Book Thoughts: The Casual Vacancy

Title: The Casual Vacancy
Author: J.K. Rowling
*Imported from tumblr*

I knew going in that this was going to be very different from Harry Potter, and I was okay with that. Thirty pages in, I was horrified — most of the characters were frustratingly unlikeable people, and there was almost as much swearing as there was conversation in the dialogue. I gave it a couple more chapters but was unconvinced that I would finish it.

And then… I kept reading. I was still kind of disgusted by a lot of the characters, but at the same time I understood why they did what they did. I’ve seen it described as “dark and gritty" but I’ve also seen it described as “brutally honest," and I think both descriptions are accurate for this book. It is a brutally honest portrayal of the dark and gritty parts of life that we like to ignore, although I felt that the happiness that people often manage to find in everyday life was underrepresented. (That, in fact, is my biggest complaint about the book.) But I dare anyone to read this book and come away unchanged.

Depressing, this book certainly is. Also very adult in content in many ways, and yet there are teen characters whose lives are portrayed accurately. Anyway, I’ve lost the thread: depressing, but also honest and thought-provoking and beautifully written and above all, powerful. Not one to read lightly, certainly, but one I am glad to have read.

Book Thoughts: The Handmaid's Tale

Title: The Handmaid's Tale
Author: Margaret Atwood

Holy cow. This book is so good, but so creepy. I felt things I have never felt before. The story was so engaging and I am just in love with the way this story was told. Also, wow, the feminist in me is just raring to go after this one, but so is the voice of conservatism: 'hold your horses, nothing too crazy now, y'hear?' Stylistically, The Handmaid's Tale is simply beautiful, and in terms of the story... let's just say this: I read it for class, and I was really really bad at not reading ahead. Also also, I simultaneously loved and hated the ending. I don't want to say anything else because of spoilers, but when you read this one (and I say when, not if, because you really ought to read it), do make sure you read the "historical notes" at the end.

And if you want to have a chat after you read it, hit me up. Because I could talk about this for ages.

(P.S. I wrote this back in April when I finished reading the book for class, but it's not from tumblr or an old blog or anything really and I loved it so I'm putting it in with new stuff.)

Book Thoughts: Wicked

Title: Wicked
Author: Gregory Maguire

My favorite movie as a kid was The Wizard of Oz and I loved the book, and I recently developed a deep love for the musical Wicked -- so of course the next natural step was to read the book on which the musical was based.

When I first wanted to read Wicked, my dad told me I should wait because it was too "grown-up" for me. I finally got back around to it and at first didn't understand what it was that he thought was so awful about it; there were some allusions to sex, one unpleasant murder towards the end, they said the word "nipple" once, but nothing that seemed to justify having me wait to read it.

Having finished the book, I think I understand. It's not that the content would have been horribly inappropriate (although I probably would have asked some uncomfortable questions about sex, true), it's that the themes -- religion, politics, the nature of evil, whether there is a soul -- would have confused little-me and gone right over my head.

I have to say I prefer Baum's original and the musical version because I'm a sucker for happy endings and the writing style of Wicked wasn't as engaging as I would have liked, but I did really enjoy reading this one. It's given me a lot to think about, and it was really awesome revisiting an old favorite from a completely different perspective. I'm glad that I waited to read it, because I got so much more out of it now than I would have several years ago. There's a LOT in this book that's food for thought. I would definitely advise trying it!

Book Thoughts: Slaughterhouse-Five

Title: Slaughterhouse-Five
Author: Kurt Vonnegut

I recently finished Slaughterhouse Five (by Kurt Vonnegut) for a school assignment. I chose it from a list for a few reasons: my father's been encouraging me to read it for ages, I've been meaning to read it for a while anyway, and, okay, it was at one point the nerdfighters' Blurbing Book Club book. 

It was so strange.

I enjoyed it, but it was very odd. It took basic chronology and totally messed it up. Also, there was an alien abduction. I can't decide whether it's historical or scifi or what.

I loved the way the author sort of tangled up his own story in Billy Pilgrim's. It made it kind of confusing at times, but I thought it was cool. I thought the set-up -- flashing between different moments in Billy's life -- was really confusing, until I got to the end, and then it sort of made more sense.

I did get really annoyed by the writing at times though. I felt like it had taken "show, don't tell" and turned it on its head to go with "tell, don't show." Sometimes it was amazingly difficult to just read. I felt like we only got to know Billy through how others saw him and not so much through who he was.

Have any of you guys read Slaughterhouse Five? If you have, please leave me a comment (or send me a message), I really want to know what other people think of this book!

Book Thoughts: The World According to Garp

Title: The World According to Garp
Author: John Irving

The world according to Garp apparently consists of nothing but gratuitous sex and death. So, the jacket-flap said it was a comedic novel about the son of a famous feminist struggling to become a writer in the post-WWII era. And I guess it was about that, so the jacket-flap didn't really lie...

Still, I wish I'd had a warning of some sort. At one point in the novel, Garp's editor, John Wolf, describes some of Garp's work as "an X-rated soap opera." I'd pretty much apply that to the novel as a whole. The plot in a nutshell (spoiler warning): Jenny Fields rapes a dying soldier so she can have a kid without having to deal with a man in her life. Then she gets a job at a boarding school where her son, named Garp after his father, eventually goes to school. Beginning in his senior year of high school, Garp starts having sex with practically every other girl he meets. He eventually gets married and has children, but still has several affairs. People die. There's a lot of sex. More people die. His life sucks. There's some more affairs. Then he realizes that he still loves his wife, and instead of having sex with everyone he meets, he (spoiler).

That said, I didn't hate the book. I thought there was entirely too much unnecessary sex, and I disliked that it was always "f*** this" and "f*** that" when there was really no need for it, but on the whole it was okay. It was just...really tragic, and really X-rated. Not something I would have chosen to read, personally, but I know people who would probably like it if they picked it up on their own. I also think I'd've enjoyed it a lot more if it hadn't been keeping me from the books I really wanted to read. School requirements do not often do much to endear books to me.

Not my kind of book, perhaps, and not, in my humble opinion, one of the best books out there, but there were certainly parts that were laugh-out-loud funny and parts that were undeniably true. I'm going to put it out there as something that you might pick up if you don't have anything else to read and don't mind a tragedy - and I'm going to put a huge huge huge "X-RATED CONTENT" label on it.

Book Thoughts: The Magicians

Title: The Magicians
Author: Lev Grossman

Let's talk about how much I love The Magicians. I read it at the prompting of a friend of mine, and I was not disappointed.

Quentin, certifiable genius and severely depressed, inadvertently stumbles across Brakebills, a college for magic and gets accepted: cue whirlwind of magical education and adventure.

The catch is, magic is work. And magic college is still college. Quentin discovers sex, booze, hard work, and beautiful friendship like any other college student; he just happens to be studying magic.

The Magicians is a brilliant deconstruction of Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia. The parallels are evident at every turn but it is in no way a knockoff; it alludes to childhood fantasy stories while being something entirely its own. It's about depression and love and the search for happiness and being careful what you wish for, because even fantasy isn't always as perfect as you dream it will be. It's one of the best books I've read in a long time.

And Alice! I have to talk about Alice because she's my favorite character. She's smart, shy, quiet, yes, but also strong and independent. I adore Alice's character. I would read a whole book just about Alice.

Basically: if you get the chance to read this book, definitely do.

Book Thoughts: The Purity Myth

Title: The Purity Myth
Author: Jessica Valenti

I don't read nonfiction very often. Frequently I find it kind of dry and dull. The Purity Myth, however, is an exception.

Written with passion, snark, and extensive research, Jessica Valenti writes about "how America's obsession with virginity is hurting young women." She discusses much of the existing literature about women's sexuality and describes in alarming detail the state of sex ed across the nation.

Kids are being taught that condoms don't work to scare them out of having sex? Seriously? All that's going to do is stop them from being safe when they have sex. It's not going to prevent teen sexuality.

Valenti has a very obvious feminist bias, but not the kind of feminism that makes people roll their eyes and say "oh, one of those." She's feminist in the sense that she truly wants social equality for everyone regardless of gender, and this book is a very compelling argument as to why.

If you're looking for a well-written nonfiction book about something that is directly relevant to your life, definitely give this one a shot.