A Bit Behind on the Posting

Well, I guess I forgot to record something, as in Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe.


Things Fall Apart.

This was a fairly quick read, which I finished as we were moving BB2 to college. Unlike many (Western authors, Americans in particular, (Edith Wharton excluded) this author felt no need to provide a nicely wrapped happy ending. Things can come completely unraveled and unfixable at the occurrence of the unintentional events. So goes the story of the Okonkwo, who sees things fall apart when he inadvertently kills a member of his village. And things fall apart when Europeans, with the best of intentions, foist themselves on Africa. And so it goes.

Catch 22, by Joseph Heller. Maybe it's the time of the year, but for the past couple years at this time, I've been seemingly caught in "Audible Hell." That is, I'm listening to a book that takes inhuman effort to finish. Last year, it was The Brothers K. This year, it was Catch 22. However, unlike last year, when afater finishing TBK, I collapsed on the pavement, wondering if the marathon had been worth it, after finishing the marathon of C22, I fully understood why this is considered one of the great books of the 20th century.

It took a while for me to understand that unlike most novels, this book was composed of a series of anecdotes, with the plot line slowly unfolding over time. The absurdity of the military bureacracy is unfortunately played out in some of the large organizations I've known. The tragedies are poignant and the humanity of Yosarrian is a reminder of the importance of not losing one's own humanity. And part of the enjoyment of this book was identifying all of the Catch 22 situations. I'm not a fan of war literature in general, but this was a good read.

Wha's up now?

Reading: The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie.
Listening: The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder.