1984

 I've heard more and more people mention this book and figured while I was trying to be productive, I could listen to it. 

Winston is living in what was once England in approximately the year 1984, but then again there is no real way to tell which year precisely. Oceania (in the past known as North and South America, the southern half of Africa, southern tip of India, and Australia with the surrounding islands) is ruled by Big Brother. The government that rules everything with a hard fist. He sees everything, hears everything, and is working on even knowing your thoughts. Oceania (much like Euroasia and Eastasia, the only other countries and governments in the world) is productive in resources but it's population is destitute, there aren't enough of anything to go around. War is constant. History is what the government says it was. Winston is one of those people who help change things in all media so then the things that Big Brother doesn't want you to see, remember, or think, you won't. No amount of research into people, places, events, or things exist unless Big Brother says it's okay. And any thought of rebellion against Big Brother can lead you to "thoughtcrimes" where you will be tortured while interrogated and then confessing to anything and every thing. You don't want to get caught in your rebelliousness or you will be interrogated and will eventually confess and then normally die. 

This was a very deep story. One I'm okay with only reading once. It was well written and got the horrible world where Winston lived. It was very well thought out and soooo depressing. It is not a light read in any sense of the word. Torture and heavy mental business was a lot. 

It was eye opening to how a potential could happen. While it might not be as bad, the knowledge that it was so well thought out and could at one point be done or has been done is rather scary. The idea that Big Brother is watching and listening to everything is rather real with so many computers, phones, and other gadgets with cameras, GPS, and mics, let alone the social media getting out thoughts down. Big Brother is here. Government officials not having our best interests at heart and only want power for power's sake is something I know many people worry about. And I know many who feel they can't believe news media in general let alone history books given to kids today. I even remember thinking back in high school how we never got to the present in history classes. We spent so much time studying the Romans and Greeks, the Revolutionary Wars (USA and others), the WW's, and they we would pretty much stop. We never got really into the Cold War and most definitely anything after. I understand the feeling of missing out on history. It raises the question of how much Big Brother is here already. 

It also reminded me very much of We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. A very similar book though that one was a little harder to read in that the narrator is an unreliable one. Though a book still interesting to compare the two books.  

I think it is a good idea for everyone to read though or listen too. Not for the story itself (though it was well written and informative) but for the thoughts about it. 

Prince Caspian

 Prince Caspian is the fourth chronological instalment of The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. 

The Pevensie's make a reappearence and magically find their way to Narnia again. But even though only a year passed while they were in England, more than 1200 years pass in Narnia. Everyone they knew is now gone and Cair Paravel is now in ruins. Many of the beasts don't talk anymore. They find that other human's have conquered Narnia and the imposter king in a horrid man who has tried to kill his nephew, the true heir to the thrown who has joined sides with the Narnians. Prince Caspian had heard of old Narnian stories from his nurse and from his Professor, and after an assassination attempt on his life he flees to the woods and finds the Narnian's he believed to have been extinct. In a desperate need of help, they blow Susan's old horn (which brings the children from England to Narnia) and are hoping Aslan will show up. 

I enjoyed this book. I liked the focus it had on Aslan and how he "doesn't do the same thing twice." So he's not going to be the one to bite Miraz  and kill him like he did the White Witch. He let them do it on their own even though he did end up waking the "resting" creatures at the end of the book. I like that it dove into the fact that only Lucy (who found Narnia in the first place) was able to see him, then the others --based on their faith in Aslan-- were able to see him later. There were many good discussion points for me and my son to talk about. It was great.

The characters could be filled out a little more, but we do still get the differences between each one. Nikabrik and Trumpkin are very different creatures. Same with all of the children. Each ahs their moment of growth, though some may seem very small. I enjoyed the subtle differences. 

I enjoyed it more than the movie in some ways while I liked the movie in others. I liked that there wasn't the bickering over "who's king" in the book. They are all Kings and Queens. In the book, they accept that and don't need fight or hazardously prove themselves to each other. They had more focus than they did in the movie. Though I did like how when they added the major difference between the book and movie (the siege on Miraz's castle) when they fight at the castle and do it on their own, Peter yells, "For Narnia!" and it fails miserably. But for the rest of the time, he relied on and fought "For Aslan!" and each time, they were victorious. That was also an interesting point to talk about with my son.  

 I found it a little sad that there seemed to be so little in the actual story. It went by so quickly and I wanted more. I'm glad there are more books. 

Circe

 Circe is a retelling of the goddess Circe in Homer's Odyssey. 

Circe is a minor goddess, daughter of the Titan Hileos. She is forgotten and ugly compared to the other nymphs and gods she associates with. She can't do anything that her father or mother, also a nymph, does. Circe waits at her fathers feet, forgotten at his counsels and therefor hears everything. The titans are angry with Zeus and the other gods telling them what to do. After her brothers and sister leave to be kings and queens of their own nations, she finds a mortal and falls in love him. To make it so he doesn't die she gives him magics to make him his "true self" and he becomes a god then forgets her. When she confesses to a crime she committed for that love, the gods exile her to the island of Aeaea where she considers it a lenient punishment (for freaking the gods out because of her magic, not for the actual crime itself) and enjoys her solitude away from the ever pompous, obnoxious, and boisterous gods, titans, and nymphs she calls family. While on her island, people come. Hermes brings her news, her sister beckons for her to help with her birth of the Minotaur, and a very few others. Sailors who have lost their way and men take advantage of her isolation. Too late for some magic, she turns them to pigs as she deems there is no other image more suitable for them than swine. More and more sailors breech her shores until one day Odysseus, the famed Greek hero, comes to her island. 

It was a very interesting book. Aside from Percy Jackson, I knew only the bare basics of Greek heroes let alone some of the "villains" of the stories. Circe is very much her own person. Curiosity, yet having bounds on it, is refreshing. And I think it was good to see the repercussions over centuries of deeds, good and bad. Because it is a new fictional piece, it doesn't stick to all of the mythology around her "accurately." There are some stories it completely negates and others it gives a turn to fit the narrative the author wanted. 

Circe was relatable is some instances. She was naive and then grew knowledgeable about the world around her and how the gods manipulated everyone. She understand that manipulation, then refused to be apart of it any more. She was able to weave her magics like she would a cloth, and later her words as well. Her threats became real. I also liked how she would do anything to protect that which was most important to her. 

I also appreciated the way Ms. Miller handled sex. In the story, there was quite a bit of it, but it was never graphic, which I very much appreciate. Even when she was raped by sailors it wasn't harsh (which some people might have problems with, but I don't). It isn't a story of her rape; it is a story of all of her life. She does deal with that moment and invites all the suckling pigs in for bacon and sausage which is pretty crazy and rather nuts, but there is more to someone's life than the injustices they are dealt. 

The other characters were enjoyable as well. They seemed like their own people, which I think can be tricky with "historical" figures, but it was well done. I did find the ending kind of odd in who her two daughters come from... and her other mythological children aren't mentioned. It's weird. It's odd. It's Greek Mythology. 

Please do enjoy it. 

The Horse and His Boy

 Book 3 (in chronological order) of the Chronicles of Narnia focuses not so much on the four children (adults in this book as they are still Kings and Queens of Narnia and haven't made it back to England yet), but on a boy named Shasta, a Tarkeena (daughter of a noble) named Aravis and two talking horses named Bree and Hwen. 

Bree comes to meet Shasta when Bree's owner, a Tarkeen, asks to buy Shasta from his "father" to work as a servant or slave in his house. Shasta overhears that he isn't the son of the fisherman whom he'd believed to be his father. He is too fair skinned to be of Calormen and must actually have come from the north. So upon finding that the Tarkeen's horse can talk and is actually from Narnia, one of the barbarian lands to the North, they make plans to escape and run away to the north so they won't be slaves anymore, but free horse and boy. 

In their travels they bump into a Tarkeena and her talking horse who are also looking for a way north so then she doesn't have to marry the ancient Vizier to the Tizrok (their emperor-sultan-type person.) In order for them all to get into the northern countries, they have to pass through the capital, where Shasta gets mistaken as a visiting dignitary--meeting King Edmond and Queen Susan along the way--and must find a way to escape with his friends. 

There are may little adventures throughout this story, and, like the other two books, it made reading it to my son really easy. Chapters were long enough to fill about 20 to 30 minutes before we had to head off to school or for a good bed time adventure. 

I liked Shasta and the other characters. I wish there was more of Aravis and Hwen, and that their parts in the story were more full. Bree's character arch was good, especially toward the end. Corin was an interesting character and it would be interesting to have had more about the royal connections he has. I do think that Rabadash was a bit Ridiculous, haha, he seemed somewhat unbelievable in his manners toward Queen Susan and his whining. Adults who whine irritate me. 

It was nice to see King Edmond, Queen Susan, and Queen Lucy. I liked the fact that Lucy went out to war as well. I feel like that is something that C.S. Lewis did well before many others did. My knowledge in how often women went to war is stories of the past is rather limited, but from what I have read it's not something that was done often. Even "staying with the archers" wasn't something I aware happened often. 

It was interesting to find that so many other types of people (not just the Narnians) are there on this world. It wasn't something I realized was the case until this book. Calormen does have a very "stereotyped" Arabain culture. I realize throughout history (and probably through modernity too), it is what people pulled to in order to have something be exotic. I also realize that this book was published quite a while ago (though not that far ago). I was saddened by, what I felt, was a lack of imagination. I love world building and this seemed somewhat like a let down. 

Aslan is always there and made my son happy to have Him back. It was a good instructional point for me to have with my son, because Aslan represents Jesus Christ/God. And to start to have the conversation of "Jesus is always with you and watching and will help lead you to where you're supposed to be and sometimes you won't come out unscathed" was good. Hooray for morals of the story. 

Over all, I enjoyed the story. Slow at parts, somewhat predictable, but it was nice good. 

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

 The second official book of the Chronicles of Narnia and the one that most people know. 

During the Bombing of London, the Pevensie children are sent to live at old Professor Digory Kirke (the Magician's Nephew). In his home in the country, Lucy finds a wardrobe and in the back of it is Narnia instead of the back of the wardrobe. Narnia, a whole new world covered in a thick layer of snow. Finding a lamp post and a faun. Once her siblings find their way in they find there is more than they thought. A witch is hunting them so they can't fulfill a prophecy and Aslan, the Mighty Lion, is coming back to face the witch. 

I enjoy this story, though sometimes the way C.S. Lewis writes can be hard some times and doesn't flow as "nicely" as the more modern writers do. But that just comes with the times. 

I love the metaphor for the Atonement of Christ. In explaining what was happening to my son and the parallels between Jesus and Aslan, I think it helped him better understand what Christ had done for us. I also like that at the end the all become Kings and Queens. Not one of them is subservient to another, just like I believe will be the case after Christ returns. I also enjoy how playful Aslan is with the children, and that the witch is absolutely terrified of him (which wasn't the case in the movie). 

The Magician's Nephew

The first book in the Chronicles of Narnia series. Having never read these books, I found them quiet interesting and I wasn't opposed to the Christian metaphors. 

Two children become friends over the summer and decide to go exploring in the attic crawl space between the townhouses. Instead of going to the empty house, they find themselves entering into Digory's uncles study who gives them magical rings. Being tricked by his uncle, they find themselves in the world in between worlds. Before finding their way back to their own world, they find their way to another. A dead world where the only people "living" are sleeping. They wake one woman, the most beautiful  and terrifying  of them all and she comes back with them to London. Jadis, Witch Queen, in the middle of London. Digory and Polly were able to get her back to the place between worlds  and found themselves in a new world that was just created by Aslan the Lion. Narnia is created and Jadis is terrified. 

Knowing that this is a metaphor for Jesus Christ and Satan and even the Garden of Eden, I liked it. The beginning of the story was very different from what I expected and the similarities were not so in your face to be hideously obnoxious. 

There were times that were rather humorous and the fact that I could read a chapter to my son within 20 minutes to a half hour makes for good bedtime stories. 

This is one that I might not be super excited to jump into again, but I'm ready for the rest of the series. 

The Giving Tree

 I normally don't rate children's books, but this was just awful. 

I remember seeing this in the library as a kid, but because I didn't like to read much I never picked it up. Shel Silverstens' poetry books were fun and interesting to listen to in my elementary school, so when my son brought this home from his school library I was kind of excited. It would be new for the both of us. I had heard some not so favorable critics without much of an explanation as to why they disliked it, but "hey, we'll give it a chance."

A boy and an apple tree. She, the tree, was happy when the boy played around her, climbed into her branches, eat the apples she produced, and slept in her shade; he even carves his "Me + T" with a heart around it, like people do. (Okay, that's sweet.) But then he grows up and she is sad. He comes back older and she asks if he'll play like he used to. But no, he's too busy and wants money. "Can you give me money?" (My thoughts: "We'll he's a selfish brat. I hope he learns a lesson.") "No, but you can take my apples and sell them for money." ("Okay...") So he does and leaves. "And she's happy." (Alright...) He comes back again and again and she keeps giving, he branches so he can build a house, her trunk so he can build a boat, and now she is left seriously only being a stump. ("What the heck, book?!)

By the time he said he wanted a boat, my son started crying. He didn't want to finish it because now this kind tree has given everything and now she is practically nothing. "He killed her," my son said. I'm like, "Yeah, what the crap." 

At the end, he comes back as an old, hunched man and (not even apologizing) ends up sitting on her, the stump, so he can rest. "And she's happy." 

No, she's not happy. She has used up everything that she has--he has literally chopped her down--to "help" this ungrateful boy. Yes, he played and had fun at the beginning, but all he did was take and take and take and gave nothing in return. Ever. The tree's thought process was pretty much, "If he's around, it's enough." No the heck it's not. For a small moment of him being a child, he was kind, but decades pass without him around and when he does, all he wants is a little "some'em some'em" and that's enough for her. No. He is a toxic, abusive person who only wants money, houses, boats, and he literally sits on her in the end. He uses and abuses her. 

I've seen enough ladies around me who are being abused domestically, some don't know how to get out, some refuse to see it as abuse saying "I can change him" or "If I give more he'll love me like he used to" or "I'm here for the kids" or whatever other variation there is. That is exactly what this tree is doing. She's giving permission to be used and abused and, again, literally chopped down. She's no longer a tree! 

Women, and men, all over the place give up so much of their energy, time, at points their whole being for the relationships in their life. For mom's and dad's, we give so much even bringing them into the world where we have the high possibility of dying. We stay up late. We get up early. But for the most part, there is a constant love from our children which makes it all worth it. There are constantly times that let us know that having kids is worth it. We watch the children become men and women and have children of their own. We get things back. We get time and Mother's Day and Father's Day cards and weird paintings or drawings or super odd play-do statues, and good night hugs and kisses. We don't just give and get nothing in return. 

For healthy relationships in a marriage, there is time together, conversation, intimacies in all their variety, dinners, dates, folding laundry together, spring cleaning and repair projects, and so many other things. Good, healthy relationships aren't something that you go 50/50 on. Both people put 100% into their marriage. They constantly show their love, devotion, and loyalty. You give just as much as you are given. 

I saw other critics of this book saying that it shows "perfect altruism," which is "a belief in or practice of disinterest or selfless concern for the well-being of others." That is well and good, in my opinion, for short term relationships or the beginning of relationships. But for long lasting, healthy relationships, this is a horrible idea. This is a way of abuse. If someone were to do this all the time, they would be left with nothing. They would be a heap on the ground, a stump in the dirt, and are then left with the ability to not help anyone at all. This tree is no longer a tree, no longer has apples or branches or trunk. A person isn't a person anymore. All of their once hobbies fade, their longer lasting cheer recedes, and they become hollow and beyond unhappy. 

I would be all for this book being banned because there are so many people who already thing this is okay, "normal," "if I just do a little more..." It's not okay. These are unhealthy relationships that need counseling or to be stopped and ended. 

It's not worth it ladies. 

It's not worth it gents. 

Kids, don't me selfish. Be giving. But also know that self care is important too. Monitoring your own self and not becoming a stump is more important. If you don't, then you will end up with nothing more to really give. 

***

How it should have ended: not using a friend for money or gain, but as he grew older, he could have brought his own children to the tree and let them play in her branches. Then "she was happy."