Books

Remember a while back when I got all excited over the books that Yann Martel was sending to the Prime Minister?  Remember how I said that I just couldn't resist reading lists?  Well, I have been going through the list for a few months now and decided to write my impressions of the books.  The first one on the list was by Tolstoy.  The Death of Ivan Ilych is about just that - Ivan Ilych's death.  I have always been a huge Tolstoy fan, but hadn't even heard of this book.  Quite short, very readable, incredibly illuminating.  It deals with how a person deceives himself throughout his life and can only see clearly when it is all done.  Very interesting.  Two thumbs way up.

Number two on the list: Orwell's Animal Farm.  I was looking forward to this book.  If you can believe it, I have never read anything by Orwell.  Unfortunately, I really hated it!  Not entertaining but depressing.  I know, it's a classic.  I'm supposed to see the value in it and all that bunk, but I didn't.  Communism among farm animals.  It didn't tell me anything I didn't already know.  Power corrupts absolutely.  Man is bad.  Ideals get

 smashed in the face of ego.  Blah, blah, blah.  I almost quit reading halfway through, but soldiered on in hopes that the end would make up for it.  It didn't.  About as disappointing as The Catcher in the Rye.  Which I also hated.  Why do people think existentialism makes a book an instant classic?  Where is the rule that hopelessness in literature is smart?  I really want to know.  If you liked Animal Farm, please comment and tell me why.  I truly want to know.

Books for the Prime Minister

I was on pneuma's blog this morning and read about Yann Martel sending Stephen Harper a book every couple of weeks or so. It sounded vaguely familiar - I'm sure it made the news quite a while back. On her post, she had a link to this site where Mr. Martel lists the books as well as copies of the letters he writes the Prime Minister. I found it endlessly entertaining. I loved Mr. Martel's Life of Pi and thoroughly enjoyed reading how and why he selected each book for Mr. Harper. Of course, anything that has a book list ends up as a personal challenge to me and I will not rest easy until I have read every single book. It's a sickness, I know. The compulsion is simply too strong for my frail mind to resist.

Book review: Jasper Fforde

Jasper Fforde is a funny, clever writer! He is a true bibliophile's dream. His books are laced with references to other books and his plots twist and turn from the unreal to the very imaginative. You're never sure where you are going next because it is always somewhere you would never have thought of. I read this book years back and have been following the Tuesday Next series ever since. There are five books in total. The Eyre Affair introduces us to Tuesday Next, a LiteraTec detective investigating all crimes against literature. In Lost In A Good Book, Tuesday dives into the world of books to find her husband. The Well of Lost Plots, Something Rotten, and First Among Sequels continue in the same vein. His other series about the Nursery Crime Division is equally as entertaining. The Big Over Easy takes on the case of Humpty Dumpty's murder, and The Fourth Bear highlights Goldy's disappearance. If you enjoy reading, have done a lot of it, and love some comedy/mystery/sci-fi, you oughtta try this author. Warning: read the books in the series in order, or you will never understand what is happening!

Book Review: Shake Hands With the Devil

I love reading and I love finding good new books. So this is for all you readers out there with a little time to spare. I picked up this non-fiction account of the Rwandan genocide after seeing an interview with the author on The Hour. Romeo Dallaire was a part of the UN mission in Rwanda before, during, and after the slaughter of over 800, 000 people by Hutu extremists and Tutsi retaliators. He tells how the west largely ignored the calls for help to the region because of its relative unimportance in the world. Bureacracy, money, political wrangling - all play a part in this tragedy. He describes the awfulness of having to stand by while people all around were being murdered, and then of having to talk nice to those responsible while trying to broker a ceasefire. Truly a heartbreaking and enraging book. It made me more supportive of our soldiers around the world who are engaged in dangerous peacekeeping missions. I also understand a little more about why and how these atrocities begin and who the people are behind them. It's a good book! Five out of five stars.