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September 27
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Ben
gave
to:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Paperback)
by Mark Twain
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Ben said:
"I go back to this novel again and again. Somehow, its just a gorgeous book. I'm uncomfortable saying that, but its true. Let me try to explain myself. Some aspects of the story, like life on the river and the friendship between Huck and Jim are un...more
I go back to this novel again and again. Somehow, its just a gorgeous book. I'm uncomfortable saying that, but its true. Let me try to explain myself. Some aspects of the story, like life on the river and the friendship between Huck and Jim are unambiguously beautiful. I think anyone who has ever wanted to get away (and why read a novel?) will feel this. They're set off, though, by murders and lies and hate seemingly everywhere they touch land. Yet I find these episodes equally fascinating. Its not just because they are indictments of a hypocritical society, and I enjoy a righteous condemnation of the antebellum south. Its well done, but I take the ordinance attached to the novel as validation of my feeling that there is more to this novel than a moral lesson and a satirical smirk.
These episodes all derive their power from Huck's youthful, openhearted goodness. Huck's simplicity allows us to come to like the Grangerfords and that makes their bloody feuding far more appalling. Huck is moved to feel awe and pity in the same way as the townspeople that the Duke and the King dupe. Huck isn't exactly weak; it's more that he is too generous. I find myself wondering, given what he comes from and what he is up against, how Huck can possibly be so good.
It's no coincidence that Don Quixote is introduced early on, and that the hero of the story is baffled by Tom's adherence to him. The childishness of Tom and Huck's games brackets the story and leaves the reader wondering whether everything that came in between is a delusion. Without this, I think the story would be at once too rosy and too smug. Instead we are left wondering how good it is possible to be....less
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Ben
added The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
to the book list Best Southern Literature
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September 26
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Ben
gave
to:
Anathem (Hardcover)
by Neal Stephenson
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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August 19
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Ben
is currently reading:
Dr. Faustus (Dover Thrift Editions)
by Christopher Marlowe
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Ben
gave
to:
Shakespeare's Sonnets (Paperback)
by William Shakespeare
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Ben
gave
to:
Tamburlaine (Dover Thrift Editions)
by Christopher Marlowe
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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July 18
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Ben
took the never-ending book quiz.
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Ben
is currently reading:
The Complete Stories (Paperback)
by Flannery O'Connor
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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June 30
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Ben
gave
to:
Bleak House (Paperback)
by Charles Dickens
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in July, 2008
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Ben
gave
to:
Meta Math!: The Quest for Omega (Paperback)
by Gregory Chaitin
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in June, 2008
Ben said:
"Chaitin has a way of making his conclusions sound less than earthshaking. As far as I can see, the main point of this book is that we can't expect to get something truly complex out of something simple. I think I got a lot out of this book though, ...more
Chaitin has a way of making his conclusions sound less than earthshaking. As far as I can see, the main point of this book is that we can't expect to get something truly complex out of something simple. I think I got a lot out of this book though, because Chaitin also points out a number of less obvious implications for math, computer science, and physics. Its hard to tell just how well presented the specifics are, because I don't have a background in computer science. This combined with a highly informal (though readable) delivery and some unembarrassed promotion of the author's own work to leave me wondering whether I had just waded through a lot of half-baked filler to get to a few good ideas. I can't complain though, at being stimulated to take up set theory and physics in this new light....less
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