Geez, I can't believe how long it has been since I posted here. It's not like I haven't had anything to post about. Valerie and I moved to a new apartment--much smaller but much, much nicer. I requested a transfer to a high school library--still angry that someone who didn't want the transfer is being forced to take the position instead of giving it to one of the two of us who did want it. I started Twitter-ing. I have read some really good YA books and one really great book club book.
First the book club book:
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga - I really loved this book. It is obviously reminiscent of Camus'
The Stranger in that Balram, the main character, is confessing to and rationalizing a murder that he has gotten away with committing. However, I don't remember
The Stranger as being the least bit funny. Adiga's book, on the other hand, made me laugh out loud more than once. Here are two of my favorite passages:
- "These are the three main diseases of this country, sir: typhoid, cholera, and election fever. This last one is the worst; it makes people talk and talk about things they have no say in." - Isn't that the perfect description for our election years, perhaps for any country's election years?
- Balram asks a bookseller, "So how do you sell books without knowing English?" To which the bookseller replies, "I know which book is what from the cover...I know this one is Harry Potter...I know this one is James Hadley Chase...This is Kahlil Gibran--this is Adolf Hitler--Desmond Bagley--The Joy of Sex. One time the publishers changed the Hitler cover so it looked like Harry Potter, and life was for a week after that." - I'm sure that someone who bought what they thought was Harry Potter would be outraged to have recieved a Hitler book instead, but I thought this idea was terrifically funny.
The effects of rampant illiteracy is one of the big ideas in this book, so I wasn't surprised to find some good book quotes. I'm always on the lookout for those. Balram tells the bookseller, "I just want to stand around the books. I had a book once. When I was a boy." I know some people do not have books and some do not want books, but the thought of someone wanting books and not having them is one of the saddest things I can think of. Another book quote that I liked is this one: "Strange thoughts brew in your heart when you spend too much time with old books." This quote makes me think of Frankenstein's reading of his father's outdated science books and deciding to build a human, and we all know (even those of us who never read the book) the horrible outcome of that reading. For one more book quote, check out my right sidebar.
The three great YA books that I read recently are
Ash by Malinda Lo, which doesn't come out until September,
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, and
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I will post reviews of these at my work blog as soon as possible and will either link to them from here or post them here too.
Now, I need to get off here and get moving. Valerie and I want to finish hanging things today and do our grocery shopping before going to book club tonight. Enjoy your Sunday!
