3-In-1

I went ahead this past week and fell forwards instead of backwards in my reading. I finished The King Of Torts by John Grisham, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.

I have a favorite. Simple reading, just like Lonesome Dove, always gets me. Being able to retain information from a book because it kept me interested is something that people search for in a book. John Grisham is a master at what he does. I'm not just saying it because all the critics do... I'm saying it because it's the gosh darn truth. This book was especially interesting to me because I had never heard of mass tort law, nor had I understood it until after I finished the text. It was almost as if I became a lawyer overnight with all the information I retained about "getting rich quick" through sleezy lawsuits in big corporations. I loved it. I ate it up like I've been starving for a good book my whole life.

Their Eyes Were Watching God was also good, but in quite a different way. As a person who viewed the TV special movie before reading the book, it was a spoiler. There's one thing that the book by Zora can do for us that the movie couldn't. It was able to grasp the characters in a way that made me feel sympathetic for them. It also brought in natural elements and analogies (especially leaves and trees) that otherwise couldn't be enjoyed on film.

Conclusively, I would never say that H.G. Wells was lacking in talent, but I just can't get into sci-fi novels. It makes me feel "funny". The whole bringing back the monster-in-the-closet doesn't do me any good. I need my sleep. Morlocks and Enui, as genius as they were and as innovative at the time.....just can't compare to the psychotic ACID TRIPS some of our modern-day sci-fiers emerge with. Your going to see me put these disasters last on my list....(sci-fi I mean).

Check out next weeks blog. I'm taking on THE THREE MUSKETEERS by Alexander Dumas. It's a big one, but I might throw in a James Joyce novel as well: A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man.--Enjoy!!

One Hundred Years Of Solitude

I have come across this title several times when perusing through bookstores but was never really intrigued enough to pick it up. Although it was an interesting circle of family lineage, it was sometimes very confusing. At one point, the name sequences had me so baffled and intertwined beyond superficial understanding, I had to start writing out the characters and what part they played in the story.

I think that the real impact this book had in literature was its' mix of realism and fantasy. Some parts of the story had to be read and then re-read since there were so many fantastical parts that kept you wondering if you had "read that part correctly"; where a seemingly realistic scenario (suddenly and without any warning) turns into a sci-fi episode of the Twilight Zone.

The book has several characters, with several dimensions and a lock-down accountability as far as their lineage was concerned. Some of my favorites included Remedios the Beauty, Ursula, Melquiades & Jose Arcadio. There were complex characters such as Fernanda and the Aurelianos' of the story.

Some may be surprised at the incest and the violence but if you can handle it then it really is an interesting read. If you sometimes get confused, continue reading (some portions are told at a later time in the story).


*** Current Selections for those in discussion:
- The King Of Torts- John Grisham
-Their Eyes Were Watching God- Zora Neale Hurston