A Dozen (Legit) New Books

The good news is that despite the fact that I've been neglecting this blog, I have been reading. The bad news is that I now have 12 books to write about... so this may be a long post.
The List Is!

45. Brave New World- Aldous Huxley
46. The World According to Garp- John Irving
47. The Lovely Bones- Alice Sebold
48. Equus- Peter Shaffer
49. Frankenstein- Mary Shelley
50. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (UK)- J. K. Rowling
51. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (UK)- J. K. Rowling
52. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (UK)- J. K. Rowling
53. The Glass Menagerie- Tennessee Williams
54. Mrs. Warren's Profession- George Bernard Shaw
55. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (UK)- J. K. Rowling
56. Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar- Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein

I suppose I should begin at the beginning.
Actually, I don't think this will be too long. As a few of these were rereads, and thus, I have little to write about most of them.

Brave New World- I wrote about it a few posts ago. I wrote quite a bit about it as well. I reread it to study for a test. It struck me that it is probably one of the least scary utopia novels that I've read. I mean, I loved the principles of 1984 when I first read it, but now I'm sure I'd be more frightened by it since I'm no longer a 12-year-old-communist. But BNW just seems a little... juvenile. I think it should be taught earlier, maybe in 9th grade.

The World According to Garp- Man, I wish I'd written about this one right after I read it. It was excellent, and I had a lot of things that I wanted to write about it, but now many of them have slipped my mind.
I thought it was an interesting, and although soap-opera-ish, an oddly realistic picture. I admire Jenny Fields (Garp's mother), but disliked her followers, though I appreciated the role that they played in the book. I generally liked Garp, though I thought that his writing was awful. He was an admirable father, if not an admirable husband. My favorite character was definitely Helen. She reminded me a lot of myself (Wow, it sounds fairly cocky to say that my favorite character is the one "like me"). But really, I think we shared a few traits. Like a certain level of emotional detachment, the ability to criticize frankly, a need for power, and a certain amount of stubbornness. Though, one striking difference, I've never bitten off a man's penis.
The only death that I really was at all upset over was Garp's son. Everyone else... to a certain extent, seemed to deserve it.
Roberta (formerly Robert) reminded me oddly of Hagrid. They're both hulking but sensitive figures with intense loyalty to their idols (Jenny and Dumbledore respectively) who provide comic relief. That being said, I've never liked Hagrid much, and I didn't particularly care for Roberta.

The Lovely Bones- I don't get it. It was hyped up so much, and I honestly didn't find it that interesting. I didn't find the rape scenes (or really any scenes) to be emotional or terribly disturbing. The characters were bland and most were underdeveloped. Bored... not going to write anymore.

Equus- SO GOOD. I love plays, and I especially love psychological dramas. I found Alan's story interesting, but even more so, I loved Dysart's story. It was more frank and sincere. Alan's seemed a little bit.... fantastic. Dysart's emotions, however, felt raw and genuine. Also, it made me want to go horseback riding (in a non-masturbatory way...). I really really miss riding.
I'd love to be able to see it. Anyone want to buy me tickets?

Frankenstein- This is the third time I've read it this year. I reread it to study for finals. It sucks more and more each time. Pft.

Harry Potter 1-4; UK editions: I'm just going to lump these together. I've read them all so many times, and discussed them all completely to death on mugglenet in addition to reading every decent editorial and 4 nonfiction books on Harry Potter. Plus I listed to Mugglecast for years. And I'm currently listening to Wrock. So I don't really feel the need to comment on plot and characters. Because it's clear that I really like the series.
Though, I should mention, I think that my least favorite book is actually the 2nd, not the 4th. I've never adored either, but I always thought the 2nd was better, although it's been close.
Also- UK-ness! It was funny to see the little changes. Like revising=studying; jumpers=sweaters; practise=practise; Rear-Admiral=rear admiral (yes, I caught a capitalization difference. I felt proud.); knitted tank top=sweater vest (that was my favorite); and a ton more that I don't feel like listing. But I enjoyed them.

The Glass Menagerie- I bought a book, "6 Great Modern Plays", for a dollar at a garage sale. They're not super modern (the book was published in 1967), but I was super excited to start. I love turn-of-the-century-era plays. I began with tGM. Honestly, not my favorite play. I had heard it was amazing... but it really didn't strike me as especially special. Maybe I'm missing the point... or the deeper meaning.

Mrs. Warren's Profession- SO GOOD! I love Shaw. This play was the first modern play to deal openly with prostitution. It was really interesting and I loved the discussion on predestination and the role of circumstances in directing the course of a person's life. I've always disagreed with Dumbledore's "Far more than our abilities, it is our choices that make us who we truly are." I think that it is our circumstances, our molecular composition, and the events that led up to our lives. I believe only in practical free will, and thus consider myself a soft determinist (borderline hard determinist). Vivie (Mrs. Warren's daughter) originally starts out agreeing with me, switches sides, and then comes back. I found it interesting.

Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar- SO GOOD! This actually got a 9.5/10 for my excel file. I've only given 9s to 3 other books(see if you can guess which ones, imaginary readers in the blogosphere) and I've never given a 9.5. It's one of the required books for my Philosophy course at CCM, and I devoured it. It is so witty/clever/informative/hilarious. I actually have been laughing out loud AND putting down the book to seriously reflect. Few books will make you do that. Seriously, if you are reading this blog READ THAT BOOK. I constantly am jumping up, wishing I had someone to run and share stories with. I want to make the entire book my facebook status. Everyone would 'like' it (ba-dum-tch).

Gee. That wasn't long at all. Probably partially due to the amount of rereading and due to the fact that I waited too long. All the things I could have been passionate about have... mellowed. Which is not good. I should be able to retain the emotions attached to academic thoughts longer. Oops.

Total Book Count: 56
NonFic: 18 (32.14%)