"And I took the one less traveled by..."

As I was scanning through some things in my library today I came across an old, old compilation of Robert Frost poems. Of course whatever I was supposed to be doing got pushed aside and I started reading at random.

After being utterly swept up in the genius that is Frost, I finally got to a poem that explains my life, my heart and is a sort of mantra for my day to day. It really grabs at me every time I read it and is a keystone of my personal mental attitude.

"The Road Not Taken"

Two Roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that, the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

i doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Even as I sit here typing it, it gives me chills. It reminds me to be brave, to take on challenges, and to follow my instincts. We all want to make something of this world and leave our mark, but for me it is absolutely essential. I am nothing if I'm idle. My survival depends on purposeful forward progress. I can often let my doubts and over examination of all the things that could go wrong stop me from taking the leap that I know if I committed to I could make. I will take that road less traveled because that is where I will find my purpose and my satisfaction.

Thank you Robert Frost, your genius and skill has given me an inspiration beyond compare.

A Personal Note

I'm guessing that if your reading this you somewhat know who I am and what I'm about but I decided I'm going to get a little more personal on this blog and let you know more about me; sort of ramp up the dramatic, human interest angle. I have no idea if it will work or how cheesy it will seem but it's worth a shot.

I moved to a new place about a month ago and now I live alone in a garage apartment which I love. It is in a great location and works so well with my lifestyle. I can walk out my door and be on the waterfront with less than a two minute walk.

However, the absolute best part of my new place is that it has two bedrooms which means I HAVE A LIBRARY! I am able to cross "having a live in library" off my bucket list. I know it's not huge but it is my first edition so to speak and it can only grow from here.

You don't get the whole glory of the room from the photos but it will give you an idea. The top picture is the main wall with my favorite touch of the Gryffindor banner! The short shelf in the middle is all "Unread Books". Yes, I know, I have a problem but in the store I cannot possibly choose just one!!

The photo below is the wall opposite the door with the desk, hand crafted! by my amazing father. He is quite the handy man and has blown me away with this skills a hundred times over. The lounger in the corner is one of my favorite places to be, especially on rainy days like we've had here for the past week.

To me, every book represents an escape. I've found a similar feeling in running but books just let my mind free of myself and my life and allow me to be anywhere and anyone I want to be. Books have shaped my life in a way that has no equal. I truly feel sympathy for people when they say they hate to read because that means they are stuck in reality all the time. 

Well there you have a little piece of me. My library is my safe place and I love hanging out there. Check back soon, I am in the middle of a great book and can't wait to finish it. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

"This was a legitimate end to a life of illegitimate beginnings."

Khaled Hosseini gained notoriety with the international phenomenon that was The Kite Runner ( see review in archives). I enjoyed the novel but was not blown away by it. I judge the true strength of a book on how often and how well I remember it and make connections to it. With the Kite Runner I didn't feel that, but like I said it didn't make it an un-enjoyable read. A Thousand Splendid Suns however will stay with and haunt me forever. I think women will latch on to this story more just because it centers around two unintentionally strong women and deals with such deep emotional issues that only women can truly feel the empathy for in the pits of their soul.

This story finds us in Afghanistan following the life of Mariam, a young precocious harami, or bastard. She is the daughter of a wealthy cinema owner and the maid of his household. Think modern day Arnold schwarzenegger. The scandal would have rocked the very religious and strict community so Jalil sends mother and daughter off to live in a hut unsuitable for the two and had them live out of sight out of mind, with him making once weekly visits in an attempt to ease this guilt.

Later in the story we find a grown up Mariam, whose life can only be described as tortured, difficult, and heartbreaking, colliding with a young, beautiful, full of potential Laila. Little does Laila know the circumstances of their meeting will leave her and the reader wounded emotionally with only more blows to come.  Laila and Mariam soon find themselves slaves to the same life and same hardships separated only by twenty or so years. This tale of two women who come together to try and salvage what life the cruel hand of fate has dealt them is a literary power house that will leave you inspired, heart broken, and full of indignation all at the same time.

Again here, as in all my posts, I don't like to give away too much of the plot lines because what I find most fascinating when reading novels are the things I never saw coming. And let me tell you, there is a moment in this book when literally my jaw dropped and I was simply dumbfounded. I'm just glad I wasn't in public at the time because I'm sure the face I made was not attractive. All through this novel there are moments that really hit home and actually connect with the reader, but this one in particular made my heart ache. I'm three days out from finishing this book and am still thinking about it constantly.

If there is only one book you are going to read this summer, I have yet to come up with a better recommendation than Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. It is a quick paced, easy read, that seriously pulls deeply on every emotional stand of your heart and soul. This book will for sure be a repeat read for me sometime down the road and will continue to haunt me for many days to come. I quite frankly am surprised at how long the feelings have lingered but that is not a complaint at all.



P.S. This book came to me as a recommendation from a fellow lover of words, J. Clark. She has been redeemed ten times over. Thanks for this one.

In honor of my childhood

      So, there is this Doctor. No, he's not an MD or a PhD; hell he's not any kind of doctor at all. But this individual has done more for my well being through out the years than any medicine or guy with a white coat ever has or could. Yes, folks, I am talking about the one, the only, Dr. Seuss! His fantastical world of creatures, characters, colors, and rhymes have shaped my entire life and still leave an infinitely large mark on my soul.

           
   







        I was looking through my bookshelves today and found myself lingering on all my old Dr. Seuss books. When asked, someone my age will be able within an instant to recall a fond memory or storyline from any number of his books. The books taught us through color, character, and rhyme to be good people, take care of the environment, believe in ourselves, and to give things a chance. I think I learned more from Seuss than I did from the majority of my teachers through out my years in grade school. Without realizing it, I was being taught some of the most valuable lessons of my life that I still revert back to in all kinds of ways today. Oh, the Places You'll Go is a spiritual guide for me and continues to be the single best source of literary inspiration in my  life, The Cat in the Hat taught me to have fun and be mischievous but always remember that you can never escape responsibility, and The Lorax taught me that the earth is something we need to protect.

       It is extremely rare to have an adult author who can so ingeniously tap into the psyche of a child and draw out the best in their personalities and sensibilities. Another man with this particular genius who comes to mind is Shel Silverstein and his timeless poems. I will forever be indebted to a man I never met nor knew very much about. I can only hope that sometime in every child's life they come across something so magical and everlasting as a classic Dr. Seuss book. Thank you Dr. for leaving an eternal mark on my life that only true genius and books can leave. 

"Because God said So"

I've never been one to shy away from or back down from my personal opinions but I also will not shove them down any ones throat. So in case you didn't know I am an atheist. I don't believe in a God of any kind who has some mystical power in altering people's lives or world events. I find comfort in my abilities, successes, failures, and just overall life experiences as an individual person. I don't need a list of rules, guidelines, or tips to live my life by. If I sleep well at night than I'm content. I don't need to be forgiven, I don't need acceptance from anyone and I certainly don't need a promise of an after life to keep me from stealing, murdering, etc.

With that said, I love to read about religion and religious people because I find it fascinating the way they think and latch on to certain ideas and not others. One of the best books I've read and one that I certainly connected with strongly was Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. So when I saw he had other books, and one about religion, I jumped at the chance to read it and came across this gem, Under the Banner of Heaven.

Under the Banner of Heaven tells the story of Ron and Dan Lafferty, two brothers who subscribe to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The brothers are known for the 1984 murder of their sister in Law Brenda and her 18 month old daughter. When asked on the stand whether he was guilty of murder Ron Lafferty responded "I did kill them but I am innocent". When then asked to clarify how that is even possible he responded with "I was doing God's will and if it comes from God it is good and true. If I didn't kill them then I would be guilty of disobeying God."

For someone like me this gets my mind reeling and my tempering flaring. How on Earth does someone think this way? How do they even begin to think something like that to be rational? Well as you read through the book and the history of the Moron church and how it came about you begin to understand. Krakauer does a phenomenal job of explaining the religion which lead to such extreme views and actions by its adherents.

Joseph Smith in 1830 published The Book of Mormon which was revealed to him when he sat with his face in an upturned top hat that held the "seeing stone" and flashed before his eyes the words of the lord. Totally legit...obviously. With the combination of his two greatest qualities, his physical appearance (think Jon Smith from the Disney cartoon Pocahontas) and his persuasiveness and you get a modern day major religious movement based around a stone and a hat. Now, if you break down any other religion their origins are all just as crazy i.e. talking snake, rib, dust, you get the idea, but they have the benefit of thousands of years of lost history and no records. Krakauer tells the whole story from start to finish in a non judgmental purely facts type of way which was great because it left me all the room I needed in my brain to determine for myself that these people are bat shit crazy. I think I came to that conclusion around page 2 and just kept piling on the evidence as I read on. Oh and the part about how the modern day church scams the government out of million in Welfare benefits is a gem!

Seamlessly blending history and horror, Under the Banner of Heaven takes the reader inside the world of the Mormon faith and the mind of cold blooded murders. If you want a book to shock you, mystify you, confuse you, and down right dumbfound you without a word of it being fiction then this is the one for you. If anything it will make you a more knowledgeable person about what people believe and how their decisions are influenced.




Further Reading:

http://mormonbeliefs.org/   Website about Mormon Beliefs and "Policies"

The Hunger Games Trilogy

So, everyone at this point should know that I am not one to follow the fads or fall into mainstream in really any area of my life but especially when it comes to literature. When my fellow fifth graders were reading Charlotte's Web I was reading The Red Badge of Courage. Okay, point made. Now so when it comes to The Hunger Games I had this whole "I'm not going to do it" attitude and then to be quite honest I got tired of hearing people talking it and not being able to contribute in the conversation. I have since caved, read the entire series in a week and a half, and surprised myself in writing here that I actually enjoyed it.

The story of Katniss Everdeen and the world she lives in steals your attention and draws you in right away which is good because your going to be in that world for three whole books. The reading is easy but very entertaining. This is a fun series to start now with the first movie installment coming out in March. I'm interested to see the visual adaptation of these books and their characters. The actors have a lot to live up to.

I'm not going to get too much into the plot of the books here, I reviewed the first installment in my past post if you wan to look into it more. I will say you will not regret reading the trilogy and when the movie hits theaters you can be in a position to compare and contrast which is always a great way to see a movie.



Enjoy the Games. I know I did.

I finally caved.

So, if you know me or have ever read this blog then you know I don't do mainstream and I don't usually follow the trends. In this case however, I could not escape the hype and constant barrage of comments like "No, really, you have to read this." and "It's sooooo amazing." Last week I finally downloaded The Hunger Games and I must say I was not steered wrong.

The story centers around a society in the future where districts (states) must send one boy and one girl into an arena annually during an event called the rapture to battle to the death as a penalty for a failed uprising against the government 74 years ago. 24 go in, 1 comes out. The entire event is televised and watched by the whole country as a barbaric series of obstacles and circumstances attack the tributes in the arena. 

The heroine of this story is Katniss Everdeen; a head strong, tactful, and very strong young woman. She ends up in the hunger games and faces unthinkable choices in her quest for survival. Katniss is a great literary role model for young girls, hopefully with the launch of the movie franchise she will gain more popularity and girls will realize they can be self sufficient and can do amazingly well by just relying on their instincts and their skill. Her best friend Gale and new friend Peeta are also great characters who create a dramatic sense of tension and conflict emotionally for themselves and the nation.

The Hunger Games is a very quick read with nothing complex at all. If you let it, it can get you thinking about government control and human psychology but if you want to stay on the surface of this one you will be entertained all the same. There is a love story and emotional tension in the spirit of the Twilight Saga but I found this first installment in the series to be much more full fledged and well thought out and interesting than anything found in Twilight so don't let that scare you off.

If you want to be entertained and "in the loop" with a  head start on the movie set to premier in March, then pick up The Hunger Games. It is a fun, fast paced, thrilling ride that will suck you in and allow you to escape the real world for a while, even if it isn't a masterpiece of American literature. It's okay to mix it up and go for fun once in a while and this one is a good place to start. 

"May the odds be ever in your favor."

A phenomenal debut novel.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is an incredible debut novel from author David Wroblewski. The book centers around a boy named Edgar who is born mute and trains dogs through sign language. His family owns and runs a very prestigious kennel of "Sawtelle" dogs, a highly specific, highly trained dog that gives new meaning to the word companionship.

Edgar has a passion and a true calling for training these dogs and it becomes very clear that he needs them as much they need him. His unwavering companion Almondine is the other half of his heart outside his body. The relationship of Edgar and Almondine will hit home with anyone who has found that special companion in a pet, it is a relationship hard to describe but of which the importance can never be understated.

One day an unforeseen tragedy occurs and changes the entire course of Edgar's life. He is forced to flee the only life he's known for one in the wilderness of Wisconsin. He finds himself lost within himself as a person but also on a quest to discover the truth and determine whether there is a path to reconciliation. He is forced to decide if he shall run forever from the past or find his way back home to confront it and the mysteries that lie there. Along his detour he finds fear, truth, wisdom, courage, and redemption in the most unlikely of places and people.

This book is extremely dense and will take some time to read through but the end result will leave your mouth open and your mind reeling. It will make you decide how and what you take away from it. The pages will teach you only what your willing to learn from it. It resolves itself but does not wrap up in a shiny bow with a typical "The End" cliche. It will challenge you, leave you potentially unsure, but all the while capturing little bits of your heart, mind and soul. Rarely do I find this kind of intellectual depth in novels and to me that's what makes one memorable; not the story itself, but the story it creates in my mind after the back cover has been turned over.

"Life was a swarm of accidents waiting in the treetops, descending upon any living thing that passed, ready to eat them alive. You swam in a river of chance and coincidence. You clung to the happiest accidents-the rest you let float by."

One of the better novels I've read period, certainly the best in recent readings. This one is something special.


The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
By: David Wroblewski
562 pages

NERD ALERT!

OKAY! OKAY! I'll admit it.....I am a nerd. There, now it's out in the open. Anyways, if your like me and have a soft spot for semi-cheesy, British Science Fiction, then join me fellow Whovians! That's right, our favorite, incomparable, shaggy haired, bow tie wearing, timelord is back in Hunter's Moon.

Doctor Who has been a British institution since the TV show premiered in 1963. He is a timelord who travels in a British telephone booth dubbed the "TARDIS" (you'll have to look up the acronym) and fights all matter of alien and supernatural life forms with the help of a companion and his sonic screwdriver. The tv show is currently operating with its 11th re-incarnation of this beloved character with Matt Smith having taken over from David Tennant.

This particular story takes us to another galaxy when Rory and Amy find themselves having lost the TARDIS and a lifetime of servitude to a shifty card shark. The Doctor must find a way to rescue them and the other citizens who have been placed on the moon as live human prey for rich sadistic men to hunt. All manner of creature, misfortune, and danger stand in the Doctor's way. It's a race to get to the hunted before they become trophies.

So, if you need an easy, easy read and an escape into another world, with aliens, ray guns, and subtle British humor, then take the six hours max this book requires and escape a little bit. It wouln't leave you with any lasting knowledge but it will entertain you.

 

Happy Reading!

Unique, emotional, and engrossing.



Room by Emma Donoghue is one of those rare times when I listen to popular opinion and read a much hyped book. Normally I stay away from the ones that are talked up and on Best seller lists but something about this book made me give it a shot and I am so glad I did.

Room is written from the perspective of a 5 year old boy but not to a degree that it is frustrating to read. It is more the insight of a five year old than the grammar and syntax so don't worry about the structural flow of the story itself. The book centers around a boy, his mother, and a room which completes the entire life experience of the five year old. It has a shadow of Plato's ancient story "The Allegory of the Cave" which, if you haven't read, I highly encourage you to do that. It is great philosophical and metaphorical story that will really get your mind working and make you think of a level everyday experiences don't force you too.

I don't want to describe too much of the story because it is unveiled as you go along and I don't want to take that opportunity away from the reader to discover the details for themselves. I will however say that I felt empathy when reading this book and that is a very difficult emotion to drag out of me. I feel sadness, anger, and happiness of characters in stories but rarely do I truly feel their emotions as my own and in this story I did. The most prominent of these emotions was frustration. I felt the frustration of the mother so much so that I had to take breaks from reading it in an attempt to separate myself from the character.

I don't know how anyone else will react to the story or if readers will identify with my reaction but this book hit a nerve in a large amount of people, enough to get it national acclaim and a spot on the best seller list.

If your looking for something a little different, with an emotional edge, I highly recommend Room. It is well worth the time it will take to read it and will not be a waste of the time you spend thinking about it afterwards.

"For some reason dying men always ask questions they know the answer to. Perhaps it's so they can die being right."

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak breaks the mold of the often told Holocaust story. It is actually a young adult fiction but you would never know that by how fast and how hard these pages take you in. It is a sincere, emotional look at WWII through the eyes of a German orphan named Liesel. She is a head strong child who finds herself on Himmel street near Munich at a time when nothing was certain and the world was changing.

When a years old promise made by Liesel's father comes knocking at the front door, the lives of everyone at 33 Himmel street takes a dramatic and potentially dangerous turn. Liesel became the book thief by chance but the habit may just have saved her own life and the lives of those around her.

The Holocaust is arguably the most corrosive and disgusting stain on human history to have ever occured. The story has been recorded in every way shape and form but something about this novel brings it new life. It is an honest look at not so much the atrocities themselves but the everyday changes that happened during that time. With the lead character being a German citizen you see the time period in a different light from people who were just as powerless as the other victims.

Liesel herself is a character that many can relate to and you find yourself caring about her right away. Her relationship with her father is touching and heart felt without being predictable or cliche.  and carried the true heart of the novel.

But the overall surprise of this novel is its narrator....death. Death tells this story from beginning to end. It creates an amazing demention to the entire novel.

This book is a light read but is a fresh and worthwhile look at a familiar subject. It will stay with you long after you turn the last page.



"The human heart is a line, whereas my own is a circle, and I have the endless ability to be in the right place at the right time. The consequence of this is that I'm always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both. Still, they have one thing I envy. Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die."