Get Lost in Literature

  "Straight away he raced, with Dolly, panting and frothing, one leap behind; nor could she gain on him, so great was his terror, nor could he leave her, so great was her madness." Call of the Wild by Jack London If I could only take 5 books with me to live on a desert island, this book would be top of the list. There has always been something about this book that calls to me like a wolf in the night. This is the story of Buck, pampered pet, stolen and sold into a life of toil in the wild North. And as he is introduced to the "law of the primitive," that a man with a weapon is a dangerous thing, and a fair fight becomes a thing of the past as survival of the fittest becomes paramount, he begins his transformation from the picture of domestication to a feral creature of the wilds. Jack London has been gone a long time, but his stories of the Yukon live on. Pitting man against nature has been a constant theme in his works and in this story, we learn about it through ...

“They would just trade one type of shackles for another, trade physical ones that wrapped around wrists and ankles for the invisible ones that wrapped around the mind.” Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi My rating: 5 of 5 stars I feel like this book should be taught in schools. It's basically about the birth of racism in America. It starts in Africa, where villagers on the Gold Coast strike a deal with the Europeans. The locals are willing to facilitate the trade of other Africans from other villages in exchange for payment. Effia and Esi, two sisters who will never meet, are unfortunately worlds apart. Effia will marry into a life of luxury, while Esi will be sold into slavery. I couldn't really figure out how to review this book, without giving spoilers. I had a US History teacher lecture once on slavery: He said during the days of slave trade, a black woman had more value to a plantation owner than a black man because a woman could be used to make more slaves. (view spoiler) [When Es...

This book should come with a warning. It's absolutely wonderful for the person who  LOVES  words to the point of madness. It is not for the reader looking for something "light." I admit, I am not sure where to start my review (there was sooo much content), so I may ramble a bit. Bruno the chimpanzee always wanted to be human…Then Lydia Littlemore, a primatologist, adopts him from a zoo and teaches him how to speak English. The story starts dramatically, humorously, as Bruno’s animal nature clashes with human society and eventually the story spirals deeper into darker more serious material. Cognitive thought, philosophy, art, shame, love, and grief; what it means to be human and the sacrifices Bruno unknowingly makes to become one. Several times during the reading, I laughed, blushed, and cried… I forgot the story was actually written by a human hand and began to think this the story of Bruno, told by Bruno. And more than once I was surprised to find Bruno pointing o...

I loved this story, it was dark and exciting; the narrator is a survivor of an alien invasion, searching for his wife in the chaos. For the literature lover, this is a tale written when stories were produced to teach and not just entertain. HG Wells subtly used a martian invasion to snub his nose at British imperialism; presenting a vicious struggle between conquerors and their inferiors. The book ends with the hopeful thought, that even something little can stand up against something big. Of course, this is another instance of me seeing the movie before I read the book, so in this case the narrator--in my head-- sounded an awful lot like Morgan Freeman. And if we're ever invaded for real, I hope the aliens hire him to narrate their evil plans... I know my review for this is tiny, but I absolutely loved it. Rating 5/5 Review originally posted:  Jul 13, 13

Pi Patel, unfortunately named after a pool, is a peculiarly devout boy growing up in India. His family consider themselves to be "Modern Indians" preferring to put their faith in Business than in God; his practises are unorthodox to his preachers and perplexing to his family.  The shifting of politics in India, force Pi's father to make the decision to sell off the zoo he owned and operated, and emigrate to Canada, beginning Pi's miraculous journey across the Pacific. After the cargo ship, transporting Pi's family and animals goes down, Pis is left stranded on a lifeboat with his belief in a higher power and a dangerous Bengal tiger... I don't consider myself agnostic or atheist, but I'm not traditionally religious... My parents aren't religious, they didn't take me to church or instruct me on what we believed; I was left to make my own conclusions about the world as I saw fit. I grew up believing in the power of books above all else; book...

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Tales from the Jazz Age   by   F.Scott Fitzgerald I've got a lot to say about this book. First, I'd like to say, this was a pain in the ass to rate. F. Scott Fitzgerald is a fine example of why classic literature is classic... These stories should be able to hit the full mark easily. They didn't for reasons stated in my  hack job  rant, but in case you missed that or don't feel like reading it, let me reiterate. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Tales of the Jazz Age , as produced by Seedbox Press is a hack job. There are dialogues that merge into narration, words and phrases dropped from sentences leaving gaps in paragraphs, missing punctuation, and character conversations merged into block paragraphs of chaos. I was happy to get such a collection at a bargain price until I realized the reason they offered it had more to do with its poor editing and formatting. If you're a Fitzgerald fan or h...