A Year in Review

How does one go about reflecting on an entire year of reading? I can barely remember what I was thinking about yesterday, let alone how I felt about a book that I read at the beginning of the school year. However, something about the books I read this year really stuck in my mind. All of them were interesting to me, and even my least favorites (like Independent People - sorry Dad!) had their moments. I think I can safely say that I took something from each of them, be it a valuable observation on how the simplest interlude can effect your perception of the overall story or a silly one on how boring it is to read about a guy who lives in the mountains with some sheep.

Going off of that, I think that I learned something about myself with each new book. From Independent People, I learned that I'm not necessarily a mature enough reader to be interested in such a contemplative book. Actually, I found that with many of the books I wasn't always mature enough to grasp the concepts entirely. While I could read them and enjoy them, it always felt like there was something that I wasn't quite getting. Maybe I don't have all the experiences necessary to understand the deeper meaning within the text. Take The Plague, for instance. It was an excellent book, probably my favorite all year, but for much of the time I felt like there was something missing - some key experience or knowledge that would help me unlock an entirely new level of understanding.

This is especially true with The Third Policeman, which I'm not quite done with yet. I've been told repeatedly that it's fantastic, and that if I don't understand it that's okay because it'll all make sense soon. But I can't help but wonder if there's something I've missed, some inside joke that would make the book a million times better if I could only understand it. As of right now, it's an interesting book to read but I don't get it at all. Each new section of reading only makes me more confused, and I don't think that's what should be happening. Isn't the story supposed to make more sense as you read further? This is not the case with The Third Policeman, and I'm not sure if that's by design or not.

One book that I did think I understood was Les Miserables, but I'm pretty sure something was up with that one too. Everyone I've talked to about it has complained about reading "the brick" at some point, but when I was reading it didn't seem like a brick at all. That's not a comment on my reading abilities - my copy (which I've now lost, so I can't check for sure) claimed to be the complete and unabridged version, but I think it was lying. Either that or it was a terrible translation; I'm not sure which. Regardless, I felt like I understood the characters and was able to read deeper into the text, something that I tend to struggle with. Reading a book that I understood after so many that I struggled with was reassuring.

Another thing I struggled with this year, aside from the books themselves, was time management (something that is true in nearly all aspects of my life, not just my reading). I found that when I got busy, which I so often was, reading was no longer a priority. Despite the fact that it is something I enjoy and something that I should have been doing for a grade, I went for days at a time without picking up a book, only to race through one in a weekend. Even after reading a book, I often neglected to write about it, which meant that my blog here just barely kept going, with huge gaps between posts and then several at once. Basically, because of my personal failures I didn't accomplish everything that I should have. My reading list remains unfinished, and there aren't nearly as many posts on this blog as I would have liked.

However, that doesn't mean that I've given up! I found that I really enjoyed blogging about what I was reading. The discussions it prompted were often ones that helped me look at the books in a different way, and I think that's very valuable. I really enjoyed having the input from my friends and family, and I think that helped me a lot. As a result, I've decided that I'm going to keep this blog going! As I mentioned earlier, I didn't finish my reading list, so there's plenty to talk about. The posts probably will be even less frequent, but I think that's okay. I really enjoyed running this show this semester, so it makes sense to continue.

So here's basically what happened this year: I read some books. Some I loved, some I wasn't sure about, and some I thought were an absolute bore, but I learned something from each of them. I learned that I'm not as mature of a reader as I thought I was, which is (in my opinion) a pretty valuable lesson. I also learned that I don't necessarily understand everything I read, but that's okay. You can still enjoy a book even if you don't pick up on all of the subtleties in it.  I really struggled with managing my time this year, and in the end I couldn't quite beat it, which meant I didn't do everything I should have. Despite these struggles, though, I enjoyed the time I spent blogging, so I'm going to continue doing so over the summer! I learned a lot this year, and all of that learning was valuable. Thanks for joining me for the ride! I'll see you cool cats later.

The Third Policeman (well, 2 out of 3 isn't bad)

I am over halfway done with Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman  and I'm still not entirely sure that I know what's going on. So far, the narrator's dad has died, he's gone away to school, he's come back from school to work on the family farm, he's killed a guy (one of these things is not like the other), and he's had a conversation with the man he supposedly murdered. No, it doesn't make sense to me either. This book is very, very odd.

Anyways, I am not really going into depth on any of these strange events because there are even stranger events to follow. After his conversation with Mathers (the man he thought he had killed), the narrator embarks on a journey to the police barracks, where he is to meet two of the three policemen who work there. And let me tell you, they are pretty much crazy. Like, honest-to-goodness losing it. Before I pass judgement on these two zany officers, though, let me explain.

The Sergeant is obsessed with bicycles. It sounds weird, but it's true. He seems under the impression that all crime, and all life in fact, revolves around bicycles. This leads to some pretty humorous exchanges. For example, upon the narrator's arrival at the police station he seems astonished that there was no bicycle involved in his travels. He goes through just about every type of wheeled transportation available trying to find the one on which the narrator arrived, going as far as a velocipede before giving up. Later, he explains his crazy theory on how, through the transfer of atoms, humans are turning into bicycles and vice versa (anyone who knows anything about science should know that this is absurd). It was at this point that I began questioning the sanity, and the effectiveness for that matter, of these two officers. And the Sergeant is the more normal of the two.

The other officer is called MacCruiskeen, and he is an odd one for sure. For many years, in addition to his police work, MacCruiskeen has been making boxes. Every box is exactly the same in all but size, because as the number of the box gets higher the box itself gets smaller.The highest numbers are so small that they are completely invisible, and millions of them would fit into the first box. It hurts my head to think about, and I'm pretty sure it almost drove the narrator insane. In a book filled with odd characters, I think MacCruiskeen is the strangest thus far.

Basically, I don't know what's going on in this book and I think all of the characters are nuts. For some strange reason, though, I like it! I hope that at eventually there will be an "aha" moment and I'll understand the point of this book, but even if I don't it's definitely an interesting read. Have any of you read this before? Do you remember having a moment of sudden understanding, or was it all just confusing?

Les Mis 3: Cosette & Marius

Anyone who has delved deeper into the realm of Les Miserables probably knows the popular opinion on Cosette. In a cast of well-loved characters, she is often seen as the least favorite. She was written, I think, as someone that should be liked by everyone, and instead she is liked by almost no one. I think the main reason people tend to dislike Cosette is her perfection. She is, for all intents and purposes, practically flawless. To a reader, that isn't likeable. It's annoying. I don't want to read another episode of "Cosette's Perfect Day" because that's boring. If the only thing a character does is have one fabulous day after another, it's frustrating. A person can't learn anything from days like that. Valjean, however, does his very best to make sure all of Cosette's days are perfect, especially after rescuing her from the Thenardiers. It's a nice idea, but it ends up creating a character who is naive and childish. Because of her privileged, sheltered lifestyle, Cosette remains a static character for most of the book. Her constant happiness ends up being vexing for the reader, and she isn't even kind of relatable.

Once Marius is introduced, she becomes slightly more human. Now, instead of being relentlessly happy all the time, Cosette has emotions. When Marius is gone she misses him. When she thinks he might be in danger, she's worried for him. When it seems they might be separated, she's distraught. Cosette is still puppy-dog happy most of the time (and when she isn't it usually has to do with Marius), but she's getting there. I wouldn't say that Marius causes her emotional growth, however. Instead he acts as more of a catalyst. In chemistry, the catalyst is added to a reaction in order to speed it up. The reaction will happen regardless, but it'll go a lot faster with the catalyst present. This is what Marius does for Cosette - he helps her grow up a little bit faster. Without Marius, Cosette surely would have come upon this emotional maturity at some point. However, his presence helps her reach this point faster.

Do you think that Marius causes Cosette's emotional growth, or is he more of a catalyst as I suggested?