Oct 28

This new book called Interpreter of Maladies is pretty decent. I really like it compared to the other collection of short story books that we have read previously. This one for some odd reason has caught my attention more than the other books. I think that each of these short stories had enough story in them that I could get hooked enough to stay interested, but at the same time they weren’t too long to get you tired of the story.

I really enjoyed one of the questions we talked about today. It was #3 on the sheet. It said something along the lines of this, “What do you think the point the author is making about marriage and its place in the Indian culture?” My opinion that I have drawn from the stories was that the Indian culture values marriage so much more than we in America do. In the Indian culture it is so important to get married especially for a woman. From the story The Treatment of Bibi Haldar, I could draw that if you weren’t married in this society then you really couldn’t live life to the fullest. You weren’t treated equally and basically thrown away. This would be compared to a woman who is married which would have rights and have a man, children, and a household to take care of. In an Indian culture if a woman doesn’t have things to take care then they basically have nothing else to do with their lives.

Overall I am semi excited to read the remaining stories in this book. I really hope that I can learn from them and get insight into other cultures that I don’t know much about. So far there are a lot of relationship stories and I hope that continues because I really think they are kind of enjoyable.

Oct 21

So we are just finishing up the book Round Ireland with a Fridge. I have been semi interested in this book. I like the change of pace this book has compared to My Sisters Keeper. I love the concept of Tony taking on this bet just to take on a bet. I think it is so important to just get away and have time on your own. Every guy thrives for an adventure and that is exactly what Tony is doing. To most people this wouldn’t make sense since it is clearly costing him more money to do this journey then the winnings from the bet. I LOVE it though. I really hope someday I could take a trip like this sometime, not necessarily the bet part though.

So I was thinking of places that would be cool to do this at. I mean what about taking this bet, but for a different place. Like how about around the United States in four months? I mean that sounds reasonable right? What about Hawaii in one day? You would have to hit every island somehow. It would definitely take some skill and planning. I would say that the bet would have to be more money though.

We have talked about how this book is supposed to be funny book. I would have to say that it is a decently humorous but it could be better. I mean there are some things that he does that are funny like when that guy sees Tony’s genitalia twice. I guess his actions have been funnier for me then just his jokes. All in all, it has been an amazing change in reading material. I really like traveling narratives. I have never really read anything like this before. I would really like to read something else about a place that I have been so I can relate.

OCT 14

Wow. So first of all, all I have to say is that I was very impressed with the book. It was much better than I anticipated. I thought the ending was very surprising. I guess I really thought that if anyone was going to die that it was going to be Kate. But sure enough the author really threw me a curveball with killing Anna, and letting Kate live on off of Anna’s kidney. I guess it was a good ending because it wasn’t what everyone thought would happen.

I am really glad it did end in this sort of fashion because it got to show what others thought of Anna. I know that I kind of thought that they just loved her to save her sister. I was glad to see how everyone really did care for Anna as a person, not just an organ bank. I really was impressed the way Kate wanted all along for her sister Anna to have a life to the full. That Kate was to the point of giving up hope for herself so her little sister could have the life that Kate had always wanted. It truly was touching.

Overall I thought the book was very well written and not just for chicks. It burns to say it but maybe I will have to check out the movie and see how well they did compared to the book. Like most movies that are made off of books, the books are generally way better so maybe I’ll have to see for myself. Oh and for the record I can see why this book appeals to all sorts of females. There is tons of emotion in it. Almost too much if you ask me. Correction, it was too much for me but that doesn’t take away from how good the book was as a whole.

Oct 7

When I first looked at this book I said to myself, “Great, a freaking huge book to force myself to read through”. Once I read the title I realized that this book was also a chick flick. It has been a book read by many different women all over that I have known, from moms to sisters to friends. So do you think I was really excited to read this piece of work? Not exactly. I started this book and realized that even if I didn’t want to read it that I would try to go in with an open mind. I mean maybe I would warm up to this thing.

When I read the first 100 pages of this book, I took one thing away and that is Kate and Anna’s parents are nuts to have a kid to basically serve as an organ donor to their middle child. I mean how could they justify this to themselves that this was at all okay? I mean in my eyes they went from trying to save one child to ultimately making two of the offspring miserable. I mean what were they thinking?

If you imagined yourself as Anna, how would you feel about this whole situation? I know that I would feel like crap. I mean I feel like I would start to realize that the only reason I was really conceived was to help my sibling live. If I was in Anna’s position and had the parents she had I would definitely press charges. The main reason I would press charges was so that I would have my own choices about my body. I mean if I had my own choice on if I wanted to donate to a sibling I would do it in a heartbeat.