Sunday, January 27, 2008

2nd Book Finished in January

Just yesterday I was typing about how I was going to focus on One Day in the Life... and try to get it read before the end of January. Well, I stayed up too late yesterday and put some more time in tonight and it is now done. I really like this book, if I am remembering right this is the 3rd time I have read it. I had to read it for a class in college, I think I took Soph year, it was Dr Sanchez in the History Dept. I can't remember the title of the class but this book along with For Whom the Bells Toll, a couple Primo Levi books and another about Italy around that time. While I am sure that I didn't appreciate the class at that time, looking back he really introduced us(the students)to some great literature. Now that I think about it I also did a Spanish Civil War class with Dr Sanchez, so For Whom... might have been with that class instead.

I know before One Day... I really hadn't been exposed to the gulags and what was going on in Russia under Stalin. I kind of remember this book being a slap in the face kind of book to me, in that the suffering and treatment of life was almost so meaningless. The cold Siberian work camps where prisoners really weren't expected to ever get out really shows how fleeting life could be. Also makes you appreciate the good fortune in your life. Something as simple as just being born in the US instead of almost anywhere else in the world is something that many of us here take for granted. The hardships and struggles going on elsewhere are really hard to comprehend. One Day... I think really brings this home, at least to me. It had been far too long in between readings of this book--I think the 2nd reading was shortly after college maybe early '90s.

I am off work tomorrow so I might try to find a new book yet tonight so I can maybe put some time in on it tomorrow. Of course I am still reading Wuthering Heights, I did actually get a few pages read last night also. Not sure if I will look for a 3rd book right away or not also--I would guess not.

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