The Age of Innocence- Edith Wharton

In the last book I read, The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing, the narrator read a lot of Edith Wharton.  So, I decided I would read The Age of Innocence.  It’s nice that my books are telling me what to read next.

  It always takes me a bit to get into these older books.  I think that’s normal.  This book, for me at least, didn’t get really juicy until about a third of the way through.  But, then it was good and juicy.  It is full of all that code of conduct stuff that made life hard for people back in the day.  Did anyone really love anyone I wonder?  I am so freaked out by the idea that kissing your betrothed is such a blushing scandal, and then they are expected to get married and have sex?  I would be freaked out if I were one of these women.  (I’m sorry, you putting that where?) 

This book is a great look at old-timey rules and ways of life.  This one is unique in that it is from the view point of man, and it is set in late 19th Century America.  There is a bit of “Great Gatsby,” in the idea of love or the actualization of.  I also love these books because the idea of following societies code of conduct is so important that the ending of the book could be anything.  Do you follow you heart or what society says is important?

The book ended the way I thought it would for the most part.  It was an ending I really felt was right. 

Love and society:

Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen- I’m not much of a romantic.  I’m practical in love for the most part, but this book had be acting like a girl.  A great example of society and love and how it messes with everything.  What woman has read this book and not wished for her own Mr. Darcy?  Oh, swoon.

Wuthering Heights- Emily Bronte- I actually read this book because of Kate Bush’s song of the same name,

“Out on the wiley, windy moors
We’d roll and fall in green.
You had a temper like my jealousy:
Too hot, too greedy.
How could you leave me,
When I needed to possess you?
I hated you. I loved you, too.
Heathcliff, it’s me, your Cathy, I’ve come home. I´m so cold,
let me in-a-your window”

Ah, this book is a goodin’.  Life is so “easy” now because when someone isn’t happy in marriage they can just get a divorce.  Imagine setting your life around one person.  Ya know, ’till do death do us part and all.  What if you love more than one person?  What to do.

Brick Lane- Monica Ali- Just in case you thought the days of societal rule were over, here is a modern version of all that.  Set in England, with a modern day Bangladeshi wife.  This is a good book to read after Pride and Prejudice to see the similarities.  At the same time, it’s amazing that there are still societal induced loveless marriages. 

The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing- Melissa Bank

 It’s pegged as a coming of age story.  It wasn’t boring, but the story has been told before, and it’s been told much better.  I’ve seen this book floating around at used book stores for awhile so I thought I’d give it a go.  It’s ok.  If you like girly books go for it.  If you want a coming of age story look elsewhere.

Like here:

Bridget Jones’s Diary- Helen Fielding- If you want a girly, lovey, growing up story read this.  It’s really funny.  Don’t watch the movie. 

She’s Come Undone- Wally Lamb- Lot’s of people have read this book.  It’s simple and moving.

Anything by David Sedaris- True horrendous stories that are beyond funny.  I want to be his best friend.

Five Dialogues- Plato

In my last book, Dead-eye Dick, the narrator briefly discussed Plato’s Five Dialogues.  I said to myself, “Hey, I have that.  And I sure haven’t read a bit of it.” 

  So I started.  I only read the first “dialogue,” Euthyphro.  That’s really all I need for now.  Socrates is like that drunken guy at a party that gets into the philosophical conversation, and even after everyone else has stopped talking about it, he still won’t shut up.  Socrates= Buzz Kill.  Look, I get that Socrates is smart and the father of philosophy and all that.  He is a great thinker.  But, seriously dude, shut up already, I get it.  I’m wrong, you’re right.

So you like the thinking stuff?

Try any Ayn Rand, like Anthem.  It’s short, unlike most of her other stuff.  A nice taste test of her philosophy.

Dead-Eye Dick- Kurt Vonnegut

I love’s me some Vonnegut.  I went to a used book store a few weeks ago and found this book.  Hurrah!

 It’s the typical Vonnegut you know and love.  Seemingly normal fiction story with a bizarre character and a dash of future apocalypse.  The novel deals with the death of innocence in various, often hilarious forms.  I don’t have much else to say.  If you like Vonnegut, read it.

More Vonnegut fun (that isn’t the books everyone knows):

Galapagos- Ah, my favorite Vonnegut book.  When I first read it, I was at a bad place in my life.  I took the satire a bit too literally and went crazy for like two days.  I cried about the hopelessness of life.  Not even kidding.  But, I read it again a few years later, and much saner, and it was funny.  I didn’t cry that time.

Player Piano- This book reminded me of Ayn Rand’s, Atlas Shrugged.  It’s got the same, “what if the world was like this” feel, but without the philosophy and minus about 800 pages.  It makes you glad you have a crappy job, because at least there is some freedom with that crappy job. 

God bless you, Dr. Kevorkian- A later book, and crazy funny.  Imagine Dr. Kevorkian giving Mr. Vonnegut a near death experience so he could talk to people in heaven.  Now, imagine it happening a few dozen times and Vonnegut writes about these heavenly interviews.  It’s a small book and a quick read.  I wish there was more.

Night- Elie Wiesel

Just when I was starting to regain my confidence in humanity, just when I was starting to think we weren’t all going to hell in a handbasket, I read Night.

This is the autobiography of a boy that survived the Holocoust.  I know a lot of kids read this book in middle school, but I had never read it.  It is just a slip of a book, a little over 100 pages.  But, dear god, each page is like a punch in the soul.  This book is important to read, to internalize.  It’s hard to believe such horrors can exist. 

I happened to pass by the book section of my local mega-store today and saw this book was in the bestseller section.  It’s good to know people are reading it. 

Similar books:

Sophie’s Choice- William Styron- This book is #96 on The Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels list.  This isn’t strictly a Holocaust book, there are other storylines.  The message is deep and the story is moving.

Empire of the Sun- J.G. Ballard- I saw this movie when I was young and found it beautiful and moving.  I found the book and decided to give it a go.  This book is about a young British teenager imprisoned in a Chinese prison camp during WWII.  It’s just as moving as the other stories listed, but a unique perspective.

Choke- Chuck Palahniuk

 

Oh, how I love Chuck Palahniuk.  You just know he’s one of those people that are riding that fine line between genius and insanity.  I picked up Choke at Goodwill the other day and was super excited to read it.  Oh, he just never fails me. 

Premise:  A guy chokes on food in a restaurant.  Someone performs the Heimlich Maneuver and saves his life.  This “life saver” feels like a god now, out to protect this child, reborn by his gut pressing action.  So, he sends him money on the anniversary, or his new birthday every year.  Now, repeat this action everyday and pretty soon you can live on the money of your many saviors.  Just choke, get saved, get money. Oh, and pick up girls at Sexoholic meetings.

But, of course there is so much more than that.  This book made me laugh out loud, cringe and gasp.  At one point I literally screamed, “Oh, my god!”  I didn’t want this book to end.  It’s not as “bad” as some of his other stuff, but not for the faint of heart.

I really thought a lot about the idea of good and evil while reading this book.  By the end, I thought perhaps humanity, despite all it’s horribleness, wasn’t all that bad.

Give me more you say?  Here are some more Palahniuk books:

Diary: A Novel- This is a nice introduction to Palahniuk.  It’s not too gross but it is full of twists and turns.

Lullaby- A step up.  This one is eerie about a guy that discovers the real reason behind Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.  Freakiness.

Invisible Monsters- Ah, so many people love this book.  Honestly, this book will trick the hell out of you.  You think you know someone and then….  I got to a point where I was like, “Okay, no more surprises.  I got it all figured out…….DAMMIT!  AGAIN!”  I screamed in surprise reading this book about 100 times.  Imagine The Usual Suspects times 10.  Everyone is friggin’ Keyser Soze

Haunted- This is one of my favorite books.  DO NOT read this if you have heart problems, back problems, are prone to motion sickness or are pregnant.  The first chapter of this book is beyond words.  It’s a new genre I like to call “Horror Porn.”  But, of course I loved it.  Apparently when Palahniuk read the first chapter on book tours, at least one person passed out at every reading.  Awesome.

Geek Love- Katherine Dunn

I’ve been reading YA books for the past 4 months and I’m eager to jump into the books hanging out on my bookshelves.  But, my friend gave me a book to read in like January, so I figured I would start on that one first. 

 

This book is all sorts of bizarre.  Imagine a carnival man and women purposely messing up their children in the womb to create freak children.  Yeah, that’s right.  The freakier the better.  The less “norm” or average the better you are.  It was a fun and interesting read because I really wanted to know what the hell was going on.  It really throws a whole new perspective on what’s normal and what is special.  But, there were a few characters that alluded me.  I just wanted to say, “So and So is an ass!  Stop loving him!”  It’s a fun book to carry around, ’cause when people ask what you are reading you can say, “A book about circus freaks.”