Angel
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Posts posted by Angel
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Way behind but wanted to catch these up!
In good (book) news, one of the categories I had left for the special book challenge I'm doing this year was a book that came out the year you were born.
That leaves me with just 7 more categories on my challenge (one of them will require me to read Red Badge of Courage... not looking forward to that...).
Trust me, you didn't miss anything! I seriously expected to find out why Thomas and Teresa helped WICKED. Maybe some of the planning of the Maze and why those trials with variables were necessary in the first place. Nope. It was about what happened to a random group of people when the sun flares happened and then a year later when the Flare was purposefully released to control the population. This group of people found a child named Deedee, hit by a disease dart but did not get sick, who is obviously the child renamed Teresa. They got her to a flat trans to get her to people she can help (who of course ended up being WICKED). It was mostly one long fight scene.
You must be doing the same book challenge as my IRL book club! I think I have 13 left to go...and I'm not sure I'll finish. There's just not enough time. Our book club has been choosing a category a month to read, and our category for November is the "read a book published the year you were born."
Is Red Badge of Courage your "book you should have read in high school?" It was mine. It was horrible! One star. Blah!
Yeah, I was kind of done with The Maze Runner series and dd had told me that the prequel really had nothing to do with the same people. I'm glad I didn't bother!
I always knew that I liked my BaW friends, but to find a shared love of Uncle Wiggily is touching to me. :001_wub:
Did you and your children play the Uncle Wiggily board game too?
My older dd had the Uncle Wiggily board game. It took FOREVER to finish :laugh: For a long time I had no idea that it was made from a book.
Anyway, I'm just getting ready to return a few (because I have quite a few others waiting) & will try to get back to them at a later date. I did want to mention one (that I haven't yet read) because it seems like one that might appeal to some of you (I'm thinking mumto2, aggieamy, Angel, maybe others...?): The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals by Wendy Jones. I picked it up because it's published by Europa Editions.
Added it to my ridiculous list!
I'm reading Red Badge of Courage. I'm about 1/3 through it. Yuck. Awful. There's good reason I didn't read it when it was assigned by my tutor! It's horrid. I hate it. Seriously, I can't use enough negative words about this horrid book.
:iagree: :lol:
I managed to finish a book last week but haven't had time to do my review. Life is just rushing by too fast :glare:
I've got to get upstairs. Dh and Aly are watching the Tombs episode of X-Files. :eek: Totally creeps me out!!
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This afternoon I finished The Kill Order which is the prequel to the Maze Runner trilogy. Definitely my least favorite of the four books. Half of it is non-stop gory violence that got seriously boring. The end is just kind of dumb. I'm glad I'm done with that series. My daughter is glad I read them.
Thanks for asking :) Not very good today. The prolapse is getting worse. Last week I was able to spend a lot of time laying down since my husband and older two were in Orlando. The little guys are super easy. The big kids needs to be taken a lot of places (generally for taekwondo). My husband and I went grocery shopping after they got home yesterday. Then this morning the middle two had taekwondo. I ended up sitting on the floor the whole time because it was more comfortable than the chairs. Then my daughter had a dental check-up this afternoon (no cavities). They have a lovely plush couch in the waiting room that I will forever be grateful to them for. Plus we did a full day of school. I have been laying down since about 3:30 because I am in a lot of pain. Every day it seems to get a little worse and if I do too much it's really bad (like today). My big kids already told me if I am hurting tomorrow they do not have to attend instructor training since that's a 20 minute drive each way to drop them off and then pick them up two hours later. Right now the rest of my family is at church for dinner and Trunk or Treat. I just couldn't handle the thought of sitting on a folding chair for two hours. I see the doctor on Thursday for pre-op and will hopefully schedule the surgery. I'm still coughing a bit so I'm not sure if that's going to delay when I can have it. I just know I cannot live like this for much longer or I will go insane.
It's really weird and strikes me as very immature when authors fight back against honest low ratings. I've had a few authors respond to my reviews, but it's always been a positive interaction.
I still want to see The Martian, but I'm not sure that'll happen while it's in the movie theaters. I'm not sure I can sit in a theater seat that long. I wonder if any of our theaters (we have a ton in this city) have recliners. I could totally do a movie in a recliner. My son wanted to go for his birthday (10/3), but I gave him the flu for his birthday (he got better after just 3 or 4 days). I realized I've been sick a month and a half now. I got sick with the first illness around the 10th of September. I wasn't feeling great, but I wasn't bad on the 12th when we (all 6 of us) competed in the intraschool taekwondo tournament. I had a little bit of a cough from it, but nothing too bad and I was getting better when I got the flu the 29th of September. I had a tooth filled that afternoon and by evening I had a fever and chills and everything. I went to the doctor on the 5th of October. By then I had severe bronchitis and possible walking pneumonia. I had my well woman exam on the 24th and there was a woman coughing like crazy in the waiting room. My doctor figures I took home a souvenir of her germs after my appointment. My uterus prolapsed on the 7th (3 weeks ago tomorrow). It's been a rough few weeks!
:grouphug: Heather! And you've one upped me. I didn't read the prequel. I was pretty much done ;)
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From last week...
We all know that Angel SECRETLY loves Slaughterhouse-Five. I mean, she keeps posting about how it is better than other books. :hurray:
I find Vonnegut an amazing writer because his work is almost surprisingly simple to read, so succinct -- a master of ironic understatement. Yet his observations are profound, his satire razor sharp. I think he's one of America's great contemporary writers and someone that everyone should read at least once (even if he's not your normal cup of tea).
:lol: Quoting Pride & Prejudice (the movie) "You think that Jane if it gives you comfort." :lol: Let's consider what I was comparing Slaughterhouse-Five to lol! Profound and razor sharp satire would not be the first adjectives to come to mind for Vonnegut. :laugh:
Kindle got charged and I finished The Death Cure. It was the best of the three books. There were things that bothered me and were just not well written. The two major death scenes were really anticlimatic. I expected much more out of the first one since my daughter cried and cried over it and then refused to pick the book back up for 2 or 3 weeks. There were a couple twists and turns I wasn't at all expecting, though, so that made it more fun to read.
Our dd's may have the same taste in books!! I don't know if I liked The Death Cure best, though the last quarter of the book was really good, maybe because I finally knew who was on whose side and what the whole thing was about in the first place :laugh: I was disappointed in the death scene as well, and by the fact that the author killed that character at all. That character being the only one through the books that I could truly say I liked.
Eliana, so glad the baby is doing so well!! That's wonderful news!
I'm rereading The Magician's Nephew along with Aly for her Worldview class at co-op, and I'm reading the newest Michael Vey book now that Aly and dh are finished with it.
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I'm trying to read Slaughterhouse Five but really dislike the writing style. I'm not ready to give up yet, but so far I think if I finish it, it will be because I want to understand why it's held up as a great book for so long.
I'm still waiting for the answer to that question :lol: Along with Brave New World and Red Badge of Courage :ack2: Slaughterhouse Five is better than both of those, however.
Maybe it's kind of like the Oscar's. They rarely pick movies that are liked and enjoyed by the masses, instead opting to choose weird and perplexing movies to give the award to. There are many movies/actors that have deserved Oscar nods for their roles but would not receive them because it was in a "popular" movie. So maybe the elusive people who have hailed and picked these "classic" books that "every teenager whether appropriate or capable of comprehending it all or not" should read have picked the truly weird and perplexing (and downright horrid) books because they couldn't pick the most popular books of the time. :001_tt2: :rofl: :leaving:
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Today I finished Glimmerglass by Marly Youmans, a book recommended here. It was not at all what I had expected. Instead of going back to read what made me think I’d like this book though, I continued on with the story. It had a very unearthly feel to it making me never quite sure if I was supposed to be in the real world or if I was supposed to imagine myself in some sort of fairy land. Maybe some would call it magical realism, but it was not the magical realism of Sarah Addison Allen or Menna Van Praag. To me it was more confusing. I enjoyed the journey of Cynthia as she “finds herself†again, as well as setting of Sea House and Glimmerglass itself. I also enjoyed the mystery of the hill and Moss. That said, the time in the hill is just too ambiguous and dreamy and insubstantial. I enjoy magic in my stories, but I would like it to make sense. The ending was satisfying though.
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I enjoyed The Shadow Rising! So much going on, easy to get lost. Rand stumbling and bumbling with the female warriors, not exactly sure what he was doing. Seemed like all the characters were sort of bumbling along, trying to figure things out. It wasn't boring and I wanted to start the next book right away, but figured I should take a breather in between.
The bolded only gets worse. I have wondered during my rereads why Jordan kept adding so many extra characters. There are a few that I thought should not have been developed into another story line.
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Two ebooks waiting in the wings to begin
#5 in Wheels of Time - The Fires of Heaven
I never heard how you enjoyed #4
The bat stories are AWESOME! I have none to share myself but my cousin has a similar story to Pam's Bat Story #1 only instead of being pregnant she had a newborn.
I am reading Glimmerglass (Thanks, Ali, I forgot to tell you I got it in the mail :o ). I gave up on The Supernatural Elements. It wasn't bad. I just wasn't in the mood!
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I am currently stuffing my face with Brach's candy corn. I allow myself one bag each year (I used to eat 3 or 4 bags each year). Since I have been eating poorly while sick (who the heck wants to eat salad when you have no taste buds. I want comfort food) now was a good time :laugh:
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Eliana, :grouphug: and prayers for your dd and her family. Life is so amazingly precious! What a sweet little thing she is!
Kathy, I loved the phrase that your grandson "barged into the world!" :lol: Is that he present personality as well?
Skye, my aspie, had to be pulled out forcibly after 4 hours of pushing (she was stuck under my pelvic bone), we like to joke that even in the womb she was resistant to change and meeting new people and was refusing to come out
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Finished The Giver with my kids. I've never read the sequels and I'm debating. I hear such mixed reviews. One part of me wants to keep the book with the ending and have it live happily ever after in my head without the added books.
I needed more at the end of The Giver. It was just a little too ambiguous for me. I loved the rest of it. If the ending had been more concrete it would have been a five star book for me.
My daughter read the other three books this year. After the second book she was a little confused as to how they really went together. After the third she was happier. She absolutely loved how the fourth drew it all together. She has highly recommended I read the other three.
My dh and dd's agree with Heather's dd. I haven't went on to read the others but the rest of the family was glad they did.
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I finished The Scorch Trials this morning. It was okay. I hate, hate, hate how for like 20 pages it was constantly "If you'd be quiet, I'll tell you why this is happening" and "Stop interrupting and I'll tell you" and, honestly, not everything was explained at all. The word choices the author makes puzzle me sometimes. They are distracting. The writing level is not typical of a young adult book. The Underland Chronicles, aimed at younger kids, has better writing and word choices for goodness sake!
So next I'll read the first Magnus Chase book (Rick Riordan). Then I'll go back for the third Maze Runner book.
This has been a frustrating reading week because I've had bronchitis teetering on the edge of pneumonia (getting better now) and then I ended up with a grade 3 uterine prolapse and my bladder is also prolapsed so I'm facing surgery (hysterectomy and transobturator tape bladder repair) next month and in a fair bit of discomfort and sometimes pain now so I haven't been able to really focus on reading. Well, maybe I could have focuses better if it was something better than The Scorch Trials that I was reading. I don't know.
All I can say is maybe while waiting for the surgery since I can't be on my feet too much and then recovering from surgery I'll have lots of time to read. I have 373 books in my to read file right now.
:grouphug: :grouphug:
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I also finished today A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch. I picked this book up, at the dollar store of all places, because I liked the look of the cover. Set in Victorian England the book is a cozy mystery. The main character, Mr. Lenox, was a likeable amateur detective, and the supporting cast was just as enjoyable. At times I thought the author gave a little much detail to non-essential parts of the story, but I’ll admit that that may be just my lack of attention being sick. The author led me on a merry chase, though, with the who-done-it. I was all turned around. It was A SATIFSYING MYSTERY.
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I was not well enough to head out to church today, though Aly ventured out, so I finished my Warren Wiersbe study on Ruth and Esther. Be Committed was an excellent study of these two books of the Bible as well as an intimate look into the lives of these extraordinary women of faith. I ended up writing all over this book (something I rarely do) because there was so many wonderful quotes. There was a wealth of real life application here. I didn’t always agree with Wiersbe, especially about Ahasureus and Vashti, but that’s to be expected. One of the reasons I do so very little reading of Bible study books is because they are written by fallible, sinful man, and I have seen so many people base their truths on a book written by man than on the Bible itself. One of the thoughts that Wiersbe had that profoundly moved me was about Naomi and Ruth and Orpah. His thought was that in her bitterness Naomi missed an opportunity to provide not only Ruth with the opportunity to know her God, but Orpah as well. She told both women to go back to their people and their gods when she should have heeded Orpah’s entreaty to come with her to her people and her God. It’s a thought that has stayed with me for the many months I’ve been doing this study. I found much to edify and inspire in this study.
And that puts me at #40. I have about 100 pages left in A Beautiful Blue Death, which I may finish today. I've been resting a lot so I'm not sure.
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And one of my all-time favorites:
"The trap of resentment. It is probably the worst mental prison in the world. It is the inability to let go of anger and the perceived or real injustices we suffer. Some people let one or two, or maybe ten unpleasant experiences poison the rest of their lives. They let their anger ferment and rot their personality. They end up seeing themselves as victims of their parents, teachers, their peers and preachers."
Wow! That is an amazing description of resentment and bitterness! And so true. Thanks for sharing.
I did finally read the Harry Potter series. Before I had kids, I completely blew off the whole idea of HP. When I worked in a bookstore, I was one of the only employees who preferred to skip the big release parties. Now my ds has been begging for HP as a read-aloud, so I read the whole series. And I'm kind of obsessed. I was expecting twaddle. I was pleasantly surprised. :)
We were late comers to the Harry Potter world as well. And we are still obsessed. ;)
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I'm reading Scorch Trials by James Dashner. Honestly, if my daughter wasn't begging me no way would I finish this series. It's just not that well written.
:lol: Exactly my thoughts! Though I admit to wondering what it was all about, and wanting to know the end. I found myself worried that Aly thought this was such a great series. :eek: The next book is better. The Scorch Trials movie was horrendous. Like someone else said...a zombie movie only loosely based on the actual book. Bleh!
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SPOILER WARNING: If you haven't read Brave New World yet and you are planning to, you might want to skip this post - I am hoping that now that a cadre of people have read it, we might be able to talk about the end? I am kind of at a loss as to how to interpret it. So if you have thoughts to share, read on!
So here is a part of BNW we haven't discussed: what did you guys make of the whole John Savage character, and the ending? I have to confess to being a little lost at the end. Clearly, Huxley's view of "unimproved" society isn't any better than his view of the Brave New World - the Reservation is a very grim place. John's struggles in trying to fit in to the BNW are understandable. His desire to go to the islands is too. Even his decision to isolate himself is totally understandable. But then the weird self-flagellation thing and the culminating orgy of death? I confess that I was also struggling to figure out what message we were meant to take from that whole resolution. Huxley definitely doesn't subscribe to the Noble Savage POV, which I find refreshing, but I don't really know what to do with the whole ending sequence. Does anyone have any thoughts?
:iagree: I am still puzzling over why he wasn't allowed to go to the island :confused: I have no idea what the whole ending was about. In fact, I can't even come up with a guess. Silly me thought that they might go somewhere with the Lenina/John storyline. I truly felt the ending didn't fit in with the rest of the book. He could have stopped at least two other places and been better off.
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:grouphug: :grouphug: , Angel. I hope you & Aly start feeling better soon!
And this is for you: :svengo: (<--------- me re: your post when you said you liked SF better than BNW. I couldn't post the fainting smiley when I was on my touch pad.) :lol:
ETA: Yes, I read Nineteen Eighty-Four... in 1984. Lol. It was a school assignment & I remember really liking it. (Enjoy just always seems the wrong word to use for dystopian books. Sigh.) I would be willing to revisit it for next year's Banned Books Week. I'm so old I've forgotten much of it!
:lol: I read your other too posts but am too fuzzy to form a coherent reply, though...
One note about discussion on capitalism. Look at the differences between capitalism and consumerism. it's easy to confuse the two. TV and advertising is all about consumerism, not capitalism. The news is out to make news instead of report it these days. I can watch something live, then watch the news later who take license with creative nonfiction instead of straight news reporting and change the facts. Gone are the days of unbiased reporters. Everyone has an agenda. So I don't watch filtered news, nor do I watch commercials, preferring to record and fast forwards any TV show. All advertising has gone the way of making the white male look like a total idiot. I agree about the brainwashing and the mental manipulation which is why so many of us are homeschooling, right! Teaching our children to think for themselves.
Since I own a small business, I'm glad we live in a free market society which capitalism is. While all the big box stores are closing down because of their business models and poor customer service such as Good Guys, Radio Shack, Circuit City, Borders, Tower Books to name a few, the mom and pop shops, the independent businesses are thriving. People still want personal service and don't want to be treated like a impersonal body with money.
:iagree: with Robin here. However...
Butter and Angel. Hugs, bronchitis is so draining. Get some rest.
Thank you! I should have listened sooner when Butter said go to the doctor if you are not getting better.
Whenever discussions of capitalism come up, I always think of Inigo Montoya - I'm not sure that this word means what we think it means. Or at least, I'm not sure it means the same thing to everybody. A quick internet search turns up some wildly diverging definitions:
Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned.
oops, now the however, I, like Rose, also looked up capitalism. This is the definition I found. I proceeded to look up communism and socialism, and am sure we don't want either of those.
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P.S. Angel! I may indeed faint! ;-p
:lol:
Slaughterhouse Five was, like you said, at least a human story. I could connect on some level with Billy Pilgrim. The characters in BNW were sterile, for lack of a better word. I want to connect with my characters in some fashion, not be a bystander on the outside.
Sorry about the multiple posts. The laptop I work on has a chunky line down the middle of the screen, and it's really hard to multi-quote on it. And that's too much work right now.
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After Brave New World I needed a trip to Flufferton Abbey. I picked up a Regency book that had been in a pile from the library book sale from who knows when. I thought it was a romance, but it was heavier on the mystery. Funny enough, The Riddle of Alabaster Royal by Patricia Veryan would fit into a “spooky†category with a creepy, decrepit old house that is haunted by the ghost of a very large cat. It was a good enough book up until the last few pages. She left at least two large plot items unresolved! After looking it up on Goodreads, I see there are two more books. I wonder if she resolves those issues. Anyway, A PLEASANT DIVERSION to read while one is sick and can’t sleep.
That makes #39. I'm currently working on A Beautiful Blue Death for my 2015 Reading Challenge (book with a color in the title). I bought this at the dollar store earlier in the year because I liked the cover. I think Shukrriya read it this year. It's good so far only with a little bit too much description, which may only be that my mind can't focus and I want easy reading. I also checked out Supernatural Enhancements. Aly and I will be reading Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but I think they are going to fall into November instead of October :glare:
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Sorry I copied then couldn't get it to edit down. Pretend I just have the bit about prescription drugs.......
Since we have been sharing funny things our dc's have done I thought I would comment on Prescription drug advertising which does not happen in the UK much. When we were in the process of moving here I let the dc's (ages 7 and 9) watch Family Feud and The Price is Right way more than I should have, telling them not to watch commercials. This was in the US. After we settled here and had a social life someone was discussing a medical problem, allergies I think...not viagra. My kids popped up with the pros and cons of several prescription allergy meds, could spell the proper name, and deliver the potential side effects pretty much verbatim from the commercials. No one knew what they were copying, utter shock. I think the bystanders thought I was teaching them that for some unknown reason, others were fascinated by their apparent vast knowledge. I don't think they knew much more than the average TV watcher in the US. There I stood, kids had oviously watched way too much telly and listened to all the commercials closely. :lol:
We have very few commercial breaks, only three breaks an hour on commercial tv. The BBC doesn't break until the show or movie is over. Drug commercials are rare.
Totally not book related but here is a link to the dc's favorite British game show from the same age, since Angel and her dd are sick. Pointless
on youtube. They also loved University http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=university+challenge+youtube&FORM=VIRE2#view=detail&mid=461D7640F2DFF86D5F2F461D7640F2DFF86D5F2F and Mastermind. I haven't prewatched the episodes so have no idea content wise for linked episodes but most are fine.:lol: and thanks for the links! Dd is all over British telly.
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Back from the doctor's. Bronchitis/sinus infection/upper respiratory infection. Basically I'm a hot mess. Got antibiotics and cough syrup with codeine. So I may make little sense for a couple days :blush:
Brave New World
Ok, my rambling comments are here.....
I am not a fan of dystopian books. Generally, at this stage in my life, I don't pick it up myself to read because I feel like I can find something as horrific somewhere in the world in the news. So, to me, dystopian is not 'fun reading', ever. Maybe I'm old, cynical, & jaded, but I often feel that it hits too close to home/to reality. (So, please excuse my upcoming rants & musings on our society compared to BNW.) I hope the next generation reads books like this & that it energizes them into action to create a better world, a world drastically different than what these dystopian books are showing. Even though I can't say I liked reading BNW, I am glad I read BNW. (Thanks, Angel. Not sure when/if I would have gotten around to it if you hadn't selected it for us to read.)
I agree with this! I had not thought of the next generation reading in hopes of changing the path we are on. I'll have to ponder that, but I think you are right. But as with most classics, how much will skim right over their heads? I read it at 17. Did I have the life experience to really process, umm, not so much. Not to mention that most public schools that will come to BNW will not have a teacher like Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society. They will regurgitate facts and analyze literary terms and not get into a discussion about the many things we are discussing here.
What I found actually quite fascinating about BNW is that it's a dystopian society based on pleasure, on happiness. Not that the people are truly happy, but that the populace is controlled by creating a happy atmosphere. I guess it's the old adage of catching more flies with honey than vinegar. (Well, that & genetic manipulation & brainwashing. ;) But still....) And, that the 'head guy' in charge of this society (can't remember his name/role) was actually willing to sit & have a pleasant conversation w/ the younger guys who were challenging the status quo. To me, those facets made this book unique among other dystopian books I've read. It was fascinating that in both BNW and F451 the "head guys" had books and were well read. In BNW the Head Controller admits to being able to break the rules.
Quite frankly, I found a lot of parallels in our society today. Yes, which is what disturbs me the most about reading dystopian. I also feel the tv/movie industry has made it popular. In my warped, conspiracy theory mind, they are conditioning people to find these dystopian societies "commonplace" or "glamourous." Dh disagrees with me but that's ok ;)
Brainwashing & mental manipulation:
Imo, we are a pretty manipulated society, similar to BNW. TV, social media, news, along w/ Congress' approval (they make the laws that control what we see), provide a pretty narrow view of the world we see. We are given a fairly narrow column of news (there is so much more going on out in the world but it takes effort & searching to try to find out) -- it is easier to just watch or read the stuff that is put in front of us. From politics to junk food, we are convinced of our opinions by slick marketing teams. I don't see this as drastically different than the brainwashing in BNW. We are easily led in our capitalist tendencies (you're helping the economy, helping your country after all!), to spend, spend, spend, to want what we see. Know what sells? Sex sells. It sells the idea that if you just buy the right furniture, wear the right shoes, drive the right car, drink the right drink, you will be liked, attractive, envied, wanted. Hey, you can even buy sexy underthings at a store named after the BNW drug. (Should that make us laugh or cry? At first I thought it was kind of funny but now the idea depresses me.) Let's not even go into how many ads there are on tv for medications (including Viagra pushed by an attractive woman) or how much of the illegal drug culture is impacting our society. The US is one of the largest users per capita of prescription drugs. We are a drugged-up society (not sure if we're entirely blissed out per BNW standards, but I guess that's where we're aiming with all the stuff we buy). Huxley is probably laughing hysterically at the society we've become; or crying because his vision was too close to reality. I agree with this too, except I don't find a capitalist society bad, if that is what you were trying to say even. Dh says tv is called tv programs (programming) for a reason. It is programming us to think a certain way or accept new "norms" in society. It is certainly not much different than the hypnopaedic messages. But advertising is everywhere now. And side rant, why do drug companies have to advertise? How much money are they wasting that could be put to better use...I feel that way about the post office, too. We all know that there is one in every town, don't spend millions in advertising. Sorry, got distracted. Blame the codeine.
Social strata:
In BNW, people are bred to belong to certain social strata & people stay firmly rooted in their tier for life. They think thoughts that go w/ their strata (through brainwashing), have jobs that go w/ their tier, hobbies that match their level, etc.... We definitely have social strata issues here in the US (just not genetically bred ones yet). There are various divisions & they impact things as varied as housing, nutrition, school access, safety, jobs/careers, & more. We have social stratification issues tied to immigration, a hot political topic at the moment. I also see our issues as social strata tied to marketing & buying. Because a lot of what we buy -- it's made in sweatshops outside of our country by people so poor, I'm not even sure we can imagine the poverty or their lives. But, they toil for our pleasure. (Hey! Look at this cute, cheap t-shirt I can buy today!) It's social stratification on a global scale. Does that mean we're even worse in that respect than BNW? At least the citizens of BNW saw & slightly interacted with the others once in awhile while we seem to do a lot to keep it out of sight/out of mind. I don't completely agree here. The USA is still a land of opportunity. Why the heck do all these people still want into our country. My parents live in a very backwoods, rural Appalachian community. These people, because of their "poverty" are given every opportunity to rise above their situation. Free lunches, free clothes, free breakfasts, free school supplies, free college. I'm constantly appalled at all they are given in government support to better themselves. A few do. They tend to leave the area and not associate with it anymore. The majority don't. They are happy in their situation. Instead of taking all the support and using it, they are instead being "conditioned" to take the free handouts and continue doing so for the rest of their lives.
Science/genetic modification:
There has been some mention of people who want to manipulate DNA to create 'perfect' babies so you can make your child have the features you like. I'm sure that comes at a hefty price through private clinics. Generally, it has been frowned upon, but it has been done & I'm sure it's not something that will entirely go away (as an idea or as an actual procedure). Of course, there's plenty of parallel to Hitler, creating a superior race, etc.... Heck, we still have plenty of hate groups here in the US promoting those values. What about plastic surgery (for vanity, not necessity)? Would that be using science to create beauty & sexiness for pleasure? Again, plenty of echoes of BNW in our real society. Haven't pondered this one extensively yet, though, so I feel like my thoughts here are still choppy. Agree here as well.
Shakespeare:
I haven't really tried to look at why there were so many Shakespeare references in BNW, not only to The Tempest, but to other works too. He seemed to quote Othello a lot. And I haven't read Othello. Defnintely some Shakespeare quotes I couldn't put to a work.
One last comment for now. At the back of the book I had, there was a letter Huxley wrote to George Orwell in 1949 (after having received a copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four from Orwell). Huxley thanks Orwell for his book & discusses their different visions of the future. He then goes on to say, I have not read 1984. Have you? Maybe next year's banned book week :lol: I'm depressed enough after reading all of these books.
At first, I thought of it as kind of an authorly snub of 'my dystopian view is better than your dystopian view', but after re-reading it & thinking about it, I am beginning to wonder if he's not right? Think about WWII to the present day. Have we had enough parallels to both Orwell's & Huxley's visions to see some truth in both of them?
Food for thought anyway.
Like I said, I keep comparing the different societies that I've read over the past two years. I liked how Lois Lowry handled it in The Giver the best, probably.
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Ok, Stacia, this got long and rambly, probably because my head is so fuzzy, but I wanted to get it out before I forget some of the things I was thinking. I hope it makes some sense ;) Headed to the doctor's now. Thanks for the well wishes Jane and mum2.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. It is unbelievable that I didn’t remember reading this book. Only the part on the Savage Reservation brought up any sort of memory. Within in pages of beginning it, I was looking to see when it had been written. I was shocked to find it had been written in the 1930’s. The more I read, however, the more I could see some of the progressive influences of those times on his writing. My first thoughts ran to Eugenics and Margaret Sanger and Hitler’s scientists. Though on doing further study, Eugenics didn’t fit the profile exactly, but I can see where it could have led a man with an imagination to run to a dystopian society (though they thought it quite utopian). There were some parallels to F451 with the universal theme of everyone be happy, be doing, don’t think for yourself, let “us†(the government) do the thinking for you. No books! But BNW went such a giant leap father as to get rid of parents and families altogether. The government eliminated them. The people, also, were engineered (sounds like Ian Malcolm and Henry Wu from Jurassic Park), to have no ambition, no drive in life but what their make-up allowed. It’s like some radicals talking about fitting children into a profession at age 7 or 8 and only allowing them to follow that path. We grow and change daily. What you like at 7 will change by 9 and by 14 and by 21 and by 43. In BNW the people deal with this by wanton drug use, so truly the government hasn’t achieved the utopia it has thought it has. All of those natural human tendencies are still there trying to break out and break free, they are just repressing them with drugs and sex. It’s a false sense of happy, not true happiness that comes from living, from hoping. The Giver truly showed this best. What does a “perfect†society or “perfect†peace achieve but sameness. Where is the life in that? There is so much more I could say, especially from my Christian viewpoint, it’s crazy! I think that this is the culmination of all of my dystopian readings from last year and this year. Comparing and contrasting them all. I did not care for any of the characters in BNW, they were shallow (maybe because they were engineered that way). The ending was abrupt and left me wondering why bother writing the story at all. What was Huxley’s point? Some people I know say there is a “worldview†to every story. I don’t really believe that. When I fall into a wonderful Flufferton abbey book, I don’t feel the need to see a statement or “worldview†there. Same with many pieces of fiction. But with a book like BNW with outrageous concepts and progressive ideas, I feel there is a point, but then am left wondering what it might be. Was it just for a shock factor? Was he endorsing a certain movement or political viewpoint? Did he just have a twisted imagination like Lewis Carroll? If I remember correctly, Huxley didn’t start experimenting with drugs until years after BNW was written. I just don’t know. It certainly wasn’t Miranda’s brave, new world from The Tempest. .It was ugly and depressing and hopeless.
Quote: “The Controller shrugged his shoulders. ‘Because it’s old; that’s the chief reason. We haven’t any use for old things here.’ ‘Even when they are beautiful?’ ‘Particularly when they’re beautiful. Beauty’s attractive, and we don’t want people to be attracted by old things. We want them to like the new ones.’â€
Dystopian books read in the past two years: The Hunger Games trilogy, The Giver, Agenda 21, Divergent, Fahrenheit 451, The Maze Runner trilogy (loosely falls here), and now Brave New World.
I will definitely NOT be reading any more dystopia soon. I've reached my quota for a lifetime maybe :001_tt2:
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Angel, here's my first comment re: Brave New World...
Soma (chain of lingere/underwear stores, an off-shoot of the Chico's brand) -- did they know about soma in Brave New World? Maybe, since it's a blissed out sexual society, but I really wonder if the name selection was intentional or accidental. :lol:
And I just looked on wikipedia & soma is an energizing Vedic plant that can be juiced & used in rituals.
:lol:
Still sick. Going to doctor today. The ped put Aly on a Z-pack last night.
I looked up what I wrote about Slaughterhouse Five last year (since Rose just read it). I liked Slaughterhouse Five better than Brave New World. (Sit down Stacia, before you faint). My brain is all fuzzy but at least I cared about Billy Pilgrim and wanted to know more about why he was shifting through time and space. I couldn't care about the characters in BNW. No growth. No connection. I may never have found out why the heck Billy Pilgrim was shifting in time but the end of that book was better than the abrupt ending of BNW.
I am now deciding whether to give BNW a one star or bump Slaughterhouse Five up a star. Or at least a half star.
More to come when I can think (and type) straight.
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You know, I'd give Alan Bradley's books another try. I don't like series books & yet I've read the first six. (There are now seven total.)
The second book was my least favorite &, imo, the weakest of all of them. I loved the third one. The series gets better as it goes along (w/ the exception of the 2nd one), imo.
There is actually character development & story development over the longer term. The series was originally slated for six books & I have to say that I loved how it all led up to & culminated in that sixth book. That one is definitely more serious & sober in tone, but he did a wonderful job of wrapping things up (so if the series had stopped there, you'd be satisfied), but also did a great job in providing a new window for new possible directions (which is what the 7th book is, I guess).
I second this! I had the same feeling about the characters. I remember writing that I was disappointed that the sisters' relationship wasn't better. But the character development is subtle and slow, and in the end I was more than pleased. The second book is definitely the worst. However, after that they only get better with each book. Aly is reading the second one now.
:grouphug: Heather :grouphug: Now that you have some serious meds, I hope you recover quickly. But don't push it. If you need to rest, rest.
Belated Happy Birthday wishes, Shawne.
Jane and anyone else in the area I hope you are able to stay dry.
So, speaking of Agatha Christie, any Doctor Who fans here? Especially the 10th Doctor? :D
Huge Doctor Who fans!! I love David Tennant but Matt Smith is my favorite Doctor.
That's why Dd loves Death in the clouds!
I hadn't made the connection. Thanks! I'll put that on my list for Aly.
Aly has been sick since Thursday, me since Friday, and Skye since Saturday. Aly is the worst off, poor thing. Though she is doing a little better this evening. Thankfully, I believe we just have colds.
I finished Brave New World a few hours ago so hopefully tomorrow I'll have a clear enough head to discuss it, Stacia. I didn't like it. LOL!
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Book a Week 2015 - BW44: Nonfiction November
in The Chat Board
Posted
That's exactly how I taught Shakespeare! I found it extremely effective.
I put hold on The Winter's Tale and The Gap of Time. I don't know if I'll get to them. Actually, probably won't, but wanted to try. Especially the Shakespeare because I meant to read more of him this year and didn't.