Finished: Anthem (Rand). Well, that was freaky. It took us a while to get used to the singular narrator talking in plural throughout the entire book until the end. We purposely picked the shortest Ayn Rand book because we weren't really sure how we'd like her writing. We may later go back and read Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged. Anthem reminded us so much of Brave New World, published several years before. There were several differences, but the basic dystopian society was similar. It makes us wonder if Rand and Huxley got together at some drug party one night and talked and laughed and made up their "what if" worlds. At least there seemed to be hope for Equality 7-2521/Prometheus and Liberty 5-3000/Gaea in the end as opposed to Brave New World's ill-fated Savage. We will not put this book on the favorites list, but are glad we read it.

Finished: Heartbreak House (Shaw). What a delightful play! :-) Finally something lighthearted, at least on the surface. I know that Shaw intended the play to be a not so kind comment on England's upper crust and politics. I just enjoyed the quick-paced, witty, funny dialogue and characters! :-) I'd love to see this play on the stage! The Captain was a hoot...but a wise old hoot. I may have to read some more George B. Shaw. Here are a few bits of dialogue I enjoyed:

ELLIE [indignant]. No, certainly not. I am proud to be able to say that though my father has not been a successful man, nobody has ever had one word to say against him. I think my father is the best man I have ever known.

THE CAPTAIN. He must be greatly changed. Has he attained the seventh degree of concentration?

ELLIE. I don't understand.

THE CAPTAIN. But how could he, with a daughter? I, madam, have two daughters. One of them is Hesione Hushabye, who invited you here. I keep this house: she upsets it. I desire to attain the seventh degree of concentration: she invites visitors and leaves me to entertain them. [Nurse Guinness returns with the tea-tray, which she places on the teak table]. I have a second daughter who is, thank God, in a remote part of the Empire with her numskull of a husband. As a child she thought the figure-head of my ship, the Dauntless, the most beautiful thing on earth. He resembled it. He had the same expression: wooden yet enterprising. She married him, and will never set foot in this house again.

NURSE GUINNESS [carrying the table, with the tea-things on it, to Ellie's side]. Indeed you never were more mistaken. She is in England this very moment. You have been told three times this week that she is coming home for a year for her health. And very glad you should be to see your own daughter again after all these years.

THE CAPTAIN. I am not glad. The natural term of the affection of the human animal for its offspring is six years. My daughter Ariadne was born when I was forty-six. I am now eighty-eight. If she comes, I am not at home. If she wants anything, let her take it. If she asks for me, let her be informed that I am extremely old, and have totally forgotten her.

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THE CAPTAIN. So much the worse! When our relatives are at home, we have to think of all their good points or it would be impossible to endure them. But when they are away, we console ourselves for their absence by dwelling on their vices. That is how I have come to think my absent daughter Ariadne a perfect fiend; so do not try to ingratiate yourself here by impersonating her.

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MANGAN. Are all women like you two? Do they never think of anything about a man except what they can get out of him? You weren't even thinking that about me. You were only thinking whether your gloves would last.

ELLIE. I shall not have to think about that when we are married.

MANGAN. And you think I am going to marry you after what I heard there!

ELLIE. You heard nothing from me that I did not tell you before.

MANGAN. Perhaps you think I can't do without you.

ELLIE. I think you would feel lonely without us all, now, after coming to know us so well.

MANGAN [with something like a yell of despair]. Am I never to have the last word?

CAPTAIN SHOTOVER [appearing at the starboard garden door]. There is a soul in torment here. What is the matter?

MANGAN. This girl doesn't want to spend her life wondering how long her gloves will last.

CAPTAIN SHOTOVER [passing through]. Don't wear any. I never do [he goes into the pantry].

LADY UTTERWORD [appearing at the port garden door, in a handsome dinner dress]. Is anything the matter?

ELLIE. This gentleman wants to know is he never to have the last word?

LADY UTTERWORD [coming forward to the sofa]. I should let him have it, my dear. The important thing is not to have the last word, but to have your own way.
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Loved it all! :-)

Finished: Fathers and Sons (Turgenev). It's always a good book that keeps me thinking and feeling afterwards! I didn't like the "protagonist" of the book, Bazarov. He was cocky, disrespectful, and a nihilist, who believed in nothing...no rules, no authority, no sentimentality. I don't think we were supposed to like him. However...then, he fell in love. He couldn't stand it that he did. The feelings of love, and possibly desiring a future with Anna, went against all he believed in. Then...he even admitted it to her, and :::gasp:::: she slapped him down. She led him right to the slaughter, coaxing, demurring, beguiling the words out of him. When he admitted he loved her, she backed up and said, whoa there...I hope you didn't get the wrong impression that I had the same feelings for you. After that, I felt more than dislike for Bazarov. I felt compassion. Making the characters more than one dimensional in this book made it all the more enjoyable. I loved the young love story that evolved between Arkady and Katya. And, I loved the relationships between the fathers and sons. I've read four Russian authors now...Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov and now Turgenev. I think Turgenev probably fits in third behind Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Though...he certainly was able to tell his tale and evoke my emotions with alot less tangent-taking. He definitely got right to the point on things. His just wasn't quite so epic a writing piece as the others. Chekhov...I still need to read more of him to rank him justly. A couple of favorite lines:

After Bazarov complains to Anna about her need for the same punctual routine every day for her country manor life, she says:

"There's no living in the country without order, one would be devoured by ennui."

I loved that. :-)

When Bazarov got bored at his parents after only three days, after previously being gone for three years...his poor parents lamented when they found out he would leave again the next day. His mother said to his father:

"There's no help for it, Vasya! A son is a separate piece cut off. He's like the falcon that flies home and flies away at his pleasure; while you and I are like funguses in the hollow of a tree, we sit side by side, and don't move from our place. Only I am left you unchanged forever, as you for me."

I guess my hubby and I are "funguses". At least we have each other. :-) And, of course, our children are not unappreciative scoundrels like Bazarov! Overall, good book!

Finished: The Bell Jar (Plath). Heartbreaking book about a college student's plunge into mental illness. A very good book that is supposed to be somewhat autobiographical for the author, Sylvia Plath. It was so scary to read about this bright young woman who was so successful and accomplished in college falling into the depths of depression and being treated in a psychiatric hospital. The character finally made it out from under the stifling "bell jar", as did the author...but the author did eventually take her own life right after The Bell Jar was published. So sad. It makes me count my blessings, yet still worry at the same time what pressure these young college-aged kids are under to succeed, excel and be the best in these competitive times.

Finished: Eugenie Grandet (de Balzac). I really enjoyed this book! A book with characters to care about, a plot that moves along, and lots of great dialogue. I had never even heard of the author, Honore de Balzac, before, which shows my ignorance. However, I will probably read more of his books when I get a chance. I really loved the title character, Eugenie. Though she didn't end up with her first choice of happiness in the end, the book left me satisfied, yet wanting more, if that makes sense. Eugenie was a young woman who was growing up as the heiress to millions, but she didn't know it. Her father was too miserly and hoarded his money, keeping their wealth from his wife and daughter. She grew up in a modest house in a provincial French town with a sincere nature and a very true heart. Even when she is heartbroken in the end, rather than vengeance, she shows great compassion and love. And, even when she inherits all the millions, she is generous and kind. De Balzac at times used the same characters in some of his books. I'd love to read a sequel with Eugenie, but I think this was the beginning and the end of her story.

Here are a few snippets of his descriptive writing:

The opening paragraph of the book...

"There are houses in certain provincial towns whose aspect inspires
melancholy, akin to that called forth by sombre cloisters, dreary
moorlands, or the desolation of ruins. Within these houses there is,
perhaps, the silence of the cloister, the barrenness of moors, the
skeleton of ruins; life and movement are so stagnant there that a
stranger might think them uninhabited, were it not that he encounters
suddenly the pale, cold glance of a motionless person, whose
half-monastic face peers beyond the window-casing at the sound of an
unaccustomed step."

When Charles found out his father had died...

"In the crucial moments of life our minds fasten upon the locality
where joys or sorrows overwhelm us. Charles noticed with minute
attention the box-borders of the little garden, the yellow leaves as
they fluttered down, the dilapidated walls, the gnarled fruit-trees,
--picturesque details which were destined to remain forever in his
memory, blending eternally, by the mnemonics that belong exclusively
to the passions, with the recollections of this solemn hour."

Charles and Eugenie at the very beginning of falling in love....

"About four o'clock, just as Eugenie and her mother had finished
setting the table for six persons, and after the master of the house
had brought up a few bottles of the exquisite wine which provincials
cherish with true affection, Charles came down into the hall. The
young fellow was pale; his gestures, the expression of his face, his
glance, and the tones of his voice, all had a sadness which was full
of grace. He was not pretending grief, he truly suffered; and the veil
of pain cast over his features gave him an interesting air dear to the
heart of women. Eugenie loved him the more for it. Perhaps she felt
that sorrow drew him nearer to her. Charles was no longer the rich and
distinguished young man placed in a sphere far above her, but a
relation plunged into frightful misery. Misery begets equality. Women
have this in common with the angels,--suffering humanity belongs to
them. Charles and Eugenie understood each other and spoke only with
their eyes; for the poor fallen dandy, orphaned and impoverished, sat
apart in a corner of the room, and was proudly calm and silent. Yet,
from time to time, the gentle and caressing glance of the young girl
shone upon him and constrained him away from his sad thoughts, drawing
him with her into the fields of hope and of futurity, where she loved
to hold him at her side."

So far the French authors I've read, Dumas, de Balzac and Camus, are three for three! OK, Camus was a bit freaky, but still a good book. :-)

Finished: Matilda & The Fantastic Mr. Fox (Dahl). I decided to go for a little lighter reading since Dahl is on the top authors list anyway. :-) Of course, I had no idea that Matilda was a little less than lighter reading. I had no idea she had abusive parents and the horridly abusive schoolmaster! I adored Matilda, though, and Miss Honey. I hadn't ever read any Matilda or seen the movie, so I was pleased with how everything turned out. I loved reading about all the books Matilda was reading!! Also, loved the fun story of the fantastic Mr. Fox. Did I read it with George Clooney's voice in my head? Yes, I'm afraid I did. :-)

Finished: The Stranger (Camus). Now there was a concise and riveting book. Not riveting in the sense that there was excitement...but just that I couldn't stop reading this story about this man, Mersault, who had no apparent emotional attachment to anyone or anything but his basic physical needs. He wasn't a bad man. He had a job and a girlfriend and acquaintances. He just didn't connect emotionally with people. He was content in his life that way, yet it also led to his soon-to-be tragic fate. Although...he didn't even see that as tragic. To him, he was actually happy that the "indifference of the world" as to his fate was so much like himself and his own feelings of indifference that he actually, for the first time, felt a brotherhood to that indifferent world. Hmm...interesting book.

I couldn't figure out why the book was called The Stranger, though, until I read one review that said the man was a stranger to society, i.e., not caring about what society thought of his thoughts or actions, and not striving to fit in with society, while at the same time not doing anything purposely to hurt anyone in society. Here's one excerpt between Mersault and his girlfriend, Marie, that explains how he was:

That evening Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn't make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to. Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn't mean anything but that I probably didn't love her. "So why marry me, then?" she said. I explained to her that it didn't really matter and that if she wanted to, we could get married. Besides, she was the one who was doing the asking and all I was saying was yes. Then she pointed out that marriage was a serious thing. I said, "No." She stopped talking for a minute and looked at me without saying anything. Then she spoke. She just wanted to know if I would have accepted the same proposal from another woman, with who I was involved in the same way. I said, "Sure." Then she said she wondered if she loved me, and there was no way I could know about that. After another moment's silence, she mumbled that I was peculiar, that that was probably why she loved me but that one day I might hate her for that same reason. I didn't say anything, because I didn't have anything to add, so she took my arm with a smile and said she wanted to marry me.

Huh. I am so the opposite of an emotionless person, but I still couldn't put the book down. :-)

Finished: Moby-Dick (Melville). That was the most laborious book to date! I don't know quite what to say about Moby-Dick. Actually, I have alot to say, so if anyone is reading this who doesn't want to know how it ends, then it's best not to read this. :-)

First of all...the book I read was 655 pages. Moby-Dick wasn't sited by Captain Ahab until page 625. The entire book before that was soooooooooooooooo long! There were so many unnecessary chapters that took the longest tangents. Sure, the book started with the infamous line "Call me Ishmael." Ishmael was the narrator of the book, and a participant in Ahab's quest to kill Moby-Dick. And, the only survivor of the quest...other than Moby-Dick, himself.

The first few chapters weren't so bad. Ishmael met his future boat mate, the harpooner, who was also a cannibal, Queequeg. I think my favorite line of the book actually happens when they first meet and have to share a bed together for lack of room at the inn. Ishmael says to himself, "Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian." That just tickled me. But, between those first few chapters and the actual confrontation between Ahab and Moby, I had two major disappointments.

First, as I mentioned, the very long, unnecessary chapters. There was an entire chapter on Cetology, where every whale known to man at that time was described...all so we could know that Moby-Dick was a sperm whale. There were several chapters explaining why whale-hunting was necessary, and even examples of past biblical, royal, mythical, etc. famous whale-hunters. There were chapters on the difference between a sperm whale's head and a right whale's head...whole chapters! There were chapters on ropes, harpoons, and crow's nests. There was a chapter dedicated to each whaling boat they happened to pass along out in the ocean, each with their own long story about some captain, or spurned lover, or lost whaler, or some such. Easily....the book would have been far more page-turning if it had been about 200 pages long instead of 655!

Second. My second problem with all those extra chapters is that I had to read through the horrifying descriptions of five different whale slaughterings before they actually got to Moby-Dick. Of course, they were a whaling ship and their supposed goal was to bring back barrels and barrels of whale oil and such. That, however, was not Ahab's ultimate goal. Anyway, I don't know what I was thinking the story was about...but I didn't reckon on reading in such detail about the massacre of the whales, and the woeful noise they make when they've been finally brought down, and how they pitifully roll over on their backs. :-(  I understand that back in that day, whale blubber was the main source for lamp oil, etc. (There was even a chapter describing how the oil was made right there on the ship!) And, I'm a meat-eater, so I'm not trying to be a hypocrite...however, I just could barely stand to read about the suffering of the whales.

So, we finally get near the big confrontation between Moby-Dick, the huge white whale, and Captain Ahab, the insane captain who had tangled with Moby before and had his leg bitten off. For two days the crews took their smaller boats out from the main ship and chased him and harpooned him and speared him...and for two days he smacked them with his huge tail and sunk all but one of their little boats. On the third day, Moby got really ticked. He decided to heck with the small boats, and turned himself towards the waiting whaling ship. He rammed it with his huge head and it sunk within minutes! Meanwhile, Ahab is exclaiming, "my ship, my ship", and doesn't realize that one of the ropes connected to the whale via harpoon has wrapped around his neck. He's whipped into the ocean and that's the last we see of Ahab. Everyone else is dragged down with the sinking ship and dies....except Ishmael. Ishmael had been tossed out of one of the small boats during one of the fluke-thumpings, completely missing being sucked down to the depths by the sinking ship. He clung to floating wood until another passing whaler picked him up two days later.

I must say....by the end, I was SO rooting for Moby! Ahab had so many chances to call it a day and quit chasing Moby. I'd never heard about the ending of the book, so I didn't know if Ahab finally got his fish. I'm so glad he didn't. Oh, also, the first mate's name...and one of the few with any sense, who tried to talk the captain out of his suicide journey, was named Starbuck. Is that where the coffee place gets its name? Now what can I read to get those poor whales out of my mind??

Finished: The Pact (Picoult). As in, suicide pact. Sad, but compelling story. Finally, I made it back to current day times, or close enough. I haven't read a "current" book since January! A story about two teenagers in love who made a suicide pact, or did they? Lots of twists and turns! However, while I was reading, I determined that I don't see any reason that this author, Jodi Picoult, should be on the top 100 list any more than some of my favorites who aren't, like Harlen Coben, Lisa Gardner or Michael Crichton. All good authors who tell page-turning stories. So, when I make MY top 100 authors list, which I will invariably do when I'm done with all this reading...they'll be on it.     :-)

Finished: The Republic - Books I, II & III (Plato). A huge dose of the philosophy of Socrates via Plato. Plato was a student of Socrates. Plato's biggest work was The Republic, a large piece divided into ten books. I could only bring myself to read three of the ten right now. Basically....Plato wrote a story about a dialogue that Socrates had with several people. Socrates wanted to find out the meaning of justice. There is a whole lot of tangent taking, and repetitive points are constantly made. Basically Socrates gives most of the people who disagree with him a verbal butt-whipping of round-about logic that they either can't contest, or are too tired to contest, once Socrates is done. Kind of like, if A = B and B = Phi and Phi = Zeta and Zeta = 2 and 2 = C, then A = C. Eventually the logic gets there, but not as simply as it could. :-)

  

There were a few gems of dialogue though. I especially like the one that was translated with the word "sillybillies". Only because I can just imagine Plato saying "sillybillies"! Seriously, though, I liked what he had to say in all the snippets below. I didn't know "Necessity is the mother of invention" came from Plato!

"Then, I said, let us begin and create in idea a State; and yet the true creator is necessity, who is the mother of our invention."

 

 

"There is nothing which for my part I like better, Cephalus, than conversing with aged men; for I regard them as travellers who have gone a journey which I too may have to go, and of whom I ought to enquire, whether the way is smooth and easy, or rugged and difficult. And this is a question which I should like to ask of you who have arrived at that time which the poets call the `threshold of old age'--Is life harder towards the end, or what report do you give of it?"

"The truth is, Socrates, that these regrets, and also the complaints about relations, are to be attributed to the same cause, which is not old age, but men's characters and tempers; for he who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden."

"He roared out to the whole company: What folly. Socrates, has taken possession of you all? And why, sillybillies, do you knock under to one another? I say that if you want really to know what justice is, you should not only ask but answer, and you should not seek honour to yourself from the refutation of an opponent, but have your own answer; for there is many a one who can ask and cannot answer."

"Now the worst part of the punishment is that he who refuses to rule is liable to be ruled by one who is worse than himself. And the fear of this, as I conceive, induces the good to take office, not because they would, but because they cannot help--not under the idea that they are going to have any benefit or enjoyment themselves, but as a necessity, and because they are not able to commit the task of ruling to any one who is better than themselves, or indeed as good. For there is reason to think that if a city were composed entirely of good men, then to avoid office would be as much an object of contention as to obtain office is at present; then we should have plain proof that the true ruler is not meant by nature to regard his own interest, but that of his subjects; and every one who knew this would choose rather to receive a benefit from another than to have the trouble of conferring one."

"For what men say is that, if I am really just and am not also thought just profit there is none, but the pain and loss on the other hand are unmistakable. But if, though unjust, I acquire the reputation of justice, a heavenly life is promised to me. Since then, as philosophers prove, appearance tyrannizes over truth and is lord of happiness, to appearance I must devote myself."


"And the country which was enough to support the original inhabitants will be too small now, and not enough?

    Quite true.
Then a slice of our neighbours' land will be wanted by us for pasture and tillage, and they will want a slice of ours, if, like ourselves, they exceed the limit of necessity, and give themselves up to the unlimited accumulation of wealth?
    That, Socrates, will be inevitable.
And so we shall go to war, Glaucon. Shall we not?
    Most certainly, he replied.
Then without determining as yet whether war does good or harm, thus much we may affirm, that now we have discovered war to be derived from causes which are also the causes of almost all the evils in States, private as well as public."


"Would not he who is fitted to be a guardian, besides the spirited nature, need to have the qualities of a philosopher?
     I do not apprehend your meaning.
The trait of which I am speaking, I replied, may be also seen in the dog, and is remarkable in the animal.
     What trait?
Why, a dog, whenever he sees a stranger, is angry; when an acquaintance, he welcomes him, although the one has never done him any harm, nor the other any good. Did this never strike you as curious?
     The matter never struck me before; but I quite recognise the truth of your remark.
And surely this instinct of the dog is very charming;--your dog is a true philosopher.
     Why?
Why, because he distinguishes the face of a friend and of an enemy only by the criterion of knowing and not knowing. And must not an animal be a lover of learning who determines what he likes and dislikes by the test of knowledge and ignorance?"


"And therefore, I said, Glaucon, musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful, or of him who is ill-educated ungraceful; and also because he who has received this true education of the inner being will most shrewdly perceive omissions or faults in art and nature, and with a true taste, while he praises and rejoices over and receives into his soul the good, and becomes noble and good, he will justly blame and hate the bad, now in the days of his youth, even before he is able to know the reason why; and when reason comes he will recognise and salute the friend with whom his education has made him long familiar."

OK, I think I need to bring myself back to modern times for awhile....even if only up to the 1700's. :-) I will explore Homer, Virgil and Dante later.