I'm a Bookworm

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It’s hard to explain the appeal of Chuck Palahniuk through a plot summary. What I love about the book is the writing itself– so I’ll start off with a summary and end with some quotations.

Lullaby is about a journalist who lives a pretty miserable, lonely existence. His wife and daughter died mysteriously years before. He meets a Helen Hoover Boyle, a real estate agent while investigating a series of infant deaths for a piece he’s writing in a local newspaper. Helen apparently knows a thing or two about sudden deaths as well — her family died mysteriously years earlier, leaving her all alone.

The two find out that the sudden infant deaths are linked to a culling spell which has been mistakenly printed in a children’s book. A “culling spell” is a song that was used traditionally (in this case, in Africa) to put children to sleep, like a lullaby. Unbeknownst to the parents who read the poem to their children, this particular culling spell kills whomever hears it.

The unnamed protagonist, Helen Hoover Boyle, Helen’s secretary Mona and Mona’s boyfriend Oyster set out on a road trip across the USA to try and destroy all copies of the book that hold the culling spell, and they have to also find a way to keep the information under wraps so others don’t know about the sobering power of the spell.

As usual with Chuck Palahniuk, I loved this book. He has the distinct ability to write about subjects I’d otherwise be disgusted by, but to write about them in a way that makes me interested in what he has to say, even entranced by the words he uses to describe them. Here are a few prime examples:

“Every generation wants to be the last. Every generation hates the next trend in music they can’t understand. We hate to give up those reins of our culture. To find our own music playing in elevators. The ballad for our generation, turned into background music for a television commercial.”

“These music-oholics. These calm-ophobics. No one wants to admit we’re addicted to music and television and radio. We just need more of it, more channels, a larger screen, more volume. We can’t bear to be without it, but no, nobody’s addicted. We could turn it off anytime we wanted. These distraction-oholics. These focus-ophobics.”

“What we think of as nature, Oyster says, everything’s just more of us killing the world. Every dandelion’s a ticking atom bomb. Biological pollution. Pretty yellow devastation. The way you can go to Paris or Beijing, Oyster says, and everywhere there’s a McDonald’s hamburger, this is the ecological equivalent of franchised life-forms. Every place is the same place. Kudzu. Zebra mussels. Water hyacinths. Starlings. Burger Kings. ‘The only biodiversity we’re going to have left,’ he says, ‘is Coke versus Pepsi. We’re landscaping the whole world one stupid mistake at a time.’”

Highly recommended.

–The Reader

image: wikipedia.org

This book examines how one person can gain strength by destroying another — in this case, a married couple. Dick and Nicole Diver seem like happy, wealthy American expatriates to outsider Rosemary Hoyt, who meets them while on holiday on the French Riviera.  Through spending time with them however, she pieces together their unusual story.

Dick Diver was an aspiring psychologist who married one of his rich patients, Nicole. In exchange for caring for Nicole, who is in a fragile state, Dick receives the life he’s always wanted — with a partnership in a Swiss clinic and a beautiful, comfortable home life. However, Dick’s superior position begins to wane once Rosemary meets him. Partly because of the strain of his situation, he begins to act in uncouth ways, to let his emotions get the better of him, and to drink heavily. By the end of the book, Nicole has divorced Dick, remarried and is stronger and more stable than she’s ever been. Dick is left alone and financially berefit.

I love F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writing because of the way he portrays the wealthy classes in the early 20th century. He isn’t just another author who writes about Sex and Scandal, however. His writing glimmers with questions about the undercurrents that push and pull his characters. He leaves enough space between his descriptions for multiple interpretations of the protagonists’ motives and for questions about their true identities. As with all good art, perhaps what you don’t say is just as important as what you do say. In the case of Tender is the Night, the question could be– is a life of comfort and wealth worth the sacrifices one must make in order to obtain it?

–The Reader

image: wikipedia.org

My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute. –Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand was a Russian novelist who believed very much in the ideas of capitalism & self-determination. Her personal philosophy was called Objectivism, and it still influences many readers today around the world.

This book has four main characters: Howard Roark, Peter Keating, Dominique Francon, and Gail Wynand. Howard Roark is the story’s protagonist — a brilliant architect who wants to make modern buildings that no one understands or accepts. He stays true to his individual vision throughout the book, despite all the people who do not agree with him and all the business he loses (this represents the triumph of the individual over the collective.) Peter Keating is another architect who has the opposite strategy– he is not an original artist, but he ingratiates his way to success by knowing the right people. Gail Wynand is the owner of a newspaper who loves Roark’s work. Dominique is the woman who all the men love and who, ultimately chooses to be with Roark because she believes in his vision, genius and artistic integrity.

I loved the way this book was written. At the time of reading it, I did not agree with the principles of Objectivism, but I do believe in adhering to one’s artistic principles. I’m not sure what my own personal philosophy is now… but I am certainly glad I read The Fountainhead, as I do believe that reading all kinds of material from all different kinds of authors helps in the the determination of one’s moral stance.

–The Reader

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My curiosity started when a friend introduced me to the Twilight movie. Automatically, (like half the population) I fell head over heels for vampires when I saw Robert Pattinson (or in Twi terms: Edward Cullen). I found myself biting my lip the whole way through, wishing for the first time in my pretty sane life for the chance to be bitten by my soon-to-be celebrity obsession!

Anywho, it was after watching the first movie that I decided to buy all four books. YES — all four, all at once (it was buy one, get one free..but thats not the point!)

Naturally, I didnt want to miss out on any extras the director may have edited from Stephanie Meyer’s original novels, so like any true Twihard fan, I started at the beginning….

After a month, I had read all four books. YES…Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn! Now let me really break this down for you…In 744hours. 44640 Minutes. 2678400 Seconds, I managed to read (434+563+628+754) 2379 pages, and if we are talking 173,304  words on average per book, plus the third which is basically double the size, so 348.608…that’s 871, 52 words!!! Now, I’m sure Meyer would agree when I say that’s Twi Twi Twi impressive!!! This is merely proof of
A: how good the books actually are, and
B: how deep my obsession for Pattinson truly goes!

Now, with the good always comes the bad and, sadly, there are some aspects of the books which did at times irritate me. The Twi books were originally targeted to the teen population, and I’m not one to shy from the fact that I’m actually 21…and a half! So as you can imagine…I did find myself shouting out..”Yeah Alright!” and “Get it on already! (Edward and Bella).” But hey –  I could just be a biased 21 year old female, so dont pre-judge — just read!!!!!

May Twilight be with you.

In the name of the Handsome Actor, Extraordinary Lover, Vampire-Vegetarian.

AMEN