Booking Through Thursdays: Worst Best Book

Booking Through Thursdays asks:

What’s the worst ‘best’ book you’ve ever read — the one everyone says is so great, but you can’t figure out why?

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous. I read this when I was about twenty I think, so maybe I didn’t like it because I could no longer relate to Alice. Or maybe I just didn’t like the way she was portrayed? I don’t know. My friend TJ absolutely loves this book. In fact, I read her copy of it.

Normally I like things that have a tinge of mystery around them. I’m fascinated by celebrity deaths, mysterious disappearances, etc. But even that didn’t help this book. The story was just flimsy. She starts off as a pot-smoker and turns into a full-on drug addict? I think it’s just a scary story meant to keep kids on the straight and narrow. Which is fine, but it’s not a very good story.

Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. I know…this is supposed to be The Book. Countless people consider this as their book. But I just didn’t understand it. I couldn’t relate to this upper middle-class snotty kid who has no interest in doing anything and holds everything in disdain. The kid needs a good smack.

I guess it doesn’t help that I didn’t read this as part of my high school English curriculum. I read it by myself because I was told by everyone—including TJ—that this was The Book. I guess I needed that extra education to really appreciate the book. Reading it alone just made me mad at Holden!

The Ghost of Christmas Reflection

According to Wikipedia, Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol was published today in 1843. It's hard to believe, but Dickens wrote the class tale about generosity and family togetherness during Christmas at a time when Christmas wasn't celebrated with much fanfare. England still held a largely Puritan belief regarding Christmas, making it a holiday left uncelebrated by much of the population. So the Christmas that we know and love today—full of good tidings, joy, and mountains of cookies—owes a lot to Tiny Tim and Ebenezer Scrooge.

Within a week of publication, A Christmas Carol sold over 6,000 copies in London. That's no small feat in mid-ninteenth century England! Since then Christmas has transformed into what it is today. I know many people complain that Christmas is too commercial, and doesn't really reflect the moral ideals of society anymore, but even with the over-commercialization, I still think a big part of why Christmas is so important in western society is that it brings families together. Only in December do we make the conscious effort to really see each other, even if it's for a cup of coffee on a blustery December afternoon.

So I just wanted to say thanks, Charles Dickens. You may have just been trying to fill the coffers, but what you inadvertantly changed was our very belief in the holiday. I don't think you really need much more praise than you already get, but I think it's important to note this significant contribution.

Book Review: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

This book is so full of old-timey goodness that it makes me want to buy a pair of pantaloons and a corset, strap myself in and haul butt to New York City, circa 1916.

Times is tough for Francie Nolan and her family. Betty Smith paints a vivid and imaginative picture of life in turn of the last century Brooklyn, New York. Your heart breaks for the sorrow of Johnny Nolan, the doomed patriarch who drinks himself to an early grave, leaving behind his wife, Katie, and their two children, Francie and Neeley. Despite the hard life, Francie, who narrates the story, is able to find joy in her life.

I'm a bit of a promiscuous reader, in that, I read several books at a time. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn started off as a lazy Sunday read which led to a nightly ritual wherein I would read well into the night, bedtime be damned. I even took it on the work commute a few times, just to get a few more pages in. I really liked this book; like I said, it made me want to time travel. And to be honest, isn't that what a good book is supposed to do?

Book Review: Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

What can you say about Anne of Green Gables that hasn't been said by every 10 year-old girl in Canada and a good chunk of the remaining world? Anne is...beguiling; you can't help but fall in love with the little girl that sweeps through Avonlea, winning hearts and minds.

I started this book in prep for a sisterly trip to PEI and I just finished it, over a month after our return. I didn't read any of it while we were there, knowing that I would likely be saturated by all things Anne. I was not wrong. I'm glad I left the rest of the book for my return. After visiting Avonlea, I read the rest of the book with a new-found appreciation. PEI is unlike anywhere else I've been to and it's magic and beauty is captured by L. M. Montgomery's classic tale. It's no wonder people love it still, a hundred years later. While the language may be old-fashioned, the beauty and innocence of a little orphan girl seems to be timeless.

I think I need something contemporary next. Between Anne of Avonlea and Francie Nolan (see previous review, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn) I'm starting to turn into a real puritan, methinks!