Part of my original vision in tackling this list of books was to approach it in units, as opposed to books completely separate from each other. But as much as that was my goal, up till recently, I seemed to just be picking out the books that drew my attention.
As I was looking through my list of books that I want to read, that includes books not on Rory's list, I decided it was time to do one of these units. There are still a few more to read at this point, but I wanted to write my thoughts so far before I dive into the next books.
From Rory's list, I have recently read Night, by Elie Wiesel and The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Saved 1,200 Jews and Built a Village in the Forest by Peter Duffy. I also read In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson. This book is not on Rory's list, but another book by Larson is, and my enjoyment of that book is what got his Berlin book on my list of books that I want to read.
All of these are non-fiction accounts of life during the time of the Nazi's and the extreme persecution of the Jews. Wiesel's book is his own memoir as a Jew who survived, and is the most powerful of the group, but all of them paint a bleak picture of that slice of history.
Larson's book mostly struck me in terms of politics, and how ready the German citizens were to welcome Hitler's rise to power, even as he was strongly against certain groups. They were drawn to his promises of a better Germany, a brighter future and a way to fix the things they saw wrong in their country, and he convinced them that his way would do that. It was also really interesting to see how some people did see, and did try to prevent travesties before they happened, but the population's and government's general naivety that it wasn't possible for things to get too bad stopped anything real from being prevented.
Wiesel and Duffy's book showed on a very personal, real level the magnitude of the Holocaust. From the account in the camp to the few Jews who survived in the forests, you still walk away feeling that there should have been so many more.
The Bielski book has much more hope than the Wiesel one, but it is hard to celebrate the saving of 1,200 Jews in a book that describes the thousands upon thousands executed with no reason except for their ancestry. I did enjoy the mental image of the village, working together, everyone contributing something, keeping at least a portion of the Jews safe. The few non-Jewish people who helped the brothers also were a good reminder that not all the civilians in the area around the Jews turned heartless blind eyes to their struggling.
The Song of Names, as a fictional account of a couple of boys who lived through the times, was in interesting break, and what I found most appealing about it was seeing a Jew who didn't personally suffer needing to come to terms with the sufferings of his people. Very interesting fast read with an ending I didn't see coming.
Another non-Rory book I read in this "unit" was The Zookeeper's Wife which I loved as well. Most interesting in her story was the moment where she told someone she would not be giving over a necklace (I think), and even with language barriers, she was able to get her point across, and he listened.
My biggest take-away of this whole unit was that fear of others is nothing new, and that there are always people who are going to try to deal with their fears with violence. But at the same time, there will always be citizens who can look past the fear to the individuals, and know that you don't have to write off a complete group of people because of the actions of some of the individuals. This applies to Muslims, blacks, gays, police and any other group that will come under attack in my lifetime.
Please, learn the lessons of the past, and give people a chance to be viewed for this own choices, not the malicious choices of their group.
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Gone With the Wind
There are a few shows that I have watched from start to finish (more than once). To name a few- Friends, The Office (American version), How I Met your Mother, Scrubs, and there are probably more.
The endings of these series, and by ending, I mean the writers know it is the end of a series that has been going on for years, are hard. By hard, I mean it takes me some time to absorb that the end has actually happened, and I have to walk away from characters I feel like I have related to and been in their lives for so long.
Some of the above named series did a great job with while taking away characters who I felt were friends, giving me a happy existence for them. I could close the chapter in their lives that I got to watch with the knowledge (fictitious as it was) that their lives were going on happily, away from me. One of the above I was less happy with, and anyone who has seen all of those knows which one it is.
I finished Gone with the Wind today. I had seen the movie, long ago, and forgotten most of it, and I loved it. I read it significantly faster than I expected to, and loved knowing the behind the scenes thoughts and emotions that the movie could not portray as much as they tried.
If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, and are reading this post, you should stop here. There will be spoilers below (about the book and the shows above too), and honestly, they are both so epic, both so much a part of culture, even if you didn't know it, you are probably missing references to the movie all over the place. The story and the characters are vivid and real, complete with flaws (for the most part).
For those of you still reading, I am assuming that you either know the ending or don't care if you know the ending. Here is my rant- I want my stories to end happy.
Especially when I have invested so much time and effort into a story as sweeping and covering as long as Gone With the Wind does, I want my investment to pay off. I don't mind that you have to have Ross and Rachel separate more than together over the decade of the show, I'm just happy that they end up together. Have all the drama you want in the J.D. and Elliot story, they end together. Pam and Jim were fun to watch even as the writers showed the stress of the relationship of the last season, but at least they ended happy.
I can handle the tragedies Scarlett went through, especially since they were historical. No problem killing off characters either- adds drama, realism and shoot, if I can make it through Game of Thrones I can handle Gone with the Wind. I think everyone knows the line Rhett says to Scarlett at the end, but gosh, I so wanted it to end happy.
Those two have had so much drama and problems in their lives... I really wanted a good resolution for them. To be clear- the ending is well written, as is the whole novel, but it is a tragic ending. Obviously, to have Rhett and Scarlett happy together would have been my ideal ending, but I would have settled for Ashley and Scarlett to make it work too, for him to see that he really loved Scarlett, and for her to finally understand him, and it to still be a version of a happy ending. But no. Everyone realizes their true loves too late, Rhett is "over her" to use a modern phrase, and she is left all alone when she finally realizes that she cares about a lot of people. I just feel unresolved, and I don't like it.
Now, those of you who want to come back with a "but life is tragic" kind of line, I don't disagree. I have read enough news stories to know that far, far, far too many people have to live through tragedies. But reading is an escape. Especially a novel. Especially a romance novel (for though historical, it is hard to argue the current of romance throughout the book). I firmly believe that a romance novel should end with two happy characters!
Even if Scarlett eventually wins him back, and I wish her all the luck in the world, my bone to pick is with Margaret Mitchell. Why leave your characters separate instead of giving them a romantic finish worthy of them? Sigh.
My other main take-away from this was that I find myself frequently too similar to Scarlett. Thankfully, not in the hankering after someone who is not my husband way, but in my headstrong determination to get what I want. Though, at the resolution of the book, my lesson is not that I need to ignore that side of me, because like Scarlett, there are things you can only achieve if you set your sights to do so. But instead, I was reminded to find a balance between my pursuits and the people in my life who I love, and make sure that they both have a good portion of my time and attention.
The endings of these series, and by ending, I mean the writers know it is the end of a series that has been going on for years, are hard. By hard, I mean it takes me some time to absorb that the end has actually happened, and I have to walk away from characters I feel like I have related to and been in their lives for so long.
Some of the above named series did a great job with while taking away characters who I felt were friends, giving me a happy existence for them. I could close the chapter in their lives that I got to watch with the knowledge (fictitious as it was) that their lives were going on happily, away from me. One of the above I was less happy with, and anyone who has seen all of those knows which one it is.
I finished Gone with the Wind today. I had seen the movie, long ago, and forgotten most of it, and I loved it. I read it significantly faster than I expected to, and loved knowing the behind the scenes thoughts and emotions that the movie could not portray as much as they tried.
If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, and are reading this post, you should stop here. There will be spoilers below (about the book and the shows above too), and honestly, they are both so epic, both so much a part of culture, even if you didn't know it, you are probably missing references to the movie all over the place. The story and the characters are vivid and real, complete with flaws (for the most part).
For those of you still reading, I am assuming that you either know the ending or don't care if you know the ending. Here is my rant- I want my stories to end happy.
Especially when I have invested so much time and effort into a story as sweeping and covering as long as Gone With the Wind does, I want my investment to pay off. I don't mind that you have to have Ross and Rachel separate more than together over the decade of the show, I'm just happy that they end up together. Have all the drama you want in the J.D. and Elliot story, they end together. Pam and Jim were fun to watch even as the writers showed the stress of the relationship of the last season, but at least they ended happy.
I can handle the tragedies Scarlett went through, especially since they were historical. No problem killing off characters either- adds drama, realism and shoot, if I can make it through Game of Thrones I can handle Gone with the Wind. I think everyone knows the line Rhett says to Scarlett at the end, but gosh, I so wanted it to end happy.
Those two have had so much drama and problems in their lives... I really wanted a good resolution for them. To be clear- the ending is well written, as is the whole novel, but it is a tragic ending. Obviously, to have Rhett and Scarlett happy together would have been my ideal ending, but I would have settled for Ashley and Scarlett to make it work too, for him to see that he really loved Scarlett, and for her to finally understand him, and it to still be a version of a happy ending. But no. Everyone realizes their true loves too late, Rhett is "over her" to use a modern phrase, and she is left all alone when she finally realizes that she cares about a lot of people. I just feel unresolved, and I don't like it.
Now, those of you who want to come back with a "but life is tragic" kind of line, I don't disagree. I have read enough news stories to know that far, far, far too many people have to live through tragedies. But reading is an escape. Especially a novel. Especially a romance novel (for though historical, it is hard to argue the current of romance throughout the book). I firmly believe that a romance novel should end with two happy characters!
Even if Scarlett eventually wins him back, and I wish her all the luck in the world, my bone to pick is with Margaret Mitchell. Why leave your characters separate instead of giving them a romantic finish worthy of them? Sigh.
My other main take-away from this was that I find myself frequently too similar to Scarlett. Thankfully, not in the hankering after someone who is not my husband way, but in my headstrong determination to get what I want. Though, at the resolution of the book, my lesson is not that I need to ignore that side of me, because like Scarlett, there are things you can only achieve if you set your sights to do so. But instead, I was reminded to find a balance between my pursuits and the people in my life who I love, and make sure that they both have a good portion of my time and attention.
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Don Quixote
This book has definitely set some new records for me. I started reading Don Quixote in my enthusiasm for this new goal of reading through Rory's books. That was April of 2015. Now we are in March of 2016 and I just finished it.
It had been a book that I was interested in, and had actually purchased from Barnes and Noble from a previous "I'm going to read classics" stage. But this book is intense. My copy has 891 pages, with little words.
Added to my trouble with this book is that unlike modern novels, for most of it there wasn't a huge draw to the story. It really had nothing hooking that made me desperate to read it, but was comprised of lots of little vignettes, sometimes funny, usually interesting, but not too connected to other parts.
For my own sanity, it wasn't the only book I was reading. I read a bunch of other books throughout the course of the year, but continued to force myself to keep putting some time into this super classic, determined to finish it.
As 2016 rolled around, and I still wasn't done, I decided to make a final push to get this book finished. I have never even come close to taking a year to read a book, even thousand page books, and I wasn't about to not finish this one in a year. So, I downloaded the audiobook, and started listening to it.
Not only did it really help it get read while I did dishes, folded laundry or drove somewhere (without the kids in the car, I don't think they could handle this book), but it helped me understand it better, and gave an amazing voice and depth to the characters which I hadn't picked up on my own.
The funny thing is that once I finished, I decided it deserved four out of five stars. Sure, it isn't hooking, but there were a lot of great things about it.
The friendship of the two main characters is genuine, and is proven time and again through the rough trials they go through together. When Quixote isn't being crazy, he has really good advice and wisdom, which I literally wrote down to remember later- it was that good.
My favorite is, "Always remember who you are, and endeavor to know yourself... pride yourself on performing worthy actions."
Even though he does ridiculous dumb things, when people started to give him flak for it, he immediately can go into "wisdom mode" and talk about how his illusions only lead him to try to travel the world searching for good to do, and how that isn't a bad thing.
There were scenes that had me cracking up laughing, which is really impressive considering that it is a book hundreds of years old, not the modern humor at all.
As hard as it was to get through, as long as it took me to get through, it is hard for me to say that everyone should read this book. But at the same time, I can say that I am glad that I read it. It might not be as high as a "go read this book" but it definitely wasn't a dislike either.
For the record, I do think it is worth noting that listening to the Yale (go Rory) lectures on itunes U really helped me understand the backstory more, and caught things that I missed just reading through.
It had been a book that I was interested in, and had actually purchased from Barnes and Noble from a previous "I'm going to read classics" stage. But this book is intense. My copy has 891 pages, with little words.
Added to my trouble with this book is that unlike modern novels, for most of it there wasn't a huge draw to the story. It really had nothing hooking that made me desperate to read it, but was comprised of lots of little vignettes, sometimes funny, usually interesting, but not too connected to other parts.
For my own sanity, it wasn't the only book I was reading. I read a bunch of other books throughout the course of the year, but continued to force myself to keep putting some time into this super classic, determined to finish it.
As 2016 rolled around, and I still wasn't done, I decided to make a final push to get this book finished. I have never even come close to taking a year to read a book, even thousand page books, and I wasn't about to not finish this one in a year. So, I downloaded the audiobook, and started listening to it.
Not only did it really help it get read while I did dishes, folded laundry or drove somewhere (without the kids in the car, I don't think they could handle this book), but it helped me understand it better, and gave an amazing voice and depth to the characters which I hadn't picked up on my own.
The funny thing is that once I finished, I decided it deserved four out of five stars. Sure, it isn't hooking, but there were a lot of great things about it.
The friendship of the two main characters is genuine, and is proven time and again through the rough trials they go through together. When Quixote isn't being crazy, he has really good advice and wisdom, which I literally wrote down to remember later- it was that good.
My favorite is, "Always remember who you are, and endeavor to know yourself... pride yourself on performing worthy actions."
Even though he does ridiculous dumb things, when people started to give him flak for it, he immediately can go into "wisdom mode" and talk about how his illusions only lead him to try to travel the world searching for good to do, and how that isn't a bad thing.
There were scenes that had me cracking up laughing, which is really impressive considering that it is a book hundreds of years old, not the modern humor at all.
As hard as it was to get through, as long as it took me to get through, it is hard for me to say that everyone should read this book. But at the same time, I can say that I am glad that I read it. It might not be as high as a "go read this book" but it definitely wasn't a dislike either.
For the record, I do think it is worth noting that listening to the Yale (go Rory) lectures on itunes U really helped me understand the backstory more, and caught things that I missed just reading through.
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