The Interesting Narative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

Title: The Interesting Narative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
Author: Olaudah Equiano
Recommended by: Who knows?

I can't really remember how I got my hands on this book, but it was really interesting. Olaudah Equiano was an African who was taken into the slave trade in 1760. He was a slave in the area around the virgin islands, and worked as a sailor for his master until he earned his freedom, and took to being a freeman sailor, and finally moved to England where he wrote this book.

The book is about his life, and he wrote it to speak on some of the terrible things he'd seen in the course of it. He makes the point that slavery should be banned though he never makes a formal case against it, he lets his witness speak. It really made me think a lot about the condition of the world then, and that slavery wasn't only bad because it made people unequal, but it also poisoned the minds and actions of people. Olaudah talks about times when as a freeman he is almost taken back into slavery, or how people would cheat him and steal his goods, because a freeman didn't really have rights protected by law.

Other than that, there's a lot of talk about his time on different boats, and how the sailing life was. The author also explains his coming to the christian faith in steps throughout his life.

One of my goals this year is to read more biographies, and I feel that autobiographies usually have a feel to them like the author is making much of himself, but this account seems a exercise in humility, because Olaudah never makes much of his own actions, but seems a faithful observer of the things going on around him.

Recommendation: 9/10, It's pretty short, and turns the wheels.

2007 Finished Reading List

Alright, 2007, quite the year. I broke my own personal record by reading 39 books this year. I didn't write about all these books, but if there's anything you really want to hear about, you can comment, and I'll write a review of it, if you want.

Here's the list of Title - Author - Date Finished:

Busting Vegas - Ben Mezrich - 1/4
The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera - 1/7
Itching Parrot - Fernandez De Lizardi - 1/16
Life of Pi - Yann Martel - 2/2
Fight club - Chuck palahniuk - 2/6
The narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket - Edgar Allan Poe - 2/13
The starfish and the Spider - Ori Brafman & Rod Beckstrom - 2/22
Dune Messiah - Frank Herbert - 3/4
Eats, Shoots, & Leaves - Lynne Truss - 3/15
Battle Royale - Koushun Takami - 3/26
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M. Pirsig - 4/3
Shopgirl - a nolleva - Steve Martin - 4/7
Same kind of different as me - Ron Hall - 4/16
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas - 4/17
A man without a country - Kurt Vonnegut - 4/18
Ugly Americans - Ben Mezrich - 4/24
No one belongs here more than you - Miranda July - 5/30
The Golden Man - Phillip K. Dick - 6/1
Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe - 7/8
The alphabet of manliness - Maddox - 7/15
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -JK Rowling - 7/31
Amarillo Slim: In a world full of fat people - Amarillo Slim - 8/4
Make Love: the Bruce Campbell Way - Bruce Campbell - 8/16
Arabian Nights: 10 selected stories - 8/20
I am Legend - Richard Matheson - 8/22
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time - Mark Haddon - 8/28
If chins could kill: Confessions of a B movie actor - Bruce Campbell -8/31
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - 9/20
The Backwash squeeze & other improbable feats: a newcomer's journey into the world of bridge - Edward McPherson - 9/28
Velvet Elvis : repainting the christian faith - Rob Bell - 10/26
The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman - 11/7
License to steal - Dennis Marlock - 11/9
The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman - 11/19
The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman 12/4
Next - Michael Criton - 12/15
A hog on Ice and other curious expressions - Charles Earle Funk - 12/26
They speak with other tongues - John L. Sherrill - 12/26
Magic in Action - Richard Bandler - 12/26

The Kite Runner

Title: The Kite Runner
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Recommended by: Francine Ndaribamare, Aaron Kite, and my mother.

Well, a bunch of people have recommended this book to me, but I've been pretty hesitant to pick it up. It's about Afghanistan, and my last experience with Afghanistan was Rambo 3, and that movie was really boring for the first like 40 minutes. (sidenote: I hear that Rambo 3 picks up at the end, and he blows up a horizon, or something like that) Anyway, I finally decided to give this book a go.

The story is about the life of a boy who grew up in Afghanistan, and then flees the country with his father after the political structure of the country starts to fail. Also, the story involves the boy's best friend, who is his family's servant, and the events that bring them apart. The story also has some pretty dark spots.

I really liked all of the characters in this book, I thought they all had very strong presences in the story. The main thing I didn't like was that the main character never really seems to change. In the story of him growing up, and into his adult life, he pretty much always acts the same way. And I guess it's a type of character development to have the character always fall into the same traps, but I enjoy a more dynamic development, involving epiphany and change. I also really enjoyed the ending of this story, I thought it was very strong, building up from the whole story, without the need for any shock value.

Recommendation: 7/10, If it's between reading this book, or watching Rambo 2, I'd watch Rambo 2. Because Rambo blows up a waterfall in it.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Title:The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Author: Mark Haddon
Recommended by: none, a table?

When I went into the bookstore to get I am Legend, there was a table with books on it, a common sight in a book store. And there were a lot of books I'd read and liked, and since they were all on the same table, I saw this book, and then rented it from the library the next day. (Yeah, I pretty much only use bookstores as convenient browsing sites for books.)

The story is about a mildly autistic kid, who's trying to figure out who killed a dog in his neighborhood. But the book isn't really about that at all, the kid himself is writing the book, and it's really cool to see into his mind and how he thinks about things. The kid is also good at math, and there are some fun math bits thrown into the book. Also, it all takes place in England, so that makes it a little more exciting, somehow. Also, the kid likes outer space and machines and math, so I guess I'm a little biased on the topics.

Note to clarify: This book is fiction, the author is not autistic, but he does work with autistic kids.

Recommendation: 8/10, it's a quick read, and has some well done character development.

I am Legend

Title: I am Legend
Author: Richard Matheson
Recommended by: Andrew Sharp

I was talking to Andrew Sharp about that new Will Smith movie coming out (what are the odds he'll make a song for it? high.) It's called I am Legend, and it's based off this book. Andrew was the one who informed me that there was a book, so I started searching for it at my local librarys and across OhioLink (it's a big network connecting a lot of libraries in Ohio). I couldn't find a copy, so I actually went out and bought it, cause I was really interested.

The story is about a future where a plague has turned it's victims into what appear to be vampires. The main character is all alone in LA and has holed up in his house at night, and during the day he hunts down these vampires. The main character eventually searches out what causes the plague, and tries to scientifically find out why vampires react to garlic, crosses, and if the only way to kill one is with a wooden stake.

I really enjoyed this book because it wasn't a horror story at all. I'm not a big fan of scary books, or movies, and the writing in this was great because it focused a lot on the main character's human element, which is the very thing seperating him from the vampires.

Recommendation: 9/10, this is the best vampire book since Dracula, maybe better.

Make Love: The Bruce Campbell way

Title: Make Love: The Bruce Campbell way
Author: Bruce Campbell
Recommended by: Jason Hall (double indirectly)

My buddy Jason works on google reader, and he got me using it, and I think it's great. Anyway, one of his shared items on google reader was about Bruce Campbell, and it made me decide to check out any books Bruce Campbell had written. (Shared items are pretty great, if Jason reads something exciting from his google reader subscriptions he can share it, and then people who read his shared items can read it too.)

This book was about Bruce Campbell making it big. (If you don't know who Bruce Campbell is, he was in a lot of B-movies.) So in the book, he gets to be in a big budget romatic comedy called "Let's make love" with A-list actors like Richard Gere. As filming for the movie goes on, and Bruce sugests some ideas, the movie quickly becomes full of B-movie type gags, and gets a little out of control.

The story is really entertaining, it starts out pretty believable, but by the end of the book, everything is crazy and out of hand. But this happens in such a gradual way, that I didn't even realize how crazy it had become until I stepped back and tried to explain the story to my friend Mark. I also really enjoyed this book since it was one of the first really funny books I've read this year.

Recommendation: 9/10, If you've ever liked anything that had Bruce Campbell, you'll like this.

Robinson Crusoe

Title: Robinson Crusoe
Author: Daniel Defoe
Recommended by: John Jencson

This book also came recommended in the conversation with John Jencson about reading the classics. Always a good idea.

This book is about a man who grows up in an upper middle class type of family, but is intrigued by the sea, and leaves to make his fortune at sea against his father's wishes. He gets shipwrecked alone, and lives for more than 20 years on an island. He's pretty clever in how he makes his life easier on the island, and how he stays busy with the grand projects he undertakes.

Maybe my favorite thing about this book is his faith, how he leaves it as a youth, and returns in times of trouble, only to lose it when the danger's past, to his finding full comfort in it. What I really like is that the book seems to reference the topic of faith in such an easy way. It's clear that it's not what the book is about, but it's also clearly a part of the character. I thought both The Itching Parrot and The Count of Monte Cristo both did a great job with this too. It's probably due to the fact that these books all came from a couple hundred years ago.

Anyway, it was a great book, my only complaint was that the only copy I had was from like 1960. And since I'm a big fan of early modern english writing, I felt I missed out since I had a "updated" translation.

Recommendation: 9/10, It's a great story, and connects the reader well with the main character.