Books are not quite the same as they were in 1924

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So I finally finished a Passage to India by E. M. Forster. Wow, this is one of the hardest books I've read in a while. America is different, India is different, Great Britain is different. This book is ten steps back on culture, race, and women relations.

In A Passage to India, Miss Quested wrongly accuses Dr. Aziz of misconduct while he takes Ms. Moore and Miss Quested on an adventure into the India caves. What results is the portrayal of Indian and British relations during the Indian revolution from British rule.

This is a long book. You feel like you are traveling through India. This was not one of my favorite books as the writing was great but heavy on the detail. The content and context of the material has changed so in many areas from the US to India and everywhere in between.

Fielding and his moral compass in the book is a bright spot. Many times I take some time and I have more to say about a book. With this book, I struggled to put to words exactly how I felt. It was okay. I am not sure I would ever read it again.

I am finishing Outliers today!

Happy Reading!

So I read Cat's Cradle

I just realized I never wrote my blog on Cat's Cradle.

Photo credit: Goodreads

Kurt Vonnegut wrote an interesting book on human nature, theology and abandoning American nature.

After WWII, John the narrator goes out to find stories about the Felix and the creation of the atomic bomb. Felix has since died, but his children then provide the backdrop for this story. I am not going to lie this book was weird and I am struggling to write this blog (hence I put it off).

An entire motley crew follows John down to the fictional island of San Lorenzo as they search for the eldest son, Frank. Angela, Newt, and Frank all split a hazardous substance that their father invented at his death. Cat's Cradle goes on to lead the reader on a whirl-wind trip of a new theology, loss government ruling, and questioning of the morals in grain in human beings.

In all this was a thought provoking book. The idea that people can be so adapt to follow a ruler and ideas with no foundation is scary. America is comfortable. This book pushes you to think outside of your comfort-zone.

Happy Reading!

A Mole, A Rat, A Beaver, and that Toad

I have a secret. I love children's literature. It may be a young adult series or a kids book or a fable, but there is something magical in books written toward the kid audience. Grahamae's The Wind and Willows has that magic. As a kid, I know I saw the movie and heard the tale of the wreck-less Toad and his loyal friends.

In the fable tale, Rat takes in Mole as they go through their daily life on the River. Toad wrecks his way through life and other adventures. In the end, his friends help him learn a valuable lesson. One of my favorite ideas about this book is the simple messages the author created to teach children and adults a like.  The great descriptions and charterers have been for ever instilled into children's literature.


Happy Reading... Finishing Cat's Cradle Tonight

Langdon's return..and my trip with Inferno

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Let me start by saying Dan Brown is one of my favorite authors. With that being said, I do not think he is an amazing writer but he does have a great way of connecting a story to history. Inferno takes Dante's greatest work and creates a fairly unpredictable tale surrounding a biochemical disaster.

Many of Brown's other books are formulaic guy meets girls, work to solve a life or death puzzle, science and history are brought together, oh wait there is a twist, and they save the day. Inferno did not disappoint. The plot moved fast and we were entertained by our favorite symbolism and art professor, Robert Langdon.

If you have yet to read Angels and Demons or The DaVinci Code,  I would read these first as they explain Langdon's mannerisms better. Overall, this is a great, fun book, but not an earth-shattering meaningful book.

Happy Reading... I am almost done with The Wind and the Willows

A little dark with purpose

The Lovely Bones may have been one of the more talked about books of my high school and college days. I have been an avid reader most of my life and I always avoided this book. Everyone seems to have read it and liked it.

I now can say I join this club. Susie Salmon is kidnapped and murdered within the first 20-30 pages of the book. She then leads her family and close friends to the killer and then how to come to peace with this difficult time. While this book is not traditional in any form or fashion, it has enough plot and story line to keep non-readers entertained, but it has enough depth and meaning to keep the serious readers appeased. I was impressed. Overall, the book was great. To see a family fall apart, yet carefully come together was brilliant.

Alice Sebold did an amazing job with this difficult topic and text. While this is not my favorite book because of this topic,  I do believe most people will like it! Go check it out!

I just finished Dan Brown Inferno.

Happy Reading... starting on The Wind in the Willows

June Books

Here are the June Books. This looks like a pretty good list with many recommended from friends, recent list etc. Overall, I am pretty close to being on track. At the end of May, I was at 40 books toward my 100 book goal. I think I can read 10 books this month to stay on track! 11 books are below just in case I run into trouble finding one. Also this month, I plan to go through and update, add content to older post, and sharpen up the blog. Feel free to send me any suggestions.

Thanks for all your support and I hope your reading journey is going well!

Kate


 Inferno Dan Brown

A Lion Among Men Gregory Maguire 

 The Rook Daniel O'Malley
A Passage to India, E.M. Forester
A Bend in the Road, Nicholas Sparks
Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut
Outliers: The Story of Success Malcolm Gladwell
 The Alchemist  Paulo Coelho
The Wind in the Willows
Flowers for Algernon David Keys

(Family vacation was amazing. I only read 2.5 books though. The Lovely Bones post is coming up next)

Happy Reading! Almost done with Inferno!

Just what is that Catch 22?

So I decided it would be a great idea to read Catch 22 on the beach...

Let me tell you this was one of the harder books I have read. Joseph Heller wrote and published this WWII novel in the late 1950s and released the book in the early 1960s. All 400 pages describe a not so patriotical view of military life primarily in the 1940s Mediterranean Sea.  The story is centralized around Yossarian desire to quit the war since he has flow his required number of missions. His support group of friends and comrades allow the readers to see how Yossarian boarders on brilliance and craziness. Morality, respect, family, loyalty among others come together to shape this interesting book.

Catch 22 refers to the idea that he is crazy for constantly flying out to the war zone to have the chance of being killed, yet he will be called crazy for asking to leave the war as well. In a sense, it is a lose-lose situation. Reflecting back, I have heard this phrase used before and it is part of everyday slang or lose American language. I am not sure everyone uses it correctly. When you are stuck with no good solution, you are forced to chose the best alternative. These situations are not always Catch 22s as sometimes they are portrayed. Looking back at Stephen Covey and The Secret, they would tell us there is always an alternative if we try hard enough. I'm a pretty positive person and I look for the good in things. I say try to avoid the Catch 22 in your life.

Heller is well-praised and sited for this work in Catch 22. It is an atypical portrayal of military life. This book however, did not make my favorite lists. It is tough book to manage with non-chronological story telling, detailed character descriptions, and weird plot twist. I appreciate this book and I am glad I read it, but it was not a good choice for the beach.

Reading this book made me appreciate the amazing English teachers I have had in the past. I was able to navigate this book just fine because I learned how to read literature for themes, plot, characters  etc. through their guidance. This book showed me I was okay doing it on my own. Read the book if you like classics or if you want to understand Catch 22 a little more.

Happy Reading!

(Vacation put me a little behind on blogging. Lovely Bones post and June Books coming today!)