This was an interesting book. It was sad and funny and violent and anti-war. The jumping around in time made the story much more appealing and fun to read.
It tells the story of Billy Pilgrim, a man who lived through the Dresden firebombing. Not only that, but he was abducted by alien beings from the planet Tralfamadore. Through his story, the reader sees the dangers of war, but also learns that wars will always happen.
The message is bleak. Wars will always happen, people will always die. So it goes. However, as the serenity prayer says, one must accept things we can’t change and be courageous enough to change those we can. We can’t change the fact that there will be wars, but we can change how they are fought.

I looked through the Gideon Bible in my motel room for tales of great destruction. The sun was risen upon the Earth when Lot entered into Zo-ar, I read. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from teh Lord out of Heaven; and He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
So it goes.
Those were vile people in both those cities, as is well known. The world was better off without them.
And Lot’s wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human.
So she was turned to a pillar of salt. So it goes.

is now complete. What an excellent book. I have a lot to say an think about so I will try to write a longer entry later.

I’ve spent days thinking about this novel and don’t think I could really do it justice. It is an eye-opening experience about self worth and how one should live for himself.

A couple of favorite passages

I swear – by my life and my love of it – that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.

“Do you think that money is the root of all evil?” said Francisco d’Anconia. “Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?”

“I work for nothing but my own profit. I earn it.”

Philip’s body drew a shade tighter together and his eyes bacame a shade more glazed, as if in fear of the place around him, in resentment of its sight, in an effort not to concede its reality. He said, in the soft stubborn whine of a voodoo incantation, “It’s a moral imperative, universally conceded in our day and age, that every man is entitled to a job.” His voice rose: “I’m entitled to it!”

“Who is John Galt?”

Still doing this on but I started Atlas Shrugged last week. This one is going to take me a while. Not a short book by any means.

Ma room is bare and uncarpeted. There’s a mattress in the middle ay the flair with a sleeping-bag oan it, an electric-bar fire, and a black and white telly oan a small wooden chair. Ah’ve goat three brown plastic buckets, half-filled wi a mixture ay disinfectant and water for ma shite, puke and pish. Ah line up ma tins ay soup, juice and ma medicines within easy reach ay ma makeshift bed.

It is hard to read due to the dialect but there is a glossary in the back for English readers. It helped a lot once I knew it was back there.
This was a hard read due to the dialect and the subject matter. Can’t say I really recommend it, but it did provide a new reading experience for me.

Actually finished this one last week, but have been delaying the write up. I do not understand why this is on the list. It is a disgusting book with scenes I don’t even want to think about. Yes, it satirically comments on society and how Bateman must “commit” horrific murders to feel something in life, but it is too graphic and not interesting enough. Way too much description of clothes characters are wearing, could have cut a good 1/4 of the novel if Ellis had shortened that.
Good things – I enjoyed the business card scene where all the yuppies compare each other by their business cards. Well, that was about it.
Again, I did not like this book at all.

This started out excellent. It reveals how a choice made by a 13 yr old girl can affect the lives of those around her. She sees an act between her sister and sister’s friend that she believes is a act of violence and vulgarity. Later, another violent act occurs, and she lies and said it was her sister’s friend who committed the act. This lie changes all of their lives forever.
The novel starts out intriguing. It explores the lives of this family and delves deep into each family member’s thoughts and actions. However, the second and third sections are just not as interesting. They highlight the years after the act is committed, but it turns into a war story, and a boring one at that.
I would highly recommend the first section of this novel, but personally believe it is a waste of time to read the remainder.

Felt kinda odd reading this book. It’s a total girl book plus I had seen the movie. I enjoyed the movie much more than the book. The book is funny but is really just a lot of whining from a British 30 something single woman. Some funny thoughts about Smug Marrieds and single life but not enough to really draw me into book. I guess it was on the list cause it’s about a British woman and is written in a different style than most novels. Oh well, it didn’t take much time to read and was entertaining but was not one of the best books I’ve read.

Undaunted, however, Magda has started boasting around the nanny circuit that her son is a defecational prodigy, triggering a round of boast and counterboast. The toddlers, therefore, clearly at the age when they should be securely swathed in layers of rubberware, were teetering around in little more than Baby Gap G-strings. I hadn’t been there ten minutes before there were three turds on the carpet. A superficially humorous but vicious dispute ensued about who had done the turds, followed by a tense stripping off of diapers, immediately sparking another contest over the size of the boy’s genitals and, correspondingly, the husbands’.

104 Dracula

- I really liked it. Scary and inventive.

146 Green Mile

- Good book, not typical Stephen King. Moving story about death row inmate JC, John Coffey. Well worth reading.

I have been trying to manage my time better lately and I realize this goal takes a huge amount of time. Because of this, I am revamping it a little. If I absolutely can’t stand a book, I will make myself get halfway through it. If I still can’t stand it, I will consider it finished. I don’t want to waste time on something I can’t stand and if I am not interested halfway through, I know I won’t ever be.

Another book I am hating. I am actually going to give up on this one. I have realized it is not worth wasting the time to read something I can’t stand. I have had it checked out of the library for the past two months and have made it about halfway through. Now, I really liked the movie when I watched it for AFI movie goal, but it is torment to sit and read about Heathcliff’s bitter and angry ways and Catherine’s unspoken love for him. I’ve tried and tried to get through, but I am just going to keep the movie memory in my mind and forget the novel.