The goal of this challenge was to read 10 books in 10 months from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list. I sort of cheated and read two books from the new edition. I really enjoyed them, too!
My favorites were Fear and Trembling, So Long a Letter, and Solaris. I’m looking forward to the next challenge starting tomorrow. If you’d like more info, just click on the icon. Thanks to everyone who participated this round!
I’m a sci-fi nut, so of course a few years ago I just had to see the movie Solaris with George Clooney. I loved it. Loved it, loved it, loved it. I loved it so much that I not only have watched the film over 20 times, but I also own the soundtrack and the Criterion Collection Russian version. And now, I’ve read the book written by Polish author Stanislaw Lem in 1961.
I did love the book as well, but perhaps only because I love the movies so much. There is a lot more science involved in the novel, which I didn’t mind (and even enjoyed) because I’m sort of a geek that way. It made me appreciate the movies even more and understand more of what the scientists were actually doing in their study of the planet Solaris. I relished the additional background story that the movies didn’t have time to go into.
Soundtrack
I’m not going to say much of what the book and/or movie is about, because it would just spoil it too much for those who aren’t familiar with them. Let me just say that it is a pschological romance in a sci-fi setting. The movies do concentrate more on the romance while the book is more sci-fi, but I loved all aspects of the both the book and movie versions. I also love the soundtrack by Cliff Martinez in the Clooney movie. I even listened to it while I read the novel!
The movie also introduced me to what is now one of my favorite poems:
DVD
And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan’t crack;
And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.
– Dylan Thomas
1961, 204 pp. 4.5/5
If you’re still reading this review, you might be interested in some youtube videos of the movies. This first one is George Clooney reading the poem. Note: Stop at 1:30 if you don’t want to see spoilers!
This next one is one of my favorite scenes from the Russian DVD version:
And this last one is some scenes from the modern version highlighting the soundtrack:
I hope everyone had fun with the last 1% Well Read Challenge. Even if you didn’t complete the challenge, if you read any books at all from the list, you are at least a little more ‘well-read’ than you were before!
The editors of the book 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die threw a kink into our challenge when they updated the books with new titles last year. So, I’ve got three options for you on this next challenge:
Read 10 titles from the original list from March 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009.
Read 10 titles from the new list from March 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009.
Read 13 titles from the combined list (of almost 1300 titles) from March 1, 2009 through March 31, 2010. In other words, “What were they thinking dropping titles from Dostoevsky and Jane Austen?”
I have begun to update the 1001 list HERE. Please note that the unnumbered books are from the new titles added. Unfortunately, I do not have all the new titles added yet but will be working on it in the next week or two. Asterixed titles are ones that were dropped from the new list.
Alternatively, you can go HERE for an Excel spreadsheet of the old list, and HERE for an Excel spreadsheet of the new list.
Happy reading, and may you be more ‘well-read’ this year than last!
Thanks SO MUCH to all those who participated in Books for the Heart! If you blog, please use Mr. Linky below to link to your wrap-up post. If you don’t blog or don’t want to post about it but you did participate, please do post in the comments. It’s not a requirement, but I’d love to hear how much you donated, and to what organization.
Have you posted your results yet? If not, GO HERE.
I’ll be donating $100 to the American Heart Association. My sisters also read for the event, and my mom will also be donating so we can pool our money together in memory of my dad. I read eight books:
I don’t know where to even start with this book. I highlighted passages on almost every page. So Long a Letter is an insightful look at one woman’s pain and anguish when her husband takes another (much younger) wife. The book actually begins with Ramatoulaye’s widowhood. Her husband has just died and she is writing a letter to a friend about her feelings on her marriage, her husband’s taking of another wife (allowed in Islam), and her husband’s death.
Ramatoulaye, a Senegalese teacher, has 12 children, and her husband has run off (without telling her) and married her oldest daughter’s best friend. Sort of makes for a bad day. This is what her husband’s friends tell her, and her thoughts about it:
‘You can’t resist the imperious laws that demand food and clothing for man. These same laws compel the “male” in other respects. I say “male” to emphasie the bestiality of instincts… You understand….A wife must understand, once and for all, and must forgive; she must not worry herself about “betrayals of the flesh.” The important thing is what there is in the heart; that’s what unites two beings inside.’ (He struck his chest, at the point where the heart lies.)
‘Driven to the limits of my resistance, I satisfy myself with what is within reach. It’s a terrible thing to say. Truth is ugly when one analyses it.’
Thus, to justify himself, he reduced young Nabou to a ‘plate of food.’ Thus, for the sake of ‘variety,’ men are unfaithful to their wives.
I was irritated. He was asking me to understand. But to understand what? The supremacy of instinct? The right to betray? The justification of the desire for variety? I couldn’t be an ally to polygamic instincts. What, then was I to understand?
Another strong passage:
I had never known the sordid side of marriage. Don’t get to know! Run from it! When one begins to forgive, there is an avalanche of faults that comes crashing down, and the only thing that remains is to forgive again, to keep on forgiving. Leave, escape from betrayal!
Ramatoulaye doesn’t ‘leave’ her husband; they do not divorce, a fact which surprises her husband and, it is implied, irritates him. He never goes back to her, even though they are still married. As Ramatoulaye adjusts to her new life, she appreciates even more the value of friendship:
Friendship has splendours that love knows not. It grows stronger when crossed, whereas obstacles kill love. Friendship resists time, which wearies and severs couples. It has heights unknown to love.
Ramatoulaye also must raise her children alone (even before her husband’s death), with all the trials and tribulations that entails. But, she is obviously grateful for her children. On motherhood, Ramatoulaye states:
And also, one is a mother in order to understand the inexplicable. One is a mother to lighten the darkness. One is a mother to shield when lightning streaks the night, when thunder shakes the earth, when mud bogs one down. One is a mother in order to love without beginning or end.
I highly recommend this book to all, but especially those interested in women’s issues or in African fiction.
Note: This book is one of the new additions to the 1001 list.
1979 (French), 1981 for the English translation
90 pp.
I refuse to apologize for completely loving this series. Pure, delightful, light-hearted fun. This one does have some serious subjects to it, but what I enjoy most about this series is that everything always turns out okay in the end. With all the heavy reading I do, it’s nice to be able to ‘take a breather’ with the characters of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.
InMorality for Beautiful Girls, the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency faces a bit of a money crunch and considers relocating to J.L.B. Matekoni’s garage. Meanwhile, some creative double duty assignments are also given to Mma Makutsi. Precious Ramotswe takes on a case of an important government official who believes his brother is being poisoned, and Mma Makutsi does an investigation for a beauty pageant official. I found this latter case to be absolutely hysterical. It actually bumped up the rating from a 4 to a 4.5.
I listened to this installment on audio CD and loved the narrator, Lisette Lecat, who was also the narrator for Purple Hibiscus. I plan on reading and/or listening to the entire series this year and am absolutely looking forward to it.
Thanks to all of you who are participating in Books for the Heart!! At last count, there were 16 people reading books for this event. There is still time to join for anyone who is interested in this fundraiser for The American Heart Association (or your own nation’s heart organization). Just click on the icon for more info and comment or use Mr. Linky to sign up.
I’ve read these books so far:
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
The Reader by Bernard Schlink
Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
I planned on donating $2 for every participant and $5 for every book I read up to a maximum of $100. My money will go to the association in memory of my dad. So I’m up to $52 so far. You choose how you’ll donate!
I will set up a Mr. Linky on February 14th for you to link to your wrap-up post. If you don’t have a blog, please use the comments to tell us how you did. I’ll look forward to your posts!
I liked The Reader more than I thought I would considering one of the themes. I didn’t know about the p*doph*lia aspect of it until the movie came out. I’ve wanted to read this book for awhile because it’s German, and I’ve also looked forward to the movie because I love Kate Winslet. I saw an online interview with Winslet in which she questioned whether or not the age of 15 was really still p*doph*lia. And while I agree that the age of 10 is in a different category than the age of 15 when it comes to s*x*ality, I still believe what Hanna did with Michael was wrong, and I believe that both the author and the narrator of the book do as well.
Of course, Hanna’s wrongs and shortcomings go far beyond her relationship with Michael, and those themes are of extreme interest as well. This would be a great discussion book, and I can definitely see why it would be great for book clubs. Have you seen the movie? If so, what did you think?
1995, 1997 for the English translation; 224 pages
4/5
“The place I like best in this world is the kitchen.”
I didn’t quite get to Kitchen for the Japanese Challenge, but I’m still glad I read it shortly afterwards. I liked the book, but I didn’t love it.
Food and kitchens play a central role int he book, but it’s essentially about two people finding their way through the grief process. Mikage has recently lost her grandmother, whom she lived with, and her friend Yoichi and his mother Eriko take her in. Yoichi ends up losing someone close to him as well, and the bond between the two of them becomes even closer.
Note: This book has been added as one of the new titles in the latest edition of the 1001 list.
1988, 1993 for the English translation;105 pp. 4/5
The goal of this challenge was to read 10 books in 10 months from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list. I sort of cheated and read two books from the new edition. I really enjoyed them, too!
