My Vote for Next Year's Class

I would have to say my non-bias vote would have to go to The Road by Cormic McCarthy. I was entertained by the group that presented the book. I personally enjoyed the book my group read, No Country For Old Men, which was also written by McCarthy. I think that The Road would show the bond between a man and his son, and it sounds like it would stir up great conversations, which Cormic McCarthy books generally seem to do. When listening to the group present this novel, I was listening to every word and examining the book myself to see if I would like to read the novel for fun. With the other books presented, I honestly was not that interested because they sounded like books that we had read this year. Not that the books we've read or that were being presented weren't interesting, but it seems like I had heard it before.

Of the six books that were presented last week, I would say that the two Cormic McCarthy books would create the most discussion and would be the best books for the 2009 version of Readin Now.

No Country for Old Men Campaign

No Country for Old Men by Cormic McCarthy was easily one of the best books that I've ever read. I loved reading the book because it was interesting after every page. Like My Year of Meats, there were three main characters that the book followed. Moss, Chigurh, and Sheriff Bell, all had interesting points of view.

The one that was most hard to follow was Sheriff Bell. At the beginning of every chapter, Sheriff Bell would give a 2-3 page talk that normally didn't have much to do with the story so I wouldn't really pay attention. After I finished the book, I went back and read a couple of excerpts and it all made more sense. I looked on the internet and checked on some deeper themes as well.

It turns out that Sheriff Bell and Chigurh are just like the opposite sides of a coin. The two sides of the coin never see each other. At one point in the book, Chigurh and Sheriff Bell are standing on opposite sides of a door in a very intense scene. Throughout the book, the two men that are polar opposites never see each other. This raises the question, are they the same person? Probably not, but it's interesting. It's not easy to figure out what exactly the answer is, but its a little difficult to comprehend.

I saw the movie in theatres, and I had no idea what the ending meant. It's definitely true that even though there are great similarities between the movie and the book, the book is much more entertaining. This would be a great book for this class next year because it is a very fun read, then a movie, and the discussions would be great.

Graphic Novel

The graphic novel In the Shadow of No Towers was not a book that I enjoyed reading. It took a couple times reading each comic strip, but in the end it was a little radical. I have always thought that 9/11 was a really big deal, and I think Art Spiegelman does too, but he makes it seem that Americans don't care about it really care.

In his very first comic, there is a picture of a bird dressed in red, white, and blue, tied around his neck. This gives the impression that America is forced on all people. Now maybe some people believe this, but I don't think that its the correct description of September 11th. Another comic was where Osama Bin Ladin (with a mouse nose) and George W. Bush are staring at each other as if they were going to fight. The two are standing over Spiegelman sleeping. The graphic novel was made in 2004, so there wasn't as much hate for George W. as there is now, but a couple years after the attacks, I thought that patriotism was at its peak. Personally at least.