Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

[EllenZReads]

Somehow missed this one back in high school.

[Adrien]

I tried to read it 7 years ago, but I stopped after a few pages (my English was probably not good enough). Maybe I'll give it another try.

[Renee]

I have so many books on my "To Read" list with numbers in the title! This one's been on my list longest. Also, I plan to read a book about the recent Iraq and Afghanistan wars for week 4 (Redeployment), so this should be an interesting follow-up read.

[Brittany]

This is one book that I have wanted to read for years, I just have never gotten around to it. Hopefully it's as good as I've built it up in my mind to be.

[Sophie]

Also a very funny book, keep in mind for the "funny book" challenge

[Jenna]

I'm also planning to read this for week 5. It has been sitting on my shelf for a couple of years unread.

[Bana AZ]

This book's a bit confusing at first, but just keep reading it because there's a payoff when you know the whole story. It's also one of my favorites.

[Jana]

I'm planning to read this for Week 8 (funny book).

[Jana]

Well, I am 143 pages in and considering giving up on it. I find myself almost dreading reading. That doesn't happen often. I will keep going, though, based on what Ana said. (:

[Jenna]

I'm about 2/3 of the way through and I am really enjoying it! Why are you considering giving up Jana?

[Jana]

Too ridiculous and it isn't really holding my attention. I can only read it for a few minutes at a time before I feel like I need to move on to something else.

[Jenna]

Huh, I don't feel that way at all. I get excited to see which character we get to learn about next and I think the ridiculousness is meant to be humorous.

[Bana AZ]

Jana wrote: "Too ridiculous and it isn't really holding my attention. I can only read it for a few minutes at a time before I feel like I need to move on to something else."

Other people say you should read Chapter 22 first before reading the earlier chapters so you'll understand more of what's happening. If you really feel like giving up, I suggest that method and skip to Chapter 22. If you still don't like the story after that, then I guess you never will. I think it's worth a try to quickly check if this book is worth it for you. :)

[Marina]

I finished the book a week ago, and I still haven't come to a conclusion wether I liked it or not.

I enjoyed some of the descriptions of the different characters for example Dr. Daneeka who "examines himself" and lies about his own health to avoid serving the army and then gets offended when they check his story and find out he's lying. I found that hilarious!
But at the same time I thought that there were just too many characters. Or maybe it wasn't the number of characters, but the way they were introduced. I often felt that the author jumped from telling one thing to another and then back again, and even though I think this might be intentional, it just confused me a lot of times and I lost track of the story.

[Jana]

Well, I finished it. The second half was easier to get through than the first half, but I never actually enjoyed the book. On to the next book.

[EllenZReads]

I had the same response as Jana--just too nonsensical for me. I ditched it after about 80 pages. Just could not get into it, didn't like the characters (I know they're caricatures and over-done, but still...), and decided not to waste any more time with it.

[Jenna]

I just finished this book. To those of you who gave up early on, I completely understand, but if you can find the willpower I would highly recommend continuing! I LOVED this book! I thought it was hilarious and so well thought out. It was thought provoking while still being mostly lighthearted. I loved the characters and the Milo subplot. I really enjoyed it all.

[Jean]

Hard to read for sure. Turned out to be not an anti-war novel as I had assumed, but an anti-large organization story. Frankly I found it to be depressing because the truth is all the craziness actually happens in the real world. Not so funny if it's happening to you.