Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse

Well I like Sherlock Holmes. And I'm a fan of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar... so a book written about Sherlock's brother by Kareem is something I'd have to read. Mycroft Holmes follows the famous detective's older brother on an adventure early in his life that helps to explain why Mycroft is how he is in the Holmes stories. The main mystery about why children are being killed kind of peters out near the end and involves an easily discovered conspiracy, but still I enjoyed the book. It isn't anything great but it was still a fun read. B-.

Book # 97 - The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

It has been a couple days since I finished reading The Magic Mountain, by Thomas Mann, and it is still sitting there in my brain slowly being digested. Before starting it someone told me that it is one of those books that doesn't directly say what it is really about. The Wikipedia page describes it as "ambiguous" and even the book's introduction says that if you're reading it just for the plot you'll be disappointed and won't get much from the book.

In thinking about "the plot" in order to summarize it, I realize that there is technically a beginning, middle and end, but the "action" never builds to a climax and just like in real life it is just a serious of events with both ups and downs. The book starts somewhere around 1905 with Hans Castorp, a young German man, going to visit his cousin that is staying in a clinic high in the Swiss Alps to treat his tuberculosis. He plans to stay for three weeks but ends up being diagnosed with the same illness and ends up living there for seven years. Finally he leaves to go fight in WWI.

During his time there he meets a variety of characters, makes friends, falls in love, deals with death, discovers new music, ponders his own mortality, has strange dreams, and sees time slowly passing by. The book could be about so many different things every reader will probably interpret it differently. And the Wiki page is right... it is ambiguous. Some parts of it reminded me of my own twenties, and I found the passages about the passing of time especially meaningful. After a few years Hans gets to the point where everyday is just the same for him and distinguishing time becomes difficult and suddenly years have past by.

Even though it is a huge book without an exciting plot I enjoyed it immensely. There may have been a few parts that dragged a bit (mostly the discussions between his friends Settembrini and Naphta) but there is just so much to ponder here and take in. Mann once said that to really understand his book you'd need to read it twice. I guess someday I'll have to pick it up again and hopefully I'll get even more insight into it. A+

Book # 60 - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man isn't exactly a page turner... not to say that I didn't enjoy it in some way though. It is written in a stream of consciousness style and tells the story of a young man as he grows up Catholic in Ireland and falls away from the church only to go back to it and then leave it again. It was interesting getting in this guys head and seeing what motivated him but at times I found they style too hard to follow. Also it seems like most of the secondary characters weren't really necessary and weren't interesting. I'd also mention that the book has completely unnecessary maps of walks that the character took... I just don't get it... the maps are pointless. Also it mentions The Count of Monte Cristo.  A-

Book # 17 - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Let me start my saying that Pride and Prejudice is Lucinda's all time favorite book... and since she wants to see Pride and Prejudice and Zombies this week I figured now would be a good time to re-read the book. I've probably absorbed a good bit of knowledge about the book through osmosis from my wife so the whole book felt pretty familiar while I was reading it (Examples of how that osmosis occurred.... viewing the film version, vising the Jane Austen center in Bath, seeing films like Austenland, playing the P&P board game, etc). It was also interesting seeing how I thought of the book now versus what I thought about it as a teenager when I first read it. As a kid I wasn't really into it, but now I see that it is quite funny and there were several passages that made me laugh. So I can see how it is Lucinda's favorite book... Basically it is just an old-timey romantic comedy in which the boy and girl meet... don't like each other at first... and eventually realize they love each other... Pretty much the synopsis of every Hallmark or Lifetime movie. I'll have to give it an A.

God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert

God Emperor of Dune is one of those books that I'm thinking no one that could possibly stumble across this blog would have any interest in my opinion of. Hmmm...Is that sentenced phrased correctly? I'm not sure but I don't feel like taking the time to figure out whether or not it is. I'd love to have a conversation about this book but I'm presuming that no one I know has read it. And if they have it I'd guess the details are likely all scrambled up in their brain because this particular book is the fourth out of the six original books. I'd have to remind them that this one is set 3500 years after the previous book and Leto II has turned into a weird worm creature and rules the galaxy and sets in motion his own assassination. I'll give it an A-.

Book # 58 - The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

Maybe nine years ago when I saw Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story I briefly considered reading Tristram Shandy but when I heard it was nine volumes I decided to pass on it. Now that it is on this list I didn't really have much choice and had to eventually get to it. Luckily each of the volumes are quite short. I have to say I greatly admired the structure and tone of the book. The book is quite funny and is all over the place. The narrator is attempting to write his life story but keeps getting side tracked and almost never makes any progress. In the end we hardly know anything at all about his life. In fact he doesn't get around to his birth until about a third of the way through the book. Most of the last third of the book is spent trying to tell a story about his uncle's past that keeps getting sidetracked by digressions. The narrator is pretty informal and is always talking directly to the reader and telling us of his plans on what he plans to write about next (if he gets to it). The only drawback to the book really (and I can't really fault the book itself for it) is that it was very topical to the time period it was written (the 1760's) and a lot of the information just sails way over my head. Still I'll give it an A. (Also it mentions Don Quixote.)

Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll

I liked the first Alice so much I figured I'd go ahead and read the sequel next. Just like the first one, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, is a fun nonsensical adventure that offers something for both adults and kids. I'd give the edge to the first book but this one is still a lot of fun. Again, the original illustrations are awesome. This one gets an A.