I promise I've actually been reading lately! It's just that I've also been studying for the GRE and going on vacation, so I don't really get around to updating this as soon as I've finished a book. If you want to get more up-to-date book reviews, join goodreads.com and add me as a friend. I'm a lot more active on that site than I am here in my blog that I don't even know if anyone reads. But I digress... in the last week and a half I've read Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library, Catch-22, and Farenheit 451. They were all interesting books in their own way.
Let's start at the beginning...Free for All. Living proof that sometimes books don't quite meet up to your expectations. I've been waiting for over a year to get around to reading this book, but when I did it wasn't quite what I expected. It's a good read regardless of whether or not you're obsessed with the library like I am, but it's just not what I was hoping it would be. It's set up in such a way that each chapter would make at least one great episode of a tv show. Maybe once Scrubs goes off the air the writers will collaborate to make a series based on this book. I could just see a J.D-like character heading up the cast and it would be great! Despite the sitcom potential of this book though, I was looking for something more. I was hoping for some greater truth about the importance of the library in a time when so many things were going digital. The author had such a great opportunity in his hands to include facts about why libraries and books need to stay in existance, and he completely skipped out on it. I would have LOVED to see some interesting facts about the role of libraries historically or something like that included throughout the book, but it just wasn't there.
So overall: It's a good book, just don't expect much depth from it. It's a "non-fiction" book, but I didn't get a whole lot of that vibe from it.
Next Catch-22. A classic! It was actually a lot better than I thought it would be. I don't know why, but I thought it was going to be more along the lines of 1984, Brave New World, or Farenheit 451... those classic conspiracy theory novels that tell about an alternate future that we must escape. Instead it was pretty funny. Yes, there are some language/behavior problems (if you don't like novels that include sex in them I would definitely stay away from this one!), but overall it's a fairly light book... on the outside. The author definitely uses the light tone of the book to comment on how society has made things like death, corruption, and sex things that have very little value, when really they should be highly valued. Most importantly, when someone mentions that it's a catch-22 situation I'll actually know what they're referring to (even if they don't!). I'll warn you though... it takes awhile to get through. This is one of the few books where I've had to put it down for a few days, read something else and then come back to it. It's over 400 pages long and it felt that long!
Finally Farenheit 451. This book was everything I needed in a book right now. It was short (just over 150 pages and it was a small book as well!), it made an impact, and it was just terrifying enough to make me stop and think about the premise. It was everything Free for All was not. Farenheit 451 tells the story of a future where books are banned. Interestingly enough, they became banned at first just because they were irrelevant... no one wanted to sit down and read a book... they only wanted the digest version. Everyone just wanted instant gratification. Now I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with watching a tv show or a movie now and again (I'm as guilty as anyone about turning on the tv to watch one show and then staying there for 2+ hours), but it needs to be balanced out with a good book. TV shows and movies give everything to you, but a book makes you think things through. You can decide when you want to pause to consider a point that was just made. You can go back, re-read, and mark a passage that really struck you. Most importantly though, you get to use your imagination to see what happens. It's not all spelled out for you.
So my challenge to you today is to step away from the television. Instead of watching a show just because you have nothing better to do, pick up a book. Try to replace at least one show with reading. I'll try to do the same and I'll let you know how it goes.
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