#0034K: The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan

I'm taking more and more of a liking to science reads these days. I found The Demon Haunted World in Goodwill, and planned on getting to it "eventually". Then, a friend of a friend began talking about it, and I decided to dive in. He had said that it was a good "bathroom book" as each chapter can stand on it's own. Indeed, they can, but reading it all together did no harm. I feel like the underlying subject was the importance of skepticism. Sagan repeated this time and time again. I don't suppose that skepticism is something many of us think about as integral, but after reading this, I concur. Skeptics are needed to challenge our ideas and beliefs so that something can be proven. In the end, someone will be right and someone will be wrong-- but even the person on the winning end will need to be challenged in the future, and that's okay.
I was impressed with Sagan's writing style. It was a bit intimidating to open a book from a man with such an intellect, but he was able to speak clearly about science to a non-science audience, which is much appreciated. A lot can get lost or misunderstood when things are placed in purely technical terms. I will be reading Sagan again.
4.333 stars

#0033K: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

I'm all about some Russian literature. I had read some short stories by Solzhenitsyn last school year, and found this book at the paperback exchange in Connecticut. He is well-known for this novel, as well as his other writings about gulags/work camps in the Soviet Union. The title gives a pretty good idea what the book is about. Ivan Denisovich is a prisoner in one such camp, and has been there for years. When we meet him, he is feeling ill, and tries desperately to get a doctor's order to keep him in bed all day. Unfortunately, he gets to the clinic too late and has to report to his unit for work detail anyway. Throughout the day, we see that men were made into work-horses and learn about the danger present in other prisoners. We learn a few facts about Ivan's personal life-- he has a wife and daughter, and some of his inner feelings about his personal positon.
In general, the book feels very grey, but I think it's also uplifting.
4.75 stars.

#0020 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - J K Rowling

Do I really have to review this book? This is the second time I've read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I just read it so I could remember what happened before watching the movie. I really have more to say about the movie, but since this is not a movie blog I won't bother. I just have to say that I really like Harry Potter and this book, like the rest, was amazing. Even reading it for the second time was just as good as the first. Actually, come to think of it, it was better because I understood more and got a grasp on things that I missed while reading it for the first time. I really like how they really dabble into Tom Riddle's life as a child and even his parents. It really explains how he came to be. 5 stars

#0032K: Flowers of Evil, a selection by Charles Baudelaire

This is another bi-lingual poetry book.
Baudelaire is considered to be the greatest French poet of the 19th century and the first truly modern poet. Flowers of Evil had a hard time being published when it was first written as it was considered highly obscene. In August of 1857 he was put on trial for the obscenity present in Flowers of Evil, with the end result being the banishment of six poems.
You might be wondering what was so obscene. In general, this is a dark collection. It is also very sensual. Some of his poetry about women is just so quietly beautiful. Then, there are a few poems that speak of Satan and evil in general that feel a bit uncomfortable. In reading, I can understand the unrest in 1857 and very clearly understand why he is called the first truly modern poet.
This edition is fascinating to me in that the translations are not all done by the same person. Matter of fact, Aldous Huxley shows up in here, with the translation for "Lesbians".
I will be reading this again. I know that this copy will be well worn and well loved by the time I am done with it. 5 stars, yet again.

#0031K: Late and Posthumous Poems by Pablo Neruda

Ah, Neruda. We've been acquainted for years, but this is the first collection of his poetry I've read through. This was the bi-lingual edition, so I was able to marvel at the original as well as the translated work.
As anyone on the east coast of the United States knows this summer, rain has not been in short supply. This turned Late and Posthumous Poems into my rainy day book. In times that the world was pouring all over, I'd grab this book, light some candles, open my windows and snuggle into a chair and read. I highly recommend this tactic, by the way. I feel like it was a natural venue to explore Neruda in.
Another treat in this book is that it was borrowed. Early on, I noticed a few dog-eared pages and marks, so I asked if I could make some, too. I think it's always interesting to look at other people's notes or favorite passages and contemplate what they felt. As such, I took my time reading the poetry, digesting it, and letting it fill my insides. (& if the person I borrowed it from ever reads this, look on page 193)
There are selections in here from a few books Neruda had published, and a few books that I need to get. Neruda was gifted in his passion, and he understood. He understood his place, though lamenting it at times; understood his world, understood people, nature... it's all in his poetry.
He is easy to read and easy to connect with. No matter what your experience or relationship is with poetry as a whole, you should read Neruda anyway. 5 stars.

#0030K: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe

This book had been sitting on my shelf for over 5 years, unread. I had borrowed it from a teacher's collection, and borrow turned into "inherit".
Tom Wolfe is a powerful linguist, I feel. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test explores the world of Ken Kesey (author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) and the Merry Pranksters in a time before LSD was illegal in the United States. I say that Wolfe's grasp on language is so great because he was able to write objectively in the style of the Pranksters. This narrative is broken up by short bursts of pseudo-beat poetry as well as flow-of-conscious writings. It's really quite impressive.
I highly recommend this to anyone interested in the acid scene of the 1960s. It's an important work chronicaling the rise of acid and the king-like state Kesey held over everything. This review is horribly short, which I apologize for, but the book really just needs to be read. 5 stars.

#0029K: Like Shaking Hands With God by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and Lee Stringer

Again I mention that Vonnegut has been a favorite author of mine for quite some time. Naturally, when I saw this title in the book store, I grabbed it immediately.
Like Shaking Hands With God is a transcript of some discussions Vonnegut and Stringer had- one in a more public forum and one at a lunch together. It was interesting to see their views and their speaking patterns. I had never heard of Lee Stringer before this, and now I'd like to read one of his books. He apparently had been homeless before his first novel, which was about his experiences. Vonnegut said that Stringer is proof that writers are born, not made. He also felt like Stringer was a much better writer than himself. Still, that did not stop Vonnegut from interrupting Stringer constantly. It seemed a little overbearing and intimidating to me, but perhaps much is lost in the lack of intonation of written language.
Before I began reading, I expected something along the lines of A Man Without a Country by Vonnegut. I thought that the world's deepest darkest mysteries would be solved by these two men in their discussions. In all honestly, there didn't seem to be much. Both men sounded rather put on the spot, which I'm sure they were, but I personally found fewer gems than I had hoped.
It all goes to prove, I think, that these men are indeed human. 3 stars.