Like Re-Reading A Book For The First Time

I hope everyone has had a pleasant holiday season. What with holiday knitting, hockey, obligatory feasting, and spending time with family - all of which was fantastic! - I only just managed to finish reading "Rites of Passage" last night. Which means in the past two months I've only read four books! I'm feeling a bit scandalized. So, I took another look at how many books I have left (36!) and how many days I have to reach my goal, and I am now left with approximately 7 days per book rather than 8. It still feels do-able. I just can't celebrate Christmas again during the next nine months. I think I can manage that, too!

Alright, you're here to watch me struggle with literature, not basic math concepts, so let's get on with it!

I loved William Golding's "Lord of the Flies". I thought it was a great book, with a well-developed, if slightly dark, theme of societal collapse within a closed group resulting from a bullying mentality. Great book. I haven't read it in probably fifteen years, but I was thinking about it quite a bit while I was reading Golding's "Rites of Passage" the past few weeks. It's the same theme, just with a grown up cast, a bit less action, and less suspense - they're on a boat, so there's no waiting for rescue. I actually never even considered that the boat may not make it, even though there are plenty of things that may happen to a ship at sea, I just never felt any real threat to the vessel.

It's a well-developed story, a touch of mystery, and the essence of the voyage was well invoked. However, the theme was so obviously the same as in "Lord of the Flies" that I figured out which roles everyone had been cast in about a quarter into the novel and therefore knew what to expect from the rest of the story. There's nothing really wrong with that, except that I had no impetus to keep reading other than to simply finish the book. I wasn't waiting to find out what happens next, and that's always a bit disappointing. It's a good read, but I would've liked a bit more anticipation. I did struggle a bit with some of the word and language choices, but it did give the novel a more authentic flavour.

My next book it Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" - I'm kind of excited for this novel! I've heard such great things about it, and it's the winner of not just the Booker but also the Best of the Booker - so, the best novel of all the Booker prize winners! No pressure, right?

By the way, I still have not finished my holiday knitting. Men's sized Dr. Who socks take longer than I anticipated!

Happy Reading!