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Title: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Title: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

by | Oct 1, 2011 | Not So Recent Reads

Title: Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Publisher's Summary
Published in 1852, Uncle Tom's Cabin brought the abolitionists' message to the public conscience - no woman before or since has so moved America to take action against an injustice. Indeed, Abraham Lincoln greeted Stowe in 1863 as "the little lady who made this big war."
Eliza Harris, a slave whose child is to be sold, escapes her beloved home on the Shelby plantation in Kentucky and heads North, eluding the hired slave catchers. Aided by the underground railroad, Quakers, and others opposed to the Fugitive Slave Act, Eliza, her son, and her husband George run toward Canada.

As the Harrises flee to freedom, another slave, Uncle Tom, is sent "down the river" for sale. Too loyal to abuse his master's trust, too Christian to rebel, Tom wrenches himself from his family. Befriending a white child, Evangeline St. Clare, Tom is purchased by her father and taken to their home in New Orleans. Although Evangeline's father finally resolves to free his slaves, his sudden death places him in the ranks of those who mean well by their slaves but never take action. Tom is sent farther downriver to Simon Legree's plantation, and the whips of Legree's overseers.

My Comments:
I purchased this book back in March of this year (2011) and started it a couple of times but put it down. It had a slow start, even boring at times. But I decided to revisit it over the summer, and I was blown away not only by the content but also by how vivid the writing is. Considering the period in which the book was published—the 1850s—I have a great deal of respect for Mrs. Stowe and am deeply moved to go back and read her biography in full.

I first came across this book when I was around 11 years old, back in Jamaica, right when I entered Jamaica College. However, I paid little attention to it at the time. It was an old copy from the years when my grandfather was a boy; to put things into perspective, my grandfather died in 1986 in his mid-70s.

I read about the slurs and stereotypes found in the book and understand why some might find fault with it, but after reading it, I believe this was a seminal piece of work that contributed to the end of slavery as we know it in the U.S. I would highly recommend that everyone, regardless of color, read this book.

 

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Title: On Writing – Stephen King

Title: On Writing – Stephen King

by | Sep 6, 2011 | Not So Recent Reads

Title: On Writing by Stephen King

Publisher’s Summary:
“If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write.” Here is Stephen King’s master class on his craft.

On Writing begins with a mesmerizing account of King’s childhood and his early focus on writing to tell a story. A series of vivid memories from adolescence, college, and the struggling years that led up to his first novel, Carrie, offer a fresh and often funny perspective on the formation of a writer. King then turns to the tools of his trade, examining crucial aspects of the writer’s art and life, offering practical and inspiring advice on everything from plot and character development to work habits and rejection.

King was in the middle of writing this book when he was nearly killed in a widely reported accident. On Writing culminates with a profoundly moving account of how his need to write spurred him toward recovery, and brought him back to his life.

My Comments:
Another awesome read for those who intend to write seriously.  The very frank exposition is extremely refreshing.  I am admittedly not a reading of Stephen King, in fact I can’t claim reading any of his book, but after reading this, I definitely will be delving into them.  He is truly a genius at this writing stuff.  Very much recommended.  

 

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Title: Go the Fu–k to Sleep

Title: Go the Fu–k to Sleep

by | Sep 6, 2011 | Not So Recent Reads

Title: Go the Fu–k to Sleep by Adam Manbach (Narrated by Samuel Jackson)

Publisher’s Summary:
Academy Award nominee Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction) rocks this mock bedtime story, capturing a hilarious range of emotions as the voice of a father struggling to get his child to sleep.

Go the F**k to Sleep is a bedtime book for parents who live in the real world, where a few snoozing kitties and cutesy rhymes don’t always send a toddler sailing blissfully off to dreamland. California Book Award-winning author Adam Mansbach’s profane, affectionate, and radically honest verses perfectly capture the familiar – and unspoken – tribulations of putting your little angel down for the night. In the process, he opens up a conversation about parenting, granting us permission to admit our frustrations and laugh at their absurdity.

Beautiful, subversive, and pants-wettingly funny, Go the F**k to Sleep is a book for parents new, old, and expectant. Due to its explicit language, you probably should not play it for your children.

Feel free to share the link to this page with tired parents and other people who could use a good swear and a laugh.

My Comments:
Dude, this is quite the book.  I did not buy the actual book, but got the download from Audible….Samuel Jackson was over the freaking top.  Guess it is worth the run if you have kids.  If you don’t you can get it for the shock factor.  

 

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Title: Crime and Punishment

Title: Crime and Punishment

by | Aug 13, 2011 | Not So Recent Reads

Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in St. Petersburg who formulates and executes a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her money. Raskolnikov argues that with the pawnbroker’s money he can perform good deeds to counterbalance the crime, while ridding the world of a worthless parasite. He also commits this murder to test his own hypothesis that some people are naturally capable of, and even have the right to, do such things. Several times throughout the novel, Raskolnikov justifies his actions by connecting himself mentally with Napoleon Bonaparte, believing that murder is permissible in pursuit of a higher purpose.

My comments:
This is a pretty extensive read…still reading.

 

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Title: The Memoir Project

Title: The Memoir Project

by | Aug 6, 2011 | Not So Recent Reads

Title: The Memoir Project: A Throughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing and Life by Marion Roach Smith

Publisher’s Summary:
Whether or not one has lived an exceptional or dramatic life, we inherently understand that writing memoir—whether it’s a book, blog, or just a letter to a child – is the single greatest portal to self-examination. Stop treading water in writing exercises or hiding behind “writer’s block” and learn how to write with intent. Marion Roach Smith’s disarmingly frank but wildly fun tactics offer you simple and effective guidelines that work. Your legacy beings now.My Comments:

Really awesome book if you intend to take writing up as a serious venture.  It is a must have in your tool box…again…if you intend to write seriously.  I loved it….I recommend it strongly.  

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Title: SuperFreakanomics

Title: SuperFreakanomics

by | Jul 6, 2011 | Not So Recent Reads

Title: SuperFreakanomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Publisher Summary:
Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance

The New York Times best-selling Freakonomics was a worldwide sensation, selling more than four million copies in 35 languages and changing the way we look at the world. Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner return with Superfreakonomics, and fans and newcomers alike will find that the freakquel is even bolder, funnier, and more surprising than the first.

SuperFreakonomics challenges the way we think all over again, exploring the hidden side of everything with such questions as: How is a street prostitute like a department-store Santa? What do hurricanes, heart attacks, and highway deaths have in common? Can eating kangaroo save the planet?

Levitt and Dubner mix smart thinking and great storytelling like no one else. By examining how people respond to incentives, they show the world for what it really is: good, bad, ugly, and, in the final analysis, super freaky.

Freakonomics has been imitated many times over – but only now, with SuperFreakonomics, has it met its match.

My Comments:
I read the first iteration Freakanomics back in 2005 and was really amazed by the varied relationships uncovered, this takes that discovery writing to another level and is well worth the time to read.

 

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