There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry--
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll--
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears the Human Soul--

-Emily Dickinson


November, 2010. This is when I had an epiphany that I knew nothing about literature. What exactly prompted this revelation, I don't remember. But what I did after that was print off "BBC's Top 100 Books" list in order to expand my horizons. (Although I'm aware that there are plenty of books omitted from the list, as well as new books constantly being published, this is intended simply to help me be acquainted with literature.) I challenged myself to read all of the books on the list. One year later, I've realized it will take much longer than expected. With only 7 of the 100 books read, this task seems daunting and unrealistic. While some may think it's somewhat masochistic, some may think it's an admirable goal. I guess it depends on the book I'm reading. Frequently I'll read a book that is not on this long list. I used to apologize for it, but I'm assuming hardly anyone reads it anyways.

I started by critiquing the books and authors, but the purpose for writing has changed over the years. The purpose of this blog isn't necessarily to write reviews for the benefit of high school procrastinators or for eagerly researching book-readers or for really anyone besides me. It's a documentation of my own progress as a learner and a reader, as well as being wonderfully cathartic. Books elicit an emotional response, which allows me to explore my own beliefs about life and spirituality.

As of Sunday, June 21st, 2015, I have read twenty-six books on the list. This is hopefully subject to change, and will be updated regularly...or more accurately, as regularly as I finish a book, which isn't always regular.


Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng

Read on May 18th, 2015.

After two years of only reading the Bible, I decided to read what I wanted to read and not necessarily what was on the list. However, none of the books that I wanted were at the library, so I picked this one up instead. It's a good thing I did; it's a wonderful book.

It's about a Chinese-American family in the 1970s. The middle daughter is found dead in the lake nearby. The rest of the family, the parents and two other children, struggle to find a way to cope with the loss of their beloved family member along with the mystery of why she was out on the lake in the middle of the night in the first place. Half of the family suspects homicide, the other suicide. Each family member has a piece of knowledge that could fit the puzzle together, but rifts in the family appear as they fail to communicate. Not only do they find that their understanding of who she really was was minimal, they discover that such is the case for the rest of their living family. 

As a very realistic portrayal of the modern family, Everything I Never Told You left me with strong feelings about communicating with others. I can't help but examine my relationships with other people. Near the end of the book, each family member, parents and siblings alike, realize a hole in their relationship that drove their daughter/sister over the edge. It hurt to read about each of them feeling such loneliness when, in an ideal world, they at least had each other. The characters are so different from each other and their relationships are so complex. As in any family, explaining the association of one to another in its totality is a feat. But the author makes it so easy for the reader to understand what that relationship entails: why he/she acted that way, what he/she was thinking, what he/she felt, what memories emerged in response to something that was said. Throughout the book all I could think was how everything would be better and less stressed had they been comfortable with talking and expressing what they feel. But that wouldn't be very realistic, would it now?
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