Books
It wasn’t a good week reading-wise for me as I hinted in the last post. I started with Robert Arthur Alexie’s Porcupines and China Dolls and it’s horrible. It’s supposed to be and Alexie is a great author for making me not want to read about these characters’ depressing, alcoholic lives because they are a little too real. But maybe he’s too good because if it wasn’t for a promise I’d made, I would have put the book aside and would not have finished it because the main character is so self-destructive and it seems like there’s no escape from this vicious circle of alcohol and abuse.
I’m really surprised Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave is from the late 17th century (1688). Yes, there are some horrible parts like where the other slaves worship Oroonoko because he’s a prince even though a few sentences before there was a mention of him being the one who enslaved and sold most of those people in the first place. And because Oroonoko is cultured and was kidnapped into slavery (whereas the other slaves are don’t speak English but were also kidnapped into slavery), he becomes friends with his owner who is horrified by Oroonoko’s story and wants to set him free, only wanting to keep people who were enslaved honestly. But yeah, 1688.
And because it seemed like everyone was talking about it last year and I wanted to see if I could buy it for my sister as a Christmas present (I can’t; she wouldn’t like it), I read The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and I don’t think I get it. Maybe it’s just not my thing. I’ve never enjoyed young adult novels. I went in with no expectations, I had no idea what the story was about, I only walked past a poster for the movie for several months and assumed it was about a girl. I’m glad it wasn’t about romance and love triangles but the constant “and then I read that book” followed by a completely meaningless paragraph about it really got on my nerves as did the English teacher who felt like the kid was so talented because I really couldn’t tell he was especially bright from his behavior or his thought processes.
This week, I’m reading Indian Horse by some author whose name I don’t know, the third and last novel about residential schools, and then probably The Women of Brewster Place by Glorian Naylor. I’ll start Barba ensopada de sangue (Blood-Soaked Beard) by Daniel Galera but I probably won’t get done because it takes me ages to finish something in Portuguese.
I’m really surprised Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave is from the late 17th century (1688). Yes, there are some horrible parts like where the other slaves worship Oroonoko because he’s a prince even though a few sentences before there was a mention of him being the one who enslaved and sold most of those people in the first place. And because Oroonoko is cultured and was kidnapped into slavery (whereas the other slaves are don’t speak English but were also kidnapped into slavery), he becomes friends with his owner who is horrified by Oroonoko’s story and wants to set him free, only wanting to keep people who were enslaved honestly. But yeah, 1688.
And because it seemed like everyone was talking about it last year and I wanted to see if I could buy it for my sister as a Christmas present (I can’t; she wouldn’t like it), I read The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and I don’t think I get it. Maybe it’s just not my thing. I’ve never enjoyed young adult novels. I went in with no expectations, I had no idea what the story was about, I only walked past a poster for the movie for several months and assumed it was about a girl. I’m glad it wasn’t about romance and love triangles but the constant “and then I read that book” followed by a completely meaningless paragraph about it really got on my nerves as did the English teacher who felt like the kid was so talented because I really couldn’t tell he was especially bright from his behavior or his thought processes.
This week, I’m reading Indian Horse by some author whose name I don’t know, the third and last novel about residential schools, and then probably The Women of Brewster Place by Glorian Naylor. I’ll start Barba ensopada de sangue (Blood-Soaked Beard) by Daniel Galera but I probably won’t get done because it takes me ages to finish something in Portuguese.