Lucas Blogs About Books

I'm certainly not holding this book in front of my face to hide the tears streaming down my cheeks! What would give you such a ridiculous idea? So, what's this book's de—Oh for cryin' ou— That's right!  It made me cry!   We talked about its author's merits—and demerits!  It's also one of my favorite books of all time. I just finished re-reading East of Eden  by John Steinbeck. The deal is exceedingly simple to explain: it's a genuine, goddamn masterpiece of Modernist and Naturalist prose exploring such topics as the American Dream, the Old Testament, racism, mental health, good, evil, family dynamics, war, peace, moral obligation, how to start a Ford Model T, love, sex, betrayal— OH. MY. GOD! Stop, just stop! I can't be here for this. Sorry, I already started this as a Hypothetical Reader formatted post. The novel starts with a loving description of the Salinas Valley then quickly splits into two tracks that only rejoin hundreds of pages l...

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 ...

SYMBOLISM! My feverish pursuit of MOAR content brought forth a new feature: Simplified Series. Here's the pitch: quick (mostly spoiler-free) synopses of the entries in a series followed by the reasons you should or shouldn't read it. This week: The Sea of Fertility tetralogy by Yukio Mishima Background info: In America, Mishima is probably as well known for the circumstances of his  death  as for his accomplishments as a novelist (he was also a poet, bodybuilder , dramatist , actor , three-time Nobel nominee , and of course, the founder of a right-wing nationalist militia).  The Sea of Fertility was his last major work, with the final volume being completed just before his attempted coup. It follows the life of Shigekuni Honda from 1912-1975 as he continually tries (and fails) to save the life of his childhood friend, Kiyoaki Matsugae, who Honda believes is doomed to die young and be reincarnated unless Honda can find a way to break the cycle. Spring Snow  ...

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...