End of the Year wrapup

Anyways, it's the end of the year and I have to catch up on my blogging. So here are my as-concise-as-possible reviews of the books I haven't previously blogged about.

The Glass Menagerie by Tennesse Williams -- Brilliant family drama with odd similarity to Brighton Beach Memoirs in each's portrayal of lower middle-class longing. The twin metaphors of the gentleman caller and Laura's glass menagerie are great writing. For anyone who likes plays, or families, or glass sculptures.

Heaven Is A Playground by Rick Telander -- Similarly to The Last Shot, which I read over the summer, Heaven is a chronicle of urban basketball. It is far superior, however, because of its greater depth in storytelling and better characters. Even Stephon Marbury cannot hold a candle to Rodney Parker, the agent-cum-benefactor running the game at Foster Park. The book also documents the setting (1970's Brooklyn) in great detail. For people who like basketball or even just New York City.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel -- Boy floats to Mexico from India in lifeboat. Oh yeah, there's a Bengal tiger there too. Set up beautifully, the story is merely an above-average survival story, but the enchanting part of the book is the strange magnetism of Piscine "Pi" Molitor Patel, the polyreligious main character who dispenses wisdom in odd ways throughout the book. It is possibly to only read it for the adventure, but that's missing the fun. For pretty much anyone and everyone.

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw -- Mildly entertaining, but a little long. Much better in stage production as "My Fair Lady". Skip the play and read a biography of Shaw instead.

A Portrait of the Artist as A Young Man

Saying this book was a little hard to read is like saying calculus is a little hard. At first, I was completely confused by how James Joyce writes. I think the best analogy would be a Jackson Pollock painting. Joyce throws words and punctuation onto the page in a seemingly random order, but there is also a method to his madness. His writing is a tumbled mix of well-turned phrases that ultimately come together to form a semi-coherent story. The book follows Stephen Dedalus, a young Irish boy at boarding school, as he grows up, contemplates the seminary, and eventually attends college. As with Dubliners, the book deals heavily with middle-class Irish life. Both books also deal with the life and death of Charles Parnell, a great Irish politician. In Dubliners, a group of low-level politicians memorialize the man. The scene in Portrait of the Artist is set shortly after Parnell dies, and takes the shape of an argument. Stephen's father and father's friend are arguing with another devoutly Catholic friend, accusing the Church of having abandoned and attacked Parnell in his time of need, contributing to Parnell's fall from grace and death. The friend defends the Church vociferously and calls them heretics for daring to speak against the Church. This was one of the most interesting and poignant scenes for me because it really painted a picture of what their life was like back then. The pervasive religion, ties to the British (Parnell advocated an independent Ireland), and how resigned they are to their current lives.