‘Catch-22′ by Joseph Heller

I grabbed this book from the bookshelf thinking it was on the top 100 list, only to get home and discover it wasn’t. I still read it and now I believe it should definitely be on the list. Maybe after I have read all the 100 I will create my own.

This book is laugh out loud funny but the underlying current is one of sadness and madness. Set during World War II a group of American army pilots are faced with the routines of daily soldier life while trying stay sane and perform outlandish mission runs.

What made this book enjoyable and funny for me was the characters. Yossarian and Dunbar are sarcastic and have this repartee with each other. However their conversations generally consisted of the horrors of war and the political correct bullshit that goes with it.

Although the story is set in the final stages of World War II the funny and sad thing is that is book is still so relevant today. Wars are still being fought and young men are being sent either to their death beds or the loony bins. How can we read books like this and not learn anything. Yes the story is humorous at times but there is also much deeper, darker side.

‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ by Tracy Chevalier

It was about time that I got back on track with my list and finally I found one. I read this book in two days, I couldn’t put it down. My boyfriend says that I am cancer for books, I just eat right through them and with this book it was so true.

It is such an easy read with an engaging story. The story is based on the painting of the same name. Tracey Chevalier creates a fictional history for the  creation of this remarkable, well known painting.

Griet is a young women whose family is thrust in to poverty when her father has an accident at work. She is forced to leave her home and cross in to the Catholic quarter and serve in the house of the dutch painter Johannes Vemeer. Griet is curious of her masters vocation and through him she learns to understand his painting visions and techniques.

The relationship that develops between Vemeer and Griet is one of master and apprentice but also the fact that he is master of the house and she a young, female servant cast a sinister shadow. Deeper feelings are developed and tested when Vemeer’s patron commissions a portrait.

I found it fascinate that someone could create a whole world around a simple painting of a young girl looking over her shoulder. It was also nice that the story explained the artistic creation of the painting, the making of paints and the lighting etc. I do wonder though how many people will read this book and take it for fact because it is so convincing.

After reading the book I really wanted to watch the movie. I did watch it and I have to say I was so horribly disappointed. If you don’t have a budget to make the movie long enough to build the characters relationships and fill in all the required details then don’t make the movie. Please if you are thinking about watching the movie, skip it and read the book instead, in that you won’t be disappointed.

‘The Last of the Mohicans’ by James Fenimore Cooper

This is another treasure I unearthed in my local second hand bookshop. I must have been one of the few people not to have seen this movie and decided it best to read the book first. Now my only hope is that the movie lives up to the book.

This was one hell of a ride. When I first started the book the beginning chapters nearly bored me to sleep. The passages about the scenery and the river nearly had me shutting the book but not one to give up I persevered and I am glad I did.

Hawk-eye (no not the guy from MASH…but isn’t he named after this character?) is a white man who feels a stronger connection to his Mohican friends that to his Colonial American society. While hunting with his companions  Chingachgook and Uncas they encounter an English party trying to make it to the safety of the English Fort. Deciding that this is no place for armatures, Hawk-eye and his Indian friends help to escort the party.

This turns out to be a perilous, sadistic road-trip that no one would willingly take. I tore the up pages, I could not read them quick enough. The flowing words and the heat of the battle urge you to read as fast as you can in order to find out what happens next.

Fast moving, bloody and adventurous this is definitely one for the guys and anyone that enjoys a true to life good versus evil story. It does have some horrific scenes but also  some very touching ones. I found myself saddened at the decrease/ loss of Indian culture ended the book in tears. I am glad to have read this story. This should have been on the top 100.

‘The Intuitionist’ by Colson Whitehead

Once again unfortunately this is not a book from my list. I found this book in a second hand shop for the bargain price of 1.50 Euro, cheaper than a cup of coffee. I have to say that is satisfied me for longer than a coffee.

Lila Mae Watson is the first black female elevator inspector in history. Not only is she black and female she is also an Intuitionist. In the elevator inspector trade there are two types Intuitionists who feel the problems without inspection and the Epiricists who believe a thorough inspection is the only way. There is a political war waging between these two disciplines and Lila as some how gotten herself in the middle of it.

Lila is an interesting character, she is quiet and dutiful but to me rather dull. Until an incident occurs for which she gets the blame then her life is turned upside and a little more exciting.  I think if she hadn’t been caught up in the world of double crossing and suspicion she would have just melted in to the background without anyone knowing she existed.

This book is really unusal and surreal. I would never have thought about elevator or inspectors as the scenes and characters for a book. Now whenever I get into and elevator I think of the people behind it. The book has a Citizen Kane, Big Brother vibe about it and combined with the crampness and obsesivness of the elevators and inspectors this book leaves you with an uneasy sort of feeling.

I liked this book but at times I was not so much confused as mystified with how someone dreamed up the idea. It goes to show that eveyone has a story to tell and we just need to find how to do.

‘Vanity Fair’ by William Makepeace Thackeray

I am reading lots of books and yet my 100 list is not shrinking. There are so many books to read and so little time. I need to get back on track, this however is not on the list but an English classic none the less.

This book reminded me a little of  Sister Carrie in the fact that in both books the heroine or female lead is someone that is not particularly nice or easy to warm up to. In Vanity Fair this character is Becky Sharp. She is pretty, quick witted and ruthless when it comes to making her way to the top rung of English Society.

The other leading character is Amelia. As cold and ruthless Becky is Amelia is the exact opposite . Amelia is quiet, loving, a mother like character, soft and round compared to Becky’s sharp pointed edges.

Both of these girls have different goals in life, Becky wants to be known, rich and awed where as Amelia just wants her George. Vanity Fair tells the story of these two women trying to get what they want out of life in very different ways.

I think most women can relate to this book, whether we are a Becky trying to get what we want at any cost or we are the Amelia with a distant friend like Becky. This story can still relate so well to today. I would say it is a must read for every woman. Men can read this two if they want but some how I doubt they will relate.

On a side note after reading the book I decided to watch the movie with Reese Witherspoon as Becky. I was very disappointed, they tried to make her nice and portray that what she did was necessary. The most annoying part was with the Marquise de Steyne but in case you haven’t read the book I won’t tell you what happened you have to find out for yourself.

Book Snob

I fear that I am becoming a book snob. While browsing the bookshelves I turn my nose up at anything that is a romance or a crime novel (the majority of English books available here). I am searching for the book that grabs me, a story that I can relate to. I want something more than a body turning up in a river or the girl meeting guy story. Does this make me a book snob?

I want a challenge, I want,… I don’t know what I want, I guess that is the biggest problem. I dont know what I want but when I find it I will know it. Any suggestions of books, places to find a better selection of English books in Berlin?

‘The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao’ by Junot Diaz

Honestly, I have to say that once you start reading a book it has to be terrible before you put it down and decide not to read it anymore at all. Actually, that only happened a few times in my life. Then there are books that you start reading and you can’t put down because they are so well written and hold your attention for a very long time – and even after finishing it. This one falls into a very special category, because “The Brief Wondrous Life” by Junot Diaz is definitely not an easy book. It takes a long time to get into it, mainly because it’s written in a very unique style with lots of drifts that go beyond the main storyline. Also, the many characters that are described all have their own ups and downs (well, mainly downs), their own stories and – to a certain degree – tragic lifes.

The main character is Oscar although more than half the book covers the stories of his mother, sister and other people around him. Oscar is a typical loser – fat, nerdy, glasses, can’t communicate normally, never had sex. You instantly feel sorry for him and take his side. I wonder if in real life we would have the guts to really help out such a guy. He also doesn’t want to be helped because he thinks he’s so far beyond any help that he retreats into his own world quite often. His own world being Dungeons & Dragons games, Anime movies, Fantasy Books and any other kind of media that a “normal” person would associate with “nerdiness”. Oscar strives to be the new Tolkien and to get laid. Two goals that couldn’t contradict each other more, I would say.

Other characters of the book are Oscar’s sister and his mother as well as a various people that cross and influence their lives. In the end their stories and lives somehow merge into one (rather sad) fate. What makes you feel for them is not the tragedy or challenges that seem to follow them on every step they take but the fact that the author, Junot Diaz, is able to make it sound real. A Puerto Rican family migrating to the US and the younger generations facing the cultural and demographic challenges – in theory a perfect place for lots of cliches and fuzzy, feel good happy endings. Not so with Junot Diaz. No artificial language, just extremely well paced storytelling. The lengthy footnotes can be a bit distracting and hard to understand sometimes (I am not an expert on Puerto Rican history… and I assume I am not the only one) but they add a lot to the atmosphere once you get used to that particular way of writing. Also, moving back and forth in time, telling stories from various points of view and really not knowing how it will all end can be very difficult in times but also makes the greatness of this book.

There are few books that hold my attention for a long time after I have finished reading them. To me that’s the best indicator of whether it has been good (excellent in this case) and giving me more than just a good time while reading it. It’s definitely not easy to read (not at all) but the effort is worth it and I would be surprised if there’s anyone who has read it and doesn’t like it. (Guest Review written by Ole Brandenburg).

‘The Once and Future King’ by T.H. White

I am generally not the biggest fan of fantasy books. I know some people and that is all they read but I like variety. I found this book on my boyfriend’s mum’s bookshelf. There are many, many books here all about the Celts, King Arthur and the dark ages, though very few are in English. This one and a few I found are in English and it looked interesting enough. One problem was that the book didn’t last me long enough.

The Once and Future King tells the life story of King Arthur right up to but not including his death. The beginning of the book starts with a small boy (Arthur) and his tutor (Merlin); the bond of education and friendship developing between them. This first part of the book is almost like The Sword in the Stone Disney movie. Merlin is an old man who wears the pointy magicians hat and the long astrological robes. The first books is in fact titled “The Sword in the Stone” and this part of the story is almost like a children’s story and not really a serious “adult” novel.

The most interesting thing about this story and that of King Arthur is that, depending on which version you read, the characters change not just in personality but also in physically appearance. Of course the story would not be complete without the unfortunate love story of Gwen and Lancelot. Reading this part of the book I felt sorry for Arthur but also for Lancelot. It is portrayed that he didn’t intentionally want to fall in love with Gwen but did and subsequently could not live without her. The person I felt the least compassion for in the triangle is Gwen – at times she was cold, unfeeling and unlikeable.

I liked this book, it gave me a broad understanding of the story of Arthur and his knights at the round table (I always thought there was 12 but in this story there is upwards of 100 knights at the table). I was however disappointed that they didn’t include Arthur’s death but I am sure I can read about it elsewhere. This isn’t a complicated book to read and it was something simple to break up the monotony of reading intense challenging stories.

‘Rule of Night’ by Trevor Hoyle

There is a small bookshop just across the road and down a little from our apartment. Being a German bookshop I expected everything to be in German but I decided to take a look any way. Tucked away in a little corner is an English literature section, most of the books here are German translations of English books but if keep searching you will eventually come across one or two books in English (I think I bought their entire English stock… 3 books). This is where I found this book. I decided to read it because on the back it said ‘cult classic’.

I have to say that I was disappointed with this book. It was really well written but I didn’t like the story or the characters. The story is set in the 70’s when teenagers are trying to find their own place in the world through mouthing off and fist fights. The main character is Kenny, a smart arsed lazy delinquent. Kenny can’t hold down a job, thinks with what’s between his legs and his idea of a good weekend is getting pissed and beating the crap out of someone. This is a guy that I found very difficult to relate to. In the end I thought he was an obnoxious prat and didn’t really care what happened to him. I finished this book but not because I enjoyed it but because I was half way through and the effort to finish was not that great.

I personally didn’t like this book but if you are a fan of Fight Club, enjoy drinking for the sake of getting drunk and you can actually read then it is  probably the right book for you. This book is not one of my ‘classics’ and I am not part of the mob ‘cult’.

A thought….

“[The Arts] They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”

Kurt Vonnegut – A Man Without a Country.