The Overstory:
I love parts of this book. I loved most of this book. I loved a lot of this book a lot. I would take pictures of some of my favorite parts so that I could read it again later. Some parts I would read and reread. I chewed and chewed some parts. Some parts after rereading made completely different sense.
But I also am a little confused about this book. I think I need someone to tell me more about what it all means. Especially about Neelay. His character was so great and so confusing.
January 29, 2020
Where the Crawdads Sing:
I especially loved the first half of this book. I love the writing and Kya’s survival journey. This is the kind of book I didn’t waste. I looked forward to being quiet and alone so that I could enjoy every sentence. If there were distractions around me, I put it down and saved for later.
June 4, 2019
Station Eleven:
This isn’t a literary triumph, but it made me think think think.
Try to wrap your mind around a world where civilization ends within a few weeks, but nothing is really destroyed. It’s all just lying around collecting rust and dust. How do we act? What do we value?
We care about so many stupid silly things in our privileged world. Like (talking with Lindsay at the bus stop) burning all things Nike in protest. We have so much time on our pampered, precious hands.
I loved the part when Clark is looking at the snow globe - an item that has no real necessity in our lives - and thinks about all the cogs of a civilization that it takes to creat and transport such a thing...thoughts like that you only have when you are deprived of creature comforts. Like when the electricity goes out for multiple hours. We don’t even realize what a grid we depend on.
Try to wrap your mind around a world where civilization ends within a few weeks, but nothing is really destroyed. It’s all just lying around collecting rust and dust. How do we act? What do we value?
We care about so many stupid silly things in our privileged world. Like (talking with Lindsay at the bus stop) burning all things Nike in protest. We have so much time on our pampered, precious hands.
I loved the part when Clark is looking at the snow globe - an item that has no real necessity in our lives - and thinks about all the cogs of a civilization that it takes to creat and transport such a thing...thoughts like that you only have when you are deprived of creature comforts. Like when the electricity goes out for multiple hours. We don’t even realize what a grid we depend on.
September 6, 2018
Everyone Brave is Forgiven:
The writing is everything! Some of the most beautiful writing I have ever read.
As far as a war novel goes, it's not my favorite, but the story is secondary to me. I don't even care what he is selling, I am buying because: the writing.
Probably my favorite scene is when simonson is talking to the general. There is nothing in the plot that makes it a special scene, but the writing and the dialogue had me shaking my head. Words are art. Beautiful art.
As far as a war novel goes, it's not my favorite, but the story is secondary to me. I don't even care what he is selling, I am buying because: the writing.
Probably my favorite scene is when simonson is talking to the general. There is nothing in the plot that makes it a special scene, but the writing and the dialogue had me shaking my head. Words are art. Beautiful art.
June 21, 2017
***
I accidentally just reread this book and it’s still beautiful. 10/20/2018
I accidentally just reread this book and it’s still beautiful. 10/20/2018
Lonesome Dove:
at first, like most people, i didn't think i would really make it through this book. it was all men, and the only women were "whores". men men men whore men men men. but i found that at the end of a chapter, i couldn't stop reading. eventually i was lapping it up and didn't want it to end. i can't quite put my finger on why i loved it. the subtle beauty. the rich characters. gus. who is THE lonesome dove? is there a character that isn't a lonesome dove? they are all a part of a bigger whole, but so lonely in their own brains.
I loved that the best characters turned out to be the women.**spoiler**
i hated that most of the best characters died. after you know who died, i lost some steam. i wanted to finish it, but without his voice and dialogue...the book was deflated. for that reason i would give the book 4 stars if someone really pressed me to.
The other interesting thing about this book is that as much as i loved it, i don't know that i would suggest others to read it. i don't know why. i feel like there was something great about it but i don't know how to explain it.
i was in the mood for a meaty classic tale, and this satisfied greatly.
February 8, 2017
The Grapes of Wrath:
Where do you even begin? First, I do NOT remember this book, but I supposedly read it when I was 20ish. It was all so lost on me then. It makes me wonder about all the other books I have "read" when I was young. I should reread more.
Second, I just really love Steinbeck. I loved the details when characters were talking together. Like at the beginning when Tom was hitchhiking and he was chewing gum. The dialogue and the little idiosyncrasies of human behavior entertains me to no end. It reminds me of JD Salinger's writing in that way. There isn't a ton of action in the pages of talking but I am riveted.
I think the main theme I took away this time around is how they had to stay in the present. Any time they started to think too far ahead, the reality of the situation would crush them. Maybe that's why most of the men were so pathetic. They were crushed by the futility. I don't think they were heroic necessarily. Tom had potential, but either there are too many odds against them, or they were fools of circumstance.
I love the big picture chapters that were somewhat poetry-meets-history lesson. Then I loved the personal focus on the Joad's attempt at making a life. It was a good "pan in - pan out" of the situation.
I would love to discuss this book with a group of people. There's so much.
I really loved it. I would lay in bed at night thinking about it, and when I would put the book down, I found myself talking like they did. Trying to anyway.
Second, I just really love Steinbeck. I loved the details when characters were talking together. Like at the beginning when Tom was hitchhiking and he was chewing gum. The dialogue and the little idiosyncrasies of human behavior entertains me to no end. It reminds me of JD Salinger's writing in that way. There isn't a ton of action in the pages of talking but I am riveted.
I think the main theme I took away this time around is how they had to stay in the present. Any time they started to think too far ahead, the reality of the situation would crush them. Maybe that's why most of the men were so pathetic. They were crushed by the futility. I don't think they were heroic necessarily. Tom had potential, but either there are too many odds against them, or they were fools of circumstance.
I love the big picture chapters that were somewhat poetry-meets-history lesson. Then I loved the personal focus on the Joad's attempt at making a life. It was a good "pan in - pan out" of the situation.
I would love to discuss this book with a group of people. There's so much.
I really loved it. I would lay in bed at night thinking about it, and when I would put the book down, I found myself talking like they did. Trying to anyway.
March 10, 2016
All the Light We Cannot See:
i loved it. but i have to start by saying, i wish it would have ended as they are sharing the peaches. that would have been my perfect ending. i didn't like the way it continued on anti climactically, eventually taking us into the modern age. it felt like it cheapened the reality of a war torn world. it ended on a very disappointing level.
but enough about what i didn't like...for a while i could swear this is one of my favorite books. it was so rich and beautiful and horrible and stark and wonderful:
i loved the opposites - the giant v little werner, the blind v being shut in, entropy in a country striving for perfection, radio waves that meant so much but are invisible to us all, science and poetry, locks and keys.
Van Rumpel, who is so patient, waiting is his thing, runs out of time.
is this world happenstance? are we just made up of atoms and carbon and earth's crust? or is there more order to what happens to us?
Marie Laure is likened to the mollusks and sea creatures she loves.
at times i would finish reading a page and have to set the book down and shake my head because the passage was so perfect and beautiful. regardless of the story or anything that happens to these lovely characters, i just love the writing. i want to re-read some of the passages over and over again.
but enough about what i didn't like...for a while i could swear this is one of my favorite books. it was so rich and beautiful and horrible and stark and wonderful:
i loved the opposites - the giant v little werner, the blind v being shut in, entropy in a country striving for perfection, radio waves that meant so much but are invisible to us all, science and poetry, locks and keys.
Van Rumpel, who is so patient, waiting is his thing, runs out of time.
is this world happenstance? are we just made up of atoms and carbon and earth's crust? or is there more order to what happens to us?
Marie Laure is likened to the mollusks and sea creatures she loves.
at times i would finish reading a page and have to set the book down and shake my head because the passage was so perfect and beautiful. regardless of the story or anything that happens to these lovely characters, i just love the writing. i want to re-read some of the passages over and over again.
January 18, 2016
**These are all the 5 star books I have read in the last 5 years. All these "reviews" are from my Goodreads account.
Station Eleven is kind of a trip because it is basically the beginning premise of the current situation in our world.
5 years ago
**These are all the 5 star books I have read in the last 5 years. All these "reviews" are from my Goodreads account.
Station Eleven is kind of a trip because it is basically the beginning premise of the current situation in our world.
5 years ago
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