ISLAND - Aldous Huxley.

Here is a book I finished over the months of May-August 2001 while on a summer vacation in British Columbia with my girlfriend at the time.

Without giving too much away the book tells us a story about 2 islands; one, the island of Pala (the main Island of discussion) which is a utopian / 'eastern' influenced island full of many of the core values explored in Huxley's Brave New World (BNW) as in being a place where human excellence is being striven for, but perhaps not as scientific and a little more spiritual.  And this of course is no surprise if you understand how Huxley spent the later part of his life.   The island has many interesting practices; a form of tantric sex that is the common and uniform practice, drugs are used as a means of self exploration, and education and life is centered around being in the 'here and now.   In one part of the book it is explained that the children are raised by many families and not just one - so far sounds like a pretty nice place.
Island two; the neighboring island of Rendang, a modernized, maybe "westernized" island that wishes to exploit and conquer Pala for their untapped oil reserves which is ruled over by a dictator Colonel Dipa.
 Now, enter the main character of Will Farnaby who has been strategically planted on the island of Pala to convince the islands leaders to allow Rendang to strike a deal to use their oil.  Things go wrong when Pala's soon-to-be leader secretly allies with Col. Dipa. What's most interesting about Will, and also what I found most predictable, is that as he becomes introduced more and more to Pala's customs he begins to see that he agrees more with their way of life and less to how he was raised.  But, now that things are set in motion what will be the fate of Pala?
 I'll stop there as to avoid too much of a spoiler.  I do want to mention that I found the ending to be one of the best parts of the book, which can be interpreted in so many ways.  You can either really like an ending where the reader gets a lot of freedom to make their own choices, or you can really hate it.  I think for this book it worked quite well.  (DISCLAIMER:  It has been a long while since I have picked up this book so my summary may be lacking in sufficient and/or accurate detail.  Please leave comments or corrections as you see fit.)

I recommend this book for so many different reasons.  For one; it's a small masterpiece written by one of the worlds leading and most burning intellectuals of his time, who put more thought into it's pages than I ever could have. Those who enjoyed Huxley's Brave New World (BNW) which he wrote before Island, will see that Island reads more like a sermon.  (I will review BNW  in a later post and explain) but Island seems more of Huxley's desire to take a fictional approach in spreading his personal philosophy.  And although brilliantly written, Island to me was a touch of a let down becasue of this.  I felt that it was more about Huxley and his personal rantings on philosophy and religion.  Most Huxley fans know that he experimented heavily with psychedelic drugs and had a passion for the idea of universalism and self exploration through mysticism.  He was greatly influenced by Eastern thought, as so many other authors I have reviewed here.  When you have this knowledge, it is clear that this book was more of a Huxley manifesto, again, almost becoming too preachy, with the final message being; any utopian society created anywhere will surely be destroyed when it becomes infected with the "Western" world influence.  I like the message, but it has been beaten to death in so many ways, and I suppose I am tired of hearing it.  However, all that being said - it is Aldous Huxley I am talking about here, and the man deserves the utmost respect for his ability to preach through great story telling.  Island kicks-ass for certain.  But it wasn't the type of ass-kicking I was looking for.

This book is 295 pages long and as I already mentioned in the beginning it took me 4 months to finally complete.  This was for two reasons. One: I was having the time of my life exploring British Columbia for those 4 months and reading wasn't my priority that summer. Although I was able to read a few books that summer, this copy of Island had print that was so small that I found it hard to read in low light, while moving from place to place in a car or bus. It's amazing how something like small print can stretch the reading time from what should have taken me a few days to the course of an entire summer vacation.  Two:  As I stated above, I grew tired very quickly of Huxley's recipe for ranting.  I am in no way disapproving of such a brilliantly well-read and researched mind like Aldous Huxley, and who will obviously always be more educated on the topics in this book than I - but it just couldn't keep me interested personally.  On my sliding scale I give this book a solid 7/10 for the aforementioned reasons.

THE STRANGER ( aka - The Outsider) - Albert Camus

Here is a book I finished on February 16th 2008 at 1:32am.  (Originally called "The Stranger" and translated as "The Outsider" from French into English)

The idea to read this came from a woman I met in university.  I purchased this copy in 2003 after I had graduated but waited 5 years to read it for a variety of reasons, one of which being I had other books I wanted to read first.  Admittedly I am a slow reader and find myself only reading in bursts, then nothing for some time.  I suppose I am a binge reader.
On a side note: worth noting is that the band The Cure wrote a song called "Killing an Arab" sometime in the 80's and was on a cassette tape I purchased of theirs in the 80's.  I had no idea at the time but it was based on this book.  It was really cool to be reading it so many years later and put two and two together.  I like when that happens.  I find as you get older this happens more and more and you can more readily identify situations of 'who influenced who' as you begin to take in more information about art and culture.  Very very cool.

Without giving too much away the book is broken up into 2 parts and describes a series of events that leads the main character, Meursault, in part one to kill an Arab man on a beach in Algiers.  Part two revolves around his trial afterwards.  The build up to the murder is actually quite descriptive and I was able to immerse myself in the moment of it happening so much so that I could actually feel the sun as Camus describes it.  Meursault is unlike any other character I have read before, in that he lacks the ability to react as we, as a society, expect people to act.  This is outlined specifically in his reaction at his mothers funeral in the beginning and of course by the judge near the end.  I'll explain some more about the character and morality below.    

I recommend this book for almost all of us concerned with exploring the boundaries of morality, more specifically, what and how we 'ought' to be or behave when faced with specific situations. To explain further; Camus has said himself that the character is a man who is unable to lie - he must always tell the truth.  This can make for an interesting and highly discussable topic. Furthermore, it is a topic that I might find incredibly hard to describe and write.  I think Camus pulls is off by not being too obvious.  Meursault isn't written in isolated situations where he is faced with yes or no questions requiring his immediate position to either one side of 'our' expectations or the other .  Instead I feel Camus has created a disguised version of the very thin moral line where we see the main character exploring every event Camus puts him in from an exploitative mind set, or a curiosity that disables him to feel any specific way about anything until the entirety of that event can be processed.  For example, when he kills the Arab with one shot he proceeds to shoot him again and again, and this is not in anger or contempt, but almost in an inquisitive fashion. Perhaps he is wondering why is isn't feeling the preconceived notion of murder and execution as being a horribly painful thing to commit. I can;t help but feel he continues to shoot, to see if that feeling of 'wrong' can be obtained.  I can't help but think so becasue he shows us this lack of ability to really follow what we 'ought' to be and how we 'ought' to act while having a moment of no regret for what he did as is shown to us during his trial. He really only shows us feelings annoyance and seemed to be inconvenienced by it all...perhaps becasue he was unable to understand the moment fully, and thus, properly? 
I am then confused when Meursault is speaking with the priest and begins his angry rant. So why now is Meursault able to show us raw emotion, very angry emotion?  It appears he has picked a side here.  I won't say too much more as the verdict is worth waiting for, especially Meursault's reaction to it.  Please leave comments to discuss further, as this is a good point to go over.

This book is 120 pages long if you include the afterword by Camus at the end (which gives a lot away in regards to what we are discussing here) I was able to finish it in one day.  Regardless of how long it was, I don't think I would have been able to put it down until it was finished...it was simply that good.  On a my sliding scale this is easily a 10/10 for all the reasons we discussed above.  There are just so many brilliant ways to approach the main character, and so much more can be said.  This is a book I could go on about for a very long time.

THE DHARMA BUMS - Jack Kerouac

Here is a book I finished in September of 1995.

The idea to read this book came from my grade 11 English teacher Mr. Clarke.  He and I had a great relationship, and even though I was smack dab in the middle of a very angry punk-rock fuck-the-world teen-angst phase, I still respected Mr. Clarke and his opinion of me.  I truly believe it was Mr. Clarke who single handedly made me love reading as much as I do today.  Mr. Clarke was old school, and I mean the awesome kind; he wore a tweed jacket every day of the week, smoked a pipe, and drank his coffee black and strong.  He was old, and was the only teacher during that phase I thought had any idea of just what it meant to be cool.  He constantly lent out his books to the students he liked and thank God I was one of them.  I don't think he had any idea just how much I admired him.

Without giving too much away; this book follows Ray Smith, a character based on the real life Kerouac. Like so many of  the books I have already reviewed in this blog, it centers around a perfect duality between two distinct parts of Ray's Life.  There are the outlines of his life as a "Zen lunatic" in the mountains, and this competes with his life as a drunken jazz and poetry fiend in the busy city. I found it to read more like an autobiography after reading a book on Kerouac's life by Ann Charters, who I later discovered is one of the most reputable biographers on the 'Beat' scene as it existed in the 1950's-1960's.  (I will review that book later in this blog for those interested.)  After discovering more and more about Kerouac I was able to see that the beatniks he writes about in this book are all based on his actual friends, many of whom were made famous by the Beat Generation movement.  There isn't much else to say about the plot without giving the dreaded spoiler alert.  If you've taken the time to read this post I am fairly certain you are already familiar with the beat scene and I am not educating you in any way.

All that being said, I recommend this book for those looking to start their journey into the Beat writers.  Even though it was written after some of the trademark Beat books of all time.  Over all it's what you'd expect from a 'Beat' novel; filled with drunken antics, poetry jams (the first time they were cool) a rejection of materialist ideology, and of course riddled with Buddhist / Eastern references.  For those very new to this; Kerouac and others like him were a part of the scene they dubbed the 'Beat Generation', I am uncertain of its origins but it seemed to represent an anti-conformist movement of socially aware zero-hero's who would later tie into the hippy movement. (or perhaps directly morphing into it? - please post comments if you have more information)  It's hard for me to say, having been born in 1977, but because so much time has past I almost see it now as a movement that started out as something very emotionally charged and meaningful, only to become more like the generation that was able to get away with being lazy, drunk and useless. I think the remnants of that scene today are the weird fuckers you see with dirty beards walking downtown Toronto and Hamilton talking to themselves and reeking like B.O.   But, back in the glory days  of the 1950's these writers carved themselves out a niche that I worshiped as a younger man, and I aspired to be a part of their scene, not realizing that it was long dead..  I tried very hard to create this life for myself and my firends without much success. I suppose the 2010-2013 hipster scene is as close as anyone has been able to come in recreating it since, although many smaller pockets have been easily identifiable over the years in this university town I live in.  I see a lot of hipster kids reading Beat novels and drinking coffee in the cafes these days, and there has been a very active poetry-slam movement happening in my town over the past few years.  All still very cool in my opinion, makes me want to call in sick to work and stay out late.  Sadly i think a lot of it is fashion driven and won't last for too much longer.  Mr. Clarke would probably have smiled to hear me say that, and then hit me in the back of the head with a copy of 'Naked Lunch' and told me to get to class.

This book is 244 pages long and it reads very easy, as everything else I have read by Kerouac. I remember quite well that I was able to finish it in 2 days at a small cafe in Port Colborne, Ontario that was on West Street. That cafe is no longer there due to a very real lack of cool kids existing in that town in the early to mid 1990's. On my sliding scale I can easily give this book a valuable 9/10 based on what it did for me as a young impressionable reader. Had it not been for this book I would have never discovered one of the coolest literary movements of all time. Thanks Mr. Clarke...who is sadly probably dead by now.


 
 

PETER CAMENZIND - Herman Hesse

Here is a book I finished on January 3rd 2001 at 10:05pm.

The idea to read this book came, as all the other Hesse books I've read, from a predisposed love of Hesse that started in my early 20's after finishing Siddhartha, which was the first Hesse book I was fortunate enough to read thanks to the advice a women I met in university named Jocelyn. 

Out of all the reviews I will have completed on Hesse, this one is by far the most 'uncomplicated'  Not for my lack of imagination or the lack of talent by the author - but only because the book, in my opinion, is not of the same caliber as most of the other books I have completed by Hesse.  I didn't realize until I did some research for this review that this was Hesse's first novel, which now does not surprise me.

Without giving to much away; the book reads a lot like a  'coming of age' story we are probably all very familiar with.  The main character Peter (no surprise) grows up in a Swiss mountain village, he leaves home as he begins to yearn for adventure.  On his travels he falls in love on 2 separate occasions resulting in heartache each time.  He travels throughout Italy and Paris and gets a variety of education along the way.  As he tastes life outside his home he grows bitter, spending time with the bottle....eventually finding more meaning in his life in the kind act of taking care of a man he meets named Boppi.   By the end of his journey Peter finds that there really is no place like home and he returns to take care of his father.

I recommend this book, of course, for all Hesse fans.  I find it is always nice to see where an author you have grown to love comes from, or truly what started them off in their careers.  This book DOES stand alone in the same way that Damien does, and I feel it is for a younger generation looking more for a book of 'coming of age' as mentioned above. And this does make for a good story, and quite a gripping one when you are looking for such a read.  But therein lies the problem; you truly have to be looking for this type of read, and it doesn't always find you, which is what I like books to do.

This book is 201 pages long and sadly I just can't remember how long it took me to read as I only put in the finish date on the inside cover, neglecting to record the start date as I normally do. On my sliding scale I give this book a solid 5/10 for being a project which represents the foothills of (in my humble and perhaps uneducated opinion) one of the greatest authors on the planet.  It might deserve more, but I just can't bring myself to find out why, and this says a lot.

STEPPENWOLF - Herman Hesse

 Here is a book I bought and finished in Killarney, Ireland on June 5th 1999. (price tag picture included to reference bookshop in Killarney and cheap price back then  - see below)  It is one of 3 books I read in Ireland.  (The others were Brave New World, and Doors of perception, Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley also reviewed in this blog)

The idea to read this book came from a preexisting love of Hesse coupled with it being rainy as shit that day. I had a 2 month trek through Ireland ( rain - what a surprise) so I thought I would cram down a book in the hostel.

As I am saying in most of my Hesse reviews; it's very obvious when reading him that he follows a certain recipe.  A lot of his books tend to focus on self discovery, an 'awaking' of some sort whether through travel and love (in the case of Peter Camenzide) art (in the case of Rosshalde), and often mental representations of the inner-self, which I feel is the case with this book.

First off, and you find this out before getting into the real flesh of the book, that it is written as a manuscript in which the main character Harry Haller (Steppenwolf) himself has written.  The manuscript is found by the nephew of his landlady and there is a short preface at the start left by the nephew outlining these facts. He (the nephew) has the manuscript published. The title of this "real" book-in-the-book is Harry Haller's Records (For Madmen Only)  This confused me in the beginning, but I got over it, and so will you.

Without giving to much away; the book centers around the life of Harry Haller.  Harry is a rather depressed guy, you see right away, but it takes further interpretation to see why, and this is the fun of this book; that there is so much you can pull out of it.  It appears that Harry can not choose between his man-self and his wolf-self. (hence the title) And here is more Buddhist philosophy; that Harry is not really living becasue he is pushing himself in two different directions, thus never really existing as a whole man.  The entire book seems to be about one half of Harry becoming dominate over the other so he can gain the ability to finally live as a whole-self, or truly exist if you will.  The events in the book and the people he meets all lead him down the path to self-discovery.  It's a theme Hesse beats to death in his books, but they all seem to tell it a bit differently, and this one is one of the best.

The key point to look for that I feel was the most important in the book was the moment where Harry is at a colleagues house and insults his Goethe portrait hanging in the house and how it is represented.  This may not seem like such a big deal, but this is crucial becasue it is the point that Harry finally decides he will go home and commit suicide. At that hopeless point where both his two selves that are normally being pulled away, instead now start to move inward as they are being faced with there own mortality. This, I feel, is the part that awakens Harry's 'new' self, as depicted by the character of Hermine who he meets at a dance-hall on his
way back to his rooming house to kill himself.  Pay close attention to her, as Hermine at one point tells Harry that eventually she will make him fall in love with her, then she will ask him to kill her.  Okay, this basically punched you in the face with the obvious duality of the Steppenwolf right?  One half of him must die for the other to exist.  Personally I don't even believe Hermine is a real person, but the guiding voice for Harry that makes him do the things he wasn't allowing himself to do before deciding to end his life; dance, take a lover, drugs, meet musicians, fall in love. (remind anyone of Fight Club yet?  Yeah, me too).  Anyways, I've said too much and don't wish to spoil how it all pans out.       

I recommend this for those that love Hesse for his use of duality (as seen in Damien) where there is again a struggle between two halves of the same character.  In this instance it is Harry vs. himself until one is forced to die and the other is forced to dominate his total self and become the only personality, thus staying true to Hesse's theme of darkness and light requiring each other to become one.  I LOVE this theme, and I love its origins in Buddhist meditation and thought.  No one, to date, has done this better than Hesse. Arguably, and more modernly Chuck Palahniuk?  That's up for debate.

This book is 253 pages long and as I mentioned above I read it on a rainy afternoon in Ireland which was almost too perfect.  On my sliding scale I gave this a solid 10/10 for it's ability to show me Harry as a portrait of the ultimate struggle of the self.  Half man, half wolf - the crippling grasp on staying in his common mold, or the humanistic freedom of his animal self.  Great read, rife with interpretable possibility which makes it such a good one to review and discuss.

DEMIAN - Herman Hesse

Here is a book I finished summer of 1999 originally and it was lent to a friend whom never returned it (hate that) so I repurchased this copy in 2001 for my library.

The idea to read this came from my original love of Hesse in general during my early 20's that I developed after reading some of his other books.  I have currently read nineteen Hesse books, all in my early 20's and will review them all here in good time.  Some are his poetry that I don't find as appealing as his novels, however, I got stuck in a Hesse phase while I was a univeristy student and tried to consume as much as possible.

Fans of Hesse can easily identify his love of philosophy, specifically eastern philosophy which I find a lot of his best selling books to be heavily steeped in.  Being a philosophy major in university has helped me to identify this a little more clearly, but this also took a little out of the books for me, as during the time I was reading them it almost felt like work as I found myself trying to relate everything I was reading in this book to some sort of other philosophical reference.  Dangerous habit, and one I had to kick in order to fully enjoy reading this.

Without giving too much away, this book follows the character of Emil Sinclair and his interactions with another character Max Demian.  The book as a whole seems to take the young and rather 'blank-slate' of Sinclair's self and bring him to an awakening of self-hood.   Now that's easy for me to say after reading the book, but what the #$%* does that even mean you might wonder. ha!  Well, a key element in this book is the ever-present representation of duality.  As I remember reading somewhere; "light cannot be known, where darkness does not exist."  Of course, this is the classic yin-yang theme; you need the good to have the bad and vise versa.  You see this theme here time and time again, and often it is hard to detect and other times quite obvious - as with the mention of 'Abraxas' in the book, who as you find out is an ancient God who contains both divine and satanic elements.  You also see the duality between the main Character Sinclair and his darker-self; Demian, who I personally feel is part of Sinclair in some way, and this is made clearer later in the book at times (I won't spoil it) and also for me becomes quite obvious at the very end. I feel the end actually addresses the goal outlined by Hesse on the very first page. "I wanted only to try to live in accord with the promptings which came from my true self."

I recommend this book for any and all students of philosophy, for those who are able to play around a little with their imagination while reading and not need something to be so literal.  I think this book is a book written for a younger generation and I say that becasue I am fairly confident in saying Hesse is an acquired taste, and most, if not all of the books I have read by him have a common thread; they relay heavily on the imagination and the wonders of self discovery which I feel is something a younger mind can appreciate more.  However, this books is also, in many ways that I can relate it, almost a Buddhist, and/or Idealist manuscript.  And these are the more fulfilling parts I think any age group can appreciate if they chose.  I am by NO means an expert of course, as this is just a hobby.
I have read critics of Hesse and they say this book was an incantation of Nietzschean and Jungian references. Personally I will have to turn to a good friend of mine; Mac Pearsall for proof of that, as he knows Nietzschean philosophy much better than I do, and I am only now starting to read Carl Jung so I'll have to get back to you on t hat front as well.

This book is 145 pages and I was able to finish it in one sitting as it reads quite easily.  On my sliding scale I gave it a solid 7/10 for its ability to weave through its entire course a pleasant aura of eastern thought which I enjoy very much.  It scored a little lower than I would have thought when I was in my 20's reading it for the first time, but as it stands today I am not able to recollect it as the great masterpiece I once thought it was.  Hesse in general has been a little too 'over-done' in my mind, and this is my own fault I suppose.  However, this is still a book I cherish in my library and certainly won't lend out again....erg.  

A FAREWELL TO ARMS - Ernest Hemingway

Here is a book I finished reading August 11th 2013 at 3:14am

The idea to read this book was based on my desire to try and read all of Hemingway's classic novels in order to prepare me well enough to have good conversations about them with friends that already read the books.  It was all worth the effort.  As mentioned in my other Hemingway posts I have taken in 5 of his books in so far and am holding there for awhile.

This was not an easy read for me like some of his others works such as Old Man and the Sea and The Sun Also Rises.  Instead I had to work a little harder in the beginning to stay interested. However, as the book progressed and the Characters became clearer I found I was locked in and it was hard to put down.

I was fooled originally, after a friend had told me it was one of the best war novels ever written, when I realized the majority of the book is not spent in combat, but is spent, rather, with the main characters time in the hospital and on the run from the war. Perhaps my friend had this confused with For Whom the Bell Tolls?  Regardless, this book is by far one of my favorite Hemingway to date.

Without giving too much away I will keep this simple.  The book follows an American character named  Frederic Henry, serving as a Lieutenant ("Tenente") in the ambulance corps of the Italian Army.  The main focus of which is his love affair with a nurse who I am unable to decipher is English or Scottish from what I remember.  The love they develop is put to the test after Henry defects from the war effort after almost being put to death for retreating in a very 'on the edge of your seat' scene that left me staying up late to finish.  There love affair blossoms and they begin to start a life together and grow older with a twist at the end that broke my damn heart.

There were the classic and notable scenes for me that I have come to expect from Hemingway which include the way in which the characters drink and the rather extended dialogue between men and woman that has become the Hemingway trademark for me.  Seeing entire pages of conversation between characters is not new for Hemingway fans, but he makes it work perfectly and this is what I love most about Hemingway's books; that I am right in the moment as one of the characters, often forgetting that I am reading.

I recommend this book for all Hemingway fans of course, and those looking for a good (yet manly) love story. One must keep in mind that this was written so long ago and the language used is not at all how you might expect one to talk today and I think Hemingway loses a lot of younger readers today due to this and this is a damn shame to say the very least.  This was a major issue for me as well, as just as the lines of reality were beginning to blur and I was fully immersed in the fiction, a line or two of speech that just didn't make sense to me would throw me off and I would have to start back into it.  I hope public schools take note and add more of these types of classics to the reading curriculum so they can be learned to be enjoyed.  Would be a shame to see an entire set of masterpieces disappear.

This book is 332 pages long and it took me 2 days to finish during a busy work week, which is to say that every second I wasn't sleeping or working my nose was buried in it.  On my sliding scale I give this book 9/10 for its ability to throw me right to the edge, and just when I thought I had it figured out and was in the clear...pushed me right over the edge.  Not too often do I leave a book feeling a very REAL sense of loss and pain.  This book hurt me, plain and simple.  Very effective and powerful read. 

THE SUN ALSO RISES - Ernest Hemingway

Here is a book I finished on August 5th 2013 at 3:29am

The idea to read this book came as I began the pleasure of reading Hemingway's classic collection.  As I have mentioned in other posts on Hemingway here  I have only digested 5 of his works so far, and I am taking a break for now.

This book was everything I was hoping Hemingway would be again.  After reading Old Man and the Sea in 2009 I was a true fan, but A Moveable Feast almost ruined Hemingway for me.  Thanks goodness this book was next on my list and reignited my interest.  As usual Hemingway writes only what he knows about well.  I have not come across a book yet that he has written where he is trying to explain something foreign to him.  He writes of war becasue he has seen war, he writes of hunting, fihsing, bull fighting, love, liquor, and travel.  All of these Hemingway was adept in, and this book is no exception to that. 

Putting it simply and without giving too much away, as this is a 'must read' - The story follows the adventures of Jake. A man living in post World War I Paris (another of Hemingway's themes exposed) It follows him through several places over a short period of time and depicts the relationship he has with his friends during this time.  In particular there is the a worthwhile relationship he has with a character named Lady Brett, a woman I have no doubt would be loyal to Jake if it had not been for an accident he sustained in the war which has left him unable to 'love' a woman of Brett's caliber.  But one of the many delights of the novel is watching how the careless Brett, not being able to have Jake as she wants him, takes down men and renders them into slaves for her affection; notably the poor character Cohn - as you will see when you read it. Again, I don't want to give too much away, but that relationship is one of my favorites in literary history (or my short lived version of it thus far)

There are scenes in this book that are reminiscent of Old Man and the Sea in that they are so overly descriptive that it makes you feel you are right there with the characters, watching their conversations unfold..  There is a fishing scene in this book where Hemingway describes the water, the wine bottles cooling in the stream and the way they wrap the fish in newspaper after they are caught -  is written in the classic Hemingway style; that is to say, simply written enough to digest effortlessly but with an element of old world class that makes you feel like a gentleman for just reading it.  Later in the book when the 'gang' all assembles in Spain for the bull fights I have never before imagined such a party even possible, and what makes it so believable is that Hemingway lives this life first hand, and his description of it you damn well know is based on true accounts of this glorious madness.

I recommend this book for any Hemingway fan of course, for those that have wanted to know what it's like to experience the thrill of a bull fight in heightened detail or to know how the tight grip of jealousy can render men in to fools.  For lovers of wine and travel, this book speaks for a time I wish I had been given the chance to experience first hand.  This book is as close as I will ever be able to come to that time. 

This book is 251 pages and I took it down in a day off.  On my sliding scale I gave this a solid 8/10 for its ability to remind me a time that my grandfather would have lived.  A place where telegrams where your equivalent to emails and Hemingway's uncanny ability to place the reader directly in a characters head, in the same place as they are during the world as it collapses around them.  Such a good book, and on topics only Hemingway could possibly write about.

A MOVEABLE FEAST - Ernest Hemingway

Here is a book I finished on July 17th 2013 at 11:06pm.

The idea to read this book came to me when I was considering finishing what I had started when reading Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea.  I like to get 'hooked' on an author and often times find myself liking a book so much that I will then try and read everything by that author.  To date I have only read 5 books by Hemingway and although that might change one day, it is enough for now to keep me up to speed on who and what he has to offer.  I had started my affair with Hemingway in 2009, quite late considering my age and comparing it with some of my friends who state they had been fans since high school.  Admittedly I am coming to a lot of classics late, having spend a great deal of my high school years with Hesse, and a large selection of the beat writers.  However, better late than never...right? And 4 years after reading Old Man and the Sea I was ready to put some Hemingway under my belt.

Now that I have already read most of Hemingway's true classics I feel safe in saying this book does not do Hemingway justice for the newcomer.  It was published after his death by his forth wife.  From what I have been able to gather it was put together via a collection if his memoirs from his time in Paris during the 1920's when he and his first wife lived there. It is not written in the true Hemingway style as I have come to know and it becomes quite easy to tell it was edited heavily by his wife I am assuming, and others may have had a hand in it.  All that being said; if this is your first stab at Hemingway you may be left disappointed.

The book reads like an autobiography, putting the reader smack-dab in the middle of Paris in one of the greatest literary times of all history.  It describes the cafe's the bars, the night life of Paris so well that I plan to book my next trip there in order to get a better grip on the visual representation I think this book COULD have offered had it been entirely written by Hemingway himself and not put to a slow death by all the hands that put it together after Hemingway committed suicide.

I personally don't recommend this book as an essential Hemingway 'must'.  It is a nice read if you are interested or wanting to do a little exploration into Hemingway as a non-fictional character.  But if you're looking for a gripping story that is loaded with that classic Hemingway descriptive style and edge of your seat, white-knuckling drama - don't hold your breath.  But, again, if you're like me and like to 'get to know the author' a bit as you're reading their books, this might just be the one you're looking for.  

This book is 211 pages long and I was able to finish it in a few days.  On my sliding scale I give it a 5/10 only getting that high becasue it was truly a pleasure to hear about Hemingway as a young author trying to make it within the expat. literary scene of 1920's Paris.  In my mind that was such a romantic time and gives an unseen look at other writers in his literary circle like Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ford Madox Ford, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, and others - this is just to name a few.  There is one scene in particular that stands out for me where Hemingway is sitting with a colleague and Aleister Crowley walks by.  Not such a great scene if you are uninitiated to Crowley, but knowing as much as I do and being as well versed in Crowley as I am, I found this to be quite a disturbing and exciting moment.  It is the small moments like this that almost go past unnoticed at times that make it such a powerful read.  Take a deeper look if your interested, you might find something here.

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA - Ernest Hemingway

Here is a book I finished in October of 2009.

The idea to read this book was almost forced in nature.  As most of us were first exposed to this in our high school years for an English class, it wasn't until I was actually teaching a class at a community college when I first picked this up.  Somehow the curriculum of this particular reading comprehension course had this on the menu.  Like any good teacher, I figured knowing my product before standing in front of a class made the most sense. and it became the first of 5 books by Hemingway I have read.

This book is unlike the Hemingway I came to know later, in that it is the most simplistically written of his works that I personally have read.  This isn't to say it lacks detail or a gripping story line, quite the opposite is true.  To date I have yet to come across a book that offers such detail in its depiction of a character vs. his/her struggle.  Even the way Hemingway describes the character in this story eating lunch is a mind-bending experience for the stand alone reason that it makes you feel like you know exactly what he is talking about, even if you've never been in a boat, or on the sea.  I could literally taste what the old man was preparing.

Without destroying the adventure for you, let me just put it simply; this book is about a Cuban fisherman's struggle - his battle - with a huge marlin which is set somewhere in the Gulf Stream.  Some have called it a tale of courage in the face of defeat, and they would be right.  The main character is painted early in the novel as a man with the most unlucky type of luck, a fisherman who hasn't made a catch in over 80+ days.  When he ventures out to the open sea he has a battle worthy of any war-story. This doesn't sounds like high adventure for most I am sure, but I can assure you this will be much more than you expect.

I recommend this book for anyone just starting to take interest in Hemingway's works.  Besides his short stories, this book can give you a powerhouse delivery of the type of descriptive style Hemingway is famous for. I would also recommend it for anyone interested in deep sea fishing as Hemingway was himself, which is probably why he was able to depict so clearly the extraordinary battle between man and fish.

This book is 127 pages long and I was able to finish it in a busy day without wasting any time. On my sliding scale I give this book a solid 10/10 for its ability to completely immerse me in the story.  Few books have been able to place me in the drivers seat so to speak quite like this. When reading most books I always have the sense that I am reading a book and it is not real.  But with this book I lost the lines of reality and was sometimes sitting directly in the boat in fierce competition with that marlin and later those sharks.  This booked moved me like few others ever have, and I truly believe it deserves all the credit it has been given.

CABBAGETOWN DIARY - Juan Butler

Here is a book I finished on August 30th 2013 at 12:06am.

The idea to read this was quite by accident.  I always shop for books when I am killing time in town waiting to meet a friend or arriving too early somewhere, for example.  You can safely loiter in the stacks so to speak without anyone asking too many questions.  I have always enjoyed Bukowski books and poems very much, and any time I am in a used book store I try and locate ones that I do not currently own (many reviews here in this blog on Bukowski) So, this particular time in that particular shop they had no Bukowski, but they had this book called Cabbagetown, written by Butler in the same alphabetical area.  I picked it up out of sheer boredom and because a friend of mine named Robin was speaking to me earlier that month about living in an area of Toronto Ontario called Cabbagetown for over 20 years in the late 70's into the early 90's.  Little did I know this book was exactly about that place.

It is some strange sort of coincidence to say the very least, but the author of this book I would easily and safely say is the Canadian equivalent of Charles Bukowski.  How rare a find it was to get my hands on, and how freakishly unbelievable that I was actually looking for Bukowski originally, only to stumble across his mirror image in terms of style and depiction. I consider myself to be almost expert on anything Bukowski so I feel very confident in this claim, but at the same time I was left shocked after I found this book at the fact that I had never before come across Juan Butler.  How on earth did Bukowski stay on my radar so much as a younger reader and this guy slipped past?  As it turns out the author committed suicide at age 38 after suffering with mental illness...which may have been why he remained someone of  mystery. 

This book is written diary style, based on the rather grim life of a young bartender living in Cabbagetown during the 1960's.  It tells of his summer relationship with a young woman named Terry that he randomly meets in the area.  In short, he exposes her to his friends, to his neighborhood, drugs, drunks, drinking, violence, and sex. The book is to have a rather unexpected result in the end...although, as you get to know the character of Michael you begin to expect nothing less from him. 

Just as Bukowski might have written, this book paints a picture of a very seedy counter-culture that made up some of Cabbagetowns finest inhabitants before it became the affluent Toronto neighborhood as it is today.  No Canadian author that I know of to date has been able to depict the true grimy image of rooming-house life that was made famous by writers like Bukowski quite like Juan Butler.  I only wish he was able to offer us more before his death, but there are only three books that I know of that have been published under his name. 

I recommend this book for any fan of Bukowski who is looking for something just a little new and a little more Canadian.  If you like the recipe that Bukowski offered than there is simply no way to deny the 'pleasant' effect this book will have on you.  Even though at times this book leaves you feeling dirty and 'wrong' for what you have read, I feel it serves it's purpose at giving the reader a first hand glimpse into what was at one time one of the worst places to live in Toronto. To survive it would have been something.

This book is 211 pages long and took me a week to finish.  On my sliding scale I give this book a solid 8/10 for it offering me a fresh taste of a style I am already all too familiar with.  I like the fact that I have someone new to blame.  If Tom Wait's doesn't write a song about Juan Bulter, I most certainly will.  

MONSTER - Sanyika Shakur (aka, Monster Kody Scott)

Here is a book I originally finished summer of 2006. 

The idea to read this book came from a magazine article I read where the author was interviewed.  I have tried to reference that article but sadly it couldn't be found, as it was so long ago.

I have always been obsessed with violence and violent behavior.  I am uncertain if this is becasue I was born and raised watching action movies with my dad or if it is some primal form of the 'kill it or fuck it' male instinct that Ken Wilber talks about in some of his books.  Regardless, I enjoy immensely hearing about violence, it downright fascinates me how evil some people can be.  I can safely say that I myself don't have murderous urges, but I just enjoy reading about it...possibly becasue it is so foreign to me? or maybe becasue I have always been raised in areas where that wasn't a real fear?  I don't know.

It can be easy to miss the underlying message in this book due to it's fairly graphic depiction of gang life in LA. However to me, this book speaks in volumes about the importance of education in areas of socioeconomic disadvantage.   It might not be a familiar story for some, but personally I feel pop-culture has done more than enough for any of us to understand what a 'ghetto' is and who lives there and why...the purpose of this review is not to go that deep.  I will just assume you understand what I am talking about.

I recommend this book for anyone who is an educator in any capacity, to show the sheer power of educations strength as it takes a hardened gang-banger like 'Monster' Kody Scott and turns him into a leader in his community during his metamorphosis into Sanyika Shakur.  The books flat-out paints the picture of Kody Scott being sent to jail over the course of his life - while there he learns from other inmates and from educational programs which he is exposed to only becasue he is in jail.  Over time he begins to see that his life of violence was never his choice, it was almost the only option a black man had in the area he lived in.  He grows and learns to take new forms of action, one I urge anyone interested to read on their own so I don't spoil it. 

Over all this books just says to me that education is the key...independent thought, the ability to freely research and form an unbiased opinion...all elements of creating that well oiled identity necessary to survive in even the most unthinkable areas.  Although the author would probably laugh off this review, given after all by a white man who grew up in 'safe' white-suburbia.  I hope anyone reading this can at least somewhat see what I am trying to depict.  Great read.

This book is 383 pages and took me several days to finish.  On my sliding scale I gave this book a solid 9/10.  Mostly for the allowance the reader gave me, to peer safely into his world of utter madness without repercussions, and for the sheer delight of seeing first hand why I have always loved education in almost ALL forms.  I would love to see more from this author.

DARKNESS VISIBLE - William Styron.

Here was a book I finished on JULY 31 2013 at 3:34pm.

  The idea to read this book came to me when I was driving to work and was listening to a radio program about the nature of depression.  They quoted the author many times throughout the interview and it intrigued me enough to buy it.  This book has been cited as being  "the most vivid and insightful, first-hand account of a major depressive episode to date "

  In my line of work, I deal with a lot of people with mental health 'issues' and this book was useful  for me to use as a template  for understanding more clearly the thought process of someone locked in to the crippling idealizations of suicidal depression.

  I recommend this book for anyone who is suffering from depression, thinks they might be, or knows/deals with people who are.  It can be a very useful and informative book, not to mention an all around good read and look at William Styron's personal struggle.

This book is only 84 pages and can be read in an afternoon for most.  If you're familiar with Styron from previous works you already know he is very 'wordy' for better lack of terms.  On my sliding scale I gave this book a solid 8/10 for its usefulness to my profession and for its ability to stand on its own as a great personal memoir of a very talented writer.