- Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh. Finished 3/4. “It is often said that the Buddha’s teaching is only a raft to help you cross the river, a finger pointing to the moon. Don’t mistake the finger for the moon. The raft is not the shore. If we cling to the raft, if we cling to the finger, we miss everything” (91). Beautiful book with a beautiful message of peace.
- Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. FInished 3/5. This was a lot of fun to read, it was a satire on the Gothic novel which was contemporary to Jane Austen and the book really highlighted how incredibly funny Austen is–she has a sharp wit and I laughed out loud more than once.
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. Finished 3/7. I thought this was a really great book, it’s funny because I didn’t really particularly like any of the characters, but I was interested in what made them tick, what conclusions they jumped to–the million and one ways that people, even people in love, can be communicating on such different levels that there is a complete disconnect. Alfred Hitchcock made a movie from this book that won him his only Oscar for best picture–lucky for me, Netflix has it so it’ll be fun to watch what he does with it.
- Winter Rose by Patricia McKillip. Finished 3/14. I’m nearly certain I’ve read this sometime in the past, but it was well worth another read, and McKillip is one of the couple authors that I simple intend to own everything she writes because she writes incredibly lyrical pieces. I’m using her Solstice Wood (which I read last year) in a paper I’m writing about perception and the modern use of fairy tales–Winter Rose is a pre-quel, but not in the truest sense, you can read Solstice Wood without ever reading Winter Rose. Anyway, before re-reading Solstice Wood I decided I’d best read (or re-read) Winter Rose, and I’m glad I did.
- Solstice Wood by Patricia McKillip. Finished 3/26. This is a reread for a paper I’m writing (see above) and I enjoyed it and found a great deal of substance for my paper. I’ll write a longer review later.
- Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenziburo Oe. Finished 3/27. We voted on a non-western novel for my lit class and this is what we ended up reading. As remarkably powerful as it is disturbing.
~ by kelly on Friday, 30 March 2007.
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