Book Review Times Two

This time you guys are really in for a treat. I finished two books over the weekend and enjoyed them both (well for the most part). I do have to admit I was a bit skeptical about the first book: The Road by Cormac McCarthy. After the first 30 pages I thought there was no way I could ever finish it. This book has hardly any dialogue, no chapters, and is very descriptive. The characters don't even have names, they are simply referred to as Boy and Man. In the end, I was glad I finished it. It actually picked up after the first 30 pages and became pretty interesting. The road is dark and filled with questionable characters. Mostly the focus of the story is the relationship between father and son and how they survive the harsh trip down the road. With the harshness of the world around them, I did have to wonder why they even wanted to survive. If it were me I'd rather just be put out of my misery, but I guess there wouldn't be a story if I had my way. My husband LOVED this book and has since bought The Border Trilogy consisting of All The Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and Cities of the Plain. If your husband likes to read, I would recommend it to him. I think it is a good story for the boys!





The second book I finished this weekend was Animal Farm by George Orwell. I'm sure a lot of you have probably read this one, but if you haven't I definitely recommend you picking it up. It is actually subtitled A Fairy Story and it does in fact remind me of a fairy tale. The tale is about a group of farm animals that are striving for utopia and a world where "All animals are created equal." They rebel against farmer Jones and take over the farm. Their leader is a pig named Napoleon who basically takes on the ideology of Stalin and communism. In the end they discover that "All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others." It really is a great read and actually reminds me a lot of Aldous Huxley's - A Brave New World.

My next read will be a long one, but I do look forward to it. I will be reading The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher. I ordered it along with Hurry Down Sunshine by Michael Greenberg and they should get here sometime this week! Yay for winter reading!