People are awful, which is what Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert leads you to believe. Which is why I’m planning to lambaste this book on my blog today. Which is why, if you are a fan of French literature or—more specifically—Madame Bovary, you should avoid this post like the plague. I’m too riled up to be nice. Overview: Emma Bovary…
Tag: book review
The Elegance of the Hedgehog | France
This book shows a cross-section of life within a modern city with an ancient class structure, proving that no matter how enlightened we are, we still tend to view others—and ourselves—along lines drawn in the sand centuries ago.
Italy: A History | Italy
The modern world owes a great debt to Italy: It gave us Latin (a common language) and Roman law; it gave us a Renaissance of classical thought; it gave us some of the most beloved works of art. It gives us pasta and mozzarella (which alone should earn our eternal gratitude).
Romeo and Juliet | Italy
Perversely, it’s my tirade in the form of a review, that makes me think this book is worth reading. Anything that brings out so much emotion and provokes so much thought is worth the effort.
Rebekah: Women of Genesis | Book Club
It’s always the men, in the Bible, who make the big headlines, so I was excited to read Rebekah: Women of Genesis by Orson Scott Card and get a new point of view for the well-known Bible story of Rebekah and Isaac, Jacob and Esau. After all, there’s that quote about a strong woman behind every strong man. Overview:…
A Passage to India | India
I know that Forster was painting a picture of the racial tension between the English and Indians—a picture, I might point out, that didn’t turn every Englishman into a villain and every Indian into a martyr (both races had their good and bad points)—but it just wasn’t a picture that really captured my imagination.
Number the Stars | WWII
I could say something here about the beauty of Lois Lowry’s prose, the poetry in her writing, the depth in her characters. All good reasons to enjoy a book. But I’ll just go with this: it’s true and important.
India: A History | India
From about 1000 B.C. t0 1700 A.D., India history is a disjointed creature containing unpronounceable names and a multitude of different kingdoms and dynasties.
Midnight’s Children | India
Because the truth is, Indian life and culture is amazingly complicated. It’s a menagerie of different castes, religions, politics, boundaries, and cultures. It’s like a giant Gordian knot of humanity that you’re trying to unravel, only finally coming to the understanding that it’s impossible to fully understand and organize it.
In the Garden of Beasts | WWII
If you want a unique look into Germany right before the war and those events that led up to it, if you want to read about some of the everyday people who lived and loved and suffered in that country during that time, read this book. It was fascinating and entertaining and a little haunting.
Heaven Is Here | Book Club
Stephanie’s thoughts about love and happiness, discoveries that not many people make, are deep and abiding. Only those who are steeped in the furnace of affliction—truly immersed for months and even years of in that fire of suffering—can easily see those truths that others struggle to understand: you can choose happiness; it doesn’t choose you.
Slaughterhouse-Five | WWII
This book is an interesting look at the typical soldier—and Billy does symbolize any soldier with his non-existent personality— forced to participate in a war not of his choosing.
Tyger Tyger 