I am absolutely loving the novels we're reading in this class: for this unit alone I've had to read Harry Potter (and the Sorcerer's Stone), Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, The Giver, Cirque du Freak, and Chasing Vermeer. Care for some book reviews while I procrastinate!
(Edit: I have realized that it's not really procrastinating because I'm remembering plots and remembering important stuff while I write. Procrastination fail?)
Out of those five books, I've read three of them before, some more recently than others! And of those five books, Chasing Vermeer was my least favorite. I think I would have liked it a lot more had I been a lot younger when I'd read it. It's a mystery novel about a stolen Vermeer painting, but most of the evidence we're presented with as readers is purely circumstantial (the number 12 was a common theme... "Oh my god! There are 12 letters in both of our names! We were MEANT to solve this case!" "Wow, we are turning 12 on December 12th this year!" "Wow, between us, we have 12 family members!" "Wow, there are twelve ants marching in a line! And look! Twelve beams in the ceiling!") (Okay, that last one I made up, but the first three were actually noted in the book as evidence... or something.) I think it's one of the only children's books I've read as an adult that I have not liked, and certainly one of the only books I've read recently that I really didn't care to finish. But, because it was for a class, I did. That said, I think kids would really enjoy it.
One of the brilliant things about being a fast reader is that tackling these books is a matter of finding a good two to three hours to sit down and not move. Cirque du Freak took me all of two hours to read. It was good, but I've heard the rest of the series gets better. This book was way too much prep work for the rest of the series, in my opinion, almost more like a prequel than an actual first book. A kid visited a freak show coming through town and stole a spider from a vampire in the show, but when the super venomous spider bit his friend (who'da thunk THAT would happen?!), the kid was forced to become a vampire as well to be a sort of companion and servant in order to get the antidote from the vampire to save his friend. (Meh.)
The Lightning Thief was recommended to me by my stepsister Katie about a year or so ago, and so it is the book I've read most recently out of the lot. It deals with mythology; sons and daughters of the ancient Greek gods. Quests, creatures, and a modern flare to ancient stories (such as Hades being located in LA, the '600th floor' of the Empire State Building being the location of Mt. Olympus, the main character being named Percy instead of Perseus, etc.). I reread this one in three or so hours the other night while I was babysitting.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Enough said.
Well, actually not enough. One thing that I've noticed rereading this book for the first time since I left high school (I am ashamed! I dare profess myself a nerd?!) is that I've forgotten what Harry was like an an eleven-year-old boy... the jokes he, Ron and Hermione share are very different than the ones that appear later in the books, the logic is much younger, the things they care about are younger and a little more trivial... With all of the recent press centering around the seventeen-year-old Harry (what with the Deathly Hallows movies and all) I have forgotten about Harry's roots. Sometime soon I'll make my way through the rest of the series.
And I come to the last book, which, in my opinion, has 'changed' the most since I last read it: The Giver. I remember reading this book when I was about fourteen, in middle school. Of course, all I remember of the discussions we had in class talk were about ethics of euthanasia and utopic/dystopic communities, etc. I didn't remember much about this book before I'd read it, other than the main character being chosen to be the new Receiver of Memories, and that there was a Giver who was really old.
The second time through, seven odd years later and with my trusty English major at my side, I now see much more than I did then. The thing that disturbed me the most when I was reading wasn't the "releasing" from the community (where the old and the weak are euthanized, because their community is perfect), and it wasn't the strict and stringent rules of order within the community (such as that all children turn an age older at the end of December instead of having their own birthdays. The Ones become the Twos, the Threes become the Fours, etc.) and it wasn't the apparent untopic (and thus clearly dystopic) themes.
No, it wasn't any of that, though of course it had to do with all of these things. Jonas describes a dream to his parents one morning, where he was standing in a bathing house with one of his classmates, a beautiful girl, and he really wants her to get naked and get in the bath so he could bathe her - he wakes up feeling really good and quite unusual. His parents take him aside and tell him that it is normal to feel these "stirrings" and that everyone has them. They tell him that everyone takes a pill to repress the "stirrings" and that he could start taking them.
It really upset me when I read that, I think because more than anything else in the book, it is the most natural thing being repressed, something which brings joy to everyone. I don't like the idea of having to deny something like sex or attraction (perhaps because I spend these, my seemingly neverending single days looking for an attraction). How awful would it be to be to never fall in love? It seems like a half-life, or perhaps it is only a half-life because of the other rules of the community, too.
Anyway, on the odd chance that you haven't read it, read The Giver. Do it, do it now. It's a quick read (180 pages, only took me 2 hours) and it'll give you a lot to think about.
Anyway, those are just a few thoughts on the subject. I'm off to go study for my exam... See yall on the other side.
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As an aside, IM softball has begun in APO and after practicing on Sunday and the game tonight (which we technically lost because we had to forfeit because we didn't have enough girls show... but we played a scrimmage with the other team anyway and beat the snot out of them!) I have a few new bruises and many aches and pains (my forearm muscles are sore) but a renewed love of softball. Hooray! And I got to play my favorite base - second. :D
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