Lucas Blogs About Books

Chapter titles can't be spoilers if they're listed in the Table of Contents, right? Right? Books can affect you in any number of ways. Sometimes they  introduce you to new ideas and make your world bigger. Sometimes they speak to something deep inside you and make you feel like someone else understands. Sometimes they just wrench your guts out and send a cascade of hot tears down your face and make you wish you hadn't started reading that chapter on the bus. The Brothers Karamazov  by Fyodor Dostoevsky HERE THERE BE SPOILERS! When'd I read it? I first read this over the course of about a year in my senior year of high school and freshman year of college. It's actually a pretty easy book to divide into chunks and tackle over a long period of time (the second time I read it a few years ago, it took about a month). What's it about? Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov has three sons (well, four): Dmitri Fyodorovich (Mitya), a former military officer and current ...

Books can affect you in any number of ways. Sometimes they  introduce you to new ideas and make your world bigger. Sometimes they speak to something deep inside you and make you feel like someone else understands. Sometimes they just wrench your guts out and send a cascade of hot tears down your face and make you wish you hadn't started reading that chapter on the bus. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee HERE THERE BE SPOILERS! When'd I read it? This was an assigned reading book in 9th grade. I specifically remember it was around Thanksgiving, because that was the year I was in Illinois for my grandparents' 50th anniversary. What's it about? Oh like you don't know. In case you haven't attended a middle or high school in the United States, To Kill A Mockingbird recounts a few years in the life of Scout Finch, her older brother, Jem, and their neighbor, Dill, in Maycomb County, Alabama in the 1930s. In addition to spending their time speculating about/mock...

Books can affect you in any number of ways. Sometimes they  introduce you to new ideas and make your world bigger. Sometimes they speak to something deep inside you and make you feel like someone else understands. Sometimes they just wrench your guts out and send a cascade of hot tears down your face and make you wish you hadn't started reading that chapter on the bus. Feed by Mira Grant HERE THERE BE SPOILERS! When'd I read it? It was the summer of 2010, Borders was still a thing, and I picked up a couple of paperbacks that looked fun and pulpy, Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold  and Mira Grant's Feed.  One of them made me cry. What's it about? It's the not-too-distant future and the zombie apocalypse has become the status quo. Everyone's a carrier of the zombie virus. On the plus side, no one gets cancer or the common cold anymore. On the minus side, whenever someone dies (or their viral load exceeds safe levels) they transform into a ravening zom...

Shut up! I'm not crying, you're crying! Books can affect you in any number of ways. Sometimes they  introduce you to new ideas and make your world bigger. Sometimes they speak to something deep inside you and make you feel like someone else understands. Sometimes they just wrench your guts out and send a cascade of hot tears down your face and make you wish you hadn't started reading that chapter on the bus. East of Eden by John Steinbeck HERE THERE BE SPOILERS! When'd I read it?: This was an assigned reading book the summer before Advanced Lit & Comp in 11th grade. What's it about?: This is a big one. In the dedication Steinbeck says "Everything I have is in it, and it is not full." Part family history, part retelling of various stories from Bible,  East of Eden tells the stories of the (fictional) Trask family and the (real) Hamilton family (Steinbeck's mother's family). The Trasks seem doomed to relive biblical stories of brothe...

All right, Hypothetical Reader, you may have noticed that I still haven't figured out what to put on here between the weekly review/article. Here's one idea, I could take what might otherwise be a listicle and turn it into a series of shorter blog posts? Clever way to spread out content? Or cheap shortcut? You decide. Books can affect you in any number of ways. Sometimes they  introduce you to new ideas and make your world bigger. Sometimes they speak to something deep inside you and make you feel like someone else understands. Sometimes they just wrench your guts out and send a cascade of hot tears down your face and make you wish you hadn't started reading that chapter on the bus. We'll start with perhaps the most embarrassing one: Star Wars: X-Wing 6 - Iron Fist  by Aaron Allston HERE THERE BE SPOILERS! When'd I read it?: I want to say maybe summer or spring break in 9th or 10th grade. What's it about?: Sixth in the X-Wing ennealogy (second in the...