2017 Reading: Hannibal Rising

#19 A book about food

HA! See what I did there?

But, seriously.

I know a lot of people didn't like this book/movie for a number of different reasons, but the main one that I see over and over again is the fact that they don't like Hannibal killing for revenge. They feel it is somehow beneath him. The thing no one remembers is, it's ALL revenge. He kills people for being rude. So, it's revenge for his sensibilities or even the sensibilities of those people that he holds in esteem (see: Miggs' death after he disrespected Clarice, and also Paul Krendler). So for him to take revenge on the people who murdered and ate his little sister is not that far of a stretch. In fact, it makes more sense once you think about it.

This act that was brought upon him is so heinous that people don't even like to think about it and a person's natural reaction, however buried in morals it may be, is for revenge. I think that people just don't like to admit that Hannibal IS human and has human feelings. They prefer to think of him as a monster with no morals who kills at random on a whim and then tries to justify it with "manners."

This book shows you that he is indeed a human who has gone through something terrible and found a way, however misguided and amoral (to us) to deal with it. It is this act that set off a chain reaction to the events of the rest of his life and career, including his unique "tastes."

I enjoyed this book. It was fascinating to learn the back story and to see behind the mask, as it were, to this character.

2017 Reading: Please Destroy My Enemies

I saw this book come in and I thought it was hilarious. Cute little drawings with weird and disturbing messages. I love it.

2017 Reading: Bayou Autumn

#6 A book with one of the four seasons in the title

I was not the biggest fan of this book. I guess I'm too critical of my poetry but I didn't really see much that I really enjoyed. Everything rhymed (which is okay, unless it starts to get repetitive and cheesy) and every other poem ended with an exclamation point and they were all happy and bubbly... I guess I just don't like that type of poetry.

It's by a local author, so it's not really well known (I've had to add it to Goodreads and LibraryThing myself). I think I'll put it back out into the world so that someone else may find it and get joy out of it.

2017 Reading: Midnight Confessions

Very short read that I found at the library.

Hilarious.

2017 Reading" The Dinosaur That Pooped a Planet

I put this book in the library system the other day and I immediately knew that I needed to read it and take it home for my nephew.

I was not disappointed.

2017 Reading: Obedience to Authority

 #40 A book you bought on a trip

"Nothing is more dangerous to human survival than malevolent authority combined with the dehumanizing effects of buffers." (p 157)

I saw this movie about a year ago and I immediately (though, admittedly in a very inebriated state) bought the book and decided to read it. It is FASCINATING!

It really makes you think about the role that authority plays in our everyday lives. There is this section where they talk about the autonomous state and the agentic state and it just blew my mind to think of how much out brain adjusts to society as we are immersed in it.

Even if you have no idea what I am talking about and have no knowledge of psychology, I recommend at least watching the movie "The Experimenter." It was SO good!

2017 Reading: Labor Day

#38 A book set around a holiday other than Christmas

I honestly don't know what to say about this book. On one side, I thought this was an epic love story for the ages with chance meetings and instant connections with whimsy and feel good vibes. On the other side, OMG no. So much about this was wrong and weird. But then again... I don't know. I'm not one who really believes in the whole love at first sight thing, so maybe I'm just biased. I do know, however, that by the end, I was very happy that they found each other again, so maybe that says something about me.

I was not very happy with the lack of quotation for dialogue. That got very confusing very quickly.

But hey! Now I can watch the movie. Mmmm, Josh Brolin...

2017 Reading: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

#39 The first book in a series you haven't read before

I had heard really good things about this book. I've seen the original Swedish movie but not the more recent American one. I was also told that it was hard to get through because it was translated from Swedish and sometimes translations can come out a little weird, but I didn't find that to be true. It was very engaging and I was intrigued.

The only thing I felt was a little bit difficult was keeping up with the names of all the people in the Vanger family. I literally had to make myself a chart so that I could reference it while I read. Even then, I was still a little confused, but I got over it really quickly.

I don't think I'll be in too terrible a hurry to read the rest of them just yet, but I definitely want to at some point.