Rules were made to be broken.

Sometimes dealing with a 4 year old and an almost 2 year old has me spinning in circles.  One is old enough to know better (don't jump on the couch) while the other idolizes his big sister and does whatever she does.  Even the most clear rules are simply disregarded when they are having fun together.

The Cider House Rules is an incredible novel that is all about, well, rules.  While the basic point of the novel is the abortion debate, each set of characters has his or her own rules that they opt to follow (or not) throughout and the reader observes how these rules shape their lives.  For example, Dr. Larch feels morally obligated to perform abortions as well as deliver unwanted babies to be left at the orphanage.  To further his perceived moral imperative to do so, he breaks more basic, commonly-held rules such as not falsifying another person's medical degree and lying about a living patient's heart condition.  It is interesting to see how the dichotomy works between the characters' self-imposed rules and the external rules.  Most of the characters have no problems breaking the external societal rules when they find their own rules are more important.

This is a very, very sad book.  I really enjoyed it and the characters will stick with me for a while.  But it also definitely brought me to tears in parts.  And I found I could sympathize with the characters even when, like Dr. Larch, they don't necessarily agree with my own beliefs.

Warm, with cinnamon.

I like my cider warm, with cinnamon.  Especially in the fall.  It doesn't quite feel like fall here yet, but it will be soon.

I also found Cider with Rosie a warm, homey look at life in England after World War I through the eyes of a young boy.  It was warm and sweet and gentle.  I read aloud a few pages about Christmas caroling to Pea, even.  I especially liked the layout of this book - it was more like a coffee table book style and most pages had a painting or a picture on them.

Surprisingly good!

Usually the books that I have to get through Interlibrary Loan are very dry and boring.  So I was not particularly excited about reading Chocky.  Was I in for a surprise!  This book was fantastic.  I am amazed that it is not more popular.

Chocky is a being who has decided to inhabit a young boy.  The boy begins to exhibit precocious tendencies and the family assumes that he is being modest when he says that it is the work of his "imaginary friend", Chocky.  I'm not going to give away the ending.

This was a very quick read - I couldn't put it down and was done with it in 2 days!  I highly enjoyed it and recommend it!

Beh Beh

"Beh beh" is what Fuzz calls golf clubs.  Since golf is a big part of our house, he discusses "beh beh" quite often.  Beh beh can also be used to describe my opinion of Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley.  Nothing much happens in this book.  I couldn't get into it.  People just hang out and chitchat.  I'm sure that there is a deeper meaning there, but it didn't connect with me.  So - beh beh, Crome Yellow.  Beh beh.

God bless us, everyone.

I had never read A Christmas Carol before this week! I was shocked at how short it was - I had thought all Dickens works were ridiculously long.  It was a very quick read.  I knew the general story, but it was nice to read the original anyway. I especially liked the descriptions of the spirits. I really enjoyed this one.

Not a hotel.

I asked Mike if he had ever read The Childermass by Wyndham Lewis.  He told me no, but commented that Wyndham Lewis sounded like the name of a hotel.  "We're staying at the Wyndham Lewis tonight."  "Can you please take us to the Wyndham Lewis so that we can check in?"  Hee.

Unfortunately, the actual reading of this book did not give me too much of a smile.  I don't really care for Wyndham Lewis, the author.  His books are thick, dry and I can never really tell what is going on in them.  Until I read the Wikipedia entry, that is.  This one apparently takes place in purgatory.  Interesting since he alludes to it but I could not actually figure that out for myself just in reading the book.

I'm glad to be through this one (I pretty much skimmed once I realized I wasn't going to get anything out of it anyway) and onward and upward!

Choke.

I got stuck reading Choke on vacation this summer.  Well, first I read Going Clear, by Lawrence Wright - which was amazing.  I loved it and was totally fascinated by every word.  But alas, that was not one of the 1001 books.  So then I went back to Choke.

The quality of Choke is totally over my head.  It is graphic and gross.  I didn't wind up caring about the characters.  I wasn't surprised by the "surprise" plot twist at the end.  I just wanted it to be over.  I understand there is some sort of literary value in this book - I just didn't personally enjoy it all that much.