Current mood:	accomplished
Current music:	Life is Beautiful by Vega4
Entry tags:	fantasy, fiction, holocaust literature, religious studies, short stories

21-25
21) Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
Genre: WWII -- Holocaust -- Fiction
Pages: 397
Summary: A stunning novel based on the true story of how German war profiteer and prison camp Direktor Oskar Schindler came to save more Jews from the gas chambers than any other single person during World War II. In this milestone of Holocaust literature, Thomas Keneally uses the actual testimony of the Schindlerjuden--Schindler's Jews--to brilliantly portray the courage and cunning of a good man in the midst of unspeakable evil.

Opinion: I just wrote a report on this book, so I can definitely copy-paste some of it here. Yep. Easier than reiterating everything in my report.
Reading this book really helped me to understand how desperate and hopeless the situation was for the Jews. One thing I thought was interesting was how much better Oskar Schindler’s “backyard labor camp” was than any of the other concentration camps, mainly because none of the Jews in Oskar’s labor camps were subjected to random shootings and gassing. It had just never occurred to me how much of a godsend that would be: to get out of a normal concentration camp and into Oskar’s camp. (And the conditions weren’t even that great there, either. They were just dependable, which, I suppose, is a lot better than not.)
Also, I had known before I read Schindler’s List that the Holocaust was an awful event, but I hadn’t been able to grasp some of the smaller things, beyond starvation and gassing, such as how far a person is willing to go to stay alive. There are many stories in the book about Jews who Oskar was able to help, or were connected with Oskar in some way, two of which include hiding in the bottom of the lavatory in order to escape the gas chambers.
It’s amazing, too, that if after the war, there were only 3,000 or so Jews in Europe, then Schindler saved almost half of them. (Today, there are close to 6,000 Schindlerjuden and offspring.)
Another interesting thing to note is how flawed Oskar Schindler is for being such a good person. He is known to have had a mistress while being married to Emilie, and was always dealing on the black market. He was also a great lover of cognac and must have had a very strong liver. But on the other hand, he obviously saved many Jews and went to great lengths to do so, and when he lied outright to the government, it was for their sake. He was, it could be said, their savior: the only thing standing between life and death.




22) Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 412
Summary: According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world's only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner. So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing. Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon--both of whom have lived amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle--are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture. And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist. . .

Opinion: This is an incredibly funny book, and made me laugh out loud quite frequently. It was also a good, quick read to wind down from the serious books I've been having to read for school, and for ejgdimication, and etc. ANYways, of course it's amazing, because it's Pratchett and Gaiman. Co-authoring. I mean, really. I'm very much beginning to idolize both of them.



23) Six World Religions by L. Aletrino
Genre: Religion
Pages: 159
Summary: Increasing attention has been devoted to the study of non-Christian religions in recent years by individuals as well as by universities, colleges, and schools. This book attempts to give an outline of the most important of them, sketching their origin, meaning, nature, growth, and--where relevant--decline, without venturing to pass judgment on whether or not they are true. It makes no attempt to compete with the recognized standard works, but is intended for those interested readers whose knowledge of other religions is limited and who look for a brief and simple introduction. The author is the editor of the Dutch paper Algemeen Handelsblad and has considerable experience in presenting religious issues in a lively and readable style. His work has already enjoyed great success in Holland, and this translation was made from the third Dutch edition. The main religions described are Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Shintoism, and Judaism, and the standpoint adopted throughout has been an historical one. At the same time, Mr. Aletrino has taken care to show the way to the heart of the religion under discussion, in order to make possible an understanding of the meaning of its outward manifestations. Translated by Mary Foran

Opinion: I read this for a research paper I'm doing, somewhat comparing religions and things, so this was a very helpful resource. It was condensed enough that it was easy to read and I didn't get bogged down in extraneous details. Of course, I'm going to have to supplement my reading, just to contrast the ideas of the religions, because there were bits of Islam that I'd never heard of before, and was actually completely opposite of my understanding of Islam, so I want to research that more. All in all, it was more interesting than I thought it would be, but it started to get drier near the end (or maybe I was just getting tired of reading about feasts when it wasn't incredibly pertinent to my research topic?). (And, by the end, I mean, the last 4 pages.)




24) Xanadu edited by Jane Yolen
Genre: Fantasy -- Short story and poem anthology of 20th century American literature
Pages: 256
Summary: [from barnes&noble.com] Publication of Xanadu marks the beginning of an original anthology series that will include brand-new stories by some of the finest writers in the world. This volume opens with "The Poacher" by Ursula K. Le Guin, a fairytale in the grand tradition. Xanadu also includes "It Comes Lightly Out of the Sea," a new poem by William Stafford, one of the best-known poets in America; "The Hound of Merlin" by Eleanor Arnason, who won both the Philip K. Dick Award and the Tiptree Award in 1992; "The Perfectly Round Bagel" by Robert Abel, who won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction in 1989; "To Scale" by Nebula Award winner Nancy Kress; "Still Life with Woman and Apple" by Leslea Newman, author of Heather Has Two Mommies; "Unnalash" by Tanith Lee; "The Pale Thin God" by Hugo and Nebula award winner Mike Resnick; "Gravity" by Pat Schneider, poet and playwright; "Time Travel, The Artifact, and A Famous Historical Personage" by Minnesota Book Award-winner Will Shetterly; and a dozen other ventures into the realms of magic, including stories by Lisa Tuttle, Steven Brust, Anna Kirwan-Vogel, Gardner Dozois, and a new poem, "The Ring at Yarrow," by Jane Yolen herself.

[total contents]
The Poacher by Ursula K. Le Guin*
Lucy Maria by Lisa Tuttle
Unnalash by Tanith Lee
Return by Patrick Hayden
Gravity by Pat Schneider
To Scale by Nancy Kress
The Stone Girl by Elise Matthesen
Attention Shoppers by Steven Brust
Jaguar Lord by Anna Kirwan-Vogel
Pale Moon by Frances Hoekstra
The Ring at Yarrow by Jane Yolen
Still Life with Woman and Apple by Leslea Newman
The Perfectly Round Bagel by Robert Abel*
Owlswater by Pamela Dean*
After Centuries by Donna Waidtlow
Passage by Gardner Dozois
The Hound of Merin by Eleanor Arnason*
It Comes Lightly Out of the Sea by William Stafford
A Boy and His Wolf: Three Versions of a Fable by John Morressy*
Time Travel, the Artifact, and a Famous Historical Personage by Will Shetterly*
Baby Face by Esther Friesner
The Pale Thin God by Mike Resnick*

*phewthatwasalonglist*

No opinion this time beyond: Short stories are strange. Some of them were very good. My favorites, I put a star by. On the list above. *phew* Also, I don't remember what every single one of the stories above were about, since I already brought the book back to the library (silly move) so some might have been really good, and I just forgot (in which case they weren't that amazing, I suppose, since I couldn't remember them).




25) The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 254
Summary: Oscar Wilde's story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is one of his most popular works. Written in Wilde's characteristically dazzling manner, full of stinging epigrams and shrewd observations, the tale of Dorian Gray's moral disintegration caused something of a scandal when it first appeared in 1890. Wilde was attacked for his decadence and corrupting influence. He responded that, while he was "quite incapable of understanding how a work of art can be criticized from a moral standpoint," there is, in fact, "a terrible moral in Dorian Gray." A few years later, the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde's homosexual liaisons, trials that resulted in his imprisonment. Of the book's value as an autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, "Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks of me: Dorian what I would like to be--in other ages, perhaps."

Opinion: Wow. Stunning and thought wrenching book. Not sure how much I'm going to be able to say about it, except it really is a masterpiece, and I was amazed at the intricacy of the writing. Oscar Wilde is so incredibly witty and astute, and it comes across, especially through Lord Henry (amazing character, by the way; I love his conversations with the Duchess and Lady Narborough, and just. . . his. . . philosophies, I guess. They're simply intriguing.) Must read, and I wonder why I put this book off for such a long time.