Books

I was tagged for a book survey by The Happy Feminist which is really cool except that I have a hard time answering those particular questions! I've really just read too many books in my life to catagorize them easily.

So instead, I will talk about some books I've read recently. I just finished "The Parable of the Sower" by Octavia Butler and it's really cool. I like sci-fi, but I haven't read much lately. I happen to really like the main character in this one. I plan to read more of her books and more women sci-fi authors in general.

Prior to that, I read "Guns, Germs and Steel". I really enjoyed it, because although none of its ideas were earth-shattering, it was still a new, more plausible perspective on the way history (& prehistory) has played out, compared to what I learned in school.

Prior to that, I read the first 3rd of "Atlas Shrugged" and have found it difficult to continue with it. I've got some issues with that book, and I almost wonder if Ayn Rand wasn't a bona fide sociopath (assuming that the "philosophy" she put forth in her novels is what she truly believed in). I don't mean she was "evil"; in fact, I made up the term "honorable sociopath" to describe her.

And prior to that, I read "Les Miserables", which was a good book in many ways, though the women characters were a bit one-dimensional. I always liked the musical, and I wanted to finally read the original story.

I'm probably going to stop reading for a while since I have two courses this fall and a project to focus on. Come next summer, though, and I'll be starting up again!