Yes I figured out how to get the picture of the books. MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN and KITE RUNNER are part of the 100 books challenge. THE MAZE RUNNER is part of the 16 before they come out as a movie. That means I have to read that book by Sept. 19. My book club book is called BEFORE I WAKE by Robert J Wiersema, which is still sitting at the library. I thought it would be fun to read THE MAZE RUNNER and THE KITE RUNNER at the same time. I am not sure if any of these books are uplifting, but I guess that is why we read. Not everything is going to be puppy dogs and rainbows, because if it was, wouldn't we be bored?
Saturday, August 30, 2014
3 books up for review
Okay, so now that I have finished the books that took me a month to read, I will begin anew with the next 3 books, plus the book club pick, so that is 4 books total that I promise will be read by the end of the month. This is the list:
Yes I figured out how to get the picture of the books. MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN and KITE RUNNER are part of the 100 books challenge. THE MAZE RUNNER is part of the 16 before they come out as a movie. That means I have to read that book by Sept. 19. My book club book is called BEFORE I WAKE by Robert J Wiersema, which is still sitting at the library. I thought it would be fun to read THE MAZE RUNNER and THE KITE RUNNER at the same time. I am not sure if any of these books are uplifting, but I guess that is why we read. Not everything is going to be puppy dogs and rainbows, because if it was, wouldn't we be bored?
Yes I figured out how to get the picture of the books. MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN and KITE RUNNER are part of the 100 books challenge. THE MAZE RUNNER is part of the 16 before they come out as a movie. That means I have to read that book by Sept. 19. My book club book is called BEFORE I WAKE by Robert J Wiersema, which is still sitting at the library. I thought it would be fun to read THE MAZE RUNNER and THE KITE RUNNER at the same time. I am not sure if any of these books are uplifting, but I guess that is why we read. Not everything is going to be puppy dogs and rainbows, because if it was, wouldn't we be bored?
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
The Hundred-Foot Journey, finis
I have been reading books that start off strong in the beginning and then start to fade. I am worried, because I need to see how to write to get maximum effect. It guess I have been reading books where the main character continues on in life so we are abruptly left short of his life. This book would not have a sequel, I think, but you want it to continue. The imagery is lovely and the history brought into the book is equally satisfying. I could even smell what was coming out of the kitchens.
Richard C. Morais did a wonderful job at depicting the characters, but I am not sure the people that they have in the movie fit the characters. I have not seen the movie, so I am not sure I can accurately make this statement. They may bring the characters to life, I will just have to go and see. I am glad that he got to honor his friend Ismail Merchant with an actual movie.
It is a read where you do not need to rack your brain and try to figure out the talk of the time, or too many foreign language quotes, though it take place in France. Once I was able to sit down and read, it only took me a couple of days to finish the book. I definitely wanted both French and Indian cuisine when I finished reading. I had heard that chefs do not have lots of time, once they open their restaurants and that is evident in the fact that only death seems to bring Hassan back home. Fortunately he has his sister with him, but at the end you realize that the rest of his sister and brothers are scattered to the winds, so I guess there is no going back. But what will happen with him and Margaret?
My copy of the book has the movie characters on front, but the original copyright is 2008. My copy is the 2014 version from Scribner, a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc.
Richard C. Morais did a wonderful job at depicting the characters, but I am not sure the people that they have in the movie fit the characters. I have not seen the movie, so I am not sure I can accurately make this statement. They may bring the characters to life, I will just have to go and see. I am glad that he got to honor his friend Ismail Merchant with an actual movie.
It is a read where you do not need to rack your brain and try to figure out the talk of the time, or too many foreign language quotes, though it take place in France. Once I was able to sit down and read, it only took me a couple of days to finish the book. I definitely wanted both French and Indian cuisine when I finished reading. I had heard that chefs do not have lots of time, once they open their restaurants and that is evident in the fact that only death seems to bring Hassan back home. Fortunately he has his sister with him, but at the end you realize that the rest of his sister and brothers are scattered to the winds, so I guess there is no going back. But what will happen with him and Margaret?
My copy of the book has the movie characters on front, but the original copyright is 2008. My copy is the 2014 version from Scribner, a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc.
Friday, August 22, 2014
THE WAY OF ALL FLESH-Finis
I have finally finished THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler, I was not happy with the ending but I guess if a man has not completed his life and you are no longer around to write about it then you do not get a satisfactory ending. It seemed that the front of the book was so filled with detail, but as we got to the closing it seemed rushed. All events wrapped up in one or two pages.
The characters in the book were based on the acquaintances of Samuel Butler. In fact, I am pretty sure the narrator is Mr. Butler, expressing himself about his life events in the form of fiction. Throughout the book are pictures from Mr. Butlers life, that coincide with the events in the book. For example in my copy, from the New York Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc. published in 1957, there is a picture opposite page 242, that shows Samuel Butler with his friend Henry Festing Jones, who later wrote his biography. He gave him 200 Lbs per year to be his companion. In the story, to help Mr. Pontifex, his godfather who has been left the executor of Miss Althea Pontifex trust for Ernest, hires him to look after his books for a similar amount, they become good friends. Our narrator is tasked with the writing of Ernest's biography.
I do not agree with the parenting techniques of Ernest's parents Christina and Theobald, but it made Ernest a richer man once he broke with them. It is hard to imagine why they became parents, except that it was expected. Theobald certainly did not like being a father to any of his children, though he pretended very well in front of his congregation. Christina seemed to care but only to the point that she got them to tell their secrets so she could share them with her husband, who then punished them.
But I liked the booked, wished it ended differently. This book was heavy in its critique of class differences, religion and politics. I believe that Samuel Butler was a freethinker and the people who come off the sincerest are the freethinkers. Everyone else is bottled up in what they think the current religion should be and how they are better for being in that religion. I am a Methodist, so it was fun to read about Wesley and the Methodist family that lived up above Ernest. He liked them so much that he thought maybe I should be a Methodist. They religions were divided in to high and low religions, with Methodism being considered low, Church of England and the Catholics considered high.
I loved the history portrayed and the characters were well developed, but I was not sure I liked the timing of the book. Sometimes it read a little haphazard to me. I also was not a fan of the Latin phrases strewn throughout the book that I had to figure out. I wanted them explained, I had to find my husbands Latin book to figure out some of the context.
I will be finishing my next book by the end of the weekend, with a post Sunday.
The characters in the book were based on the acquaintances of Samuel Butler. In fact, I am pretty sure the narrator is Mr. Butler, expressing himself about his life events in the form of fiction. Throughout the book are pictures from Mr. Butlers life, that coincide with the events in the book. For example in my copy, from the New York Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc. published in 1957, there is a picture opposite page 242, that shows Samuel Butler with his friend Henry Festing Jones, who later wrote his biography. He gave him 200 Lbs per year to be his companion. In the story, to help Mr. Pontifex, his godfather who has been left the executor of Miss Althea Pontifex trust for Ernest, hires him to look after his books for a similar amount, they become good friends. Our narrator is tasked with the writing of Ernest's biography.
I do not agree with the parenting techniques of Ernest's parents Christina and Theobald, but it made Ernest a richer man once he broke with them. It is hard to imagine why they became parents, except that it was expected. Theobald certainly did not like being a father to any of his children, though he pretended very well in front of his congregation. Christina seemed to care but only to the point that she got them to tell their secrets so she could share them with her husband, who then punished them.
But I liked the booked, wished it ended differently. This book was heavy in its critique of class differences, religion and politics. I believe that Samuel Butler was a freethinker and the people who come off the sincerest are the freethinkers. Everyone else is bottled up in what they think the current religion should be and how they are better for being in that religion. I am a Methodist, so it was fun to read about Wesley and the Methodist family that lived up above Ernest. He liked them so much that he thought maybe I should be a Methodist. They religions were divided in to high and low religions, with Methodism being considered low, Church of England and the Catholics considered high.
I loved the history portrayed and the characters were well developed, but I was not sure I liked the timing of the book. Sometimes it read a little haphazard to me. I also was not a fan of the Latin phrases strewn throughout the book that I had to figure out. I wanted them explained, I had to find my husbands Latin book to figure out some of the context.
I will be finishing my next book by the end of the weekend, with a post Sunday.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Unending
Did you ever have one of those books that you enjoyed reading, but wanted to get to the end? Well that is the book I am reading right now. It is the book by Samuel Butler, THE WAY OF ALL FLESH. I keep thinking surely this is the end, but it keeps going. I know I should be able to see the pages and know it is still not ended, but I look and the book just looks like it got bigger. Of course, it could also be my eyes are just numb from the small print. Anyway, in the midst of this book, I realized that I had not read my book club book, so I put this book aside to read that book. I will describe that book below. I have to say that both books deal with some pretty bad parenting techniques, but that is about as close as they come. I am also about half-way through THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY, but should be finished it by Sunday.
What book did I read for book club? LIFE ON THE COLOR LINE, The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black, by Gregory Howard Williams. Truly a fascinating book about Gregory Howard Williams life. I was cannot imagine how hard this had to have been for him and his brother. I wanted to shake not only his mother, but her parents and relatives. The father was no better, but at least he was there, even if it was on the other side of a bottle. The time the 50's and 60's, the problem as the title suggests, what do you do if you look white but are considered black because of an interracial marriage?
This made me think of the time my study buddy and I were in my dorm room, door open, and another boy who was just a little stalkish came by and made a big deal of a black man in my room, that was 1978. Needless to say I shut the door in his face and told him to leave me alone. Then we got back to studying. The problem was it put a wedge between me and my friend, because everyone seemed to think this was a bad idea. Since we were not in the same class next semester, I did not hang out with him. I found him in classmates and he has a lovely family, but I wish I had handled things differently. It may have been seen as an attempt not to draw notice to myself, instead of my attempt to tell someone that they were an idiot.
What book did I read for book club? LIFE ON THE COLOR LINE, The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black, by Gregory Howard Williams. Truly a fascinating book about Gregory Howard Williams life. I was cannot imagine how hard this had to have been for him and his brother. I wanted to shake not only his mother, but her parents and relatives. The father was no better, but at least he was there, even if it was on the other side of a bottle. The time the 50's and 60's, the problem as the title suggests, what do you do if you look white but are considered black because of an interracial marriage?
This made me think of the time my study buddy and I were in my dorm room, door open, and another boy who was just a little stalkish came by and made a big deal of a black man in my room, that was 1978. Needless to say I shut the door in his face and told him to leave me alone. Then we got back to studying. The problem was it put a wedge between me and my friend, because everyone seemed to think this was a bad idea. Since we were not in the same class next semester, I did not hang out with him. I found him in classmates and he has a lovely family, but I wish I had handled things differently. It may have been seen as an attempt not to draw notice to myself, instead of my attempt to tell someone that they were an idiot.
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