Playing a Game of Cat and Maus

I admit I have never really taken the world of graphic novels seriously. When the book, Maus kept appearing on list of books you should read before your 30 or top 100 list I was intrigued and added it to my list. (For those of you that have not read all of my post, this was one large way I created many of my 100 books. After reading this survivors tale of a Polish family's attempt to escape the Holocaust, I was completely intrigued and impressed at the power of Artem Spiegelman words and pictures. He artfully portrays his parents fight for life in the 1940s as they hid, bartered, fought, and survived Germans taking over Poland and wiping out the Jewish population.

I read many books about the Holocaust both Fiction, memoirs  and historical accounts. The comics juxtaposed with the tough subjects make this book the Pultizer Prize winning novel it became. All in all the story is easy to connect with as parental relationships, marriage and lost make the loses in the story human.

 After reading the book, I realized there is a Maus Part 2, I think this will be on my list this year as I want to know how the story ends. (Here is the link for the complete set).

All in All a great book.

Happy April Fools and Happy Reading...

Off to explore some JK Rowling...

A Modern Take on Hardship

After owning Cormac McCarthy's The Road for the greater part of four years, I finally took a few days to read this book. This book was weird, great, sad, dystopian, science fiction, and all together hard to put down.

While I am still debating if I actually enjoyed the book, it is must read for any literary lover. For those of us that read The Grapes of Wrath in high school, I would highly recommend this shorter book to still understand the love, suffering, desperation, and heartbreak characters can face in a novel. After the states as we know them are burnt, Papa and son find all in their survival in each other as they journey down the road to the coast.

I am not sure if it is proper to compare this novel to The  Grapes of Wrath, but as a young high school student, Steinbeck's plot and characters were hard to reach and grasp. McCarthy leads us to care about the man and his boy while they suffer intolerable conditions. The side references to modern America and even Tennessee made me smile.  

While this is not my favorite book I have read, I think it safely has a place as a new classic. Go out and explore this great book!

On to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (AKA my favorite besides the last) 

Happy Reading!

A Fly on the Wall Sees All

Why do books make us laugh, make us cry, give us hope, and bring up our darkest fears? Why are some books banned, censored and omitted from libraries and publications?

Each person has there own answer and reason about these questions. For me reading is the great escape. I can jump into the characters head and experience the scene  emotion, and feelings of the story or I can be a fly on the wall and watch.  Reading Ray Bradberry's Fahrenheit 451 ten years apart was an interesting experience. So much was the same, yet so much had evolved over the last 9.5 years.

At the root of this book is Guy Montag self-discovery of the disillusion life he is living and the government and censorship that has been set up to enstill  this culture of thoughtless living. Books, learning, and thinking are no longer needed because the parlor and superiors provide you with everything you may need. While jets circle overhead, there is no way that a war may actually attack the city. A young girl disappears, but she was thinking and caused trouble. Guy's job as a fireman burning books and being part of the censorship is done with a smile on his face until someone dies for her books.  When Montag begins thinking for himself and reaching out to the only educated person he knows, his own moral discovery begins.

While I will not spoil the book for you or continue to analyze this book piece by piece (there are millions of reviews on this classic book), I do encourage everyone to read this book and think critically about why and how they read books. Montag lives in a world where books, education and culture are no longer prized. Where would you be without your education and culture?

I value my education and my love of reading above many, many things. I am grateful for the society and opportunities we have. While dsytopian literature probably won't happen, it is written to keep us aware of what could happen. Take a moment to reflect, become aware and read.

Tis the end of January on to 8.5 books of February.


Happy Reading!

Lost At Sea

Could you survive over 200 days on a life boat with only a Bengal Tiger for company? In Yann Martel's Life of Pi, Pi Patel loses everything and in an shipwreck that it is sending his family to a new life. While reading the book, I was in the boat with Pi wishing for land or at least a sea turtle to come across his path.

 This journey led me to question and rethink what do we really need to survive. Are we all born with the same survival instincts? In this world of 24-7 technology and comfort, I am not sure I nor anyone I know would survive. I guess their is always fake reality TV to see if we can challenge ourselves but an end is always insight. Now I am a little more grateful for my surroundings and have a better understanding of the world, but I am not sure I will truly ever relate to those in Pi shoes until I walk in them. (Pray you or I never will.)

Pi shows us how he moved on and grew from great adversity. While you probably will never have to face a life threatening, sea-faring journey, I hope you take the time to read and reflect on Life of Pi and what really matters in life. Adversity makes us stronger and leads us to become better a better person as long as you learn from your past and not dwell on it!

Happy Reading!