Kate's Queen City Notes

Blundering through Cincinnati, laughing all the way

Category Archives: Reading


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100 Books by 40: Corelli’s Mandolin

This book was cute. It was cute about familial relationships. It was cute about love. It was cute about conflict. It was cute about war. If a book can be cute about World War II, what can’t it be cute about? Nothing. The answer is nothing. For the first quarter of the book, I found this pithy dialog endearing. The feeling shifted to irritation quickly.

The book was set in World War II on a small Greek island. Imagine if you applied the comedic tone from My Big Fat Greek wedding in a book about war? That’s what this book is. I can’t tell if this light-hearted treatment is peculiar to Greek culture or just this author. I just know that beside Gone With The Wind this seems like a children’s book.

The book did have some stellar quotes though.

“I am not a cynic, but I do know that history is the propaganda of the victors.”
“We should care for each other more than we care for ideas, or else we will end up killing each other.”

I don’t suggest reading Corelli’s Mandolin. If you want to read books in war settings Birdsong and Catch-22 were far better reads. Hell Catch-22 should just be required reading for all Americans.

I was traveling around the west coast while I was reading this book. I will leave you with a gorgeous picture of Crater Lake.

Crater Lake Panorama

This is at Crater Lake park in Oregon. The water is really that color. There was no picture editing software or filters in use for this shot.

Still gorgeous, but with some app filters applied.

Still gorgeous, but with some app filters applied.


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100 Book by 40: Gone With The Wind or Love/Hate Paula Deen

I’ve noticed something peculiar. People seem to have pretty extreme reactions to the Paula Deen scandal. On one end of the spectrum, I have friends who are boycotting all of Deen’s sponsors who dropped her. On the other end, I have friends who are boycotting Paula Deen and her shows and products. The one thing these two groups have in common is that they are all pretty vocal about their thoughts.

Personally, I can’t get very excited about Deen, neither her offenses nor the aftermath. It’s people’s strong reactions that got me interested in the affair. After some thought, I realized that Paula Deen’s schtick revolves around romanticizing antebellum southern culture. Her comments inflamed many people because, at some subcousious level most non-southerners believe that racism lays just out of sight in that romance.

The Slate Culture Gabfest does a good job of dissecting this phenomena. Jump to it here.

Gone with the Wind was awash in plantations. It was soaked in racism; the kind that would quite naturally and shamelessly compare a young slaves to animals like bucks and tigers. The comparison was thoughtless and completely unconscious. The slaves aren’t considered to have dreams or volition. Margaret Mitchell lays out how kind her characters were to the slaves. They would care for their health. There were so kind as to purchase their children or spouses. Ah, the kind, kind plantation owners getting rich off the free labor of slaves. They work so hard and spend some of their precious wealth on their slaves. Oh the generosity! Her attitude is patronizing and insulting.

Race issues aside, Scarlett O’Hara is a selfish ass. Gone with the Wind is a very long book to dislike the main character. I’m sure Scarlett’s racism prevented me from feeling any ounce of sympathy for her. In fact, I failed to find sympathy for any of the wealthy plantation owners who found themselves in poverty after The Civil War. Their wealth came off the backs of others. Regardless, the characters are so entitled.

I thought this book would help me find appreciation for southern culture. It did not. Enter Paula Deen’s big mouth. Given my recent reading, any sympathy I might have had for Deen is now gone with the wind. She said something offensive. She faced repercussions for saying it. She’s a wealthly woman who might be a little less wealthy.

Summary: If this book were considerably shorter, I would suggest it for a read. But given that’s very long, I don’t recommend it.

Quotes that I like: “There was no one to tell Scarlett that her own personality, frighteningly vital though it was, was more attractive than any masquerade she might adopt. Had she been told, she would have been pleased but unbelieving. And the civilization of which she was a part would have been unbelieving too, for at no time, before or since, had so low a premium been placed on feminine naturalness.”

“Life’s under no obligation to give us what we expect. We take what we get and are thankful it’s no worse than it is.”


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100 Books by 40: Alice in Wonderland

I am still slogging through Gone With the Wind but managed to read all of Alice in Wonderland in an hour. I am experimenting with blogging on my phone. I think thumbing in my entry will make me a lazier writer. But I have little alternative being that I am in a car driving up the West Coast. It does make for pretty scenery though.

image

Alice in Wonderland was meh. Easily the most interesting aspect of this book is the imagery. Trying to make sense of the plot is like trying to make sense of the Teletubbies show. There really isn’t any point. The dialog does make light of how absurd English is. There are so many words that sound the same, and many phrases that are only understood as idioms.

Now I will go back to writing my entry on Gone with the Wind. In that entry, I will manage to offend everyone with my take on the Paula Deen controversy and the irrational love affair that white Americans have with the antebellum south.


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100 Books by 40: Little Women is a Stupid, Stupid Book

Wow. I really hated Little Women. Quite a bit of the plot revolves around romance, and I don’t enjoy romance when it’s the focus of the plot. But that’s not what really drove me nuts about this book. It was all the heavy-handed moral lessons. It was so simplistic. When the characters took action that was deemed morally good, they were rewarded almost immediately. When the characters took action that was deemed morally wrong, they were punished, with the exception of what happens to Beth.

There were several instances of the mother, teaching her daughters a lesson by allowing them to engage in behaviors that were unfavorable and magically the universe always instructed them perfectly. It was so patronizing. There are at least 6 instances of this sort of lesson-learning.

This would all be enough to make me hate this book. But there is more. One of the characters, Jo, seems to be based on Alcott herself. Alcott never married and once said that she thought she was born with the soul of a man because she had fallen in love with many pretty women but not one man. She did have one documented relationship with a man, but I think it’s safe to say she probably had some homo tendencies.

***************SPOILER ALERT*************************************

Jo, the character that eschews gender norms, gets married at the end of the book. It’s pretty remarkable that this character existed at all in 1868. It’s even more remarkable that this was accepted as a children’s book. Regardless, I would have preferred that Jo remained single at the end of the book just as Alcott did. That wouldn’t have been scandalous, but more true to the character. It also wouldn’t have made for a marketable happy ending.

My partner pointed out that perhaps this was the way Alcott wished that her life had gone. I know I spent a lot of my teens and twenties wishing that I wasn’t gay. I am sure that I am not alone in this; being outside the norm in this regard is isolating and much more so for those that are raised in intolerant or unaccepting environments.

I intellectually understand the argument that engaging in a homosexual relationship is a choice. It doesn’t resonate on an emotional level though. The canyon that  exists between living authentically and living in the closet is vast. This brings me to the core of why I didn’t enjoy this book. It made that silent desperation that is living so close and yet so far from the bond that we all crave palpable and close.


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100 Books by 40: Great Expectations and Birdsong

I am reading Little Women right now. I hate it. I am not very keen on romance novels. This particular preference becomes important later when I write about Birdsong and Great Expectations. So Little Women has that strike against it. The author is so heavy-handed in her moral lessons, I can barely stand it. I will hold off on ranting more until I actually finish the book. On a bright note, I am liking Gone With the Wind so far.

Great Expectations wasn’t that great. I don’t know what I was expecting, but that wasn’t it. Here’s what I did find interesting about the book. The episodic writing that Dickens employs is reminiscent of TV show plot lines. I’ve read Dickens before, but I learned just prior to picking up Great Expectations that he was often writing chapter by chapter for publication in periodicals. I enjoyed the short story arcs to keep readers coming back mixed with the broader story arcs. Seriously, TV writers could take a lesson.

As mentioned earlier, I don’t really appreciate romance. So, the Pip/Estella story line was less than enthralling to me. The setting, 1800’s England, was super cool. The descriptions around the ambient culture was also super cool. Would I read it again? No. Would I suggest that others read it? Only if they want to write TV scripts. Would I read other novels by Dickens? Probably.

Birdsong. This book bounces across different times starting prior to WWI and ending in the 1970’s. This is a romance novel. By now you should know how much I appreciate that. The storytelling in this book was well executed. Some pivotal plot points hang around the characters and their relationship to WWI. There are several scenes in the book that describe WWI battles. I loved the WWI parts of this book. LOVED THEM. The large story arc is about a women getting to know more about her grandfather and learning about herself in the process.

*****SPOILER ALERT***** Do not read on if you want to read this book.
I was ok with the romance driving the book. Then I got to the end. The end of the book has the main character giving birth in a farm house. Pure cheese, I wanted to punch the book. After the bloody chapters describing WWI, this ending felt really trite. This woman who was seeking herself could only be found by becoming a mother? Like adding that complication is going to clarify what one wants out of life. I would have not started the book had I known how aggravating the ending would be. Would I read it again? NO! Would I suggest that others read it? If the person in question loves romance novels. Would I read other novels by Faulks? NO.

And since I haven’t provided you with an updated reading list in a bit, here it is.

Reading now:
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell

Finished reading:
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier – this will need to come from the library or second hand books
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger – – this will need to come from the library or second hand books
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
53. The Stand, Stephen King
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens *I read this when I was too young to appreciate it; I would like to read it again as an adult. I will do so if I have time.
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding *I’ve read this twice. I will read it again if I have time.
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac *I’ve read this twice. I will read it again if I have time. I have the unabriged unedited version and will probably take on that if time allows.

Pending reading:
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie


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100 Book by 40: Catch-22 and Bungee Jumping

The last few weeks have been eventful. I bungee jumped. I finished three books. I will start with the bungee jump. You can watch it here.

When I got out there to jump the compulsion to get back to safety was so overwhelming that I literally think my brain and my body disconnected. I don’t remember jumping off. The last thing I remember is putting the safety line between my feet. Then the next thing I remember was I was free-falling. Time slowed and all I was aware of was the sound of the river and the weightlessness of my body. Falling felt just like it does in my dreams. It was maybe one of the best physical feelings I have ever experienced. I wasn’t aware of how fast the ground was coming at me, but I recall distinctly thinking that this wouldn’t be a bad way to die. While bouncing around, I had a profound sense of connectedness. I felt keenly aware that we are all big hunks of meat and organs, and although our self-awareness lulls us into believing we are so different from other living creatures, we are not. All life is connected and to do violence on any part of it is like cutting off parts of ourselves. We’ve simply numbed ourselves to this terrible truth.

I don’t know how much this will change how I behave yet. I do know that it has strengthened my resolve to be gracious with others.

On to the books, I finished Catch-22, Birdsong, and Great Expectations. Catch-22 was spectacular. The book is pretty dark, and I was steeling myself up for a dark ending. But the ending was great. It was a perfect closing to the plot, and the characters behaved consistently.

I’m not going to reveal anything further about the book. I will just say that the book was shockingly relevant for our current political climate. This is supremely discouraging because that indicates that we’ve learned nothing in the last fifty years. And here a bit from the book that does a supreme job of explaining how doing all the wrong things can add up to the right thing. Moral ambiguity abounds.

I am going to talk about Great Expectations and Birdsong in a separate post. Since my thoughts about Catch-22 don’t adequately express the essence of the book, I will leave you with a passage from it.

“Yossarian, they can prepare as many official reports as they want and choose whichever ones they need on any given occasion. Didn’t you know that?”
“Oh, dear,” Yossarian murmered in heavy dejection, the blood draining from his face. “Oh, dear.”
Major Danby pressed forward avidly with a look of vulturous well-meaning. “Yossarian, do what they want and let them send you home. It’s best for everyone that way.”
“It’s best for Cathcart, Korn and me, note for everyone.”
“For everyone,” Major Danby insisted. “It will solve the whole problem.”
“Is it best for the men in the group who will have to keep flying more missions?”
Major Danby flinched and turned his face away uncomfortably for a second. “Yossarian,” he replied, “it will help nobody if you force Colonel Cathcart to court-martial you and prove you guilty of all the crimes with which you’ll be charged. You will go to prison for a long time, and your whole life will be ruined.”
Yossarian listened to him with a growing feeling of concern. “What crimes will they charge me with?”
“Incompetence over Ferrara, insubordination, refusal to engage the enemy in combat when ordered to do so, and desertion.”
Yossarian sucked his cheeks in soberly. “They could charge me with all that, couldn’t they? They gave me a medal for Ferrara. How could them chare me with incompetence now?”
“Aarfy will swear that you and McWatt lied in your official report.”
“I’ll be the bastard would!”
“They will also find you guilty,” Major Danby recited, “of rape, extensive black-market operations, acts of sabotage and the sale of military secrets to the enemy.”
“How will the prove any of that? I never did a single one of those things.”
“But they have witnesses who will swear you did. They can get all the witnesses they need simply by persuading them that destroying you is for the good of the country. And in a way, it would be good of the country.”
“In what way?” Yossarian demanded, rising up slowly on one elbow with bridling hostility.
Major Danby drew back a bit and began mopping his forehead against. “Well, Yossarian,” he began with an apologetic stammer, “it would not help the war effort to bring Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn into disrepute now. Let’s face it, Yossarian, in spite of everything, the group does have a very good record. If you were court-martialed and found innocent, other men would probably refuse to fly missions, too. Colonel Cathcart would be in disgrace, and the military efficiency of the unit might be destroyed. So in that way it would be for the good of the country to have you found guilty and put in prison, even though you are innocent.”

…

“That’s my trouble, you know,” Yossarian mused sympathetically, folding his arms. “Between me and every ideal I always find Scheisskofs, Peckems, Korns and Cathcarts. And that sort of changes the ideal.”
“You must try not to think of them,” Major Danby advised affirmatively. “And you must never let them change your values. Ideals are good, but people are sometimes not so good. you must try to look up at the big picture.”
Yossarian rejected the advice with a skeptical shake of his head. “When I look up, I see people cashing in. I don’t see heaven or saints or angels. I see people cashing in on every decent impulse and every human tragedy.”
“But you must try not to think of that,” Major Danby insisted. “And you must try not to let it upset you.”
“Oh, it doesn’t really upset me. What does upset me, though, is that they think I’m a sucker. They think that they’re smart, and the rest of us are dumb. And, you know, Danby, the thought occurs to me right, for the first, that maybe they’re right.”
“But you must try not to think of that too,” argued Major Danby, “You must think only of the welfare of your country and the dignity of man.”
“Yeah,” said Yossarian.
“I mean it, Yossarian. This is not World War One. You must never forget that we’re at war with aggressors who would not let either one of us live if they won.”


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100 Books by 40: Rebecca

I am sitting here with my cup of French-pressed Ethiopian Harrar, trying to isolate why I didn’t enjoy Rebecca. As is often the case, a combination of effects is at play. The narrator is a sniveling child for a large portion of the novel. I would find this irritating regardless of other ambient factors. I happen to be reading Great Expectations and Catch-22. The whiny narrator of Rebecca cast against the arbitrary slaughter of war and the crushing effects of abject poverty is so shrill.

This effect has made me ponder the unavoidable comparisons that I will make on my journey to 100 books by 40. It gives me pause to consider if this method of consuming books is a favorable one. My reading experiences aside from this effort have been much more haphazard. I would go so far as to say that books found me at pivotal moments and not vice versa. This structured approach to reading seems to demystify my experience; I haven’t any clue if this evolution is positive or negative.

Regardless of my distaste for the narrator, I enjoyed Mrs. Danvers. Daphne du Maurier makes the mundane feel ominous. Plus, Du Maurier sticks the landing on the final plot twist and the end of the book. I will not read Rebecca again, but I am happy that I read it.

Here’s a sneak preview of my thoughts on my next book. Catch-22 has far more political and personal relevance than I anticipated. While I will write more on this topic when I finish the book, I will leave you with a quote that is so relevant in today’s politics.

“Major Major’s father was a sober God-fearing man whose idea of a good joke was to lie about his age. He was a long-limbed farmer, a God-fearing, freedom-loving, law-abiding rugged individualist who held that federal aid to anyone but farmers was creeping socialism. He advocated thrift and hard work and disapproved of loose women who turned him down. His specialty was alfalfa, and he made a good thing out of not growing any. The government paid him well for every bushel of alfalfa he did not grow. The more alfalfa he did not grow, the more money the government gave him, and he spent every penny he didn’t earn on new land to increase the amount of alfalfa he did not produce. Major Major’s father worked without rest at not growing alfalfa. On long winter evenings he remained indoors and did not mend harness, and he sprang out of bed at the crack of noon every day just to make certain that the chores would not be done. He invested in land wisely and soon was not growing more alfalfa than any other man in the county. Neighbors sought him out for advice on all subjects, for he had made much money and was therefore wise. `As ye sow, so shall ye reap,’ he counseled one and all, and everyone said, `Amen.’

Major Major’s father was an outspoken champion of economy in government, provided it did not interfere with the sacred duty of the government to pay farmers as much as they could get for all the alfalfa they produced that on one else wanted or for not producing any alfalfa at all. He was a proud and independent man who was opposed to unemployment insurance and never hesitated to whine, whimper, wheedle, and extort for as much as he could get from whomever he could. He was a devout man whose pulpit was everywhere.”

Reading list update:

Reading now:

11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller

17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens

13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks

 

Finished reading:

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien

2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman

4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling

6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne

8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell

9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis

10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë

12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë

14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier – this will need to come from the library or second hand books

15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger – – this will need to come from the library or second hand books

16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame

20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy

22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling

23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling

24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling

42. Watership Down, Richard Adams

43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald

46. Animal Farm, George Orwell

53. The Stand, Stephen King

60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens *I read this when I was too young to appreciate it; I would like to read it again as an adult. I will do so if I have time.

70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding *I’ve read this twice. I will read it again if I have time.

87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac *I’ve read this twice. I will read it again if I have time. I have the unabriged unedited version and will probably take on that if time allows.

 

Pending reading:

18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres

21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell

25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien

26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy

27. Middlemarch, George Eliot

28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving

29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck

30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson

32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez

33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett

34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens

35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl

36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson

37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute

38. Persuasion, Jane Austen

39. Dune, Frank Herbert

40. Emma, Jane Austen

41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery

44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas

45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh

47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy

49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian

50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher

51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett

52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck

54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth

56. The BFG, Roald Dahl

57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome

58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell

59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer

61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman

62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden

64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough

65. Mort, Terry Pratchett

66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton

67. The Magus, John Fowles

68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett

71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind

72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell

73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett

74. Matilda, Roald Dahl

75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding

76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt

77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins

78. Ulysses, James Joyce

79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens

80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson

81. The Twits, Roald Dahl

82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith

83. Holes, Louis Sachar

84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake

85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy

86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson

88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons

89. Magician, Raymond E Feist

91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo

92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel

93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett

94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

95. Katherine, Anya Seton

96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer

97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez

98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson

99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot

100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie


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100 Books by 40: The Catcher in the Rye

I finished The Catcher in the Rye last week. I have been avoiding writing about it. Partially, I grew accustomed to hearing Holden Caulfield’s voice in my head. I miss him. Plus, his discomfort with human behavior felt personal enough that I don’t have words to write about it.

The whole time I was reading I was wondering when it would become obvious why this book inspired someone to shoot John Lennon. That didn’t happen. What did happen is I saw the John Lennon edition of American Masters a couple of days ago. I only caught the end. There was a recording of John, in the recording studio, saying good night to Sean. It was so personal. It made him so very human.

Yoko talked about the night that he was shot. When the Dr approached and said that John was dead, she simply couldn’t fathom that he was gone. They asked if they could release it to the press. Contrary to logic, she asked them to wait for a few minutes because that awful truth could be avoided. Hundreds of people gathered outside their building that night. They sang John’s songs all night under their apartment. Yoko said hearing them through the night was heartbreaking.

Her way of letting John go was to sit in the studio where they had just recorded. She asked the engineers to play the recordings. She said his voice surrounded her.

I never found why The Cather in the Rye inspired a man to kill. I did find the human in a rock and roll legend.


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100 Books by 40: Jane Eyre

I’ve made it past the Brontës. I have also made it past the top 10 books. I will recap my feelings about the top 10 after I comment on Jane Eyre. **SPOILER ALERT**I WILL TALK ABOUT THE END OF JANE EYRE**SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU PLAN ON READING IT** With Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice I learned that I enjoy Brit Lit. I liked Jane Eyre for all the gymnastics my brain did to keep up with the use of the language, but I didn’t care for the story that was told nearly as much as I enjoyed Wuthering Heights. The ending of Jane Eyre was just a little too tidy. I was already felt a little sick from the sweetness of Jane returning to Mr. Rochester but his sight returning really amped up my tummy ache. If his physical condition was the price he had to pay to relinquish his pride, I think he should have kept his handicaps. Otherwise, I enjoyed Charlotte’s us of the English language.

I unequivocally suggest reading every book in the top 10 with the exception of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I am certain that I didn’t enjoy Hitchhiker’s because I typically don’t enjoy Sci-Fi. The other nine books are as wonderful as they are different. Enjoying great books isn’t the only benefit that I’ve noticed since starting this challenge. My ability to concentrate for long periods of time has been improved, and I am certain that I am reading faster than I did at the outset. I tested myself at eyercize.com. I can comfortably read at 400 words a minute. Average Americans read around 250 words per minute. Net, thus far, this challenge has been amazing. I am already happy with the time I have invested in it.

I am only at the beginning of all three of the books that I am reading. Thus far I am loving Catch-22. More on that in my next blog.   

Reading now: 11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens

Finished reading:
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
53. The Stand, Stephen King
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens *I read this when I was too young to appreciate it; I would like to read it again as an adult. I will do so if I have time.
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding *I’ve read this twice. I will read it again if I have time.
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac *I’ve read this twice. I will read it again if I have time. I have the unabriged unedited version and will probably take on that if time allows.

Pending reading:
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks 
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger – – this will need to come from the library or second hand books
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie


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100 Books by 40: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

First of all, Merry Christmas!

I just finished The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This is part of my quest to read 100 books by 40. I love to read, but I lack discipline in setting aside the time to do it. This goal helps me keep reading a priority. I think I need another goal related to playing music, but that’s for another blog.

I started Jane Eyre along side Hitchhiker’s. The book that I finished just prior to Hitchhiker’s was Wuthering Heights. Hitchhiker’s doesn’t stand up well to either of these books.

Full disclosure, I do not typically like Sci-Fi. I feel like author’s seek refuge in Sci-Fi when they don’t want to abide by logic when crafting their plot lines. I know these devices exist outside Sci-Fi, like dream sequences as made famous with Bobby’s shooting on Dallas. 

Hitchhiker’s does handle some interesting ideas though. **Spoiler Alert: stop reading if you are planning on picking this book up in the near future.** There are a few things that are thought-provoking about the book. First, the notion that mice and dolphins are the most intelligent creatures on earth and are simply not recognized as so due to communication barriers is interesting . Second, mice commissioned the creation of planet earth as a part of an experiment is also fascinating. The idea is that mice have been molding our discoveries as lab mice with their behavior, sickness, and death. Finally, an idea is floated that there is no God, but simply chance and probability. As follows, the meaning of life is chance and probability and need not be pondered further.

I have considered that animals might actually have a more sophisticated culture than humans; we simply have no way of communicating with them and hence aren’t aware of their sense and experience in the world. As a result, this story line was of particular interest to me. The suggestion that there is no God and only chance and probability feels cold to me despite my irreligious views.

I don’t think Hitchhiker’s was a bad book, but I don’t think it was as good as others that I’ve read recently. I enjoyed some of the ideas conveyed, but didn’t enjoy the pace of the story telling nor the witty banter between the characters. I can tell the banter was intended as comic relief, but I wasn’t impressed. In fact, I found the banter obnoxious, particularly when it was taking place in an action sequence.

I am 30% complete with Jane Eyre and just starting Catch-22. Jane Eyre is good thus far. Catch-22 started with a glowing review from Studs Terkle, so I am excited to start reading. I found Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom and Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding at a thrift store in Chicago. I have no idea when I will get to those. I am excited about reading Franzen because he’s often lumped in with David Foster Wallace; I love David Foster Wallace.