I am an avid reader. I read all the time...the curse of being an English teacher, I guess. I have always loved books. I read just about everything--Stephen King (I have all but two of his novels), Dan Brown, Ted Dekker, Gregory Maguire (I love his take on common fairy tales), Barbara Kingsolver (My copy of The Poisonwood Bible is worn out I have read it so much). Khaled Hosseini is a beautiful writer (The Kite Runner was his best) and I love the Harry Potter series (I have the last book on order and I am anxiously awaiting it). I have many favorite books and many favorite authors, but this post is about something quite different:
The last book that really made me think.
Answer?
Life of Pi by Yann Martel.
My book club picked this book a couple of years ago. I bought it, sat down to read it and immediately HATED it. It was deep and philosophical and way too serious for me at the time. I was going through a lot of stress at work and I certainly didn't want to read something that was about some kid trapped on a life boat with a man eating tiger. I just couldn't do it. I put it down in disgust. (This, by the way, is a big deal for me--I finish every book I start in hopes that it will get better--and I just couldn't do it).
Then, last year I picked it up again. I was feeling a bit more calm and ready to try something deep. As I read I got more and more intrigued by the story. I wondered where Pi was and where he was going. Was he going to make it? Was Richard Parker going to eat Pi? Would Pi kill Richard Parker? And then I got to the last few chapters and I sat, jaw dropped open, and I finished the novel. I must have sat in the same spot, book on my lap for like ten minutes just thinking about the ending and the novel as a whole--and what it said about our human nature and our will to survive. I was moved and amazed and simply stunned by how well this novel was written. To this day I still think about how that book ended and how it made me feel when I finished it. Rumor has it they are turning it into a movie--I hope they do it justice. (unless they case Sanjaya from American Idol as Pi--then it is ruined from the get go...but that's another rumor for another post).
So, what was the last book that really made you stop and think?
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Your Last Thought Provoking Read
Rambled by Shan at 12:56 PM
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6 rambled with me...:
Fiction would have to be Martin's 'The Song of Ice and Fire' series. I've never read more believable characters in my life.
Non-Fiction. Thats hard. Recently I would have to say 'How Tolkien Means' by Orson Scott Card (essay). But ... I have two books that I 'hope' will do that and more to me.
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (just got it) and The World Without Us by Alan Weisman.
I tend to read books for escapism more than anything else so my bookshelves mostly contain fantasy fiction books. but occasionally even those do make me think. Terry Pratchett is a great one for that. The way he spoofs modern society really makes me think about the way we live and how ridiculous some of the things we do are.
Welcome you guys! Thanks so much for stopping by--
omni: the last nonfiction book that made me really think was His Holiness the Dalai Lama's Ethics for the New Millenium
rav'n: I also like to escape (hence the Harry Potter books), but it never fails that I will end of thinking long and hard about some of them.
I'm going to say my last thought provoking read was "To Kill A Mockingbird". I read it in high school and remember liking it but when I reread it again a couple of years ago it really touched me. It quickly became my all time favorite book. I couldn't stop thinking about Atticus as a father, the sacrifices he made and the chances he took. He was shunned by his whole town to do the right thing for a man he belived in. This book meant so much more as an adult.
Oh I feel so dumb right now! I can't THINK of one that made me THINK.. but I knows there's many lurking just out of sight in my brain!
I could remember tons that made me FEEL, though. The ones that when you're done, you just want to start reading it all over again. They are also the ones that make it so very hard to chose your next book because you know it will be hard to top it.
The last book that really truly made me think was "Entering Normal" by Anne Leclair, best book I ever read on true, honest friendship.
I too am an avid reader and not taking the title slightly, I mostly enjoy finding golden books that no one knows about, they're usually the greatest.
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