Time for a Classic

I've tried many times to read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, but it's not an easy read. The vernacular, while very accurate, makes it a little difficult to understand. I found myself rereading passages several times trying to figure out what some of the words were supposed to be. ("Kivver" was a particularly difficult one - it's cover, by the way.).

The novel follows Janie Crawford who is on a personal journey for independence, love, and self in the 1930s. As a black female, that was unheard of for that time, which is why this novel is important. However, it's not one of my favorites.

This book is more of a character study, which is typically not my cup of tea. This was no different. I know and understand why it was very groundbreaking and needs to be in the "Greats" canon. But, it just isn't for me.

Despite me not liking it, I still think it is something that needs to be read by everyone. It does a good job of showing what life was really like (which makes sense considering Hurston was also an anthropologist) and really is groundbreaking. It's just not one that I'll put on my have to reread list.

A New Take on an Old Classic

We all know about Big Brother from 1984, but in Little Brother, Cory Doctorow gives us a new twist on this classic.

This book is technically young adult, but it's one that can really hit home for adults, too.

Basically, the premise is the same as Big Brother. Just take it and put it in San Francisco in a post-9/11 era. The plot quickly starts off with an attack on the city's bay bridge, and then the DHS comes in and basically takes away all the freedoms of the residents. Marcus, a 17-year-old geek, hacker, gamer, takes it upon himself to try to show the government what's what and take back his city. He feels he's got more  of a stake in the matter because he, along with three of his friends, were arrested and interrogated for days right after the attack. The DHS tightens their hold on the city as the story progresses - traffic patterns are monitored, Internet usage is watched, etc. All of this eggs Marcus on as he continues to undermine the government on his X-net.

This was a very thought provoking book, and one that's very fitting for our times. I thought the writing drug on at times (I didn't need a lot of details on how Marcus programmed/worked his hacking magic), but that doesn't detract from the message Doctorow is trying to get across. Plus, there's the added bonus of him being cool enough that he's released a lot of his writing under Creative Commons - so it's free. All because he thinks  words/books should be easy to access!

Monster by Walter Dean Meyers

Another phone post so it will be short and sweet.

This is one of the main books for my new reading strategies class next year. It's a little different because it is written in a screenplay form with journal entries interspersed throughout. It is about a boy from Harlem who is on trial for being an accomplice to a robbery/murder. He is writing the screenplay throughout the trial.

I could see how the book would be interesting and compelling to reluctant readers. However, I read screenplays too quickly and am not getting all I could out of it. But at least I'll be familiar with it for next year's class.