Book #4: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

This is one of the classics that I wanted to read last year but never got around to it until January. I powered through it during naptime today because I wanted to have finished at least four books this month! I didn't get to read as much this month as I would have because I spent almost every nap time working on my class stuff and planning for the semester. Things are a little more calm now so I should have at least one or two days a week I can read, plus more in the evenings too.

So anyway--this book. I read it on my iPhone since I couldn't find a good copy at the library, which means I did most of my reading while at the gym this month. I knew the basic story of Robinson Crusoe, of course (although it was only a few years ago that I found out it wasn't Robinson CArusoe instead of Crusoe) and I remember learning in college that it was the first novel written in English (although now that I look that up there are a lot of books that claim that privilege). I feel like this is one I should have read eons ago because of that little tidbit, but now I finally have. I enjoyed the first half of the novel the best, where he describes how he ended up on the island and how he made his life there. I think that must be a normal human trait, to be fascinated by these survival techniques. He's like the original survivor reality TV show, getting dropped on an island and having to survive and figure out how to get food for himself. It reminded me of some parts of the Little House on the Prairie series, where she goes into such descriptive detail about how they did all of these little now-extinct processes for providing the most basic requirements of life. He figures out how to hunt and breed the goats native to the island, he makes grapes and plants corn and barley, he builds and protects his little home and makes baskets and pots and a wheat mill and all sorts of things--and he tells in detail how he managed them. I thought this was the most interesting part.

I kind of lost interest when the focus of the story became more on Friday, the native that he saved from the savages and made his servant. Crusoe is incredibly imperialistic and dismissive of Friday's background (as can only be expected in a book published in 1719) but it's a little uncomfortable to read in today's day and age. Eventually they save more hostages and after that are rescued by a stranded English ship that happens to end up by the island. The book ends with a few other kind of random adventures (like him traveling through France to get back to England and being set upon by 300 wolves) which are very anticlimactic-feeling. But I guess since this was among the first novels ever, you can't complain that he didn't follow a traditional novelistic plot line.

Crusoe talks a lot about his religion and how at first he didn't really believe in God or live as he should, but that he becomes more devout the more time he spends on the island (where he has a Bible he scrounged from the ship). I thought it was really interesting to read what I imagine was a common view of God at the time (Defoe's view?), that God was actively doing everything TO him, that his life was a punishment or a reward for what he did, instead of my belief that God knows what is happening to us and helps us to deal with our trials, but that it's not all just reactionary like that. I actually really liked some of the things Defoe described, particularly when Crusoe is recognizing his gratitude to God for his blessings instead of the obvious trials of living alone on an island. He says, "In a word, as my life was a life of sorrow in one way, so it was a life of mercy another, and I wanted noting to make it a life of comfort but to be able to make my sense of God's goodness to me, and care over me in this condition, be my daily consolation... I learned to look more upon the bright side of my condition, and less upon the dark side, and to consider what I enjoyed rather than what I wanted; and this gave me sometimes such secret comforts, that I cannot express them; and which I take notice of here, to put those discontented people in mind of it, who cannot enjoy comfortably what God has given them, because they see and covet something that He has not given them. All our discontents about what we want appeared to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have." Although I KNOW that Crusoe is an imaginary character going through an imaginary thing, I want to remember that idea--that even a guy on a desert island can be grateful for his blessings and focus on the positive, and so can I.

Book #3: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

This book tells the story of Julie and Maddie, two friends who meet each other working in the war effort in England during WWII. Maddie is a pilot--a girl who loves to tinker and work as a mechanic, on motorbikes and later planes--and Julie is a translator and later interrogator. The first half of the book is written from Julie's perspective, the second from Maddie's, and both halves describe how they met and got to know each other, and what happens to them after they get caught behind enemy lines in France. Julie is caught by the Gestapo and is being tortured for information, while Maddie is sheltered by the Resistance and ends up helping as much as she can. So Julie's story comes in the form of a confession about what she knows to the Gestapo questioners, and Maddie's story is a journal/record she keeps while in hiding.

I thought this was a solid, enjoyable book. However, I feel like the invented mediums (the confession and the journal) kept getting in the way of my ability to believe what was being written. I kept thinking, "There's no way she'd need to write all of this detail about how she met Maddie in her confession to the Gestapo." And "She'd never write this poetically if she's just writing in her own journal she's going to keep herself." Maddie even says at one point, (something like), "I wish I were a better writer so that I could write about the rich mixture of fear and boredom I feel every day"--and goes on to write this long detailed description about how she's scared and bored at the same time (and "rich mixture"? In a journal? From a mechanic and not a poet? Come on). It just kept bothering me the whole time, almost to the point of detracting from the story itself. I really did like the story, and learning about Maddie and Julie, both in very unlikely positions from someone of their gender. I especially liked Maddie's half more than Julie's, where Maddie is trying to piece together what happened to Julie and how to help her. It was a pretty heartbreaking climax, which actually took me by surprise (but I feel like part of it was because there wasn't enough build-up to it; it just randomly happened without any warning, but I guess that's pretty likely in real life anyways). Also, I was really feeling done with WWII novels with a female protagonist after All the Light We Cannot See (which was a clearly superior novel, no doubt). All in all, I'd say this was a solid 3 stars for me.

Book #2: Emma by Alexander McCall Smith

This is another one of the Austen Project modernized versions of Jane Austen's books. And although I really liked the other ones, as far as I remember, this one was just terrible. I enjoyed it for maybe half of the way through, but it left me wondering if Smith had ever even READ Austen's original. Everything included in the book was shortened and way less interesting. The premise of the Austen Project is that the authors are rewriting Austen's books for the modern day, and I think that's part of the problem for this book--it doesn't work for this setting. I just think part of the problem with this book is that Emma's flaws, which are annoying but pretty understandable in a 19th century character, are completely not acceptable in 2015. Emma in this version comes across as completely spoiled, totally unaware of the rest of the world and all of the people who aren't as well off as she is, and basically a complete brat. And although she is still all of those things in the original, she has more positive qualities that redeem her throughout the book, and her transformation is much more rewarding at the end. And according to the society at the time, she was kind of expected to be and act better off than everyone around her, so it's more forgivable. You can sense her real regret and repentance after she realizes where she's been wrong. This Emma--no on all of those things. Smith does not AT ALL give you a good, well-rounded portrait of her as a character. And don't even talk to me about George Knightley, who is one of the best of Austen's heroes, and who shows up approximately three times in the book and there is literally NO HINT that they would be interested in each other. It seems more likely that Emma would turn out to be a lesbian interested in Harriet Smith than she would be with Knightley at the end (since Smith kept hinting at it throughout, which was obnoxious also). Smith also felt so unsure about whether he'd made the point that he wanted to with Emma that he actually SAYS the moral near the end: "It had been an important summer for Emma, as it had been the summer during which moral insight came to her – something that may happen to all of us, if it happens at all, at very different stages of our lives." Ummm, thank you. It was helpful for you to spell that out because IT WASN'T OBVIOUS FROM THE STORY. The only redeeming thing that I liked about this rewrite was how Smith gave a lot of backstory to all of the characters to explain them, which was kind of fun to read (particularly Emma's father, Mr. Woodhouse). Unfortunately, this backstory ended up supplanting the actual plot of the story, so oh well.

Basically, DON'T read this. Stick with the original.

Book #1 of 2016: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

I can't tell you how many times I've meant to read this book and never did. So this year, I asked for it for Christmas from my parents (they usually give us each a book for Christmas) and I knew I had to get through it now! At first, I didn't really want to read this, because all I really knew about it was that it was a WWII novel about a young girl, and I felt like I'd read a lot of those lately (aka The Book Thief, Kate Morton's books, etc.). But I'd heard such good things about it that I knew it was worth checking out. And it was definitely worth it.

The book follows Marie-Laure, who is blind and lives with her father near the Natural History Museum in Paris, where he works as the principal locksmith. As she gets older, he spends a lot of time working with her to help her become independent and to be able to find her way around without him to guide her. And when the war comes, they escape to St. Malo, a small beach town where her great-uncle lives. The other principal character is Werner, a German boy living in an orphanage, who is interested in the natural world and wants to be able to figure everything out. His life is changed when he finds a radio in the trash and is able to get it to work, and he and his sister are able to listen to broadcasts from around Europe and to get a little bit of information and introduction to the outside world. He is sent to a paramilitary school and as the war gets closer to the end, he's sent out to use his math/engineering skills to track down other radio users. He and Marie end up in the same town, while St. Malo is being bombed by the Americans to get the Germans out, and their radios help their paths to cross.

I loved both of the characters' storylines in this book, but Marie-Laure's more so. She wasn't a typical "super-strong adolescent female character" which is so overplayed and tiring right now, but as she says in the book, she just got up every day and lived her life like she had to. She is very interested in the world around her as she can access it, through sounds and through tactile interaction, and she becomes alive as she goes to the beaches and touches the seashells there. I loved how Doerr writes about the seashells and about the things Marie touches, and I loved how he writes about the radio connections throughout the war. I feel a little silly that I didn't really understand the main focus on the importance of radio throughout the book as I read it--I was trying so hard to get through the story and to see what happens to Marie that I didn't put two and two together. But this morning I listened to this interview with the author and it's clear that was his main focus in writing it--to write about the French radio resistance against the Germans. Werner and Marie's uncle were on opposite sides of the radio fight and it all narrowed down to the end, where Marie is reading over the radio and Werner is listening to her over his receiver. It is almost magical how they end up connected through the radio at the end, and how it helps Werner to save Marie, and it doesn't feel forced at all.

I loved how every word in this book felt particularly chosen and purposeful. The story and the language were both beautiful. Doerr talks about how he had the idea for the book because he was thinking about what a miracle it is that we can talk to people we cannot see just by using little packets of light to send messages spinning through the air over radio waves (today using cell phones, back then using radio). There are so many beautiful points throughout the book and underlying messages. I think I should read it again, now that I know what happens, in order to get all of the little things from it.

2015 Yearly Recap

I'm a little disappointed in myself this year. I read only 60 books this year--that's a new low for me since I started keeping track. I know it's not the quantity that matters, but more than that, I know that I wasn't spending my time reading because I was doing less-interesting things. I think with having a baby this year, I threw myself into a "I need to relax and veg" phase (and relaxing and veg-ing by watching shows in the evening), but I never really came out of it when I was capable of it. Graham is now nine months old and I am BACK into regular life, and I am not going to watch TV any more (unless folding laundry or exercising). I want to be a READER again.

There were a few redeeming books of this year:

Best Quick Reads: Intertwine and Divine

Best Non-Fiction: No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage

Best Self-Help: How to Raise an Adult, Better than Before, Bird by Bird

Best Classic: Middlemarch. Hands down.

Best of the best of the best: The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. I loved these books so much. They are totally out of my normal comfort zone for reading, and not my usual genre, but totally worth it.

I had a goal last year to read some fifteen classics that I'd never read--and I only made it through five (well, four and a half, since I technically didn't finish On the Road, and GOOD RIDDANCE). So I want to try and make my way through more of those this year. But I also am going to work on the Modern Mrs. Darcy reading challenge from this year and last year. I figure I can easily make it through two of those since they're each only 12 books, and it will be interesting to get me reading a variety of books. I printed out the pages and will hang them up by my desk! And I am going to start my first book of 2016 now.