Watership Down

In Watership Down, Richard Adams creates a rich world that could easily exist right under our noses.  The world that Adams' rabbits live in is full of dangers and is affected greatly by humans (who are constantly smoking!) as well as domesticated animals and wild ones alike.  Each rabbit in the story has a unique personality and as a whole, the rabbits interact much like you might expect humans to.  Some are leaders and some are followers.  Some are warriors and some are sages.  These characters are what drew me quickly into their world as I followed their adventures. 

The Bible, many "books" in one!

At the very end of 2009, I signed up and pledged to read the Bible in 90 days. We started on January 1 and I finished on March 29. Just 88 days, and I read the entire Bible. I'm still wrapping my head around the whole experience which I blogged about here.

Reading the Bible in (less than) 90 days involves reading about an hour a day - 12 pages - and staying caught up if you miss a day. I knew that this endeavor would take me a way from my reading goals here, so I decided to count each book of the Bible towards my total reading goal. Cheating? I think it depends who you ask, and I am in charge here, so I say it is not cheating. So there. :-)

There are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament for a total of 66 books. I've updated my totals in the side bar for items 44-47, and I've completed #45!

Now my final goals for reading seem achievable and I am on track to finish a few more of the items here before June. I do remember when June 2010 seemed so far away! Wow, the time flies.

A Long Way From Chicago & A Year Down Yonder

A Long Way From Chicago and A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck.

These books were recommended to me by my brother. Since A Year Down Yonder is the sequel to A Long Way From Chicago I felt that they should be reviewed together. In a way, the sequel is just the next chapter in the lives of Joey and Mary Alice (although, more so Mary Alice). The characters, especially Grandma Dowdel, jump off the page. Set in the time around and about The Great Depression, there are plenty of historical references scattered throughout in the best way possible - you hardly even realize they are there. They are just part of the story. And Grandma Dowdel is such a complex character. At the beginning of the story, she is almost scary in that she is completely unknown to Joey and Mary Alice. By the end of A Year Down Yonder, she had her grandchildren have formed a very strong bond that none of them had ever imagined.

This is a laugh-out-loud comedy as well as a story of family. You just never know what the heck Gramdma Dowdel is going to do next. Sometimes it seems that she doesn't even know what she is going to do next, but it turns out that she is much more cunning than she ever let on.

Both of these books are fantastic reads and definitely worthy of a second read someday.

Things my Girlfriend and I Have Argued About

Things my Girlfriend and I Have Argued About, by Mil Millington is absolutely hilarious. My friend Melissa recommended it to me, so I picked it up at the library when I was there. It was a quick read, despite being almost 400 pages long. It had me laughing out loud at every turn. I was surprised at how much the novel flowed even though it was cleverly disguised as a collection of short stories. Some of the language used is very colourful, but I would definitely recommend this to anyone. The author (and the main character) are from the UK so it has a wonderful English humor mixed with a bit of crudeness and many surprising twists and turns of plot.

Many, many thanks to Melissa to recommending this wonderfully entertaining book!

Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn

Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn (Recommended by Jacquin)

This book was really an awesome read. The message of this book is basically that we are doing it all wrong - and have been for what our culture considers "the beginning of time". Throughout many parts of this book I found myself thinking "wow, yeah... but so what? how can we change?" And that was even addressed at the end of the book.

One thing that surprised me was that at no time did this book make me cry. There are a few emotional parts in it and I didn't even bat an eye! This is completely out of character for me - I mean, I cry at cotton commercials for goodness sake! I think one of the reasons I didn't cry is because this book is heavily intellectual. I found myself not being able to read this before bed just because my brain could not properly process the information. This book makes you THINK (omg, ohones).

There are 2 books that are semi-sequels to this novel, and I'm definitely going to be adding them to my reading list. Daniel Quinn's writing style is unique in that he is able to portray mundane aspects of life one minute, and then explain complex concepts the next. I'm not sure if these two different things flow well when he writes them, but it definitely begins to show some serious juxtaposition - thus illustrating the entire point of the book.

I feel like delving into the plot at all is just a complete spoiler, so go read it for yourself!

The Westing Game

I just finished reading The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin. Matt recommended this one, but I've read it time and time again. I think the first time through, it gave me nightmares. Ever since that first read, though, I've tried to see if I can figure out the answer to Mr. Westing's game before the heirs. However, this is difficult since I already know a major piece of the puzzle. I've taken to reading it and trying to figure out who knew what. I debated taking notes or making a diagram this time around, but I decided against it. I just enjoyed reading.

There is one interesting thing about Ellen Raskin's writing style for The Westing Game. If you tried to define who's point of view it is written from, you'd have a great deal of trouble. Sometimes point of view seems to switch from sentence to sentence, however, it only creates planned confusion. Raskin wants the reader of the book to have to work at keeping track of what clues have been spilled and who suspects whom(?). Another great literary device that she uses is the unreliable narrator. In fact, there is rarely a fact told that the reader is absolutely certain to be true! It really makes for great twists in this mystery.