NoahLutz

How is it? They based the HBO series on this, right?

Great Expectations was, indeed, great. Very funny in the beginning, and it turned into a sort of action/mystery by the end. Dickens was indeed a master of his craft. I think I’ll now start All Quiet on the Western Front as I have given it to my son to read. I’d like to take in something a bit easier, if not exactly lighter, before moving on to some tough ones I have on my list. I brought along A Brief History of Time on my last vacation, but I haven’t started it and don’t think I will. I think I’m going to stick with some that have been on my reading list longer, but who knows?

How is it? My daughter is on a Hamilton kick because of the play, and all I know about him comes from the Federalist Papers, which are brilliant, and the play. Is it a fair biography, a hagiography, or a revisionist history?

I finished Merchant of Venice last night, and it is much easier for me to appreciate, possibly because it is much more accessible as a story. The anti-Semitic is a bit in-your-face, but it is usually done as a criticism of Christians not living up to their own moral code. Obviously some all time classic monologues and insights into human nature. Shakespeare is such a gift. I’ve also started Great Expectations. I’m just about 8 chapters in, and it is very funny and immediately engaging.

I looked into an analysis of Tempest and it made me appreciate the play more. The argument was that it was a companion piece to King Lear, but with King Lear occurring in the real world, and the Tempest existing in a fictional one where resolution is easier and more possible. Also, as Shakespeare’s last play, it was a statement on the importance of imagination and art in driving thought in the real world. Perhaps I’ll give Mirren’s version a shot.

Much Ado About Nothing was a great palette cleanser. Bright, whimsical, funny, and fun. I’m about 10 chapters into David Copperfield. Dickens is great, but he sure takes his sweet time.

I highly recommend The Sea Wolf. It is not only an action movie in book form, but a deceptively deep musing on psychological and philosophical themes. I had to run to Wikipedia or Google more than a few times to read a poem or get a sense of to whom the characters referred, and I always felt the better for it. Interestingly, I think that the author inadvertently argues strongly against a few of his main beliefs, but I’ve seen it stated that he intended an the novel as an argument against Nietzsche, and he succeeds very well in this. But, as I said, the frame of the story is an action adventure, and it is a page turner. This morning I just started Much Ado About Nothing (I’ve been on a Shakespeare kick this year), and this one has started out more auspiciously than The Tempest or A Midsummer’s Night Dream, both of which were a little weird and scattered.

It was indeed weird. Not my favorite play, but good enough. I finished the first chapter of London’s The Sea Wolf on recommendation of Pearl from Ghost Rider. The first chapter starts out like an action movie. I approve.

I started The Tempest. It seems weird, so far.

I am almost done with this, and it is an interesting read. I guess it’s far less shocking now in a world where we have many options to see what the life of a slave is like, but at the time it must have been revolutionary. It doesn’t really ask many big questions, other than pointing out how Christianity demands the abolition of slavery or asking how humans can treat other humans so horribly. Again, this seems obvious today, but was probably revelatory to people of the time.

Today I start a Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

The kids and I are reading To Kill a Mockingbird, while I am starting a political/religious book no one here will like.

I finally finished the book a week or so ago. I don’t know why it took me so long. I should have loved the book: it was sci-fi, well written, short, and while easy to digest, held a light to some moral truths. And I did like it…I just couldn’t force myself to read it. Anyway, I moved quickly to Peart’s Ghost Rider, which was both fascinating and boring. It was interesting to see someone grapple with the complex ideas of grief, and Peart seems a complex person: deep emotions but almost misanthropic and stunted; obviously knowledgeable and wise, but of limited intelligence and imagination; curious about so many things, but oblivious and uncurious about many others. Also, he seems to have positively quoted The Speed of Love twice at the most important part of the book. Still, despite its flaws, I’m glad I read it and would recommend it to others. I’m at the denouement of the second Star Wars Thrawn Trilogy. Very fun and engaging, but a little too clever for its own good. I’m reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream and should finish it tomorrow. I’ll either read another Shakespeare or two (they’re so fast and fascinating and beautiful) or move on to Frederick Douglass next, I think.

Nothing but a little bit of the Acts of the Apostles from time to time. I made the very stupid mistake of purchasing the entire series of The Walking Dead on sale, followed by the dumber decision of watching the first couple of episodes. I’m on season 7 now. I also decided to take an 8 hour course on the Assyrians (who were the original evil empire, by the way). Apparently, "just the tip” doesn’t work for much in life.

Invisible Man. I think I read this in high school or college, but I can’t remember a thing about it. Other than that it is about a man who is invisible.