Anna Karenina

For my 100th book, I read a book that had long been waiting on my shelf: Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. I saved it for my final book because it's a long book, clocking in at over 850 pages - and not easy pages at that. I figured I had (from the start of it) over 6 weeks to read it, and that would be more than enough time to push my way through it.

Anna Karenina plays the central role amongst a large cast of characters. Like most of the epic novels from the Romantic era, Anna includes a great number of characters who are all interconnected. The title character is unhappily married and madly in love with another man, Vronsky. They want to spend their lives together but face the obstacle of obtaining a divorce in a culture and religious atmosphere that strongly discourage it. Other storylines include that of Levin and Kitty, great friends since childhood yet Kitty is promised to Anna's Vronsky, despite Levin's deep love for her. Later on, when Levin has a family, Tolstoy writes the story of his philosophical and spiritual journey to find the meaning of life and love. Interspersed through the story we read of other characters and get to take a look at the life of the Russian upper class and the politics of 19th century Russia.

As these stories unfold, Tolstoy's message becomes clear. The very first sentence of his book sums things up pretty well: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." You certainly get to see plenty of unhappy families, only occasionally catching a glimpse of a happy one. Each family reaches unhappiness in a different way.

This was definitely a good read. A book of such great length could easily become a chore. However, when compared to other literature of the time, it occupies a strange place. As its story goes, it pales in comparison to pop fiction writers such as Dumas and Dickens. As far as its philosophical and spiritual musings goes, it comes up short against Dostoyevsky (though not terribly short). Yet still it packs a strong punch, but only for those patient enough to dare these pages.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

100/100!!!

THe Hunger Games

Wow. It's been a long time since I read a book as compelling as Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games. While aimed for a teenage audience, much like the Twilight series or the Harry Potter saga this book has managed to also create a stir amongst adults. Unlike the Twilight books, which are fad-based and poorly written, this book has earned the attention it has received.

The book centers around a Dystopian society where a city known only as "the Capitol" rules over the 12 Districts. At one point, the Districts tried to rebel, but the Capitol held them back, rampaging the Districts and destroying the former 13th District. As punishment, the Districts are severely restricted in what they are able to have and do. If that wasn't enough, they instituted the Hunger Games.

The participants of the Hunger Games are selected from each District. One boy and one girl aged 12-17 is selected at (sort of) random. These children then are forced into an immense outdoor arena with one goal: be the final competitor alive. The Gamekeepers add to the intensity by playing with the ecosystem or introducing deadly weather events and ferocious mutated creatures. All of this is televised for the Districts to watch. The District (and combatant) that survives gets showered with incredible riches. The brutality of the games (and the fact that children are the stars) reminds the Districts that the Capitol is in charge.

Katniss quickly finds herself as the female contestant from District 12. She is a scrappy girl who has taught herself to hunt and provides for her family, which consists of her mother and her sister. They depend on Kat for almost everything they need. Kat is joined by Peeta, a shy boy who has long had a deep affection for Katniss, a fact completely unknown by Katniss.

They have many obstacles to overcome: a washed-up alcoholic mentor, a lack of access to the level of training the wealthier districts enjoy, and 22 other desperate teens who want nothing else but to escape alive and victorious.

And only one of them can make it out alive.

I haven't been this glued to a fiction book in an extremely long time. Unlike far too many action/adventure/sci-fi/fantasy books written for adults, the main characters in the book have a lot of depth. Not only do they behave and speak in a realistic way, but they cultivate an attachment with the reader. Collins also wrote the book in first person and present tense. The fun thing about this is that the narrator is neither the "omniscient narrator" of the third person nor the first person narrator relating past events. This technique takes only a chapter or so to get used to and really adds to the excitement - the narrator doesn't know how things are going to turn out!

My only complaint is that the dystopian society has not been completely developed yet. I hope that comes in future books because what I saw seemed very intriguing.

One quick warning - this book does contain quite a bit of violence. It's not overly gory, but definitely PG-13 with flashes of R (just because of the amount of killing that happens). Overall the book has a PG-13 feel, but violence is the only concern. As a result, I would recommend this book for anyone 13 and up (10-12 only if their parents know their kids would be able to handle it) who wouldn't mind the violence and enjoy a good exciting dystopian novel.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

99/100

Black Fire

I received Estrelda Y. Alexander's Black Fire: One Hundred Years of African American Pentecostalism from my brother-in-law, who often receives free books to review. He warned me that it was like a textbook, which was why he didn't plan on reading it, but thought that maybe I'd give it a try. I often claim that I'll read anything (which is nearly true), so I took up the challenge.

Black Fire is quite like a textbook. This review will be short because I don't have much to say. The back of the book claims that it would be good both for the scholar and for the general public. Not true. This book is not for the general public. Alexander spent quite a lot of time researching and compiling information about virtually every branch of Pentecostalism into one text. She went about this because very few history texts exist that cover Pentecostal denominations that are primarily African-American. 

In some sections the reader is treated to some interesting history. Those sections were pleasant to read, but most of it comes from the days of William Seymour, and just over a year ago I read a book that thoroughly covered the history of the Azusa Street revival. The rest of the narrative history comes towards the end as Alexander covers some neo-Pentecostal groups. I enjoyed the last 20 pages or so. The rest of the book delves into all different sub-denominations within Pentecostalism. Occasionally Alexander breaks to talk about certain individuals. Each person or denomination gets covered in anywhere between one and four pages. The end result is a torrent of names (of people and denominations) and doctrinal positions that wound up creating a confused soup in my brain.

As a side note, the Bishop of my church - Bishop Joseph Garlington - is mentioned twice in the book, both times very glowingly. That was a pleasant surprise - Alexander had a lot of criticism for most of the church leaders she covers.

This book does not have an appeal that would reach out to the general public. Exhaustively researched, Black Fire possesses value to researchers and church historians. But it really shouldn't be read cover to cover - that was a mistake. I don't think I wound up learning much. Its role ought to be as an occasional resource for information about specific Pentecostal movements, churches, or leaders.

Rating: N/A - it's a great resource, but not really a cover-to-cover read

98/100

The Sixth Extinction

The Sixth Extinction, by Terry Glavin, carried a remarkably different tone than the last book I read. While it made an attempt to end on a hopeful note, this book was overwhelmingly glum and depressing.

Glavin wrote a collection of "stories" that were woven together for this book. He focuses in on the phenomenon currently occurring that many title the Sixth Extinction. We currently live in a time where the extinction rate of species rivals that of five other great extinctions, among which is the Cretaceous-era extinction of the dinosaurs and other surprisingly bigger extinctions. Glavin looks at several different animals and how humans have contributed to their near-extinction and how they attempt to keep these animals among our wild species. His stories come from the experiences he has. He weaves facts in among the tales.

Glavin writes with a magnificent pen. His tales are elegant, introspective, and enthralling. Each chapter I felt myself sucked in and unwilling to leave the pages. Unfortunately, what I read was pretty depressing. Humans have caused an extinction rate that rivals some of the world's most cataclysmic mass extinctions. There's not much we can do about it, either. As long as our global population continues to increase and we continue to consume ridiculous amounts of natural resources, our biodiversity will continue to decrease.

The book has rather scathing comments to be made about zoos. Glavin calls them homes for the "living dead." The animals there have a miserable existence and even notable attempts to keep species from going extinct have largely failed.

In the end, Glavin calls on people to simply "do what they can." He doesn't feel that people purposefully bring about death and habitat destruction, with a few exceptions (like the Puritans, who believed that wild animals were demonic spirits). People of all kinds have simply acted selfishly, including ancient civilizations and virtually every Native American tribe, who he claims were not as sustainable as modern tales romanticize. Humans are the mammalian version of the cockroach (almost a direct quote), able to adapt to just about any environment. We'll survive for a long time, but if we want to have a world with substantial biodiversity, we need to make conscious decisions to support the environment.

Fat chance of that happening.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

(97/100)