The Year in Books

I know it's only the beginning of November, but considering the amount of work I've been procrastinating, I'm not going to leave the library until Christmas break. So I might as well procrastinate a little more today and review the books I've read this year that I really dug and have stayed with me through the months.

• Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis: I got it for Christmas last year, and though I'm not usually in to much science fiction, I'm definitely in to C.S. Lewis. It's a little thin on plot, but big on ideas. Basically a British philologist is captured by two bad guys and they take him to Mars to offer him up as sacrifice to the ruling beings there. He escapes when they arrive and travels the planet, studying and making friends with the different life forms there. He learns that all the planets were originally connected, each with their own ruling spirit that could communicate with the spirits over other planets. Earth, however, rebelled and destroyed its ruling spirit, and so they call it the Silent Planet. Because this is Lewis, there are of course billions of religious undertones, and they're the most interesting parts of the book. This is the first in a series of three, and is definitely my favorite. The second, Perelandra, is about the philologist's trip to Venus. Again, it's definitely thin on plot, but the ideas about The Fall are fascinating. That Hideous Strength is set on Earth and is sort of a "Last Days" book. This one is more plot driven, and mostly succeeds in creeping me out a little. Again, some great ideas on spirituality, but weird imagery.



• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger: I remember hearing about this book in middle school because it was one of the optional books for our group reports, but required parental permission to read. The kids that read it were the rebels :-) I picked it up one day at work to read while watching the showers and immediately fell in love with Holden Caulfield. He was honestly one of the most relatable characters I had read in a long time. I wonder what that says about me...:-) I would much much much rather my teenagers read this book instead of something inane and ridiculous like Twilight. Both have ridiculously flawed main characters who are emotionally unstable, but in Twilight that's apparently a good attribute. I'd take a Holden over a Bella any day. And yes, it really really really really pains me to admit I've read Twilight.
  
  
  
• A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini: I read The Kite Runner last year and loved the imagery, the characters, and the humanity depicted. Then, this summer my Mum recommended Hosseini's second book. I read it in about three hours, then cried for another two. Hosseini's gift is creating characters who are so real, even though they're so foreign to American readers. Dan read it after I did, and one night he, Mum, and I sat on Mum's bed discussing it. All we had to say was "Maryam..." and look at each other and we almost started crying again.

• Life of Pi by Yann Martel: After hearing that I had been accepted to CGU to study religion, a friend at work recommended this book. I loved it all-- Pi's devotion to any religion he can find, his relationship with the Bengal Tiger Richard Parker, the open ending. Yes, it's about a boy trapped on the ocean in a lifeboat with a tiger. Read it anyway. Nay, read it for that reason.



• The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd: Julie sent me this book right after I moved to CA, so I read it one Saturday night before I found a social life and had too much homework. The prose is very lyrical--I had to read some things twice they were so beautifully said. That's a rarity for me :-) The conclusion is fairly obvious, but the images of the female divine make it all worth it. This book is very female-empowered, but not to the point of disempowering men. A profound story of a girl discovering her individual divinity.



• A Mormon Mother by Annie Clark Tanner: I read this book for my "Mormonism Through the Eyes of Women" class and it broke my heart. Annie Tanner tells her own story of becoming a polygamous wife in late 19th century Utah, raising children alone, watching the church disavow polygamy, and coming to terms with a rapidly modernized society. She's my new hero. Most heart-breaking moment: being dropped off at the train station by her new husband and his first wife so she can go home to her mother's house. She can't tell anyone she just got married, and won't see her husband again for a few weeks. She sits at the table eating bread, thinking of all her friends who were lucky enough to be first wives and all the fun things involved in their weddings. Oh Annie.
  


• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card: I went to an Anberlin show a couple weeks ago in Pomona. I was by myself and had no interest in the three opening bands, so I wandered around the shops in the neighborhood for awhile. I found this in a 2nd-hand book store, had always heard good things about it, had an hour or so to kill, and it was only a couple bucks. I absolutely loved the first two-thirds. Ender's development into a powerful leader is really well written, and the war-games, I must admit, are tons of fun to read about. The last third seemed really rushed to me, and the conclusion therefore was unsatisfying. But overall, like most of Card's stuff that I've read, the characters make it worth it.