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'Life of Pi' by Yann Martel
June 7 - 11, 401 pages
I enjoyed this book. It's just a great story that is told very well. It was interesting - I learnt lots of fascinating things about animals. Like 'prusten,' the sound a tiger makes 'to express friendliness and harmless intentions.'
The only parts of this novel that I struggled to pay much attention to were those about religion, but that's just me. It redeemed itself with some excellent ideas: 'To be a castaway is to be caught in a harrowing ballet of circles.' And Richard Parker is a brilliant name for a tiger.
'Henry IV, Part One' by William Shakespeare
June 12 - 13, 116 pages
Another diverting Shakespeare
Yes, I did like 'Life of Pi'. It reminded me of 'Robinson Crusoe' and, as with that novel, I was most impressed with Pi's survival techniques.
'Henry IV, Part One' was good. It took me a little while to get into it and really want to know how what was going to happen. But I did eventually get into it. I should read Part Two.
'The Girl Who Played with Fire' by Stieg Larsson
June 2 - 5, 569 pages
This is the second book in the Millennium trilogy that I started a few weeks ago.
The second is just as gripping as the first. As it got close to the end where everything would be reveled I needed to stop myself; I was not actually reading, but instead skimming the pages in search of new revelations. I don't often read crime novels like this but when I do they absorb me completely, I swallowed this up because I just needed to know what happened.
This novel features the same main characters while introducing many more. I liked the way the web got so tangled as more information was discovered. Can't wait for the third.
I actually felt that at times this book moved slower than the first. Perhaps it was just me being too greedy for answers, but in the middle of the book I was frustrated that it was moving slowly. Still an excellent read.
'King Lear' by William Shakespeare
May 24 - 27, 145 pages
Yes, another Shakespeare. I just can't get enough.
This play is intense. And complicated. At times I struggled to keep up with everything that was happening. But it's worth it. What I like about the Bard (well, one of the many things) is that, despite being written centuries ago, we can still take something from his plays and relate to them. 'We that are young / Shall never see so much, nor live so long.'
It was also exciting to read the line, 'I am a man / More sinned against than sinning.'
A real Shakespearean tragedy. Everyone dies.
I can't help but mention this brilliant exchange:
Oswald What dost thou know me for?
Kent A knave, a rascal, an eater of broken meats, a base proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy-worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-taking, whoreson glass-gazing super-serviceable finical rogue, one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pander, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch; one whom I will beat into clamorous whining if thou deniest the least syllable of thy addition.
Oh, how perfect.
Also:
'tis a naughty night to swim in'
'Was this a face / To be opposed against the warring winds?'
'if it be man's work, I'll do 't'
'The younger rises when the old doth fall'
I'm going to see this play in the theatre next week. I am ridiculously excited.
