Our Heritage

7/10

I read this shortly after the mission if memory serves correct. It's a pretty quick read and covers a lot of familiar aspects of Mormon history. It feels a lot like Gordon B. Hinckley's "Truth Restored". The main difference to this book is that it carries Church History beyond Brigham Young. Seems like most of these type of books stop at that point. This one goes through many of the prophets following Brigham Young all the way up until Gordon B. Hinckley who was prophet at the time of this book's publication. It's a good book, especially for recent converts.

This book also has one of my favorite stories about the handcart pioneers. It is the story involving the guy who stands up and says cool things like "[We] came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities" and about how when he felt he could go no further "the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there." He concludes by saying, "The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company."

Grimm's Fairy Tales

6/10

I just finished reading this book tonight. Mallory picked out my book again and chose this one "because it has a witch in it." I should have finished this book at least a week ago but dragged it out due to a combination of a waning interest and Championship Week viewing consuming all my free time.

This book contains 120 of the tales collected by the Grimm brothers. I was looking forward to reading the well-known classics, such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, etc. I actually enjoyed most of these classic stories, Hansel and Grethel probably being my favorite of the well-known classics group. I definitely think this group of stories is worth reading.

I was also looking forward to reading some of the other stories to find some hidden gems among the lesser-known tales. Unfortunately, for the most part, they are pretty ho-hum and lesser-known for a reason. There were a few that I liked pretty well though. Some of my favorites, in no particular order, were: 1. King Thrush-Beard; 2. The Juniper Tree; 3. The Robber and His Sons; 4. The Twelve Brothers; 5. How Six Traveled Through the World; 6. The Giant with the Three Golden Hairs; and 7. Master Cobblersawl.

So, while I would not recommend reading the entire book, I would recommend reading the ten or so well-known classics as well as the seven lesser-known tales referenced above. The End.

1984 by George Orwell

7/10

On the heels of my "Fahrenheit 451" post last week in which I declared that it had a 1984 feel, I will now do my 1984 post. Turns out 1984 was written only four years before Fahrenheit 451.

This is one of the few books that I have read more than once. I read it for the first time as a Senior in high school. Seemed like I remember liking it more than my fellow classmates. I revisited it a handful of years after that and liked it again.

There's just so much good stuff in this book. The plot is fantastic and creative. The themes are interesting and eerily prophetic at times. And the language and terminology is terrific and lasting. The book is just classic and referred to often for its ability to describe a future society that appears to become more of a reality with each passing year.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

7/10

I read this pretty soon after I got back from my mission. One of my companions liked it a lot, found it at a used bookstore we did service at, and convinced me to buy it. I liked it too. It was a good story and an interesting subject. It's got a 1984 feel to it and is about a future society where books are outlawed and burned. Books about rogue citizens not following the crazy rules of a crazy future society are interesting to read.

I watched the movie and it was suck-tastic.

A quote:

"They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts."

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

3/10

More like A Farewell to Legs. I read this in the year 2005. It was my first ever Hemingway. I have now read three Hemingway books and I don't know what to make of him. I really liked one of his books (The Old Man and the Sea), I thought one of his books was so-so (The Sun Also Rises), and I was very disappointed in A Farewell to Arms. I thought it was a boring story and, to be honest, I was not at all impressed with the writing. I hate it when authors refuse to keep us posted on who is speaking during several pages-long dialogue. Seemed like I had to trace my way back in the conversations several times to refresh myself on who was saying what.

I was excited to read this book too, it being my first Hemingway and all. Fortunately, the other two books of his that I have read have been significantly better so I am sure I will return again to the Hemingway well and get to the bottom of whether I like him or not. It's like a best of seven series and Hemingway is up two games to one (I would say that The Sun Also Rises was probably an Extra Innings victory for Hemingway). So stay tuned.

The Voyage of the "Dawn Treader" by C.S. Lewis

7/10

So I haven't done a Narnia book post is quite some time. This one was read by me a while ago, probably 9 years. It's pretty decent. Not as good as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but better than Prince Caspian. At least for me. Although it's a bit sad to get over the fact that not all four Pevensie children are in this one as the older two do not take part in the adventure. It's got a good little Aslan/Christ symbolism at the end.

A quote:

"[O]ne of the most cowardly things ordinary people do is to shut their eyes to Facts."

Pygmalion and Three Other Plays by George Bernard Shaw

8/10

I just finished this book tonight. I again had my four-year-old daughter choose my book for me. I'm still in "time out" for my Ulysses selection. When she chose this book I asked her why and she said, "Because it's pink." Sounded like a good enough reason for me.

The four plays in the book are: (1) Major Barbara; (2) The Doctor's Dilemma; (3) Pygmalion; and (4) Heartbreak House. Usually I have a hard time ranking things, but not this time. Pygmalion is fantastic and the clear winner (which is why it is singled out apart from the "Three Other Plays"). It is the play that My Fair Lady is based on. My second favorite was The Doctor's Dilemma which was a comical satire of the medical profession. This one had some funny characters and some pretty sweet burns on doctors (pun!) and a very interesting plot. Major Barbara was pretty good and had some good moments and some good characters. Shaw's Socialism comes through in this one more than the others which put a bit of a damper on it as a whole. And lastly, the proverbial runt of the litter was Heartbreak House which had none of the humor found in the other three plays and had unenjoyable characters to go along with a boring story that seemed to be haphazardly constructed.

So three out of four a'int bad. I would definitely recommend reading this book for the plays. I would hesitate to recommend this book, however, due to the prefaces before each play. They were tedious and did nothing to illuminate the actual plays. They were just Shaw ranting. And while his plays were comical, his rants were too serious and off-putting. The preface to Major Barbara gives an insight into his extreme Socialist views which were "interesting" to say the least. The preface to Pygmalion was the only somewhat enjoyable one to read. Coincidentally this was the only short-winded preface coming in at five pages (Major Barbara: 43 pages, The Doctor's Dilemma: 83 pages!, and Heartbreak House: 43 pages).

But I liked it overall. The plays were good enough to overcome the prefaces. And there is another Barnes & Noble Classics collection of some of his other plays that I am sure I will acquire somewhere down the line.

Some quotes:

From Major Barbara:

"Genuine unselfishness is capable of anything"

"He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career."

From The Doctor's Dilemma:

"Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh."

From Pygmalion:

"Remember that you are a human being with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech: that your native language is the language of Shakespear and Milton and The Bible; and don't sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon."

"There's always something professional about doing a thing superlatively well."

"The great secret, Eliza, is not having bad manners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manner for all human souls: in short, behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third-class carriages, and one soul is as good as another."