One Hundred Years of Solitude

Title: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Author: Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Pages: 448

Genre: Latin, Classic

Grade: B+

Synopsis: The story is about 100 years in the small Latin American town of Macondo, founded by Jose Arcadio Buendia. For the next 100 years, his family lives in the town as it grows and changes. For six generations, the children are named after their ancestors and are blessed and cursed with the same passions, desires, strengths and weaknesses of those who have gone before them.

My Review: I quite enjoyed the book, but found it very difficult at first to distinguish between the main characters as all the boys are either named Arcadio or Aurelianos and all the women are named Remedios, Amaranta or Ursula. While the book covers a century, every chapter is a different story that is expertly woven into the fabric of the book as a whole, such as the visits of the gypsies, a town plagued with insomnia and one of the girls ascending to heaven while she hangs her laundry.

Disclaimer: As is often the case with the classics, this book does not shy away from sex or violence, although descriptions are never graphic (Although, apparently, the men of the Buendia family are distinguished by large members...).

From the Book: "A trickle of blood came out under the door, crossed the living room, went out into the street, continued on in a straight line across the uneven terraces, went down steps and climbed over curbs, passed along the Street of the Turks, turned a corner to the right and another to the left, made a right angle at the Buendía house, went in under the closed door, crossed through the parlor, hugging the walls so as not to stain the rugs, went on to the other living room, made a wide curve to avoid the dining-room table, went along the porch with the begonias, and passed without being seen under Amaranta's chair as she gave an arithmetic lesson to Aureliano José, and went through the pantry and came out in the kitchen, where Úrsula was getting ready to crack thirty-six eggs to make bread.

"Holy Mother of God!" Úrsula shouted."

Leaves of Grass

Title: Leaves of Grass

Author: Walt Whitman

Pages: 14 discs

Genre: Poetry

Grade: B+

Synopsis: Leaves of Grass is a collection of poems by Walt Whitman. Whitman is known as one of the great American poets and his poems are often a reflection of his thoughts on American politics, nature or industry.

My Review: The difficulty in reviewing this type of book is that I really enjoyed some of the poems and I didn't really care for many of the others. Whitman's style is unique and stream-of-consciousness, but often seems to ramble on and on. I mainly listened to this book in the car while I commuted to and from work, but I also got a full copy of the text from the library to follow along when I could. I found that my opinion of the poem was often formed depending on who read the poem and how they read the poem. Poetry is all about the reading and recitation. I loved listening to the poems and following along with them in the book.

You can read the full text of Leaves of Grass online at Google Books. A few of my favorite poems (Among many, many):

I Hear America Singing

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it
should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank
or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work,
or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his
boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat
deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the
hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his
way in the morning, or at noon intermission
or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the
young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or
washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to
none else,
The day what belongs to the day — at night the
party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious
songs.

O Captain! My Captain

O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up - for you the flag is flung - for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths - for you the shores
a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

Miracles

1. What shall I give? and which are my miracles?

2. Realism is mine--my miracles--Take freely,
Take without end--I offer them to you wherever your feet can carry you or your eyes reach.

3. Why! who makes much of a miracle?
As to me, I know of nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach, just in the edge of the water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love--or sleep in the bed at night with any
one I love,
Or sit at the table at dinner with my mother,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive, of a summer forenoon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds--or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown--or of stars shining so quiet and bright,
Or the exquisite, delicate, thin curve of the new moon in spring;
Or whether I go among those I like best, and that like me best--mechanics, boatmen, farmers,
Or among the savans--or to the _soiree_--or to the opera.
Or stand a long while looking at the movements of machinery,
Or behold children at their sports,
Or the admirable sight of the perfect old man, or the perfect old woman,
Or the sick in hospitals, or the dead carried to burial,
Or my own eyes and figure in the glass;
These, with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring--yet each distinct and in its place.

4. To me, every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,
Every cubic foot of the interior swarms with the same;
Every spear of grass--the frames, limbs, organs, of men and women, and all that concerns them,
All these to me are unspeakably perfect miracles.
To me the sea is a continual miracle;
The fishes that swim--the rocks--the motion of the waves--the ships, with men in them,
What stranger miracles are there?

The Fan

Title: The Fan

Author: Peter Abrahams

Pages: 320

Genre: Sports, Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: Gil is a rabid fan of the Sox and the new player that they have acquired in Bobby Rayburn. Gil believes that Rayburn will be the solution to all of the Sox's problems. Gil has some major problems of his own. He sales knives for a company that his father started years ago, but is fired due to poor performance. The only thing that Gil can think about are the days when he played baseball himself - in the little leagues. The great Bobby Rayburn is in a slump and Gil thinks he is the only one that can help get him out of it.

My Review: I felt that this was a fitting book to be reading during the final days of the World Series. I enjoyed how baseball and real life are intertwined with each one controlling the other at different times. The story is very engaging and a little disturbing as Gil obsesses more and more over Bobby Rayburn.

The Brethren

Title: The Brethren

Author: John Grisham

Pages: 440

Genre: Legal Thriller

Grade: B

Synopsis: Three judges in federal prison have concocted a scam to snare and extort money from closet homosexuals who answer to an ad in a gay lifestyle magazine. They end up snaring a presidential candidate that is being secretly fronted by the CIA, which causes the CIA to get involved in the scam in order to protect their candidate.

My Review: I felt that the premise behind this story was the weakest of any John Grisham book that I have read. The story was still interesting and enjoyable, but it was missing the excitement and intrigue that is typically present in a Grisham thriller.

From the Book: "(p. 88) What would his friends think? The Honorable Hatlee Beech, federal judge, writing prose like a faggot, extorting money out of innocent people."

The Host

Title: The Host

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Pages: 20 discs

Genre: Science Fiction

Grade: B-

Synopsis: The earth has been taken over by alien lifeforms, called souls, in the shape of small silver worms. The worms have been inserted into the back of the humans necks where they take over the brains and bodies of the humans. To an outsider, everything appears to be life as usual on earth, but to the few remaining humans hiding and running for their life this is not the case. This story is about one soul/human conbination in particular Wanderer and Melanie and their life sharing Melanie's brain and body.

My Review: My personal title for this book is The Book that Never Ends. I could see how it was going to end halfway through the book and then had to get through the particulars before it finally ended. When I first started the book I was surprised by how strange the story was, but I began to enjoy it before too long. The book is a little annoying, very strange (but then again, so is Twilight - especially book 4), and far too long. There were parts that I really liked, but far too much of the book just drags on.

The Lost Symbol

Title: The Lost Symbol

Author: Dan Brown

Pages: 511

Genre: Thriller

Grade: B+

Synopsis: Robert Langdon has been summoned to Washington to fill in as a guest lecturer for his close friend, who is the Secretary of the Smithsonian. While there, he is drawn into a plot to uncover a secret that the Mason's have been protecting and guarding for centuries.

My Review: I quite enjoyed this book, just as I have enjoyed all of Dan Brown's other novels. I am really looking forward to reading the illustrated edition when it comes out. If there is one thing that I have learned from Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code, it is that the illustrated editions really make the story come alive. Instead of reading Brown's descriptions of paintings, buildings and symbols, you can see them for yourself. The book was a little more wordy/descriptive than the previous novels that Langdon stars in and many people have complained about this, but I found the extra descriptions quite interesting. Dan Brown's novels never fail to make me think.

From the Book: "(p. 65) Despite Langdon’s six-foot frame and athletic build, Anderson saw none of the cold, hardened edge he expected from a man famous for surviving an explosion at the Vatican and a manhunt in Paris. This guy eluded the French police…in loafers? He looked more like someone Anderson would expect to find hearthside in some Ivy League library reading Dostoyevsky.”

“(p. 228) The coyly nicknamed explosive Key4 had been developed by Special Forces specifically for opening locked doors with minimal collateral damage. Consisting primarily of cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine with a diethylhexyl plasticizer, it was essentially a piece of C-4 rolled into paper-thin sheets for insertion into doorjambs. In the case of the library’s reading room, the explosive had worked perfectly.”

Anthem

Title: Anthem

Author: Ayn Rand

Pages: 111

Genre: Philosophy, Classic, Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: First published in 1938, Anthem is a dystopian novella that takes place at an unspecified time in the future. Virtually all technological advances have been discarded in favor of a society where nobody knows more than anybody else. Personal pronouns and individualism have been discarded for a culture where everybody refers to themselves as "we" and all people live in communal dwellings segregated by sex. Equality 7-2521 doesn't think like the rest of the people and ends up discovering some of the things that have been forgotten.

My Review: I read this book in high school, but remembered very little of it. I found the story interesting and thought provoking and a good introduction to the writings and philosophy of Ayn Rand.

This I Believe

Title: This I Believe

Author: Varies

Pages: 5 cds

Genre: Inspirational, Essays

Grade: A+

Synopsis: This I Believe is a collection of essays by people from throughout the United States. Rich, poor, white, black, southerners, northerners, straight, gay, famous, not famous, female, male, essayists from all walks of life participated in describing their personal credos. These essays were all read by the authors themselves (with the lone exception of Albert Einstein, whose audio has been lost). Mixed in with the present-day essays were essays by people from the early 1950's. The authors included well-known people such as Colin Powell, Newt Gingrich, Bill Gates, Helen Keller, Albert Einstein, John McCain, Dr. Ben Carson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Robinson and Wallace Stegner. The essayists espoused their personal beliefs on everything from barbecue to family to forgiveness to America.

My Review: As you can tell by the rating I gave the book, I really, really liked it. I found myself laughing, crying and laughing again all within the space of 10 minutes. I couldn't get over the fact that these essays were written by regular folk like me and you and the crazy lady walking along the sidewalk and the compassionate lady driving by in her car. As I listened to these essays, I was proud to be an American, proud to live in a country where we are able to live freely with people of all beliefs and lifestyles.

From the Book: I have uploaded two of my favorite essays below. Have a listen!

The Madonnas of Leningrad

Title: The Madonnas of Leningrad

Author: Debra Dean

Pages: 256

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: The story moves back and forth between the present day and World War II in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Marina worked in the Hermitage museum as the paintings were packed away and hidden in undisclosed locations. Every night as German bombers would bomb the city, Marina and the other workers were stationed on the roof as the museum as fire watchers. The present-day portion of the book takes place near Seattle. Marina is now an old woman suffering from Alzheimer's and while attending her granddaughter's wedding she just can't remember who anybody is.

My Review: I thought that I would like this book more than I did. While the book moves seamlessly between war torn Russia and present-day America, I found the story difficult to follow and simply not that interesting. During a lot of the book, Marina is trying to remember the rooms of the Hermitage as they were before the paintings were removed and I enjoyed the descriptions of the paintings, sculptures and rooms (The Hermitage was a former Imperial Palace before being converted into an Art Museum. My parents and I toured the museum after my mission - very beautiful).

Night

Title: Night

Author: Elie Wiesel

Pages: 120

Genre: Memoir

Grade: A

Synopsis: Elie Wiesel was a Jew born in Transylvania. In 1944 he and his family were gathered up by the Nazis and forced into the Auschwitz concentration camp. He was separated from his mother and sister and never saw them again. Luckily, he was able to remain with his father for the bulk of his stay in the camps. After a time at Aushwitz, he was transferred to Buchenwald as the Russians were close to liberating the camp. During the journey from one camp to the other, they were packed tightly 100 men to an open-roofed cattle train car - and only 12 finished the trip alive. Elie Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize for this book and his efforts in not letting the world forget the Holocaust.

My Review: I knew that this iconic book about the Holocaust would be a difficult read. We've all heard the stories, but realizing that they are true and that people really suffered as described is so sad and disturbing. I also find it repulsing just how many people were willing to treat other humans so wretchedly. As the review by the New York Times states on the back of the book: "A slim volume of terrifying power."

From the Book: "Listen to me, kid. Don't forget that you are in a concentration camp. In this place, it is every many for himself, and you cannot think of others. Not even you father. In this place, there is no such thing as father, brother, friend. Each of us lives and dies alone. Let me give you good advice: stop giving your ration of bread and soup to your old father. You cannot help him anymore. And you are hurting yourself. In fact, you should be getting his rations..."

The Annotated Alice - The Definitive Edition

Title: The Annotated Alice - The Definitive Edition

Author: Lewis Carroll, Notes by Martin Gardner, Illustrations by John Tenniel

Pages: 312

Genre: Children's Fiction, Fantasy

Grade: A-

Synopsis: The Annotated Alice consists of the books Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, both by Lewis Carroll. The full text of each book is included (as well as parts that were taken out) and there are annotative notes through the text of each chapter.

Alice in Wonderland: Alice dreams that she falls down a rabbit hole chasing a white rabbit and meets a bunch of interesting fantastical creatures. She plays croquet with the queen of hearts, has a baby turn into a pig in her arms and is continually changing sizes.

Through the Looking Glass: 6 months to the day after her dream about wonderland, she has another dream about climbing through the mirror into the house/parlor on the other side. She finds herself a pawn in a chess game and works her way across the board so that she can become a queen. Everyone she meets seems to recite poetry to her (where the annotations really help) including Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the White Knight and Humpty Dumpty.

My Review: I've been wanting to read Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass for quite a while. I very much enjoyed reading them with the annotations because there is so much more to the stories than you would ever know or realize without them. Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll), was a shy, eccentric bachelor that taught mathematics at Oxford. Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Dodgson) was a man obsessed with little girls, especially one Alice Liddell. While his obsession with young girls is a little creepy, it was amazing to read the cleverness of his stories.

From the Book: "(p. 22) Alice took the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking. "Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!" And she began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself, to see if she could have been changed for any of them.

"I'm sure I'm not Ada," she said, "for her hair goes in such long ringlets, and mine doesn't go in ringlets at all; and I'm sure I ca'n't be Mabel, for I know all sorts of things, and she, of, she knows such a very little!"

"(p. 148) Jabberwocky
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogroves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Around the World in Eighty Days

Title: Around the World in Eighty Days

Author: Jules Verne

Pages: 6 discs

Genre: Fiction

Grade: A-

Synopsis: Phileas Fogg is a man that does everything with exactness. He makes a bet of 20,000 pounds with his friends that he can travel around the world in eighty days. In just over an hour he departs London for Dover with his newly hired French servant Passepartout. In Suez, a detective thinks that he recognizes Mr. Fogg as a notorious bank robber and begins to follow him and try to hinder him on his journey while he waits for a warrant to arrive from London. Amazingly, Phileas Fogg and his servant continue on their journey by train, steamship, sailboat, sledge and elephant (but not by hot air balloon - which is even shown on the cover of many copies of the book).

My Review: I used to love reading Jules Verne when I was younger. I'm pretty sure that I've read this book before, but it was quite a bit different than I remembered. I loved hearing about the different places that Fogg and companions passed through, I even pulled out my trusty world atlas to follow them on their journey as I listened. One of the highlights is when the travelers are on the transcontinental railroad in the United States. Passing through Utah, Passepartout is given a lesson on Mormons. He listens to a Mormon missionary speak in one of the railroad cars and hears a discourse on the Mormon religion. For what it's worth, I think that Verne did a very nice job of describing the LDS beliefs as they were known during the time period.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Title: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Author(s): Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Pages: 278

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: Guernsey is a British Island that came under German occupation during World War II. The residents there formed the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on a whim when they were caught past curfew. After the war the residents of Guernsey begin corresponding with Dawsey Adams, an author looking for a topic for her next book. Ms Adams falls in love with the island (and islanders) as she unravels their stories.

My Review: The whole book consists of a series of letters between the characters. I didn't really like the format of the book and I had a hard time remembering who was who. The story was interesting, but I never felt drawn into it. There wasn't really a climax to the story - instead everything just seemed to continue on and on. All that said, I believe that most people that read this book will like it quite a bit more than I did.

Nights in Rodanthe

Title: Nights in Rodanthe

Author: Nicholas Sparks

Pages: 212

Genre: Romance

Grade: B

Synopsis: Adrienne Willis is a recently divorced mother of three who heads out to Rodanthe to watch her friends Bed and Breakfast before it closes down for the season. There is only one scheduled guest, Paul Flanner, who is a recently divorced workaholic looking to make some changes in his life. Adrienne was expecting time to relax and enjoy herself, but conveniently there is a hurricane force storm coming in from the ocean which requires them to board up the windows and doors and spend the weekend inside all alone together.

My Review: This was a fairly typical Nicholas Sparks love story. I had heard that it was a good book club book so I recommended it to Alison for her book club - and she didn't like it. Sorry Al. I think that I liked it better than she did, but there was still something about it that made it almost awkward (maybe because it's a love story featuring people like our parents...).

The Reptile Room

Title: A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room - Book the Second

Author: Lemony Snicket

Pages: 3 discs

Genre: Children's Fiction

Grade: B+

Synopsis: Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire have been sent to live with a far-removed uncle, Dr. Montgomery Montgomery, who is a world-renowned herpetologist. The kids immediately grow fond of "Monty" as they prepare for an expedition to Peru to trap snakes. Monty's original assistant disappears and he is forced to hire a new one, Stefano. The orphans immediately realize that Stefano is actually Count Olaf in a crude disguise (who they lived with and were tormented by in the first book). He is still out to get their fortune.

My Review: I liked this book quite a bit more than the first. In fact, there were a few times that I was listening to the book that I laughed out loud. As a sidenote, I highly recommend listening to the book. The reader, Tim Curry, is fantastic and really makes the story come alive. As usual, the book is a bit depressing but, very clever all the same.