Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Several people told me that this novel was really good but I didn't know what to expect. I think that I've been reading a lot of books where the ending is already known yet one reads on, hoping that something will be different. It was like that with The Time Traveler's Wife . I feel like there were several other books where this happened (mainly more recently written novels) and I wonder if this has to do with creating more suspense by giving some facts of the future.

Plot-wise, I found the book to be very sound and I really liked how it was narrated. Even with a limited point of view and a questionable narrator, Ishiguro was really good at manipulating flashbacks to create a sense of reality. Even if it was really a recalling of Kathy's memory, Ishiguro's style of narration made it feel as if one was really back at the time when the memory was actually happening.

It's interesting in the way that he wrote in the point of view of clones because there are some stories that seem to have this idea of wanting to break away from that cycle and become "normal" or "humanized" so to speak, yet here all there really is is a sense of sadness and wistful if-things-were-different type of attitude. I felt like the book ended with a sense of melancholy acceptance of one's fate. I wonder if other readers would feel that this was in any way unfair and it definitely brings to a new light the question of whether or not cloning to extend one's life is morally acceptable or not.

Because it was such an easy read and even though it didn't contain a lot of action that some non-readers seek, I would definitely recommend this book because the plot still has movement and is still compelling enough to make a reader continue reading. It makes one really look into certain ethical questions that have come up these days in a different light and all the while maintains a sense of realism. In some ways, other stories of rebellion and what not are less likely than this story but at the same one, one is still left wondering whether or not that makes it morally acceptable.

Definitely a very thought-provoking read.

Oh yes, and in terms of ethics, Flowers for Algernon would be another good read. It's also an easy read and makes you think about science/surgery in a new light.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

This children's novel is really cute. I think that for it's purpose, to entertain and give small life lessons in a comical and unconventional way, it's very well suited. The idea of having mini cartoons and what not worked really well and the plot moved along really well.

This book was an incredibly easy read and would be a good book to recommend to friends who don't like to read because there are lots of pictures and even though the novel is geared for a younger crowd, it still has connections and what not that make it relate-able to all ages.

As for its academic value (themes and what not) again, they do seem somewhat juvenile but I think that for a book to teach, it would be fun for a younger group of kids. This one is apparently a NY Times Bestseller but it seems like every other book is and it seems that some books are simply "bestsellers" because they're good for a one time read through, but that's about it. *shrug* Perhaps I'm being too judgmental.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

I really liked this book. The back cover boasts that it is an atypical romance novel and it really is. The way that the plot unfolds and the way Niffenegger goes back and forth between Clare and Henry really adds to the story. Honestly, sometimes I would get confused between who was talking because I read through this novel really quickly but I mean for the most part it was pretty apparent who was who and what not.

Niffenegger also did a good job of explaining time traveling or at least resolving issues that usually arise when time traveling is part of the plot. It didn't turn into a science fiction novel or anything complicated which makes it accessible to a lot of readers.

When I initially picked up the novel, I actually thought it was going to be a spinoff of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine, but I was completely off.

I think that academically this book has a pretty decent amount of value in terms of themes and symbolism. There's obviously the themes of love and waiting and fate but there's also really strong Christian symbolism in terms of Henry being a sort of prophet figure and transcending the boundaries of time while Clare also can be representative of Christians as a whole. I'm not sure if this was necessarily Niffenegger's intent, but the relationship is pretty strong so I would imagine that there's some kind of significance to such parallelism.

At any rate, I thought it was a good read both though honestly, some of the sex scenes were really graphic... I feel like this too contributed to the book rather than took away. Sometimes with books and movies, too many sex/action scenes just take away from the main plot. However, with this book, I think that it really showed just how deep the relationship between Henry and Clare was.

I also thought that the moment when Clare and Gomez kind of connect and have this "what if" moment was brilliant because it makes you think, if not for Henry, how different would Clare be? At the same time, playing on the idea of soulmates and fate, the fact that Henry and Clare end up together I feel is inevitable because from the start Clare and Henry knew each other and met.

This is one of those books that I think would be a lot of fun to do as a book club because the themes are pretty accessible and there's a lot to discuss beyond the academic. It's also an easy read and the language is really straightforward. Overall, I can see this book going a long way in terms of popularity and what not.

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

This is the sequel to The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo and I was very excited to read this novel because I thought that Lisbeth Salander was a really compelling character. In this novel, she's slowly but surely becoming a more active member of society and I'm not quite sure I necessarily like that. Because you get a lot more of what her life was like, the mystery behind who she is and why she acts the way she does is somewhat dispelled. In terms of comparing the two, this novel had a lot more action and plot movement and it doesn't have a lot of the seemingly unnecessary details that the first novel had but I feel like the first novel had more depth and the characters were more three-dimensional and engaging. There were several new characters that were introduced but I feel like there wasn't any other new dimensions to Salander and Blomkvist, which made them a little less interesting. I also feel like there were some character discrepancies with Salander at least because she's more talkative in this novel and by nature she doesn't talk much. I could be wrong though because she was such a mystery in the first novel.

I still feel like there was still a certain amount of unnecessary detail but I may just have been missing some of the underlying motifs that Larsson put into the novel. I may have mentioned this before, but Swedish people seem to drink a lot of coffee and eat a lot of sandwiches. And there's a lot of people who smoke.

I also got the feeling after I put the novel down that perhaps there may have been some discrepancies with the overall unraveling of the murders because of what the Millenium people had access to but I could be wrong.

Oh yes, and I'm envious of Salander's brilliance. Although she's on the socially inept side, she's so smart that I feel like it makes up for it.

Overall, like the first book, although this novel contains little academic quality, it is simply good to read for fun. Because this book was a murder mystery, I thought that the way the action played out was really well done and I can easily see this book becoming a movie.

[edit]

I also wanted to mention that there (interestingly) is also another theme about the abuse of women. Here it has more to do with organized crime, but I think it's interesting that both of these novels have underlying messages about treating women well and about women's rights. I think Larsson is a guy so the fact that he is saying something about the way women are treated I think has implications of what Swedish society is like right now. I could be wrong though since I know absolutely nothing about Swedish society.

A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Marquez

This book won a nobel prize for literature so it's supposed to be really really good. Academically, I totally and completely agree because of the reoccurring themes of solitude and the idea of how everything has a cycle. There's also the element of the supernatural and the seemingly coincidental that Marquez works really well into the novel.

However, in terms of how engaging the text actually was, the text was pretty decent but it was honestly hard to keep track of all the Aurelianos and Arcadios. I mean it's clear that the repetition of the names had significance and perhaps I read the novel too sporadically to remember the differences between them, but I would have to say that that is what detracted from the novel for me.

The novel was also really really long (it just keeps going!) but given the title and what Marquez was trying to accomplish, I think that he kept the text engaging enough to keep the reader going. Sometimes these types of books eventually get really boring or bogged down by details but there was a constant storyline and the plot kept moving so that was good.

I think that the only reservations I have about this novel is that yes, it is a good read, but I guess it isn't completely my kind of novel, where the ideologies aren't as apparent and the plot isn't riveting (though I don't think that it needs to be for a novel to be good). I'd definitely want to read this novel again because I feel like a missed out on some important stuff but as for a recommendation to someone who doesn't really read, I wouldn't recommend this book.

Dinner with a Perfect Stranger by David Gregory

I also read the sequel to this novel, A Day with a Perfect Stranger and I think that although both are good reads, theologically, there are points that I don't agree with.

I liked how this book seems to unbiasedly portray the essence of Christianity rather than the typical books on evangelism with their hell and brimstone approaches. I can still see how non-Christians can be put off by this book because some of the answers I think aren't completely answered. It was a really good simple read. I finished the book in an hour or so I think.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

I absolutely loved this book. I think that the way this narrative flowed and the ideas that the author so subtly and blatantly put in this novel are exactly the types of elements I look for in a novel. The circular narrative with the constant reoccurrence of various motifs, ideas, patterns of the way the characters thought just tied in so well together. The first chapter set up the entire novel and the idea of the unbearable lightness of being was so well played out in the novel. I liked how Kundera would slip in that certain situations were "unbearable" and then he spent a chapter on the idea of "being" and the idea of being "light" or "free" and what that meant for each character. He also had such interesting asides that really put into perspectives the actions of the characters. All in all I really didn't want the book to end and forced myself to put it down several times to savor the ideas and just really soak up the entire book. I could probably write an entire book analyzing all the different ideas Kundera brings up.

The only complaint that I can think of was that the book seemed to come to a sudden end. I can see why Kundera chose to end the novel where he did, especially because he already gives the "ending" earlier on but because there doesn't seem to be a solid resolution in the plot, I can see readers becoming dissatisfied with it. However, because his whole novel plays on the idealogical aspect of the various situations of the characters rather than the movement of the plot (with undertones of the war - which I thought was pretty cool), I think that the ending more or less was fitting. I actually thought that the book would end similarly to the beginning of the novel with something more idealogical rather than ending with the characters so in that sense I was a little dissatisfied, but again, I can see why he made that choice.

Also, I can see how people would complain that there wasn't a solid plot because almost all of the conflict that characters had was completely internal and there would just be all this miscommunication between characters. However, I think that that's exactly why the book was so interesting.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book. There's just so much in this book that I definitely want to come back to it someday.