Oh Gerogie

Orwell, Orwell, I love Orwell. What man is able to make a joke out of such a horrid thing? But that's what war is, it's man's big joke to man. Such a joke.

You can't read his account and ever think war is noble or necessary. And yet, he never withdraws. He never decides to go back to England and live the good life (and wait for WWII to arrive). Which just goes to prove war is noble and is needed. How can you change the world without killing a fascist?

I didn't get the politics, at all! But I loved the war story accounts. Genius mind, Orwell truly had a genius mind. The world will never be a good place, until guys like him decide to actually become politicians. But that will never work. So human beings will continue to misbehave and the world will continue to fall apart. Even Orwell himself knew that was the case. He stood by his political views, even when he proved them impossible.

It's been so long

I've only read one YA novel since Breaking Dawn last year. I think that says something about that series. Anyway, it's nice to finally be back into a genre I love. This was a good one to break me back in. The whole communist movement in China truly fascinates me. I feel like this is a good introductory course for teens. I would definitely want my child to read it, I'd say at about 6th grade.

Basically, Ying watches as her country destroys the brilliance her parents have worked so hard to obtain. That is what is so fascinating to me. How can a country purposefully attack all the educated members of society? Do you not see how self destructive that is? Making people equal isn't about making the upper class lower, it's about bringing the lower classes up. Seriously, Mao was intentionally destroying a country of 1 billion people. And the rest of the world just sat back and ignored it.

Fascinating.

So popular right now

Holocaust fiction seems to be the guaranteed sale right now. Apparently though, Abe Lincoln is the most written about subject in the world. Pretty interesting, I'd have guessed WWII. But I guess that's just my reading trend.

So this one, I wouldn't recommend it . . . unless you read and were comfortable with A Thousand Splendid Suns. It is similar in graphic content. Which makes sense if you think about it. Both women basically had to place their hands in the lives of gross military leaders. So the icky sex stuff makes sense. I just wish she hadn't been so detailed.

The story line is really good though. I particularly liked the ending. I liked the idea that the main character (whose name has already escaped me two weeks later) Anna! It's Anna, I like that she didn't want to take credit for those she saved, since she'd lived her whole life suffering over the ones she couldn't save. I don't know, I'm not making it sound right, but it just made sense that if she refused for 40 years to talk about the bad stuff, she'd also refuse to talk about the good when faced with it. Almost like refusing to take credit for the good she did was a way to pay penance for the bad. I don't know, I thought that was an interesting concept.

I have to wonder how many people there are in this world who really have no idea who they really are. I'd imagine quite a few. The common theme I find in all the contemporary WWII stuff is simply that, that people really have no idea who they are, because their parents worked so hard (for good or bad) to cover it up and avoid ever having to talk about it.

A true classic

Ummm, such a good one. I seriously love it more and more each time I read it. I don't even think this book ever has to compete to make it onto top 50 lists. Romantically timeless, wonderfully witty writing: Jane Austen was brilliant. Anyone who hasn't read this is seriously missing out. There is a reason hundreds of movies and books have been written based on this story.

Darcy really is such a dream. Elizabeth gets a little more annoying with each read, but she'll never reach the pains of Emma. Ughhhh, I think I need to try Sense and Sensibility or Mansfield Park. I don't doubt Austen deserves two slots on my final list, but Emma will not be the one to do it.

Anyway, I should say more about this one, but I really can't. It's perfect. In all ways it is perfect. That's all that can be said. It only took me about three sittings in less than a week to get through this. Such a perfect little pleasure.