W: LP: GRP: SW: Korea

Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles by Simon Winchester

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book, but my only regret is that it was written in the late 1980's. I would like to read something that covers the last twenty years since this book was published. For now, I'll have to content myself with Wikipedia articles and archived news reports.

The book did make me want to visit Korea. I worked for a Korean company here stateside for a short time, and I wish I had read the book before working there as it would have given me a bit more insight in how to deal with the boss. As an American, I am ashamed by the idiot infantrymen stationed in Korea that for better or worse represent the USA to the Korean people. But I have always gotten along with the Koreans that I have known here in the states, and I am sure that if I visited Korea I would love the people. The book is definitely worth your time as long as you make allowances for the author's biases.



View all my reviews

W: LP: GRP: JK: On the Road and other novels

Jack Kerouac: Road Novels 1957-1960 by Jack Kerouac

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

08/17/2011 Update:

I liked "Lonesome Traveler" as much as "On the Road", and in fact the last section of Lonesome Traveler, "The Vanishing American Hobo", portrays the tightening noose of anti-liberty in America starting at the fringes. Today the noose is so tight that we are starting to choke. You couldn't have Walt Whitman today (he'd be arrested) unless he was on a government grant and had papers to prove it. Anyway the collection is worth reading for completeness.

jri.

08/12/2011 Post:

I'm finally getting back to this collection. I find that, except for "On the Road", I have to be in the right mood to read Kerouac. Just finished "The Subterraneans". I think Kerouac's 'stream-of-consciousness' writing is more accessible than James Joyce's, but of course each writer is unique. These two writers, together with Thomas Pynchon, constitute my periodic immersion in what I categorize as post-modern writing. I'll probably add Joseph Heller's "Catch 22" to the mix eventually for the full trip. All-in-all, however, I like the poetic-ness of Kerouac better. This type of literature is not good to hold up as an example of how to write, but it is entertaining and often times the subjects addressed in the fictions are worth contemplating.



Novo Visum,

Neue Ansicht.



View all my reviews

W: LP: RAH: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is laden with great ideas, and may be considered subversive by those opposed to liberty. Just finished it for the second time and loved it. I should be getting a paper copy (listened to audible version this time around) next week, at which time I shall start quoting portions here to stimulate discussion of the ideas contained within. Beyond the great ideas in the book, I also marveled at the perfect pacing of the events in the story and enjoyed all the various characters. The basic science within the story is what makes it "hard" science fiction, but enjoyable in the tradition of the golden age of this genre.

I'll have updates posted here when I have time.

For now,

Novo Visum,
Neue Ansicht.



View all my reviews

W: LP: GRP: HN: Out of Solitude

Out of Solitude; Three Meditations on the Christian Life, by Henri J.M. Nouwen
This was light but profound, and it's as if the author had read Bonhoeffer's "Life Together" because there were some places where the words were eerily parallel. This will be re-read again as there is so much to mine that I might as well post the entire contents. The author uses the biblical dialectic like Bonhoeffer does in the above referenced work. Here is an example from the Introduction:

"I want to reflect on this lonely place in our lives. Somewhere we know that without a lonely place our lives are in danger. Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals, that without distance closeness cannot cure. Somewhere we know that without a lonely place our actions quickly become empty gestures. The careful balance between silence and words, withdrawal and involvement, distance and closeness, solitude and community forms the basis of the Christian life and should therefore be the subject of our most personal attention. Let us therefore look somewhat closer, first at our life in action, and then at our life in solitude."