to win The Hunger Games through a complicated time in the arena (I won't spoil the entire book); there is supposed to be only one winner of the Games, but it comes down to just Katniss and Peeta. Katniss knows that, in a choice between having two winners of the Games to celebrate and entertain the Capitol and in having no winner, the Capitol will choose the two. So Katniss proposes that she and Peeta eat poisonous berries and commit suicide; once the Capitol sees this choice (the Games are entirely televised, of course), they elect to have two winners. The book ends in the crazy aftermath of their winning, which includes food and prizes for the entire District.
This ending was a dark turn that I was not expecting in a young adult novel. The idea of manipulating the status quo happens in a lot of books, but from my experience, it seems to be a theme that young adult authors strongly avoid. But this book took that challenge and went way beyond those cliches that filled the beginning of the novel. So by the end, I was extremely impressed. I would recommend this book, and the entire Hunger Games series, to any readers looking for something exciting that pushes the reader to think a little more deeply about what kind of life they really want and what they can accomplish. Of course, to fully understand this idea, you have the read the entire series :)
I surprised myself by how much I ended up liking this book. When I first started reading it, I did not enjoy it. The general set-up of the book was riddled with cliches -- Katniss volunteering as tribute in place of her sister, her friendship with Gale, the death of her father and her subsequent taking over providing for her family, her relationship with Peeta, her fellow tribute, etc. Even the games I frankly did not find to be very original -- it just seems like a device that's been used before. I tried to get past it, though, because reading The Hunger Games was an assignment from my future students -- I spent a day in my student-teaching classroom prior to the start of my semester teaching and my students said that, since I hadn't read this book, I absolutely had to before the start of the next semester. So when I started reading this book, I had to remind myself that this is meant as a book for young adults -- younger readers don't have the same reading experiences that I've had, so they probably don't see the same cliches there that I do.
But by the time I actually got into the meat of the book, I was pretty impressed with the content. I'm still not fully convinced that this plot is 100% original, but I did manage to get past it. Katniss lives in a society ruled by the Capitol, a controlling and completely self-indulgent government that created the Hunger Games as a reminder of the power they hold over the 12 Districts that make up the rest of the country. Each district must present one boy and one girl as tribute for the Games, which means that they get entered into a competition wherein only one person can or will survive -- that person must outlive or kill all the others in the Games in order to win. Katniss's sister Prim's name gets pulled from their district's pool and Katniss volunteers in order to protect Prim's life. Katniss and her fellow tribute, Peeta, are of course the underdogs of the Games, and they slowly rise to national attention as the preparation for the Games heats up.
All of these things I found to be pretty cliche-ridden, but the rest of the book is pretty awesome. I don't want to give anything away, but I did read the rest of the series, so here is the Spoiler Alert: I will give away what happens. If you as a reader of this blog do not want to know what happens next, stop reading RIGHT NOW and skip the next TWO POSTS, as they are about the next two books in the Hunger Games' series.
Katniss and Peeta of course manage to win The Hunger Games through a complicated time in the arena (I won't spoil the entire book); there is supposed to be only one winner of the Games, but it comes down to just Katniss and Peeta. Katniss knows that, in a choice between having two winners of the Games to celebrate and entertain the Capitol and in having no winner, the Capitol will choose the two. So Katniss proposes that she and Peeta eat poisonous berries and commit suicide; once the Capitol sees this choice (the Games are entirely televised, of course), they elect to have two winners. The book ends in the crazy aftermath of their winning, which includes food and prizes for the entire District.
This ending was a dark turn that I was not expecting in a young adult novel. The idea of manipulating the status quo happens in a lot of books, but from my experience, it seems to be a theme that young adult authors strongly avoid. But this book took that challenge and went way beyond those cliches that filled the beginning of the novel. So by the end, I was extremely impressed. I would recommend this book, and the entire Hunger Games series, to any readers looking for something exciting that pushes the reader to think a little more deeply about what kind of life they really want and what they can accomplish. Of course, to fully understand this idea, you have the read the entire series :)
38. Dreamcatcher
38. Dreamcatcher by Stephen King (12/10/2011 - 12/18/2011)
I love Stephen King but man, this book is disgusting. There are so many freaky/disturbing and really disgusting things that happen early in the book that I don't know if I can actually recommend it to anyone. Once the first 150 pages or so are over, though, the book gets quite good.
The actual plot is that of an alien invasion; aliens are attempting to make the Earth into their personal breeding ground by basically eating everything in their path -- people, dogs, buildings, etc. But the aliens land in northern Maine, an area that, thanks to the weather plus the people they encounter, proves inhospitable. Those people include four childhood friends -- Beaver, Pete, Jonesy, and Henry. Two of these men die early on in horrible ways, but the other two prove essential to saving the Earth from the alien beings who have moved in. Then there is an entire sub-plot about a man with Down's syndrome that these four guys saved when they were all kids, and this turns out to be crucial to these men solving the problem that now faces the planet. It's weird -- the plot doesn't sound that interesting when I describe it, but it's a tough book to put down. I got so engrossed, I spent a lot of my week sitting on my couch reading.
Stephen King continues to surprise me, and I think that's why I like his work. I am quite familiar with his propensity for gratuitous violence or gore, but even so, my stomach was turning and reeling reading this book in a way that few other books have ever been able to inspire. I suppose that's not exactly a pleasant surprise, of course, but nonetheless -- it helps me understand why King is one of my favorite writers. This may not be a favorite of his books, but his abilities with pen and paper astound me.
I love Stephen King but man, this book is disgusting. There are so many freaky/disturbing and really disgusting things that happen early in the book that I don't know if I can actually recommend it to anyone. Once the first 150 pages or so are over, though, the book gets quite good.
The actual plot is that of an alien invasion; aliens are attempting to make the Earth into their personal breeding ground by basically eating everything in their path -- people, dogs, buildings, etc. But the aliens land in northern Maine, an area that, thanks to the weather plus the people they encounter, proves inhospitable. Those people include four childhood friends -- Beaver, Pete, Jonesy, and Henry. Two of these men die early on in horrible ways, but the other two prove essential to saving the Earth from the alien beings who have moved in. Then there is an entire sub-plot about a man with Down's syndrome that these four guys saved when they were all kids, and this turns out to be crucial to these men solving the problem that now faces the planet. It's weird -- the plot doesn't sound that interesting when I describe it, but it's a tough book to put down. I got so engrossed, I spent a lot of my week sitting on my couch reading.
Stephen King continues to surprise me, and I think that's why I like his work. I am quite familiar with his propensity for gratuitous violence or gore, but even so, my stomach was turning and reeling reading this book in a way that few other books have ever been able to inspire. I suppose that's not exactly a pleasant surprise, of course, but nonetheless -- it helps me understand why King is one of my favorite writers. This may not be a favorite of his books, but his abilities with pen and paper astound me.
37. The Sound and the Fury
37. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (12/7/2011 - 12/15/2011)
This was also one of the strangest books I've ever read, mainly due to the narration styles of the text. Faulkner split this book into four sections, each told from the perspective of a different member of the Compson family. The problem is that Benjy, the youngest son, is intellectually disabled/mentally retarded (depending on how politically correct you want to be), Quentin, the eldest son, is gradually descending into insanity, Jason, the middle son, is a heartless, mean person who is obsessed with blaming his sister for his misfortune, and the final section is told from no real perspective at all.
Each of the first three sections are written from a first person point of view, which creates even more problems. For example, Benjy has no concept of the passage of time; his narration skips from his present (wherein he is 33) to his childhood (around age 5) to his adolescence (around age 15) without warning or explanation, sometimes right in the middle of a sentence. It was nearly impossible to decipher on my own, so I used a variety of guides (including, to my shame, SparkNotes) to help me understand what the heck was going on. Quentin is gradually going insane -- he kills himself, which I know seems like a spoiler, but it definitely isn't in the context of this novel -- and so his section gradually loses punctuation, grammar, and total comprehensibility by the end of his section. This is also really hard to understand, almost harder than Benjy's section, so this gave me a lot of trouble as well. In general, the book prompts the necessity for multiple readings.
All three brothers are obsessed with their sister, Caddie. Caddie is between Jason and Benjy in age, and her actions have repercussions on all members of the family. She loses her virginity to a man she doesn't want to marry, gets married very soon after, and then is kicked out of her family when her new husband realizes her child is not his. This baby is dumped onto the Compson family, who raise her as Caddie leaves for a life in Paris. Benjy recognizes that Caddie is the only member of the family that really loves and cares about him, and since he cannot understand the passage of time, he does not know how to deal with Caddie's growing up. Quentin sees Caddie's pregnancy as shameful for the family and so offers to help take the fall by claiming that they had sex and the baby is his (somehow, to Quentin, incest is a better choice than wedlock, which I don't understand). Jason blames Caddie for losing him an opportunity for a life and a job with her ex-husband, so he steals from the money she sends her daughter for her expenses. The family is so absorbed with Caddie that the rest of their lives don't really function outside her context.
I don't know if I liked this book. I probably won't read it again, if only because the time requirement of it is immense and I know I won't have the time to devote to it again for a long time. Plus I'm not sure I could handle the craziness of the book again, which probably means I didn't really like it. If you greatly enjoy stream of consciousness writing, then this is probably a good book to read -- I've read James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which is highly stream of consciousness, and this seems like a strong American equivalent.
This was also one of the strangest books I've ever read, mainly due to the narration styles of the text. Faulkner split this book into four sections, each told from the perspective of a different member of the Compson family. The problem is that Benjy, the youngest son, is intellectually disabled/mentally retarded (depending on how politically correct you want to be), Quentin, the eldest son, is gradually descending into insanity, Jason, the middle son, is a heartless, mean person who is obsessed with blaming his sister for his misfortune, and the final section is told from no real perspective at all.
Each of the first three sections are written from a first person point of view, which creates even more problems. For example, Benjy has no concept of the passage of time; his narration skips from his present (wherein he is 33) to his childhood (around age 5) to his adolescence (around age 15) without warning or explanation, sometimes right in the middle of a sentence. It was nearly impossible to decipher on my own, so I used a variety of guides (including, to my shame, SparkNotes) to help me understand what the heck was going on. Quentin is gradually going insane -- he kills himself, which I know seems like a spoiler, but it definitely isn't in the context of this novel -- and so his section gradually loses punctuation, grammar, and total comprehensibility by the end of his section. This is also really hard to understand, almost harder than Benjy's section, so this gave me a lot of trouble as well. In general, the book prompts the necessity for multiple readings.
All three brothers are obsessed with their sister, Caddie. Caddie is between Jason and Benjy in age, and her actions have repercussions on all members of the family. She loses her virginity to a man she doesn't want to marry, gets married very soon after, and then is kicked out of her family when her new husband realizes her child is not his. This baby is dumped onto the Compson family, who raise her as Caddie leaves for a life in Paris. Benjy recognizes that Caddie is the only member of the family that really loves and cares about him, and since he cannot understand the passage of time, he does not know how to deal with Caddie's growing up. Quentin sees Caddie's pregnancy as shameful for the family and so offers to help take the fall by claiming that they had sex and the baby is his (somehow, to Quentin, incest is a better choice than wedlock, which I don't understand). Jason blames Caddie for losing him an opportunity for a life and a job with her ex-husband, so he steals from the money she sends her daughter for her expenses. The family is so absorbed with Caddie that the rest of their lives don't really function outside her context.
I don't know if I liked this book. I probably won't read it again, if only because the time requirement of it is immense and I know I won't have the time to devote to it again for a long time. Plus I'm not sure I could handle the craziness of the book again, which probably means I didn't really like it. If you greatly enjoy stream of consciousness writing, then this is probably a good book to read -- I've read James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which is highly stream of consciousness, and this seems like a strong American equivalent.
36. Wise Blood
36. Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor (11/16/2011 - 11/24/2011)
This may possibly be one of the strangest books I’ve ever read. Even now, I'm not sure I like it. This is yet another book I read for grad school, so that's why it's included.
O’Connor’s use of character development in this story was really amazing. Most of the characters – possibly all – are pretty much slimebags; they are all constantly doing things that are mean or swindling or downright creepy. But they are still incredibly compelling. I found myself on their side(s) in a lot of events. Of course, a lot of events in this book are also extremely creepy, but that's just how O'Connor played everything out. And the discrepancies between how the characters see their own actions vs. how the outside world sees their actions was interesting, especially since O’Connor showed this is such a subtle way. There is something darkly humorous about this novel, something that amuses me for the very reason that I don’t think I’m supposed to be laughing.
This may possibly be one of the strangest books I’ve ever read. Even now, I'm not sure I like it. This is yet another book I read for grad school, so that's why it's included.
O’Connor’s use of character development in this story was really amazing. Most of the characters – possibly all – are pretty much slimebags; they are all constantly doing things that are mean or swindling or downright creepy. But they are still incredibly compelling. I found myself on their side(s) in a lot of events. Of course, a lot of events in this book are also extremely creepy, but that's just how O'Connor played everything out. And the discrepancies between how the characters see their own actions vs. how the outside world sees their actions was interesting, especially since O’Connor showed this is such a subtle way. There is something darkly humorous about this novel, something that amuses me for the very reason that I don’t think I’m supposed to be laughing.
There is a lot of material for that mix of humor and contradiction in the character of Hazel Motes. I will frankly admit that I do not like this character but somehow, that did not stop me from becoming absorbed in his story (which is surprising – normally, if I don’t like the main character, I have a really hard time finishing the book). I'm not really sure how to explain this book. Hazel is a war veteran who, upon returning home and finding that his family is gone, tries to re-start his life by founding a church -- except that his church is The Church Without Christ, which creates a bizarre contradiction of sensibilities in this novel. Hazel is also fascinated with/stalking a street preacher and his daughter, so the Church Without Christ becomes even stranger.
Hazel doesn't get any lesson confusing as the story goes on; by the end, he is wrapping his chest with barbed wire and filling his shoes with broken glass as some sort of self-punishment -- even though he has been obsessed with his own "purity" for much of the early part of the book (and despite his own insanely judgmental personality). I'm not really sure why he does this and it never really gets explained. The book overall is something more like a descent into madness.
I don't think I would recommend this book to anyone unless I knew that they were specifically looking for something very strange and... well, I'm not really sure what else they would be looking for. Maybe if they were having some kind of religious crisis. Maybe. I don't have an answer to this book, or to its potential audience. I think any readers have to make up their own minds.
35. Delta Wedding
35. Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty (11/2/2011 - 11/15/2011)
This was an assignment from an American Southern Authors Independent Study I took as part of my grad school studies, so this wasn't a book that I was reading on my own. But since I did read the whole thing, and since I read it instead of reading other books that I wanted to read, I'm including it here.
This is a good novel to read if you like family sketches and family issues. But if you tend to like stories that are more plot-driven, I probably wouldn't recommend it. Nonetheless though, I do see why Eudora Welty is one of the more famous American Southern writers.
This was an assignment from an American Southern Authors Independent Study I took as part of my grad school studies, so this wasn't a book that I was reading on my own. But since I did read the whole thing, and since I read it instead of reading other books that I wanted to read, I'm including it here.
The whole book is one big snapshot of the Fairchild family; there is only the barest of plots, which is that the family is coming together for Dabney’s wedding, and the rest of the book is just the family’s interactions with each other. Each person plays a role in this enormous family. The entire book is also just few days in this giant family's life together; the wedding itself takes maybe 2 pages after more than 100 pages of build up and like I said, there's not much to the book, plot-wise.
There are a lot of controversies in this family. George, one of the uncles/brothers of the family, is seen almost as a hero; he has moved out of the family's hometown (which is named after them) and made something of a name for himself. But he has also married a woman that the rest of the family believes is beneath him, which causes a lot of problems. Dabney, the young bride of this story, is marrying the family's plantation overseer, another person that the family believes is beneath them (and, to be fair, Troy is not a very nice guy). The family is not quiet at all about their judgments either, which creates quite a lot of conflict.
I like that Welty chose to tell the story from the point of view of several of the main women. I don’t know if that appeals to me just because I’m also a woman or if, as it seems, the women of this family really do have more insight into their and others’ lives and I find that interesting, but either way, I enjoy the narration style. The main women, Ellen especially, seem to understand how the family fits together, how they fit into that family scheme, and how each member of the family relates to the others. The perspective changes also help tell the family's story from lots of different points of view, which really change as the characters do.
This is a good novel to read if you like family sketches and family issues. But if you tend to like stories that are more plot-driven, I probably wouldn't recommend it. Nonetheless though, I do see why Eudora Welty is one of the more famous American Southern writers.
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