The amazing race!

Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days is like a book version of my favorite show, The Amazing Race! I loved it! I loved how methodical Fogg is and the different ways he devises to solve his various travel issues. I liked the servant and how he gradually became more trusted and able to make decisions as the journey progressed. And I liked the ending! This was super fun and over too soon.

I was amazed at how quickly they got out of the house and off to their trip once it was decided. They definitely weren't traveling with a toddler, that is for sure. (No! Burpies! Yellow doggie turtle! No! Green car! Ball! Snacks! Nooooo!)

Next up for me is The Apes of God, over 600 pages. Due back at the library on September 9, no renewals. I better get going!

Not many antics here.

I didn't know what to expect when I started Aldous Huxley's Antic Hay. I think I skimmed Brave New World at some point in my educational career but I don't remember anything about it at all. This book was kind of a disappointment. I could tell that the author was trying to put forth certain views but I honestly have no idea what those are. I am really not enjoying the books that consist mainly of characters sitting around talking to each other. DO something! I didn't like any of the characters and they just didn't seem real to me. I feel like the author just created them as mouthpieces for various views.

I'm sure I missed the point of this book but I'm just glad it's over!

From Russia with love.

Anna Karenina was a lot different for me this time around. A lot has changed in my life since I read this 5 years ago and I enjoyed this book a great deal more now. The last time I read this perhaps I didn't have the patience to really enjoy it, or wasn't in the right frame of mind. Plus I think there is something about reading a lot of great books...it's like I have more practice or something, so I'm getting more out of each one.

This book is just incredible. It's a novel but the reader also learns so much about the history and culture of Russia from the story as well. Mike said something interesting the other day when I was marveling at how much I was enjoying the book. He said, imagine how amazing it must have been when it first came out too. People must have been awestruck by what an incredible novel it was.

Lately I've been thinking that there is a very wide disparity among the 1001 books. There are some that are incredible like this one. Even people who aren't fans of Russian literature could probably appreciate what a masterpiece it is. On the other hand, there are also there random weird books that are stream of consciousness, or there's a hole cut out in the book, or whatever. Gimmicky things. It is just interesting the wide range of books that the editors considered the best.

Books 41-50.

Not that I'm going to be done with Anna Karenina anytime soon. But I thought it would be interesting to see what is next on the list.

41. Antic Hay by Aldous Huxley (1923)
42.The Apes of God by Wyndham Lewis (1930)
43.Arcanum 17 by Andre Breton (1945)
44.Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (1873)
45.Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe (1964)
46.The Artamonov Business by Maxim Gorky (1925)
47.An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro (1986)
48.As if I Am Not Thereby Slavenka Drakulic (1999)
49.Asphodel by H.D. (1992)
50.At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill (2001)

I've never read any of these. I wonder if I will like the first few books of this grouping. Several of the books that were written around that era have not been my favorites, but I never know from book to book which I'm going to like and which I'm going to hate. I'm looking forward to the Achebe book and the Jules Verne book particularly.

Running amok.

Amok by Stefan Zweig is not really a book, it's more of a short story. The writing is incredible. I know it was originally German so the translator deserves credit as well as the author, but wow. Just amazing.

I never knew where the phrase "running amok" came from until I read this. It basically refers to a person who has gone crazy from the tropical heat, alcohol, etc and runs around doing crazy things until stricken down. So one of the characters here has run amok.

I just can't get over how fantastic the writing was! I'm also surprised I never heard of Zweig till reading this.

Next up for me is Anna Karenina which is super long. So it may be a while before I post again!

Where pigs rule the world. A fairy tale.

I'm glad I read the introduction to Animal Farm by George Orwell. I learned a lot about him and the background to this book that I wouldn't have otherwise known. I'm SURE I would have misunderstood the book if I were to just read it without having the background. I would have understood that it was a satire on Stalinism/Communism but I wouldn't have known or understood that Orwell was actually liberal and wasn't anti-socialism, but just critical of how it was implemented at that time in the Soviet Union.

I also found it interesting that Orwell referred to the story as a fairy tale. It can be read on the surface as a story of animals running a farm. I did that reading Lord of the Flies in high school. I just didn't get what the whole big deal was! I also liked how simple the language and story were. It was very straightforward describing events as they happened with not much character development. Not that you need much when the leading characters are pigs, I suppose.

A world of disappointment.

I just finished Another World by Pat Barker. When I started reading this book it sounded super interesting and I was all excited to see where the story led. Unfortunately the book kind of fizzled out for me at the end. The parts of the plot I was interested in just sort of...went away. I felt like the author really missed some interesting opportunities with this book.

Parts of this story made me sad, too. There's a bit of toddler violence in this book, and that was hard to read. It made me hug my little one very tightly.

That ends my vacation reads for this year! Big thanks to Marissa for checking out these from the library for me!