I started a new degree in September. Oh, yes I did... I started school in September and totally and completed fell off the blog. However, I am proud to say that I did not stop reading. I have, between books for school and books for fun, read seven books to add to the blog. I will try to get to most of them soon, so that I'm caught up. This term I've only chosen one class, instead of two, so I should have a somewhat better balance of time!
The Orenda ended up on my Goodreads list from a Buzzfeed list about 'Books you won't be able to put down'. I often read those lists, and if a book sounds amazing, I'll add it to my to-read list on Goodreads. That list has ballooned to over 150 books. My house contains hundreds upon hundreds that I also have not read. Yet somehow I keep buying books!
I didn't realize that The Orenda was a critically acclaimed book this past year, or that so many of my friends and colleagues were either reading it or wanted to do so. I just felt like getting a good long book, and picked this one.
The Orenda is a journey of astounding composition. I can genuinely say that all Canadians, each and every one, should read this book. It is an important piece of history, though it is historical fiction - it depicts in heart-wrenching detail the truth and the humanity behind the history of early contact between First Nations and Europeans.
Unlike the Buzzfeed list title, I could indeed put this book down. In fact, it took some time for me to get into it (probably the first hundred pages or so), and there were times further along that my heart needed a break. This book is a heavy, difficult read that will add value, knowledge and perspective to the life of all Canadians, especially those who are not familiar with First Nations history. But it is heavy. Even sitting and writing this blog, I think back on some of the book and realize how profoundly and permanently impactful it was. It is not casual reading - it demands your attention, and occasionally stabs you with its reality and truth.
But read it. Please, please read it.
Title: The Orenda
Author: Joseph Boyden
Published: 2013
Pages: 501
Total Books Blogged: 36
Total Pages: 10,773
Showing posts with label Award-winning Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Award-winning Books. Show all posts
Monday, 11 January 2016
Wednesday, 5 August 2015
Completed: Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons; also, The Tayinat List
Once upon a time, in 2005, I was on an archaeological excavation in southern Turkey. We flew in and out of an airport about 2 hours' drive away. On the very last night, we all sat up in our outside hang-out space - it was lovingly known as the Languidarium. The flight was at maybe 6 in the morning. But this meant heading for the airport at about 3. We chose not to sleep before we left.
I passed around a piece of paper. I asked everyone to contribute books that they thought I shouldn't live my life without reading, for whatever reason mattered to them. I got a varied and eclectic list. And although Watchmen got mentioned that night (for some reason I remember it distinctly), it is not in fact on the list. But lots of other great books are. I've read 11 of them:
I passed around a piece of paper. I asked everyone to contribute books that they thought I shouldn't live my life without reading, for whatever reason mattered to them. I got a varied and eclectic list. And although Watchmen got mentioned that night (for some reason I remember it distinctly), it is not in fact on the list. But lots of other great books are. I've read 11 of them:
- Life of Pi
- Memoirs of a Geisha
- Eats, Shoots and Leaves
- Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
- My Name is Red (very much NOT my favorite book - took me 8 months to force myself to finish)
- The Bluffer's Guide to Archaeology
- Away by Jane Urquhart
- Baghdad Without a Map
- Pillars of the Earth (one of my all-time favorite books)
- Eye of the Needle
- Murder in Mesopotamia
I haven't read more, mostly because I tend to forget about the list - though I still have the original piece of paper:
So - should I get around to reading any more of these books, I'll tag them with The Tayinat List tag (Tayinat being the site I was working at), so that they're recognized as pieces of contribution by my colleagues that summer to my reading enjoyment (except for My Name is Red - that book was just terrible to me!).
OK so back to Watchmen (which I always want to call The Watchmen, but it's not). This book is in the Time Magazine Top 100 Best Novels (of all years since 1923, all genres). It is one that has been made into a movie - a movie I did not watch, as I always try to read the book first.
This was my first graphic novel, and I've never really read comic books or anything either.
So, with that precursor, this was not my favorite book. I truly understand some of the brilliance in the writing, in the story, and in the implications of the subject matter. But I really had to make myself read it - it didn't grip me, and having now read a graphic novel, I'm not sure if it is my favorite medium to read. So I guess this is a classic where I understand why it's a classic, but it's also really not my thing.
My favorite pieces were Dr. Manhattan's reflections - on himself, on earth, on humanity. I loved his perspective, despite its heartbreaking coldness at times.In chapter IV, he talked about stars - that was my favorite quote, so here you go - upon reflecting on an old photograph of him and Janey: "I am going to look at the stars. They are so far away and their light takes so long to reach us... All we ever see of stars are their old photographs."
Title: Watchmen
Author: Alan Moore. Illustrated and lettered by Dave Gibbons
Published: 2008
Pages: Amazon tells me it's 416
Total books blogged: 32
Total pages: 9238
Thursday, 18 June 2015
Completed: Louisbourg Portraits by Christopher Moore
As a fan of both history and human stories, I thought I would absolutely love this book. In truth, I enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as I thought I would.
I think it is difficult to write something like what Moore has tried to do. He wanted to write an accurate historical portrayal of true histories of these people, but also tried to write them to be as fun as a fictional tale of adventure. He succeeded in some respects, but a true 'story' doesn't have as many maybes and perhapses as Moore's writing does. I think that's where I lost interest a bit. I recognize that he was, indeed, telling a history rather than a historically-inspired story. I just can't help but feel that I would have become more submerged in the stories if they had used a bit of 'inspired by' instead of 'historically, it went down in one of these ways to the best of our knowledge'.
For the history itself, I was entirely unfamiliar with Louisbourg, and the fact that Ile Royale was important enough to compete with New England on an international stage. This is a piece of Canadian history that I did not know. (I have had several conversations with fellow Canadians about this book, and so I don't think I'm ENTIRELY alone in not knowing, but I still feel a bit doofish). This is one of many reasons why I am excited to be going back to school for history in the fall - the history that I don't yet even know the basics of, in many ways. I randomly selected this book from the bargain book bin at the university bookstore and learned something new. I'm so stoked for what is yet to come from my upcoming history courses!
Total Books Blogged: 29
Total Pages: 8184
I think it is difficult to write something like what Moore has tried to do. He wanted to write an accurate historical portrayal of true histories of these people, but also tried to write them to be as fun as a fictional tale of adventure. He succeeded in some respects, but a true 'story' doesn't have as many maybes and perhapses as Moore's writing does. I think that's where I lost interest a bit. I recognize that he was, indeed, telling a history rather than a historically-inspired story. I just can't help but feel that I would have become more submerged in the stories if they had used a bit of 'inspired by' instead of 'historically, it went down in one of these ways to the best of our knowledge'.
For the history itself, I was entirely unfamiliar with Louisbourg, and the fact that Ile Royale was important enough to compete with New England on an international stage. This is a piece of Canadian history that I did not know. (I have had several conversations with fellow Canadians about this book, and so I don't think I'm ENTIRELY alone in not knowing, but I still feel a bit doofish). This is one of many reasons why I am excited to be going back to school for history in the fall - the history that I don't yet even know the basics of, in many ways. I randomly selected this book from the bargain book bin at the university bookstore and learned something new. I'm so stoked for what is yet to come from my upcoming history courses!
Title: Louisbourg Portraits - Five Dramatic, True Tales of People Who Lived in an Eighteenth-Century Garrison Town
Author: Christopher Moore
Published: 2000 (originally 1982)
Pages: 270Total Books Blogged: 29
Total Pages: 8184
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)