Continuing adventures in reading
January 8th, 2010 | Published in Books | 2 Comments
I finally finished “To Kill A Mockingbird” today, nearly two weeks after I borrowed it from our school library. I’ll spare you the boredom of a lengthy review, but suffice to say, Harper Lee did a great job weaving a tight plot and portraying it with brilliant prose, in the process creating something precious: a story of an idyllic childhood during a tumultuous time in the distant past that has kept its sheen through the years, remaining relevant even today. Certainly a must-read.
I want to borrow another book in my continuing mission to discover the classics of literature, but there aren’t any more interesting titles available in the school library. Good news, in a way, because I still have two books here at home that I haven’t read yet: “Dreams From My Father” by Barack Obama (I bought it ages ago, but it sat neglected on my to-read shelf as I went through the classics) and the ridiculously thick “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand (in hindsight, I should have bought “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera instead of it). I think I’ll finish “Dreams” first because I’d already started reading it when I decided to do classics and because Caffeinesparks strongly advised me not to read Ayn Rand, because—and I quote—”objectivism sucks”.
Book suggestions are encouraged and appreciated!
[To Kill A Mockingbird book cover from Wikipedia]
Oh, I ADORED To Kill A Mockingbird when I did it last year! It became one of my favourite books, and my favourite character of all time, of all books, movies etc., has to be Boo Radley. Atticus Finch is also in that long list of favourites, but nobody beats Boo! He broke my heart, gosh.
It’s a fantastic story, even though I was the only one in my class who actually liked it?
I’d recommend the Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which isn’t a classic, but is very good. I didn’t like the book at all, but a lot of people rave about Catcher in the Rye (and, admittedly, it had some great use of symbolism in it), so you might want to try that. Personally, the narrator grated on me no end.
Personally? I loved Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, but it’s a hefty book, quite hard to read, although once I had got into it, I consumed the rest in a few big mouthfuls. Great stuff, AMAZING story that only ties up at the end, colourful characters. Love it. But, again, lots of hate thrown at it.
Other than that, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I consider this a bit of a girly book (…because, well, it is), but a fantastic one, so I couldn’t recommend it enough! And, actually, my favourite characters in this were all male anyway, aha, but, then they always are! Give it a try, perhaps?
Hi, Lulu, thanks for dropping by!
I think it’s interesting that your favorite character is Boo. He was an interesting character, certainly, but I think I liked Atticus more.
I actually finished Catcher in the Rye a few months ago and loved it! As you said, it’s replete with symbolism, and that’s one of the best things I like about it. It’s an interesting take on adolescence and coming of age.
Also, thanks for the book recommendations! I’ll definitely try to look for or mooch ‘em.
Cheers, and again, thanks for dropping by!