Lord of the Flies: check!

It happened!  I surpassed my 2013 total and am now up to 3 books read from the list.

It took me three days to read Lord of the Flies.  I am not sure why I was so drawn in.  It wasn't a particularly exciting story and I definitely didn't feel like I could relate to the characters.  Still, I was so curious about what would happen that I basically couldn't stop reading.  It was like a bad accident where you can't look away.

I had to read this book as a freshman in high school, but like all the books I hard to read in high school, I kept up for a few days and then fell behind and caught up via sparknotes.  There were certain events I knew were coming (Piggy dying, Piggy's glasses breaking, the paratrooper falling from the sky, the pig hunt) but all the details I missed the first time put everything in perspective.  I knew what Piggy was feeling when Ralph kept shoving him off as a friend.  I knew what Ralph was feeling when no one understood how important the fire was.  I knew the frustration they felt when Jack felt it was more important to hunt than build shelters or tend the fire.

One by one, the characters succumb to savagery and tyranny until it is just Ralph left.  He is the one who is able to cling to any sort of thought about life beyond the island.  He was the only one who wanted to have a fire, and he created order at the assemblies initially.  All the other boys (except Piggy) slowly forget their lives and fall victim to Jack's tribe toward the end.  Ironically, it is an act of savagery, trying to smoke Ralph out of the jungle, that ends up saving them, although it is by the same means that Ralph was suggesting all along.  Perhaps the most striking part of the book was the ending.  Although the boys are rescued, this does not constitute a happy ending, even though a rescue was what they were hoping for all along.  Instead, the boys are shamed by the officer regarding their behavior, and when they start to cry, it is evident that they cannot go home and resume life as normal.  The island has changed each one of them.

I think the character I most identified with was Piggy.  He was the voice of reason throughout the novel, and the butt of all the other boys' jokes.  However, Piggy had good ideas and advice, and eventually Ralph began to trust him, especially without Jack around.  I see this kind of dynamic all the time at school--kids being nice to each other until the "cool kid" shows up, at which point one puts the other down to look "cool."  However, this rarely works, and it didn't work for Jack either.  There are times when the person with the better ideas is often not heard for whatever reason (for Piggy it was his size, his glasses, and his constant complaining).  It was interesting that Piggy was created by Golding to be so "disadvantaged" in comparison to the other boys.  He can't move as quickly as them, he has asthma, and he can't see without his glasses.  When Jack and the others steal his glasses, he is rendered helpless.  In this way, reason (Piggy) does not even begin on the same playing field as some of the other forces at play in the book, namely savagery (Jack).

Anyway, this was an interesting book and unfortunately probably more true to life than fiction.

A couple of quotes I liked:

"I know there isn't no beast--not with claws and all that, I mean--but I know there isn't no fear either."  Piggy paused.  "Unless--" Ralph moved restlessly.
"Unless what?"
"Unless we get frightened of people."

"Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!"
-Lord of the Flies talking to Simon


Up next: I don't know.  I was on vacation recently, and I read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and half of Prisoner of Azkaban.  I also read half of my summer reading book for school (The Reading Promise) and part of The Help.  I am also reading Emma and have been for a while.  My plan is to finish those (except maybe Emma, for now) and then jump into something different, maybe Middlemarch.  However, this is a busy summer, so if I can even finish Harry Potter I think I'll be doing OK. 

Wonder(ful)

Excuse the pun. :)

I just finished reading Wonder by R.J. Palacio.  I guess I was a little behind the times, as this book was super popular last year, but I thought it seemed like a good one.  Last year while subbing I read different parts of it at different times (SPOILER ALERT: I read the part where their dog dies at least three times) but had never gotten through it cover to cover.  It was great!  Definitely something that made me think a little bit, although it is definitely meant for a younger audience.  I would definitely use it with kids for a little perspective taking, especially with the middle school age that can be so cruel.  I loved how it switched between different points of view, and made you see plainly why people do what they do.  It forces the reader to examine what different characters are feeling, the motivations behind their actions, and the truth behind their actions.  I remember being really surprised (and a little angry!) that Jack had such mean things to say about Auggie on Halloween.  However, from Jack's side, while it doesn't make it any better, we find out that he didn't really mean what he said and was only trying to get Julian off his back.  I think this gets readers to really think about each character independently, and it also allows them to examine themselves.  I imagine that is a difficult task to accomplish as a writer, especially for a writer of a book geared toward middle schoolers, but I think Palacio pulled it off expertly!  (And I know by the way the kids I was reading to listened to and talked about the book.)

The Kite Runner, Check!

Today I finished The Kite Runner.  I probably won't be forgetting this book any time soon.

As I wrote before, I was reminded a lot of Life of Pi while I was reading this, mostly because it took place in lands far away and unfamiliar to me.  It started out very enjoyable, telling about a childhood and culture of Afghanistan, a tale of family and friendship.  Like Life of Pi, the book reaches a pint where it suddenly turns from cheerful to sullen and serious, as we witness a major event that serves as a turning point in the story.  Eventually, we see the main character(s) struggle in the aftermath of that event, and try to make the story come full circle.

The other part of the book that reminded me SO much of Life of Pi was the part where Amir returns to Afghanistan to look for Sohrab.  In both novels, the main character remembers a place of his childhood that no longer exists, and that serves as a source of pain when he revisits the place.  In one of my Life of Pi entries, I wrote about my own experience with something like that, though clearly not to the extent these characters experience.

The thing that this book got me thinking about was regret and that feeling of "shoulda woulda coulda," and how something you did (or didn't do, in this case) can change the course of your/someone else's life.  There's no going back, so after an event that causes regret, we have to figure out what the next step is: do we forget it and try to move on?  Do we fess up right away and try to make right?  Do we harbor it inside and hope we can bury the feelings?  If we bury the feelings, will they go away, or will that make it worse?  Does it help to tell someone?  Each situation is different, and in situations like Amir's, all of them are equally bad, because nothing can make up for the fact that he didn't do anything in the moment.  However, as the story continued, we saw Amir's repeated attempts to try to redeem himself, eventually taking in Sohrab.

Honestly, I thought this book would have a happier ending, after all of the turmoil throughout.  However, I'll take it.  I am not a fan of endings that are TOO happy, so I usually settle for realistic, which I feel this ending was.

I also didn't realize there was a movie, and I am on the fence about whether to watch it or not.  I did love the story though.  In the end, it comes down to the love that exists in a family, whether they be related by blood or not.  I know I have strong family love in my life, and feel equally close to some who are not family, and in the end, what counts is taking care of each other in the face of anything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I will leave you with some of my favorite quotes:

"...but it's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it.  Because the past claws its way out."

"At parties, when all six-foot-five of him [Baba] thundered into the room, attention shifted to him like sunflowers turning to the sun."

"Of course, Baba refused, and everyone shook their heads in dismay at his obstinate ways.  Then Baba succeeded and everyone shook their heads in awe at his triumphant ways."

"I see you've confused what you're learning in school with actual education."

"Children aren't coloring books.  You don't get to fill them with your favorite colors."

"In Kabul, it rarely rained in the summer.  Blue skies stood tall and far, the sun like a branding iron searing the back of your neck."

"It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime."

"Returning to Kabul was like running into an old, forgotten friend and seeing that life hadn't been good to him, that he'd become homeless and destitute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today I also started reading The Color Purple and The Return of the King.  I'll be working on those this spring, as I try to get more books/series finished up after last year's pathetic showing of 2 books, one of which I'd already read.  Oh well, better luck this time!  So far this year, I'm up to 2 (one of which was a series) and it's only March!  Go me!

When Harry Met Sally (Screenplay)

Also this week, I read the screenplay of When Harry Met Sally, which was, not surprisingly, literally just the movie in writing with stage notes.  It's one of my favorite movies, so, also not surprisingly, I loved it.  I thought this one deserved to be documented too, so here it is!

Holes

I was looking for something a little easier to read so that I could read and watch the Olympics at the same time, and I came across Holes.  I had read it a few years ago and loved it, and seen the movie and enjoyed that as well.  I reread it the other day and it was just as good.  It wasn't as exciting since I knew what was coming, but as a first grader told me a few years ago, "A good book is like an old friend," (which to her meant you could read it over and over and still find enjoyment.

I had to put it in here, since I finished it.  Fantastic read, especially for upper elementary/middle school readers.

I also have begun reading The Kite Runner.  So far I am enjoying that too.  It's reminding me a little bit of Life of Pi, probably because it's about a boy who is growing up somewhere else in the world.  I thought that since it takes place in a place and culture with which I am not too familiar that it would be hard to access, but so far it is very easy to understand, and the words that the author writes from other languages he explains almost immediately.  So far I'm about 15% done, which equates to chapter 6 and page 51 of 391.  I'm anxious to keep reading, but I have so many other things to do this weekend that I'm not sure I will get to much more of it.  Oh well.  It will get done eventually.

The Amber Spyglass: Check!

Well, here we are, mid-February and I've finished the "His Dark Materials" trilogy.  It started out pretty good and went downhill from there.  Bummer.

I just finished The Amber Spyglass, and was pretty disappointed.  Not only was it entirely too long, but it also wandered from the main point and tried to do too much.  I loved The Golden Compass because there was a clear goal in mind (Lyra tries to save Roger) but this one had too many things going on and I was pretty uninterested throughout.

Anyway, I am glad this series is done even though I enjoyed the first book.  Yesterday, in anticipation of finishing this book, I downloaded Emma for free.  I think I will read that next.  As soon as The Return of the King is back in the online library, I will download that to read as well.

Well, this was disappointing.  Hopefully Emma will be more enjoyable.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)

I recently finished reading Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?  Every once in a while it's fun to read a goofy book like that.  While I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Bossypants, it was enjoyable and I liked reading about someone else's life.

I guess I don't really have any commentary on this one.  I just wanted to document that I had read it and that it was good.  There were a lot of funny quotes that I highlighted and will remain in my kindle forever.  (Creepily, as I was typing that, I heard Harry Potter quoting in my head "her body will lie in the chamber forever".....weird)

I'm still working on The Amber Spyglass.  So far I'm about 75-80% done with that book.  Really the only one of those books I've enjoyed so far was The Golden Compass.  The 2nd one was kind of boring, and the 3rd one is dragging on and on and on, seemingly without purpose.  Any symbolism or foreshadowing from book 1 has been lost or forced in.  Honestly, I'm just kind of waiting for it to be over.  The good news is that I have less than 2 hours left, according to my Kindle.

The Subtle Knife: Check!

Well, I guess my Kindle is working in terms of getting me to read more!  We are only seven days into the new year and already I've finished 2 books (and am 11% into The Amber Spyglass). 

I actually didn't like The Subtle Knife at all...it was strange and definitely didn't have the quality of adventure I felt in The Golden Compass.  I'm thinking it may have had something to do with the fact that it mostly took place in this world in present day.  I also wasn't really sure the whole time what Lyra and Will's goal was.  I mean, I realize they were searching for Will's father, but there was not really any sense of why or any urgency or anything that tied the two stories together.  It was as if I was watching a TV show and a character from a COMPLETELY different show showed up and they continued the story by trying to fit their worlds together, with a strange result.  I'm thinking something like a vampire shows up during How I Met Your Mother or something equally as strange.  The whole thing was disjointed and kind of forced.  I don't know...I guess it just wasn't my favorite. 

The good news is that I'm now reading the Amber Spyglass, and am liking that better, as it is starting to make sense again.  So far Will is searching for Lyra, which seems a plausible storyline, and definitely presents some urgency.  I'll report on this when I finish, which will be in 8 hours, as my kindle has so kindly let me know.  After that, I'll have to see if Return of the King is available at the ebook library, and if not I'll have to find something else from my list.

The Golden Compass: Check!

I just finished read The Golden Compass, book 1 of the His Dark Materials series (#9)  I enjoyed it up until the last section of the book, where it got a little tedious and boring.  I now have two other books in that series to finish (which puts me midway through two different trilogies: this one and LOTR)

I read this book when I was 13 or 14 and didn't remember too much about it.  I remember it took me a long time to get through and that I didn't particularly enjoy it.  This time, though I was much more interested and for most of the book couldn't put it down.  I hope the other books are as good.

It was interesting to read about a universe that was almost like ours, but had very distinct differences (daemons, for example). The next book supposedly takes place in a world like ours, but Lyra somehow is part of that as well.  The Subtle Knife is definitely my next read, as I try to power through this series.

I will leave you with some of my favorite quotes:

"That is the duty of the old," said the Librarian, "to be anxious on behalf of the young.  And the duty of the young is to scorn the anxiety of the old."   (p. 32)

"Yes, I could teach.  Give me the right pupil, and I will light a fire in his mind!"   (p. 330)

"The stars are alive, child.  Did you know that?  Everything out there is alive, and there are grand purposes abroad.  The universe is full of intentions you know.  Everything happens for a purpose.   (p. 330)

"In the same moment, one future would close forever as the other began to unfold"   (p. 349)

Obligatory New Years Post

Well, my numbers this year were disappointing at best.  I read a grand total of 4 books....2 of which were not even on the list, and 1 that I had read already.  All in all, I crossed Cloud Atlas off my list this year.

Maybe 2014 will be the year I finish Lord of the Rings.

Even with my dismal end of the year outcome, today has been an exciting day for reading, and I joined the modern world (of 2010 or so) and bought a kindle.  I've had it for less than half a day, but I am really enjoying it so far.  I figured out that many of the books I need to read are free as they are out of copyright, and many of the rest I can borrow from the library online somehow.  Today I borrowed and downloaded The Golden Compass so that I could start the His Dark Materials series.  I have read that book before, but it was during high school and I was not such a fan.  (However, I felt obligated to read it, as it was a birthday present from a friend).  The only thing I remember about it was that it took place somewhere with snow and was kind of mysterious and there was a girl with a funky name who had a shapeshifter pet with her at all times.

So, now I'm about 15% through the book (my kindle now conveniently calculates my percentage) and enjoying it much more than the first time.  Hopefully it will be a quick read for me.  Apparently the whole book will take me less than 6 hours.....not sure how the kindle knows that but so far it's pretty accurate, so we'll see.

Back to reading!

TKAM: Check!

I finally finished To Kill A Mockingbird.  [does celebratory dance]

I started reading the book this summer after chasing around and trying to decide which version to buy.  I had a terrible time deciding, because I wanted a paperback with the tree on the front, but without the ragged pages.  Every paperback with the tree had the ragged pages, and so did the hardcover.  Eventually, after much turmoil about needing to have the "right" cover, I gave up and got the cheapest version with no ragged pages and a different cover.  I ended up liking the cover I got very much, especially because there is a tree on the cover that continues to the spine and back.  On the spine is the knot in the tree with a dolls and a watch and coins in it, and there are silhouettes of Scout and Jem and a bird and the title is written out on the branches of the tree.  While it is not original, I enjoy it quite a bit.  Here is a picture of the front and back cover and spine.

I had to read this book in ninth grade in little chunks and answer comprehension questions.  At the end we had to take a test on the plot of the story.  I liked the book OK while answering questions, but it was too disjointed for me to pay attention to what was actually going on.  So, I reread the book in preparation for the test and liked it SOOO much better. 

This summer I got a "craving" to read it, and so I started it.  I continued reading throughout the summer and even took it with me on a mini road trip vacation.  I was about 2/3 done when I got a full time job and put it on hold for a while, only to pick it back up a week ago and finish.  It was even better than last time.

Then I caught the reading bug again.  I have a list of movies I'd like to see when they come out on DVD, one of which was "The Perks of Being a Wallflower."  However, I decided I needed to read the book before I saw the movie, so I read it in a couple of days and literally just finished.  It was interesting because it mentioned To Kill A Mockingbird in the very beginning, and really reminded me of The Catcher in the Rye, which is another book the main character, Charlie, reads.  I enjoyed the book in the first half, and then it started getting kind of gloomy.  It wasn't my favorite ever, but it was definitely a quick read.  As a bonus, I can watch the movie now.

As always, my goal is to finish LOTR next, but as we all know, I will inevitably become sidetracked by something else that takes 3 months and I say I will finish it later.  I'm hopeful, though.  Happy Thanksgiving!

The Secret Life of Bees

The good: I finished one of the three books I was simultaneously reading.
The bad: It was not on the list.
(the ugly: it probably didn't deserve to be on the list anyway)

I finished The Secret Life of Bees.  It was decent, in the way that most former bestsellers are.  I could see why it was popular, why it initially cost $14 and how I ended up paying $0.50 for it at a used book sale on the half off last day.  It was an easy read (I would also categorize it as a "quick read" even though I took my sweet time getting through it) and it was entertaining and would have been a perfect vacation book had I needed something to take to the beach.  I enjoyed the book, but found it a little predictable, oddly pervy, and got the impression that it was trying too hard.  The symbolism was a little forced, in my opinion, and there were too many symbolic/motif things going on at once.  The queen bee, the Virgin Mary, the mother, Beatrice the Nun, etc., made the symbolism too jumbled, and the more there was, the more confusing it became.  It was like one of the characters was supposed to symbolize the queen bee, but there were too many other symbols that made it difficult to figure out exactly which character it was.  However, there can only be one queen.  It was like the author was making arguments for each character......

......which is why when I googled this just now, I got a variety of answers, none of which I agree with.  I will come back to this later.

Don't get me wrong.  I enjoyed the story, the characters, and especially the setting.  It made me want to start driving to the middle of rural South Carolina and find the pink house and just stay there, like Lily.  However, the thing I most enjoyed were the epitaphs in the beginnings of the chapters.  All were from nonfiction books on bees and beekeeping, and gave some insight into the story.  The one that stuck with me the most was the one about a queenless hive:

"The queen, for her part, is the unifying force of the community: if she is removed from the hive, the workers very quickly sense her absence.  After a few hours, or even less, they show unmistakable signs of queenlessness." (epitaph for chapter 1)

Another that I liked:

"A queenless colony is a pitiful and melancholy community: there may be a mournful wail or lament from within...Without intervention, the colony will die.  But introduce a new queen and the most extravagant change takes place." (epitaph for chapter 14).

Back to the answers who "Who is the queen bee in the story?"
One possible answer: August, because she is the leader of the sisters and the congregation they started and is the person who Lily feels closest to in the story.
My thoughts: Disagree, because queens are by definition mothers, and August is not a mother.  Additionally, the epitaphs regarding queen bees are not relevant if August is considered the queen bee...exactly.
Another possible answer: Mary, because she is "the mother of thousands," as Lily says herself.
My thoughts: This is possible.  While Mary is a mother, and brings people together, the epitaphs do not seem completely relevant UNLESS the message in this book is that everyone must have religion.  In that case, the epitaphs regarding queenlessness are really about not having a religion.  And while I agree that religion can bring people together, I do not agree that a community can "die" without religion.  So while it is possible, I find it a little far fetched and preachy for my tastes.

Which is why I believe the actual queen is not a specific person at all, but a mother figure.  Initially, I believed Lily's mother Deborah was the actual queen bee in the novel, and to an extent I believe that is true.  That is why chapter 1 begins with an explanation of "queenlessness" that shows T.Ray and Lily's relationship and family without Deborah around.  It is clear that they do not respect each other or value each other, and that Lily feels incomplete without her mother there.  Lily's life is "pitiful and melancholy," and she sends much of her time obsessing over her mother and the circumstances surrounding her death.  She blames herself and is confused by the things she cannot remember.  For most of the book, she dealt with this "without intervention," i.e. by keeping it a secret.  However, when she opens up to August and pieces together the truth, she is able to deal with it and move on.  While is still "queenless," i.e. motherless, August is introduced as the new queen, or new mother figure, which is why we begin to see a change in Lily.

(You can probably now see why I felt the symbolism regarding the queen bee was a little jumbled with Mary thrown into the mix).

Next I plan to finish To Kill A Mockingbird.  Stay tuned for a further discussion of symbolism, this time (if I remember correctly) more subtle and less jumbled.  And then LOTR.  For real this time.

(Side note: I have been buying one Harry Potter book per year (what's that you say?  How could I not own them when I have read them all multiple times?  I ask myself that same question every day) to add to my collection to spread the cost out/so I can use coupons/so my package is not 100 pounds/to keep track of years passing/etc, and while it was out of order, I bought #7 (the hardcover) today at a thrift store for (drumroll please!!!!!) $2.42!!!  If I could put numbers in caps, I would, I was was that excited.  And my standards for buying books, especially used books, are extremely high, including no torn or bent pages or covers, and no creases in the binding (unimportant in hardcovers with sleeves), which explains why it is a big deal when I buy anything at a used book sale.  However, this one looks like it was preordered, read once the night it came out, and never looked at again.  It didn't even smell weird!  I WAS SO EXCITED!!  So now the only one I have missing is the sixth one, and I may have to do some creative trading on the fifth one, which is the most recent one I have purchased, and while it is very nit-picky and ridiculous, it irks me that the pages are not as thick as the other books, so while #5 is technically the longest book, it actually is smaller than #4 because of the pages thickness.  Ridiculous, I know, but something that has been bothering me since I got it a month or so ago.  So.....I'll figure it out.  I wish they had the other ones at the thrift store too so I could complete my collection for not much money.  But I did the calculations, and based on the original price of $34.99, I got the book for a whopping 93% off.  While that is fabulous, I am currently asking myself who donates Harry Potter to the thrift store?  Seriously?)

Simultaneous Reading

Well, it's finally summer.  The season of no school, of hot weather, of vacations and swimming and having lots of time to myself to just read.  It's also the season of street fairs and used book sales and me ordering books online to use for tutoring and treating myself to a few as well.  This year, summer brought a late spring cleaning, which led to me inheriting some books that my sister got from the woman whose children we used to babysit after her book club was done with them.  Needless to say, I am even more surrounded by reading material now, have no space, and am not sure what to read next!

So, I have unintentionally embarked on a journey of reading several books at once.  It started with my trip to used book sale #1, where I picked up (for fifty cents each) The Secret Life of Bees, Catch Me If You Can (the book), and Bridget Jones's Diary (already read but hilarious).  My sister then gave me The Tales of Beetle the Bard, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, The Time Traveler's Wife, and Water for Elephants (which I have already read and enjoyed but not as much as the movie).  I then attended used book sale #2, where I purchased Vanity Fair (#79) for another fifty cents.  So, that's 8 books for a whopping $2.00.  I then decided to purchase some books online as a gift to myself, which ended up being Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (in preparation for next year, since I have been buying myself one book per year until the set is complete), To Kill A Mockingbird, and Bossypants by Tina Fey (which I have listened to on audiobook and loved and definitely had to own it, especially since the new version is an orange-y peach color).

I then got a very strong urge to read To Kill A Mockingbird, and was a little ashamed that I did not own the book.  I went on an excursion to several book stores and could not find a version that I liked (the hard cover with the correct cover had ragged pages, the hard cover with nice page edges had the wrong cover and was expensive, the paperback versions was too small, etc.) so after hemming and hawing for a couple of days, I decided to just get the small paperback with the wrong cover (I was never a big fan of the strange looking tree anyways) because it was cheaper, and now that I have it, I like it and enjoy the fact that it looks unique.  I'm just a little ways in right now and Jem has just rescued his pants from the Radley's fence.  I remember reading this freshman year of high school and enjoying it (and rereading it in a day because I had, as most high schoolers do, run out of time to read  for homework (ie procrastinated and found better things to do) and sparknoted most of the book) and did want to reread it for this challenge.

While school is in session, I like to have a book in my bag that is an easy read that can be easily taken out and put away and read in small sections, so I started Secret Life of Bees for that purpose and got a little ways into that one as well.  I'll have to finish that one up to decrease the number of books I'm reading at once.  My plan is to possibly get an audiobook of it, as I am going to be driving 7 hours to visit a friend this weekend and may enjoy hearing the story on the way.

The third book I'm reading is Vanity Fair since it ended up at my boyfriend's house after the sale we went to, and although I am about 5 pages in right now, it seems enjoyable and a little easier to read than I had anticipated.

So, once at least two of those are done, I'll head into Lord of the Rings.  (but I've said that so many times that I hardly believe myself and definitely wouldn't bet money on it!)  Happy Summer!

Cloud Atlas: Check!

I finished Cloud Atlas.  Mind blown.  Definitely was an experience through time and through characters that left me questioning what actually happened in the book and which characters  may have been reincarnates of each other.  It made me realize that humans are not so different from each other, our ancestors, and those yet to come.  Good job, David Mitchell.

My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops? (pg. 509)



Next up: Lord of the Rings Return of the King, I promise!!  I want this series over and done with.  Then what?  No idea.  Hopefully I'll be done with that book by November, haha.

Life of Pi: the Movie

I never intended this to be a movie blog, but last night I watched Life of Pi.  Originally, when it came out, I wasn't interested in watching it because it took me long enough to get through the book and was not too willing to watch 2 hours of a seasick man and tiger on a boat in the middle of the ocean.  However, after it won so many Oscars, I reconsidered and wanted to see what all the buzz was about.  I enjoyed the story but after a while it became more and more tedious.  However, the movie kept me captivated the entire time.  I loved (as in the book) the beginning with all the Indian culture and bright colors.  And I had forgotten all the religious aspects of the book, so it was a good chance for me to rediscover the main theme of the book.  (And it definitely cleared up my question about how they did not know the tiger was in the boat.)

Some quotes I liked:

"You only need to convert to three more religions Piscine, and you'll spend your life on holiday."

"Above all, don't lose hope"
  
Adult Pi Patel: Can I ask you something? I've told you two stories about what happened out on the ocean. Neither explains what caused the sinking of the ship, and no one can prove which story is true and which is not. In both stories, the ship sinks, my family dies, and I suffer. 
Writer: True.
Adult Pi Patel: So which story do you prefer? 
Writer: The one with the tiger. That's the better story. 
Adult Pi Patel: Thank you. And so it goes with God.

Cloud Atlas: 28% and 3/11 sections down

At my last update, I recapped the first section (Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing) and most of the second (Letters from Zedelghem).  I have just finished section 3 (Half Lives: The First Louisa Rey Mystery)

Toward the end of Letters from Zedelghem, Frobisher continues to get visits from Jocasta.  One night, while Jocasta is "visiting," Ayres comes in needing Frobisher's services because he has woken up during the night with a song in his head that he needs to write down immediately.  He then warns Frobisher that his wife can be a flirt, and asks Frobisher if his wife has made any advances.  Frobisher lies and says no.  He then gets an offer from Ayres to stay for another year, which he is contemplating as the section ends.

The sections are getting better and better.  While I did not enjoy the first section, I liked the second and was sad to see it end.  However, the third section, which takes place in California in the 70's, was even better, and now I'm sad to see that one end as well.

Louisa Rey is the daughter of a now deceased famous reporter, who is now a reporter herself.  She has recently been dumped, and lives in an apartment in a town near Los Angeles.  She is friends with her 11 year old neighbor who has a rough home life, and who crosses the balconies of the complex to visit Louisa.  One day, Louisa and Rufus Sixsmith (the recipient of Frobisher's letters), now in his 60's, become trapped in an elevator due to a brownout.  Sixsmith is one of 12 scientists working on a nuclear power plant(?) or some kind of nuclear project called HYDRA.  Sixsmith's research has led him to the conclusion that the reactor (or whatever it is) is not safe due to the possibility that it will fail and melt down, and he prints his findings in a report.  However, the company he works for tries to cover this up, and tells the scientists to keep their mouths shut.  Sixsmith is the only scientist of the 12 who is having a hard time with this, and he lets something slip to Louisa about his conflicted thoughts.  Louisa then attends the opening of the reactor in an attempt to get a good story out of it for her magazine, and finds herself wandering the halls of the building looking for Sixsmith's office and report.  When she finds it, she finds Isaac Sachs looking through Sixsmith's work as well, but then gets escorted back to the party by the PR rep, Fay Li.

At some point, Sixsmith gets a call from an anonymous source (Sachs?) that he is no longer safe in California and should return to England, his home country, immediately.  Sixsmith is skeptical, but complies.  He is unable to get a flight until the next day, and stays in a hotel in the meantime.  During his stay, he is murdered by Bill Smoke, an employee of the reactor company that is sent to forever silence employees who speak out against the company.  However, the press and police rule that his death was a suicide, something that Louisa refuses to believe.  She then tries even harder to get a copy of the report and go public with it.  Eventually, she runs into Isaac Sachs again, who gets drunk at another event at the plant and agrees to help Louisa find the report.  He does, and leaves it in her car.  However, the top executives, including Smoke, get wind of this and follow Louisa to the plant.  When she gets there, Smoke hits her car and it ends up in the water.

End of section (DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN!!!!!)

That was definitely my favorite section so far, although it's really difficult to compare them since they are all so different.  I hope the next section will be just as good.  While this one was clearly a thriller (I haven't read a lot of thrillers, so I'm not sure if they are all like this, but I found it very similar to Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (side note: I just rented the Swedish version of the movie and have yet to see the American one) in the speed, the way the narrative jumped around between characters to show the actions of everyone, and how the main character is a journalist looking to expose information and solve a murder) the next is apparently more comedic in nature.  And it looks like the one after that is completely written in interview form.


Here are the connections I've found so far:

-Louisa and Frobisher both have comet tattoos on their shoulderblades
-Frobisher finds the first half of Ewing's journal at Zedelghem
-Louisa orders Frobisher's "Cloud Atlas" sextet (gasp!  I knew the title would reveal itself eventually)
-Frobisher and Sixsmith were friends

I'm sure there will be more, and I'm predicting it will really come together as we go backward through time in the second half of the book.  But for now I'm more than halfway to the half, which is pretty good for only a couple of days (even if they were vacation days).

Finally Started Cloud Atlas

I have finally started reading again.  This time I am working my way (slowly) through Cloud Atlas, which I received as a gift this fall and had a hard time getting into.  The format of the book is very interesting, and it has been compared to nesting dolls.  It's as if Mitchell laid six stories on top of each other and then folded them into a book.  Basically, the book is comprised of six stories, and all but five are interrupted about halfway through and finished later in the book in reverse order.  The only uninterrupted story is the sixth story, which is in the middle of the book.  It is sandwiched by the two halves of the fifth story, and so on, so that the story begins and ends with the first story.

The first story is called The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing.  Adam is on a journey on a boat headed toward California and at some point he discovers someone on the boat who is not supposed to be there (I think).  To be honest, I found this section kind of dry and uninteresting, and I had a hard time following the action since there was not much of it at first.  By the time anything happened, I was so lost that I was unsure of what was going on, but not lost enough to want to reread.  I figured if I moved on maybe it would become clear later.  (I advise my students against this, and I would tell them that not knowing what is going on is a red flag and to go back and reread or choose an easier book....I guess this is an instance of "do as I say not as I do").  Actually, I thought something was wrong with my book at first, as this section cuts off mid-sentence, only to resume over 400 pages later.  I had to look it up online to see if that was indeed correct or if somehow there was a printing error.  Luckily, that section only lasted about 40 pages, but nevertheless it took me months to get through.

The next section, Letters From Zedelghem, which I am in the middle of now, is much less dry.  It's written in epistolary form, from Robert Frobisher, a broke and disowned musician, to his friend Sixsmith.  So far, Frobisher has run out of money and jumped out of a hotel window to avoid paying his bill.  He took a train to the Netherlands and borrowed a bike from a police officer to ride to the chateau of a famous composer, Vyvyan Ayres.  Ayres is going blind and slowly dying of syphilis, so Frobisher convinces him he needs someone to help him write down his musical compositions.  So far they have written a short piece that is the talk of the town.  Vyvyan and his wife Jocasta have a bitchy daughter named Eva who is amusing to read about.  She is skeptical of Frobisher, and often brings up his family and money, and wonders aloud to all present why he never receives letters or things from home.  Frobisher has Sixsmith write him a few letters just to cover up the fact that he has been disowned by his family.  Recently, Frobisher and Jocasta have started an affair, which Eva is starting to pick up on, but no one has figured out yet.  (It was mentioned that Jocasta has not slept with Ayres since he contracted syphilis, just to clear that up since I was wondering about it as well).  I have about 15 more pages of this section to go until reaching section 3, which is entitled Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery.  Hopefully that section will be good as well, but I am going to miss Frobisher.

I will leave you with some quotes that I enjoyed.  A few made me laugh out loud as I was reading.  Good thing I was home.

"A half-read book is a half-finished love affair." (p. 64)  (If that is true I have many love affairs to finish)

[Eva is mad that her father likes Frobisher so well and has offered him a better room, and sarcastically exclaims that he should be added to the will and given part of the estate.  Ayres exclaims that it's the first good idea she's had in her entire life and tells her that at least he earns his keep]
"My hosts wouldn't hear my apologies, they said Eva should be apologizing to me, that she has to lose her pre-Copernican view of a universe revolving around herself.  Music to my ears.  Also re: Eva, she and twenty classmates are bound for Switzerland v. soon to study at a sister school for a couple of months.  More music!  It'll be like having a rotten tooth fall out."  (p. 66)

"The meadow is turning yellow, the gardener is anxious about fires, farmers are worried about the harvest, but show me a placid farmer and I'll show you a sane conductor."  (p. 71)

Anna Karenina: check! (again)

I finished Anna Karenina for the third time, and am now ready for the movie to come out next month.  I've already written papers and journal entries on this book for school twice, so I don't want to rehash it here, but I will leave you with a couple of my favorite quotes from the book before I move onto Sherlock Holmes.

The first comes early on in the book, where Anna is surrounded by society people who are talking about someone who had recently had an affair.
"What I think is," said Anna, toying with the glove she had pulled off, "that there are as many minds as there are heads, so there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts." (p. 163 )


The next one comes from a visit between Dolly and Anna after she has been shunned from society.
"No, no, tell me what you really think of my position.  What is your opinion of it?" she (Anna) asked.
...
"I don't think anything," she (Dolly) said.  "I've always loved you, and when you love someone, you love the whole person, just as he or she is, and not as you would like them to be." (p. 709)


The third comes from Dolly's visit to Anna's house toward the end of the book, when she feels uncomfortable with the company and wishes to go home.
"Dolly did not feel particularly cheerful while they were playing.  She did not like the flirting Veslovsky carried on with Anna and the general unnaturalness of grown-up people carrying on a children's game in the absence of children.  But not to disconcert the others and to while away the time in some way or other, she joined the players and pretended to be enjoying herself.  All that day she had the strange feeling that she was taking part in a theatrical performance with better actors than herself and that her own bad performance was spoiling the whole show" (p. 733)

I could definitely relate to the third one especially.  Next time I update it will probably be about Sherlock Holmes (or Cloud Atlas, which I recently received as a random gift).  Ciao!

Anna Karenina

So rather than read another book off the list, why not read one I've already completed...twice?  Apparently Anna Karenina is coming out on film (again) this November, and since it's one of my favorites (besides Gone With The Wind, Because of Winn Dixie, and Charlotte's Web) I decided to reread it and prepare for its upcoming film (re)debut. (There were a lot of parentheses in that paragraph, my apologies).

Currently I'm about halfway through, and I just realized that I hadn't updated since what was technically still spring.  That means I spent the summer doing.......ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!  My plan was to finish LOTR (success rate over the past 2 years for that plan, 0%, or maybe even negative.  It's a pretty poor plan since it never works), but like all past attempts, it failed.  Then a friend alerted me to the new Anna Karenina movie, and here I am.  On page 450 of 940, so almost half.  Yes, I am that person who not only reads a Russian novel on summer vacation, but REreads a Russian novel on summer vacation.

So far we have rejected Levin, in-debt Oblonsky, oblivious on purpose Dolly, cheating Anna, wimpy Karenin, and annoying Vronsky.  Also frail Kitty, almost forgot about her.  They are all at a dinner party (except Anna and Vronsky) and Levin is about to propose to Kitty again.  Hopefully everything works out this time.

I don't often reread books, mostly because there are so many I want to read for the first time, but I do love picking up a book I've enjoyed in the past.  It's like visiting old friends and reminiscing about old times.  I had a kid tell me once, when I asked if she wouldn't mind rereading a book for class that she had read on her own, "a favorite book is like an old friend."  How true she was!  Other books I've reread include Harry Potter and.....I'm not sure what else.  Any of my favorites I guess.  I plan to reread Gone with the Wind at some point.  Maybe next summer.

Reading Anna Karenina has made me very curious about War and Peace.  I love Tolstoy's writing style, and as long as I keep a character list, I should find it just as enjoyable (except for it's obvious length, which in my copy is 1256 with a 102 page epilogue....so 1358).  That will be quite a project!

After I finish AK, I have a couple books in mind to tackle next.  I normally would say Return of the King, and if I get in a mood where I just want to get it over with, I may just go for it.  Another option is Les Miserables, since the movie for that is coming out in December, although that's another long one that I'll definitely have to commit to.  I also still have Middlemarch sitting here, as well as Midnight's Children, and a couple others that are not on the list.  Other options include finishing up the Narnia series.  We'll see what happens with them.  But anyway, here it is September 1st, and I've still only read 2 books from the list.  This one doesn't count either since I've already read it.  So I'm pretty confident that I won't be meeting my goal, but if all goes well I'll maybe get to 5.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

So, not a classic, but good nonetheless.

Also not a classic, but amazing.  I finished this a few months back on audiobook, but never put the picture in.

I've definitely been slacking on LOTR, and that is definitely next because it's been at least 2 years that I've been working on that series and am anxious to cross #2 off my list for good!  I did watch the movie recently so I'm ready to go, but just can't bring myself to start it.

It also doesn't help that I have been caught up in the adventures of Lisbeth Salander.  I just finished The Girl Who Played With Fire on Friday, and have already started The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest.  It's one of those books where I'm glad that I wasn't into the series while it was still being released because at the end of book 2, I ABSOLUTELY had to get my hands on book 3.  I didn't think book 2 was as good as 1, so I'm glad I didn't buy it, but it was still good once it got going and now I definitely have to find out how everything turns out in the third one.  Hopefully it won't take me over a month to read like the second one.

As we've already established, my next book after Hornet's Nest will be The Return of the King.  After that, I have no idea.  I have many on the shelf still that need to be read (at least 4 from the list, and 3 others that are classics also but not on the list.)  However, I've been feeling a little spontaneous lately, and am thinking that once LOTR is done, I may just start generating random numbers and reading whatever pops up.  I'll leave it to the fates at random.org.  If I were going to start one today, it would be...#71 Oliver Twist
(blah)

We'll see how that works out.  I'll redo it when I'm choosing for real, though.  As in, after I finish LOTR, which realistically may be in November.

Speaking of months, It is now June, and while it is not quite halfway through the year, it's close enough where I can do a count of the books I've read in 2012 so far and see where I stand.  So far I've read:
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Pride and Prejudice
(Prince Caspian--only partly counts because I haven't finished the series yet)

So, I guess my number so far is 2.  Let's hope I read more by the end of the year because that is pretty pathetic so far.  Oh well.

Another task I have ahead of me is choosing a book for a car trip I'll be taking in a few weeks.  Hopefully it will be something that the library will have on CD unabridged.  Looking at the list, I'm thinking that His Dark Materials, Narnia, or any other of the random ones that I don't know may be good choices.  We'll have to see.  Last time I went I think I had The Great Gatsby with me, which was OK but not the best choice for a car trip because there was a lot of description that I would have normally glossed over, like the chapter that only named who was at a party.  I'll have to pick something with a little less symbolism and more action.  It will probably be The Golden Compass, but I'll decide closer to when I will be traveling.

Anyway, the plan is to read more than 4 books this year.  Hopefully around 10.  But we know how that goes...