I'm doing 19 things
15. A Good Man Is Hard To Find (By Flannery O’Connor)
Flannery O’Connor can be an amazing writer and I have found myself thinking about (or even quoting) passages from her stories long after I finished reading this book. That having been said, some of the short stories in this book (there are a total of 10) are very bizarre. I also found that some stories had long sections which were uninteresting. Also, each of Flannery O’Connor’s stories has a meaning, but sometimes that meaning is so well hidden (or oddly presented) that it seems as if the entire story is pointless. Overall I don’t regret reading this book. My favorite story was “The Life You Save May Be Your Own.”
16 & 17. Books 1 and 2 of the His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife) (By Philip Pullman)
To be honest I started reading these books out of spite. When the movie based on the first book (The Golden Compass) was released, my [Catholic] school sent out fliers about how the story is anti-theistic. I’m the type of person who rolls my eyes when people tell me that a fantasy story is purposely allegorical. After completing the first two books, however, I can confidently say that my school was at least partially right. The story does seem to be headed in an interesting direction and is using organizations (specifically “The Church” and “The Magesterium”) and terms/names (specifically “The Authority” and “God”) which seem purposely to correlate to real-world groups/concepts. The books are very well written and I am enjoying them more than most other young-adult fantasy books I have ever read (I’m not big on, for example, the Harry Potter books though I do intend to re-read them at some point). I’m looking forward to reading the third and final book—The Amber Spyglass. In fact, the book is next to my computer right now. I think I’ll go read it!
