1st Semester Books

Catcher in the Rye- I was not a fan of this book. I found it to be slow, long, and tedious. Also, I didn't like Holden very much. He always talked about how other people were hypocrites. But he himself was a hypocrite, and being even more hypocritical by calling others hypocrites. On top of that, he just did some dumb stuff. He drank, smoked, and got a hooker. And i might be wrong, but I don't think hookers are a normal part of teenage life. Salinger trying to send his messages through such a weird situation just didn't really do it for me.

First They Killed my Father- I had mixed feelings about this book. Loung Ung's recount of the Cambodian genocide is quite moving. It certainly did make me appreciate what I have much more. On the other hand, I have read memoirs like this before. Like many others said, you start to become desensitized to the brutality. This may sound cruel, but it was just sort of old news. The story was very depressing. And lastly, her father wasn't even the first one they killed. The title is a big lie. Despite all that, I still did not mind reading it.

Inherit the Wind- This was probably my favorite book we read. The play didn't focus on creation versus evolution, but right and wrong. That made me happy, because you could have a never-ending argument about creation versus evolution. And it would be nearly impossible to win. So I appreciated that the play focused on something else. I also liked that it was not very long. The playwrights got their point across very succinctly. I had no problems staying awake.

A Midsummer Night's Dream- This was probably my second favorite book of the semester. Like Inherit the Wind, it was not tedious. It was very lighthearted and easy to follow, especially for a work by Shakespeare. I understood the plot with the flowers and all of the confusion. I can see why Shakespeare's audience would find the play funny. Also, I found several parts of the play to be funny. The Jamaicans in the recording also made it a lot better.

My Antonia- This was definitely the book I hated. I could not stand the slow pace, and had trouble keeping up with the reading schedule. In Part One, absolutely nothing happens. When the action actually picks up, it is still mostly description of the surroundings or what Jim is thinking. This book was just boring to me, and I don't understand why Cather is so famous for it.