All Consuming : badvirtue

Amazing!!

nobody@allconsuming.net (badvirtue) — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 11:18:45 GMT

Things Fall Apart: A Novel

by Chinua Achebe

details the destruction of a culture and thru it a mans whole way of life.

Religion the great destroyer!!

Boring

nobody@allconsuming.net (badvirtue) — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 12:53:33 GMT

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Full-Color Collector's Edition)

by C. S. Lewis

Just didn’t hold my interest. I guess I’m to old to enjoy such a juvenile book. I should have read it when I was 12 not 37. I imagine though that even at a younger age I wouldn’t have care for it. Just not enough there to get into.

Shortest book on list

nobody@allconsuming.net (badvirtue) — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 12:31:48 GMT

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

by Judy Blume

I read this because it was the shortest book on the Times list I’m trying to complete.

It was interesting to see how darn much girls want to fit in. being a guy I would ask God for the latest sneakers to fit in or for my mom not to find out things that I did. So I could relate some what.

The funniest part was when she got a training bra and asked god if he wouldn’t mind filling them with something….I darn near laughed myself outta my chair.

Just Finished (rated 3 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (badvirtue) — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 12:26:02 GMT

Open Water 2

I picked this up at a red box and saw it just about an hour ago.

It won’t win an oscar or anything but the acting was fair the situation they were in was intense and you had some feeling for the characters involved.

A good way to kill two hours.

Pretty Good (rated 4 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (badvirtue) — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 12:23:19 GMT

Dying to Say This to You

by The Sounds

Lately its been hard for me to find any good music, so even though i really only like 2 songs off the album, I’ll take it.

The songs I like:

Song with a mission & Painted by Numbers.

Pretty Good (rated 3 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (badvirtue) — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 11:18:41 GMT

The Catcher in the Rye

It got kinda of tiring reading a curse word every other sentence but other than thought it was an entertaining read and had some funny parts to it.

I like the part where he explains how tiring it is to listen to some blow hard rave on about how important he is because he donoted a bunch of money or such. It reminds me of that commercial where the guy is sitting in the expensive car and shouting out the window “Beacuse I make more money than you”.

I know that most people in America are impressed with money or prestige and that they assume it makes the man or woman. For me I judge people on personality alone, are they happy with life and with themselves. If they are you have usually found a very interesting person to talk to and get to know.

I found the main character a little to childish and cynical. He really hit the nail on the head about how fake people can be though.

Lessons

nobody@allconsuming.net (badvirtue) — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 11:30:03 GMT

The Great Gatsby

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The lessons it teaches are good but the writing is quit drab and boring.

Funny thing

nobody@allconsuming.net (badvirtue) — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 11:18:47 GMT

The Grapes of Wrath (Centennial Edition)

by John Steinbeck

The family in this story might be fictional but the tale it told was true. How capitalism has exploited the working poor thru out the history of America. The stuff with the peach picking and pitting one starving group of workers against another were why unions were born.

Now instead of pitting Americans against Americans our jobs are being sent over seas because those workers will take less and won’t ask for crazy things like healthcare and a retirement plan.

Another ploy is letting Illegal immigrants cross over and do the jobs “Americans won’t do”. Yeah we won’t do them for 5$ an hour with no benefits. The answer is not to look for a cheaper labor source but to actually pay a fair wage and only trade with countries that do the same.

Still after all this you almost feel like crying when she offers the dying man her breast just after the loss of her child. I felt emotionally spent after this book.

An all time great!!!!!!!!

Thoughts

nobody@allconsuming.net (badvirtue) — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 10:55:15 GMT

The Bridge of San Luis Rey (Perennial Classics)

by Thornton Wilder

Thornton Wilder said the purpose of the book was to pose the question.. “Is there a direction and meaning in lives beyond the individual’s own will?”

In my life I’ve known many people who no matter how hard they push in one direction they seem to end at the opposite direction, so I find this question as hard to answer as (Why are we here?)

The more interesting feature to the book is the lesson you learn about love. The Marquesa loves her daughter Clara so much but receives none back. To love and not be loved back is a most terrible feeling and no matter how much love you have for someone you can’t change them.

A new meaning for new times

nobody@allconsuming.net (badvirtue) — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 10:24:58 GMT

Animal Farm

by George Orwell

This book was originally written with an eye towards describing communism but I think it also hits the nail on the head regarding capitalism and ultimatley democracy as a whole.One only has to look at America in it’s current state to see that.

Like John Edwards is famous for saying about the two Americas, one for the rich and another for everyone else.

All animals are equal/But some are more equal than others.

This plays out everyday in the criminal justice system, healthcare and so on. An old motto of America was work hard and everything will work out for you. Heck now about 46% of Americans can’t even afford healthcare.

When looking thru that window you now can’t tell the difference between a communist or a capitalist. All the money ends up going to only about 2% of the population either way.

Boring

nobody@allconsuming.net (badvirtue) — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 20:35:43 GMT

Ulysses (Vintage International)

by James Joyce

This style of writing is definitely not for me!!! It’s a boring rambling mess!!

Great Series

nobody@allconsuming.net (badvirtue) — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 05:55:16 GMT

The Lord of the Rings (50th Anniversary Edition)

by J.R.R. Tolkien

This was the first series that I had ever completed. I was forced to read the hobbit for college prep English in 9th grade. Up until that point reading was not an important activity in my life. I found the characters and story line so compelling it forever changed how I viewed books. I went on to read the rest of the series and soon became an addict to the whole fantasy novel genre.

Even though thru the years I have found far better fantasy novels than this one I would still recommend this to anyone wishing to escape for a little while.

Good read.

nobody@allconsuming.net (badvirtue) — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 05:46:09 GMT

Pride and Prejudice (Penguin Classics)

by Jane Austen

Over all a pretty good read. I wouldn’t include it in the top 100 books i’ve ever read. I think the story ran a little slow and the characters for the most part seemed to lack many angles to their personality, probably because of the times they lived in. Which leads me to the one reason I did like the book. The abilty to see the social constrictions that people of that day had to live within was quite interesting.