To Kill a Mockingbird

"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."

Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird

This book gave me one of my favorite quotes on reading.

To Kill a Mockingbird won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961. This book has stayed extremely relevant. Its a commentary on racism, and the socioeconomic cause of it (those who are poor cannot afford lawyers to further their cause). I loved how race was examined through the eyes of a child. The over all message of it is one that we must do better. As the privileged we must do better to lift others up and knock down institutions that make things easier on us by making things harder on others.

This was a fantastic book. I read it for the We Read Drinks project that I do with Andi and Arielle (You should check out what we wrote for it here, its a bit more complete. I have a hard time writing about the same book twice). 

This Week in Other Projects 8/21/16

Not a whole lot this week, everyone. Just packing and thinking about future projects. Though I did manage to make this video on the Magicians over at Between the Covers. Check it out! And more to come next week!

The Sixth Extinction

The Sixth Extinction, by Elizabeth Kolbert, won the Pulitzer prize for general non-fiction in 2015.

This book is important. Kolbert writes about the five major extinctions that have happened in the past, and examines the events leading up to them, all while looking at the way humans are causing a sixth extinction event today. She talks to meteorologists, paleontologists, geologists, biologists, and numerous other specialists, and examines data and trends to see what the next great extinction will look like and how it will effect us. She also looks at several different species, some extinct and some not, to see how their declines were alike and different.

The most interesting part of the book, was how humans might leave this extinction as their greatest legacy. Species go extinct all the time, but this is the first time it has happened at the hands of another species. This event is something entirely new. And extinction is a strange thing to wonder about. Will I someday have to explain to my children, or grandchildren, where the polar bears went and why there are no more elephants or rhinos? What will I say? Could we have done more of something, or ceased to do other things? Why didn't we care when caring made a difference?

These questions are important. They are questions that I feel I might never find adequate answers for. Kolbert helps to flesh out these questions, and show why they are important. Everyone should read this book. Everyone.

The Road

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, won the Nobel prize in 2007. I read the book in 2008 during my last year in high school.

This was a book that stuck with me. It the story of a father and son walking south through America after a terrible disaster happens. The sky is always grey and dark, snow falls even in the summer, grey and ashy. The father has a terrible cough, and the son knows no other world. They have a pistol, a cart full of food, and their clothes.

I loved this book. The relationship between the father and the son is amazing. The father loves his son so much, and is trying to find a better place for him even though he has no hope that a better place exists. The darkness in the world is so understated, and it really makes the America that they live in feel real. People eating a new born baby, searching through homes for canned food, staying away from others in the dark; in this world, these are all just facts of life.

I loved the tragedy of this book as well. Through out the entire book, the father is sick and knows he is dying. He doesn't tell his son, instead he tries to prepare him for a life without him. I like how the father tries to teach his son hope, even though the father has had no hope except in his son for so long.

This is a great book. Though it is very dark, and at points gory, it has a beautiful story which shines even brighter against the backdrop. It's one I keep meaning to reread and never get around to.

This Week in Other Projects 8/14/16

Hey Everyone!

This week I read a lot of romance a did a few vlogs. Check them out!

Check them out, and there will be some Pulitzer reviews later this week!

Pulitzer Prize Challenge!

Alright everyone.

After much thinking and debating, I have decided on a new challenge: the Pulitzer Challenge. I will be reading all Pulitzer Prize winners from the Fiction, General Non-fiction, and Poetry categories; a grand total of 248 books.  I will be doing this over the next four years (cause I want to read and work on other things, like We Read Drinks and Between the Covers....you should check those out if you get a minute.) It will break down to a post a week (roughly), some weeks more than others.

I hope you all like this new project and keep tuning in! Happy Reading!

This Week in Other Projects, 8/7/16

Hey everyone!

I miss blogging about books, so I will start posting again.

I am looking for a new challenge though. Maybe the Pulitzer Challenge, or maybe I'll read all of the Man Bookers. Please comment below and tell me what you think.

I've been working on several other projects. This week two of articles were published in the Durango Herald: the first on how writers have shaped the west, and the second a review of a climbing memoir, Sixty Meters to Anywhere.

There is also a new post from We Read Drinks, a blog where Andi, Arielle, and myself read books and drink drinks, on Moby Dick. Y'all should check it out!

I also started a YouTube channel called Between the Covers, you can watch my two latest videos here.

I look forward to posting again regularly and please let me know which book challenge you would like for me to tackle next.

--J