Genre: Books
Name: Winesburg, Ohio
Author: Sherwood Anderson
It’s been a rainy week in Terp Town. Yesterday was especially watery, and as the campus has the drainage of a full sink, it was a battle walking (uphill) to class. I have learned since coming to college that rain boots are a wise investment, but when my old ones wore out, I accidentally bought boots that were two different sizes. Well, I must defend myself. They both said size 7 on the bottom: I’ve checked multiple times, even before I left the store with them. But because I really needed boots (and my mom was willing to buy them for me during my brief visit home) I didn’t want to leave the store without them. Thus, I left the store, stomped around campus for a few days in them, and promptly gave up the hope that what were clearly two different size boots mislabeled would ever transform themselves into boots of equal size.
Regardless, I’ve been craving some good reading since the weather has restricted me indoors. Also, it’s the end of the week, and I have a moderately light workload for the weekend (hooray!!). Hopefully you all do to and can join in on the read-apalooza that’s going on in my apartment. The first book I’ll recommend comes to me as a required reading for my Short Stories class. However, as all good English majors, I appreciate my exposure to the literature I otherwise would not have read. Winesburg, Ohio is a collection of short stories (as you may have gathered) centered around the rural town that titles it. Each story focuses on a different character, and as a whole begs the question if we can be isolated even when we are so physically close to people. As all short stories do, the book really makes you stop and think about each story in its entirety. I like Sherwood Anderson’s style of imagery and language without becoming too muddled. Overall, I went into the collection not very excited about it, but I really came away with a new respect for short stories. A highly recommended read, especially on a rainy day like this one. Also, as each story is in itself complete, you don’t have to commit yourself to hours of reading if you’re short on time.
Name: Eat, Pray, Love
Alright. I know this is a hot book out, but enough people recommended it to me that I had to read it. I haven’t seen the movie, so I can’t review that at all, but the book (so far) is very engaging. Eat, Pray, Love is the story of Liz, the author and protagonist, who sets out on a three-country tour for a whole year. She spends four months in Italy, India, and Indonesia each to experience and write about each culture. Each country is significant to her: she has a strong passion to learn Italian, she wants to learn devotion and meditation in India, and in Indonesia she wants to learn balance. I’ve only finished the first part of the book (Italy), so I don’t know how the rest of the story is. So far, I’ve found it to be quite uplifting. As someone who has also been through rough patches (who hasn’t?) it’s nice to know that I’m not the only crazy person out there. Liz spends the beginning of her book setting up how messed up she was following a nasty divorce, and the rest of the book is how she overcomes it. Truly, a fascinating and inspiring read. I understand more why it’s such a popular book!
I hope you are inspirted to pick up a book this rainy day. Hopefully the rain will stop soon, but if it doesn’t, you’ll have plenty to do. And in case neither of these books appeal to you, there’s always Harry Potter. 🙂
A Quest for Awesome 