My Antonia

My Antonia, by Willa Cather, tells the life story of a Bohemian girl named Antonia as told through the eyes of her closest friend Jim Burden. It’s a lovely novel, and worth reading for the strength of the language alone. However, I found the plot itself to lack the level of engagement that makes for a really compelling story. Cather’s descriptions of life on the plains of Nebraska are evocative, and convey the power, beauty, and nobility of the humble life of America’s plainsmen. Once you get past the beauty of the language, however, the story is very simple. I’m sure a good professor could open my eyes to the wonder of this book, and all the deeper meanings the lie within, but just reading it on my own I didn’t get a whole lot out of it besides an appreciation for the simple beauty of everyday life.

Score: 7/10

Read this book: If you like beautiful images of rural life conveyed through eloquent and poetic language.

Don’t read this book: If you prefer a story driven by plot rather than character.

The Catcher in the Rye

I am forced to admit that I think this is a very good book. However, I do not think it is a very enjoyable book. Anyone who has studied literature realizes that, although the two categories often cross over, they certainly don’t have to. The main character of Catcher is a dissolute teenage boy named Holden Caulfield. The novel begins with Holden getting kicked out of his third boarding school in a row because he refused to apply himself in the least degree, and he spends the rest of the novel wandering around New York looking for things to do and people to talk to. It’s rather boring, but also terribly sad. Although many of Holden’s encounters seem unrelated and pointless, they ultimately weave together to present a picture of a young man who is terrified of his future, desperately wants someone who will listen to him, and finds himself without a soul to rely on. The title of the book comes from a poem Holden hears: “If a body catch a body coming through the rye.” When asked what Holden would like to be, he responds that he would like to stand at a cliff at the edge of a rye field and catch children at play if they got too close to the edge. I personally feel that Holden is terrified that he is heading towards a cliff, yet there is nobody in the rye to catch him. The book does not offer easy answers or resolutions to these problems. Holden is part of a larger group of America’s youth who grew despondent in the wake of WWII, and who saw little point to their lives. Many argue that Holden is not a likeable character, and they’re right. There’s this idea going round that main characters in novels should represent the sort of person that we want to be, but Holden represents that sort of person that we secretly already know we are. When I’m honest with myself, I see far more of Holden Caulfield in me than I see of Harry Potter. It’s a revelation that is at once sad and liberating, for it makes me a part of a larger human experience of shared anxiety and doubt. All in all I think this book is worth reading if you want to feel all those human things, and are willing to accept an ending which, like endings in life, can’t be described as satisfying or happy. Catcher is one of the most famous novels of the 20^th century, and I believe it deserves to be so for the way it captures so many tragic elements shared by so many in this big thing we call humanity.

Rating: 7/10

Read this book if: You are willing to read deeply, look for metaphor and symbolism, and connect with the sorrow, anxiety, and fear that exist under the surface of every human life.

Don’t read this book if: You are bothered by pervasive mild profanity (Holden is constantly swearing, but they’re pretty soft curse words); or you like books with engaging plots, likeable characters, or happy endings (you won’t find those here).

The Disreputable History of Frankie-Landau Banks

 I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It’s light, fun, and the main character is delightful. I found some of it a bit hard to believe, but I don’t think realism is the main point of the book. It was full of teenage hijinks and shenanigans, and was surprisingly clean in a genre that is increasingly graphic and gritty. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this book to any reader at any age level if they are looking for a book that is fun, and that also has some interesting points about the nature of society. I particularly like the comparison of society to the Panopticon, a prison that allowed the inmates to be seen without seeing their observers. Society is similar, and therefore people keep in line whether or not they’re being watched. I like the idea of questioning the Panopticon, pushing back against it, and challenging those systems that are governed by sets of rules so old that nobody remembers why the rules came about in the first place. It’s a good book, I liked it, but it’s not something earth shattering or life altering.

Score: 8/10 

Read this book if: You want an entertaining and light read, or you want a story of a young woman finding the courage to question existing social conventions through subterfuge, pranks, and hilarity. 

Don’t read this book if: You have no tolerance for predictable writing or somewhat shallow plot lines and character development. The book is fun, but it certainly lacks the depth of more mature works. Also if you are unwilling to suspend your disbelief regarding certain plot elements. Some of the novel makes one a bit incredulous.

The Fault in Our Stars

I love, love, love this book! The first John Green Book I read, and still my favorite, I decided to read it on a whim when I noticed on Amazon that a number of people who enjoyed The Book Thief had also purchased TFiOS. Basically this book is about a sixteen year old girl with terminal cancer who can theoretically keep on living due to an experimental drug she’s taking. She goes to a cancer support group, meets this one-legged cancer survivor named Augusts Waters, and cute/romantic/hilarious/tragic things follow. It sounds like a simple, perhaps even childish story, but it’s so heartfelt and moving, and the characters are just so stinking loveable, that I found this book impossible not to like. Every so often you find a book that is such a surprise to read, such a beautiful humanizing experience, that you become almost evangelical in your zeal to get others to read it. For me, that book is TFiOS. Whether you have to buy, borrow, beg, or steal a copy, everyone owes it to themselves to read this book.

Score: 10/10

Read this book if: You're a human being.

Don't read this book if: You have no soul (JK, Robby!) (But seriously...)

P.S. If you like the books of John Green, I recommend checking out his YouTube Channel, Vlogbrothers.

The Art of Fielding

I just finished reading The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. When I picked up this book I hadn't the slightest idea what it would be about; I knew only that John Green had mentioned it in his vlog. I started reading, and was drawn in pretty quickly. The funny thing about it is that I was drawn in inexplicably. Essentially this book is about college baseball, but it's also about friendship, trust, betrayal, Moby Dick, romance, self-image, one's purpose in life, and the shaky foundations on which we so often build our lives. I'm not a sports fan, yet I found that characters to be lovable, hatable, despicable, and altogether human. It's been said that the best literature examines the human condition in all its beauty and ugliness. This book certainly does that. Even though you realize the characters are ruining their lives, you can't help but sympathize with, and maybe even like, them. My biggest complaint is the "maturity" of the content. The language and subject matter are both very explicit, and I therefore wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who is squeamish about that sort of thing. If I'd known what I was in for before reading the book, I probably wouldn't have picked it up. That said, if you do choose to read it you'll be witness to an engaging story with raw, real, relatable characters, and you'll emerge with a deeper understanding of what it means to partake in this thing called life.

Score: 7/10
Read this book if: You like baseball, are curious about mankind's self-destructive impulses, or are just looking for something that's deeper than Twilight but more accessible than Tolstoy.
Don't read this book if: You have an aversion to coarse language or content.

Update 8/19/2014

Although I only gave this book a 7/10, this is a novel that has weight. More than any other book on this entire list (excepting perhaps Crossing to Safety) this book has stayed with me. I think about it all the time. I think about the characters and their wonderful, tragic lives. I think about the choices they made, the choices I make, and how sometimes our lives seem to be playing out before us independent of our desires. This is an amazing book, and although everything I wrote is still true, I wasn't prepared for the huge impact this book would have on me.

Why I'm Blogging Again

Hello Internet!
Or more appropriately, hello myself (and maybe Robby). This Blog (is Blog a proper noun? Should it be capitalized?) exists with only one purpose. I realized that I never keep track of all the books I read. Sure, I've tried Goodreads. It's okay, but it just isn't working for me. So I figure I'll just start this little blog. Every time I read a book I'll make a blog post. It might only be a sentence, it might be huge (unlikely). The plan is to keep a log of what I read and how I like it. Nothing more, nothing less. Fair warning, this Blog probably won't be terribly interesting. Quick note, I just discovered that blog is not a proper noun, and therefore should not be capitalized. Does that mean I'm going to go back and change all the capitalized "Blog" words in this post? Nope! That's the level of literary excellence you can count on here at Spratt Books! Happy reading:)