Sunday, September 29, 2013

Interesting plot line

Our protagonist is making quite a name for himself (pun intended) with the Communist sympathizers - wonder what happens when he lets them down, as I know he eventually will.  Things are going way too well for him right now, and since he was living in a abandoned basement at the beginning of the novel, I have to assume that things are fixing to go left.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Not enough time...

Haven't been reading Invisible Man because I've been reading a lot of short stories in preparation for writing a paper for class.  I've decided to focus on short stories written by Iraqi women.  Why?  I don't know.  The idea came to me, and now it's stuck.  I think this is going to be good.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Racial tensions abound

It's funny how the protagonist just "accidentally" became a Communist - it was so accidental, he doesn't even know it yet.  And it's sad to see that the Communists, who purported to believe all should be treated equally, still manage to make racial slurs against blacks and think there's nothing wrong with it.  Our protagonist's naivete is the only thing that keeps him from seeing, but I know this will happen soon.  And all hell's gonna break loose if I'm not mistaken.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Oh, Well...

I am enjoying Invisible Man, but life keeps getting in the way.  Sooner or later, I will get this book done.  I am only halfway through - I've got to pick up the pace if I expect to get these 26 books read in a year.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

More Quotes

Now there a whole lot of truth in these words:

"Everything what looks good ain't necessarily good."

Can't argue with that, can you?

Or this:

"What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?"

Friday, September 20, 2013

Quotes to remember

Quotes from the book that I like:


"If I don't think I'm sinking, look what a hole I'm in."   I guess that means something like it's always darkest just before the dawn.



"Don't hope.  Make it that way."  This is something we could all do.  Don't just think about it - actually do it.


But my favorite quote today is from Dean Koontz's new novel Innocence, "Words are the wellspring of the world, and language is the most powerful weapon."  After all, who can argue with that?

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Crazy Stuff

Well, he knows who he is again, but what does that mean - to both us and him?  Although his name has been remembered, this is the point where his invisibility begins.  One more chapter until the exact middle of the book - can't wait.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

What the heck?

He's getting a lobotomy?  That seems to have come out of nowhere.  No wonder he never uses his name - I think he's forgotten who he is!  He is probably becoming invisible to himself first and then the rest of the world - crazy stuff going on here!  Almost halfway through the book now - Dr. Pressman told us that the literal middle of the book is wehre something big usually happens - this should be good!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

And so it begins...

With disillusionment often comes bitterness.  It is far easier to sink than to rise, as most of us can attest to.

As with many of the stories I read, this is another case of someone not having a voice - no say in their own life.  I think this is how he gets to where he is in the novel's beginning - he was simply trying to be in charge of his own life, the master of his own fate, even if that meant becoming "invisible."

Monday, September 16, 2013

Hitting the fan...

I love alliteration, and here is one of Ellison's best instances of it - "sifting lazily in the sudden stillness, sliding sand-like down the chute."  Pure poetry.

Our poor protagonist (how many times am I going to have to say that?).  I knew Bledsoe was up to no good with those letters, and I sure was right.  A man with no name can never be anyone, and Bledsoe is making sure that's one prophecy that comes true.  Screwing someone over like that and feeling self-righteous about it - I just hope he gets what's coming to him.  No the main character's killing him, but damn close would be good.


Sunday, September 15, 2013

The heart of it...

It seems to me that this line gets right to the heart of Invisible Man:

"Their hate, and mine, was charged with fear."

Our nameless protagonist speaks this line early in the novel, and I find it rife with implications.  Throughout the novel (and history), it is fear that drives people to hate and to act upon that hate.  Fear of the unknown, fear of change, fear of stagnation.  Any of these will cause resentment, and it is all too easy for that resentment to turn into hate.

Something I ran across

Thank you very much for your time.

  感謝您抽出寶貴的時間

   谢谢您宝贵的时间

     ご協力ありがとうございました

      귀한 시간 내주셔서 대단히 감사드립니다

         Mange tak, fordi du har brugt tid på undersøgelsen.

           Terima kasih atas masa yang anda luangkan.

                   Vielen Dank für Ihre Zeit.

 

Forgot to mention that this is my 100th post.  Cool! (To me anyway.)

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Keepers

Quotes I want to remember:

"Play the game, but play it your own way."

"The world is possibility if only you'll discover it."

Friday, September 13, 2013

Oh, well

Horrible thing for  a librarian to say, but I am just not into reading tonight.  Think I'll watch a movie I've seen a hundred times - I love watching movies where I can recite every line, don't you?

Thursday, September 12, 2013

This sucks!

I hate that our protagonist got expelled for what happened to the trustee, but shit does roll downhill.  It's not like the President of the university was going to risk being blamed for anything, so a scapegoat had to be utilized.  This will be the beginning of the main character's actual bildungsroman, the one that takes him from a part of the world around him to where he is at the novel's beginning - hiding in a hole and invisible.  You just know it's going to be a tortuous journey.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

All fall down...but the trick is to get back up

Our poor protagonist, whose despair is characterized thusly:  "I had kept unswervingly to the path placed before me, had tried to be exactly what I was expected to be, had done exactly what I was expected to do--yet, instead of winning the expected reward, here I was stumbling along."

But the best advice he is given is from the one who doles out his punishment, Dr. Bledsoe.  And these are definitely words for everyone to live by:  "If you don't become bitter, nothing can stop you from success."

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Intense

This chapter has been really intense, and I'm not even through with it yet!  That's quite the story the old man told - I mean, really, how do you accidentally have sex with your own daughter? 

Trying to read it in the vernacular is also quite interesting.  Easy enough to understand, just different.  It kind of reminds me of one of the first interviews Loretta Lynn ever gave on the radio - she kept saying how the more her and her husband laughed, the hornier he got (which, of course, you COULD NOT say on the radio back then - and maybe not even now).  She though horny meant being silly, but it almost got her banned from airplay altogether.  Lucky for her and those of us who are lifelong fans, that didn't happen.  Enough reminiscing - on to the next chapter of my book now!

Monday, September 9, 2013

Another Long Week?

Work was kind of crazy today - can't believe how much I got done/didn't get done.  Actually tried to read some on my lunch hour, but even then I was interrupted by work (I don't mind so much).  It was actually a good day - helped a lot of students as well as public patrons.  Just why I went to library school.  school tomorrow night, so hopefully I'll get a couple chapters in before that.  Wish me luck!!

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Thinking deeply...

Most memorable line so far:  "I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer."  Who hasn't been there at some point?  Why do we always seem to ask other people what's best for us?  Shouldn't we know better than anyone?  As Ellison goes on to say, "I am nobody but myself."  Why should that be that hard to figure out?  Yet it takes many people decades to get there, and some never manage.  They are forever looking outside for answers rather than within.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Catching my attention early

Not sure exactly what's going on in this book - crazy stuff so far.  The first couple of chapters have definitely been compelling to say the least - hope it continues to be good so I can make it through all 577 pages!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Introduction

I just finished the introduction, and, wow, does Ellison jump right into things.  His prose evokes many images, none of which are particularly flattering to the majority of the population.  And his verbal switch to speaking in vernacular lends just the right amount of flavor to the passages, allowing the reader to get a taste of what's to come.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Jump on it doggone it

That's it - NO MORE EXCUSES.  Going to start on the book tomorrow - unfortunately, I didn't get a chance the last two days, so that time I was ahead of the game is quickly slipping away from me.  Guess I need some discipline, don't I? 

Monday, September 2, 2013

Final Thoughts

Such a wild ride in so few pages.  Scott's feelings about the rich really interests me, since I believe he was one of them (or at least fairly well off).  What must he have thought of the crowd he hung around for him to be able to write, "They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money...and let other people clean up the mess they had made."  Quite the social commentary there.

That was the third and final book that made 10 of the 11 "Top 100" lists that were consulted.  I started reading from the list on Sunday, July 28.  I was giving myself two weeks per book (26 books X 2 weeks each = exactly one year), so three books later, I should be six weeks in.  Since Gatsby is so short, however, it was just five weeks yesterday.  So I'm a little ahead of schedule, which is good because this next book is pretty long - almost 600 pages in trade paperback.

That book is the first of the novels that made it onto nine lists - "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison.  First published in 1952, this is a book I have been hearing about all my life but have never read. Knowing the subject matter and how it was especially heady and controversial at the time of publication, I can't wait to sink my teeth into this American classic.


Hitting the fan now...

Just finished chapter seven, and I am still struck by Fitzgerald's ability to paint such a vivid picture with his imagery. You can just picture (whether you want to or not) Mrs. Wilson's limp body lying about for everyone to gawk at as her "left breast was swinging loose like a flap."  This was his true genius; it is truly what makes such a little novella like this still capture people's imagination almost 90 years later. 

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Crazy Days

Been too much stuff going on this weekend - I swear I thought nothing was going to stop me from finishing this book, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen (at least not today).  We'll see if I can't get a couple chapters in tomorrow - after I play tennis with Becca, that is.