RIVERNOT'S BLOG

RiverNot

Not really Firefly related, but oh well.
Thursday, August 18, 2005

Recently I read with great joy the "Looking for a new book to read" thread. Now that the kids are bigger, I'm reading again and that thread has given me much for thought. I started posting this there, as it concerns a book, but then I thought it was just too much rambling to really go there, so here it is.

I'm actually casting a big NO vote for a book. It's a classic, so I'll probably hear from some folks on this one. I just finished George Orwell's "1984." I'd read it in high school and remembered it as being dull and depressing. I read it back before 1984 when communism was still a force in the world. Well, now that I'm all grown up (ha) I thought I'd give it another try. After all, I could have been mistaken.

Man, was I wrong--about being mistaken that is. I have never had to flog myself so much to get through a book. (I guess I've just been lucky to pick good books.) Well, okay, the first quarter of it was interesting, which kept me going for the rest of the book, wading through Orwell's political treaties and an increasingly numbing plot. There were times I could only read two pages before my brain shut down, which is not how I read (you can't get me away from a book once I'm into it). I suppose the book was a product of it's times. And, yes, there are a lot of things going on in the book that you could say are happening now. However, that doesn't make it good literature.

I'd like to thank perfessergee for posting Vernor Vinge's "A Deepness in the Sky" on the book thread. What a relief to be reading it!

I'm also hoping some Firefly books start showing up out there in the 'verse!

COMMENTS

Thursday, August 18, 2005 6:24 PM

STARRBABY


You seem to be alot like me in terms of almost feeling guilty for not enjoying a classic.
I couldn't finish Mary Shelly's Frankenstein it was so boring. I also really enjoyed Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, however just about passed out from boredom when he hopped on his socialistic soap box at the end. Throw almost any Falukner book in there, and we have completed my summer reading list from hell.
Like I said, I almost feel guilty about disliking these books, however I can't help how I feel.
My point is, niether can you. At least you can say you took the time to read 1984. You have the right to speak badly of this work now. Had you not read it and ran your mouth about it, you'd be showing ignorance and closed mindedness.
Not that I'd know of a book that lots of people protest but have never read themselves. ( *cough* Harry Potter *hack* Origion of the Species *cough*) Oh, excuse me . . .I had something in my wind pipe.
I'll stop rambling so that my comment isn't longer than your blog.
Happy reading!!!


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