Moby Dick

I would give this book zero out of ten stars, but I'll give it one star for the help it gave me on the nights I had insomnia.  I do appreciate that.  It got to a point where I wanted to finish it just to say I conquered it and read it.  I listened to the book and read along with a hardcopy via Moby Dick: Big Read. In this project, different individuals read each chapter and the site uploaded a chapter a day.  The concept for this was the only thing that kept me going.  Hearing the different voices and inflections was interesting.  If I had to sit down and read this book on my own, I don't think I would ever finish it. It probably has about twenty really good chapters that are integral to the plot. There are 135 chapters so you do the math on how many irrelevant ones exist. The other chapters read like a scientific journal about the intimate details of whales and their characteristics (i.e. the size of their skull, where their eyes are positioned, how long they grow, their swimming patterns, etc).  I didn't care for those chapters at all.  The writing is too verbose. Why use fifty words when five will do?  After reading it for some time, I finally broke down and researched why this book is considered a classic. Well, surprise! It was panned by critics when it was first published.  People hated it for various reasons, yet Melville's work eventually was revitalized and embraced.  If you are going to read a classic read Dumas or Dickens.

This Is How You Lose Her

As I was reading the book I kept thinking "Wow, this guy is a jerk."  The book is a collection of stories that, more or less, discuss the cheating ways of the main character, Yunior (whom I suspect is a loose depiction of the author).  He has a string of girlfriends and isn't faithful to any of them.  There are a few other stories, as well, dealing with his brother's death from cancer, his brother's cheating ways, and his father's cheating ways. It's almost as if cheating is an autosomal dominant trait in this family. As much as I was disgusted by his behavior, the writing is very good and more than disgust, I felt sadness for the main character by the end of the book.  The devolution of Yunior into a middle-aged man who only realizes what love is as he loses it, is nothing short of depressing.  I finished the book late last night and one of my first thoughts when I woke up this morning was about the book's ending.  As you know by now, any book that makes me think a little bit and stays on my mind even after the book is closed or the Nook is turned off is one I will recommend. I can't help but think that I enjoyed it for all the wrong reasons because I wasn't happy when I finished it; just sad for Yunior and for all the women who experienced his infidelity. The storytelling and the great writing that make you feel those emotions (sad or not) are what make the book worthwhile.

Wild

Having read A Walk in the Woods last year, I was hesitant to pick up Wild.  I enjoyed Bill Bryson's book but also at times the historical facts would have my eyes crossing. I was worried that Wild would be more of the same, but maybe not as good.  I had no reason to worry. Wild is only similar to Bryson's book in that there is a long hike involved, nature is appreciated and the author manages to insert some humor into the story. The similarities pretty much end there.  Strayed's impetus for hiking along the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is her mother's death. The death is just the beginning of a downward spiral that she can't seem to escape.  By her own admission, her spiral includes a fair amount of extramarital sex and heroin.  She is hovering over rock bottom when a book about the PCT catches her attention and she decides to hike it and deal with her personal problems.  This is the first book of 2013 that I loved. I highly recommend it and I plan on re-reading it in the future. The story is so well written that I felt like I was hiking with her. I felt like I her demons were my demons.  I wanted so much for her to succeed and become whole again after being shattered. This book reminds us once again that it's not about the destination. It truly is about the journey. I know that's cliché but clichés are usually cliché because they are true so I'm not afraid to use one when applicable.  Get this book and fast-track it to the top of your reading list. 

The Story of O

I have debated whether or not to post about this book because I hated everything about it.  Then I thought to myself "If I don't post about it, that could be considered a form of censorship". Since I do not support censorship of books, I finally decided to post something.  I think my opinion is just my opinion and it should not keep anyone from accessing the book if they still wish to read it after I share my two cents.  

First a little background: This book was controversial when it was first published in France in 1954 because it was written by a woman using a pseudonym and it contains very violent scenes of S&M.  There was a big to-do about who was this mystery woman who wrote this book.  Eventually after she revealed herself (40 years later) it turns out she initially wrote the story as a series of love letters to her lover at the time who was an admirer of the Marquis de Sade.

Now with that being said, I think if you like the erotica genre and you want to read a little something something, hey to each his own.  I'm not so much into it, but this is one of those books that has been sitting on my shelf forever and a day.  I think I bought it used when I was in college in the late 90s.  Anyway, I always thought erotic stories were supposed to still include a little bit of love.  This story's main character, O, is beaten, raped in all orifices, gang raped, chained, burned, pierced and made to be submissive in every way.  Apparently she consents to all this, but every time something bad happens she's screaming and crying!  It's violent.  I glossed over most of those scenes.  She does all this because she supposedly loves this guy named Rene, but he just passes her off to the next guy, Sir Stephen, and he does all the same bullsh*t to her. Then she supposedly falls in love with Sir Stephen but he then hands her off to the next guy!  So essentially she is prostituted by the first boyfriend and passed along until by the end of the story she is completely objectified and is no longer really considered a person.  Nobody acknowledges her except to use her body.  It's horrible.  To top it all off, from the middle of the book onward, she is cajoled into trying to "recruit" more women into this sex slave business. If you do some research online you will find many treatises about how this book is an offense to women even though it was written by a woman.  I was disgusted by the degradation of the main character.  The fact that there was actually no real love story just made me feel like I was reading a crime novel because the things that were being done had absolutely nothing to do with love. 

It Worked for Me

This is a pretty quick read because a lot of points are repetitive.  I've always been a bit ambivalent about Colin Powell.  Military men work on a different spectrum than most of us, for better or for worse, so I don't judge what I don't completely understand.  This particular book is not so much about policy as it is about common sense ideas that you should implement in your life if you want to be successful.  Ideas such as working hard, don't complain about a problem but come up with solutions instead, be honest, be open, be upfront about challenges, take personal responsibility, and so on.  The first half of the book was actually pretty good.  As the book went on, though, some of the advice was recycled from the beginning but worded differently. Therefore, I thought it could have been pared down. 

Near the end of the book Powell discusses his infamous "WMD" UN speech in 2003 and how it will eternally be a "blot" on his record. He openly contemplates where things went wrong and he turns a number of rhetorical questions over to the reader.  However, in an earlier part of the book he says that you must know when you've had a good run and when it's time to get off the train.  So I found myself thinking that it's ironic he wrote that little piece of advice, yet failed to take it.  It seems to me that he had a good run with Presidents Reagan and Bush Sr. If he got off the train then and stayed off perhaps he wouldn't have been in this predicament with Bush Jr.  Powell doesn't allude to that.  It is merely an observation of mine after reading this.  Maybe this advice of his was 20/20 hindsight.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

First let me start by saying the hardcover dust jacket glows in the dark.  While some may say "so what?" I thought it was an awesome feature. When I was reading at night, I would put the book on my nightstand and turn off the light so I could go to sleep and there it was beckoning me to keep reading. The story was great because it does three things that you want a story to do.  First, it draws you in, then it keeps you interested and, finally, it gives your mind something to chew on long after it's over.  The premise of the story is that a young man works at an odd bookstore with odd patrons.  Curiosity soon gets the better of him and he dives into the mystery of Codex Vitae.  Along the way there is always this undercurrent of technology vs. old-school learning.  We depend so much on technology now that one has to wonder if we are actually losing knowledge that is right in front of our eyes by chasing the next new thing instead.  I know it's only the fifth day of the new year, but I think this is going down as one of my favorites.

I Declare

I wanted to start 2013 off right.  I am a big fan of Joel Osteen because his positivity is infectious.  So I read this as my first book of 2013.  I really like the declarations he has in the book. I am a firm believer that if you speak positivity over your life you will be prosperous.  I got this book from the library, but I think I will go out and purchase it.  There are declarations for every day in the course of one month (31 declarations).  It is impossible to just read this once and think it's all memorized.  We all need daily reminders to stay above the fray and if you are a believer in Christ, this book is full of daily reminders that God intends the best for your life.  You just have to believe it and receive it.