Archive for August, 2008

The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

ISBN: 0679734775
110 pages
published in 1984.
August 21th – August 21th.
You can buy this book at this link.

This book was on the recommended summer reading list for English majors at Clarion this year. It was a short read and one I didn’t get around to yet, so I figured I’d knock it off and see how I felt about it. The way that it was composed made me feel as though I was reading a whole bunch of smaller stories rather than one short novella. I’m not familiar with a lot of books that are put together this way and it was actually very enjoyable.

The story follows Esperanza and her experiences and thoughts growing up in the barrio in Chicago. It’s definitely a feminist novel, and though it does seem very unfairly biased towards women at times it’s completely understandable where it’s coming from in that regard and I support it wholeheartedly. The men in the story are almost completely invisible other than their actions, but because this is coming from the point-of-view of a young girl, I think it’s appropriate. Most novels are written from a male-dominating perspective and so I found this very refreshing and even necessary in many ways.

The language in the book was very interesting, you don’t understand more than what she herself understands, and so you’re left to make a lot of inferences yourself about the way certain things are. There are references made to some adult things that she just doesn’t have the experience in to know, but you are able to piece it all together. By the end of the novella you are really hoping that she does get out of the neighborhood and that she is eventually able to help the other women there, too, which she speaks about frequently.

Dubliners By James Joyce

ISBN: 1853260487
161 pages
published in 1914.
August 12th – August 19th.
You can buy this book at this link.

Okay, I really enjoyed this and I wasn’t expecting to. I picked this up from a flea market in Monticello, NY along with about 8 other books. $1.00 total for all of them together. Excellent deal. I was in the mood for short stories and in my ignorance had only vaguely heard of Joyce so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I’d read Araby my freshman year of highschool – it was OKAY, but not extraordinary, but I figured maybe in the context of the book it’d be more redeeming (it was).

Anyway, I think out of all the stories An Encounter, Eveline and The Dead were my favorites – I’m not entirely sure why. I really liked how even though all of the stories had a different plot and set of characters they were all interwoven – not just because they were taking place in the same city, but because they were all basically stuck in the same situation in varying degrees. You could just picture all of these stories going on at the same time as each other. I just found them all very clever and interesting and now I’ve got this insatiable urge to learn more about Irish history (which is definitely a sign of a good work of fiction, right?).

Anyway, I’ve ordered a couple more books by Joyce, which I’ve heard are millions of times were difficult than Dubliners (not that it was very difficult for me at all, but after reading it I looked up some guides on it and they did help a LOT, though I was pretty proud of myself for spotting certain things that are apparently not, uh, apparent) – but I’m looking forward to them a lot.

Reports From The Holocaust by Larry Kramer

ISBN: 0312114192
291 pages
published in 1989.
July 25th – August 12th.
You can buy this book at this link.

tl;dr

Not really. TBH, I don’t have much to say. It was overly hysterical and annoying to read. Which is why it took me a freaking decade to get through. I really don’t think I’m fond of Kramer. I mean, I know, I know, things were crazy back then, but he is really just off the crazy charts.

PS: Did you hear he insists on wearing turquoise every single day? My friend told me all about it, and it happens to be true. He thinks it will keep him healthy or something.

No, I’m not surprised, either.

The Symposium by Plato

ISBN: 0140449272
144 pages
published in 385 BC
August 3rd – August 8th.
You can buy this book at this link.

This is the first bit of Greek philosophy I’ve ever read, and I can definitely see this as being something I can get into. Easily. The dialogues were interesting – not just because of what they discussed but because of what you learned about each person at the symposium.

I think I enjoyed Aristophanes’ speech the most, and not just because I was familiar with the story from the song in Hedwig And The Angry Inch. Although he was a comic, and I suppose it was supposed to be taken in a comedic fashion, the entire premise of the story he told was so captivating that you wish you could believe in things like that. I’m pretty securely atheist, but I still have a deep interest in mythology and things like that. I think I mostly just enjoy good, convincing storytelling and that is what this was to me. It’s not very often that deep, emotional feelings can be explained in such a simple, fantastical way.

I also found Alcibiades speech at the end of the symposium slightly hilarious. It was SO obvious that he was madly in love with Socrates. In fact, the entire thing just reminded me SO much of so many of the screeching gay boys I know that I couldn’t help but laugh. So jealous and in denial.

Anyway, it was altogether a really great read. I would recommend it to most people, but moreso to homosexuals just because of the interesting historical value it has. It was a quick read, but I sort of paced myself because I wanted to concentrate on what each person said. Also, the introduction was sort of long in my edition.