Current Read

Last week I finally finished John Irving's novel Cider House Rules.  It was actually made into a movie in the 90's that was nominated for 7 academy awards and one for best adapted screen play.  Here's a trailer for the movie:

I chose to read this book because I loved Irving's other novel (also made into a movie; Simon Birch) called A Prayer for Owen Meany.  While this one didn't tug at my heart strings quite the same it was definitely another masterpiece.  Irving covers a number of interesting and powerful topics including abortion, duty, guilt, honor, race, and of course love.  The main character, Homer, is impossible not to love, though he made his own mistakes throughout.  I think what I loved most about this novel was the clash between following "your duty" and doing what you want, and ultimately which choice is right.  I felt such an empathy for the characters because so many of the decisions we make in life are not an easy black or white choice.  I would definitely recommend the book to anyone looking for a novel that covers life in a realistic and honest way, with real dynamic characters.  There are no "good" or "bad guys" or "right" and "wrong" decisions, there is just the dynamic complexity that is life.

Does anyone read anymore?!

At Starbucks in line for a coffee, I got asked for the second time about the book I was reading.  Of the 2 times I've gone to Starbucks to read, I got asked about the book both times.  This probably wouldn't be anything to comment on except for the way I get asked about it.  It's like its an unusal thing for me to be doing...reading a book.  Which makes me think that maybe it is an unusual thing to be doing nowadays.  To be reading a real library book at a coffee shop.  Which just makes me very sad.  I feel like one of those old Grandparents commenting on the misdeeds of the current generation but I feel like reading a real book..not a blog, not a magazine, not your nook, has lost its place in the world of entertainment.  There isn't any feeling like getting lost in a book, by being so excited by the story you feel like you can't read it fast enough, or laughing out loud to the words on the page, or maybe even crying to them, or remembering lines in your head for days or even years to come.  No movie creates the kind of lasting impression that can a book can make.
  

How do you all feel?  Anyone still make time for a good novel?

My Current Read

In honor of the new movie coming out with Emma Watson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower,

 I've decided to reread the book.  To be honest I didn't remember the book too well, just enough to know that I enjoyed reading it.  Last night I picked it up and then I couldn't put it down.  The author writes from Charlie's perspective who is writing letters to a "friend."  I love that the book comes from Charlie's perspective because one of the themes in the novel is the way Charlie's keen insight and ability to watch others is a remarkable gift but how it also tends to take away from his actually participating. 

The novel has so many keen insights into life and adolescence that I am continually underlining and starring lines in the book.  I'd like to quote a line I got from the book that I think relates to blogging. 

"As I walked up the stairs to my dad's old room, and I was looking at the old photographs, I started thinking that there was a time when these weren't memories.  That someone actually took that photograph, and the people in the photograph had just eaten lunch or something."

I think this is a comment on living life in the moment.  That often we can look back and think of how wonderful a time or memory was but it is rare that we are actually aware of how special these moments are as they actually come.  I think for me blogging helps me to be aware of how special the moments in my life are when I'm actually living them.  That these are the moments and the pictures I'll think back on.

Anyway, if you haven't read it you really should.  I think the book has something to offer everyone.