I am reading two books, THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler and THE HUNDRED- FOOT JOURNEY by Richard C. Morais. Why do I call it the tale of two books? Well, I noticed some similarities. The narrator in both stories are recollecting their past, while going into the future. Second very early in the book we have two deaths of very significant people in the narrators life. People that they admire that change the life of the narrator, one not as much as the other, at least where I am currently in the books, which is actually not that far.
In THE WAY OF ALL FLESH the death of Mr. and Mrs. Pontifex causes the children of their son to not visit. But more significantly the death of Mr. Pontifex is a loss in the narrators life because the narrator really admired him and watched his actions while he was growing up. Mr. Pontifex was like a grandfather to him. In THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY (spoiler alert) the two people who die that change everything are the grandfather and the mother. One naturally and one brutally, the deaths caused them to leave Bombay for London. In fact while I was reading one I realized that I joined the books together so I need to try to keep the stories straight.
The big difference so far is the language, since we are dealing with two different time period. Also we are dealing with language of Pakistani and Indian, versus the language of the English. Our writer Samuel Butler is a native of Nottinghamshire in England and it is said that the book THE WAY OF ALL FLESH is slightly autobiographical. There are even pictures throughout the book about his life.
I cannot wait to see if there are other similarities.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Sunday, July 27, 2014
The Bride Says Maybe, by Cathy Maxwell
A breather book before starting the books on my list yesterday. The book THE BRIDE SAYS MAYBE by Cathy Maxwell is in the series called THE WISHMORE BRIDES. These books are set in Scotland. The first book saw drama between the oldest sister from the Davidson clan who was a divorcee and shunned in London. She is at home when her sister, Tara, who is supposed to be marrying in a few days arrives at home dressed like a boy to get out of the wedding. The father brings the intended to their house in Scotland, where he falls in love with Tara's sister.
This second book in the series finds Tara being bought by the Black Campbell because her father is in debt and he now holds the deeds to all the property. He makes a bargain, Tara for the payment he is owed. This causes all sorts of drama as Tara is still mourning the fact that the man she thought she loved, head horseman Roury Jamison is now married to a local girl. She makes a deal with the Breccan Campbell, she will marry him but only if she allows him to let her live in London after the first child is born.
Nicely written romance novel and apparently there is another book in the series that involves the cousin to Tara. That will have to wait till the time I finish these other books.
This second book in the series finds Tara being bought by the Black Campbell because her father is in debt and he now holds the deeds to all the property. He makes a bargain, Tara for the payment he is owed. This causes all sorts of drama as Tara is still mourning the fact that the man she thought she loved, head horseman Roury Jamison is now married to a local girl. She makes a deal with the Breccan Campbell, she will marry him but only if she allows him to let her live in London after the first child is born.
Nicely written romance novel and apparently there is another book in the series that involves the cousin to Tara. That will have to wait till the time I finish these other books.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
A 100 book, a 16 book and a random books
On my list of books to read next I have made sure that I used a book from the reading 100 challenge, the read the book before the movie comes out challenge and a few random books, including the August pick for my book club.
SO the list is:
Reading the 100- The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler
16 books to read before the movie- The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais
Book Club- Life on the Color Line by Gregory Howard Williams
These will be the three main ones I will be reading, but I am sure before the end of August there will be a few more sprinkled into the mix. In fact, I am reading a sequel to a Romance Novel by Cathy Maxwell and a Sigma Adventure by James Rollins. Both who appeared at the Roanoke Book and Author Dinner.
I am going to try to keep this more up to date as I have fallen behind schedule and to anyone reading I am sorry for the delay.
SO the list is:
Reading the 100- The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler
16 books to read before the movie- The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais
Book Club- Life on the Color Line by Gregory Howard Williams
These will be the three main ones I will be reading, but I am sure before the end of August there will be a few more sprinkled into the mix. In fact, I am reading a sequel to a Romance Novel by Cathy Maxwell and a Sigma Adventure by James Rollins. Both who appeared at the Roanoke Book and Author Dinner.
I am going to try to keep this more up to date as I have fallen behind schedule and to anyone reading I am sorry for the delay.
Friday, July 25, 2014
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers. FINISHED
There are some books that just speak to you, that make you want to meet the characters. I think that is this book for me, I empathize with the girl Mick and the feeling of escapism that occurs with her music. For me in my life I would escape to books or poetry. The feeling that you are tied down to a life that is not your choosing. That is how I felt around her age, you want to see so much, but family circumstances keep you from that choice.
All the characters in this book seemed to find their center around Mr. Singer, but Mr. Singers center was always around his friend Spiros Antonapoulos, even when this friend was taken away and put in a home. Mick was infatuated with Mr. Singer, following him around and thinking he was the best thing in her whole world. Jake Blount also befriended him because he would pay attention to what he was saying. Jake Blount was a communist and believed that there should be no division of classes. All the people in the bar he frequented made fun of him and his first meeting with Mr. Singer, he felt here was someone who could listen. He did not realize he was a deaf mute, but even when he did learn this he still would visit and express his ideals. Then there was Dr. Copeland, a black doctor in a time when black people were still very much oppressed and thought of as less than human. He also believed that something should happen to elevate the human condition and would frequent Mr. Singer's apartment just to talk things out. The final character in the book centered on Mr. Singer was the bartender Biff Brannon, especially after his wife died. I think he was trying to figure out who he was throughout the book.
All these characters live in the 1930's. The book was initially published in 1940's and yet there are some freaky references, in part two chapter 13: Dr. Copeland is talking to Jake Blount about equality. He has a solution that is shot down by Jake Blount. He says on page 303, "I have a program. It is a very simple, concentrated plan. I mean to focus on one objective. In August of this year I plan to lead more than one thousand Negroes in this county on a march. A march to Washington. All of us together in one solid body." This sounds very much like what Martin Luther King does on August 28,1963, he leads 250,000 to the Lincoln Memorial, yet this is written by a woman in the 1940's. I wonder if Martin Luther King ever read this book. Another eerie description comes in the form of a dream by Jake Blount on page 348, he describes this scene: " He was walking with a great crowd of people... there was something Eastern about the people... There was a terrible bright sun and the people were half naked. They were silent and slow and their faces had a look of starvation." For some reason when I read this all I could think about were photo's of holocaust victims.
I will not reveal the ending of the book, but I did not want it to end, I wanted to know what became of the characters, especially Mick. Did she ever get to follow her dreams? What happens to the others, Jake, Dr. Copeland, Portia, Willy and Biff? A really good read and I agree with the back cover a book to reread.
A little about the author, according to the back page she was 23 when she published the book and died at the age of 50. That means she would have died in 1967, I wonder if she was associated with Martin Luther King. Things I learned from Wikipedia, McCullers went to Julliard to study piano, Mick in the book is writing music and longs for a piano. McCullers father is a watchmaker, Mick's father is a watchmaker. So apparently she did write what she knew. She died from a brain hemorrhage. She had multiple famous friends, but unless I read her autobiography, they do not mention her meeting Martin Luther King. I wonder if I can find that biography. I will have to find her other books, glad that this one was suggested by the reading challenge.
All the characters in this book seemed to find their center around Mr. Singer, but Mr. Singers center was always around his friend Spiros Antonapoulos, even when this friend was taken away and put in a home. Mick was infatuated with Mr. Singer, following him around and thinking he was the best thing in her whole world. Jake Blount also befriended him because he would pay attention to what he was saying. Jake Blount was a communist and believed that there should be no division of classes. All the people in the bar he frequented made fun of him and his first meeting with Mr. Singer, he felt here was someone who could listen. He did not realize he was a deaf mute, but even when he did learn this he still would visit and express his ideals. Then there was Dr. Copeland, a black doctor in a time when black people were still very much oppressed and thought of as less than human. He also believed that something should happen to elevate the human condition and would frequent Mr. Singer's apartment just to talk things out. The final character in the book centered on Mr. Singer was the bartender Biff Brannon, especially after his wife died. I think he was trying to figure out who he was throughout the book.
All these characters live in the 1930's. The book was initially published in 1940's and yet there are some freaky references, in part two chapter 13: Dr. Copeland is talking to Jake Blount about equality. He has a solution that is shot down by Jake Blount. He says on page 303, "I have a program. It is a very simple, concentrated plan. I mean to focus on one objective. In August of this year I plan to lead more than one thousand Negroes in this county on a march. A march to Washington. All of us together in one solid body." This sounds very much like what Martin Luther King does on August 28,1963, he leads 250,000 to the Lincoln Memorial, yet this is written by a woman in the 1940's. I wonder if Martin Luther King ever read this book. Another eerie description comes in the form of a dream by Jake Blount on page 348, he describes this scene: " He was walking with a great crowd of people... there was something Eastern about the people... There was a terrible bright sun and the people were half naked. They were silent and slow and their faces had a look of starvation." For some reason when I read this all I could think about were photo's of holocaust victims.
I will not reveal the ending of the book, but I did not want it to end, I wanted to know what became of the characters, especially Mick. Did she ever get to follow her dreams? What happens to the others, Jake, Dr. Copeland, Portia, Willy and Biff? A really good read and I agree with the back cover a book to reread.
A little about the author, according to the back page she was 23 when she published the book and died at the age of 50. That means she would have died in 1967, I wonder if she was associated with Martin Luther King. Things I learned from Wikipedia, McCullers went to Julliard to study piano, Mick in the book is writing music and longs for a piano. McCullers father is a watchmaker, Mick's father is a watchmaker. So apparently she did write what she knew. She died from a brain hemorrhage. She had multiple famous friends, but unless I read her autobiography, they do not mention her meeting Martin Luther King. I wonder if I can find that biography. I will have to find her other books, glad that this one was suggested by the reading challenge.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers
I have just started this book and I have been trying to figure out where it is going in terms of plot, characters, etc. I think I need to stop speculating and just read the book. I did not take it with me to the beach as it is a library book and what if I left it behind, not that I have ever done that. Plus the picture on the cover of my copy is so sad, it did not belong at the beach. So I will give you some incidentals, copyright is 1940, first published in June 1940 by Houghton Mifflin Publishing. My copy was published in 2000 by First Mariner Books a division of Houghton Mifflin.
Characters so far include a two deaf mutes Mr. Singer and Mr. Antonapoulos, who were roommates. Mr. Antonapoulas ends up in a home at the beginning of the book. As I have said I am not far into the book. Other characters that look like they will take center stage are a girl named Mick who is almost an errand girl for her family. A man named Jake Blount who Mr. Singer takes in after he has a drunken bout. This is probably a temporary thing, but we will see. Also the bartender and his wife who have been dealing with Jake Blount. Mr. Blount has been so drunk that he did not even realize he was talking to a deaf mute and was just happy to have someone listen to his ravings, without comment.
We will see where this leads.
(For my beach read I went with a romance novel by Cathy Maxwell, "The Bride Says No." This was a fun read and is first part of a sequel. I met Cathy Maxwell at the Book and Author dinner that RAMA holds in Roanoke, she is a delightful and dynamic speaker. Her book was equally delightful and was just the right size for my beach trip.)
Characters so far include a two deaf mutes Mr. Singer and Mr. Antonapoulos, who were roommates. Mr. Antonapoulas ends up in a home at the beginning of the book. As I have said I am not far into the book. Other characters that look like they will take center stage are a girl named Mick who is almost an errand girl for her family. A man named Jake Blount who Mr. Singer takes in after he has a drunken bout. This is probably a temporary thing, but we will see. Also the bartender and his wife who have been dealing with Jake Blount. Mr. Blount has been so drunk that he did not even realize he was talking to a deaf mute and was just happy to have someone listen to his ravings, without comment.
We will see where this leads.
(For my beach read I went with a romance novel by Cathy Maxwell, "The Bride Says No." This was a fun read and is first part of a sequel. I met Cathy Maxwell at the Book and Author dinner that RAMA holds in Roanoke, she is a delightful and dynamic speaker. Her book was equally delightful and was just the right size for my beach trip.)
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