30-Day Book Challenge: Day 5

I'd like to give a shout-out to Marton Csokas, whom you better know as Celeborn. I do not know him personally, but he turns forty-five today. Happy birthday, sir.
    Back to business.

Day 05: First "Dirty" Book You Read

To be honest, I haven't really read any "dirty" books if by "dirty" you mean something really sexual.
    Why did I put this book, then? I consider this book "dirty" because there is so much language; in fact, The Catcher in the Rye probably contains the most profane language of any book I've read. And that is not a compliment.
    I hated this book. Hated, hated, hated it. I still do. There are only two good things I can say about it. One, it ends. Two, the first sentence rips on Dickens' David Copperfield, which I tried to read but found unbelievably dull.
    Where can I start? How can I begin to express how much I despise Holden Caulfield? I get it; he's in a tough situation. Does he have to bitch and mope about it in every sentence? No.
    I'm not sure whether to be offended or amused by his extremely limited vocabulary. I didn't bother keeping track of the number of times he said "G*dd*mn," "phony," or "sonuvab*tch," but I wish I had. It would probably have made for a great drinking game or something; you take a shot every time he says "phony." You could even take a shot every time he says "f*** you." He doesn't use that until the end, but he probably says it five or six times on one page.
    Beyond that, he manages to tear apart pretty much every aspect of his life, and he does so quite brutally. His brother's a phony because he works in Hollywood, and Hollywood, according to Mr. Caulfield, is full of nothing but phonies. He doesn't like his parents and can barely tolerate his sister. He hates his roommate at his boarding school. He hates all his classmates. He's not exactly respectful to females, but he's not quite rude to them either.
    Also, he rips on religion, particularly the Catholic Church. He says that he means no disrespect to religion, but I find that very hard to believe. This may just be because I take my faith very seriously, but I took more offense at his remarks on the Catholic Church than anything else.
    Caulfield kept talking about his occasional suicidal thoughts. The silliest things made him want to kill himself. I very quickly thought, "Please do. You'd be doing us all a favor."
    By this point you're probably wondering why I even finished the book. I finished it because it was part of a summer reading assignment for AP English. I ended up having to switch to Dual Enrollment English because of a schedule conflict, but I learned about said conflict well after I finished The Catcher in the Rye. So I read that stupid piece-of-crap book for nothing.
    I know plenty of people who consider The Catcher in the Rye one of their favorite books. I am very sorry if my rant angered you. I respect that you like the book, but it just does not appeal to me.
    Now that my rant's over ... The Catcher in the Rye was the first "dirty" book I read. In addition to generous use of bad language, there are a couple of sexual references. (For example, Caulfield mentions a friend who has made love to many a young lady.) However, I am never reading this book again. NEVER.

30-Day Book Challenge: Day 4

So .. if you missed The Return of the King at theatres last night, boy do I feel sorry for you. It was amazing. I felt so reminiscent, and I want to see it again on the big screen soon. Like, TONIGHT soon.
    Back to business. The challenge continues, and I am very nerd-happy.

Day 04: First Adult Book You Read

I can't believe I read this book when I was in seventh grade. What was wrong with me?!

    Oh yeah. I read in Videohound's Golden Movie Retriever that Elijah Wood had portrayed The Artful Dodger in a 1997 Disney adaptation. That was incentive enough for me.

    It took me a good year to finish Oliver Twist. It was probably tedious at the time, but this book is one of my all-time favorites.

    I consider Oliver Twist an adult book not necessarily because of the content, but because of the language. I really don't get how twelve-year-old me was able to read all 508 pages without getting lost. The vocabulary is so dense and so ... well, old-timey. After all, this book was written in the 1800s.

    I have more than one Dickens book, and I find that his style, while very good and interesting, can sometimes be borderline rambling. I sometimes feel like he gets a little too preoccupied with the unimportant details. I think Oliver Twist would have been a much better read for young me if Dickens had been a little more concise. I admit that I haven't read the book since I was in eighth grade, though, and an adult perspective might make Oliver Twist a little more fun to read.

    I consider Oliver Twist my first adult novel because Dickens seems to be the kind of author that would be read and analyzed at the high-school and college level. However, I started Oliver Twist at age twelve, and I managed to enjoy it without all the high-school analysis. But that might be the case just because I wanted to read about The Artful Dodger. Whatever the case, I definitely liked the book and still consider it a favorite.

30-Day Book Challenge: Day 3

Today is a big day for Ringers everywhere.
    For the first time since 2004, The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King returns to the movies. And it's the extended edition. This was the only movie of the three that I saw in theatres during its original running, and I cannot wait to see it on the big screen again.
    Also, the extended edition of the Lord of the Rings trilogy comes to Blu-Ray. I do not own a Blu-Ray player, but this news still makes me happy.
    Now, back to the intent of this post.

Day 03: Favorite Book as a Child

I don't think I read every single book in this collection, but I read a lot of them.

    Sadly, I do not remember as much of this series as I would like. There is only one book I remember vividly, and I cannot even remember the title. In this book, Frog and Toad bake cookies, but they can't stop eating them. Frog decides that they need to teach themselves willpower, so Frog thinks of different ways to keep them from eating the cookies. However, Toad points out how each idea won't work. Eventually, they both have the willpower to not eat more cookies, but Toad announces that he's going to make a cake.

    I think the main reason I like Frog and Toad so much is because they were the first books I learned to read on my own. My parents read me plenty of Eric Carle and Dr. Seuss, but Frog and Toad books were the first books that I made myself read. I probably took some kind of pride in that, and even if I cannot remember the books I read now, I remember really liking Frog and Toad as a child.

    The Frog and Toad books are my favorite books from my childhood because they were the first I read on my own, and the five- or six-year-old me was probably very proud of that. Plus, they were just good, entertaining books.

30-Day Book Challenge: Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of this 30-day challenge. I will not go into detail again about the challenge. Here we go.

Day 02: Favorite Non-Fiction Book

For a while, I could not choose between this book and Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. I'm not a frequent non-fiction reader, but I adore both Night and Tuesdays with Morrie.

    I eventually chose Night because of its personal significance. While I thought Tuesdays with Morrie was a powerful, inspiring, well-written work, I did not feel substantial personal significance because my life has not yet been affected by Lou Gehrig's Disease. Night has a lot of personal meaning to me because my father and his family are all Jewish.

    Because my father married my Catholic mother, I have been raised as a Catholic. However, I know a fair amount about Judaism, and I have attended many temple services, including a Bar Mitzvah for my cousin. I have also celebrated Hanukkah and the Passover Seder with my Jewish relatives, so I am fairly acquainted with this religion.

    As far as I know, no one in my father's family was affected by the Holocaust. Nevertheless, it definitely has me thinking. My great-grandparents were lucky enough to move to America well before Hitler assumed power. If they hadn't, I think it would be very possible that they or my dad's parents could have died in the Holocaust. If such a thing had happened, I could very well not be here today.

    Personal significance aside, I also feel that Night was extremely well-written. Elie Wiesel is unflinchingly vivid in his descriptions of the things he suffered and the things others suffered. Before the Holocaust, he was one of four children, having three sisters. During the Holocaust, he lost his mother, his youngest sister, and his father; he witnessed his father's death, but not those of his mother and sister. He saw many get shot, as well as many hangings. After the hangings, Wiesel writes, the other prisoners were forced to walk up to the gallows and look at the dead faces.

    Concentration camps were surely Hell on Earth. I cannot begin to comprehend what the prisoners had to suffer, nor how anyone could have the strength to survive. It is so unreal.

    Night is my favorite non-fiction book because it is a very real account of a moment in history we'd just as soon forget. It is emotionally charged, powerful, and beautifully written by a man who went to Hell and back and lived to tell the tale.

30-Day Book Challenge: Day 1

I'm not sure exactly how I found this, but this evening I found a page on Facebook called "30-Day Book Challenge." Being the book nerd that I am, I have accepted this challenge. However, rather than post all the pictures into a private Facebook album, I am posting them to this public blog. Enjoy!

Day 01: Favorite Novel

Right now, your mind is utterly blown by this. LOLJK. This was predictable. Too predictable, perhaps. But guess what?! I DON'T CARE!!
    If you can believe it, I wasn't too crazy about the books at first. This might be attested to the fact that my parents read The Fellowship of the Ring to my sister and me when I was nine. A nine-year-old cannot possibly have a keen interest in such a mature, dense trilogy. However, I was a fan of the books by the time I finished The Return of the King, which I finished at age ten.
    I admit that I prefer the movies to the books (this is the one time I will ever say that), but the books are still wonderful. J.R.R. Tolkien has such a gift with language. His vivid descriptions provide such a clear picture to the reader. In addition, the dialogue is simply beautiful. One of my favorite Lord of the Rings quotes is only in the books: "I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend," spoken by Faramir in The Two Towers.
    Let's not forget all the remarkable characters. Whether it's an unlikely Hobbit hero, a Ranger with hidden majesty, a wizard with the gift of wit, or a woman who kills a seemingly formidable monster, the characters are all astounding in their own rights. Even the villains are interesting!
    I think my favorite thing about the books is that they use the oft-used concept of good triumphing over evil, but Tolkien puts an entirely new spin on it. There are so many obstacles for the characters to overcome. Many times, their obstacles seem insurmountable, but they somehow manage to triumph. The Witch-King of Angmar is the one whom no living man can kill, but Éowyn, because she is a woman, kills him. Gandalf fell at Khazad-Dûm, but he comes back to life. Finally, of course, the Ring, evil at its purest form, is destroyed.
    Despite all this, the ending is not the typical "and they all lived happily ever after." In fact, the ending is very bittersweet. It is happy for many. Aragorn becomes King of Gondor. Sam marries, and Legolas and Gimli remain close friends. But it is not happy for all. I'm talking, of course, about Frodo Baggins, who sacrifices his life to destroy the Ring. He explains this to Sam as Frodo is preparing to leave the Shire for the last time: "I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them."
    The final few pages are particularly bittersweet to me. They describe the sense of hope, comfort, and healing that comes over Frodo as he sails into the Undying Lands, and then the great despair and grief that enter Sam's heart as he watches the departing ship. I was reading those paragraphs recently, and they brought tears to my eyes. I had forgotten about that passage, and the great departure from joy to bitter sadness was overwhelming. Only Tolkien could master something like that.
    This trilogy holds a high place in my heart. I don't think any book can ever overtake this masterpiece. I love it.