Homer The Odyssey

First posted 6/20/2020; updated 7/6/2020.

The Odyssey Homer

First Publication: 800 B.C. Category: historical/epic poetry Sales: 45 million

Accolades (click on badges to see full lists):

About the Book: “The Odyssey is the original collection of tall traveler’s tales. Odysseus, on his way home from the Trojan War, encounters all kinds of marvels from one-eyed giants to witches and beautiful temptresses. His adventures are many and memorable before he gets back to Ithaca and his faithful wife Penelope.” AZ The epic poem “retells the events of the war between Greece and the city of Troy, focusing on Achilles' quarrel with Agamemnon.” BN “Helen, queen of Sparta and the most beautiful woman in the world, is kidnapped by Paris, a Trojan prince. Hungry for revenge, the Greek Army lays siege on Troy. For nine long years they are unsuccessful – until they come up with a plan for their greatest-ever attack on the city. For victory or death, the two armies will collide for the final time.” BN “We can never be certain that both these stories belonged to Homer. In fact, ‘Homer’ may not be a real name but a kind of nickname meaning perhaps ‘the hostage’ or ‘the blind one’. Whatever the truth of their origin…these tales… developed around three thousand years ago, may well still be read in three thousand years’ time.” AZ “Its symbolic evocation of human life as an epic journey homewards has inspired everything from James Joyce’s Ulysses to the Coen brothers' film, O Brother Where Art Thou?” TG Resources and Related Links: AZ Amazon BN Barnes & Noble LN The Literature Network (read online) TG Telegraph: The Perfect Library

Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung first distributed 50 years ago today

First posted 6/26/2020.

Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (aka "The Little Red Book") Mao Tse-Tung (aka Mao Zedong)

First Publication: January 5, 1964 Category: non-fiction/politics Sales: 6.5 billion

Accolades (click on badges to see full lists):

About the Book: Mao Tse-Tung, the father of Chinese communism, is considered “one of the most hated and revered men to ever have lived.” BN He was the Chairman of the Communist Party of China from 1943 to 1976. This collection of “revolutionary socialism and propaganda” BN is comprised from statements from his speeches and writings. It “cover a wide swath of Mao’s interpretations of Marxist-Leninist thought and how it should be applied to the Chinese people and culture.” AZ It was widely distributed during the Cultural Revolution, a sociopolitical movement in China which aimed to purge capitalist elements from Chinese society in favor of Communism. The first version of the book included 200 quotations covering 23 topics. It was given to top government officials at a conference on January 5, 1964. It was then expanded and distributed to the People’s Liberation Army with the intent of educating the troops. It was expanded again for mass distribution in 1965 with the goal that 99% of the country’s population read the book. WK Because it became “an unofficial requirement for every Chinese citizen to own, to read, and to carry it at all times during…the Cultural Revolution,” WK there are sources claiming that over 6.5 billion volumes of the book have been printed. In 1967, there were 20 translations of the book published in bookstores in 117 countries and territories around the world. WK In its most popular versions, the book was printed in small sizes with bright red covers, hence it becoming commonly known as “The Little Red Book.” The book’s popularity waned considerably after the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976 and is now primarily a piece of nostalgia. WK Resources and Related Links: AZ Amazon BN Barnes & Noble WK Wikipedia

There and Back Again: Lessons Learned from Re-Reading The Hobbit

First posted 12/30/2012; updated 7/5/2020.

The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien

First Publication: September 21, 1937 Category: fantasy novel Sales: 140.6 million

Accolades:

About the Book: The New York Times Book Review called The Hobbit “a glorious account of a magnificent adventure, filled with suspense and seasoned with a quiet humor that is irresistible.” AZ “Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life…but his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep…to whisk him away on an adventure.” WK They want to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the dragon. Bilbo encounters the creature Gollum and finds a magic ring. “The story reaches its climax in the Battle of the Five Armies, where many of the characters and creatures from earlier chapters re-emerge to engage in conflict.” WK The journey brings out Bilbo’s more adventurous nature as he “gains a new level of maturity, competence, and wisdom.” WK “Personal growth and…heroism are central themes of the story, along with motifs of warfare.” WK “Tolkien’s own experiences during World War I…[were] instrumental in shaping the story. The author’s scholarly knowledge of Germanic philology and interest in mythology and fairy tales are often noted as influences.” WK The Hobbit was “nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction.” WK “The publisher was encouraged by the book’s critical and financial success and, therefore, requested a sequel.” WK Tolkien responded with a trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, also in this book. The four books were turned into a series of six movies. December 30, 2012: Personal Reflection: I took my 10-year-old son to see The Hobbit. I'm not sure which of us was more excited, although I will confess only one of us went in costume. my son dressed as a hobbit I read The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy repeatedly through my adolescent years. While I didn't generally read fantasy and was never a particular fan of D&D, the world Tolkien created absolutely enraptured me. I was as ecstatic as the rest of the throngs when Peter Jackson waved his magic wand over his movie treatments of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and proved they could be made into masterful movies. While my son had not seen any of those movies, he was interested. I decided we might as well start with The Hobbit and work our way through the series logically. We read the book together and I delighted at seeing the story come to life for him. However, I was also troubled. Now that I am regularly writing myself, I nitpicked at certain aspects of Tolkien's writing style - mostly his wordiness. I have certainly been known to commit that horrid writing sin of serving up too much detail. I'm a believer in coloring a scene and giving some background that might not be integral to the story, but gives it flavor. Tolkien believes in this philosophy ten-fold. He can spend pages giving background story on a setting or character which is completely unnecessary to the overall tale. While some of this can enrich, it can also infuriate. Readers can reach a point of screaming, well, "Get to the point!" Jackson was praised by many Tolkien fans (including myself) for his talent at carefully editing some of this detail out the Lord of the Rings. For example, in the original Fellowship of the Rings book, a whole chapter is dedicated to a totally superfluous tale about a character named Tom Bombadil who never figures into the overall plot. Jackson justifiably excised the character from the story. At the same time, though, Jackson now finds himself criticized for doing exactly the opposite with The Hobbit. He has stretched one book into three movies. While his aim is to obviously link the two trilogies by fleshing out elements of Lord of the Rings which are only hinted at or left untouched in The Hobbit. He has also sought to infuse his movie version of The Hobbit with a darker tone than the book, again to seemingly match it up better with his movie versions of Lord of the Rings. Now, exactly what point I’m making here, I’m not sure. Oh, right. I’m making the point that even the most celebrated of writers can find themselves distracted, drifting off on a tangent that may not benefit the overall story. Sometimes these diversions can become the essence of why a story becomes beloved, but they can also be the reason a story is despised. With that, I feel I should stop before I babble any longer. Some of you may wish I’d shut up already. my son in front of the movie poster Resources and Related Links: Writ by Whit (2/9/2019). “10 Books Which Impacted Me” Writ by Whit: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings AZ Amazon WK Wikipedia

Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl published 50 years ago today

First posted 6/24/2020.

The Diary of a Young Girl (aka “The Diary of Anne Frank”) Anne Frank

First Publication: June 25, 1947 Category: non-fiction/war-time diary Sales: 35 million

Accolades (click on badges to see full lists):

About the Book: “In 1942, with the Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding” WK with another family “in the ‘Secret Annexe’ of an old office building.” WK “Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death.” AZ “The family was apprehended in 1944, and Anne Frank died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945.” WK The diary was “discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life” AZ and given to “Anne’s father, Otto Frank, the family’s only known survivor, just after the war was over.” WK It “has become a world classic – a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit.” AZ She “recorded vivid impressions of her experiences…By turns thoughtful, moving, and surprisingly humorous, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short.” AZ The Philadelphia Inquirer called it “one of the most moving personal documents to come out of World War II.” AZ The Chicago Tribune said it was “a testament to an indestructible nobility of spirit in the face of pure evil.” AZ The New York Times Book Review praised it as “the single most compelling personal account of the Holocaust…remains astonishing and excruciating.” AZ Newsday said Frank “brilliantly…captures the self-conscious alienation and naïve self-absorption of adolescence.” AZ It has been published in over 60 languages WK and been adapted into a play (1955) and a movie (1959). WK Resources and Related Links: AZ Amazon WK Wikipedia

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Published 10 Years Ago This Month

updated 7/5/2020.

To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee

First Publication: May 1960 Category: Southern, gothic coming-of-age novel Sales: 40 million

Accolades:

About the Book: One of the best-loved stories of all time.” AZ Harper Lee’s “masterwork” AZ “was an immediate critical and financial success for its author.” LC It is “a gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice.” AZ “The plot and characters are loosely based on Lee’s observations of her family, her neighbors and an event that occurred near her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, in 1936, when she was 10 years old. The story is told by the six-year-old Jean Louise Finch;” WK through her eyes, the reader “views a world of great beauty and savage inequities.” AZ Meanwhile, Atticus Finch, “her father – a crusading local lawyer – risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.” AZ He “one of the most enduring and heroic characters in all of American literature,” LC serving “as a moral hero for many readers and as a model of integrity for lawyers.” WK One critic called him “the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism.’” WK “To Kill a Mockingbird is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America.” WK It has been translated into over forty languages and was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film in 1962. “The novel is renowned for its warmth and humor, despite dealing with the serious issues of rape and racial inequality.” WK “Scholars have noted that Lee also addresses issues of class, courage, compassion, and gender roles in the American Deep South. The book is widely taught in schools in the United States with lessons that emphasize tolerance and decry prejudice. Despite its themes, To Kill a Mockingbird has been subject to campaigns for removal from public classrooms, often challenged for its use of racial epithets.” WK Resources and Related Links: Writ by Whit (2/9/2019). “10 Books Which Impacted Me” AZ Amazon LC Library of Congress (2012). “Books That Shaped America” WK Wikipedia