The Book Blogger Hop

Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop!  Thank you to our host at Crazy for Books!  Take a look around.  A little bit about our blog:
We are a husband (-D) and wife (-L) team of bloggers, writing about extremely varied books.
We are attempting to get through a book a week this year (the wife is woefully behind).
We are happy to hear from you and get feedback; so please comment, comment, comment!

Lately I have been immersing myself in the book blog world (who knew it was so large).  I have found some great blogs that inspire.  Here's some links:

New Dork Review of Books
Page Turners
The Reading Ape
Book Lust

Enjoy!

-L

The Poisonwood Bible

Upon opening this week's book, I was immediately struck with the feeling I would never get through it.  The prose is so ethereal and without context.  My persistence was rewarded upon turning the first page of the first section: The Things We Carried.  I was suddenly immersed in a world of context narrated by the female relations of a missionary man from Georgia, setting himself and his family down in the strange land of the Congo at the precipice of independence.  His ignorance of almost everything in life leaves scars on his daughters, his wife, and even himself; only he is unable to recognize or admit them.  The tale of The Poisonwood Bible (by Barbara Kingsolver) is one of striving for the purpose of independence to find there is no such thing.  Oppression is the lot of all men in life - it is just a matter of one's perspective on their suffering.   Do you choose to submit under the hand of an angry god?  Do you choose to build a life of the scraps of hope you find along the way?  How will you survive a land so destructive even the jungle will creep in on you, seeking dominion, if you turn your back on it for a moment?

The themes of this book are worn on it's sleeve.  They permeate every page with an outspokenness that must fit the struggles for independence of all conquered nations.  If someone does not stand up and raise their voice, there will never be freedom, right?  In telling this story oppression must be defined.  Kingsolver accomplishes this through the first two books: Genesis and Revelation.  She identifies the major players in their respective roles of oppressor and oppressed, each a metaphor for the greater struggle for Congolese independence.  The third (Judges) serves as the wake-up-call to the consciousness of all involved.  There must be a paradigm shift; something must change.  The last four books cover the ground of independence sought and gained (?). 

Maybe it is just me, but the last couple of books really could have been left off.  Maybe it is the free person in me that understands the struggle, the attainment, that doesn't need reminders of a life of oppression left behind.  They slithered and crawled and worked their way free, I don't need a recap of the rest of their lives.  They are free, right?  Well, "not so much," says Kingsolver.  They only thought they were free, they were only free of certain things.  They still have the memories.  The memories will never free them, no matter how they deal with them.

Memory is the device of the narrators of this tale.  All is told in reminiscence.  All is recounted with the understanding of what happened in the end, where each person ended up.  In keeping with this Kingsolver foreshadows many of the plot points  in a heavy-handed way.  For the most part the reader knows what is going to happen well before the action takes place.  Somehow it doesn't mar the story.  It reads like a person telling a joke and letting slip the punchline, long before they are supposed to.  It doesn't mean it is not just as enjoyable, it is just not surprising. 

Memory also is the thing each person carries out of the Congo with them.  The memory of what has happened shapes the lives of each character.  Each character remains true to the original sketch of themselves, but because we are looking back, they tell only the things they think are important to who they are now.  Each one a pragmatist, a scholar, a narcissist, a survivor.  The reader gets from them just what they want to give; but cleverly, he knows more about them than they think he does.  This is due to the device of multiple narrators.  Kingsolver tells her story through the eyes of the Price women.  Each is a a fully realized character, with her own narrative style.  My favorite is Adah, the crooked-backed, palindrome spouting, lesser-twin to Leah.  Her story resonates more fully because she uses words sparingly and speaks even fewer.  Her chapters are rich because the reader would not know her otherwise.  Each of the other characters are easily understood through the telling of their counterparts; but because Adah is silent most of the time, she is privileged to tell her story her way.  She is easily one of the most compelling characters in modern literature. 

With memory comes regret.  Kingsolver deals with this in various ways, but no more clearly than here, the words of Orleanna Price:

Try to imagine what never happened: our family without Africa, or the Africa that would have been without us.  Look at your sisters now.  Lock, stock, and barrel, they've got their own three ways to live with our history.  Some can find it.  Many more never do.  But which one among you is without sin?  I can hardly think where to cast my stones, so I just go on keening for my own losses, trying to wear the marks of the boot on my back as gracefully as the Congo wears hers.

The scars remain; the bruises, and the illnesses never healed.  But the characters learn how to deal with regret, by understanding it must have been this way.  The story could not be told, but by walking down that particular road.  What they would have been otherwise is unthinkable; this is who they are now.

I could write a whole other post on the particulars of the theology that took them there.  A works-based system, insisting the justice (in human perception) of God would reward the "goodness" of a man bent on becoming a spiritual giant, without any of the tools necessary. I would set it against the backdrop of a tribal theology that is not very far displaced from the theology of the missionary, just set on a different focal point.  This could be discussed in grand detail to tedium by this humble church history (theology) major, but I have already said the most important stuff regarding this book.  Read it for yourself and discover a world of themes hidden just under the skin, like the zillion parasites of the Congolese jungle.  

Rating: 4.5 out of 7

-L

Reading Habits

We had a fellow book blogger stop by and post a comment earlier today, so we went by her blog to spy (ahem, check) on her.  Drew spotted the following questionnaire and said, "We could do that."  So we did.  Enjoy.

Do you snack while you read? If so, favourite reading snack:

L: Yes, often.  I do not have a favorite snack, but I refuse to eat popcorn while reading (buttery pages, no thank you).
D - I'm sure I do, but it's a little difficult to eat and read at the same time. I'll probably go with anything that I can drink while reading; made easier by the Nook. One handed reading without cramps!

What is your favourite drink while reading?
L: I am not so much on the hydration front (I get carried away and forget to drink); but if I remember: coffee.
D - Well, I like drinking just about anything except coffee. I'll take a soda (Dr.Pepper preferable, but that doesn't mean that I won't dumb myself down for Pepsi if that's all there is) or milk.
Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
L: I would love to mark my books, but Drew does not allow me (in certain books).  I will if it is a book I know he will not read.  But I have been making notes on index cards lately.
D - Sorry, but books are not made to be written in. If you want to take notes then you do it in a notepad, or on the computer. Funny that the wife wants to keep books looking like they've never been read, but then she'll write in them if she can. No sense.... not to mention, I don't want to buy a book that's been covered in ink other than the authors.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?
L: I am utterly opposed to dog-ears and laying the book flat.  Books are treasures.  One does not bend treasures.  How unthinkable!  To keep my place, I either remember the page number or use a piece of paper.
D - I'll use a bookmark with a real book, and the Nook takes care of it for you. This may be something for the last question, but the Nook allows you to add bookmarks if you want. I guess for keeping quotes fresh.

Fiction, non-fiction, or both?
L: Both, with a strong lean toward non-fiction
D - Both, with a strong lean toward fiction

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?
L: I can and will stop anywhere, but I believe the authors placed the chapter divisions for a reason.  Thus, reading the book this way works for me.
D - I'll usually read till I get tired and stop there. If I feel like I'm behind on the book I'm reading for the blog then I'll usually give myself goals on X amount of chapters, but that's rare. I'd prefer to read as much as I possibly can unless it's just a horrible book.
Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?
L: No.  There are better ways of expressing disgust, like closing the book.
D - It'd probably have to be something by Al Gore or Michael Moore, but that would be out of enjoyment AND irritation. Otherwise, if the book is boring, I'll set it aside for a few months and try again.
If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?
L:  I do not look it up right away unless I have a dictionary close by.  Otherwise, I write it down and look it up later.  But, context is king.
D - If I can't figure it out I'll ask Leah, and if she doesn't know then I might go check it out. Re-reading the paragraph will tend to give you an idea of what the author is trying to say.

What are you currently reading?
L: The Poisonwood Bible; Eats, Shoots, and Leaves; Letters to a Young Poet; The Light and the Glory; Taste and See; and 4 books of the Bible.
D - Reading Dark Tower IV by Stephen King and another Robert Jordan book. I'll probably a very short novel by Saki this weekend for the book blog. (got me beat this time!)

What is the last book you bought?
L:  H.P. Lovecraft Collected works (We took a cross-half-country journey last December in part in search of this book.  We found it less than 2 hours away from home, in the opposite direction)
D - I'm not too sure. It's either Dark Tower IV or a Glen Cook book. hmmm.......
Are you the type of person that reads one book at a time, or can you read more than one?
L:  Please see the above list.  But it is very out of the ordinary for me to be reading more than one book, the Bible, and a devotional-type book.
D - I'll tend to read three books at a time. I'll get in a Robert Jordan sized book(600+ pages), a non-fiction book(too boring to read all the way through without some relief), and a smaller book(200-400 pages). I just can't decide on what I want to read.
Do you have a favourite time/place to read?
L: No. But I love to read in the afternoon.  Every time I make a slow-cooker dinner, I look forward to using the afternoon to enjoy a good book.
D - Well, usually in bed or just in the bedroom, but I've been reading a lot downstairs in the living room. The chair is majorly uncomfortable, but that's where I have the nook charger.
Do you prefer series books or stand alones?
L: One-offs.  I have tried only one modern series I can think of and it was tedious because the author did not have his books edited properly.
D - I would say stand alone novels just b/c I don't want to be boxed in to what I actually read. If you look over the book blog you'd have to believe series books and that's pretty much the case. I love being able to sit down with an epic one day and end up a couple months later finally finishing it off. You figure you have a bakers dozen of Robert Jordan novels and 7,000 pages or more. LOVE IT!

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?
L:  Jeffrey Archer (any, but more specifically As The Crow Flies), Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Wolfe, Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
D - I keep on adding more authors to the list. I have Robert Jordan, Glen Cook, Tad Williams, Joe Abercrombie, and Weis/Hickman at the top of my list. I'll have you know that Cook and Abercrombie are on the list b/c my wife saw them at the bookstore and pointed them out.
How do you organize your books? (by genre, title, author's last name, etc.)
L:  By color (I bet there aren't many who will say that)
D - I don't have a specific way of organizing my books. Leah filled up the bookshelves and I happen to be relegated to two locations. I am in the far back middle of the last bookshelf. I'm assuming that's so HER friends can come by and she won't be embarrassed by my collection of Fantasy novels. Mind you, there's nothing risque about these! The other location is behind the door when you walk in and that's for my biographies and non-fiction. I have no clue why they get put there b/c we do share the same political and socio-economic ideals. Other than that, they'll get put by series and in random order.

Angels. Did you really mean Angels?

After taking so long to read the last book, I was relieved to find it was not a chronic condition as I read this week's book in just three evenings.  The choice this time around?  Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster.  What a delightful thing to find quotation marks after an entire novel of dialogue written directly into the text.  How lovely some punctuation marks are!

First observations upon reading this novel.  The dialogue is so much like a play that I could see it being performed upon a stage quite easily (at least the first couple of chapters).  Forster must have felt much the same as he drops hints to playwrights a couple times: "dropping like a curtain on the scene" and a mention of "horrible modern plays where no one is right."  Forster also makes glorious use of adjectival phrases.  He often couples them together in odd ways, creating a poetry-like quality to his prose.  I found myself writing down these couplets often and just thinking about how many authors do not think so much upon their adjectives as Forster must have.  He packed more descriptive dynamite in the short 114 pages than most authors do in 300.  It truly is something to behold.  Here are a few of my favorites:

glorious invariable creature...brief and inevitable tragedy...purple quivering beef...smart and vociferous...grating sprightliness....timorous, scrupulous...burly obtuseness

. 
And to think, he must have accomplished these feats of literary magic without the assistance of a thesaurus. 

The themes of this book are varied and interesting for the period.  The repression of women ( quotes: "as if she could choose what could make her happy!" and "the usual feminine incapacity for grasping philosophy") juxtaposed against the supreme mother rule of  a certain female character over most other players in her game (her son calls himself her "puppet" and does not think of "his own moral or behavior anymore.") is a theme that weaves its way through the entire novel.  As I was reading, it seemed one could make a case that Forster was one of the first feminist authors (sorry to Kate and Virginia).   He appeals to the plight of women, while pointing out their absolute authority over other women and men in certain social circles. 

Another theme picked up and then dropped as the novel progresses is hypocrisy as a social convention.  All the characters float through this world performing for societal acceptance rather than following their own hearts.  They maintain their social status by conforming to what they call "proper behavior."  All the while, their hearts betray them by their very words.  As most of the characters develop, the hypocrisy is not so easily hidden, and thus it becomes less evident.  The climax of the novel finds most of the characters laid bare, unable to hide their inner feelings any longer.  This incisive character study of both men and women by Forster is not just accurate for his day, it is a statement of the human condition for all ages.

The last theme worthy of discussion for this post is the abandonment of all moral strictures when on vacation.  There is something about getting out of one's comfort zone that strips one of all one's closely-held customs.  In the novel, each character that dares leave the comfort of Sawston, finds themselves utterly changed, doing surprising things and exploring feelings they would have never imagined.  Forster uses the change of scenery to depict a literal change in character and then mentions, late in the book, that people are more apt to notice change in others than in themselves who "hold [their own] characters immutable, slow to acknowledge they have changed even for the better."  He also speaks of one of the characters "changing her disposition never and her atmosphere under protest."  This is the one character who rebels the most against the strictures of her societal restraints upon being thrust into the world of Italy.

The last thing I kept track of whilst reading was the mention of angels.  Because I had never read this book before, nor had a read anything about it; I was unaware of the reason for the title.  Thus, I wrote down every mention of angels, thinking it would help me discover the purpose.  Well, for those of you who will in the future read this one, don't bother.  I discovered that the mention of angels is not important.  After reading the book,  I looked it up and found it is a reference to a quote from some other book: "For fools rush in where angels fear to tread." - Alexander Pope.  Don't I feel sheepish?  But, honestly, that fits a lot better than anything I came up with.  Would have been nice to have included this quote in the front page of the novel for us unlearned folk.

Rating:  4.5 out of 7

-L

I am Conservative Culture!

Let's just start off by saying that I was very surprised by this book. When I first read about it I thought that this could be a good read. When it arrived in the mail, I turned to the leaf and the first sentence stunned me. It read, "The main Hardball host Chris Matthews calls "the legendary R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr." has done it again. OH NO, they duped me into reading a book based off of some soft not-so-really conservative preaching that *Neo Conservatism Lives* (the asterisks are there to pretend that's being flashed on-and-off in bright lights - maybe a little big band music playing in the background). 


At that point, I had to put down After the Hangover: The Conservatives' Road to Recovery and wonder how I was going to get through this. And with a few sighs I started to read through R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.'s latest work and was incredibly surprised at how much I agreed with his view on real conservative thought. This is not a book that harangues the decades of conservative culture growth, but one that brings everything that is great and not-so-great to the table. As a young conservative of 30 I didn't know about the roots that were put down for the American conservative. We are an inclusive bunch that desires the greatness of American values, or American Exceptionalism. Emmett does a great job of giving the history of the culture and some of the great intellectuals that have placed their stamp on it.


It's wasn't all roses though. After the Hangover doesn't start off as well as I would prefer. Tyrrell Jr. does talk about his other books throughout the first chapter and that wasn't that interesting to me. But after that this book is tough to put down. That's saying a lot considering that it's political non-fiction and I usually read fantasy. I'm not so sure a Liberal would read this and agree with everything that the author states, but it hits home for me. In fact, the best chapter is the last chapter. He lays out the reforms necessary for America to become prosperous, and to root it's foundation in firm principles. If you just read this last chapter, you'd be missing out on the rest of a great book, but at least you would have a coherent look at how great of a country we can be.


-D


Rating: 8 of 10! Thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend to anyone willing to look a little deeper into the conservative mind. 


Note: I think I'm supposed to mention that I received this book for free from BookSneeze. I would spend money on this book though. It deserves a space in my library, and I hope that I can someday point to it and tell someone that our government decided to implement conservative ideas and that is why we're prosperous today. 

Robinson

I have been toiling away attempting to read a book consisting of 206 pages for the last 2 1/2 weeks.  I am not sure how this has happened other than to say the name of the book is Robinson Crusoe.  My thoughts on this book are many, so this post may be a bit long.  I will attempt to divide them into observations.
Observation 1:  the details.  This is often called the first English novel.  As such, it is an autobiographical novel with no chapters, no line breaks, no divisions.  The sentence structure is hypergrammatical and long.  Paragraphs feel like they go on for days and go into too much detail.  It is tedious, woefully tedious.
Observation 2: the issue of plagiarism.  I know, I know you must be thinking, "Plagiarism, how can the first English novel be plagiarized."  Well, I am not accusing anyone of plagiarism in Daniel Defoe's day, but I certainly found more than a passing similarity between Robinson Crusoe and Life of Pi (my previous review here).  I remember being outraged around page 50 at the way that Robinson Crusoe and Pi Patel's paths seemed to be running parallel.   As I read on, I discovered the themes of the books must be the same.  One must explore the process of survival in a desperate situation to an exhausting degree (for believability sake, I guess).  One must have a background in faith tested and changed over the course of the stranding.  But it was a bit disheartening to know that Yann Martel's Life of Pi was really just a restructuring of an already trod story.  As a note on this: Yann Martel was also accused of plagiarizing another book, but after speaking with the author of the other book, the other author dropped his case.  I wonder if Defoe and Martel had some sort of medium-coerced meeting that would make all claims of plagiarism of Robinson Crusoe moot, too?
Observation 3: the verdict.  So far it seems like after reading one book, I despised two books.  Well, that is not necessarily the case.  Although reading the story of Robinson Crusoe after reading the story of Pi Patel instilled in me again that everything must go in order; I actually ended up liking (to a degree) both books.  Robinson Crusoe, in particular, is filled with the most amazing quotes.  It is absolutely unbelievable in it's plot line, tedious in the telling, and a little long on ending; but there are these moments where the book shines.  I believe the book to be a cross between novel and theological treatise.  As I was a Church History (Theology) major in college, this intrigued me greatly.  I found myself wading through the waist deep, soporific story line to get to the parts where Robinson speaks of faith.
Observation 4:  the gospel.  The book is largely a book of faith (must be why they don't assign it in public schools anymore).  It tells the story of a man who is regretful of all his wrong choices, finds faith in God, lives his life according to faith's principles and shares his faith with another.  In the middle of the telling are some of the most thought-provoking statements on the nature of faith, humanity and God.  Robinson said of himself early in the book, he "was born to be [his] own destroyer," "the willful agent of all [his] own miseries."  He speaks of prodigal sons in their youth:

[T]hey are not ashamed to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent; not ashamed of the action, for which they ought justly to be esteemed fools; but are ashamed of the returning, which can only make them be esteemed wise men.

  Thus Robinson, being youthful, travels on the sea and begins a life of many terrors.  He of, course ends up shipwrecked on a desert island and stays there under the hand of Providence for almost 30 years.  During this time, he begins to create a life around him from the things he salvaged from the wreckage of the ship.  A few years in, he discovers the work of God in providing him these things and works out the struggle to survive as a work of God: 

How mercifully can our Creator treat His creatures, even in those conditions in which they seemed to be overwhelmed in destruction! How can He sweeten the bitterest providences, and give us cause to praise Him for dungeons and prisons! What a table was here spread for me in a wilderness, where I saw nothing, at first, but to perish for hunger.

Robinson survives not because of his strength or his ingenuity, but because he works under the hand of Providence with what he has.  He lives on his island, not in a state of fear and terror, but of serenity and calm.  The disruption of his calm, by certain events, causes him to ruminate on the protection of God even from one's own thoughts: 

How infinitely good that Providence is, which has provided, in its government of mankind, such narrow bounds to his sight and knowledge of things; and though he walks in the midst of many thousand dangers, the sight of which, if discovered to him, would distract his mind and sink his spirits, he is kept serene of the dangers which surround him.

The story of Robinson is the story of redemption and sanctification.  There is a weight of sin, a realization of that weight, a Savior found, a faith placed, and a life lived in thankfulness for the removal of the weight. 
Observation 5:  If you decide, based upon this review, to pick up this book and read it; I advise you to stop reading at the point where Robinson Crusoe sails home.  The rest of the book is unnecessary and boring.  It does not further the story in any way.  But I do cut Defoe a little slack because he was writing a new form of fiction altogether.  We can't expect him to get it right the first time, can we?

Rating: 4.62 out of 7

-L

Robert Jordan Cheat Sheet

http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=13372

Thought that was an interesting link on a Robert Jordan re-read section. Basically, if you don't want to spend the time to read the books yourself you can get a semi-brief synopsis from someone who is willing to read the books. I don't recommend it and I will not spend the time reading the re-read, but might be fun if you're looking for someone else's opinion.