From the first time I read it at about age 10, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has been one of my favorite books and I have given it a 5/5. What makes this book special to me is getting to know Scout and the relationship between Scout and Atticus. It’s like visiting an old friend. Yet, this book has come under criticism now because of how it deals with racism. I’m of mixed feelings about some of the criticism. It would be interesting to reread it now after the recent focus on systemic racism and view it from a different perspective.
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thoughts on books: the master and margarita
Great book! I’m not sure how I first heard about this book, but I seem to be drawn to the Faustian story of selling one’s soul to the devil – not sure what that implies about me. I also enjoy Russian literature – there is something very rich in best of Russian novels. When I read Mikhael Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita in 2014, it was the second story about Stalinist Russia I had read within a couple of months (Animal Farm was the first), so I was primed. While The Master and Margarita is a novel, it is based on the experiences of the author and represents a commentary on the oppression experienced by creative people in 1930s Moscow.
Continue readingthoughts on books: war & peace
Yep, I went there. What can one say about War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy? The scope and length of the book was enormous – my version was spread across three books! I have to give this one a 5/5.
The characters were interesting and multidimensional … and numerous … and had two or three names of the following flavors: full formal name, shorter formal name, traditional nickname or individualized nickname. As with Russian novels, making sure you can follow the character names is important! In addition to the epic story about Russia in the early 1800s and their dealings with the French, each of the main characters also undertook a journey – many of which were as gripping as that broad international struggle.
Continue readingthoughts on books: slaughterhouse-five
Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five was one of those books that I put off reading – maybe the title scared me off. When I finally read it in 2014, I ended up rating it 5/5.
I really loved this book – it’s fascinating to see Billy Pilgrim’s life story unfold as a series of vignettes at several points in time. The time-travel element contributes to the sense of both coping with the reality of everyday life and processing the horrifying memories of war – in this case the destruction of Dresden in WWII. It took Vonnegut years to get this book together and the only way that he could tell his story was through this character and this method of storytelling. It’s a book that is, on one hand, an absurd and fantastic journey, and on the other hand, is painfully poetic memoir.
Continue readingthoughts on books: the lord of the rings
I tried reading The Hobbit at some point when I was in middle school, but just couldn’t get into it. After seeing The Lord of the Rings movies as an adult, I thought I would give the books a try in 2013 and I’m glad I did! I rate it a 5/5.
Continue readingwhy the jeopardy! chaos matters to me
Happy Labor Day! I’m weighing in on one of our controversial workplace topics … ok, not really. I’ve rewritten this post a couple of times now – the first draft was turgid, the second preachy. Let’s hope the third time is the charm. You might ask why I just don’t move on to another topic. After all, this is really not the most pressing labor issue of our time. Well, that’s a fair question and at first, I didn’t understand what kept bringing me back, but now I get it ….
Continue readingthoughts on books: the grapes of wrath
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck was another reread for me – I read it as a teenager and then again at age 49. I enjoyed it as much this time as when I read it 30+ years ago and was just as indignant at the policies, practices and behaviors of those who held the money. And I ached for the families who had to pack up and leave their homes and who met cruelty and heartbreak as they tried to resettle. It’s such a beautiful book with a fundamental message of decency, published in 1939.
Continue readingthoughts on books: 1984
The first time I read 1984, I was in high school. It stayed with me. The idea that people would follow someone like Big Brother – too much to process. The notion that facts and memories could be “replaced” with alternate versions. The audacity of erasing the past. The use of doublethink and Newspeak to make the opposite seem correct and to diminish language and thought. Relentless surveillance. Turning family, friends, neighbors and coworkers against each other. Of course, when George Orwell published the book in 1949, these points may not have been so hard to imagine. I didn’t experienced World War II and rise of fascist or authoritarian governments during that period. Yet, the presence of dictators in countries around the world and the rise of similar disturbing political movements and conspiracy theories in recent years have made me think of this book so many times. For anyone who believes that a book published more than 70 years ago cannot speak to us today, read this book. When I reread it in 2013, I rated the book 5/5 stars.
Continue readingthoughts on books series
I love to read and about seven years ago, I took on the challenge of reading rereading some “classic” books. I made it through quite a few before my mother came to live with me. Once she arrived, I had less time for reading and little bandwidth to think about the high-concept reading. Rather than reading serious books, I either focused on light-weight books or on puzzles and games. I thought I was starting pivot back to books a couple of years ago but didn’t make the transition. So, I’m trying again.
Continue readingi’ll take “botched plan” for $1000
Can we say “Holy bad decision, Batman?” Wow, who knew hiring a new Jeopardy! host would be so fraught with errors! Or that this would be such a crazy week! Or that I would be using so many exclamation points!!
The search for a new host (see my prior post) was one part interesting, one part fun and eight parts bittersweet. Alex hosted Jeopardy! with such ease that it was only when others stepped in that the required skill set became apparent.
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my mother, my cat and me 