1. Nineteen Eighty-Four

In retrospect I would have to say that I bit off a bit more than I wanted to chew with this book choice. It was time to read 1984, the book has sat on my shelves since mid-highschool (a friend of mine at the time insisted I couldn't live without a copy) and I kept picking it up and putting it down again, but this time I told myself I was going to get through it come hell or highwater. And it is not that I hated the book by any means. Honestly? I'm just not sure I entirely got it.

Although I have read satires before it was always in a classroom setting with much discussion and outside explanation, and the only one I really remember was the one about eating babies (by Jonathon Swift?) - his point was pretty obvious. With 1984 I felt a little lost. A whole lot lost. I know a little bit about Socialism but not enough to feel that I could truly appreciate where this book was coming from. If it was even a satire about socialism at all. And although I read Animal Farm in Grade 9 English that was more of an allegory than a satire and again I had my teacher to walk me through all the hard parts. This time it was me and only me and I ended up feeling more than a little inadequate.

It didn't help that I thought the book was taking one direction and it ended up going another way entirely. I didn't see that coming and I'm not sure I liked it. Resistance is futile? Not exactly the answer I was looking for. Maybe that's just the whole satire thing rearing its' ugly head and a perfect example of me just not getting it.

Next up, something light and fluffy to give my brain a much needed break. And at some point in the future some research that might give 1984 a bit more context.

I Capture the Castle

I totally admit to follwing in Sarah's footsteps here; although I am not yet sure how many announcements I am going to make about this site. Basically I too wanted a place where I could document exactly what I had read and what I thought of it. How it didn't occur to me that a blog would be the ideal place is another matter, but I often need a little help and prodding with these things.
I also think that I tend to fall into ruts with my reading where I only look at YA books or books with certain authors and I want to be more aware of those trends and expand my reading horizons. Plus, like Dev and so many others before me I want to set a reading goal and see how many books I can actually read in one year. I guess this first book won't count towards that number seeing as how I read it before I stated my larger purpose but I'll work with that. I swear I used to read 50+ books a summer so even though it is a lofty goal I think it is inevitably a worthwhile one so 50 will be the target and we'll see how she goes.
The book I just finished, as you will notice by the title is I Capture the Castle. Sarah recommended it to me when I was still living in the Party House and I have finally gotten around to picking up a copy. You would think that seeing as there was one in the house the whole time I lived there it wouldn't have taken this long but there you have it. I found it a little bit difficult to get into because I couldn't immediately picture the people or the setting and I have been discovering that I am very big on visualization when I read - I know this because of the number of books I have seen translated to the screen and I find myself disappointed because their picture so often times does not match or mesh with the one I had come up with on my own. It took me forever to figure out that the story was set in 1930's rural England - it felt more mid-19th century but I suppose that could be because of how isolated the family was. I struggled with remembering their isolation and seeing as it was such a key component to why the story developed as it did I wish I had had an easier time with keeping that in the foreground of my mind as I read.
I had a hardtime pinpointing the age of the characters - they were constantly referred to as "this old when this happened" but never as "this old now" and it annoyed me terribly. Especially with Cassandra because other characters kept referring to her as a child so I initially pegged her between 12 & 15, but this did not really jive with the plot development and by the end of the book I figured she was closer to between 18 & 20. And that understanding of her age made such a crucial difference to my understanding of the story.
It may well turn out to be a book I enjoy more upon second or third reading if I get that opportunity but for now I think I am glad that I finished the last page and can move onto something else.