Give the Gift of Books this Christmas!

" A book is a gift you can open again and again."

~ Garrison Keillor, American writer and broadcaster

Need ideas? Check out the list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die on Good Reads at http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/952.1001_Books_You_Must_Read_Before_You_Die?page=1.

The list includes classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Lord of the Rings, to more modern selections. It's also a great checklist for books to add to your personal reading list or library.

 



Happy Reading!

Rebecca

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

"...and for all the ambiguities of Vietnam, all the mysteries and unknowns, there was at least the single abiding certainty that they would never be at a loss for things to carry." (page 16)

Book Description from wikipedia.com: The Things They Carried is a collection of related stories by Tim O'Brien, about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War, originally published in hardcover by Houghton Mifflin, 1990. While apparently based on some of O'Brien's own experiences, the title page refers to the book as "a work of fiction"; indeed, the majority of stories in the book possess some quality of metafiction. Many of the characters are semi-autobiographical, and readers of O'Brien's work will notice that some of the characters share similarities with characters from his memoir If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home. O'Brien dedicated The Things They Carried to the men of the Alpha Company that he fought with during the war.

My Thoughts:
     First--This is THE book for children of Vietnam Veterans or family members of Vietnam Veterans to read. A collection of stories told from O'Brien's keen observations of the psychology of the soldier, The Things They Carried is a powerful, emotional, and raw telling of a journey that remained endless for many of the servicemen who experienced this war.
     A Vietnam Veteran himself, O'Brien gracefully guides the reader through the jungle and home again. The writing is spectacular. Each sentence is crafted with such a creative alignment of words that there is a sense of poetry to the work. The Things They Carried provides those who were not there and the generations that follow with the descriptions that will never find their way into the history books--- what REALLY happened.
     Beyond the necessities and weaponry, personal items and useful tools, it is the weight of the visions and actions that became the heaviest burden of all.
     I look forward to reading all of O'Brien's other books. He is a gifted writer and we are left to question the art that could have been created by those who did not survive and those that returned home but never found their way back to the life they had known. They carried far too much.

"There were times in my life when I couldn't feel much, not sadness or pity or passion, and somehow I blamed this place for what I had become, and I blamed it for taking away the person I had once been." (page 185)

My Dad in 1970 before leaving for Vietnam.

A Thanksgiving Message

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

                                                              ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

What Are You Currently Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?
"It's Monday! What Are You Reading?" is a meme hosted by Sheila from Book Journey where readers share what they are currently reading, recently read, or plan to read next.

Currently Reading: The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

About this book from wikipedia.com: The Things They Carried is a collection of related stories by Tim O'Brien, about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War, originally published in hardcover by Houghton Mifflin, 1990. While apparently based on some of O'Brien's own experiences, the title page refers to the book as "a work of fiction"; indeed, the majority of stories in the book possess some quality of metafiction. Many of the characters are semi-autobiographical, and readers of O'Brien's work will notice that some of the characters share similarities with characters from his memoir If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home. O'Brien dedicated The Things They Carried to the men of the Alpha Company that he fought with during the war.

Recently Finished: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

It felt like an accomplishment to finish this masterpiece but I also didn't want it to end. Check out my review here: http://thekeytothegate.blogspot.com/2012/11/anna-karenina-by-leo-tolstoy.html

Coming Up: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

This will be a re-read for me, having previously read this many years ago in high school English. My book club selected this as the next book for discussion. We rotate reading selection among members which leads to a variety of genres and authors.

About this book from wikipedia.com: Wuthering Heights is the only published novel by Emily Brontë, written between October 1845 and June 1846 and published in July of the following year. It was not printed until December 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, after the success of her sister Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre. A posthumous second edition was edited by Charlotte in 1850. The title of the novel comes from the Yorkshire manor on the moors of the story. The narrative centres on the all-encompassing, passionate, but ultimately doomed love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, and how this unresolved passion eventually destroys them and the people around them.

I look forward to discovering what you are reading this week!

Rebecca

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

The End!
     I finally finished Tolsoy's Anna Karenina! As you are aware if you have read some of my previous posts, I have been reading this one for quite a while. My Signet Classics copy weighed in at 807 pages but it was worth every sentence. Read more below!

Book Description (from wikipedia.org): 

     Anna Karenina is the tragedy of married aristocrat and socialite Anna Karenina and her affair with the affluent Count Vronsky. The story starts when she arrives in the midst of a family broken up by her brother's unbridled womanizing—something that prefigures her own later situation, though with less tolerance for her by others.

     A bachelor, Vronsky is willing to marry her if she would agree to leave her husband Karenin, a government official, but she is vulnerable to the pressures of Russian social norms, her own insecurities and Karenin's indecision. Although Vronsky eventually takes Anna to Europe where they can be together, they have trouble making friends. Back in Russia, she is shunned, becoming further isolated and anxious, while Vronsky pursues his social life. Despite Vronsky's reassurances she grows increasingly possessive and paranoid about his imagined infidelity, fears losing control.

     A parallel story within the novel is of Levin, a country landowner who desires to marry Kitty, sister to Dolly and sister-in-law to Anna's brother Oblonsky. Levin has to propose twice before Kitty accepts. The novel details Levin's difficulties managing his estate, his eventual marriage, and personal issues, until the birth of Levin's first child.

My Thoughts:

     First published in installments in the periodical The Russian Messenger from 1873 to 1877, Anna Karenina was released in book form in 1878 but more than a century later, it still reads very modern. (The version I read was translated by David Magarshack in 1961 but more recent translations have been published.) The size and scope of the book seemed daunting when I first began. However, the story instantly captures the reader's attention from the opening line: "All happy families are like one another; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
     Divided into eight parts, the novel addresses and conquers so many themes that the book becomes an overview of life. Adultery, passion, love, loss, death, family, religion, politics, class, society- you name it, Tolstoy tackled it in this tome. According to wikipedia, William Faulkner described the book as "the best ever written." It would be hard to dispute this statement.
     There are many main characters that share the spotlight with Anna herself but it is the allure of her character that quietly drives the other storylines. The reader is not instantly introduced to Anna. The mystery of her builds up our excitement with the announcement that she is to visit her brother, Oblonsky, and his wife Dolly. This visit changes the course of Anna's life, and we follow her through her journey and demise.
     With the recent release of a new film adaptation starring Keira Knightley as Anna, the book is once again garnering great attention. Previously, the novel was also a hot topic as it was selected for Oprah's Book Club in 2004.
     There is much to digest in Anna Karenina, leaving one with the sense that everything cannot possibly be grasped as Tolstoy understood it. Background information on the making of the book outlines that Tolstoy incorporated many of his personal experiences into the storyline, including his relationship with his wife Sonya which he used to mold the characters of Levin and Kitty.
     Anna Karenina is a classic indeed. It has traveled gracefully through the ages and will continue to do so. In the final part, Levin begins to ponder the quintessential question we all form- What is the meaning of life? And can faith help us to define it? Is goodness the essential preservation of the soul? Levin's state of being brings the conclusion to the book and it is one of optimism and hope for a brighter future. What more could a reader ask for than a story that leads us on a search for a greater understanding of self? Anna Karenina- a perfect ten.

Happy Reading!
Rebecca