Hmmmm A Draught of Sunshine

I began typing thinking I would write about a book I bought on iTunes because it was free....well I know why its free. So Anyways I think I'll explicate a poem because I found and interesting one and need to work on poetry studies.
A Draught of Sunshine by Keats
"My bowl is the sky,
And I drink at my eye,
Till I feel in the brain
A Delphian pain -
Then follow, my Caius! then follow:
On the green of the hill
We will drink our fill
Of golden sunshine,
Till our brains intertwine
With the glory and grace of Apollo!"
This poem is filled with Greek references which I find appealing because I went to Greece and went to Delphi, to the temple where the famous oracle was. Apparently there is a methane gas leak underneath the temple which might have contributed to the vague predictions, leading to Keats's "Delphian pain". Keats spends the first six lines of the poem disowning drink, saying happiness does not need to arise from that. He transitions into "drinking" from his eye and other descriptions which bring stark images into ones mind. This poem seems to reflect the Ode To A Grecian Urn. It speaks of the beauty of the culture and what Keats wants himself and the world to remember.

Lamb The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

I picked up this book expecting to find another hilarious read from Christopher Moore, and it was to a certain extent, but then I felt his need to not offend and his desire to please all audiences hindered this. Comedians can't please everyone, somebody has got to be insulted. This book did that, and in those times when our standard characters, like angels, start screaming at a TV while watching wrestling....yes, it was funny. But when the book began to take a serious side towards the end of Jesus' life, I felt that the author felt he couldn't entertain further and the book began to feel like deja vu (yes I know the gospel stories, I don't need to hear them again). The scene where a guard is stabbed is very Monty Python-esc. Allusions like this appear throughout the book, and although mostly lighthearted and enjoyable, I felt the serious sides did not pander to the comedy I expected. I'd end with a quote but the closest funny one is a bit inappropriate.

Aha The Davinci Code. I had heard all the hype about the book but had never read it so decided to take a peek over the christmas break. And it was interesting and enjoyable until the ending. Although a highly unrealistic book it did have intriguing ideas, of treasures which must exist because of lore hidden within our midst. The journey to find the grail was far from an epic but was very entertaining until the finale of the book. The ending seemed to be written in haste, wrapped up not in sync with the novels flow, and was a large disappointment. I found the grail being in the location where the hunt began to be a childish notion, and the reuniting of the family was similarly so. First half of the book gets five stars. Ill ignore the ending.

Fool

My most recent book choice is an enjoyable light read. Fool is a satirical take on Shakespeare's King Lear.  I was feeling like a deserved a break from the mind boggling passages of Hamlet, and these light, bantering soliloquys make this book a page turner. At the same time as reading this, I have reread as I Lay Dying, which makes me appreciate Fool even more.

No Country For Old Men

This book appears to be a classic adventure story; one where the hero, or good guy, is pitted against hopeless odds but is able to surpass all difficulties and come out of the conflict undefeated. Yeaaaaah no. That doesn't happen here at all. Yet this is what enticed me into this page-turner. I cheered for the main protagonist and good guy as he navigates through a blood bath, and even when things begin to go down hill, I still held onto a small piece of hope. Suddenly the antagonist of all antagonists shoots down (get it?) my dreams but I still read on. At this point the book transformed from an adventure story into the thoughts of a policeman and at this point I went back and reread all the sections with these thoughts.
The book opened my eyes to the brutality of the world and that on the border and in drug induced war torn Mexico, there is no glory and heroics. That really is no country for old men to be, men who are tired of living in such a dangerous mind set and want to be at rest. The cop in this story quits his job because he discovers that after years of experience battling evil, he can immediately be in over his head with no hope. This horror and hopelessness leaves his no other choice but to abandon his life fighting crime and to move on to greener and more peaceful pastures. I loved this book as it was drastically different from any I've read before, and once again McCarthy is brilliant in his dialogue and simple, but hugely descriptive writing. A downfall however was that a few times in the book, dialogue and sometimes scenes were very reminiscent of his previous novels. For example, when asked where they got a gun in both All The Pretty Horses and No Country For Old Men, characters both answer "the gettin place". A brilliant line, but used in the same context more then once?.. bad form in my book.

Journal Entry

I read No Country For Old Men, and although I'm biased already because I enjoy McCarthy's writing, this story surpasses all others of his that I've read. I was shocked when the two "good guys" of the novel were defeated in huge ways by the antagonist. This is the first book I have read where the characters the reader cheers for are blatantly destroyed both in body and spirit, and although this affected and shocked me, I found that this appealed to me and pulled me further into analyzing this book. I have to think deeply about writing my final reaction of this brilliant book. Until next time...

Hi world this is my first post