By way of introduction, please share some brief thoughts about what you read this summer. Include not only the literary novel you read for class, but also any other reading that you have done both literary and "commercial", both print and electronic. Please post your writing under "comments" by class time on Friday, August 19.
I read To the Lighthouse by Virginia Wolf and personally I did think it was a little boring. There was a lot of internal dialogue and the characters did not do much except contemplate and talk among themselves. A couple characters did die but they were talked about briefly and it was sort of just randomly placed in the book. A part I did like though was when James finally got his life long goal of getting to the lighthouse. One thing I noticed was the fact that Mr.Ramsay could never get enough sympathy from Mrs.Ramsay and how that impacted their lives. I also read The Beak of the Finch for Bio and it was terribly boring. It only talked about evolution and Darwin's theory which I don't find that interesting!
ReplyDeleteWhat did you think of the shortest chapter of Lighthouse? This (the dinner scene)may be what you could use to support your future thesis.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Atonement. The book is not disguised, the theme is atonement and McEwan examines the truths behind both perception and fact. He explores emotional torment and the strange forefront, or physical face, it may present. He challenges the reader to evaluate “the embrace of the everyday,” and he proposes the idea that commonality defines humanity. (“common, therefore human.”) And, of course, McEwan questions guilt and convenient distortions. (“you killed no-one today? But how many did you leave to die?”)
ReplyDeleteMcEwan may ask all of this of his readers but I believe that often the emotions a book solicits are as valuable as the questions it provokes. Atonement leaves the reader neither satisfied nor enlightened, but rather confused and self-aware. For this reason solely I would recommend it highly; although the message itself may be stale and leave a distinctly bitter taste on ones’ tongue such a reaction is undeniably refreshing.
I doubt that a strict list of the novels I read this summer would be of any benefit to anyone, so of the ones that I found particularly entertaining or enlightening ...
For starters, I read the Selfish Gene. I found this to be an intriguing yet incredibly frustrating read. The author, Richard Dawkins, has a decisively arrogant tone which was difficult for me to see beyond. Once that is overlooked, however, the narrative is a superb combination of relative examples and, strangely, qualified hope. It delves into the idea that “Survival of the Fittest” is really “Survival of the Selfish.” Everything about man, animal, and plant evolved due to a natural genetic selfishness. I will end with the question that Dawkins proposes... As selfish as man is, as man must be, is our humanity defined by the ability to give in a pure - albeit disinterested- selfless manner?
I also read A Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Diddion. This novel details the year following her husbands death and her process of grief. It was a difficult novel for me to relate to on many levels. Perhaps this a sign of my undoubtedly prevalent immaturity as a reader, but I would argue that for a reader to have personal intimacy with a novel a connection, or understanding, must exist. For example, I may not suffer from severe distortions in my perspective, but I think that what makes a novel like Catcher in the Rye so eerily captivating is the fact that I can relate to bits and pieces of Holden’s life and viewpoints.
This summer I read Atonement by Ian McEwan. I found the characters in this novel surprisingly relatable. I came to realize that I share similar assumptions about imagination and alternative realities with Briony. She believed that imagination was ultimately a form of secrets. When composing a piece of literature, the characters that one creates form into figures and ideas from their own hopes and dreams, which, in turn, becomes a form of self-exposure. I enjoyed the first chapter of this novel due to Briony's unique insight about reality vs. imagination. I also connected very closely to Clarrisa's sense of passion and rebellion throughout the novel. The style of McEewan's writing proves to be very delicately descriptive and romantically phrased. I enjoyed how McEwan separated the novel into three completely different sections. It begins as an exciting recap of a misunderstood fit of passion between two characters, leading into a succession of terrifying yet realistic war stories, ending with a section of self-realization and regret. I would absolutely recommend this novel to anyone due to the brilliant writing techniques and capturing plot.
ReplyDeleteThis summer I also read The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a brilliant collection of letters written by a boy struggling with self-acceptance in a new school, with new friends, and new experiences.
I also enjoyed reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for the second time, a story of a boy searching for the mystery behind his father's death in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
I also read Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult. I absolutely loved this book about a lady spending her whole life helping others as a musical therapist while she secretly suffers from depression and issues in her personal life.
I read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. The beginning pulled me right in, and it started off easy to follow. A little bit into it, with the grandparent's letters, the random pictures, and the pages with only one sentence on them, it became quite confusing! Though it was hard to follow at times, I never lost interest. When I could make connections about earlier things in the book, and when things started to make sense, it felt so good. I loved how there were many stories within one story, so many different people, and yet they were all closely linked. I thought the plot and Oskar's overall journey could have been more exciting at times. I loved the way the book was narrated, because it was easy for me to understand and relate.
ReplyDeleteTowards the end of the book, I could not put it down! The ending was very unexpected! I liked it because it put a purpose to Oskar's journey. Who would ever think to waste so much time and energy on trying to find the lock to an old rusty key? The ending brought unexpected closure to the reader, to Oskar, to his grandpa, and Mr. Black.
The author's purpose of writing this story is still unclear to me. It didn't necessarily leave a huge impact on me, but it left me very refreshed. I love the image of everybody in the world together, through the chaos and madness of daily lives, as one. Oskar's journey and his grandfathers portray this perfectly, and come together at the end in a strangely perfect way. For a summer reading book, I thought it was great!
I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy, which, as I said in class, could be boiled down to one sentence. But, I will try to be more explicit! One truly unique thing that I noticed about this book was the great love the father and son share throughout every moment of their suffering. I found it extremely depressing, and maybe that is why I didn't necessarily enjoy it. The young boy and his father are essentially alone in the world, fighting for their lives, with almost nothing to live for. Overall, I would have to say that it was eloquently crafted, but very dismal. It also reminds me of I am Legend with Will Smith!
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, I read Don't Kill the Birthday Girl by Sandra Beasley. It is a memoir about growing up with many allergies: dairy, egg, soy, beef, shrimp, pine nuts, cucumbers, cantaloupe, honeydew, mango, macadamias, pistachios, cashews, swordfish, and mustard, mold, dust, grass and tree pollen, cigarette smoke, dogs, rabbits, horses, and wool. I found it particularly interesting because I am also allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, grass, dogs, cats, horses, and latex. Growing up with all of these allergies, I believe, has made me more mature in a way. Starting from the age that I could talk, I had to fend for myself.... asking if a restaurant's food had any nut products, or if I could wear a particular kind of swim goggles. This book was enlightening, and made me feel better about my own allergies! It would definitely be unfortunate to be as allergic to everything as Sandra Beasley is.
The Flight of the Iguana was a collection of stories about the evolution, relationship of structure to function, independence in nature, and the continuity and change of different types of animals. The author, David Quammen, did a wonderful job picking unique animals from all different species, and describing their strange ways of life. One of the more interesting chapters was about bedbugs and their strange mating rituals. It was as good as a book can get for AP Biology.
I read The Poisonwood Bible over the summer. I, being a very immature reader did not enjoy the book, because it simply didn't follow the defined strategies and expectations that I had in mind prior to and during reading the book. But the plot was incredible. The book was about the Price family, a group dedicated to the missionary work of foreign countries and in this case a very remote village in the Congo. The story follows the individual stories of the four girls in the Price family, and it was very interesting to see how their interpretation and mindset of the Congo swiftly changes, as they transfer from urban American culture to arguably the most remote habitable place in the world. I think the main idea of the book was to show us, Americans, that we do not know everything about the world, and that everything we value in our culture can, and in the case of religion in the story, be rejected vastly. The slow demise and separation of the entire family reinforces the idea that Americans are not as strong as we think. For some members of the family, Africa shaped who they were and they embraced the culture. But some members also rejected it and found out very quickly it can tear you apart to be impudent to their systems. All in all, a very interesting book in the sense of really closely following how the whole journey affected the family. I was dissapointed with the ending, but it all came around full circle ultimately. (I just don't like the considerably sad endings I guess)
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I also read A Short History of Nearly Everything and loved it. The way he writes and connects everything we know about our world to everyday life is phenomenal and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good scientific read. His perspective on the universe, our world, and everything in between is really interesting and he really can depict the science of things to an uncanny degree. READ IT!
I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It described the daily life of a father and a son fighting for survival after the world is burned to the ground. McCarthy's descriptions of scenes, places, and people were so vivid and eloquent, I found myself getting lost in his images. Even though the book was repetitive, McCarthy added moments of suspense and danger making the read surprisingly quick. It was sad at the end because the father died, but his son ended up finding a man who took him back to his "community" to live. The book reminded me of I Am Legend with Will Smith because of the similar plots. In the movie, most of humanity is wiped out by a plague, rather than fires like in The Road. In both, life becomes a struggle to find food, fight off predators, and survive.
ReplyDeleteThe other book I read was not really a "literary" book whatsoever. It was called Famous Crimes Revisited. This book included lengthy discussions and descriptions of famous cases in history like Sacco and Vanzetti, Lindbergh, and Jonbenet Ramsey. It described the crimes and criminal history, prosecution, defense, and even maps of the crime scenes! I loved it :) Except I had to return it before I finished reading it because I was being fined :(
I read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Foer and to my dismay; I did not find it at all enjoyable. To me, the book possesses no redeeming qualities. I found Foer’s writing to be detached and slightly flamboyant and his characterization of Oscar is hardly convincing. Oscar’s callousness as a mere nine year old and his tendency to be so emotionally unavailable throughout the plot seems to be a bit of an overreach at such a young age of development. Overall, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is not a book I would recommend reading to a friend. It is forced and often times, the prose is very disjointed.
ReplyDeleteI also read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide, which I found to be one of the best books I have ever read in terms of literary merit. Robert Louis Stevenson writes with unassuming brilliance. His writing style is so at ease, but the messages he conveys are profound. In short, the story chronicles the story of a man, Dr. Jekyll, who is transformed into the evil Mr. Hyde as a result of a potion concocted by Dr. Jekyll himself. The exploration of the human condition through the contrast of the two characters is riveting and I would recommend reading this book to anyone who enjoys reading the “classics”.
Lastly, I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the story of an anonymous young boy starting his high school career. He is somewhat of an outcast and is the black sheep of his family. It is presented in diary format and the identity of the author is never discovered. The plot comprises of the narrator’s struggle to find acceptance and to overcome his painful shyness. Ultimately, he distinguishes his place as a wallflower, or a quiet observer. I was so enamored with this book that I read it in one night. I think it was a great book and it is definitely one of the more memorable books I have read.
I read the book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. I heard that this book was really good and entertainging which is why I initially chose to read it. When I first started reading the book, I noticed right away Foer's writing style. The way that he write conversations and storys are so stracctered but interestinly it works so well. The story jumps around alot and that makes it hard to follow and the writing style is almost an email quick writing style which works with the way he wrote the book. The story line about how Oskars Dad dies and hoe he was his one true friend and the mother was a work-aholic and he was bestfriends with the grandma gave the book this real life feeling. It was like at times I felt as though I was Oskars best friend and just going through the journey with him and that how I think Foer wanted it to be. I thought the whole trying to find the key and going aroudn to everysingle persons house who had the first or last name black was kind of odd and in the middle of the book I started to find it someone repetative- At times I found myself searching for something exciting. I was pleasantly surprised in the end though and found it really cool how the whole ending connects to the rest of the book and especially the Grandfather- which I thought really didnt play a large role until the end. I over all enjoyed the book. I thought that it was entertaing and out of the normal. I didnt leave the novel feeling some sort of deep insight about life or some sort of conclusion that I came to in the end. I ended the novel with more of a speechless, "how odd was that" sort of thought. None the less, I did enjoy reading this novel and would suggest it to others for an enjoyable read.
ReplyDeleteThis summer I read The Poisonwood Bible. As a whole, I am glad that I read the book and found Barbara Kingsolver to be a unique and engaging author. One of the main reasons I enjoyed and struggled with the book was because I grew up in Kenya as a "missionary kid". Consequently, I was able to identify and understand a lot of the cultural dynamics that were presented throughout the book. Although those similarities allowed me to connect more fully with the story of this missionary family living in Zaire, it also conjured up disagreements, emotions, and frustrations with the characters from my part. Furthermore, with such attachments to the story and its characters I was reminded of numerous events and cultural differences that I dealt with and lived through in Kenya.
ReplyDeleteKingsolver does an amazing job of capturing the cultural struggles between an American family and the Congolese people. By using the viewpoint of five different characters she presents the numerous responses that come about when westerners become part of an African society. She also brings the reader into the story and the characters by using a journal style of writing. Such a style invites the reader into the minds of each of the four Price girls (Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May) and their mother Orleanna. This also causes the reader to form all of their opinions about the other characters through the thoughts and recounting of the five characters who write. Although, for the most part, the novel is escape literature, leading one into a new land and experiencing fantastic events, it deals heavily with various subjects such as American foreign influence, a mother’s love for her children, and the integration between “blacks” and “whites.” Such elements result in a thought provoking, entertaining novel.
This summer I also finally read The Great Gatsby. Although I enjoyed the story and found it engaging I struggled to see why it is an American classic. It seemed as if it was simply about normal people living their lives. Although I do agree it was a well put together story with interesting twists and turns, how is it an American classic? Maybe it is in fact an American classic because of how normal and realistic it is, but otherwise I struggle to see how.
I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy this summer. McCarthy described a futuristic, post-apocalyptic world. A boy and his son are traveling across an ashen country; the two characters face the trouble of finding food in desolate towns and in the countryside, as well as facing other "bad guys" (as the son describes them in the novel). I enjoyed this book because of the great detail McCarthy put into the scenes. McCarthy described the way the characters were feeling, the surroundings, and the visuals of the novel very well. Overall, the book was a very entertaining read.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to read The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, but they did not have it at the store when I went so I just grabbed The Road instead (which I was happy with!). I'm planning on reading The Samurai's Garden later this year.
I also read Fallen by Lauren Kate this summer. Fallen is about a girl who is shipped off to a mental school. The people she meets have psychological trauma for whatever the reason may be (she, for example, saw a guy from her other school die). I enjoyed this book because there are angels and demons in it as well as entertaining scenes that are sometimes funny, or dramatic, or heavy and dark.
This summer I read The Road by Cormac MaCarthy. I loved this book. I found it to be so much more complex that it first comes off to be. I liked how simply MaCarthy wrote the story, he didn’t out in any unneeded or lengthy details that would detract from the plot and the message that the simplicity added. I think that the simplistic style of the story furthered the fact that the father and his son had absolutely nothing. This also shows their loss of hope and how the beauty of the world has been drained because it is described plainly without fancy words; MaCarthy just tells everything exactly how it is in the world in this story. I also thought that how MaCarthy didn’t put punctuation marks around dialog and contractions or possessives reemphasized the loss of identity in this world which is also addressed because the reader never learns the names of any of the characters or the places they go. All the reader knows are the road and how they travel on it and survive, just like all the characters know are the road and how to survive. This puts the reader in a similar situation as the characters because they don’t know who they are or where they are going, and this gave me a closer connection with them. I loved this book, it was beautifully written and the underlying themes are powerful. I also watched the 2009 movie that was made off of the book, starring Viggo Mortensen as the father, and it was brilliant as well. I thoroughly recommend both the book and the movie to anyone.
ReplyDeleteI also read Moby Dick by Herman Melville, The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, Makers by Cory Doctorow, Amerika by Frans Kafka, and a bunch of poems by Robert Frost. I enjoyed every one of them very much for very many different reasons.
For my assignment this summer, I had the pleasure of reading The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver. The novel’s complexities fascinated me from the beginning until the end. In my opinion, the allegoric nature of the book was its main enticement. Kingsolver crafts each of the Price’s so intricately that they each symbolize so much more than a single Christian missionary. From the abusive, controlling father, Nathan Price, to his youngest daughter, Ruth May, Kingsolver presents five unique perspectives and reactions to the American involvement in the Congo. Nathan is emblematic of the duplicity and hypocrisy that characterized our government’s involvement during the late 1950s and 60s. Nathan claims he is bringing goodness and purity to Africa in the name of God. However, in actuality it is readily apparent that Nathan is only concerned with his own salvation; he is not carrying out God’s will in the name of God, but rather showcasing a perversion of the Christian faith. In much the same way, the United States government was a major player in Congo’s fight for independence. While the message presented by the United States government seemed to be moralistic, emphasizing the expected democratic ideals that, in theory, epitomize American culture, their actions said otherwise. Congo was, and is, a mineral rich nation. America’s genuine interest was establishing a government in the Congo that would allow the American monopolization of the mining industry. This desire eventually culminated in U.S. staging an assassination of a democratically elected leader. Virtuous, no? Much as Nathan’s true motives for his Congolese involvement were inherently selfish, the American government’s active involvement in Congolese affairs stemmed from self-interest. This representation of characters as larger entities of Western culture was the prevailing theme throughout the book, providing me with both a history lesson and an array of perspectives of the Congo Crisis in the 1960s. Overall, The Poisonwood Bible was a fascinating read that provided me with diverse views and reactions to the same outside stimuli.
ReplyDeleteOver the course of the summer, the majority of my reading was nonfictional. I read introductory texts on Economics, Philosophy, Government, and Psychology both out of interest and in order to prepare myself for the coming year. Additionally I enjoyed Jack Kerouac’s autobiographical work, On the Road. This glimpse into life in the late 1940s was fascinating; fathoming such a drastically different culture only two generations previous is assuredly a difficult task.
However, I still was able to read a fairly eclectic selection of novels within the fiction genre. My favorite of these reads was undoubtedly Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card. While the initial book, Ender’s Game, is predominately escapist in nature (although still significantly interpretive), this sequel is fraught with literary value. Card tells of the value of compassion and perspective. Initially it appears that two characters are viciously murdered by vivisection by an alien species. The reader’s natural conclusion is that the aliens are a violent, brutish species. It is not until the book’s conclusion that the truth presents itself, and the reader learns that vivisection is actually the greatest honor within the alien culture. This book also serves as a very powerful political commentary, further enhancing its merit.
This summer, I read Ian McEwan's Atonement. At first, I did not enjoy the book at all, for it seemed like it lacked any discernible plot. However, as the story unraveled and Briony's crime and the aftermath of it went into full motion, I found myself completely enthralled by the novel. Like Renee, I also enjoyed McEwan's separation of the novel into four main sections. I thought it helped highlight McEwan's themes of illusion vs. reality and perspective/point of view. I especially loved how some of the main events were told more than once through the perspective of the different characters/partakers of the events. He illustrates how easily vision and imagination can come together to cause misunderstandings. I am glad that I chose Atonement as my summer independent study novel and would definitely recommend it to anyone.
ReplyDeleteI also re-read Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Although these books are considered young adult novels, I found myself understanding much more of the content, references, and underlying messages (rather than simply just the plot) this time than the first time I read them (in 5th grade). With this new understanding of the trilogy, I realized that the ideas Pullman presents are certainly not for children. The trilogy is a easy (and non-"literary"), but extremely captivating read that I would recommend to anyone who is open to considering/reading about ideas that challenge religion.
I had also started The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand at the end of summer, but didn't even make a dent in the monstrous novel by the time school started. Since I doubt I will have time to read it during the school year, I will probably just restart and finish the novel next summer.
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ReplyDeleteI read the Cherry Orchard by Chekov over the summer and was not a huge fan of it. I was expecting it to be more comical and full of humor, considering Chekov wrote it to be a comedy, but I was sadly mistaken. The entire play was actually the opposite of a comedy in my opinion, from the impending loss of the beloved cherry orchard and estate, to the relationships among the characters, there was little to no comic relief.
ReplyDeleteAlong with Chekov's play, I also read the Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's the autobiography of the son of the leader of the Hamas terrorist group and his conversion to Christianity. It's hard to do justice to explaining the book properly because there are just too many great things to say. It had my interest until the last page.
Although I didn't think of it as a pleasure at the time, I had the opportunity to read Cormack McCarthy's, The Road. It was a fascinating novel chronicling the journey and struggle of a man and his child in a post-apocalyptic world. The first aspect of the novel that struck me was McCarthy's omittance of punctuation marks during dialogue. This, and the harsh tone and prose that defined his writing, further augmented the theme of hopelessness and the despair of the characters' situation. Aside from his unique writing style, one of the most intriguing features of the novel was the question proposed of whether or not it is better to remove oneself from an unfortunate situation or endure it until its demise. Although this debacle remained unanswered, it certainly stuck with me the most after completing the book. McCarthy's brilliance as a writer showed numerous times throughout the novel as he evoked deep emotions with his descriptions. For this reason, I can say with confidence that I enjoyed the read immensely, and look forward to dismantling the many layers of symbolism with my classmates.
ReplyDeleteThe other books I read this summer include; Freakonomics, Frankenstein, The Hunger Games Series, and an assortment of escapist mystery novels. My favorite read was Frankenstein. Its plot was fascinating and featured an abundance of literary value. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that it has become my favorite book of all time. I hope that I will be able to say similar things about the texts that we study this year.
Over the summer I read three books from our list of suggestions. In the past I have selected a book more or less at random and have suffered the feeling of having nothing to say about a book. To combat this possibility, I read The Magus, Hedda Gabler, and One Hundred Years of Solitude.
ReplyDeleteAt first I could not put The Magus down. It featured a mysterious Greek villa, a protagonist I thought of as intellectual and with the makings of a heroic character, and an enigmatic persona in Conchis. But as the story progressed it declined from suspense and into an anticlimatic ending. The 'experiment' that supposedly took place was flimsy, without purpose, and without organization and much less fantastic than what the exciting start seemed to promise.
Hedda Gabler was not unenjoyable, but it had no incredible qualities. In the few hours it took me to complete the play I was left with the sensation I had read a condensed version of Madame Bovary.
On the back of my edition of One Hundred Years of Solitude a columnist declares that along with the Book of Genesis, One Hundred Years of Solitude should be required reading for the entire human race. I could not agree more. It is comparable to a map or perhaps a spectrum of every human interaction and emotion. I am not usually a proponent of excessively long books, however in this case the few weeks it took me to thoroughly read it in its entirety did not seem tedious. I took longer than usual to digest the content because there was a sort of density in the intricacies of the plot.
Purely for the sake of enjoyment I also read Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell, Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks, and Help a Bear is Eating Me by Mykle Hansen.
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ReplyDeleteThis summer I had the pleasure of reading Plainsong by Kenneth Haruf and I can honestly say it is among the best books I have read during my high school years. The novel follows the intersecting lives of eight well imagined and relatable characters over the course of one year as they struggle to help each other and come to grips with major changes that occur in their lives. One of the most interesting parts of the novel for me was the setting Plainsong takes place in a fictional small town on the Eastern Plains of Colorado called Holt. The story starts out slow, but life in the town is beautifully described and it has a subtle simplistic rhythm to it that became increasingly engrossing as the novel went on; by the end, I didn’t want to let go of it. The novel’s descriptions of rural American life are beautiful and poetic; unique in their ability to combine the stark and the lyrical. Haruf never goes overboard with his prose, avoiding witty wordplay and sentimentality in favor of straightforward descripttipn. Plainsong is a fairly predictable novel but this is almost completely beside the point as the joy in it lies in its ability to transport the reader into a small town and the lives of those who live there in order to take them on an emotive journey that perfectly captures the essential qualities of love, family, courage and kindness while serving as a microcosm of rural American life.
ReplyDeleteI read several other books this summer. Two of my favorites were Moneyball by Michael Lewis and American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld. Moneyball is fascinating nonfiction book that provides a behind-the-scenes look at the front office of the Oakland A’s baseball team and explores how the team was able to field one of the most competitive teams in baseball despite having far less money to spend on players then many of their rivals. It featured a lot of great analytical writing as Lewis explained many of the advanced statistical concepts that went into making the A’s a competitive team well as interesting personality profiling of Billy Beane, the A’s General Manager. American Wife is the story of a fictional American first lady that was based on the life of Laura Bush. It was fascinating to follow the life of the main character from childhood through her time as the first lady. It completely changed the way I think about prominent political figures.
This summer I read Atonement and despite this book being slightly out of my comfort zone I really appreciated the writing style and storyline. I actually liked the way Ian McEwan was able to draw the reader’s attention to the theme of forgiveness, atonement, and yet deny the happy ending expected by the reader, I believe that this book is masterfully written due to the fact that it doesn’t exemplify the storyline of more traditional English literature. Unlike others who have reviewed this book I really didn’t find the characters relatable but that also allowed me to read this book objectively. By doing this I was able to see the symbolism that McEwan used such as using Birony’s play as a symbol of her growing up and maturing while showing her reverting back to a younger and more naive perspective once she calls off the production. Although I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it’s one of my favourite novels, I enjoyed reading Atonement by Ian McEwan.
ReplyDeleteOver the summer I had the pleasure of reading Atonement by Ian McEwan, and loved every second of it. I confess that I am absolutely terrible at managing my summer homework, let alone enjoying it. As soon as I started reading Atonement, in June none the less not the week before school, I could not put it down. I had it on a Kindle version and would read it everywhere, in line at the grocery store or until two in the morning.
ReplyDeleteThe novel told the love story of Robbie and Celia, and Celia's sister Briony interference with their relationship. I found style in which it was written, often through Briony's perspective, eloquent and an excellent balance of rich detail and ease. I enjoyed the bittersweet story that lacked the sickeningly sweet happy ending of less mature novels. Above all I felt strongly impacted by McEwan's story revolving around a misunderstanding and assumptions. I feel as though it left me very aware of how i perceive interactions and the impact myself and others have upon our lives. The novel left me yearning for more and conscious of how precious moments can be.
Other novels I read over the summer include One Day by David Nichols, which I found to be a very interesting style of writing. Each chapter consisted of an account of what happened between two friends, Dexter and Emma, every year on the anniversary of when they met. The story is interesting and a very relatable, though the format is what makes it stand out as a unique novel.
On a very different end of the spectrum I read Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me by Chelsea's Family and Friends. I found the book to be a great pool-side laugh and an enjoyable break from heavier reading. Chelsea's books always make me laugh to myself and this one was no different, leaving me to wonder how she still gets away with all of her crazy antics.
Paul Highum:
ReplyDeleteThis summer I read Atonement. As you already know it made me frustrated and left me feeling uncomfortable with many of the situations. However I did understand and appreciate the literary value of the piece, as the diction was pleasant and sophisticated and the level of detail as well as the manner with which he conveyed the story through pieces and various points of view allowed the reader to better or perhaps even fully understand the story. It also served to show that everyone's reality is different. A scene that really represents this well comes near the beginning when Celia and Robbie have the fight near the fountain about the broken vase and unbeknownst to them Briony witnesses it from up above through a window and she is utterly confused about what happens believing that Robbie made Celia undress and jump in the fountain to get the pieces. While in reality Celia did it in order to attempt to upset Robbie. This demonstrates how individuals view situations in their own way, their own light.
Over the summer I read a variety of fiction including off the top of my head and most recently The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I thought it was very good, extremely suspenseful and at least decently written.
I decided to read Cormack McCarthy’s The Road this summer. Although I never really enjoyed the book’s storyline of survival in post-apocalyptic tomorrow, McCarthy’s ability to mirror the perpetual misfortune of father and son in his diction made for an interesting read. While reading the book I felt the plot was almost lethargic and foreseeable. McCarthy’s two walkers face the hurdles we all expect in a fire-ravaged earth, the struggle for food, shelter, and a haven to take them from the hardship. The only thing keeping me interested was McCarthy’s unique telling, such as his lack of punctuation during conversation. How McCarthy was able to bring the desolate nature of their surroundings into words also held me in, stringing together rich emotions with cold details that truly represented their laborious travels. Even though I felt the plot to be muted and uncreative his deceitfully simple intrusions details and emotion kept me interested.
ReplyDeleteOver the summer I also read Grimm’s Fairy Tales, On the Origin of Species, Frankenstein, The Communist Manifesto, and Einstein’s Relativity: the Special and General Theory. I do not pretend that I completely understand many of these books, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading them. Grimm’s Fairy Tales was especially interesting, as it introduced the original stories that riddled my childhood, each one with containing that unique moral with which it was created to teach. I read On the Origin of Species merely for a more thorough insight on Darwin's theory then i have been allowed. As I am also interested in politics, the Communist Manifesto seemed prudent to have read at some point, and this summer seemed the perfect time.