But I’m not writing a book report here…as much as I LOVE that kind of blogging! And I could definitely write for hours on my feelings about Animal Farm and all of its political satire. But I think what struck a chord in me most was the way in which Orwell used his “Fairy Story” both as a critique of the Russian Revolution and a caveat for the risk of elected leaders taking control of societies founded on principles of equality.  Sure, on the surface Animal Farm is the satirical allegory of the Fall of Tsar Nicholas II and the Marxist Revolution that led not to government by the people as it was intended but to tyrannical Stalinism. Yet Orwell’s decision to use farm animals in place of humans lends a generic quality to the warnings. Warnings that, yes, this is about Russia…But what if it was an English countryside farm where all of this took place? Could this sort of thing happen anywhere? Could it happen in America? Are we blindly following our leaders? Could we even make them listen to us if we wanted to? Is our memory too short to see that while two pigs were responsible for the overthrow of farmer Jones, only one pig is now in control of the farm…and the other pig is the bogeyman that gets blamed for all things negative? Are we too unable to read the Seven Basic Principles painted on the side of the shed? Have a couple of those principles been changed slightly over time without our noticing? Sure we’re still electing our leaders on the farm, but why are pigs the only ones allowed to run for office? What about me, the hardworking cart-horse? Why can’t I run for office? Well, we’re told in Animal Farm that the pigs are better organizers of government and labor. That’s why pigs govern. Besides, if the hardworking cart-horse was elected to office, who would pull the cart? The pigs? Surely the intelligence of pigs would be wasted on THAT kind of work! And worse yet, the pigs have the dogs on their side so you’d better just pull the cart like you’re told!

Now it’s not that I completely distrust my State and Federal leaders…well, some more than others…but the point I get from Animal Farm is this: Whether you trust your leaders or not, it is always best to remain vigilant. Whether you are capitalist or communist, it is always best to keep your eyes open for freedoms being altered in the name of the State. And mostly, Tyranny doesn’t happen only to other countries. It happens to those countries that aren’t paying attention!

-Dan Winsky, Acquisitions

It’s a fairly short but wonderful book in which we follow Phileas Fogg and his trusted valet, Passepartout in their attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 80 days. As can be expected, the journey is packed with adventure! Fogg and company, all the while tailed by a wry detective who has mistaken Fogg for a bank robber, are forced to use just about every mode of transport imaginable on their journey. Trains, ships, even elephants and a wind-powered sledge—over the frozen Great Plains—are employed as they try to overcome each obstacle thrown into their path…including being sidetracked in order to rescue a young Indian woman from her fate as a ritual sacrifice! The reserved Fogg’s systematic nonchalant character contrasted by Passepartout’s hot-bloodedness makes for great comedy! The comic, action-packed globetrotting mixed with Verne’s smart, scientific writing creates a very enjoyable read! I think I enjoyed this more as an adult than I did as a kid!

As I said, the book was short and quick and therefore did not quite satisfy my need for adventure. Being in Verne mode already, I went back to the One Click site and checked out 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. Again, Verne’s scientific voice, researcher’s style and apparently endless knowledge of marine life blend well to create this classic. Read from a modern point of view, the book may not seem all that special. But remembering that the novel was written in 1870—well before the days of prolific submarine warfare—Verne’s foresight is uncanny. Though it doesn’t have the same fun tone that was so wonderful in Fogg’s journey, the voyage under the sea has much more in the way of suspense. For me, a guy that WILL NOT go into the sea, avoids lakes at all costs and even takes the relative safety of a bathtub with a grain of salt, the underwater tension was thick! When Captain Nemo gets his sub, Nautilus stuck under the polar ice cap—water continually freezing around them, strengthening their underwater prison—I truly feared for my heart health! Did I mention that I have a morbid fear of being trapped under the water? Eek! I’m feeling a bit short of breath just reliving the scene!

Maybe next month I should do my heart a favor and stick with some sort of depressing classic dystopian fiction. Maybe some Orwell or Huxley? – Dan Winsky, Acquisitions

It’s not often that I pick up a “classic” that has so much timely relevance as this month’s read. Sure, you can find parallels to modern society in just about any classic you read…I think that’s essential in making a book a classic. But with our nation mired in numerous unpopular foreign conflicts for the past decade or more, Catch-22 really made an impact on me as to how absurd the waging of war really is! Joseph Heller’s masterpiece, and YES, I’d definitely call this a masterpiece, is the epitome of wartime chaos and absurdity.  But apart from the ever-popular satire of war and the always-timely lampooning of the bureaucrats that wage war, Catch-22 is made a classic in another way.  I honestly can’t remember reading a book that balanced the evocation of emotions so well. I’ll often read a funny book or a horrific book. I’ve even been known to pick up the sappy book when I need a good cry! But with Catch-22, I was reading stuff that was absurdly funny, scarily real and truly sad all at the same time.  Just the idea behind the title itself is at once funny, confusing, sad and frighteningly TRUE…our hero, Yossarian, a bombardier in the U.S. Army Air Corp during WWII is trying to save his skin by getting out of any more bombing missions. He tries to convince the squadron doctor that he is crazy and needs to be grounded but “There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane, he had to fly them. If he flew them, he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to, he was sane and had to.” This is confusingly brilliant and worse, frighteningly believable of a government that many these days would say has lost touch with reality! And this book is full of the stuff. I can’t recall the number of times I found myself genuinely laughing only to have that laugh turn into a feeling of “Oh wow! That’s not really funny at all because it’s sadly true!” Or a realization like, “Wait. That’s not a caricature of a government official. It’s a portrait!”

But, laughter is the best medicine, as they say! And, for me at least, the comedy of Catch-22 outweighs the sad realizations that come with the reading, leaving me with a (mostly) positive feeling. Yet just below the comic absurdity and the outrageous caricatures of power-mad, war-mongering bureaucrats there is a definite sense of sadness for our system, sympathy for those hurt by our system and anger for those that control our system.  All in all, I think I’d say that (as far as classic lit goes) this book is very high on my list of favorites. Oh! One more thing. If you don’t have the time or patience to take on the oft-confusing structure of a Catch-22 reading, there is a feature film version!

- Dan Winsky, Acquisitions

Actually though, I was most amazed by how deeply Dostoevsky drew me into his character. Raskolnikov, our protagonist, is a very complex character…maybe more so than ANY character I’ve encountered in literature before. And his complexity lies in the fact that he’s seemingly not a literary character. He is so real! It’s quite possible that Dostoevsky has created in Raskolnikov the most real fictional character ever! His range of emotion, his mental state, his thought processes don’t seem fictional at all. Dostoevsky obviously was an astute observer of the nature of humankind. And his protagonist is very human. It’s not often that I have come across a fictional character that was written so well. But Raskolnikov is! I can loathe, laugh with, sympathize with, forgive and understand Raskolnikov because his emotions and thoughts are not contrived for the sake of a good novel. They are human.

Now, I’m pretty sure that Dostoevsky was trying to say something. He was trying to teach a moral, perhaps a few morals. I’m pretty sure those lessons are about arrogance, pride, putting yourself above your fellow man, the dangers of utilitarianism, problems of ego, and on and on. And I think he meant to say that, in spite of ego and arrogance, redemption and grace are still possible. I think he was saying that the real crime is not murder (though it IS wrong). It’s the arrogance so common to humans. And the real punishment is not hard labor in a Siberian gulag (though that IS bad). It’s genuine remorse for our arrogance. But through all of our faults, redemption is still possible even for the wicked among us.

Okay, I’ll step down from this soapbox and my attempt to tell you what I think Dostoevsky was trying to say and finish with this. Morals, deep internal tussles and class struggle aside (though these are quite compelling); the real draw for me…the reason I LOVED this book is that I believethat Raskolnikov is real in that he is us. It is not just a great story with great morals. It is a human story.

- Dan Winsky, Acquisitions

I’ll explain. I have recently begun using a Nexus 7 tablet. You see, back when I was a single fellow living in a tiny apartment, I was able to have an audiobook blaring from my CD player whenever I chose…doing dishes, folding laundry, cooking, playing video games. I could hear my audiobooks in, no kidding, every room of my apartment (it was a tiny place!) Marriage changed all that. Not only was there another person living in that tiny apartment that may not care to listen to my audiobooks (imagine my surprise), but that tiny apartment was soon traded in for a much larger space. We’d bought a house! Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining about the extra space, but it was nearly impossible for me to do just about anything and still access my beloved audiobooks. The CD players are downstairs, the laundry is on the other side of the house and doing dishes requires being upstairs in the kitchen. So for my birthday, my wonderful wife bought me the tablet. To make it even better, I bought a cool speaker system that is portable, rechargeable and links wirelessly to my Nexus 7. Finally, I had technology that would allow me to access audiobooks anywhere in the house! I really wanted to test my new system with an audiobook…ANY audiobook. There were no audiobooks preloaded on to my new tablet, so I went to the handy One Click Digital page from the library website. I downloaded the first audiobook that was available. As luck would have it, I had done a “browse all” on One Click and had sorted it by author. The first available book was by a fellow called Adams, Richard Adams. And the book was Watership Down.

To make a long story short (too late), I’m ashamed to say that I made it this far in life without having read this book. I was under the impression that this was a cuddly, bunny-friendly kids’ book. And yes, there are copies in the library’s Youth Services collection. But it really explores some themes that have no age limit. Themes like death, human nature (and animal nature), freedom & the will to remain free, teamwork and the desire to keep family safe will impact young and old alike. The novel has all the elements of a modern classic and is truly worthy of the Carnegie Medal in Literature and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, both of which it won in the early ‘70s. But just as important (to me, anyhow) is the fact that Watership Down is a darn good adventure story. And I’m hopelessly drawn to a good adventure. Adams is a veteran of WWII and, in the book’s foreword, says that he based several of the bunny characters on officers and enlisted men he knew in the British Army. I could almost picture these British officers in place of the rabbits. The novel reads like a war story…it’s teeming with military tactics and lightning raids!

But to be completely honest, I haven’t actually finished the book yet. So I think I’ll get back to it now. I’m just itching to see what Hazel and Fiver do next!- Dan Winsky, Acquisitions

Anyway, last month I hinted that I might delve into some Homeric epic poetry as my “Classic of the Month”.  I followed through with that idea lest I anger my faithful audience of followers! Admittedly, I did hint at The Odyssey but then realized that certain obsessive traits in me would not allow me to read the second part before the first so I picked up The Iliad instead. As with many of my classics selections, translation is key to enjoying it so I went with K.U. Professor of Classics, Stanley Lombardo’s version. I also continued my habit of listening to the book as I read because Professor Lombardo also performs his audiobook version. Lombardo’s version is excellent! The professor formats his translation to be performed orally, just like the Ancient Greeks would have and apparently likes to perform to some sort of musical accompaniment (also like the Greeks) in this case, mostly drums. This version of The Iliad includes some novel features such as Lombardo’s ability to refashion the verse into a more colloquial rendition of the poem. For traditional classicists, the Robert Fagles version might be more appropriate but for those that want to get the meat of the story, the dire mood of Homer & the vivid spirit of the Trojan War without trying to reign in the lofty verse (and overly archaic diction) of Ancient Homeric bards, the Lombardo translation is your bet! The dialogue of many translations is often so “poetic” that the meaning is hard to grasp. With Lombardo, lines such as “That war-like Ionian was hurled down toward the house of death” seriously is stated “that worthy foe bit the dust”. Okay, I might be paraphrasing that a bit, but only just a bit…my point is that the difference is really that evident! Though not as eloquent as some and maybe not your standard classroom Homer, Lombardo’s translation is to the point and fits in well with our culture of superhero movies and over-the-top action scenes.

Another awesome Lombardo device is the use of sound effects in his readings. Greek epic poetry often contains Homeric simile…a very detailed comparison of something familiar to something vivid or glorious, often spanning LINES of poetry (Doh!) These departures can be confusing, pulling a reader out of the action and into a diffuse emotional discourse. Lombardo’s treatment of these deviations is to play sound effects at the beginning of each. There are MANY and many of them are LONG so Lombardo announces each with a musical/laser/beating of wings-type sound effect telling a listener, “Hey we’re starting a Homeric simile now!” SO much easier to follow than when Homer seemingly just throws in a major metaphorical discourse for reasons of loftiness!

For those of you that are into things such as action films, graphic novels and war stories, THIS is where they came from. You will not be disappointed by the Iliad! Modern storytelling (at least action/adventure storytelling) got its start with Homer. The Iliad was the Braveheart or Avengers of its day…Epic and action-packed at every turn! My “Classics” blog-posting has been an effort to bring relevance to things that are too often falling into irrelevance and nothing exemplifies this more than The Iliad. So many things that we today are entertained by owe a HUGE debt to Homer! And Lombardo’s contemporary, colloquial version is the perfect gateway to revisiting and revitalizing the action story’s roots.

- Dan Winsky, Acquisitions

Ah! This month’s Reading the Classics has been a breath of fresh air! Not that last month was too stuffy (though it was a bit stuffy). But this month, once again, I return to a previously read, beloved classic from my days of youth. I really needed to get away from the feeling that I was being assigned work by a pretentious English professor so this time I chose something that I knew I loved…Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. And though, as with last month, I will not be checking another classic off my To-Be-Read-List; I am experiencing one of my favorite novels in its new MP3 format. LPL also has a nifty illustrated edition if you’re into visuals. I AM into visuals! But with a book like Ivanhoe, my visuals tend toward things such as putting on my chainmail hauberk, strapping a sword on to my hip and admiring myself in the mirror. If I’m in a particularly natty mood, I’ll also put a crown on my head (yes I have a crown at home…as if owning chainmail isn’t bad enough!) and pretend that I am warming the throne for King Richard Cœur de Lion’s return home from the Crusades! Though as a monarch I’d never be as cruel as the nasty usurper, Prince John!

Phew! I was actually afraid that this blog post might force me to admit something embarrassing… like the fact that reading Ivanhoe puts me in the mood to return to my Dungeons & Dragons playing days. I fear THAT would have put me beyond the pale!

I did revisit this book with the goal of getting something new from it. I planned to see it with wise adult eyes. I hoped to glean something from the work itself rather than from the story…something, perhaps in the realm of appreciation for Scott and his writing style or for the novel’s place in history as a prototype for the Historical Novel.  And, Yes. I did feel some of that. Having become an avid reader of historical fiction, I see that Sir Walter’s most famous novel is in fact the quintessential work in the genre…the Ur of Historical Fiction. But I was pleasantly surprised that a reread of Ivanhoe also took me back a bit! I had the same giddy feelings that I had in my early teens when reading this for the first time. I remember the elation of discovering Scott’s lyrical depiction of Chivalry and High Adventure…and then quickly digging deeply into as many renderings of The Adventures of Robin Hood and His Merry Men as I could find, the works of Malory, T.H. White and any other Arthurian tales I could lay my hands on. Wow! This has really struck a chord in me! I think next month’s classic might be in a similar vein…Some Homeric Epic Poetry perhaps?

“Tell me, O Muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy.” Not so fast! We’ll have to wait a month for that…

- Dan Winsky, Acquisitions

It turns out that I still find Hemingway’s dialogue a bit trite or forced or something like that but I feel it is anything but natural.  Same goes for the love story.  It is an integral part of the novel.  Yet, like the dialogue, the romance seems forced.  I had a hard time believing that Frederick and Catherine could ever love one another.  Then again, Hemingway was actually a veteran of the Great War and I am not!  Perhaps he witnessed love in war torn Italy.  Maybe love had to be forced in that dire situation.  Maybe the idea of love during war is so completely opposite to everything that participants in war are witnessing that the love comes out this way.  I don’t know.  I can only judge it by my own experiences and my experiences were never this trite!

What Hemingway does do well is description.  His painting of a picturesque, war-torn Italian villa is amazingly vivid!  I say his “painting” because that’s how it strikes me.  It virtually paints a picture in my mind!  Hemingway’s descriptions of menial things…sitting and having a glass of wine, for example…are the reason I’m drawn to his works.  When I read even his simplest descriptive passages, such as the description of a room that a character happens to be sitting in, I seem almost able to feel even the climate of the place described.  I think Hemingway’s knack for that is something special!  I can’t come up with too many authors that can make me truly feel like I’m present in a book but Hemingway is among them.  And as I mentioned above, I am not a veteran of war but Hemingway’s description of war is capable of evoking feelings of proximity to the action. His descriptions of shells exploding in the streets of the village elicit almost gritty feelings as I read them… as if I’m being pelted with dirt thrown up by the blast.  All that’s missing is the shockwave!

Hmm.  Now that I look back on my feelings about this novel, maybe I can handle Hemingway’s tough dialogue!  I think I might add a couple more of his novels to my To-Be-Read-List!  We’ll see what classic gets the nod for next month.  Could I handle two Hemingway novels in a row???

- Dan W., Acquisitions

The plot centers on a narrator called Marlowe that recounts his adventures aboard a steamer bound downriver into the Congo.  The story that Marlowe tells can easily be classified as the adventure I was hoping for, as the crewmen of the steamer are constantly imperiled during their journey!  There are wild tribes of savages that attack the boat, dense fogs that seem impenetrable, mysterious happenings aboard ship and rampant rumors of the rouge ivory collector, Kurtz, whom the boat has been sent to retrieve.  Yet within the adventure to find Kurtz, Marlowe undergoes a change (and perhaps the reader does as well!), a change brought about by the journey into the heart of darkness.   Marlowe accepts the Congo mission with an initial admiration of Kurtz, the most successful ivory collector of all (just as I initially accepted this work as an adventure story).   Yet as Marlowe’s journey takes him deeper in the dark heart of Africa, it also takes him deeper into the dark hearts of men.  Marlowe’s vision of Kurtz as an enlightened cultivator of civilization is shattered just as his initial beliefs about the nature of the Dark Continent of Africa are also called into question. (And expectedly, as is the point, my idea that this is an adventure story is shattered and what I stand to gain from reading it is called into question.)

Written at a time of colonization…a time when Europeans were sharing their enlightened civilization with the supposedly barbaric reaches of the world, Conrad delves into the dehumanizing effects of colonialism and what it can do to a man’s soul.  Darkness is explored on three levels.   Setting-wise, the boat is exploring the dark heart of Africa.   Thematically, colonization of Africa exposes the dark heart of European Colonialism and this leads to the third level…the spiritual…A stirring of the greedy dark hearts of men.

Though initially I had been a bit offended by Conrad’s use of derogatory racial terms, I came to realize his purpose for their use. He was pointing out the degeneration of civilized peoples into greedy subjugators of African (and assumingly other) peoples.  Conrad questions the motives of the European Colonial Expansion.  He asks, “Are we civilizing the world or greedily plundering it?” And the questions are not necessarily answered for the reader.  But I guess that’s the point!  If the questions are answered for us, what reason would we have to ask those questions of us? - Dan W., Acquisitions

Note:  Heart of Darkness is out of copyright and can be downloaded free.

Now that’s exactly how I had to approach my latest attempt to take one of the major classics off of my to-be-read list! Moby Dick is a chore! I knew it from the start! And so I went into the project knowing that, like Ahab, the obsessed whaling captain from Melville’s classic; I would grapple with demons that I didn’t know I had! To make this task a bit easier on myself, I chose to listen to the book in its Audiobook format from the library’s OneClick Digital platform. Having someone read to me is relaxing and generally very enjoyable. When it comes to having classics read to me, it feels a bit like cheating! But cheating is exactly what I knew I’d have to resort to if I was going to get through this book!

If you’re looking for a quick, exciting sea adventure, this book isn’t for you! (But I can point you to the best of those if you’re interested!) If you’re looking for a man vs. nature psychological exploration…nope! Still not for you! If you’re searching for obsession and bent-on-revenge madness, we’re getting closer! If you are looking for a book on whaling, types & characteristics of whales, whaling ships, boats & tools and an actual list of white things that are or are not as evil as the White Whale of Ahab’s obsession, well then, you’ve hit it spot-on for the first 80 or so chapters of Moby Dick! Seriously! The audiobook reader actually spent about 30 minutes reading a list of things that are white (like white sands, the white robes of the savior, etc.) that are considered pure and clean. And then a good 20 minutes or so follow to list things (like the white shark and the white squall) that impart fear! Ah! So this is what madness and obsession are like! I have to admit. This is where I almost foundered, if you’ll excuse the nautical pun! But after reading this, I now believe that when people speak of a man obsessed when speaking of Moby Dick, perhaps they are speaking not so much of Ahab but of Melville instead!

Okay, enough picking on Melville already! To be fair, the last 50 chapters of Moby Dick make the book worth the read. There is adventure, excitement, some mystery and even a tidbit of comic relief! But, I don’t want you to think that you can skip the first 80 chapters! Melville sprinkles his mystery and comedy throughout the book. Skip too much and you’ll miss a boatload of character development! Meeting the characters aboard the Pequod is a bit like the roll call of heroes you may find in an Old English epic or Scandinavian saga. You need the whole story to build up to the action scenes (which mostly do happen after the first 80 chapters). But when you get there they are spellbinding!

All in all, I was impressed with the novel. Melville’s writing is awesome. His language is eloquent and classic! The action of the hunt (when Melville finally gets to it) is breathtaking! And best of all, when you’re finished, you can check another major literary classic off your to-be-read list! I hope you consider this a challenge! – Dan W., Acquisitions