What was the last book you read?

juvenilepunk · Jun 6, 2010

Animal Farm is probably my favorite book.
Also read Anthem, a very good book.

The Motorcycle Diaries:

"The Motorcycle Diaries" tells the story of an 8,000 mile trip by motorcycle, raft, truck and foot, from Argentina to Peru, undertaken in 1952 by Ernesto Guevara de la Serna and his friend Alberto Granado. If Ernesto had not later become "Che" Guevara and inspired countless T-shirts, there would be no reason to tell this story, which is interesting in the manner of a travelogue but simplistic as a study of Che's political conversion. It belongs to the dead-end literary genre in which youthful adventures are described, and then "...that young man grew up to be (Benjamin Franklin, Einstein, Rod Stewart, etc)."

Che Guevara makes a convenient folk hero for those who have not looked very closely into his actual philosophy, which was repressive and authoritarian. Like his friend Fidel Castro, he was a right-winger disguised as a communist. He said he loved the people but he did not love their freedom of speech, their freedom to dissent, or their civil liberties. Cuba has turned out more or less as he would have wanted it to.

But all of that is far in the future as Ernesto and Alberto mount their battered old 1939 motorcycle and roar off for a trip around a continent they'll be seeing for the first time. Guevara is a medical student with one year still to go, and Alberto is a biochemist. Neither has ever been out of Argentina. From the alarming number of times their motorcycle turns over, skids out from under them, careens into a ditch or (in one case) broadsides a cow, it would appear neither has ever been on a motorcycle, either.

First stop, the farm of Ernesto's girlfriend, whose rich father disapproves of him. Chichina (Mia Maestro) herself loves him, up to a point: "Do you expect me to wait for you? Don't take forever." Shy around girls and not much of a dancer, Ernesto is unable to say whether he does or not.

The film, directed by Walter Salles ("Central Station"), follows them past transcendent scenery; we see forests, plains, high chaparral, deserts, lakes, rivers, mountains, spectacular vistas. And along the way the two travelers depend on the kindness of strangers; they're basically broke, and while Ernesto believes in being honest with people, Alberto gets better results by conning them.

They do meet some good new friends: A doctor in Lima, for example, who gets them an invitation to stay at a leper colony. The staff at the colony, and the lepers. A farmer and his wife, who they meet on the road, and who were forced off their land by evil capitalists. Day laborers and their sadistic foreman. A garage owner's lonely wife. To get to the leper colony, they take a steamer down a vast lake. Guevara stands in the stern and looks down at a shabby smaller boat that the steamer is towing: This is the boat carrying the poor people, who have no decks, deck-chairs, dining rooms, orchestras and staterooms, but must hang their hammocks where they can.

By the end of the journey, Ernesto has undergone a conversion. "I think of things in different ways," he tells his friend. "Something has changed in me." The final titles say he would go on to join Castro in the Cuban Revolution, and then fight for his cause in the Congo and Bolivia, where he died. His legend lives on, celebrated largely, I am afraid, by people on the left who have sentimentalized him without looking too closely at his beliefs and methods. He is an awfully nice man in the movie, especially as played by the sweet and engaging Gael Garcia Bernal (from "Y Tu Mama Tambien"). Pity how he turned out.

The movie is receiving devoutly favorable reviews. They are mostly a matter of Political Correctness, I think; it is uncool to be against Che Guevara. But seen simply as a film, "The Motorcycle Diaries" is attenuated and tedious. We understand that Ernesto and Alberto are friends, but that's about all we find out about them; they develop none of the complexities of other on-the-road couples, like Thelma and Louise, Bonnie and Clyde or Huck and Jim. There isn't much chemistry. For two radical intellectuals with exciting futures ahead of them, they have limited conversational ability, and everything they say is generated by the plot, the conventions of the situation, or standard pieties and impieties. Nothing is startling or poetic.

Part of the problem may be that the movie takes place before Ernesto became Che, and Alberto (played by Rodrigo de la Serna) became a doctor who opened a medical school and clinic in Cuba (where he still lives). They are still two young students, middle-class, even naive, and although their journey changes them, it ends before the changes take hold. (Note: To be fair, I must report that a Spanish-speaking friend tells me the spoken dialogue is much richer than the English subtitles indicate.)

Salles uses an interesting device to suggest how their experiences might have been burned into their consciousness so that lessons could be learned. He has poor workers, farmers, miners, peasants, beggars, who pose for the camera, not in still photos, but standing as still as they can, and he uses black and white for these tableaux, so that we understand they represent memory. It's an effective technique, and we are meant to draw the conclusion that the adult Che would help these people, although it is a good possibility he did more harm to them.

As a child I faithfully read all of the titles in a book series named Childhoods of Famous Americans. George Washington chopped down a cherry tree, Benjamin Franklin got a job at a print shop, Luther Burbank looked at a peanut and got thoughtful. The books always ended without really dealing with the adults those children became. But, yes, in retrospect, we can see how crucial the cherry tree, print shop, peanut and Che's motorcycle were, because Those Young Men Grew Up, etc. It's a convenient formula, because it saves you the trouble of dealing with who they became.
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http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041001/REVIEWS/40920008/1023

Shooter_cR · Jun 6, 2010

The Power of One written by author Bryce Courtenay.

One of the best books I've read so far. I definitely recommend the read. It reminds me of Forest Gump and how he manages to accomplish so much in his life.

Seabiscuit · Jun 6, 2010

Baldwin, James

Go Tell It On the Mountain

Semi-autobiographical novel about a 14-year-old black youth's religious conversion.

On July 23rd of last year, the United States Postal Service unveiled a postage stamp in honor of James Baldwin, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. He is the third African American writer honored, the first two being Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, two of the most towering and iconic members of the Harlem Renaissance. It is a telling tribute to a writer whose prodigious literary gifts, unflinching personal honesty and seemingly boundless moral courage shook America to its core and shaped the scope of its history for the better. At his best, Baldwin's writing had a seductive mixture of grace, rage, charm , anger, compassion, thoughtfulness, indignation and last but oh-so not least, heart. In his speeches and writings, he touched on countless truths on what it means to be black in America, articulating deep wounds to a mass audience and kicking down numbers of unopened doors in the process. Even in the realm of prodigious American literary giants, Baldwin casts a palpable shadow.

There is a general consensus that when it comes to Baldwin's fiction and non-fiction, the latter is better than the former. As much is that theory is grossly exaggerated by his neo-conservative critics, I must admit that there is some truth to that statement. His most telling work was his essays, where he could find the universal in the personal, and demand the reader repudiate the nightmare of America's racist history and see the humanity of every person regardless of race, creed, gender or sexual preference. Outside of his first novel, his best fiction worked in the first person point of view (1956's Giovanni's Room, 1974's grotesquely underrated If Beale Street Could Talk) When he used the third person, he had moments of great and soaring beauty (first 80 pages of 1962's Another Country, about half of 1979's underrated yet overlong Just Above My Head) but couldn't harness together a disciplined narrative. Although I urge you to read almost everything the man has written, fiction and non, Baldwin has only one truly brilliant work of fiction.

But what a brilliant work of fiction it is. 1953's Go Tell It On The Mountain is a symphony of the post-great migration black family, their interior lives, interconnection with their southern past and ability to survive through tremendous pain. Mountain is a novel brave enough to study and examine the wounds that black people have instead of using them to either browbeat a white audience or ask them for pity. It is also a novel of ecumenical ecstasy and pathology, showing the bind religion has on the scope of African American lives and history, how it helped black people survive during their darkest hours and how black people can barely live its ruthless orthodoxies. Mountain is also a prose tour-de-force to end all prose tour-de-forces, revolutionizing the American syntactical landscape by bringing together a stunning grasp of English prose with the language, rhythms and cadences of the black church. Quite simply, Go Tell It On The Mountain is one of the finest novels written in American history.
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Very good book, I recommend it to everyone. I am not religious (not Hindu, Christian, Atheist, Muslim). I read this book because one of my friends told me I could find a lot of use to it when I compose music, write poems, tell jokes, just whenever I need it. Which is why I always read.

Source: http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-james-baldwins-go-tell/

madhacker14 · Jun 22, 2010

Best damn series so far.. I'm taking a small break from them and currently reading LOTR, since I've never watched them, or read them before.

lilpjer · Jun 22, 2010

Tunnels and now i'm reading the sequel deeper.
Review 9/10 very good and very original!

took.too.long · Jun 23, 2010

dante's inferno... scared the living fuck outta me...

Frodie · Aug 4, 2010

1984 by George Orwell. Three times thus far.

The last newer book I read wsa City of Thieves. It reads like a screen play. I loved it also. Highly recommended. Written by David Benioff, who wrote the screen play for The 25th Hour with Edward Norton.

Example Of Death · Aug 4, 2010

Blood on the River by Elisa Carbone.

Really good book, I suggest reading it. :3

Sgroi · Aug 4, 2010

I'm working on a series called the Dresden Files. There is over 12 books. much too long of a review. Its a book series about the super natural, I'm on book 6 and its very addicting to read.

cp · Aug 5, 2010

It's a cook book and a 'how to get laid' guide all in one, a really hilarious book.

Zero_Rush · Aug 5, 2010

lord of da flies :L

Brendan · Aug 7, 2010

The Machine Gunners - Robert Westall

A boy's dream, becomes a nightmare. Well, perhaps his dream was a nightmare all along. Chas McGill is about thirteen in 1940. He lives in a small Tyneside town, in the industrial north-east of England, which is subjected to terrible bombing raids. The tea-time call-out is the worst. The air-raid siren goes just as supper is dished up and everyone must run for the Anderson shelter. Do you take your egg and chips with you or leave them until later? Sometimes you are in the shelter all night. Do you lie awake all night wondering if there's going to be a direct hit? Or do you fall into an uneasy sleep at last? And when you come out in the morning, how do you feel when you see that your friend's house simply isn't there any more?

No wonder Chas feels insecure:

Ever since he was little, Dad had meant safety: large, solid, bristly-faced, smelling of tobacco. His thumb always grew in three segments, where he had hit it with a hammer while he was an apprentice.

But could any grown-up keep you safe now? They couldn't stop the German bombers. They hadn't saved Poland, or Norway or France. Or the battleship the German submarine torpedoed in Scapa Flow itself.

Their own air-raid shelter at home - it wasn't as safe as the Fortress. It was only covered with a foot of soil. Couldn't Dad have done better than that?

He looked at his father, and saw a weary, helpless middle-aged man. Dad wasn't any kind of God any more

So, naturally, when Chas comes across the tail end of a German bomber plane, complete with machine-gun, crashed and hidden in the dense wood, he wants the gun for himself. At first, it is just a souvenir. But the idea to use it against the Germans comes shortly afterwards.

On one level this is an exciting story of how a group of children overcome all kinds of difficulties to pursue their project. Chas and his chosen friends build a warren of air-raid shelters connected by tunnels, with a machine-gun emplacement, in the derelict garden of a bombed-out house. Apart from dealing with suspicious parents and the class bully, the children also deflect the interest of the police and the Home Guard, who would like to recover the machine-gun, if only they could find it.

On another level, this is a very sad story. It's very difficult to grow up during a war. Nicky loses his father at sea, and his mother in a direct hit on their house. Clogger is spending the war with his aunt because his mother is dead and his father is serving in the Navy. The school is closed because it was hit by an enemy aircraft. All the children are anxious and insecure. Well, actually, the grown-ups are all anxious too, so they don't have a lot of spare energy for the emotional demands of the children.

So, having a German machine-gun is one big thing, but how on earth do they capture the German gunner? You'll have to read the book, but Rudi, hiding away from reality with them in their bunker, becomes a friend and father figure to all the children. What a difficult role he has! He could obviously overpower the children and escape from them, but where would he go? Should he repair the machine-gun for them, as they want him to? His own loyalties become confused as affection grows between the group in the bunker. He isn't the only confused one - Nicky wants to go back to Germany with Rudi!

It's a very difficult situation, and it can't go on for ever. Everything becomes unraveled quite suddenly one night when the long-awaited German invasion seems to be taking place ...
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Review: http://www.readingmatters.co.uk/book.php?id=78

kazzila · Aug 7, 2010

Julies Caesar or how ever u spell it

Saged · Aug 7, 2010

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. (1 day non-stop, college ftw.)

Karl · Aug 7, 2010

So Long, and Thanks for All The Fish, By Douglas Adams, Part of 5, its truly amazing;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thanks-Hitch-Hikers-Guide-Galaxy/dp/0330287001

xi momo xi · Aug 8, 2010

The Bro Code - Barney Stinson/ Matt Kuhn

The Bro Code, written by Barney Stinson with Matt Kuhn, is a recently released code of conduct amongst bros. For those not in the know, The Bro Code stems from an episode of How I Met Your Mother. Matt Kuhn is the writer for Barneyâ€™s Blog

The Bro Code covers all bases for situations bros find in their various bro-ing around town. Aside from the codes, the book is chock full of fun. Wingman applications, the crazy/hot scale, acceptable (Broce Springsteen) and unacceptable (Geraldine Ferrarbro) variations on bro.

This book makes for a great addition to your library, and a permanent contender for the coveted coffee table spot. Its fun to rip through in a group and recite your favorite code or amendments. This is a great buy for any bro (even though Bros are not required to buy gifts for other Bros). Say a dispute comes up amongst bros, you simply whip this out and look up the relevant codes.

My only complaint about this tome is that if you are a fan of How I Met Your Mother, a sizable portion of this book will be familiar territory, as it is ripped straight from the mind of Barney Stinson. As great as the book is, I wish they would have spent a little more time on it. The episode that inspired this was written in a post-strike sprint to finish the television season. The book was probably a little rushed through publication to catch onto the hype, and maybe tie into the DVD released of the third season of How I Met Your Mother, which was released the preceding week. As a fan of the show, I was hoping for a really big effort here , as it a sacred document for all Bros. A thick, hardcover version that resembled a bible would have been perfect. Instead, we were treated with a cheap (although excellently cost effective in todayâ€™s economy) paperback with a giant logo for the show, and an even bigger picture of Neil Patrick Harris. Yes, itâ€™s a bit of an advertisement of the show, but for the fans (and this show does a lot for its fans), they really could have had the option to go the whole nine yards with it, and I really wish they did.

Overall, this is a great, entertaining read at an affordable price. It is perfect for fans and Bros alike.
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SOURCE: http://reasonswhyihategirls.com/2008/10/15/reason-why-i-love-bros-a-review-of-the-bro-code/

Venomous Shadow · Aug 8, 2010

Harry Potter and The Goblet Of Fire.

Own j00 · Aug 8, 2010

On another note, I think it was The Giver, I don't read much.

teebag · Aug 16, 2010

i read a book like 1 year ago..... junie b jones or w/e

Mechanical Scythe · Aug 23, 2010

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

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