hosted by Silvia Cachia and You Might as Well Read
As per the categories, these are my committed titles I plan to read for the challenge :
HOME SWEET HOME : an author from where you currently live (Florida) : Smith : A Land Remembered
A DIFFICULT BOOK : difficult style / subject / length / setting : Virgil : The Aeneid
TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE : book from your youth : Lewis : The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
TRUST THE WORD OF OTHERS / SELF : a book recommendation : McCullough : John Adams
SHELF MONSTER : unread on shelf five plus years : Kirk : The Roots of American Order
JUDGED BOOK BY ITS COVER : and already had copy : McCullough : The Pioneers
TAKE A TRIP : author of different "nationality" : Barakat : Balcony on the Moon
REREAD : reread a book : Stewart : Letters of a Woman Homesteader
SOMETHING OLD : a classic : Eliot : Middlemarch
SOMETHING NEW : published last three years : (I'll need to find something from the library)
SOMETHING BORROWED : work in translation / borrowed from friend / library (again, I'll find something from the library)
SOMETHING BLUE : blue topic / mood / cover : Sinclair : The Jungle
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Only two of these are rereads. The rest have been on my unread shelf forever, or they are really brand new to me. I actually decided to read a book by a Palestinian woman for TAKE A TRIP because that is one place I have never read about. As it was, I had a difficult time finding a female author FROM Palestine. They really are American or live in America writing about Palestine. But it should be interesting, and I am looking forward to it.
I listened to The Jungle on tape probably around thirty years ago. As best I can remember, the first half of the novel was overwhelmingly and grippingly tragic, violent, and sickening. Just when I was about to put it aside thinking I could take no more, the frontal assault of the narrative eased up somewhat and I was able to complete this work. (With a sigh of relief.) If you ever review it, I would be fascinated to see what your reaction was. Maybe I was just too sensitive at that long ago time.
ReplyDeleteWow, thank you for the heads up. I have heard brief descriptions of how horrifying it was, which is why I put it in the Blue Category for the mood. From what I know, it is about the commercial meat industry, and some have said you will want to stop eating meat. But that's what I remember reading. If this is the case, I'm glad to say, we've been buying our meat locally from a private rancher who raises and cares for her own cattle, and takes them to the best butcher. So hopefully I won't be turned off after reading this bc I do love my rancher. LOL.
Delete(Evidently you are fortunately getting some very choice meat.) I did read that the author said that he meant to hit America in its heart but missed and hit its stomach instead. In my case, whether typical of readers at large or not, the viciousness that took place in this book outweighed the nausea. Face-chewing (two incidents-to an evil character, but still), forced prostitution, entrapment with rodents and a heavy atmosphere of hopeless doom are but a few of the happenings that enliven the tale. I don't have the keenest of memories, and I promise I have never re-visited this work after decades since I survived it, so it must have made a deep impression. Good luck with all of your notable reading projects next year.
ReplyDeleteWell, this really is important -- that the author sought to influence our hearts (conscience) but not necessarily our stomachs. I will consider that while reading because I would have gone into it looking at the meat industry as it affects food. I think I understand what you are saying now. There was a lot more going on than animal mistreatment.
DeleteYour remarks remind me of my response to In Cold Blood. And excellent portrayal of a brutal event; I gave it five stars and put it on my personal canon. But I said I'd never read it again and still feel that way years later. It is maybe the only book on my canon that I don't want to be alone with again. Have you read it?