The First Part of King Henry IV by Will Shakespeare (#13, Classic)

Can I begin by saying that I always secretly dreaded the day I would have to spend my precious time reading a Shakespeare history play? Well that day arrived with my Renaissance Bodies Seminar, and I was forced to read not one, but two history plays.

That said, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed this play. It had me laughing out loud and I don't think any of the other Shakespeare plays I have read have garnered that response. But how could you not laugh at Falstaff? He is such a great character, and juxtaposed next to Prince Hal, well, it is a comic combination unparalled in any of his other plays--or at least the handful that I have read.

My seminar paper is going to make use primarily of this play, in conjunction with Castiglione's Book I of the Courtier, and will focus on constructions of the courtly, private body versus that of the laboring, public body. Prince Henry and Falstaff are perfect examples of each type of body, and the scenes where they perform the role of Prince Hal and King Henry underscore notions of performativity that can be found in the Courtier. Prince Hal can perform any role, but Falstaff, not of the nobility, not a courtier, cannot slide as easily into varied roles.

If I have bored anyone with my scholarly babble, I am sorry. Come back after May 12, and I promise to have a much more interesting selection of books and thoughts. But for now, I am on to Richard II, the other history play.

Mutter Courage und Ihre Kinder by Bertolt Brecht (#12, Classic)

I am taking an Intro to German Literature course and because I am very adamant about making sure everything I count towards my 50 books is of a certain length, Mutter Courage is the first work we read that I could justify counting. Kafka's Die Verwandlung (Metamorphosis) was close, but since I couldn't find it outside a collection of his short fiction, I couldn't rightly count it as a book, although it was 60-some pages.

I found this play rather difficult. I read it in an English translation first, and then struggled with the Bavarian dialect in which it was written. I am not a native speaker, and although the bulk of the time spent in Germany was in a city in Bavaria, it didn't help me much when reading. It was an ironic play, seeing as how Mutter Courage is quite possibly the most unfit name for the main character, Anna Fierling. I found her to be lacking in courage for most of the play, and I might even go so far as to argue that her children were the ones who showed the most courage, while she sat back and created the situations that led to all three of their deaths.

I wouldn't recommend reading it in English though, because the beauty of the play lies in the dialectic German expressions, especially those that come out of Mutter Courage's mouth. There are some truly funny scenes with her son Swiss Cheese--yes, that is her second son's name--and also with the prostitute character Yvette. Did I feel for Mutter Courage at the end, when she is left alone, pulling her wagon by her lonesome? Not really, but perhaps that is what Brecht was going for. He wanted his audience to be distanced from the characters, and I think that is exactly how one feels at the end.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (#10, Classic)

Somehow I managed to escape reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in all of my high school and college English classes--I suppose you can only read so many of the Classics. I can see why it is on so many reading lists because it presents numerous themes for discussion, most prominently I got the message over and over again that knowledge is dangerous.

Why is knowledge dangerous? Victor Frankenstein holes up for many years trying to surpass all current knowledge on natural sciences and he ends up creating life. His thirst for knowledge, specifically knowledge of the unknown and undiscovered, is what he sees as the reason for his demise. He goes beyond what has been discovered and creates life, his Monster, but once the Monster takes his first breath he is repulsed by its hideousness and runs and hides to let the Monster fend for itself.

I'm glad I finally read Frankenstein because there are so many current adaptations in film and references to the novel (think Halloween). I never even considered feeling bad for the Monster until now. The Monster was basically an unwanted child that Victor left all alone in a world that saw him as nothing but a threat and all he wanted was some love and attention. Yes, he ends up ruining Victor's life and killing everyone close to him, but what did Victor expect? Victor was basically a coward not willing to fess up to his mistake of creating something he wasn't prepared to handle.

When I first started reading the novel I was entirely opposed to the theme of knowledge as dangerous, at the end I changed my opinion and I now say knowledge can be dangerous in the wrong hands. Not exactly a newfangled theory, but it is definitely interesting in our era of knowledge and advancement to see that Mary Shelley saw this back in the early 19th century. I guess times don't really change.

A Walk In the Woods by Bill Bryson (#11, Nonfiction)

Oh the Appalachian Trail. It stretches from Maine to Georgia and offers hikers and fitness buffs a true challenge: one that is mentally, spiritually and physically taxing. It is grueling yet satisfying, completely exhausting yet gloriously energizing. Ambitious hikers set off in March to try and walk from Georgia to Maine before it gets too cold on Mt. Katahdin and the trails become impassable with snow. It is a challenge that not many can say they have accomplished. If you have never wanted to hike the AT, journalist Bill Bryson will make you want to in his best-selling book, A Walk in the Woods.

Bryson makes you crave the unending forests, steep inclines, unpredictable weather, heavy back-breaking packs and sparse trail shelters. He makes you hunger for that first shower after a five day trek through Georgia's thickest woods and the utterly satisfying initial gulp of the first cold soda after days of drinking lukewarm water out of your pack. Bryson is a very good writer, probably the best that I have read so far in terms of nonfiction. I thoroughly enjoyed reading every informative chapter, learning about hypothermia, bear attacks, murders along the AT, what to pack for hiking in the words, the two men who created the trail, and much, much more.

I found this book sitting on the shelf in my parent's computer room. Skeptical, I picked it up and started reading it just because I finished Persuasion and neglected to bring another book along. I didn't intend on finishing it, much less enjoying it but I did. And I might just have to read some of Bryson's other books. Writers with such a firm grasp on the craft of nonfiction writing are hard to find--now that I've found Bryson I might not be able to let him go.

Persuasion by Jane Austen (#10, Classic)

Why did it take me two months to read Jane Austen's Persuasion? That is the question indeed. It took me a little while to get into it. I tried reading it in the pool in Costa Rica, but I don't think such classic literature is a good choice for lounging in the pool. I needed a trashier novel, like Klein's Straight Up and Dirty, to quench that vacation thirst for some juicy reading. But I did finally get into the book, and sped through the second half of it, crazy to know which male suitor was the decoy and which one was the gem for Anne Elliot. It is always a mystery, although I knew for a while who she was going to end up with. The end of the book was more about the build-up to the reckoning, when all feelings are made known and everything gets tidied up.

I really enjoyed this book, but I found it hard to really like Anne, the female heroine. Quiet, reserved, and happier to be reflecting on her thoughts alone than among company, she is an interesting choice on Austen's part. I will probably read all the other Jane Austen novels, just to see what the other heroines are like. These characters are the first chick lit characters, precursors to the Bridget Jones' of the current chick lit world. Personally, I prefer Austen's austere creations to today's annoying slew of feminine catastrophes.

Hallucinating Foucault by Patricia Duncker (#9, Reader's Choice)

No will ever know the trouble I went through to get this picture! The copy of Hallucinating Foucault that I read had no pretty artwork. It was quite plainly a hardcover missing its pretty jacket. Did it affect how I read the novel? Perhaps. I always am attracted by bright and beautiful cover art.

We read this novel for my Politics and Economics of the Canon, and I had a hard time placing it in a category. Reader's Choice is misleading because I definitely didn't choose this book, but its not a classic, nor is it nonfiction so I guess it has to go there. I will stop complaining though because I really enjoyed this book. It is a treat for English majors, those of us stuck reading crazy literary theorists like Foucault--whose name I finally know how to spell thanks to seeing it on the cover multiple times--and Barthes. This novel offers a (fictional) sneak peek into what it would be like to meet and fall in love with the object of your study. What reader doesn't at one point fantasize, or even just wonder, what it would be like to meet your favorite writer and be able to ask them anything?

Hallucinating Foucault deals with the long debated literary question of reader and author. Duncker's novel, though teasing at times with this theme as it seems she might just let reader and author coexist happily, but in the end she upholds the Barthes' theory of the death of the author. A literary work depends not on the author, but on the reader with all his/her experiences, perceptions, and ideological systems.

*On a side note, one out of nine books I have read so far have caused crying. I am going to keep a tally of how many of the 50 books bring tears to my eyes.

Blindsided by Richard M. Cohen (#9, Nonfiction)

I am not sure whether I think of this book as a complete downer or as an inspiration. Clearly it is an extraordinary story--a man's tale of living three decades with multiple sclerosis, not to mention two bouts of colon cancer added into the mix. All the while Cohen continues his career as a news producer for a major network and takes the reader with him on his journeys to Beirut and El Salvador in the midst of war zones.

I do not envy Richard Cohen, and I certainly wouldn't want to be in his shoes. But I admire and respect the accomplishments he has achieved with such huge physical barriers in his way. Hopefully his memoir will inspire both those with similar ailments, as well as those without, to continue striving for everything they deserve as well as everything they believe to be out of reach.

Blindsided made me a bit of a hypochondriac and a bit sad, but it also made me appreciate everything that I already have right in front of me. I think I am fairly good about embracing the small things in life and not dwelling on the trivial, but it's always nice to be reminded that life is good.