Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad
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| Book One Sorry, I thought I could rotate the image, but I don't think blogger is that sophisticated yet |
What [is this book about]
This book is about a ship captain who tells the story of his travels to the Congo in the 1800's and his meeting of Kurtz, a Belgium ivory trader. This book is a classic and apparently some teachers torture their students with it's reading.
Why [did I chose to read it] I am interested in learning more about the world I live in. I don't know very much history, and especially other countries histories, and I'd like to invest in it a bit more. Wikipedia tells me this book is fictitious, but when I started reading it, I thought it was a true story. Bummer.
When [did I start and finish it] It's pretty hard to believe, but this is the hardest book I've read in a long time. It's a mere 72 pages, but it has no chapters and no page breaks at all, so every time I started reading again, it was like starting over. I started sometime after Christmas and finished on January 9.
Where [did I get it] Andy's sister Betsy spent some time in the Congo and I asked her to reccomend some good books about the Congo. She sent me three for Christmas, so be looking for the next two sometime soon!
Who [should read this book] Anyone having trouble falling asleep at night, anyone whose teacher makes them read it, and anyone who wants to learn more about fictitious African history. Also, anyone who is trying to read the "classics".
How [will my life change as a result] I don't know that it will. I learned that reading non-fiction is a much slower process than reading fiction. I learned that Betsy is much smarter than me (though, I already knew that).
*My goal in 2011 is to read 50 books. Pretty ambitions, I know. But I love to read and I am excited to take on the challenge. Probably the biggest reason it is a challenge is because I plan to read intentionally. What does that mean?
Well for me, reading more intentionally means three things:
1. less fiction. I can read a good fiction book in a couple of days!
2. more non-fiction, classics, and books I can learn from.
3. keeping this blog as my digital diary.
So here we go! Let's see how many I can do and what I can learn and share with you!
P.S. Would LOVE any suggestions you have for books to read this year!
P.S.S. As I started this project, I remembered that I used to love doing book reports in school, so I have aptly titled this blog series 2011: Book Reports
4 comments:
Celina, you use what one of my pastors called "The Reporter Questions" for your book report. I just wrote a lesson for Pastor's Discipleship Network on using the Reporter Questions for Bible study. ;-)
For book recommendation? I love Kathleen Norris' work. Her big 3 are Dakota, Cloister Walk, and Amazing Grace. They are all my favorites for different reasons. I also love Annie Dillard, especially Holy the Firm.
Chaim Potok wrote The Chosen and several other books about Jewish life. He spoke at my college (Evangel University) about how each book has what he calls a "core to core confrontation", when the main character meets a challenge to his faith. Excellent. Start with The Chosen (and its sequel The Promise), but I also like the Asher Lev books.
Best book about Afghanistan/Pakistan, by a female journalist and explains how we got all these bad guys: Sewing Circles of Herat, also about Africa and poor people in general 'The Bottom Billion' by an economist but written very accessible to the general population.
My favorite book of the last few years: The Reason For God by Timothy Keller ...
... but I'm kind of a dork. Modern (and old-school) apologetics amp me up.
I like this idea. Cool. And I'm jealous that you're doing it. I wish I could ... but I don't seem to have the appropriate resources (read: time).
I'd probably have to force myself to read fiction though because I just plain don't read fiction.
Anyway, I'll read your reviews and maybe will get inspired. Apparently I'd kind of like to be like Celina (running, photography, reading) when I grow up.
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