Summer Reading n stuff.

I read four books this summer. Nothing to be proud of. But I believe I got my reading quota accomplished during the summer by reading most editions of Newsweek cover to cover, as well as numerous online news articles from CNN, MSNBC, etc. I love reading news instead of watching it. Watching it makes me feel as if what goes on is being explained to me. I feel apathetic and juvenile for letting someone else dictate the news to me. On the other hand, reading the news myself makes me feel as though I, myself, am investigating and putting effort into understanding what goes on in the world. I just feel more accomplished when I read the news instead of watching it.

The opposite is true with entertainment. I feel the complete opposite way in regards to entertainment. For my ultimate entertainment satisfaction I enjoy films and TV shows over novels. I live for the plot and story of a book, not the descriptive language and flowery sentences. I don't want to put my mental effort into imagining the scene and setting of book. I would much rather focus my brainpower on character development and plot-building sequences.

I've noticed that most of my sentences in the previous paragraph begin with "I." That is because my entertainment experience belongs to me. In MY opinion one facial expression on film can never be truly captured in words. So much more personality can be expressed through acting than through words. Being a people-person may have something to do with my love of watching a truly good actor portray a character. When it comes to entertainment I prefer the simplicity of a camera shot over the beauty of a well-crafted paragraph.

But I digress..........I've always wanted to say that :) I re-read the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince just before the movie came out. I read Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card. It is part of the Ender's Game series and I highly recommend it to any and everybody. I then read Pride and Prejudice as well as Life of Pi. I enjoyed both very much. One I believe was written for entertainment, while the other was written as more of a intellectual thought-provoker. I assume if you have read both then you know which is which.

While reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel I found the novel quite different from many others and simply just plain fascinating. The beginning chapters of the book include anecdotal stories and observations of Pi while he is still living in India. The long drawn-out messages of some chapters are juxtaposed by the short, plain to the point one-paragraph chapters right after them. Difference in style kept it interesting and fun. Plus the survival story fascinated me. Surviving for that long on a lifeboat with a tiger aboard? I would have never believed it possible at first, but the impeccable detail of the story brought out my most utter amazement.

To me the story seemed completely believable up until the island of vegetation. That part really pissed me off. It took away all the creditability that I had built up for the novel. It almost immediately sprouted the seed of doubt that had just been planted in my head. But I trudged on through this "island" that angered me so.

When Richard Parker and Pi landed in Mexico I was sad to see Richard Parker run away so quickly. I questioned why it happened at first. But I soon brushed doubt away when realizing how long the tiger had been sea bound. Then, interestingly, Pi goes on for a full paragraph about how he wished for a proper goodbye between himself and Richard Parker. This departure of Richard Parker is very important later on.

The interview with the Japanese men = huge book-changer!

I actually laughed out loud when the Japanese men questioned Pi's story with the animals. You fools, his story is so descriptive, so backed up, so amazing yet so belivable. How could you not believe it? Then Pi began his story with the humans. At first I thought Pi was just trying to humor the Japs with this ridiculous idea that his mother was aboard the lifeboat....but then connections began to come into being. I realized that what I had so solidly believed was a lie, a falsified story, at best a loose extended metaphor. The ground I was standing upon had fallen out from underneath me and the enormity of the book hit me with one sentence. "Thank you. And so it goes with God."

His story became his excuse for what he believed to be the largest sin of his life. His remorse for what his endeavors made him do. The tiger was a part of him brought out after his mother's death that enabled him to survive; however ungodly and disgusting that part of him was, it is the only reason he survived. He survived by living with this inner-animal that scared him so, but gave him the will to live. But upon landing at shore, that part of him left forever and ran off into the jungle never to be seen again. The story with the animals was created so that Pi could live with what he had done.

But that stupid island....what was that all about?