From Goodreads
Major Barbara
George Bernard Shaw
I'm still not a huge fan of reading plays, but Shaw made it interesting to me enough to warrant four stars. I love satire and this has it in spades. Shaw has a great ability to skewer and skew everything as equally absurd. There's a bit too much cynicism in his message for me to hop aboard his rationale, but it's well defended and wonderfully written. It was a good, short read and I think I would like to see the play at some point in my life.
Sunday, May 26, 2019
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Oedipus Rex
From Goodreads
Oedipus Rex
Sophocles
What madness and trauma must have been inside of Sophocles' mind to be able to write this. I mean, anyone who has heard of Freud knows his Oedipus Complex and what it means. But to actually come up with the material that Freud would build with shows the ability to probe into our darkest self. I'm not sure if I had read this since college, but I don't remember being astounded the way I am right now. The force of this tragedy is just so immense and sharp.
Oedipus Rex
Sophocles
What madness and trauma must have been inside of Sophocles' mind to be able to write this. I mean, anyone who has heard of Freud knows his Oedipus Complex and what it means. But to actually come up with the material that Freud would build with shows the ability to probe into our darkest self. I'm not sure if I had read this since college, but I don't remember being astounded the way I am right now. The force of this tragedy is just so immense and sharp.
Friday, May 24, 2019
The Mabinogion
From Goodreads
The Mabinogion
Translated by Jefferey Gantz
The last time I read this it was directly after I had gone through a Roman Literature spree and wasn't as impressed as I felt I should have been. It just didn't flow as well as Ovid or Virgil to me. While the language still doesn't dance on my palette the way Metamorphosis does, I do enjoy this classic even more now.
The mythology is just unique enough to be something different than most things out there. It's a must read for anyone interested in Medieval stuff (on a bit of a kick right now for me). It's worthwhile for anyone who enjoys a good story, even if you're not on the aforementioned Dark Ages binge. I prefer Beowulf or the Viking Sagas, but I'm glad this has survived such a long time.
The Mabinogion
Translated by Jefferey Gantz
The last time I read this it was directly after I had gone through a Roman Literature spree and wasn't as impressed as I felt I should have been. It just didn't flow as well as Ovid or Virgil to me. While the language still doesn't dance on my palette the way Metamorphosis does, I do enjoy this classic even more now.
The mythology is just unique enough to be something different than most things out there. It's a must read for anyone interested in Medieval stuff (on a bit of a kick right now for me). It's worthwhile for anyone who enjoys a good story, even if you're not on the aforementioned Dark Ages binge. I prefer Beowulf or the Viking Sagas, but I'm glad this has survived such a long time.
Thursday, May 23, 2019
England & The Hundred Years' War
From Goodreads
England and The Hundred Years' War (1327 - 1485)
Charles William Chadwick Oman
As far as history books go this one lands firmly in the middle. It's a little dry and covers a lot of ground in a short space. It's a good introduction to the Hundred Years War as told through the English perspective. I think that the French perspective might be a bit more interesting to read as that seems to be where the action was at. Also, because it covered so much ground so quickly it glosses over some of the important things a bit too quickly. That being said, it's probably a good introduction piece for anyone looking to learn a bit more about this war.
England and The Hundred Years' War (1327 - 1485)
Charles William Chadwick Oman
As far as history books go this one lands firmly in the middle. It's a little dry and covers a lot of ground in a short space. It's a good introduction to the Hundred Years War as told through the English perspective. I think that the French perspective might be a bit more interesting to read as that seems to be where the action was at. Also, because it covered so much ground so quickly it glosses over some of the important things a bit too quickly. That being said, it's probably a good introduction piece for anyone looking to learn a bit more about this war.
Sunday, May 12, 2019
Animal Farm
From Goodreads
Animal Farm
George Orwell
Animal Farm is a brilliant book. It's a timely allegory for what happens when demagoguery takes over and when idealism without an anchor in reality promises utopian society with a major overhaul. I prefer this book to 1984 primarily because of its simplicity and the fact it doesn't ramble on unnecessarily. The conclusion is never really in doubt. Utopia starts crumbling immediately. I recommend everyone to pick it up again and read it without being forced to by a teacher.
Animal Farm
George Orwell
Animal Farm is a brilliant book. It's a timely allegory for what happens when demagoguery takes over and when idealism without an anchor in reality promises utopian society with a major overhaul. I prefer this book to 1984 primarily because of its simplicity and the fact it doesn't ramble on unnecessarily. The conclusion is never really in doubt. Utopia starts crumbling immediately. I recommend everyone to pick it up again and read it without being forced to by a teacher.
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
The Castle
From Goodreads
The Castle
Franz Kafka
I enjoyed The Castle more than I thought I would. Generally, in fiction, I like to be transported away from the minutia of life. Kafka drops you right into the nitty-gritty minutia without giving you a proper map. Like, K, you put together the facts you are given in a logical way only for it to make sense without having any relevance in reality. It's like Kafka has created the rationally inescapable, shown that the rationally inescapable is the real and then revealed the real to be completely false, but still might actually be true. Who is misinterpreting the events? Obviously, K because he doesn't understand the inner workings of how things are done. But, then again, the people he interacts with only understand the inner workings through their exceptionally narrow, provincialist eyes. Maybe K is right and everyone he talks to or interacts with in the town is wrong. Maybe K is obviously wrong and everyone from the town is right. Worse still, maybe everyone is wrong. Even worse, everybody is wrong and there being right or wrong is inconsequential. Kafka stretches out the inane to the absurd to the point where up is down and left is right. In that stretching his characters become obviously warped without them realizing they are warped. It perfectly sums up every day life.
It took me longer than I thought it would to finish this book. The book isn't that long, but it seems to be never ending. Kafka might still be adding to K's life if he were alive today. Given the manuscript ends mid thought, Max Brod's addition on to how Kafka thought it would end seems abrupt. But, it might be the abruptness that makes it even more real. Life is an endless cycle of strange and mundane events that take on their strange qualities, not by the inherent strangeness of the event itself and more from the strangeness our warping minds give it. This goes on indefinitely until death and then abruptly, there is no more mundane. There is only the end.
The Castle
Franz Kafka
I enjoyed The Castle more than I thought I would. Generally, in fiction, I like to be transported away from the minutia of life. Kafka drops you right into the nitty-gritty minutia without giving you a proper map. Like, K, you put together the facts you are given in a logical way only for it to make sense without having any relevance in reality. It's like Kafka has created the rationally inescapable, shown that the rationally inescapable is the real and then revealed the real to be completely false, but still might actually be true. Who is misinterpreting the events? Obviously, K because he doesn't understand the inner workings of how things are done. But, then again, the people he interacts with only understand the inner workings through their exceptionally narrow, provincialist eyes. Maybe K is right and everyone he talks to or interacts with in the town is wrong. Maybe K is obviously wrong and everyone from the town is right. Worse still, maybe everyone is wrong. Even worse, everybody is wrong and there being right or wrong is inconsequential. Kafka stretches out the inane to the absurd to the point where up is down and left is right. In that stretching his characters become obviously warped without them realizing they are warped. It perfectly sums up every day life.
It took me longer than I thought it would to finish this book. The book isn't that long, but it seems to be never ending. Kafka might still be adding to K's life if he were alive today. Given the manuscript ends mid thought, Max Brod's addition on to how Kafka thought it would end seems abrupt. But, it might be the abruptness that makes it even more real. Life is an endless cycle of strange and mundane events that take on their strange qualities, not by the inherent strangeness of the event itself and more from the strangeness our warping minds give it. This goes on indefinitely until death and then abruptly, there is no more mundane. There is only the end.
Thursday, May 2, 2019
I'm lazy
There is no in between. There is only the extremes - the manic highs and the miserable lows. If God truly created man in his own image then is God a good God? What is good about an infinite being modeling a being after himself and then placing him in the confines of finitude? I have too many interests and not enough time or motivation to pursue them. The value of time and its scarcity weighs on me heavily, making me too sluggish to act. I guess I'm just creating a more interesting way of saying, I'm lazy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)