Finished CLOUD ATLAS

Alas I have finished CLOUD ATLAS, by David Mitchell, I wish that I may have gleaned a little more knowledge about what was happening in the context of are these souls being reborn, transfiguration, or just a coincidence. Actually strike the word coincidence because we know that they are joined by the writings that each person contributes, the birthmark and if we are to believe the movie freakishly similar in looks. The author's note in the back of the book liked the idea of the same characters playing parts even if it meant that they had to change Zachary from a boy into a man. They also had to change him from a son to an uncle, in order to keep with the screenwriting. So we start and end with the same story, the Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing. I think the best hints as to what the book is about comes from the continued writings of Frobisher to Sixsmith in the next to the last chapter. I liked the way the book was written over the movie, because the book made sense and as with all books you get a wealth of information that gets knocked out of a movie. That happened with the HUNGER GAMES, because you could not get into the minds of the characters and that is where you needed to be in that movie. Also that is where you needed to be in this book CLOUD ATLAS. Poetic license I guess. Read this book but remember to follow the links.

MOvie Cloud Atlas

Okay, so I broke down and saw the movie Cloud Atlas before finishing the book. As with the book it was a little confusing, but had a good rhythm, problem is that is did not solve the questions I have, about timing. See in the movie all the characters are played by the same cast. So is this movie trying to say that these are the same people just in different time periods or is it saying that they are all related, which seems impossible because not one of them had children. Also there is the comet birth mark that never gets answered in the movie, just mentioned, and the birth mark is on a different spot on each character. There are differences in the movie from the book, for instance who has the birthmark, how people come to be linked to the previous story and sequences of events, especially with Somni and on the island of Hawaii. Also significant, at least I think is the sacred place that we see both at the beginning of the book and in Hawaii, but it is not mentioned in the movie. So once again we have more information to be obtained by the book. I should be finished this book before the end of the week. I will let you know if I get my questions answered or if this is a book that will be debated for its essential meaning.

More Cloud Atlas

Okay so I am halfway through the book and I am now thinking how the heck did they do the movie. I will finish the book hopefully by this weekend and then my daughter and I are going to watch the movie. I am not sure how it did in the box office, but if the book is any indicator, I am sure the movie was confusing, making me think it did not do well at the theaters. It seems that they are a bunch of little stories but they are all interconnected, hence Cloud Atlas, time travel is not apparent at first but I am not sure I would call it time travel. I love the use of areas that we know, and peoples that we know to ground the story to earth.

The Cloud Atlas by david Mitchell

Okay, so in my last report I said I was reading the CLOUD but it is the CLOUD ATLAS. I think my brain was in the clouds, too much drama in my life to think. So I am on the third section of this book. Wasn't I surprised when the first section ended mid-sentence only to find that the rest of the sentence was at the back of the book along with the last chapter. I had a thought, how do I read this, should I cheat and go all the way to that chapter then go back to section 2 read that next section, which coincidently is the next to the last chapter, or do I go I just read it page to page like any book? I was tempted by the first option, but decided to be boring an read page for page. The first section is called THE PACIFIC JOURNAL OF ADAM EWING, I am not sure when the timing is but I am thinking sometime in the 1800's. The second section is called LETTERS FROM ZEDELGHEM and is set in 1930's, in this section we have a brief mention of the journal of Adam Ewing and Zedelghem is writing to the one of the characters in the next section Sixsmith. Now the third section is called THE HALF-LIVES OF THE FIRST LUISA REY MYSTERY, this is what makes me become interested in the book. She meets Sixsmith when they are stuck in an elevator and he tells her about a problem with a nuclear plant. HE ends up dead but not before he makes an interesting statement, that he has been carrying around Zedelhem's letters for a century. HE also says that he is 66 years old, which makes me curious on how he can have held the letters for a century and what time is this third section set in. Plus also curious, how many Luisa Rey's are there and what is a half-life? See curiosity piqued.

Two books read while I was on vacation

When I go on vacation I usually try to find a book or two based in the area I am traveling to, in this case Chicago. I went to the local library and retrieved three books, one of which I got for my husband but he enjoyed another book of mine so much that he did not get a chance to read the book I had obtained for him. One of the books I picked up had actually been recommended by a friend and at the time I did not know it had anything to do with Chicago, it was a fun surprise to find as I was reading it that the author was from the Lake Shore area. It was not fiction but a memoir of her life in 2012. It is the book that my husband thought was hilarious. In fact, he wondered where she had hid the cameras in our house. I have to say that Jen Lancaster is a bit more put together then I am, it was a fun book to read and while my husband was in his classes I had to read ahead in the book. He would always break out laughing every two to three sentences and read me the passages. The book is called "THE TAO OF MARTHA". If you have not read any of her books please put it on your book list. The second book I read was called "CITY OF ASH" by Megan Chance. This book started in Chicago but ended up in Seattle. The city in ash was Seattle and not as I had earlier surmised the city of Chicago. The book is about a socialite who is not playing her "position" in the correct manner, especially after she becomes a married woman. Her husband and her father conspire against her , she has two choices, move with her husband to Seattle or be committed. There more conspiring occurs which puts Ginny in contact with the theater and two people who will forever be entwined with her: Sebastian and Beatrice. Beatrice is a actress and Sebastian is a playwright. They are both introduced to Ginny through her husband. A good book as it made me get furious with Ginny's husband Nathan and actually a little furious with Ginny herself. This character was supposed to be smart, but she let her fantasy world derail her. She did not stop to think of anyone but herself, she kept forgetting how conniving her husband was. I really would have liked to kick her in the pants and I guess that is what Beatrice did, sort of. Two good books, next 100 book will still be "THE CLOUD" but also "GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN" by James Baldwin.

Two books: Maid to Match and Brave New World

I have decided to try to read faster and get my book reading the 100 finished by the end of the year. This means that I will do a quick review of the 48 books that I had previously read before starting the 100 list. But in the meantime I will review the current books that I ha read. One which is on the reading the 100 and the other is a book that my book club is reading. Are there similarities in the two, some, but not many. The first book I finished was MAID TO MATCH by Deeanne Gist. This book is set in 1898, on the Biltmore Estate. The author makes note at the back of the book that not all facts are real but do make an interesting story. The Vanderbilt's at this time were newlyweds and they were very nice people who took care of their servants, so that part of the story is true. The orphanage is not true, nor are the names of the servants mentioned in the book. It has a very upstairs downstairs point of view, but central focus is on the servants and their interaction and desires. I found that the mother who groomed our main character, Tilly, to be a Lady's maid has somehow forgotten about love. I really became angry with her for not supporting her daughters decision to marry, but instead wanted her to spend all her days a slave, though treated nicely, to other peoples desires. There was a cast system in play and some biases against people in the mountains of Asheville. I have been to Ashville, several times and find the area fascinating. I do however, find that I do not wish to spend the 50 dollars to go to the estate, I rather like the village. I really enjoyed the book, it was a fast read and I am looking for a good discussion at book club. I guess this falls in the category of a historical romance and is on par with Downtown Abbey. The next book I read was A BRAVE NEW WORLD, by Aldous Huxely, very different for a book written in 1932. We have a Utopian society that I am sure at the time was looked at with incredulity. In this society, everyone is manufactured to be the same, but it is still built on a class system, that goes from Alpha's to Epsilon's. As you guess the Alpha's get all the best from their test-tube lives up to meds that help them to achieve all their goals. The Epsilon's are bred to basically be stupid and for menial jobs. Each are also given medicine that helps in the various areas where they will find work, such as malaria drugs. The children are also conditioned at night while they are sleeping, with songs that are to either keep them in their place, or to look down on the lower castes. The other shocking thing that is introduced is the use of drugs to keep everyone stable and looking young. The other is the sex that is for everyone, within caste. Even the small children are encouraged to engage in sexual acts. I can see why in 1936 it was not a popular book. I dare say it probably would still not be considered a proper book. As you might suspect there are people who just do not fit in this mold, even when conditioned to do so. There are also areas where there are other societies. They are generally called savage areas. When one "savage" is brought back then there is definitely some friction. No mothers or fathers for the utopian society, they are obscene names and acts. The utopian society does have a God who replaces God that they call Ford. There are Ford manuals on how to do things. God was replaced because all the books were old, just like Shakespeare. I enjoyed the book. But I think that in 1932 and then especially around 1942, when we have Hitler trying to make a special type of person the norm, there would be a hard time getting into this book without some sort of reservations. Again the thing that pulls these two boks together is the class sytem., wheteher ist is 1898n or the 2500's.

Next -up CLOUD ATLAS

My next book from the 100 is CLOUD ATLAS I have started it three times and I have not really got into it yet. I keep seeing the ads on the TV for the movie and how wonderful it is, but I am stuck in the middle of the ocean with a stow-away and it just started getting interesting. SO I will keep you posted get some facts about the writer and try to make sense of this book. I refuse to watch the movie until I read the book. I am just going to tell myself that it is going to get better. In the meantime, I have read two books that are not on the list: COASTAL DISTURBANCE by Jessica Speart and THE DOUBLE CROSS by Clare O'Donohue. I started reading books by Jessica Speart after I read her non-fiction book called WINGED OBSESSION, about butterfly smuggling. It was a real eye opener and when I went to see if she wrote anything else, I found a series books called the RACHEL PORTER MYSTERIES. These books are difficult to find as they are out of print, but I have managed to track most of them down. Since I was in Florida I decided to read the book COASTAL DISTURBANCE about manatee abuse and water pollution, with a liberal sprinkling of ghosts and superstitions. DOUBLE CROSS is also a mystery featuring a group of women who quilt and solve mysteries. Love interests with the main character Nell and the Jesse, the police detective. This book dealt with the mountains, not the beach but still a good story, perfect for relaxing.