Oliver Twist, Chapter 1

"what an excellent example of the power of dress, young Oliver Twist was! Wrapped in the blanket which had hitherto formed his only covering, he might have been the child of a nobleman or a beggar;…but now that he was enveloped in the old calico robes which had grown yellow in the same service, he was badged  and ticketed, and fell into his place at once-a parish child-the orphan of a workhouse-the humble,  half-starved drudge- to be cuffed and buffeted through the world-despised by all, and pitied by none." (chapter 1, page 5).

     I found this quote interesting. How, before he had clothes on, Oliver Twist was not defined into any one category. You could not tell to which category, to which class, he belonged to. As Dickens points out, he could have been the son of a rich man, or the son of a poor man. then, as soon as they put clothes on him, he was categorized. He belonged to a certain category, to a certain group. Clothes are a thing of the world, earthy thing, created by man, and we do judge people, put them in certain groups sometimes by their clothes. Fashionable…not fashionable…rich…not rich…simple…girly…sporty….I'm not saying that everyone does, but as a whole we do. You look at someone dressed sloppily, and you assume they are a slob, that they are messy. It's why we dress nicely and professionally at job interviews, or at important events. Coz the world judges us by how we dress, even if it does not like to always admit it does.  It's different than what Dickens is talking about here, but at the same time it is the same. We might not category into classes like in the quote, but we assume that things sometimes when we see how someone is dressed.  Oliver Twist when he did not anything of the world on him, but just what God created, could have been anyone. He was the same as all people. as soon as things of the world where added to him, then he was marked not being the same as certain type of people(upper class, rich, etc). I really found this interesting. If we took away all the things that of the world that we have created, "we" being man, and only took into account those things God created and gave, then we would all be the same. What makes us all  "separate" from others, is things that we ourselves have created.

In Search of Lost Time

my first book that I am reading from the Guardian's top 100 list, in what I am calling my "25th bday challenge" is In Search for Lost Time by Marcel Proust. I am excited to start this self created and imposed challenge, yet I am also nervous. this is book#41, and I picked it because it sounded interesting from the one sentence descrition in the list, and becase the longest book on the list mention made me curious. I looked it up and have read a bit about it, the book itself, and it is 3,000 something pages long! the book is so long, that it is written in 6 -7 volumes! when I say volumes, I don't mean like Happy Potter, where it is a series,etc. no. I mean this is one book, that is so long, it took 7 books to finish it in! it is supposed to have one of the longest sentences in literature, and it has about 1.5 million words! It is also supposed to be a bit difficult to read, and to comprehend. so, I will admit...I'm intimidated right now, a bit nervous as well. really. I'm actually intimidated and a bit nervous. over a book, I know. yet, I am also super excited about this and I love this idea that I had! It seems that a lot of people say that as hard as this book is to read and comprehend, it is super good and super worth it, so that makes me excited to read it. plus, I have not read a lot of books(okay, none) by French writers, so it's a new for me. so, here I go...

Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verde

I loved this book! Early on, towards the beginning of the tour, I
thought about how Mr.Fogg was doing this world tour in 80 days, he was
traveling to all of these countries, all of these cities and places,
and yet he did not really care about seeing them. he would stay in his
quarters, only going out to get his passport visa-ed, and/or to go to
the next train or steamer, etc. I love traveling, so the idea of not
really caring or wanting to see those places, was beyond me. it says
"But phileas fogg, who was not travelling, but only describing a
circumference, took no pains to inquire into these subjects; he was a
solid body, traversing an orbit around the terrestrial globe,
according to the laws of rational mechanics". –chapter 11 of Around
the World in 80 Days. I thought it interesting that Mr.Fogg had the
money and the means to do this tour, but did not care about the
sights, but passpartout, his servant, was just the servant, just the
tag along, and he seemed more into the places and seeing them than
Mr.Fogg.
Throughout this book, as the story and the world tour continues,
you find yourself, just like passpartout, getting more and more into
the story and feeling almost invested in wanting Mr.Fogg to win his
waiger. I also loved that Mr.Fogg never hesitates to save someone in
his party, never mind the consequences. He never shows a lot of
emotion, good or bad, but you can still see that he is a man of honor
and duty and loyalty I think.
The ending is SO cool!!!! I loved it! I NEVER thought of it, that
since he was going eastward, he would be gaining a day! It's the kind
of thing that once you see it, you go "duh! of course!" so obvious!
Yet you never think of it! the irony is that Mr.Fogg planned and
planned, and seemed to have planned for any kind of delay, he seemed
to think of everything. Yet, he never thought of that! Something that
he could not foresee, plan for, or control, was how time works as you
travel across the world you know?it makes me think about how
sometimes, we try and try to plan for anything and everything, and
this reminds me that you can't, that there is always going to be
things you cannot control that will affect you. For the good, or for
the worse.

favorite quotes:

"I see that it is by no means useless to travel, if a man wishes to
see something new." Passepartout, in chapter 9 of Around the World in
80 Days.

But phileas fogg, who was not travelling, but only describing a
circumference, took no pains to inquire into these subjects; he was a
solid body, traversing an orbit around the terrestrial globe,
according to the laws of rational mechanics. –chapter 11 of Around the
World in 80 Days.

"The chance which now seems lost may present itself at the last
moment." Phileas Fogg, in chapter 13 of Around the World in 80 Days.

100 Books by Next Bday

The Guardian published a list of the 100 greatest novels of all time back in 2003. I just decided one minute ago that I am going to read all of these books, by my next birthday. if anyone wants to join me, you're more than welcome to!:) I know, I'm such a dork arent I? just think...the english department is full of people just like me! :)

 

 

1. Don Quixote Miguel De Cervantes
 The story of the gentle knight and his servant Sancho Panza has entranced readers for centuries.
Buy Don Quixote at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099469698]

 2.  Pilgrim's Progress John Bunyan
 The one with the Slough of Despond and Vanity Fair.
Buy Pilgrim's Progress at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141439716]

 3.  Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe
 The first English novel.
Buy Robinson Crusoe at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141439822]

 4.  Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift
A wonderful satire that still works for all ages, despite the savagery of Swift's vision.
Buy Gulliver's Travels at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9781847490889]

 5.  Tom Jones Henry Fielding
 The adventures of a high-spirited orphan boy: an unbeatable plot and a lot of sex ending in a blissful marriage.
Buy Tom Jones at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9781905716081]

 6.  Clarissa  Samuel Richardson
 One of the longest novels in the English language, but unputdownable.
Buy Clarissa at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780395051641]

 7.  Tristram Shandy  Laurence Sterne
One of the first bestsellers, dismissed by Dr Johnson as too fashionable for its own good.
Buy Tristram Shandy at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141439778]

 8.  Dangerous Liaisons Pierre Choderlos De Laclos
An epistolary novel and a handbook for seducers: foppish, French, and ferocious.
Buy Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780140449570]

 9.  Emma Jane Austen
 Near impossible choice between this and Pride and Prejudice. But Emma never fails to fascinate and annoy.
Buy Emma at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141439587]

 10.  Frankenstein Mary Shelley
 Inspired by spending too much time with Shelley and Byron.
Buy Frankenstein at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141439471]

 11.  Nightmare Abbey  Thomas Love Peacock
 A classic miniature: a brilliant satire on the Romantic novel.
Buy Nightmare Abbey at Amazon.co.uk [http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1587159953/guardianunlim-21]

 12.  The Black Sheep Honore De Balzac
Two rivals fight for the love of a femme fatale. Wrongly overlooked.
Buy The Black Sheep at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780140442373]

 13.  The Charterhouse of Parma Stendhal
 Penetrating and compelling chronicle of life in an Italian court in post-Napoleonic France.
Buy The Charterhouse of Parma at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780199555345]

 14.  The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas
A revenge thriller also set in France after Bonaparte: a masterpiece of adventure writing.
Buy The Count of Monte Cristo at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099518945]

 15.  Sybil  Benjamin Disraeli
Apart from Churchill, no other British political figure shows literary genius.
Buy Sybil at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780199539055]

 16.  David Copperfield Charles Dickens
 This highly autobiographical novel is the one its author liked best.
Buy David Copperfield at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780140439441]

 17.  Wuthering Heights  Emily Bronte
Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff have passed into the language. Impossible to ignore.
Buy Wuthering Heights at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141439556]

 18.  Jane Eyre  Charlotte Bronte
 Obsessive emotional grip and haunting narrative.
Buy Jane Eyre at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099511120]

 19.  Vanity Fair  William Makepeace Thackeray
The improving tale of Becky Sharp.
Buy Vanity Fair at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099518938]

 20.  The Scarlet Letter  Nathaniel Hawthorne
A classic investigation of the American mind.
Buy The Scarlet Letter at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780142437261]

 21.  Moby-Dick  Herman Melville
 'Call me Ishmael' is one of the most famous opening sentences of any novel.
Buy Moby-Dick at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099511182]

 22.  Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert
You could summarise this as a story of adultery in provincial France, and miss the point entirely.
Buy Madame Bovary at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780140449129]

 23.  The Woman in White  Wilkie Collins
Gripping mystery novel of concealed identity, abduction, fraud and mental cruelty.
Buy The Woman in White at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099511243]

 24.  Alice's Adventures In Wonderland  Lewis Carroll
A story written for the nine-year-old daughter of an Oxford don that still baffles most kids.
Buy Alice's Adventures in Wonderland at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099512073]

 25.  Little Women Louisa M. Alcott
 Victorian bestseller about a New England family of girls.
Buy Little Women at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141321080]

 26.  The Way We Live Now  Anthony Trollope
A majestic assault on the corruption of late Victorian England.
Buy The Way We Live Now at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780140433920]

 27.  Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy
 The supreme novel of the married woman's passion for a younger man.
Buy Anna Karenina at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099540663]

 28.  Daniel Deronda  George Eliot
 A passion and an exotic grandeur that is strange and unsettling.
Buy Daniel Deronda at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780140434279]

 29. The Brothers Karamazov  Fyodor Dostoevsky
Mystical tragedy by the author of Crime and Punishment.
Buy The Brothers Karamazov at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780140449242]

 30. The Portrait of a Lady  Henry James
The story of Isabel Archer shows James at his witty and polished best.
Buy The Portrait of a Lady at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099511601]

 31.  Huckleberry Finn  Mark Twain
 Twain was a humorist, but this picture of Mississippi life is profoundly moral and still incredibly influential.
Buy Huckleberry Finn at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141439648]

 32.  Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde  Robert Louis Stevenson
A brilliantly suggestive, resonant study of human duality by a natural storyteller.
Buy Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141439730]

 33.  Three Men in a Boat  Jerome K. Jerome
One of the funniest English books ever written.
Buy Three Men in a Boat at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780140437508]

 34.  The Picture of Dorian Gray  Oscar Wilde
 A coded and epigrammatic melodrama inspired by his own tortured homosexuality.
Buy The Picture of Dorian Gray at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9781847490186]

 35.  The Diary of a Nobody  George Grossmith
This classic of Victorian suburbia will always be renowned for the character of Mr Pooter.
Buy The Diary of a Nobody at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099540885]

 36.  Jude the Obscure  Thomas Hardy
 Its savage bleakness makes it one of the first twentieth-century novels.
Buy Jude the Obscure at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780199537020]

 37.  The Riddle of the Sands Erskine Childers
 A prewar invasion-scare spy thriller by a writer later shot for his part in the Irish republican rising.
Buy The Riddle of the Sands at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9781843549086]

 38.  The Call of the Wild Jack London
 The story of a dog who joins a pack of wolves after his master's death.
Buy The Call of the Wild at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141321059]

 39.  Nostromo Joseph Conrad
 Conrad's masterpiece: a tale of money, love and revolutionary politics.
Buy Nostromo at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141441634]

 40.  The Wind in the Willows  Kenneth Grahame
This children's classic was inspired by bedtime stories for Grahame's son.
Buy The Wind in the Willows at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141321134]

 41.  In Search of Lost Time Marcel Proust
An unforgettable portrait of Paris in the belle epoque. Probably the longest novel on this list.
Buy In Search of Lost Time at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099362210]

 42.  The Rainbow D. H. Lawrence
 Novels seized by the police, like this one, have a special afterlife.
Buy The Rainbow at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141441382]

 43.  The Good Soldier Ford Madox Ford
This account of the adulterous lives of two Edwardian couples is a classic of unreliable narration.
Buy The Good Soldier at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141441849]

 44.  The Thirty-Nine Steps John Buchan
A classic adventure story for boys, jammed with action, violence and suspense.
Buy The Thirty-Nine Steps at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141031262]

 45.  Ulysses James Joyce
Also pursued by the British police, this is a novel more discussed than read.
Buy Ulysses at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099511199]

 46.  Mrs Dalloway Virginia Woolf
 Secures Woolf's position as one of the great twentieth-century English novelists.
Buy Mrs Dalloway at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141182490]

 47.  A Passage to India E. M. Forster
 The great novel of the British Raj, it remains a brilliant study of empire.
Buy A Passage to India at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780140274233]

 48.  The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
The quintessential Jazz Age novel.
Buy The Great Gatsby at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141182636]

 49.  The Trial Franz Kafka
 The enigmatic story of Joseph K.
Buy The Trial at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141182902]

 50.  Men Without Women Ernest Hemingway
He is remembered for his novels, but it was the short stories that first attracted notice.
Buy Men Without Women at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099909309]

 51.  Journey to the End of the Night  Louis-Ferdinand Celine
 The experiences of an unattractive slum doctor during the Great War: a masterpiece of linguistic innovation.
Buy Journey to the End of the Night at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9781847491183]

 52.  As I Lay Dying  William Faulkner
 A strange black comedy by an American master.
Buy As I Lay Dying at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099479314]

 53.  Brave New World Aldous Huxley
 Dystopian fantasy about the world of the seventh century AF (after Ford).
Buy Brave New World at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099518471]

 54.  Scoop Evelyn Waugh
 The supreme Fleet Street novel.
Buy Scoop at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141187495]

 55.  USA John Dos Passos
 An extraordinary trilogy that uses a variety of narrative devices to express the story of America.
Buy USA at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141185811]

 56.  The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler
 Introducing Philip Marlowe: cool, sharp, handsome - and bitterly alone.
Buy The Big Sleep at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780140108927]

 57.  The Pursuit Of Love  Nancy Mitford
An exquisite comedy of manners with countless fans.
Buy The Pursuit of Love at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141044019]

 58.  The Plague Albert Camus
 A mysterious plague sweeps through the Algerian town of Oran.
Buy The Plague at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141049236]

 59.  Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell
This tale of one man's struggle against totalitarianism has been appropriated the world over.
Buy Nineteen Eighty-Four at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141036144]

 60.  Malone Dies  Samuel Beckett
 Part of a trilogy of astonishing monologues in the black comic voice of the author of Waiting for Godot.
Buy Malone Dies at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780571244638]

 61. Catcher in the Rye  J.D. Salinger
 A week in the life of Holden Caulfield. A cult novel that still mesmerises.
Buy Catcher in the Rye at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780241950432]

 62.  Wise Blood Flannery O'Connor
 A disturbing novel of religious extremism set in the Deep South.
Buy Wise Blood at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780571241309]

 63.  Charlotte's Web  E. B. White
 How Wilbur the pig was saved by the literary genius of a friendly spider.
Buy Charlotte's Web at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141317342]

 64.  The Lord Of The Rings  J. R. R. Tolkien
 Enough said!
Buy The Lord of the Rings at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780261103252]

 65.  Lucky Jim Kingsley Amis
An astonishing debut: the painfully funny English novel of the Fifties.
Buy Lucky Jim at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141046716]

 66.  Lord of the Flies William Golding
Schoolboys become savages: a bleak vision of human nature.
Buy Lord of the Flies at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780571191475]

 67.  The Quiet American Graham Greene
Prophetic novel set in 1950s Vietnam.
Buy The Quiet American at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099478393]

 68  On the Road Jack Kerouac
 The Beat Generation bible.
Buy On the Road at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141182674]

 69.  Lolita Vladimir Nabokov
 Humbert Humbert's obsession with Lolita is a tour de force of style and narrative.
Buy Lolita at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141023496]

 70.  The Tin Drum Gunter Grass
 Hugely influential, Rabelaisian novel of Hitler's Germany.
Buy The Tin Drum at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099540656]

 71. Things Fall Apart  Chinua Achebe
Nigeria at the beginning of colonialism. A classic of African literature.
Buy Things Fall Apart at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141186887]

 72.  The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark
A writer who made her debut in The Observer - and her prose is like cut glass.
Buy The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780140022353]

 73.  To Kill A Mockingbird  Harper Lee
 Scout, a six-year-old girl, narrates an enthralling story of racial prejudice in the Deep South.
Buy To Kill A Mockingbird at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099466734]

 74.  Catch-22 Joseph Heller
 '[He] would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; if he didn't want to he was sane and had to.'
Buy Catch-22 at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099470465]

 75.  Herzog Saul Bellow
 Adultery and nervous breakdown in Chicago.
Buy Herzog at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141184876]

 76.  One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A postmodern masterpiece.
Buy One Hundred Years of Solitude at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141032436]

 77.  Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont Elizabeth Taylor
A haunting, understated study of old age.
Buy Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9781844083213]

 78.  Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy  John Le Carre
A thrilling elegy for post-imperial Britain.
Buy Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780340513088]

 79.  Song of Solomon  Toni Morrison
 The definitive novelist of the African-American experience.
Buy Song of Solomon at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099768418]

 80.  The Bottle Factory Outing  Beryl Bainbridge
Macabre comedy of provincial life.
Buy The Bottle Factory Outing at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780349123714]

 81.  The Executioner's Song Norman Mailer
This quasi-documentary account of the life and death of Gary Gilmore is possibly his masterpiece.
Buy The Executioner's Song at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099688600]

 82.  If on a Winter's Night a Traveller  Italo Calvino
 A strange, compelling story about the pleasures of reading.
Buy If on a Winter's Night a Traveller at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099430896]

 83.  A Bend in the River V. S. Naipaul
 The finest living writer of English prose. This is his masterpiece: edgily reminiscent of Heart of Darkness.
Buy A Bend in the River at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780330487146]

 84.  Waiting for the Barbarians J.M. Coetzee
Bleak but haunting allegory of apartheid by the Nobel prizewinner.
Buy Waiting for the Barbarians at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099465935]

 85. Housekeeping  Marilynne Robinson
 Haunting, poetic story, drowned in water and light, about three generations of women.
Buy Housekeeping at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780571230082]

 86.  Lanark  Alasdair Gray
 Seething vision of Glasgow. A Scottish classic.
Buy Lanark at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9781841959078]

 87.  The New York Trilogy Paul Auster
Dazzling metaphysical thriller set in the Manhattan of the 1970s.
Buy The New York Trilogy at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780571152230]

 88.  The BFG  Roald Dahl
A bestseller by the most popular postwar writer for children of all ages.
Buy The BFG at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141322629]

 89.  The Periodic Table  Primo Levi
 A prose poem about the delights of chemistry.
Buy The Periodic Table at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780140296617]

 90.  Money  Martin Amis
 The novel that bags Amis's place on any list.
Buy Money at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099461883]

 91.  An Artist of the Floating World  Kazuo Ishiguro
A collaborator from prewar Japan reluctantly discloses his betrayal of friends and family.
Buy An Artist of the Floating World at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780571225361]

 92.  Oscar And Lucinda  Peter Carey
 A great contemporary love story set in nineteenth-century Australia by double Booker prizewinner.
Buy Oscar and Lucinda at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780571244171]

 93.  The Book of Laughter and Forgetting  Milan Kundera
Inspired by the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, this is a magical fusion of history, autobiography and ideas.
Buy The Book of Laughter and Forgetting at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780571174379]

 94.  Haroun and the Sea af Stories  Salman Rushdie
 In this entrancing story Rushdie plays with the idea of narrative itself.
Buy Haroun and the Sea of Stories at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780140366501]

 95.  La Confidential  James Ellroy
 Three LAPD detectives are brought face to face with the secrets of their corrupt and violent careers.
Buy LA Confidential at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099366713]

 96.  Wise Children  Angela Carter
 A theatrical extravaganza by a brilliant exponent of magic realism.
Buy Wise Children at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099981107]

 97.  Atonement  Ian McEwan
Acclaimed short-story writer achieves a contemporary classic of mesmerising narrative conviction.
Buy Atonement at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099429791]

 98.  Northern Lights  Philip Pullman
 Lyra's quest weaves fantasy, horror and the play of ideas into a truly great contemporary children's book.
Buy Northern Lights at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780439951784]

 99.  American Pastoral Philip Roth
 For years, Roth was famous for Portnoy's Complaint . Recently, he has enjoyed an extraordinary revival.
Buy American Pastoral at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099771814]

 100.  Austerlitz  W. G. Sebald
 Posthumously published volume in a sequence of dream-like fictions spun from memory, photographs and the German past.
Buy Austerlitz at the Guardian Bookshop [http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk:80/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780140297997]

 

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Stuff Christians Like by Jonathan Acuff

Stuff Christians Like 

Author: Jonathan Acuff

This will not be a super long post. I read this book on my kindle, I read it less than 2 days, which was awesome! I really liked this book. I thought that this book was very fun and yet surprising accurate. a lot of the things that he talked about, were true. at least from my perspective. the side hug, for example, i get those a lot! and the hand holding during prayer especially. i find that so uncomfortable and awkward, mostly when its a boy. I have yet to go on my first date, literly, so holding hands with a boy, to me, is a couple-y thing to do, so i always am uncomfortable holding hands with a boy during a prayer. he talked about the "hand squeeze" that Christians do at the end, and i totally think that is true! personally, i dont get the point. the prayer is over, drop my hand. no hand squeeze please. 

   yet, as fun as I found this book, I did not really have any deep and profound thoughts from it.it is only my first time reading this book, so maybe the second time i read it will be different. but this first time around, just found it a very fun read. 

Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Simple Prayer.

The opening quote on this chapter is by Dom John Chapman and is says: "pray as you can, not as you can't" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1). I will admit that at first, and even now, I am not too sure I know what this is saying. But when I think about it, I think it is saying  that we should pray the way that we know how, the way that works best for us, instead of trying to 'fit in" with everyone else in terms of how to pray. If praying is about being with God, spending time with Him, then each of us will have a different way of being with Him; a different way in which we can spend time with God. Maybe there is not just one way to spend time with God.

One of the things that stuck out to me in this book is when Foster wrote: "it is the notion-almost universal among us modern high achievers- that we have to have everything 'just right 'in order to pray. That is, before we can really pray, our lives need some fine tuning, or we need to know more about how to pray, or we need to study the philosophical questions surrounding prayer, or we need to have a better grasp of the great traditions of prayer"(Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1). I felt that I could relate to this a little. I want to pray daily and have it be an important part of my life, yet I also feel like I need to learn how to pray. So I am reading books about praying, and talking to my friends about it, etc. Foster goes on to say that it is almost like we think of praying as something we can master. And the thing is, we can never master praying. Praying is spending time with God, and how can we master that? In this section, foster quotes Emilie Griffin in saying "to pray means to be willing to be naïve" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1). I loved this quote for some reason. Maybe because I tend to be a little bit naïve sometimes.

This part stuck out to me maybe the most, mainly because it is freaky to be how close it is to my own feelings. I won't quote the entire paragraph, but I will quote enough to give a basic idea of what it is talking about. "I used to think that I needed to get all my motives straightened out before I could pray, really pray" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1).   Then further down he writes: "you understand I did not want to be a hypocrite" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1).   I can relate to this so much! I not want to be a fake Christian. I do not want to fake anything aspect of my life with God, and so if I do not know why something is being done or if I not feel it, then I won't do it. like taking the wine at communion(or taking communion at all for a long while). And my reasoning, as you can see is very similar to Foster's: I don't want to be a hypocrite.  But Foster says that when it comes to praying, none of us have or will ever have totally pure motives. He writes: "but what I have come to see is that God is big enough to receive is with all out mixture. We do not have be bright, or pure, or filled with faith, or anything. That is what grace means, and not only are saved by grace, we live by it as well. And we pray by it" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1).   What I got from this is that we should not let the fact that we are not feeling loving, or that we don't know how to pray, or out motives are not 100% pure and altruistic, and holy, etc. we will never not have a mixture of motivations, because we don't live in a perfect world, so we should just come to prayer, come to God. He knows it all already, and He can handle all of it. Foster wrote that it is kind of like when children come to their parents, and sometimes their requests are selfish or their manners are mean, and the parents cringe, but the parents are also glad that their child came to them. It reminded me of something I wrote in an email to my friend Brent a day or so ago, that praying is kind of like a friendship: you don't just talk to your friend when you are happy and pleased with them you know?  Foster ended this section of the chapter with this: "we will never have pure enough motives, or be good enough, or know enough in order to pray rightly. We simply must set all these things aside and begin praying" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1).  

In the next prayer, Foster introduces the concept of Simple Prayer. He writes: "simple prayer involves ordinary people bringing ordinary concerns to a loving and compassionate Father. There is no pretense in Simple Prayer. We do not pretend to be more holy, more pure, or more saintly than we actually are. We do not try to conceal our conflicting and contradictory motives from God-or ourselves" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1).  To put it simply,  I love this idea. I love the idea that I don't have to have prayer all figured out, or be a certain way when I pray, or feel a certain way, or have a certain emotion, etc.  I came just…be with God. No matter the method, no matter the location, no matter the words, no matter the motive, no matter the intension, no matter the words, no matter the actions, etc. I can just…be with God. I just have to come. God will do the rest.

"There is a temptation, especially by the 'sophisticated' to despise this most elementary way of praying. They seek to skip over Simple Prayer in the hopes of advancing to more 'mature' expressions of prayer" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1).   I really believe in this, because I kind of am guilty of doing this in a way. I did not grow up in any kind of religious environment, and  also, I have met some truly great and awesome Christians at ACU who are my friends. Due to these reasons, I always feel like…like a Christian baby while my friends are Christian teenagers. Like they are all so much more ahead of me, so much more advanced. Sometimes, I feel like the annoying little sister who always want to speak to her big siblings about trivial and basic things at great length while they are all wanting me to leave them be so they can concentrate on the more serious things. But reading this, it made me feel like maybe basic is not always a bad thing. And if Simple Prayer means praying by coming just as you are, no requirements, etc. then maybe, that is the way we should all be striving to pray like.

At the beginning of the next section, entitled "Beginning Where We Are", Foster Wrote: "to believe that God can reach us and bless us in the ordinary junctures of daily life is the stuff of prayer" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1).   I really loved this! It kind of speaks for itself so I won't comment on it, but I loved it a lot!

One thing that foster wrote is that we should not be afraid to yell or scream at God, to argue with Him, etc. he wrote: "God is perfectly capable of handling our anger and frustration and dissapoiment. CS Lewis counsels us to 'lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1).  This struck me because it seems like I know this, but I always…feel bad, when I complain to God, or when I am angry at Him. I want to trust Him 100%, but that is hard and maybe a little unrealistic, so maybe I should not feel bad for being totally honest with God. 

Foster ended this section with this: "and so I urge you: carry on an ongoing conversation with God about the daily stuff of life, a little like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. For now, do not worry about 'proper' praying, just talk to God" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1).   This encouraged me to just…talk to God and not worry about doing it right, or doing it seriously enough, or mature enough, etc.

"We must never be discouraged by our lack of prayer. Even in our prayerlessness we can hunger for God. If so, the hunger is itself prayer" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1).I was really struck by this because I always worry about how little I pray, and yet I so long and like to think I'm working towards changing that. So this gives me hope that maybe, longing for prayer and for God is a prayer in of itself.

"An opposite but equally important counsel is to let go of trying too hard to pray" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1).  I love this  because he is reminding us that while we should work at praying, it is also not something that we should force upon ourselves, at least not in a "I won't stop until I get this right" sorta way. We should work at praying, but we should also remember that it is not something that should be forced upon ourselves, or others.

"Finally, I would suggest that in the beginning it is wise to strive for uneventful prayer experiences" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Chapter 1).  When I read this, I thought of it like if you are in a romantic relationship, and you expect that every time you talk or hang out, it will be this beautiful, romantic, deeply intense and significant thing, etc. if you had those expectations, then it won't work. It cannot always be like that. Trying to always make it romantic and significant would take your attention away from the small, every day details that make up a relationship.

Basically, what I got from this chapter is pray by simply talking to God, despite your mood. Don't worry about getting it right or your motives. Just pray. Just come to God. He will do the rest.

 

 

 

 

Prayer by Richard Foster, Introduction

     hey, let me know how wacky and crazy my thoughts are. lol.

 

 

 In the section "The Key and the Door", Foster writes: "perhaps prayer is the delight of your life. You have lived in the divine milieu for a long time and can attest to its goodness. But you long for more: more power, more love, more of God in your life" (Prayer by Richard Foster, Introduction) I will admit that I cannot really relate to the first part of this, but the second part, about longing for more, I can. I want praying to be more than what we do at the end of a Study, or when someone is really upset or going through a hard time. I want it to mean more than just presenting God with a list of requests and thank yous.  So I can relate to at least part of this. The part about it being the delight of my life, etc. not very much. At least not yet, but I want it to be the delight of my life.

                The last section of this "introduction" chapter  is entitled "The Syntax of Prayer" and a passage in it really leaped out at me: "This book is written to help you explore this 'many-splendored' heart of God. It is not about definitions of prayer or terminology for prayer or arguments about prayer, though all of these have tjeir place.nor is it about methods and techniques of prayer, though I am sure we will discuss both. No, this book is about a love relationship: an enduring, continuing, growing love relationship with the great God of the universe.and overwhelming love invites a response. Loving is the syntax of prayer. To be effective pray-ers, we need to be effective lovers"(Prayer by Richard Foster, Introduction). I love this passage!  I love that this book won't be about how to pray, or the right words to say when praying, or a doctrine book about prayer, but instead, it will be the heart of the matter: what prayer is truly and really about: love. God. A relationship. A relationship of love with God.  Maybe at some point I will want to read a prayer book that does address those things, but for now, I just need to focus on what it truly and really is about. I feel like we have turned praying into a time where we put a list of requests to God, throw in Thank Yous, and that's it. Do we listen to Him? Does this sound like a love relationship, truly spending time with God, going to Him? I am not sure it does. I feel like it should be more. I want it to be more than just that. Have we turned praying into something that requires methods, doctrine, specific body positions, and technique? So I am excited that Foster will be focusing on the heart of praying, what God wants praying to Him to be like. I know this sounds weird, but again, I am not arguing doctrine here. I am just writing about my opinions and views and observations.  I love where he says that in order to be effective pray-ers, we have to be effective lovers. In order for our praying life to be…effective for lack of a better word….we need to be love. Love sounds it's God's language doesn't it? anyways, I loved that part. I love that fosters seems to be saying that we don't need to have fancy words or the right position or the right words or be holding hands or have taken a class on praying but we just need…to love. To be good lovers.   I feel like we forget that a lot, in many areas other than just praying.  He also writes: "real prayer comes not from gritting our teeth but from falling in love"(Prayer by Richard Foster, Introduction) that pretty much sums it up I think J

That is the end of the "introduction section. I am now about to start Part I, Moving inward: seeking the transformation we need. I am very much excited and ready to read this part. I think it will really hit home with me.