Okay, readers, I need your help. I’ve joined the World Party Reading Challenge, hosted by Packabook, who took over from Fizzy Thoughts. I’m really excited to read more world literature! But first…I have to find it. The challenge site offers suggestions for each month, which is a wonderful resource. Or, I could always turn to …
Tag Archives: fiction
Thoughts on “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger
Holden Caulfield has been kicked out of multiple well-known boys’ schools. In fact, he begins his story just after he’s been expelled from Pencey, his latest, and is waiting out the final days of the term before Christmas holidays, when he will leave Pencey for good and return to New York City. One night, a few days before winter break begins, Holden decides he’s too “sad and lonesome” to wait the term out at Pencey. He packs his bags, gets on a train to New York, and spends the next few days killing time in the city, wandering from hotel to bar to museum, calling anyone he can think of, and avoiding his parents.
Holden’s voice is what made The Catcher in the Rye for me. It’s rambling and unfiltered and exaggerated, teeming with verbal idiosyncracies and reeking of Holden’s personality.
In My Mailbox: October 10-16
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme, hosted by The Story Siren, in which bloggers share books they’ve acquired in the mail / at the library / from a bookstore. Books came to me from every direction this week! One arrived in the mail, one came home with me from the bookstore, and one (um…I …
Thoughts on “Something Missing” by Matthew Dicks
Martin, a middle-aged man with OCD tendencies, runs a thriving business. He is maintains successful relationships with many long-term clients and is constantly acquiring new ones. His work ethic is admirable, his self discipline unswerving. He’s even read Jim Collins.
So what does Martin do? He is a professional thief. But he isn’t the sort of thief that draws attention to himself. Instead, he takes only small items — some Advil, a can of tomatoes, half a bottle of laundry detergent — that will not be missed, and he takes them only after prolonged and painstaking observation. His key to success, he knows, is his unerring adherence to the rules he’s developed.
And then, one day, he breaks a rule. He manages to wriggle out of a potentially disastrous situation, but something he overhears alters his sense of purpose. As he becomes a little too involved in his clients’ lives, Martin inadvertently sets off down a one-way path that will forever change his life.
Thoughts on “The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster
10-year-old Milo isn’t interested in anything at all. Life is boring, ho-hum. That is, until he comes home one day to find a mysterious package in his room. “ONE GENUINE TURNPIKE TOLLBOOTH,” reads the accompanying card. “EASILY ASSEMBLED AT HOME, AND FOR USE BY THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER TRAVELED IN LANDS BEYOND.” Confused, but having nothing better to do, Milo assembles the tollbooth (signs and all), hops into his small mechanical car, and drives through.
In short, The Phantom Tollbooth is a lot of fun. Anyone who enjoys light fantasy, likes words and language, or has a penchant for well-done allegory will no doubt be glad they spent a few hours breezing through this childhood classic.