On Summer Reading

Since I've last posted, I have finished two books and started another. I planned to blog about each of them, but somehow I never got around to opening my laptop.

Malcolm X's autobiography, as told to Alex Haley, was intense-- important, I could tell, though a bit long. I feel that a book that long should have offered more insight into Malcolm X's life, especially since it was actually written by another person. But it was mostly a dry account of events and reactions, which left me much less satisfied than I thought it would. Also, even though he eventually changes his views, I found it almost irritating to read about his devotion to black separatism and the stagnancy of society knowing that society has actually changed a lot... I mean, he rambles on for 100 pages about how the white man is NEVER going to respect black people, and today our country has a black president...

Times have changed. Nevertheless, it was an interesting read.

Next was The Body Project, which admittedly, I just sort of picked up off a Barnes and Noble book shelf and read on a whim. It was interesting, for what it was--a comparison of values and expectations associated with the female body, from 1830s - present. I never knew that pimples used to be a symbol of sexual deviancy or that menstruation used to be blamed for women's supposed incapability of higher education. Some interesting research, but I do wish that the author had taken into account more political and economic changes that impacted her observations... She never even mentions the 19th amendment or Roe v. Wade or the invention of birth control! There is bound to be a better book out there on the subject.

Finally, I am currently reading Wuthering Heights, and I'm about halfway through. Though I want to reserve final judgment until I have finished the book, I don't think it will hold a candle to Jane Eyre.  The characters are just not very likeable, and the plot seems like nothing more than a cheap romance novel.

Thus concludes my lit review blog. I will try and remember to keep my netbook handy when I finish my next few books.