Red

Okay okay okay, I did not finish this book. I didn't even get halfway. The style was intriguing, I loved the idea of the perspective changing all the time BUT, oh man was it boring. I may be fickle, but so many other books in which engrossing things happened were calling to me. Maybe I also just didn't want to put in the effort to actually understand what was going on. It was also difficult to become attached to the characters.

Next time there will be more effort on my part.

Part DOS

I finished...yayyy...my second book in 5 MONTHS!? Such a shame. I must return to my love, and this book was a significant step.

So, on the mystery front, I didn't find this book to be hugely amAzing or revelatory. I kind of wish that they hadn't told you from the beginning that it was one of the three miniaturists...because they really had a fairly small part in the book as a whole it felt. It didn't really feel you were connected to any of them in one way or another, so the discovery of which one was the murderer was fairly anti-climactic.

I didn't really end up loving any of the characters, which I think was the point and not a bad thing, but it made me sad that all of the characters kind of let me down. Well, Esther seemed to be the one character who was moderately consistent with what you knew of her. And Hasan, weirdly, went up in opinion by the end of the book, though his role overall was fairly minor.

The style of writing was quite beautiful, and it definitely made me want to go to Istanbul...in the winter of course. My favorite chapters were the ones told by the storytellers about the various illustrations. So entertaining and artful!

And now, to put it in not so classy words but which thoroughly describe how I feel right now, I'm going to make War and Peace my bitch. Eep!

My Name Is Red

Well I am not half through the book yet, but it is halfway through the month so I thought I'd do a quick review of what I think so far.

I really like it! I like, with the short chapters and various characters, how fast moving it seems. I love books with lots of characters so this is a winner. More and more as I read the 'mystery' genre comes out and is quite interesting how the author teases the suspense and curiosity out of you. The other thing with many characters I think is that it helps you see various sides of each one, not just the positive side of the protaganist and the evil of the antagonist. Instead it's a little more well rounded and leaves it more up to you to decide who you like and why.

Plus, snow just came in the mail, so I'm excited both to continue this one and read that!

September Suggestion

Hey everyone. I realize that we're technically not "transpacific" anymore... but that shouldn't stop us from reading!

I heard an interview with Turkish novelist and Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk tonight on CBC. His works sounded interesting, particularly his novels Snow and My Name is Red (both translated from Turkish).
My interest was piqued and I thought to myself, those might be interesting books to suggest to the book club...

You must realize that I don't have these thoughts terribly often, so it's something of an event when it does happen.

Thoughts?

Personal Fail

Hey fellow bibliophiles - unfortunately I could not find this book at any of my regular book haunts, although I found a few of Mr. Alexie's other works; and I'm not prepared to stoop to shopping at Chapters.

So, yes - I do suck. Hope everyone enjoyed the book. Does anyone have thoughts for August? My dad gave me a book called Shop Class as Soulcraft, by Matthew B. Crawford, which from the sounds of the epigraph on the back might be something like Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

But - I am open to suggestions and I promise to try to do better next month. Everyone gets one.

Life lesson: Insomnia is good for getting caught up on reading.

I wasn't sure at all what to expect from Diary, and was quite impressed. It almost felt like a series of essays masquerading (successfully) as a young adult novel. Definitely raised interesting and provoking points. Part of me was saying throughout that reservations must be different/better in Canada, which probably proved some of what Sherman was saying.

And just when I thought everything would be going well for Arnold/Junior: BAM, I was stunned by the second half of the book. It was well-written, and no mistake.

My favorite characters were Gordy and Rowdy. Gordy because he didn't mind being the smartest and valued accurate information, and Rowdy because how could I not love someone Arnold/Junior loved so much? When he described climbing the tree, I felt a sudden urge to go out and find a very tall tree and scramble to the top immediately, it was so beautiful.

On the whole, it was a pleasant read, with an ideal balance of light writing and heavy ideas. In that way it reminded me of Can You Spell Revolution?, which is also an excellent read.

Darwin ends.

Oh man! We're good at this! Haha.

Okay so I'm about 10 pages from being done but I decided I'd post anyways. I've had a really hard time getting through the Warriors section so I think it'd actually be my least favorite section.
I really loved Fire From Heaven though. I like that cause and effect stuff. There were some moments in the other stories where I was like "ah..maybe I see what they're getting at..." but then it would give way to "what the?".

It was a great read though!
Can we read something by Sherman Alexie for the summer? Maybe the "Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian"...I know it's a younger genre of book but I think maybe it would be a really easy summer read with a lot of interesting ideas underneath. We could possibly even finish in a month! haha

Oh yea...Welcome back to the country Marc : )

I finished it last week. Warriors was pretty much my favorite section, but I probably read it in too much of a flurry of excitement and all the stories are a bit melded together. I do remember reading The Twilight of the Gods and thinking it was dumb. I loved the imagery in Fire From Heaven, but found the story somewhat lacking. I do love it when authors jump around in time though, so liked that aspect of it. I remember loving 1999...but at the moment can't entirely remember what happened...worst bookclub member ever, haha.

My favorite story not in Warriors was The Dreamlife of Toasters. It was poetic and lovely and made me want to look at the stars. When she threw the baby into the dump...oh man. My heart.

The book on the whole was so different from my usual fare, and was quite refreshing. It renewed my love of dystopian writing.

well WELL well well

it's been quite some time. this has been the slowest i've read a book in awhile, but it has been quite nice to take it piece by piece 45 minutes at lunch over the past few weeks. work? screw work! a female android named 4F6 stopped on her way home from the pharmaceutical factory and stood looking at the stars! this is the mode of reader i was in at almost every beginning of a story. i am totally overwhelmed at the creativity and (for the most part) originality put into the concepts of these stories. even if i didn't care for how the author wrote it, or if the ending sucked or made me wicked depressed, i was always fascinated at the world i was transported into, and enjoyed most every last minute of escapism it had to offer me. well done and good choice....

i'll analyze like a sheep.


survivors-> pretty much have extremely little to say bad about this section. the first story pretty much set the tone at an intensely curious level for me, as i am a super-fan of the future dystopia setting... the rest (minus the personasts (shakes slow boring unidentifiable fist)) swiftly followed with equally interesting outlooks on our evidently bleak future.. i'll list them in ranking of most liked to most disliked because i feel like typing a helluvalot.

1. we ate the children last. because whoa, if a story that is too short is, by comparison, like a song that is too short, but SO short that i have no choice but to listen to it again because it just wasn't enough, then this is what that was/IS. super cool.

2. this is not the end my friend. so... believable... in the horrific way. maybe i got too into it because i was road tripping and it was the first one i read, but it hit me in the face like a sock full of 'make sure to die before this happens'.

3. survivor. i love sweary british assholes. and having a brand new exciting outlook on the show.

4. sunshine city. heck YEAH 'murder' mystery! i kept expecting and end since it was a 'short' story but i was always super excited when i turned the page and saw that it kept going. i don't even care if it would have ended, hoss was interesting enough he could have traveled an endless floor of sand and i would have enjoyed it.

5. the aurochs. my distaste for collecting dictated my opinion of this one... AND that he just sold it all at the end my ... goodness what a wasted life he was after that. SUPER interesting future though.

6. the personasts: my journeys through underwhelming schitzo costume parties with no noise but my noise and the softer side of project mayhem. BOOM. renamed that noise.


lovers-> more like... creepers, pessimists and depressed romantics. i wondered the entire time when i would feel the love but it only struck once... it was a wonderful once but it wasn't enough to convince me i was reading all about the greatest thing in the world (in theory... sometimes practice... often desired...).

1. love in the pneumatic tube era. a d o r a b l e. so adorable i couldn't stand it. i smiled and got excited. man. screw life. love wins. (this was the once). ONCE ONCE ONCE

2. notes from the womb. i didn't know what to think of it, other than i enjoyed it in the way that i would enjoy breaking a limb... to get sympathy for my pain, but then the horror of not being able to do anything for a long time and the loneliness that comes with it would crush me. plus i took it as pure fantasy so i could continue thinking babies are more optimistic than that.

3. remote control. THAT'S NOT LOVE!! that's boredom and self gratification! but... aliens... you deserve this number 3 spot.

4. december astronauts. only because our boy was at least attempting to get something beautiful out of something mundane.

5. i found your VOX. i found you disturbing and lonely.


outliers-> oh hell yeah. this is where it started getting good after good after good after good. i'm always a fan of the rebel (scum!), the forgotten, the set apart.. and a whole section dedicated to this specific realm of personality/group/attitude? i'll partake.

1. this morning all night. soooooooooo beautiful and curious and melodic (in my head), and i'm super-keen on families... this one just really struck me with a good sense of heartbreak.. loved it.

2. large garbage. a most justified future... <3 overeducated hippies and whatnot. 'sharing' seems like a swell way to live.

3. dougal discarnate. dude i'd be so friggen depressed if this happened to me. cripes. i'd end up doing tv as well probably. limitations are no fun for anyone... but it was a super cool story and made me want to move to BC for unexplained mental reasons. fun thoughts followed me around after this'n.

4. the dreamlife of toasters. i didn't really care for the ending, but i really liked the entire other part. like the beginning and middle. but not the end... it was ok. i just really enjoy future scenarios and endearing robots. and spontaneously reproducing robots.

5. there is no time in waterloo. this is the exact reason why i don't like the sciences. but i like observing it from a perspective poised above printed paper.

6. crush. this was like the time i wrote something long and abandoned the ending on purpose to make it shit. pretending this one was doing the same thing i felt like i could relate, except not with that much build up to nothing or irrelevance. i don't like crack. i don't like seasickness or fish sticks. what i like less than all these was this story.


warriors-> pump it UP william wallace! this one's for you. constant mental applause and a desire to leave work to keep reading. a definite appropriate end selection of stories to a wondrously fun book at-this-point-thus-far.

1. 1999. oh... my... goodness... mad props for someone writing out of sheer curiosity. concept? screw concept. this was a question with characters. if i could read whilst raising my rock goblet of awesomeness without losing focus i probably would've the entire time.

2. the divinity gene. 1. amazing. probably my favorite part of the entire book. 2. i strongly dislike jerkoffs, so being inside of one's head was a necessary burden. 3. pretty much the exact opposite of 2, making it, combined with 1 and 2, the slickest little piece of literature i've taken into my brain in quite awhile. well done and roses.

3. twilight of the gods. all i could think of was avatar for some reason. but for distinctive reasons, i just really liked a departure from overly realistic futures and into the more fantasy realm of story telling. i'll give it a pat on the head and call it cute.

4. gladiator. tehe. he said naked breast. just JOKES! very interesting, like-able protagonists and situations. can't say much beyond that i guess...

5. athiests were almost right about everyting. but can you die again in heaven? cuz... that seems like it'd be great...

6. fire from heaven: a dystopian suite. i would like to draw this or see this constantly. definitely didn't NOT like this story, and i loved the images it put into my head, it just fell a twingebit short of feeling complete and utterly awesome. plus for some reason being in the past frustrates me.

(throws hands in the air) DONE.

yeah it took almost two months but it was worth it.

"Frick coming to his point."

I'm about halfway through the book, and am really enjoying it. My absolute favorite story so far has been "Sunshine City" by Timothy Taylor. The idea that actions and motivations could be reduced to mathematical equations is phenomenally interesting, and besides, I have always loved a good murder mystery. I don't even like math, at all, and still I was all "Yes! Probability equations for the win!". SaBe's situation was so melancholy and lonely, I really couldn't help feeling sorry for her even though it was her own fear keeping her captive.

Some of the stories have been quite chilling, such as "Notes From the Womb" and "We Ate the Children Last", (Yann Martel! What a genius!) but still enjoyable or at least engrossing. In the case of "Notes From the Womb", I am not able to grasp some of the concepts/points, I think. I found "Personasts" to be vague and didn't really get it either. I found "Dougal Discarnate" to be clever. I loved the style and flow of "Survivor" and "This Is Not The End My Friend". I did not like "December Astronauts", not really sure why.

Basically, I just love short stories.

Darwin's Bastards

Alrighty now...Book MAY. I find it like a neat little time warp that I've been able to see two of my three fellow book clubbers in the past week, slightly falsifying the title of this blog. Thanks Marc for keeping it transpacific!

I'm not really sure how to muse over a compilation of short stories, so maybe I'll give my general ideas, as well as a couple of my favorite and least favorite so far.

To begin, I always struggle with the first story in a short story collection. It takes me that first story to adjust to the sudden theme, prose, style, etc. Once I get past that first story, my brain has adjusted to the fast subject matter pace and I can enjoy the rest of the book (even with different authors, oddly enough) but usually after the first one my overall feeling is "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!?" So though I enjoyed hearing Feist swear as an 85 year old woman....everything else in that first story is a confusing blur.

Overall, I looove this book! With authors like L'Engle and Orwell being some of my FAVES...the speculation of the future theme is one of my favorites to read. So this has been like candy. The only trouble is that I always want to read more, and short stories are not about more.

Hmm, maybe I'll do it like this:

• Survivors
  Favorite: The Aurochs. I loved the methodical style as well as the clear comparison between him disassembling the Auroch and himself. I also liked the things that were different in the future...such as medicine being illegal. I mean I didn't like that, but it was a different idea than I'd heard before and it kind of seemed plausible.
  Least Favorite: The Personasts. I feel like I was totally missing the main point of this...the point that it took place in the suburbs. I just did not grasp what that meant and then it seemed to end too abruptly....so basically I just didn't get it.
• Lovers
  Favorite: I actually liked a lot of these, but I think my favorite was Love in the Pneumatic Tube Era. I just thought it was so cute! Haha
  Least Favorite: Notes From the Womb. I almost stopped reading this because it really disturbed me. Maybe I wasn't being open enough to fully grasp the point, but yea, it just bothered me quite a bit.
• Outliers
  Favorite: Large Garbage. I love the guys quick transition in with the 'homeless' people, and how painless it actually is for him to lose everything he thinks he loves so much. I like. I also want to say that The Dreamlife of Toasters was one I liked but I can't quite figure out entirely why yet so I hope someone else talks about it....
  Least Favorite: Crush, just because this was one that I wish was not a short story, but had more detail/expansion.
  
  

And now for Warriors! Wahoooo

Book for May

Just wanted to make it the official nomination for the month so people can vote on it.

Everybody okay with "Darwin's Bastards" as the book for May? (I've heard really good things...)

What is our plan for the rest of April?
Something deep and discussion inspiring? Something light and quick? Something full of information?

I have a confession to make: I never read Catcher.
This is for several reasons, all of which are probably not overly good ones. The biggest one is I don't have the book, and didn't have an opportunity to buy it. I also have a crazy amount of school mushed into a nine-week semester.
So: my deepest apologies. I will do better next month! Truly!

Surrounded by jerks

I'm going to have to reach back a bit because I finished Catcher a little while ago and all the details are a little fuzzy.
Generally I liked it. Salinger seems to have a way to make the lives of wealthy people seem mundane; a trick Bret Easton Ellis would use in his books Less Than Zero, and (especially) The Rules of Attraction.
But there must be some truth to it all... These kids who get stuck in rich boarding schools and colleges across the country, grasping for some meaning for their lives. I think it's a theme that resonates today just as strongly, if not stronger.

Something happened around the turn of the century, pretty much after the industrial revolution really took off - people that once were not rich started becoming rich. Previously if your were the child of someone poor you stayed poor, and if you were the child of someone rich you too would become rich and would stay that way unless you blew the fortune away somehow - there's stories about that too.
But then the revolution happened and people started making money in the trades. This created a new middle-class - those that had grown up poor, but now were able to afford a few luxury items. Things like education for your children was now available for those people.

The point I'm getting at is this - the values of the parent and the values of the child are rarely in-sync with one another. The children of those who gained wealth and brought themselves up from a state of poverty cannot appreciate the struggle of their parents and won't understand or value things like education or a nice home.

Enter Holden Caulfield - hopelessly bored and unmotivated to succeed. He, like many of his generation and subsequent others, was born into a life without significant strife or suffering. Without anything to fight against or for, he drifts - clinging to the idea that one day he may light upon something that stirs a passion within him and allows him to commit his life to the pursuit of that goal.
I mentioned before in my other blog that I thought Holden was a little snot. Maybe that was too harsh - but I don't like him. He reminds me of me too much.
I mean, the me before I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. He reminds me of all the high school kids I see on the bus, sneering and bobbing their heads to audible bass drums from their headphones.
Stop me when I start to sound old...

I don't blame those kids, or Holden, for being lost. We're a generation born into a padded world, an invisible bubble, where consumer safety groups, PTA's, and endless "mom blogs" create a sense of paranoia and panic about everything. Just today I heard about people worried about the levels of mercury in those energy efficient bulbs - you know, the ones that we all feel better about buying because they use less wattage and will save the Earth? Apparently they're slowly killing us...
Examine anything long enough and you'll find an insidious danger. Even people trying to do the right thing are lost amid the labyrinth of advisory warnings. No wonder people are constantly looking for ways to change their lives; we're just running from a constant, unseen enemy.

Things weren't that different in 1945 when Catcher was first published (he says, as if he'd been there), it's just accelerated now. How fitting for our keeping-up-with-the-Joneses zeitgeist that the carousel should be the final symbol of the novel, when Holden finally realizes the futility of straining for happiness in a world created for him by his parents that doesn't appeal to his interests.
We're all still on a carousel grasping for the golden ring - only the horses are atomic, it spins exponentially faster, and the golden ring is a perfect Facebook status or a clever "tweet".

What bothered me most about Holden is how he constantly accused everyone of being "phony" when he was no better.
But how interesting that this character has captured the interests of school children when they were forced to read Catcher in high school. He was the rebellious youth, who gets kicked out of school, wanders New York, trying to get drunk and laid, and thinks he's special and unique and different than the rest of the world.
The true mark of maturity is realizing that you are not as special as you always believed or were told, but then trying to make yourself so anyway; creating meaning for yourself so life is not monotonous and dry.
He foreshadows this at the beginning by saying you don't want to hear about "all that David Copperfield kind of crap", he figures it out. You are not your name or your hometown. You're not your parents.

"You're not your fuckin' khakis"

That really kills me...

Alright, thoughts on Catcher thus far...

When I first read this book, it drove me CRAZY that there seemed to be no direction whatsoever to the book. I was like, this book is totally aimless and purposeless...and I think at the end I changed my mind a bit but it was hard to enjoy. So, since I knew that it wasn't a "going somewhere" book, I've been able to enjoy it way more this time. Here are the things I've enjoyed:

• The style of writing cracks me up. Or kills me, as Holden might say. Thanks to a nifty quiz Tyler gave me once, I discovered that one of my favorite literary devices is exaggeration and this is probably the first book I've ever read where I've really noticed a common use of it. I think it's adds a weird sort of humor.
  
  
• Since it's not a 'moving forward' book, I feel like instead it's a book that is taking in and valuing every little present moment, no matter how insignificant it might seem. I REALLY like that, because I suck at not enjoying the present, but when I can just sit in a moment and notice the beauty or art in it, it's pretty special. I think this is the same reason I love Murikami so much, he usually just talks about little seemingly meaningless events. But the fact that he talks about them makes them meaningFUL.

This exaggeration also seems to add a bit of brattiness, which I've been watching out for more since Marc commented on him being "a little snot" haha. Still, I have this strange affection for him, I think because he seems like a real live high school student...and I don't think we can flatter ourselves all that much by thinking we're much better, it could just depend on whether we are optimists or pessimists.
I know people just like him and while their negativity drives me crazy sometimes, you occasionally see the side of them that genuinely values things that are good, actions that are good, people that are good. And, like the rest of us he seems to just want to be known...good and bad.

The one thing that frustrates me about him is that he keeps thinking about Jane, who he clearly adores, but when he thinks about seeing her or calling her he doesn't and blames it on 'not being in the mood'. Gosh..stop being so yellow! (haha)

I happen to remember thinking the ending was kinda weird and I didn't process it enough..so I'm looking forward to doing that now!

it's been one of those days

so. i finally finished the road.

i've gotta say it put me through a crazy amount of emotions... i feel like this book really resonated with the part of me that feels things. i was so sad and depressed at the world that was painted for me through mccarthy's words, not because it is something that i fear, but something that more and more i am thinking is a possiblity with the way we are treating ourselves (plus the other influences that i put upon myself during the time of this sporatic read (book of eli... design futurings... anything that shares the vision of a dystopian future...)). but i guess that is not what depressed me, it was more just the fact that a child had to be going through a world with no hope. but that was the initial feelings... i got over that, and whenever 'luck' came across them and they were able to get food, shelter and supplies, i was super happy for them and really hoped they would continue on the path that they were on, or that they would stay there for as long as they could (like the bunker in the middle of the yard... how fun..). and oh my goodness... as i know myself, i can't handle interactions between a father and son without getting emotional, so throughout the whole book i had the nagging fear that one or both would die at any moment, so when it actually came time for the inevitable, i had a lion king simba/mufasa moment of tears before i could come to the conclusion that a book riddled with hopelessness however sad, brings a great amount of joy when it provides an ending with anything slightly resembling hope. like talking a drink of water after being thirsty for a very long time. all in all when i wasn't reading the book i found myself analyzing everything for it's usage if a situation like this should happen... imagining where i'd go and who i'd want with me.. how i could carry the fire.. oh. oh man. exhaustively exciting and terrifying.

OTHER than that what you all said about the book is flippin hammer on the head of the nail... so good... nice'n simple and quick... i think i want to read more of what he has written. i've never enjoyed something so poetic and cold. hooray for blankets. blankets forever.

((i don't know if i'm gonna be able to handle reading catcher right now... mebe i'll have some free reading time after march, when i'm not busting my stuff up for show'n sale and trying to maintain passing grades- but once march is done and the next book is decided i'll be right back at it with you lovelies.))

March on

It's decided! (because it's halfway through March..ha!)

Catcher in the Rye is IT!

New Book

So... if I'm not mistaken, we're all finished, or on the road (haha) to being finished, reading The Road.
Time to pick a new book?

Suggestions?

I did manage to find a bookstore in town that was selling new copies of 'Catcher' for $10.
Amazing, I love that store.

I finished The Road a few days ago, but have been gathering my thoughts. That book is wild. It was a very fast read, very absorbing.

I've read quite a few post-apocalyptic type stories, but this was quite a bit different from most of what I've read. In the other stories, people are searching for loved ones or trying to figure out why all the men died, or trying to stop people from turning into zombies when they die. They have some semblance of hopefulness in them. Possibly the most striking thing about The Road is the almost complete lack of hope. The father is leading the boy south to the coast, but he is aware that there is probably nothing there for them. It will still be cold, they will still be hungry, there will still be next to no food, but they have to keep going. The boy is the only thing left that the father has faith in. The boy embodies his last bit of hope.

When they run into the "bad guys" it becomes more evident what they mean when they say that they are "carrying the fire". Unlike those who resort to murder and cannibalism, the boy and the father are holding on to the last threads of their humanity. It's like the rest of mankind is devolving into beasts but the father and child are keeping their spirits alive.

I have to admit that I was worried throughout the book that the ending would be a let down. Fortunately, my worries turned out to be unfounded. I think there is probably something purposeful in that one of the very few mentions of color in the book is right at the end; the world becomes a little less gray and dismal.

I loved it. It was compelling.

Well, I did as a promised. The Road is complete, technically with a day to spare for you Canadians. I feel like I'm back in the game.
Reading The Road at night probably wasn't the best idea, I was on edge pretty much the whole time. But this really is one of my favorite theme of books...what humanity does when the world doesn't look like this anymore...generally after crisis. Haha.

(PS: this really does feel like High School English class when I write this, and I LOVED English class...)

As for the overall style of the writing, there was one quote that I thought kind of captured the tone for the rest of the book:
“In the dream she was sick and he cared for her. The dream bore the look of sacrifice but he thought differently. He did not take care of her and she died alone somewhere in the dark and there is no other dream nor other waking world and there is no other tale to tell.”

There is this little glimmer of hope and goodness in the first sentence and a half, but that is quickly extinguished, both by the circumstances that surround them and also by the Father's own outlook.

The father seems so much more real because he really only does have one hope, both for his life and for his death, and that is the living next generation child with him. I think in a lot of books they would dwell longer on the outside things such as 'the discovery of stores of food' or a 'warm place to sleep' and really add more value to those as something that keeps up the hopes of the father. But they rightfully remain the things that are just life prolonging, not the object of life.

As I progressed to the end of this book, it reminded me more and more of the book of Ecclesiastes, in which one of the wealthiest kings in history muses about having everything he could have possibly ever wanted and still being unhappy. The only good that will come of everything you ever work and strive for will be that it is passed onto the next generation. Of the fruits of your labour, you see nothing, thus everything is meaningless. At the end of the book, the boy promises his father he 'wont forget', and that's about all the father can hope for.


So I thought the boy was really great, and I loved watching how he shifted in representation...

• The boy seemed to have the immediate reaction of any of us, given everything was stripped away, such as scepticism and pride etc. I suppose back to our whole childhood self. The innate knowledge of when things are good and bad, overwhelming fear, or naive acceptance. I like that...because I was so very fearful with him...haha. Like this quote:
  "I was crying but you didn’t wake up.
  I’m sorry. I was just so tired.
  I meant in the dream.”
  -It's so simple but, yea, that idea of someone you depend on suddenly not hearing you. FRIGHTENING!
  
• “All of this like some ancient anointing. So be it. Evoke the forms. Where you’ve nothing else construct ceremonies out of the air and breathe upon them.” Oh my did I like this quote. I've always thought about how interesting it is that almost any culture no matter where or how developed creates for itself something to worship. There's a human need to worship something as greater than oneself, as the exciton's of that greater thing is what gives us any sort of reason to keep going/growing/searching...and so this boy becomes the father's.
  

Hmm I feel like I thought lots more but those are the things I can put into words. Thoughtful...cold and windy....raw...quiet. Humm

So book for this next month...I've had trouble deciding, half because I don't know what I can get on Kindle. A couple options for things I already have but have yet to read are:
Metemorphasis-Kafka
The Invisible Man-H.G Wells

One that I don't have but have considered reading for the sake of its difference in author/location/subjects that I would usually be interested in (and I now know I can get from Kindle) are:
A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian-Marina Lewycka

Nobody puts Jim in a corner!

Holla cool cats! Guess who finally finished the book!
Once again, I apologize for my lateness, but I intend to power through The Road in the next 4 days so NO BIG DEAL.
I also finally read your posts on Treasure Island...

Since yall pretty much said what I mostly thought in regards to the ending...reletively anti-climactic. Silver is even 'helped' to escape, he doesn't even sneak off on his own which I found disappointing.
On Muppet Treasure Island, this is the moment where Jim discovers Silver escaping and lets him go...and then Smollet (Kermit) says "well done Jim" and I get teary eyed....I was hoping for that...

I did take note of the quotes that stood out to me in this second half though, just for fun:

• “All round the hull, in the blackness, the rippling current bubbled and chattered like a little mountain stream”
  -This happens when Jim is trying to board the Hispanola at night, and I found that Stevensons descriptions of actions that happened at night were way more interesting than those during the day. Maybe that's just a preference.
  
  
• "We made a curious figure, had anyone been there to see us –all in soiled sailor clothes and all but me armed to the teeth. Silver had two guns slung about him –one before and one behind –besides the great cutlass at his waste ad pistol in each pocket of his square-tailed coat. To complete the his strange appearance, Captain Flint sat perched upon his shoulder and gabbling odds and ends of purposeless sea-talk. I had a line about my waist and followed obediently after the sea-cook, who held the loose end of the rope, now in his free hand, now between his powerful teeth. For all the world, I was led like a dancing bear”
  -For some reason I especially liked this description of those ragamuffin pirates, and I think if any 'deeper' sort of study could be done on this book, the exsistance of "Captain Flint", the bird, on the shoulder of Silver, would be prime.
  
  
• “Nobody minds Ben Gunn”
  -Poor guy, he really reminds me of a wet blanket or something pittiful like that.
  But the main thing I liked about this quote was that the first thought that popped into my head after reading was "Nobody puts Baby in a corner".

And that was that! Thanks for being patient with me : )
Just to clarify, are we starting a new book next month, or have we extended the finish date for The Road. And if so, TyTy...what's the book choice?

Don't run, walk.

Oookay... So I realize that we didn't actually select "The Road" by Cormack McCarthy to be a book club read, but I tore through it in a couple days (Tyler saw me on Friday/Saturday) and I hadn't even started it - I finished it last night, with only occasional reading time.
It's quite an easy read; McCarthy's writing style in this book is quite spartan - I think reflecting the bleakness of the physical landscape, devoid of richness or colour - I believe a purposeful choice. Additionally the dialogue between characters is often left ambiguous, without designating who the speaker is, although it usually isn't hard to figure out.

The plot revolves around the two principle characters, a father and his son, who have survived some cataclysmic event (what exactly happens is never explained), but they now live in a vast, underpopulated wasteland; all the trees are dead and fall over, fires ravage the country, and gangs of desperate men roam about, killing and cannibalizing their victims.
The man and boy's interactions with others are sparse - too often they are all alone, under grey skies and falling ash, constantly starving and relatively unarmed against the constant danger.
They are following a road to the south before winter strikes, pillaging the remnants of storerooms and houses as they go. Sometimes they are lucky, quite often they are not.

The character of the father is exactly how I would imagine someone like Viggo Mortenson playing him, except when I began to watch the movie I was disappointed with how he'd actually played him (did that make sense?)
I imagined him tougher - the quiet, sturdy pillar of the family, much the same way that he played Aragorn in the "Lord of the Rings" movies. Instead (in the movie) he was much more vulnerable than the manner I pictured.
The boy, too, is older than I think would have cast, but acts younger than he looks...

I didn't finish the movie. It was disappointing after the book.

I really don't want to give anything away here in case others are going to read it.
It IS an awesome book. Having never read anything by McCarthy before, this was a good introduction to his style of writing. It's gritty, visceral, emotionless and yet somehow touching.
The characters are familiar to you and the way they act is not without mistakes - too often they stumble (literally and figuratively) on their journey, almost dying several times. They are vulnerable and the danger is always quite present.

I think unlike "Treasure Island", which I think we agreed the characters might have been too typecast, the father (especially) in this book is quite human. He is scared but must act as if he is not; he makes mistakes that almost cost them everything; he sometimes gets frustrated and angry with his son - he is a father, after all.

The book also deals with some pretty heavy concepts- the topic of suicide is frequently brought up and confronted, as well as themes of sacrifice and the fine line between retaining one's humanity and personal survival. I already mentioned the cannibalism, but it is reintroduced frequent throughout their trip (a constant worry).

I think that the Road itself is a character in a way; it is temperamental, harsh, and cruel. It is the father and son's constant companion and source of frustration. At times it is amiable and permits quick travel, and other times it makes their journey impossible.
I think that it sets up two different conflicts within the book - between man and himself, which is represented by the dynamic between the boy and the father (the boy representing a bit of the superego, while the father struggles between all three: id, ego, and superego); and between man and his environment.
The roving gangs are not individual characters, but ambassadors for the Road. They personify It's cruelty and inhumanity, they have lost everything that makes them human and become all environment, despite their familiar appearance.

The topic of God is also (understandably) brought up. At times the father claims "there is no God", and others he is seen praying or blaming God for their situation. He even associates the boy with God at certain points, "If he [the boy] is not the word of God God never spoke".
But I believe the Road is also a stand-in for God. It is a challenge and it is taken on a degree of faith that there is relative safety upon reaching their destination. The Road provides rewards with one hand and punishes with the other. It is a test, without gaurantee of any benefit for attempting to walk the Road.
I think, perhaps, the book is a metaphor for the search for God.

... Which makes the ending all the more delicious.


But! I won't ruin it. Go read this book!!!

Big thumbs up from me, a riveting read.

hot iron

So the rest of the book pretty much lived up to my expectations - it wasn't bad. I had really hoped that there would be a final double-cross with Silver at the end; one of those top-of-the-cliff life or death decisions with Silver holding Jim before he is shot and killed by, say, the doctor.
But alas, 'twas not to be.

And yeah, what was up with the shortened ending? It's like - "so we left the island and sailed back home; Silver disappeared; and I never went back to Treasure Island again... The End."
Man... absolutely no retribution for Silver at all... weird.

Since Jim killed Hans, did anyone else feel like maybe he should have killed Silver too? I mean - pretend that the scenario that I just imagined had actually happened in the book. Hawkins killing Silver woulda been so much more debatable than the death of Hans; that was a life or death situation - kill or be killed. So it's "morally justifiable".
But killing Silver? That would have introduced a way different side to Jim. Maybe introducing the transition from plucky boy-hero into manhood; where things are not so black and white. Wouldn't that have been interesting???

I think so.

But blah blah blah - happily ever after ... All this needs is a heroine that Jim "gets" at the end, after the whole adventure and they can finally "be" together - sailing off into the sunset...

I liked the character of the doctor while he was treating the pirates, kinda smart-ass, kinda authoritarian. It perfectly fits the mental stereotype that I have of physicians today (which is now rooted in personal interactions with them...)


As far as further reading, I might have to step down a little... I really struggled to find time to read the end of this in time due to school, and if I'm not really into what we're reading then I'm probably not going to read it at all.
"Screwtape Letters" sounds... well, biased.
C.S. Lewis was quite outspoken about his beliefs. As far as discussion goes... what are we going to discuss? The nature of good and evil? Eventually it's going to boil down to a debate of self-determinism ("free-will") versus authoritarian directed influence - and I'm willing to bet that I know where that will go. To be honest, I'm not into having those discussions; it boils down to belief and that is inarguable when it comes to theistic concepts. Not that being inarguable is reason to not approach a subject, but I'd rather talk about something a bit more complex with less defined lines...
Like... the aid process in the developing world?
Like... exerting contorl over a culture for altruistic reasons?

If we're giving suggestions for books, I'd love to read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Or how about Catcher in the Rye, in respect for J.D. Salinger's recent passing.

relax, don't do it

whoa! what happened?! all of the sudden it's been a week and i don't remember how it ended! oh wait! yes i do! i just found it to be sudden and anticlimactic.. maybe it was because i read the last half in one go, and that made it seem like one giant scene in which action was more or less a description of events in a past tense... or maybe it was because i had too many expectations for what i wanted to happen... or MAYBE i could feel the thickness of the book dwindling, and was more excited at that then the leavings of character's finality all over the page... OR PERHAPS i just wasn't eating spicy salsa with chips, taking away that physical excitement that i am experiencing right now, which i wasn't ... then.

however without my angst caused by literary boomlessness, i DID feel satisfied when it was over. i truly didn't want silver to be hung, or even tried. let alone marooned or killed. and nobody else i wanted to live died either, so that was a bonus which i'm not often given in these dramatic-tug-on-my-ensnared-heart days of drama. i may or may not have been a wee bit frustrated at jim's little solo adventure, but mainly because i tried to imagine it so furiously that it became real and scary and something i didn't ever want to experience. but that was purely a directional thing (shouldn't all boats just go straight?! conFOUNDED technology)... other than that. i dunno. i for sure enjoyed it, but didn't get a gratifying sense of accomplishment when finishing it. my inner sanctum of imagination (and it's populace) were not dressed to the teeth in pirate gear and raring to seek out some plunder, but a keen interest in big knives and muzzle loaders seemed to develop, which i do not condone but educationally allow. good pick glynis. good pick.

((is everyone good with 'the screwtape letters'? protest or proceed?))

Fin.

I finished Treasure Island pretty early on in January, and then read Enter a Murderer and finished Rebecca, so this final Treasure Island post might be a bit scattered. (Both of those books come highly recommended, by the way.)

I rather liked the ending. Even though Long John kept switching sides and lily-footing about. (I actually don't even know if "lily-footing" is the right word...but it conveys my meaning?) Which was a bit lame, seeing as until he was shown to be terrified constantly he was FREAKING AWESOME, and then he just became super nifty. It's a step down.

I'd like to know if it really is possible to man a schooner with just a maimed captain, cabin boy, doctor, pretty much useless squire, and one partially-able seaman. Did that seem far-fetched to anyone else? Or the part when Jim is sailing the boat to the North end of the island?

Speaking of Jim sailing the ship, it seemed a bit out of character when he killed Israel Hands and had zero regret. Granted, he'd been hardened by being on the island some and it was basically self-defence and Israel was a stinker: but still! He shoots him and pushes the other dead guy overboard and looks at their bodies for awhile and is all, "Whatever." What happened to the old, kind-hearted Jim? The one who was concerned for his mother, etc? It seemed a sudden and unprecedented change.

The end of the book was well done, I think. No dilly-dallying. They got off the island and Stevenson wrapped it up nicely.

Speaking of Stevenson, did you know that he died of a brain hemorrhage in the Samoan Islands?

trsr slnd!

Okay my turn! I must say, I am majorly impressed by every one's promptness. I'm fairly sure I read up to half, but I am in KL right now and my dang plug in isn't working so I can't even access my computer to check. Oh well. Here's what I think:

It's a great story. I agree with with Marc said about lacking depth, which I found kind of difficult to really 'dialogue' about. BUT, it has lasted this long for that one reason, being a super story. Visions of Muppet Treasure Island and Treasure Planet do keep popping into my head as well (so much so that I watched the Muppet one the other day), but it's cool to finally get the real story as written.

1) Dr. Livesay is my fav character. He's just straight up and solid...I like that.

2) Long John, dare I say I can't help but like him? Okay, he's a murdering lying pirate...but he has those minute hidden good qualities right? Maybe because I've seen the end of the movies and he appears to have a soft spot for Jim. Whether or not that proves true in the book, I guess I'll see, and make up my mind then.

3) It's not slow like I expected it to be. That's pleasant.

4) Jim is a good kid. He's genuine and young and frightened at necessary times, but he's certainly not a pittiful unintelligent wimp. Amiable.

Okay. That's what I got. I also really like Glynis's interpretation of Gunn. Nobody appreciates those people.

Jim, Jim, Jimmy, Jim-Jim-Jim.

So I didn't think I would get halfway by today, but hokey dinah: this book is engrossing! I wasn't aware! I'm into part five now! It just keeps getting better! If the ending is lame, I might have a bit of a fit.

Here I some things I didn't expect:
- INTENSITY. Like the part when Long John throws his crutch and breaks Tom's back. HE THROWS HIS CRUTCH AND BREAKS TOM'S BACK. And then leaps over to him, crutchless, and stabs him to death. Oh nelly. And then he retrieves his crutch as if nothing had happened.
- The Muppets Treasure Island and Treasure Planet scenes running through my head. Anytime one of the characters says "Jim, Jim" I think "Jim, Jim, Jimmy, Jim-Jim-Jim." And when they get drunk, I picture the goat saying, "What was that song? You know, 'Cabin fever, ahh!'"
- Dr. Livesey being so hardcore. In Treasure Planet he is a wuss.
- Foreshadowing. Jim keeps saying things like "as we would only find out later" or "later, we knew that it saved us." sometimes it bothers me, because I'm going to find it out later anyways, so why tell me out of continuity? It is a literary device that doesn't seem to be used very much anymore. Foreshadowing seems to be much more symbolic in more modern writing, you know: "Stella was hungry and then we knew that Magda was going to die. It was foreshadowing."

I have to admit, Ben Gunn is a trifle annoying. He reminds me of those people who feel like they have to lightly touch your arm every time they ask a question or make a point. And who really appreciates that from strangers? No one, that's who.

Having a map in the front of the book is handy, handy, handy! I would be lost without it. I am constantly referring to it and saying, "Oh, I see! The white rock is South EAST of the anchorage! Now I understand!" or "How the heck did Jim run so far? Is this map to scale?" or "They are running all over the treasure! Just dig already!"

I love the description of the island. It sounds so stifling and lonely and terrifying, what with marshes and weird tree-bushes and sudden clearings and strange rock formations all over it. And fever and dysentery! When Dr. Livesey was looking at the spring, I felt so happy for them. Mostly I just love all of the description. Stevenson puts in the perfect amount of poeticness.

Also, Long John Silver=Best Villain Ever. Imagine a Long John Silver and the Joker team-up.

And Screwtape Letters sounds great.

Ye would think a pirate's favourite restaurant would be "Arrrby's"... but actually it's Long John Silver's

"Crap, is it the 15th? I've got that thing, right? You know, that book-club thing... What do you mean 'what book-club thing?' - that thing online that I agreed to be a part of, with Alex and Tyler and... what? Oh, Treasure Island. Yeah that one about the treasure... and the island. Geez...
I hafta write a review or response kinda thingie... I dunno, not too long. Why? Crap, how much? We have to read that for when? HOW MANY PAGES?!
Oh... well shiver me timbers..."

That's my inner dialogue.

Let it be known that my instructors decided to be gentle this semester and spare us the gratuitous violence of essay and research paper writing... by having us read half the bloody textbooks - overnight.
With that being said, I did, in fact, manage to read more than half of Treasure Island before this week got started, and thus - I AM prepared for this review, albeit only mildly. Two weeks from now will be a different story (but not a different tale, aha!)

After reading Tyler's review I have to agree with some points. Chiefly, while reading I was struck with the same sense of familiarity with the book, although I too have never read it. Maybe that's because the book is pretty formula. Being that it is rather old, I cannot call it cliche - it probably invented the genre of adventure fiction, or at least contributed vastly to the cannon.
It is an exciting read. My edition even mentions on the back that this will be a tale enjoyed by boys and old men alike (apparently it was published before women acquired the ability to read... yikes).
Of course the astute reader will almost instantly recognize Long John Silver as the "one-legged-man" that the Captain was all on about, and despite Jim's (and the author's) attempts to convince the reader otherwise, the suspense of double-crossing Silver has the wind taken from its sails, so-to-speak. So the reader is just left waiting for everyone to catch up to his or her own detective work.

I'm not sure how much I can really say about this book. It's not a hard read, and the characters are ... well, easy to read.
The "good guys" are pretty bland - stoic, righteous, and pious - while the "bad guys" are mostly idiots and drunks, with the notable exception of Silver himself. Long John Silver is easily the most nuanced character of the book (so far, but I don't expect anyone to surpass him). He is more an agent of chaos than a stereotypical pirate; to wit: instead of enjoying the same kind of reputation as the late Captain Flint, Silver employs subterfuge to gain leverage. He may very well take on honest work between pirate-outings just to keep up the personage of an trustworthy man, although I don't think that is ever explored. He also doesn't spend his fortunes the way several of the other mentioned notorious pirates do, but saves it up and gives it to his wife (HIS WIFE!) for safe keeping (clearly they didn't have shopping malls back then... )
In a lot of ways, Silver is much more of a modern pirate than a "ye olde fashioned" one - these days he'd be running an insurance corporation, screwing little old ladies out of health coverage... But I digress.

One thing I want to quickly mention, because Tyler brought it up, is that given our contemporary understanding of the stereotypical Caribbean style pirate, they didn't talk in the "yarr" kind of way, but spoke plain English-sounding English... They were English after all...
So the way the "good guys", who are (of course) vastly more educated... although - come to think of it, where the hell did Jim Hawkins learn to be a proper little gentleman? His parents owned a hotel... - the way they talk is much more 'civilized' without the "mateys" and "avasts".

By the way... if you want a book that's impossible to read without an accent, I suggest we tackle Trainspotting by Irving Welsh. It's written in the Scottish brogue, and its almost impossible to read quietly. I have to read it out loud.

Back to Silver. He's much more realistic of a character than any of them - the plucky young hero, the God-fearing Captain, the civilized and repentant maroon-ee Gunn, or any of the binging cirrhotic-riddled pirates. He has depth; something that this book, unfortunately, lacks.
I skipped ahead to the back of my edition because it has an Afterword critiquing the book and the author of that piece (a Mr. G.S. Fraser) agrees that what the book lacks in "maturity" it makes up for in storytelling.
Effectively, it's a comic book without pictures - the counterpart to a graphic novel. Not to say that I don't like it - I do - but it's not challenging.

With that I'll conclude by saying only, remember all that reading I have to do for school? It's kind of nice to not have to think too deeply about what I'm reading. Treasure Island fits the bill.

halfsies

well well well... i'm startled to be the first to write because i have no expectations of what to write or what you're expecting. but cheers! now there won't be any meddling influence muhahaha.

first off... i've been reading the faerie queen as well (silly english experimental class) and it's in old old OLD renaissance english, which makes this book feel way easier, BUT at the same time, i cannot for the life of me stop thinking in this way of speaking. there are some 'yarrs' an 'mateys' every now and then, but the pseudo politeness and well intentioned phrases of almost all the characters (but especially good old narration jim) have my brain all messed and confused and laughy. i'm glad (but kinda sad) that my mouth doesn't translate it as well... thar fer shore'd be a sight to behold... (shakes head profusely)

this book is turning out to be far more bad-ass than i had originally expected. it's even given me the chills a few times, as well as sudden spurts of fear and anxiety (i read the first three parts, so i'm gonna assume i'm not gonna wreck anything by relaying what i've read onto here FROM the first three (hopefully (and if i do, i apologize))). jim on the island has me all hot'n bothered, and nervous like someone is gonna come barging into my room scaring the crap out of me, 'cept it's in a book and the only scream that would happen would be in my head. but it's for jim, not for me... i don't like my imaginations interpretation of a death cry. it's unwholesome. i'll be requiring some varying level of redemption for that... literary or mental, either will do. all in all, i'm super super excited to watch muppets treasure island and compare accuracy and memory from child hood. there is a definite familiarity about this book, although i'm 80% sure i didn't read this earlier in life... i say influences from pirates of the caribbean are attempting to fuse in with my nostalgia. bastards... wrecking the purity of written story!!! but seriously i'm enjoying this book on a very rewarding level, since i've been neglecting fiction books for some time; this is a solid re-entry into what i sometimes wish reality was. minus hopelessness caused by mutiny wrongly justified by plunder... why can't they just share?! toss the conflict out the door and enjoy each other. oh how i wish i wish the formula for a good story didn't require conflict. such is life.. what robots we would be without the tug of the heart... tangent over.

another thing i was very expectantly excited for was the appearance of the black dot, the most seriously and intense way to send a message these and those days. i thought maybe this was the book, and with glorious accuracy it showed it's vile face. bad-ass point number one. if i EVER receive a piece of paper with a black dot in the middle from anyone other than you lovelies, i'm gonna flip out. i'll return to sender with rainbows and bunnies on the paper to let them know i reject their threat as legitimate, and in return i want nothing but friendship and hugs. by the by, i can't see long john being that kinda dude. that may have been pew's game, but i see long john as a more decisive form of a murderer... aka poor tom.. no monkey business, straight up cold blood, no warning. puffin classics claims stevenson to be a 'vivacious man, with strong voice and gestures' (ps, he was an abnormally thin man. need to know? YES!) and i see that in his characters... i love his descriptions through jims narration of what kind of men they are... i don't think i'd enjoy any of them in conversation or physical presence, BUT i do enjoy reading about their conversations and presences... with the exception of benjamin gunn... who seems to me to be the first ever hippie. though not by choice... which i guess negates the title of hippie. but i still like him. he trots lightly and easily, which is something i think we can all admire.

i'll shut my yap for now, until a response is needed, but dang glynis, dang, good book choice. literary claps for you ma'am.

((this is a notice of business, not critique or comment (the double parenthesis!), but i was wondering what any of you think of reading 'the screwtape letters' (by c.s lewis) next... i think we'd get some amazing conversation going PLUS be reading a fantastic book (so i hear). let me know what you think. you are allowed to be repulsed by any idea i present, but tell me why. i have another book as a suggestion as well, but i want to see how this is taken first. business, OUT))

SO, the book reading blog has begun. Welcome to excitement.

I figured we could do Treasure Island first, because Glynis was the first to suggest.

Word?