Review 147: The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley

The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley by Malcolm X and Alex Haley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Incredible, powerful book. 

Despite it being a book written 55 years ago, it is an excellent read for these times, unfortunately. Too much has remained the same, and much of what Malcolm X says is still true and valid. For instance, the economic situation has been rigged against Black Americans to gain any economic progress. He pointed out even in Harlem how few businesses were black owned.  Although what he is most known for is more sensational statements. What may not be understood is how he was changing his views as more knowledge was learned.

Reading alongside the climate of today makes you realize, sadly, how little has really changed since the 60s. What would Malcolm's views been if he was able to live decades longer? How ironic that he was killed teaching what he strongly believed in, echoing his father's death. Malcolm was left without a father at aged six, his oldest child about the same age.

READING PROGRESS

June 14, 2020 – Started Reading

June 15, 2020 – page 12 - 2.28%
June 16, 2020 – page 41 - 7.78%
June 17, 2020 – page 74 - 14.04%
June 18, 2020 – page 103 - 19.54%
June 19, 2020 – page 133 - 25.24%
June 23, 2020 – page 146 - 27.7%
June 24, 2020 – page 179 - 33.97%
June 25, 2020 – page 195 - 37.0%
June 29, 2020 – page 306 - 58.06%
June 30, 2020 – page 338 - 64.14%
July 1, 2020 – page 384 - 72.87%
July 2, 2020 – page 406 - 77.04%
July 3, 2020 – page 429 - 81.4%
July 5, 2020 – Finished Reading

Review 75: Les Misérables

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a book!

So much as been written about this book it's difficult to add anything new, except my own personal reading experience.

I chose to read this book via an app on my phone called Serial Reader. The app takes books out of copyright and splits them into small daily reading that takes around 10-15 minutes a day. For this long book it was split into 233 daily issues. That's roughly 8 months with this book being over 1,400 pages!

There were many days where I didn't read this book, and many days where I read several issues. A few times I got way behind, around 30 days. In late June I took a trip across the country and managed a lot of reading, perhaps reading as many as 30 issues, and still didn't quite catch up. The closer I got to the end of the daily issues being released the more I read and was able to be completely caught up for the final week.

In the book, as it must be known, there are some areas where digressions went on and on, and it seemed like a complete stop to the story. This book contains a lot of history of France. If someone knew more about French history than myself, perhaps would be easier reading during those parts. When a new character was introduced we often got very specific and detailed background information and often their parents as well. For myself, when the story connected characters, which was unknown ahead of time that was going to happen, it was very satisfying, an a-ha! moment.

While some parts tend to slow down the story, overall I found the book exciting. Yes, it is overwritten, way too many descriptors that go on and on and on and on. It is easily seen why this book is often abridged and cut down, taken to the basic aspect of the story. Yet when one reads a highly edited book you lose the overall structure and story, you lose much to where you really haven't read the book. This book is a commitment that's for sure, but when I finished I understood why there are so many movie and TV versions of the story, and why this classic will continue to live on.


Book read: Jan.30-Sept.19 2019

Review 11: Solaris

Solaris by Stanisław Lem
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After trying to watch the movie version (multiple times) of this book and falling asleep every time (maybe both versions) somehow I still was attracted to this story. I didn't expect much given my boredom with the story before. Yet I was riveted to this. I raced through much of the book. Was it due to the narration done by Alessandro Juliani, or the story? I think it was both.

The idea of the others, the visitors and the creepiness was unexpected. One of the main things I remember from the more recent film version was the light. The book mentions the colors of the suns and the light and darkness more than you find in other books. This visual experience almost takes on an aspect of character as well.

Despite my intense fascination with the story when it ended I felt let down. It didn't feel resolved. No, it didn't need to be fully resolved, but I did want a little more with the ending. Perhaps a glimpse that there was some concrete headway into solving the Solaris question these scientists were studying.

I have this feeling a second reading would get more out of the book. Not sure that will happen, at least not sometime soon.