Book Club!

I recently joined a book club. It wasn't really an intentional thing but my roommate had mentioned that she needed to read this book for a book club and I was like "What book club and what book" So I just threw myself into it. The Great Divorce was the first book that we read. The meeting went great. Its all girls and everyone had really good points and picked out great passages. I was glad I thought to bring my highlighter. I like book clubs even though I don't think I have as many astute points as others do. Sometimes I forget that I am trying to get something out of reading these books besides entertainment. So I will try harder with the next book which is The Life of Pi. I've heard many things about it and I wasn't sure I wanted to read it but this gives me an excuse. Another reason why I like book clubs, it forces me to read books that I would never think to read myself. I usually stick to same genre or whatever. I've only recently seen how great nonfiction books can be but they are still not my book of choice. We are reading one in a few months (although the debate is out as to whether it is nonfiction or not, something on the back cover calls it fiction but my roommate and others who have read it are adament that it has to be true, I thought the same thing about Memoirs of a Geisha though so one must be careful.)

Well, I have to finish House of Mirth before I read Life of Pi. Hopefully I'll get done in time. I'm doing better at spending my break time and lunch hour reading instead of surfing the net (except at this particular moment). So review to be coming soon on that one.

Incidentally, I get to choose what book we read in August. I'm debating to do a book that I've never read but want to or to reccomend Memoirs of Geisha or some other book that I have read so I can have that month free to read whatever I want. Sneaky eh? We'll see.

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

Imagine you're in a town that is all dull and grey where the people are waiting for the sun to rise but it never does. Also, everyone fights with everyone. Lots of bickering. Then you get on a bus and go up into the air and arrive at this very bright country where you find that you are transparent and the ground and plants and everything is extremely hard and heavy. It hurts to walk on the grass. This is the setting of this book. The main character is one of these transparent people and his experience wandering around this bright country overhearing other ghosts having conversations with solid people. The reader comes to find out that where he was was Hell and this bright place is Heaven. Its possible to go from Hell to Heaven (to become solid) by letting go of whatever it was that was your sin. So the main character overhears conversations about everyday things that most people are guilty of for example: vanity, arrogance, pessimism,...among others. It was really interesting to see how all these people sound so familiar to other things you hear everyday. To think because we hold on to these thoughts that it imprisons us in a kind of hell on Earth and if we want to gain a higher place we have to let it go. The book doesn't go into too much detail about how that is done. The solid people try to explain but most of the ghosts are so wrapped in themselves they can't understand so they just argue. It becomes quite sad in some instances.

This whole book is so good and it is pretty easy reading according to my roommate who has read other C.S. Lewis books. I was wary of reading a C.S. Lewis novel. I have read the Narnia series and this book kind of falls into that difficulty of reading. But my roommate has told me about other of his books that are extremely difficult and are along the self-help type of writing, which I don't really like. But I may give another of his more difficult ones a try to see.

This book is full of good quotes.....but I was lazy and didn't highlight them because I pretty much would have been highlighting pages and pages. But here are a couple of passages that I thought were interesting.

This is from a ghost who is an intellectual type and is trying to find explanations for the religious aspects that his solid friend is trying to explain to him. I've always thought it would be interesting that when all these intellectuals finally get to the afterlife and all is revealed then they will just kick themselves but maybe they will still hold on to their beliefs and never be able to know the joy of what God can offer them. Anyway he is telling about this paper he is writing.

"I'm going to point out how people always forget that Jesus was a comparatively young man when he died. He would have outgrown some of his earlier views, you know, if he'd lived. As he might have done, with a little more tact and patience. I am going to ask my audience to consider what his mature views would have been. A profoundly interesting question. What a different Christianity we might have had if only the Founder had reached his full stature!"

Just as I am rereading some parts to find quotes there is so much good stuff. I love all the conversations.

"There is but one good, that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him. And the higher and mightier it is in the natural order, the more demoniac it will be if it rebels. It's not out of bad mice or bad fleas you make demons, but out of bad archangels. The false religion of lust is baser than the false religion of mother-love or patriotism or art; but lust is less likely to be made into a religion."

I reccommend this book. I think everyone should read it. It doesn't take very long either. I read it in a little over a week, but I could have read it in a couple of days but I get distracted. So there you go. Sorry this post is so long.

If I Eat I Feel Guilty, If I Don't I'm Deprived.....

By Natasha Josefowitz. This is a small book of hilarious poems. It puts into words of how feel many times when it comes to eating and my struggle with weight issues. It talks about other daily dilemmas as well which I relate too but the poems about overeating are great. I highly reccommend this book of poems to everyone. My mom bought this for me just because and I read it all in a day. Here are a few of my favorite poems.

Diets

No bread
with strawberry jam
no rich desserts
no candy
no chocolate ice cream
no french fries
no chips

INSTEAD

Carrot sticks
raw cauliflower
with a low-fat yogurt dip
broiled fish
cottage cheese
lettuce with a diet dressing
half a grapefruit
one salt-free cracker

Even if I don't live longer
it certainly will seem longer.


Thin Tricks

If I take many small slivers of cake
instead of one large slice,
I am really eating less.
If I keep evening out
the uneven edges of the pie,
I'm not really eating it.
If I eat off your plate,
I'm not eating off mine.
If I finish the children's leftovers,
it doesn't count.
If I don't order a meal,
but taste everyone else's,
I won't gain weight.
So how come
I'm not thin?

Meeting New Men

When I meet a new man,
the more handsome he is
the less attractive I feel;
the more intelligent he is
the stupider I sound;
the smoother he is
the more awkward I seem.

In other words,
when I meet a man
I really like,
I become this blubbering idiot
and he will have nothing to do with me.

When I meet a man
I'm not interested in,
I am beautiful, brilliant,
witty and fun,
so he falls madly in love
with me,
but I will have nothing to do
with him.

The trick is to be dull
with the men I don't like
and sparkling with ones I do,
but for some reason,
it's always the other way around.

There are lots more but I'll stop now. Maybe you'll see one or two on my new feature: the poem of the day.

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

This book was very good. I have always been a fan to Fantasy and this didn't overdo it. There was a lot of intrigue and mystery and as it is a series a lot of things left unsolved. The wonderful thing about this book is the depiction of a boy and his dragon. They communicate through telepathy and it is a very loving and fun relationship.They can be playful as well as serious. It was very refreshing that they didn't have to be constantly concerned with the dangers they were facing but took time to make a joke or two. It begins from his finding her egg and hatching to being set on a mission of revenge that turns to his learning magic, swordplay, and the history of The Riders which he is now apart. The whole burden of the world is put upon his shoulders as he realizes that he will have to make some serious decisions as to whom to trust and where his allegiance lies. It was mostly geared toward kids but it was still fun to read and I look forward to reading the sequels but I will wait until the second book has gone to paperback.

One amazing thing about this book is that the author was only fifteen when he first started writing the book. His family self-published the novel at seventeen or eighteen. I am so impressed by that. I highly reccommend this book for an entertaining adventure if you like fantasy. Here is pretty much the only quote that I was hit with. It is when Eragon's uncle is giving his fatherly speech to his son who is leaving for a job in another town (it was also intended for Eragon as well).

"First, let no one rule your mind or body. Take special care that your thoughts remain unfettered. One may be a free man and yet be bound tighter than a slave. Give men your ear, but not your heart. Show respect for those in power, but don't follow them blindly. Judge with logic and reason, but comment not. Consider none your superior, whatever their rank or station in life. Treat all fairly or they will seek revenge. Be careful with your money. Hold fast to your beliefs and others will listen. Of the affairs of love...my only advice is to be honest. That's your most powerful tool to unlock a heart or gain forgiveness. "

Lots of stuff that can apply to all of us in there. Pretty astute for a fifteen year old.