Book Review Brief: Candide by Francois Voltaire

Finished Candide by Voltaire a few days ago. Entertaining and a bit silly at times but I guess that's what satire is about. As I mentioned previously, I love the Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions and this one was a pleasure to read. The cover art added even more irreverence to the story and the diagram of the cast of characters inside the cover flap is cool.

I'm currently reading the Nobel Prize winning One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It's been interesting so far and even a bit bizarre. One of the things that got me pumped about it though is an excerpt from a review by William Kennedy of the New York Times Book Review. Kennedy says, "The first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race." Uh, that's kind of a big statement. We'll see if it lives up to it. I'm about 60 pages in.

Book Review Brief: Do Hard Things by Alex & Brett Harris

Just finished reading most of this book, written by twin teenaged brothers, entitled Do Hard Things.  To me, this should be required reading for every teenager out there.  I have to tell you, it's written by Christian authors for a Christian audience, but the ideas are somewhat universal.  The basic idea is that teenagers have been shackled by low expectations, placed on them by others and themselves, for a long time.  

They give five different hard things that teens can do to go beyond those low expectations.  In a nutshell they are

1. Do things that are outside your comfort zone.
2. Do things that go beyond what is expected or required.
3. Do things that are too big to accomplish alone (making a film, organizing a rally, etc).
4. Do things that don't earn an immediate payoff.
5. Do things that challenge the cultural norm.

The book was inspiring even for me.  It gave me some new ideas on how I want to approach the new school year.  It will push you to become unsatisfied with the status quo and inspire you to attempt new and bigger things with your life.  And come on, at the end of your life when you're on your death bed, are you going to be content with the fact that the only big thing you've done with your life is master Guitar Hero?

Nike+ Human Race 8.31.08

Click here to see the latest entry on my running blog about the upcoming Nike+ Human Race.

Book Review Brief: The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

Just finished the classic Civil War novel.  I know most people read this book in high school, but I never did and since it is on the list of classics that I'm following, I was eager to read it.

After reading The Shack, this was a complete delight.  It was so descriptively written that the language itself kept me reading, let alone the inviting plot.  I had mentioned in my review of The Shack that it read like a summer beach novel.  Crane's sentences in Red Badge were so much more interesting.  Here's an excerpt from the portion right after Fleming runs away from the battle:

Since he had turned his back upon the fight his fears had been wondrously magnified.  Death about to thrust him between the shoulder blades was far more dreadful than death about to smite him between the eyes.  When he thought of it later, he conceived the impression that it is better to view the appalling than to be merely within hearing.  The noises of the battle were like stones; he believed himself liable to be crushed.

What is sometimes very intriguing about some of these great authors is how their lives take bizarre turns.  Among other strange things, one example is the fact that Crane died in a sanitarium in Germany at the age of 28.

Enjoyed the book and I'm currently on to Voltaire's Candide.

World History, Olympics Edition

I don't know about you, but this Olympics has been inspiring for me on so many different levels.  As a Chinese American, it's been interesting to see the Motherland.  I've never been to China, don't speak Chinese, my father was born in Sonoma, California.  I wouldn't consider myself hardcore Chinese, but seeing the Olympics and the cityscapes of Beijing have instilled much more interest in someday visiting that country.

I love the spirit of the Olympics.  For two weeks, countries come together no matter what's going on in their home country and compete at the highest athletic level.  And these athletes train, train, and train for what can be an event that lasts less than ten seconds (men's 100 meter dash).  Could you imagine training for YEARS for something that lasts 10 seconds?

The other part I love is hearing about the stories of some of the participants and what life is like in their home country.  In America, we have EVERY advantage in many areas, but especially athletically.  Other countries are literally training in the dirt.  Here are some facts I made note of during the opening ceremony:

-In Eritrea the average income is $130 per year.

-In Mauritania, a coup had overthrown the first elected president of that country just a few days before the opening ceremonies.

-Pakistan's president had to cancel his trip to Beijing because he was about to get impeached.

-Russia had just attacked Georgia.

-The Palestinian swimmers do not have an Olympic sized pool in the whole country.  Bob Costas, the commentator said it was like trying to train for world-class basketball on an 8-foot hoop.

-China, though it's roughly as wide east to west as the U.S., has only one time zone.

-I'd never heard of the countries of Benin and Tuvalu.

-The U.S. flagbearer is one of the former "Lost Boys of Sudan."  Incredible story that you have to read.

Book Review Brief: The Shack by William P. Young

I didn't really want to read The Shack. I'm currently interested in reading the classic novels, but my wife and some friends had read this and were eager for discussion. I'm glad I read it because it currently sits atop the New York Times Bestseller list for paperback fiction, so it's good to get an idea of the literature that is popular.

However, I wasn't impressed for a couple of reasons. It's tough when you go from reading classics where the writing contains some of the clearest and most wondrous sentences ever constructed, to a modern novel. I found myself skimming parts of The Shack and I frankly didn't feel like I was missing anything. It read like a throw-away summer beach novel. I'm not saying the subject matter was throw away, in fact it addressed what is to me the most important issue in the world and that is one's relationship with God. The writing though seemed second-rate.

What concerned me the most though was the way it treated the subject matter. I disagreed with some of the ideas that were brought up and more importantly I feel that the Bible disagrees with some of the ideas that were brought up. In fact, to me the author's approach borders on arrogance.

There were some inspirational moments, some moments that were steeped in truth, but I had a hard time getting past some of the postulations and leaps that the book took.

Back to the classics.

My Favorite Editions

(Above: The Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition of Voltaire's Candide)

With Graham Greene's The Heart of the Matter, I discovered a line of books by Penguin that are beautiful. They're the Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions. They have a great font for reading, rough page edges, and what they call "French flaps" which fold in from the front and back covers. Here's a great article about the art director for the series winning an international design award for this series. Check out the cover of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

The Little Women cover is also uniquely cool (though probably not for the literary purist).

I went over to Barnes and Noble and found some of the other books in the series that are just terrific. Penguin commissioned some cartoonists and other artists to draw the covers and it adds a whole other dimension to the novels. As a result, I ordered from Amazon.com Voltaire's Candide and Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales, both of which are Deluxe Editions. They are a couple of dollars more than paperbacks but a few dollars less expensive than hardbacks--kind of a happy medium. In a couple of weeks they're releasing a Deluxe Edition of Jack Kerouac's On the Road that I hope to get. When's Christmas again?

Book Review Brief: The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene

Earlier today I finished the novel The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene. I won't give anything away, but it's a pretty realistic story. It's about a man who is a British government police officer stationed in Africa during World War II. He is unhappy in his marriage and this leads to a series of disastrous decisions.

It demonstrates that there are consequences, often unforeseen, to our actions. I have some differences with the theology that's laid out in the book, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It really takes the reader into the mind of a man making poor decisions and also shows his struggle with his religious beliefs.

The book isn't a rollicking, gripping story but The New York Herald Tribune review put it well when the reviewer wrote, "A powerful, deep-striking novel, with the surface calm of a summer river, and underneath, the swift drowning melancholy of a spirit lost in the darkness of the flesh." I wish I had written that.