Two-fer

I think I'm regressing. These two reads are proof of that possibility.

The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame. I'm not generally a fan of rat and squirrel books, having given Chip much grief while he was in his Brian Jacques phase. I read this book only because, 1) it's on the list of top novels; and 2) B&N made the e-version free. What did I have to lose?

Turns out nothing, but everything to gain. This beautifully written novel is poetical, lyrical, with beautiful descriptions of the setting. Plus the story is good: the adventures of a group of animals, who epitomize fellowship, friendship, loyalty, and a sense of adventure. The story begins with Mole, who tires of spring cleaning, emerges from his underground world to discover the great big world, including the river. Along the way, he becomes good friends with the River Rat, Badger, and Otter. And then there's Toad. Proud and prone to gross exageration, his adventures provide some of the funniest moments of the book. Ultimately, it was the best kind of children's literature, that which can be read on multiple levels to make it entertaining to both children and adults.

Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. What if Mark Burnet created a reality TV show, sort of like Survivor. It would still involve the same kind of challenges that make a difficult situation even more challenging. There would still be the opportunity to form alliances and rewards of needed or desired items. But no wasted time on votes. It could be the ultimate game of survival because the fight is to the death. That would essentially be the premise of this book.

Talk about a dystopian society. North America has become the country of Panem, which consists of a capitol and 12 districts. As punishment for a failed rebellion, the Capitol keeps extraordinarily tight restraints on the Districts and requires each District to send two tributes--one boy and one girl--to the annual Hunger Games. The tributes are selected by virtue of a lottery which all children between the ages of 12 and 18 are required to participate. Children can get extra rations of food but with the cost of more entries into the lottery. Shirley Jackson, meet Suzanne Collins. Anywho, Katniss is not selected; her younger sister, Primose is selected against the odds, since her name is entered only once since is the first year she is eligible and she has no extra entries. Kantiss, howeve, volunteers to go in her sister's place. The baker's son is the boy tribute from District 12.

The stage is set, as the children are whisked off to the Capitol to eat better than they've ever eaten in their lives and to by grommed and styled for the opening ceremony and their live interviews. It's all very warped and very disturbing.

The end is a foregone conclusion--after all the book is written in first person and surely someone who is being hunted by fellow tributes is unlikely to waste time journaling the daily happenings. The real suspense is how Katniss will manage to survive and whether she will lose her humanity in the process.

I bought this book for Chip almost a year ago. B&N classifies it as teen literature. Ultimately, it's a good and suspenseful read.

Listening: Atlas Shrugged. Almost done. Hallelujah!

Quick read

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, by James Weldon Johnson. Sometimes, you get what you paid for, which means that a free book can sometimes be a dog of a story. Not so with this book, which I got free for my Nook. Why didn't I read this book before? Why does the book show up on few books other than for African-American Studies courses?

It was a fast read, that engaged me from the the first page. The ending was a foregone conclusion, but much of thebook is a report of life in the early part of the 20th century, when the "Negro question" was the raging social issue of the day. Surprisingly, the question has not been fully resolved some 100 years later, and even more surpisingly, the book retains a great deal of relevance on the issue.

I enjoyed hearing of the unnamed protagonist's travels from the South of his early childhood to Connecticut, to Atlanta, to Florida, to New York, to Europe, and back to New York. I enjoyed his observations of the world of the "Negro" which, according to the one drop rule, he was, despite his father being white and his mother being herself a "mulatto".

His observations on the race questions are keen. Why should whites devote the best of themselves trying to prove the inferiority of blacks? That's just one of the observations made by Johnson. I suppose it was true through the 50s and maybe today that many Southerners tended to be fond of the blacks they knew, but to dislike the race in general and that many Northerners tended to love the race, but to have few personal relationships with blacks.

Over the past few days, as I've been reading this book, the controversy regarding Shirley Sherrod has been raging. A white, conservative blogger edited a speech by Sherrod to make what was a message on overcoming her own prejudices appear to be given by a racist who discriminated against the white farmers she was supposed to be helping. That none of the news outlets vetted the story before publishing it resulted in her firing from the USDA. The blogger's stated purpose: to show that the NAACP, which had sponsored Sherrod's speech, was as racist as the so-called Teabag movement. All that time and energy wasted and such harm done to race relations to prove a point that merits no such proof. If the NAACP is racist in its mission, that will be abundantly clear; no person or organization can hide its true character. What does the blogger's efforts say about the issue when it's all said and done.

Either way, lest I get to far astray, I enjoyed this book. Would I have passed if I could have at that time in history? Would I pass today? Was it a sign of courage or cowardice for the protagonist to let the world define him instead of conceding to the one-drop rule. I don't know, but in the end, I can't fault him for his choice.

Beautiful book

The Assistant, by Bernard Malamud. This is one of the most beautifully written stories I've read in a good while. It is a story that manages to be simple, yet complex, with simple, yet complex characters. In the end, Frank Alpine, the "Assistant," struggles to be a good person, like so many of us. He wants to be good, and manages for awhile, while backsliding often, and then trying to make it up as a way to redeem himself. Morris is steadfast and honest in the way he runs his store. Always perservering, always struggling. Morris seemingly has few moments of pure joy, yet he never shirks his duty to his customers, or more importantly, to his wife and daughter, unless he can't avoid it.

Life is difficult for most of the characters in the book. But they struggle and ultimately, Frank seems to be on the path to being good. He has become the reincarnation of Morris.

I really enjoyed this book and this beautiful story.

Reading: The Autobiography of a Former Colored Man (or something like that).
Listening: Atlas Shrugged. It gets stupider by the moment. At least the Fountainhead was a good soap opera and had a theme of striving for uncompromised excellence. A thoroughl anti-Christian book that touts, "Greed is good. Rich people are good and everyone else is a 'looter.'" Yep. All that looting by people who live in the slums; who didn't contribute to the building of this great country. Yep. That's right. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Steamy!

Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D. H. Lawrence. It didn't take long to see why this book was banned for years for obscenity. I'm not saying that the censors were correct; I'm just noting that it is more explicit that what one usually finds in classic literature. On the other hand, the cynic might question whether it was the explicit sexual references or the attack on the class system that lead to its banning?

Either way, the book is beautifully written with an intriguing premise: sex and sensuality as a form of life, not constrained by class or the mores of society. Lady Constance Chatterley is married to a man who is wealthy but paralyzed physically and emotionally. Given a choice of living with Clifford, a marriage that would stretch years into the future, living among other rich people in a coal mining villiage, or Oliver Mellors, her husband's gamekeeper, she makes her choice. It is rather surprising when she makes it.

It is refreshing to read a book where the heroine is intelligent and self-aware and not afraid to admit that she enjoys sex. She doesn' thave to have an "awakening" but rather she knows heerself and it's only a matter of finding it. In fact, rather than the sexless creatures that are usually portrayed, Oliver and Connie seem closer to real people in the development of their relationship.

Reading (and really enjoying): The Assistant by Bernard Malamud.

Listening to (and not particularly enjoying): Atlas Shrugged. When I've finished, will I be a convert, or will I still think it's repetitive and full of characters that all fall into one of two characters: either remarkably competent and extravagantly rich or foolishly incompetent and needy. Black and white. An apologist for greedy rich people. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

A little slow to post

I've been busy. I've made progress. I haven't been diligent about posting, but here goes.

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro. Are we products of our environment? Can the will to live be bred out of humans or have it negated through environment? Those are just a couple of the questions raised in this book of a dystopian society. As far as I know, no one has successfully cloned a human, but it's bound to happen some day. Will there come a time when the anti-social members of society are cloned so that their clones can serve as incubators for spare body parts?

One of the questions raised in the book is whether such cloned people would have souls. I think they would, but would they be so placid about their fate, knowing that they live to make "donations" until such time as they "complete?" What kind of society could tolerate such a concept, even in the shadows? Or maybe, we're there already, given that the world knows that Chinese prisoners are often executed for their organs. There's some talk about human rights violations, but there's no loud hew and cry over the practice. And I have little doubt that many a wealthy Westerner would gladly pay for the organs of some pour, desolate (spiritless??) individual if it meant saving their own lives.

Perhaps the premise in the book can be likened to slavery or even to to holocaust, where once the slaves and Jews were dehumanized, it was easy to do unspeakable things to them, right Dr. Mengele? There were always a few who thought it proper to treat these people "humanely" but who weren't willing to advocate for them to have the full panoply of human rights.

Maybe it's a good thing that I didn't post shortly after I finished this book. It's been a couple of weeks since I inished it, but its depth continues to resonate with me.

Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates. Alex loved this book. It was okay. Life in the suburbs can be vacuous and it is real easy to get lost in the great emptiness. Frank and April managed to lose everything that might have helped them avoid their fate, almost escaping for a brief moment before losing their derring-do. Maybe they never had a streak of adventure, or maybe, like Babbitt, they never learned to step away from conformity to find and be who they wanted be. John Givings, the character who's suffered through 37 or so electo-shock treatments seems to be the most honest of the characters, and perhaps the most sane. But, he's the one in the insane asylum. As a suburbanite,rather depressing on one hand; inspirational on the other.

Still listening to: Atlas Shrugged.
Reading on Nook: Lady Chatterly's Lover.