Summary:
Yossarian is a bombardier in World War II, flying over Italy, France, and wherever else the US Air Force says he should fly. He's crazy. His friends in his unit are crazy. In the Air Force, you can go home if you're crazy, but you have to ask to go home. If you ask to go home, you obviously care about your safety, which means you're not crazy, so you can't go home. It's called Catch-22.
Thoughts:
Honestly, it's hysterical. It's heavy subject matter, to be sure. It was so heavy sometimes, I needed to take a break and read something else for a while. Because of that, it took me quite a long time to power through. But it's funny. Every single character has some kind of crazy going on. The men go to Rome so regularly, one of the men has a prostitute he's in love with. Her only name in the book, in fact, is "Nately's whore." The men drive each other to insanity on a regular basis. I laughed on a regular basis through the whole book. There were also those moments when I got reminded that it was a book about a war.
It's certainly not linear, especially in the beginning few chapters. It is a brilliant novel, though, and I understand exactly why it's always on all those Top 100 book lists. It makes complete sense. I'm sure that if I read this when I was in high school, I wouldn't have appreciated it nearly as much as I did now. I'm glad I picked it up. If you managed to get out of it like I did when I was in school, I recommend picking it up now. It's a great read.
Book 20 of 30. Might have to raise this number...
Pages: 453, if you don't count the 50 pages of criticism, history and commentary included at the end of my edition.
Genre: General fiction, historical fiction, Top 100 book list
Grade: A
Would I Recommend?: Absolutely. Long read, yes. But worth it, for sure.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Mr. Popper's Penguins (Richard & Florence Atwater)
Summary:
Mr. Popper is a house painter who loves reading. He reads everything he can about all kinds of travel, most especially about the Arctic and Antarctic. He wrote a letter to Admiral Drake at the South Pole, and when Admiral Drake starts his radio broadcast from the South Pole, he mentions that he's sent a gift to Mr. Popper. A few days later, the gift of a penguin arrives on Mr. Popper's doorstep. The story follows the Popper family as their family expands to four people and twelve penguins, and they try to decide just what to do with all those penguins.
Thoughts:
So much fun. I finished it in a few hours, as it's a children's book with big type and short pages. But it was a lovely little story that did teach a little about the poles, and about penguins. (Not much, just a little.) Mr. Popper is a wee bit bonkers, but who could resist the adorable Captain Cook, Greta, and all the rest? It's silly, light, and just exactly what I needed to take a break from Catch-22. It does suffer a little bit from being written so long ago, (It was published in 1938.) but it's still a happy little story about a guy who's got a thing for the arctic worlds. The end's a little funny (as in weird, not ha-ha) and I don't think I'd have ended it quite like that myself. It works, though, and shows off just a little more of Mr. Popper's crazy.
Is it childish? Yes. Would adults enjoy it anyway? If they're into a little bit of whimsy, absolutely. Now to see what Jim Carrey and company did to the story....
Book 19 of 30
Pages: 120ish?
Genre: Children's Lit
Grade: B+
Would I Recommend?: For kids, mostly, but grown-ups with a Peter Pan complex like myself would probably enjoy it for what it is.
Mr. Popper is a house painter who loves reading. He reads everything he can about all kinds of travel, most especially about the Arctic and Antarctic. He wrote a letter to Admiral Drake at the South Pole, and when Admiral Drake starts his radio broadcast from the South Pole, he mentions that he's sent a gift to Mr. Popper. A few days later, the gift of a penguin arrives on Mr. Popper's doorstep. The story follows the Popper family as their family expands to four people and twelve penguins, and they try to decide just what to do with all those penguins.
Thoughts:
So much fun. I finished it in a few hours, as it's a children's book with big type and short pages. But it was a lovely little story that did teach a little about the poles, and about penguins. (Not much, just a little.) Mr. Popper is a wee bit bonkers, but who could resist the adorable Captain Cook, Greta, and all the rest? It's silly, light, and just exactly what I needed to take a break from Catch-22. It does suffer a little bit from being written so long ago, (It was published in 1938.) but it's still a happy little story about a guy who's got a thing for the arctic worlds. The end's a little funny (as in weird, not ha-ha) and I don't think I'd have ended it quite like that myself. It works, though, and shows off just a little more of Mr. Popper's crazy.
Is it childish? Yes. Would adults enjoy it anyway? If they're into a little bit of whimsy, absolutely. Now to see what Jim Carrey and company did to the story....
Book 19 of 30
Pages: 120ish?
Genre: Children's Lit
Grade: B+
Would I Recommend?: For kids, mostly, but grown-ups with a Peter Pan complex like myself would probably enjoy it for what it is.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon (Donna Andrews)
Summary:
Another Meg Langslow mystery. This one centers around Meg helping out at her brother, Rob's gaming company while they're going a transition. The jokester jerk of the office gets offed on the motorized mail cart he loved abusing. Shocker, shocker, Meg's the one that finds his body. Shocker, shocker, the first person they suspect is closely related to Meg. (This time it's her brother, which is a rehash of the first book, I think.) Shocker, shocker, Meg solves the mystery.
Thoughts:
The main plot of Meg getting involved in the murders never changes. She's got crappy luck, always discovering all those dead bodies. But these books are fun. You can't help but enjoy the crazy that comes with a Meg Langslow book. Her family's crazy. Her boyfriend's useless. Her friends're suspicious. It's just the way it is in Caerphilly, VA, and their surrounding areas. It's another fun turn with Meg, for sure, and I haven't gotten sick of her yet. I'll keep going through this series.
Book 18 of 30
Pages: 320
Genre: Mystery
Grade: A-
Would I Recommend?: Yup! I love this series!
Another Meg Langslow mystery. This one centers around Meg helping out at her brother, Rob's gaming company while they're going a transition. The jokester jerk of the office gets offed on the motorized mail cart he loved abusing. Shocker, shocker, Meg's the one that finds his body. Shocker, shocker, the first person they suspect is closely related to Meg. (This time it's her brother, which is a rehash of the first book, I think.) Shocker, shocker, Meg solves the mystery.
Thoughts:
The main plot of Meg getting involved in the murders never changes. She's got crappy luck, always discovering all those dead bodies. But these books are fun. You can't help but enjoy the crazy that comes with a Meg Langslow book. Her family's crazy. Her boyfriend's useless. Her friends're suspicious. It's just the way it is in Caerphilly, VA, and their surrounding areas. It's another fun turn with Meg, for sure, and I haven't gotten sick of her yet. I'll keep going through this series.
Book 18 of 30
Pages: 320
Genre: Mystery
Grade: A-
Would I Recommend?: Yup! I love this series!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos (Donna Andrews)
Summary:
Meg Langslow is a blacksmith in the Virginia area who has a very cute actor boyfriend, Michael. In this third book in her series, Meg's stuck at a craft fair to commemorate the Battle of Yorktown where her boyfriend's overbearing mother is running the show and demanding a lot from the crafters. They're forced to wear period costumes the entire week, and Meg gets to play go-between for the crafters to Michael's mom. In the midst of the craft fair, there's a murder to solve.
Thoughts:
It's more zany adventures with Meg and her family. Her parents are bonkers, Michael's mother is a tyrant, Spike the dog is a loveable terror (only because the reader has never met the little bugger in person), and the huge extended family is far too far-reaching. But it was fun, and a neat little break between chapters of Catch-22, which I'm still working on. I was honestly surprised, though, that the murder didn't get discovered until the last page of chapter 14, on page 112! I was honestly wondering when the death was going to happen, and then I was surprised when it finally did. I definitely called the victim from the moment we met him, but I wasn't sure on the murderer until the very end. Well played, Ms Andrews. Well played. Though the relationship business was pretty rushed when we finally got to it. That I would have been happier to have spread across more of the book. You can't have it all, can you?
Book 17 of 30
Pages: 293
Genre: Mystery/Romance
Grade: B+
Would I Recommend?: Perfect for summer reading!
Meg Langslow is a blacksmith in the Virginia area who has a very cute actor boyfriend, Michael. In this third book in her series, Meg's stuck at a craft fair to commemorate the Battle of Yorktown where her boyfriend's overbearing mother is running the show and demanding a lot from the crafters. They're forced to wear period costumes the entire week, and Meg gets to play go-between for the crafters to Michael's mom. In the midst of the craft fair, there's a murder to solve.
Thoughts:
It's more zany adventures with Meg and her family. Her parents are bonkers, Michael's mother is a tyrant, Spike the dog is a loveable terror (only because the reader has never met the little bugger in person), and the huge extended family is far too far-reaching. But it was fun, and a neat little break between chapters of Catch-22, which I'm still working on. I was honestly surprised, though, that the murder didn't get discovered until the last page of chapter 14, on page 112! I was honestly wondering when the death was going to happen, and then I was surprised when it finally did. I definitely called the victim from the moment we met him, but I wasn't sure on the murderer until the very end. Well played, Ms Andrews. Well played. Though the relationship business was pretty rushed when we finally got to it. That I would have been happier to have spread across more of the book. You can't have it all, can you?
Book 17 of 30
Pages: 293
Genre: Mystery/Romance
Grade: B+
Would I Recommend?: Perfect for summer reading!
Breakfast at Tiffany's (Truman Capote)
Summary:
Narrator guy lives in NYC and meets Holly Golightly, an eccentric and alluring woman that lives just upstairs. The story follows our guy as he experiences life with Ms. Golightly.
Also included in the book are three short stories, House of Flowers, A Diamond Guitar, and A Christmas Memory.
Thoughts:
It's weird, like the movie. I saw the movie a few years ago, and couldn't understand what the hell was going on. I read the book, and still didn't quite catch anything either. What I did get was that Holly's nuts, the narrator's in love, and that's about all you're supposed to get.
The three short stories weren't much to write home about... I honestly don't remember much about the House of Flowers and A Christmas Memory ones except that they were depressing. A Diamond Guitar was pretty good, though also really sad.
Book 16 of 30
Pages:161
Genre:Short stories/General Fiction
Grade: B
Would I Recommend?: Sure, it's pretty much a classic. Plus, the whole thing was pretty fast reading!
Narrator guy lives in NYC and meets Holly Golightly, an eccentric and alluring woman that lives just upstairs. The story follows our guy as he experiences life with Ms. Golightly.
Also included in the book are three short stories, House of Flowers, A Diamond Guitar, and A Christmas Memory.
Thoughts:
It's weird, like the movie. I saw the movie a few years ago, and couldn't understand what the hell was going on. I read the book, and still didn't quite catch anything either. What I did get was that Holly's nuts, the narrator's in love, and that's about all you're supposed to get.
The three short stories weren't much to write home about... I honestly don't remember much about the House of Flowers and A Christmas Memory ones except that they were depressing. A Diamond Guitar was pretty good, though also really sad.
Book 16 of 30
Pages:161
Genre:Short stories/General Fiction
Grade: B
Would I Recommend?: Sure, it's pretty much a classic. Plus, the whole thing was pretty fast reading!
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