August 2015: Required Reading

July Required Reading Report:

1. The Quite American by Graham Greene  - (4/5 stars) A wonderful personal examination of conscience, morality, neutrality, innocence, idealism, cynicism, and more big stuff. It sort of gives perspective on humanity. Or the different kinds of it. 

2. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes - (5/5 stars) How can such a short book be so..so unsettling? It has so many insights about existence and death that sort of upended my own. That and because Barnes writes with so much flair. This is my favorite Man Booker read to date! (I realize that I say this everytime a read a Booker! Bookers can be terribly surprising!)

3. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie - (5/5 stars) This book is so bouyed by hope, it feels like I don't know, like crowd surfing. There are times when humans can be terrible and mean spirited, but then there are also times when they have your back and love you and accept you. 

August Required Reading:




1. Ubik by Philip K. Dick - The Filipino Goodreads online book club book of the month. I am now on chapter 13. And I want answers. Huhuhuhu.

2. Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human by Grant Morrison - This is my pick for the microhistory in the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. It traces comic book history from The Golden Age to Renaissance. And it seems like a fitting choice because our online activities for Ubik sort of touches on superpowers (psionic powers to be exact.) Yep we get to be telekinetics, mimics, mind controllers, teleporters. It's a riot!

Have a great August everyone! 

Comments

  1. It looks like you're on a sci-fi roll this month, Rabbit! Happy August! :)

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    Replies
    1. Superpowers galore this August! You too, Monique! :)

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  2. Yay for the stellar 2 and 3! :)

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  3. What happened to my comment earlier? Gah. Anyway, I'm so glad you loved TSOAE. I loved it too even if I didn't entirely understand it haha. :)

    ReplyDelete

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