Blindness by Jose Saramago

Vasilly selected Blindness by Jose Saramago, calling it one of her favorite books in the world. She didn't elaborate why, but it must be true because she lists this book as her favorite on her blog, other blogs and her PaperBackSwap profile.

I found Blindness to be intriguing and gripping. I can see why Vasilly was so moved by this novel, and I am glad to have read it for this challenge. My review is below and also posted on my blog.

Thanks, V, for sharing this book with me!

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Imagine if you suddenly became blind - your eyes glaze over with a white light, and one by one, your loved ones, neighbors and enemies all become infected by this same white blindness. How would the government respond? How would the medical community deal with this epidemic? And more importantly, how would you survive when you cannot see?

This sense of despair is the central theme to Nobel Prize Winner Jose Saramago's novel, Blindness.

A group of blind people become allies during quarantine at a government facility guarded by soldiers. Within the facility, lawlessness rules over organization, and this band of blinded victims, led by a woman who fakes her blindness so she could stay with her husband, must steal, murder and endure sexual assault to survive these horrible conditions.

Blindness will leave you breathless in parts and exacerbated in others. Translated from Portuguese, the novel is written with run-on dialogues (with no quotation marks or attributions), extremely long paragraphs (some of which take up the entire page) and stream of consciousness writing. Once you get used to the writing style, the novel will leave you wondering: "What would I do if I suddenly became blind?"

I believe Blindness is a social commentary of how "blind" people are even when they can see. Blinded, no one could distinguish between different races, economic classes or intellect. A chamber maid and a doctor are now on the same playing field. With the absence of "normal" distinctions, new ones emerge. Those with food, with weapons, with a place to stay. And those who have nothing - not even hope that they will recover from their sudden blindness.

Readers who enjoyed The Road or other dystopian tales will find Blindness to be enjoyable, exhilarating and gripping. Overall, I am glad to have been introduced to this imaginative piece of Portuguese literature.

PRIZE!!

Hey, I bet you all forgot I said there'd be prizes to this challenge! I'm going to give one at the beginning for a winner of all those who nominated books "about them". Then at the end I'll do a drawing of all those who finished their own reading challenge!

I went to www.random.org, and asked for a random number between 1 and 66. We have 66 participants to this challenge, and they are listed randomly at the bottom of this page. Random.org gave me #17, which was AlisonWonderland! Then I asked it to give me a random # between 1 and 330, which is how many books are on the side bar. It gave me #184, which was A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain off Athena's list!

SO, I'll be sending Alison a copy of A Cook's Tour!!

Now get reading, and I'll do that again at the end! Who knows what you might win!

Review: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Last week I read "Number the Stars", for the Something About Me reading challenge. Two of Lois Lowry's books were nominated, and after reading this one, I'm hoping for time to read "The Giver" as well. This is a very well developed short novel, and I really enjoyed it. I must say, I've read many books about German children during World War II, and never one about Danish children during World War II. I'm sure in some high school history class I probably knew that Denmark was occupied by the Nazis, but it gave me no more of a passing fancy than that. This book gives you yet another perspective of those who were terrorized by the Nazi regime. Oh, and did I say it made me want to visit the Netherlands? Lois Lowry will be hearing more from me.

I'm kinda getting into this YA genre! Oh yay, another 10,000 books for my TBR list. Great.

I bet you thought I forgot

I played a little 30 minute catch-up today reading over all the posts made in the last month and the reviews that are up already. Then I began looking over everyone's lists and making decisions. It was hard--hard,hard, hard. I wanted to make a list of ten and commit to five books from the list. I ended up with 11 or 12 from which I will read at least 6, hopefully more. Here they are:

1000 Splendid Suns (shereads) - I need an excuse to dive into this rather than calling it just "pleasure reading." I've been DYING to read it anyway

Dakota: A Spiritual Geography (Beachreader) - I am also a beach reader and something in the name of this one really appealed to me. It did not lose it's appeal when I looked it up on amazon. I'm very excited about this one.

I Am the Messenger (Jill) - I loved The Book Thief with a pure and wonderful love. I can't wait to read more Zusak

A Gift from the Sea (alisonwonderland) - also one that I have wanted for some time and just needed a kick in the pants to get me on it.

A Girl Named Zippy - one of Nat's choices. 'Nuff said.

Echo Maker/ Mere Christianity (3M) - these are kind of a cheat as I am reading both for other groups, but I am excited about both as well.

Grapes of Wrath (kookiejar)- another that I am reading for another challenge. I hated it in high school, but I think I am a better reader now.

A Walk in the Woods (Wendy) - one of Bill Bryson's I have not read. I so enjoy him though. And I grew up near part of the Appalachain Trail.

Breakfast at Tiffany's (Lucca) - I read my first Capote this year and enjoyed it immensely. I want to read more.

Weetzie Bat (Soliel)- the name and the description totally intrigue me

To Sir, with Love (Gautami) - I watched this movie with my Dad, and we loved it.

The Little Prince

The Little Prince by Antoine Saint-Exupery
(Soleil has Le Petit Prince on her list but zut alors, I can't read French.)

Summary: The narrator is a downed pilot in the Sahara Desert, trying to repair his wrecked plane. His efforts are interrupted one day by the apparition of the Little Prince who asks him to draw a sheep. Absurd as it seemed, he did, and so began their friendship. The Little Prince describes his journey from planet to planet, each tiny world populated by a single adult, as well as his journey across the desert where he discovers the secrets of what's important in life, as well as the power of love.

Favourite parts:
- The narrator's discussion of how he was discouraged from drawing when no adults could recognize his picture of a boa constrictor that had eaten an elephant - a very good example of how adults need more imagination and can't see things from a child's point of view.
- The drawings are very charming.
- The Little Prince's journey to the different planets, each populated by one adult representing an incomprehensible-to-a-child adult trait was a bit heavy-handed but good in a fable-type way. Particularly the ridiculous king who tries to make the Little Prince his judicial minister even though the only other thing on the planet is one rat or the Little Prince could be the judge of himself.

Overall: Honestly, this one just didn't do a lot for me. I feel kind of guilty about that, since it's such a treasured classic. But I'm just not that big on metaphors. I also get irked by children's books that aren't actually for children, as this one seems to be (although its age lets it off the hook a bit for that) - most of the themes would be way beyond a child's reach (they were beyond mine!), apart from the numerous times that adults are pointed out as being silly. I certainly agree with that!

This is going to be blasphemous, but I actually found the Little Prince himself to be rather annoying. He supposedly loved his flower, but he abandoned it quite cruelly. He was incredibly self-centered, although I suppose that the combination of being a child and having been the only person on one's planet would do that to you. I really didn't understand how he charmed the pilot so much, especially when he was in mortal danger and the Little Prince kept harassing him.

I don't know, I probably wasn't coming at it with enough depth or the wrong spirit. I appreciated the message of seeing what's truly important in life with your heart rather than your eyes and liked the observations and humour about grown-ups, but I didn't find it particularly magical and found it quite sad, overall.

What I learned about Soleil: In her blurb about the book she says "I still don't feel like a grownup and I have made some of the same observations he makes about them." So I've learned that we have that in common - I don't feel like a grownup, either! And more power to us, say I! :-)

Oh My Goth

In this young adult novel (chosen by the amazing Stephanie for the Something About Me Challenge), Jade Leigh is a goth girl (you know the type, black lipstick and black nail polish) whose arch enemy, Mercedes (the kind of girl who enjoys wearing pink) makes high school life pretty much unbearable for anyone who is 'different'. In this respect the novel is quite realistic. I know, because in high school I was 'different'. Some would say I still am.

Anyways, as punishment for their constant fighting they are put into a virtual reality game wherein the majority of people in the town are goth and the 'freaks' dress normal (whatever that is supposed to mean). I guess they were supposed to get a taste for each other's situations and come to a better understanding for one another. Which, predictably, they do.

Maybe Goths are different in other parts of the country, or maybe today's young Goths are different from the Goths in my day, but I just never believed that Jade was a real Goth. It seemed like she just lived on the surface of the lifestyle. I've known lots of really dark Gothgirls and I can't imagine any of them reacting to Jade's predicament (sudden popularity in the virtual world) the way she did.

My favorite part was where Jade discovered her normally boring, conservative teacher has spiked hair in the virtual world. The stuff where Jade shares her first kiss was sweet, too. However, I breezed through this one in under 2 hours and it left me ultimately unsatisfied.

This in not the book's fault. It is a light, funny, breezy novel. I just don't care for YA novels. That is my failing. I chose it because it was the only book on Stephanie's list that I hadn't already read and she is one of my favorite bloggers. So, thank you Stephanie for helping me step outside my comfort zone for a little while.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys YA novels, especially ones with strong, smart, independent female heroines.

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

this was really good! it was a fast quick read. and i did enjoy the movie version years ago but the book is so. . . much. . . better!

mia thermopolis is your average high school freshman. she's on the fringe, not pretty (in her words) or popular. she bemoans the fact that she is 5'9, wears a shoe size 10 and an A cup bra. she describes her hair as being 'shaped like a yield sign.' she is in fact adorable. i love that she wears combat boots with her school uniform, is strictly vegetarian and is a devout greenpeace follower. she is so sincere yet so clueless when it comes to boys and the finer aspects of being a girl. this book is written in a diary form complete with algebra notes and little to-do lists.
it was a very quick and fun read. and now i want to read the rest. the movie really condenses the story and kind of twists things around.

i got this from kathrin's list and she said that "This book is for the child in me. I enjoy being like that from time to time. It makes life a bit easier, more fun, more enjoyable..."

thanks kathrin for the recommendation! i wonder if you are at all like mia and lilly. . . ? i love how they are nonconformists and are opinionated and stand up for their beliefs yet also have wacky fun. i love how mia finally learns to assert herself and wises up early to josh's (read most popular boy) antics and tells him off and stands up for herself. i wish they had had that in the movie. . .