Book Impressions - July

Instead of having "answers" on a math test, they should just call them "impressions," and if you got a different "impression," so what, can't we all be brothers?

- Jack Handy

Hence, I am calling this 'Book Impressions' instead of 'Book Reviews.' Also, because 'reviews' sounds too serious for my uninformed drabble about books I've read.

After Dark

Haruki Murakami

First, a Zen proverb - "If you understand, things are just as they are; if you do not understand, things are just as they are."

After reading a few Murakami novels, it seems to me that this is his guiding philosophy. The story is interesting but don't expect to be elucidated by the end. The novel follows 19 -year-old Mari's night in Tokyo after missing the last train home. It is also about her beautiful, model sister, Eri, who is sleeping at home. It's also about a Chinese prostitute and a guy who beats her up and steals her clothes. You can tell Murakami owned a jazz bar. All of his writing is so moody and atmospheric. Also, it tends to be a good primer for jazz and classical music.

Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen

I really enjoy Jane Austen and Pride & Prejudice is one of my favorite novels. In fact, in my family we used to watch the six-hour BBC mini-series every holiday season.

But, Real Talk here for a second, I feel a little gyped by this book. The characters are likable, the plot is pretty decent, Austen is witty as always. But, this 200-page novel concludes in about two pages, and involved a deus ex machina to boot. This annoys me. I mean, really, Jane Austen? I know it's supposed to be a satire of the gothic romance genre but you involved me emotionally. That's no way to treat a reader. That said, it was delightful until said last two pages. The tone was a bit more satirical and immature than Austen's other stories. Definitely, light reading - there are few heavy themes, symbols or leit-motifs to puzzle over, which is a bit nice after Murakami.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Ernest Hemingway

I get the feeling most people read this book for a class in high school or college. It's stereotypical Hemingway - super manly and all about war. Though war stories are not usually My Thing, I enjoyed this a lot.

It also made me feel really ignorant about the Spanish Civil War. Luckily, that's what wikipedia is for. Jeez, why does anyone bother going to college anymore? College is just a place where white folks go to get read to by other white folks. I can read to myself - Tara, "True Blood" (Just ignore my college degree right now.) But, dude, can we talk for a minute about Hemingway's Issues? His main character spends half the book in inner monologue about his father and how much he doesn't respect him and thinks he was a weak, cowardly person for committing suicide. But, Hemingway himself committed suicide (granted, by shooting himself in the head with a shotgun, which is one of the more ballsy ways a person can do such a thing).

But, what can you do when dementia runs in your family? Actually, I hear it runs in mine. Now, if only such things guaranteed literary success.