Recent Readings

Winter months mean lots of reading, and the past few weeks have found me with not a whole lot to do. I've been reading like a madman and finally paid the library back all of the fines I owed, hence the "WANTED" poster with my picture on it had been taken down and I'm able to borrow books once more. In case anyone is interested I've reviewed some of my recent reads below.

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
This is the second book I've read by Erik Larson. He has an amazing way of writing historical narratives and making them read like a novel. This particular book deals with the American ambassador to Germany right after Hitler's rise to power. It's an interesting perspective on the Third Reich. So often books only touch on the events leading up to World War II, this book starts a whole decade earlier and gives insights into the growing anti-Semitism in the region. Good read.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

Franzen is perhaps most famous for his 2002 book 'The Corrections,' which is one of my favorites. This books came out about a year and a half ago but I just finally got around to reading it. It was excellent literary fiction. Franzen has an amazing way of writing about American culture, suburban Midwestern life in particular. This book wasn't quite as quirky as 'The Corrections' and a lot of reviews on the internet complain about Franzen's misanthropic edge. Which, has some truth. Also, the book can be a bit of a downer. Despite these criticisms, I really enjoyed it and I'd recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the genre or into pop culture and politics. This book is unique in that there are probably a lot of people I wouldn't recommend to read it. I would say check out the first chapter (which perfectly sums up what is to come) and if you aren't sucked it {which...just seems impossible}, ignore this one.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
One of my favorite books that I've read over the past few years was Mario Vargas Llosa's 'Feast of the Goat,' a gripping (cheesy word, but this book is GRIPPING) tale of the last days of Rafael Trujillo's regime in the Dominican Republic. Trujillo is one of those dictators who gets briefly mentioned in classes (He was a bad motherfucker who had a reign of terror blah blah blah). It wasn't until I read that book that I realized what a profound effect the man (and his nearly three decade long regime {el Trujillato}) had on the island. He defined a whole generation. He was a genuinely terrifying man (even those in the United States dare not criticize him. When a Columbia grad student did take the dictator to task in a paper, he was kidnapped and [rumor has it] dropped into a vat of boiling oil. You know...like a frozen chicken MCnugget.) While Llosa's book was some great historical fiction, this book uses the literary fiction genre to observe the effects Trujillo had on one Domican family. The book starts out describing the {terrible} life of Oscar, a fat and acne faced Dominican teenager, destined to die a virgin (the only Dominican man to do so!). The writing style is perfect, with a mix of both Spanish and English, and includes a plethora of fun factual footmarks. As the book progresses, we read the histories not only of Oscar, but of his mother, grandmother, etc. A central theme of the novel is the fuku, an ancient curse that haunts the family. This book is fun, quick, and full of history.

Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution
This is the behemoth of a book I'm currently tackling, though I'm not sure for how much longer. I'm about a hundred pages in and this book is a difficult read. Maybe it's the super small print, or the fact that it weighs about ten pounds (seriously?!?!?! it's only 600 pages, they must have printed this on the most dense paper money can buy), or it could just be that it's not all that exciting. It tells the enthralling love story of Karl and Jenny Marx. Okay, not so enthralling. I do enjoy reading about Marx's life and how he came to view the world and shape his economic theories, but it's...difficult. I became interested in the book when I saw the author doing an interview on TV and found her a pretty capitivating storyteller. I'm hoping the book picks up a bit.

Well, that's what I've been up to lately. Now I should review some of the TV shows I've been watching, because I would have LOTS of stuff to say about that!