Books I Read in Kenya

I read three books while traveling to and from Kenya. By the way it was about 40 hours of flight time. I mostly watched movies on the plane. Virgin Atlantic was amazing. We had our own screen with our choice of about 60 movies to watch at any time. My highlights were Blood Diamond and Hot Fuzz - both amazing for different reasons.

Books:
1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I highly recommend this book to anyone. It becomes a bit over-the-top at times, but the plot is riveting and the writing style is enjoyable while being literary. I think this has the potential to be a modern classic.

2. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. I have never read this classic and I have just recently started exploring Hemingway. I actually really enjoyed this book even though most people I talk to hated it. I love the commitment and love the boy has for the old man. I love the old man's determination and love for the boy. I only wish Hemingway didn't always have to break my heart.

3. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. I avoided this book because of it's commercialization by Starbucks. I just get annoyed by people who think they can read a book from Starbucks or buy a (RED) product or go to an Invisible Children event and think that they are "doing something" for Africa. My mom gave me this book before I left and I LOVED IT. I highly highly recommend it. It's an incredible and true story of this boy who has his entire life turned upside down in so many ways. Go read it.

By the way, I officially HATE Sparks Notes and all those things. So many high school kids have never read a book because they just read the Sparks Notes. It's also weird that no one has heard of Cliffs Notes anymore. What happened to them? They should all be banned by the government. That's a legislation I would vote for.

I Love Jason Bourne...

but not in a weird way. He just rules. Bea and I saw the new movie last night - Bourne Ultimatum. It rocked. Fast moving. Tough. Heroic. Human. I would definitely go see it soon.

I also finished the new Harry Potter book yesterday. It was a pretty tidy ending with some sad stuff. I liked the ending after all seven of those books.

A Farewell to Arms thoughts

I finished reading "A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway a few days ago. A perfect title for a peace-lover like me, but that's not the point. If you think you might read this book and don't know the plot I wouldn't read this post.

The book is set in WWI Italy where the main character, Frederic Henry, is an American lieutenant serving with the Italians and leading a group of ambulances taking injured men back from the front. He has a charming wit and makes many friends near the beginning of the book and begins to use that charm on an English girl named Catherine who is a nurse. They begin a coy sort of romance just behind the front between Italy and Austria.

Then Henry or Tenente as he is called in the book is sent to the front and his leg gets badly wounded by shrapnel from an artillery explosion. He then gets sent back to Milan to a hospital and Catherine is sent there as a nurse. They fall deeply in love and are constantly drinking - to the point where he becomes jaundiced. It's the sort of drinking that sounds very romantic - different Italian wines and brandies and vermouth in cafes and ristorantes. But its all the time throughout the book. They find out that Catherine is pregnant just before he is sent back to the front. While up there, a massive retreat is ordered for the Italians. While he is retreating with his men many bad things happen and he is separated from all but a few. While they are crossing a bridge into a city while marching with hundreds of other soldiers he notices that all the officers are being taken to the side and "questioned." It turns out that people don't like the idea of a retreat and are forming a new army and killing all the officers. Henry escapes by jumping into the river and then gets on a train and hides. He makes it back to Milan to find out that Catherine is in a small village near the border of Switzerland and Italy. He goes there and before he is arrested they both escape in a rowboat across a lake into Switzerland. She is drinking with him and helping row the boat.

They make it to Switzerland and are living happily, deeply in love, continuing to drink fancy wine and have a romantic life until it comes time to have the baby. They head to the hospital where she excessively takes the "gas" for pain. The doctor declares that she must have a c-section after her blood pressure drops drastically (remember this is WWI).

The baby is delivered dead and shortly thereafter Catherine dies. The End.

AAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

This book was superbly written and it was so fun to listen in on the playful conversations between Henry and Catherine. Henry overcomes so many difficulties - being at the front of WWI, getting a huge leg injury, going back to the front, escaping assassination, finding his love, rowing 28 km across a lake at night in the rain to escape, AND THEN THE GIRL AND THE BABY DIE!!

AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was so frustrating. It turns out that Hemingway was a huge drinker, served in WWI, and ended up committing suicide later in life.

It's so sad that people will throw away brilliant gifts and beautiful relationships for the love of alcohol and self.

Great book, but like many other great books, very frustrating. This is a picture of Ernest Hemingway in Milan in 1918.

Tolkien Writes a New Book

Check this out. JRR Tolkien's son finished a book that Tolkien started long ago. It comes out April 17. As my brother-in-law Christopher said in his email to me, "Can you say, pre-order?"

Check out the story here.