The handmaid’s tale, by Margaret Atwood

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Margaret Atwood

When I first came across this book, I didn’t bother to read the synopsis, assuming it would be a medieval tale of some sort (the illustration on the cover made me think so, the word “handmaid” helped as well); something I would enjoy, but nothing “special” I should consider reading as soon as possible, until I began to read about the TV series and the actual plot of the book. I found a medieval tale, yes, but not the kind I expected.

Offred (meaning “Of Fred”, the name of the man who owns her) is the narrator of her own tale, a story of a country that turned itself from a so called democracy into a patriarchal dictatorship in which a few privileged people live more or less as the time before, whereas the rest serve them. For the women this means they have to provide healthy children for the regime, but not freely with their husbands, but submitted to their owners and separated from their families. Love is forbidden. Friendship is forbidden. Culture is forbidden for women too. To make things worse, Offred lived in “the time before”, so she had to be reeducated in a special centre to serve to this new society, and she often goes back in time in her narration to talk about the life she had with Luke and their little daughter, her mother, her best friend Moira…

The book addresses the assumption of human adaptability to whatever the circumstances we face. The issue here is that the political environment doesn’t change for the better, for the achieving of more freedom and favorable rights for the people, as we foresee as the path for future generations, but instead it goes for restrictions and terror for the majority of the population. And as the author has said, this idea is not her own, but borrowed from history (nazism, for example). And yet the heroine is not so, in the usual understanding of a character fighting to take her life back, but instead she just goes with the flow, paralyzed by the fear and living the life this new patriarchal elite has decided for her. And that’s what I liked about her because, in my eyes, she is real. I mean, most of us have probably gone to a protest march against any political issue or another, but would you go if you were likely to be imprisoned for life, or even executed? I am sure I wouldn’t, and this fact made me sympathize deeply with Offred.

This is the second book by Margaret Atwood that I read (Cat’s eye was the first), and I have found them very different regarding the plot but with similar characters; both women, both confronting a situation they can’t or don’t know how to face, and both lonely and carrying such sadness over their shoulders.

PS1.: The ending, which will not be discussed here, was absolutely great because it is open to many possibilities.

PS2.: I listened to the audiobook narrated by Claire Danes and she is the protagonist in my mind. I love her, by the way.

The handmaid’s tale
Margaret Atwood
Anchor Books
311 pages

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Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone, by J.K. Rowling

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J.K. Rowling

When the first books of Harry Potter became so popular I was a little too old for children’s books and I never came to read them; but afterwards, as an adult, I have always known I had to give them a go. I was sure I would enjoy that magical world, and I’m glad I turned out to be right!

I’m not summarizing the story everybody knows too well, but I wanted to share some of my thoughts on the book. First of all, I would have loved to grow up having a fictional friend like Harry, and now I truly understand all those people who are devoted fans of the books and films. I loved the three main characters, especially Hermione because she is a hoity-toity girl, but she came from a muggle family and I’m sure all she wanted was to prove herself worthy of attending such a school like Hogwarts. Regarding Harry, I had to fight back tears while reading how miserable his life with his aunt and uncle was – I literally wept when I read he wore broken glasses (I don’t know why this particular detail touched me, but touched I was), and also when his uncle left him alone at the train station, clueless about how to find the platform 9 and ¾. Seriously, it was painful to imagine a child so unloved. On the other hand, I had a wonderful time with all the adventures Harry, Hermione and Ron go through in Hogwarts, and with all the magic that filled every page.

I suppose this is the first sketch of what is to come in the next books: a child who will have to live up to the magic world’s expectations in the fight against the evil, the power of true friendship, and the fact that sometimes it’s OK to break the rules in order to save the world. It’s so full of excitement that I’m sure I’ll continue with the series.

I think Harry Potter is a read every one would enjoy, even if you have outgrown the recommended age for these children’s books. It’s never too late to believe in magic  😉

Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone
J.K. Rowling
Bloomsbury Publishing, 225 pages

The storyteller, by Jodi Picoult

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Jodi Picoult

What a thought-provoking book! It’s about evil, goodness, and the fact that the two of them can converge into the same person.

Sage Singer is a solitary girl who works at night in a bakery, hidden from the world by her own choice because she thinks she is not worthy of love, friendship, or being happy. One day, she makes friends with Josef, a respected old man from the community where she lives and, shockingly, he confesses to her that he was an SS Nazi guard at Auschwitz and asks her to help him die.

Of course, Sage’s first reaction (after denial, that is, because such a confession seemed more likely to be a made up story by an old man) is disgust for all the crimes committed by Josef in the past, but then again, that was long time ago, and the man he is now is completely different: a nice teacher who has been helping others for years. Might the new Josef redeem the old one? Who is to judge?

Intertwined in this story, there is also Minka’s; she is Sage’s grandmother and a Holocaust survivor who has kept the horror she lived to herself, becoming a new person with a new life once she moved to America. But now Sage needs to know, and Minka finally releases her story, in which Josef plays also a part. Therefore, if the reader was feeling pity for a ninety-year-old man who took part in the world’s worst crimes but voluntarily decided to become a new person, now is willing to change her mind after knowing Minka’s story in Auschwitz.

As far as I know, Picoult’s books are always this controversial. The characters play the two points of view of the story, both of them explained in detail for the reader to sympathize and one has to decide for herself, which is not an easy task. And then again, we are not the ones to judge, but we can’t avoid judging either.

So, if you are looking for a book (or an author, for that matter) to challenge your values and morality, this is a great option. Besides, I never get tired of stories set in World War II, and this particular one is well written: raw and bitter when necessary, but well balanced with kindness and humour thanks to secondary characters in both storylines.

PS: This book was not on my list for the Read my own damn books Challenge, but I have other four books by this author waiting on my shelves 😉

The storyteller
Jodi Picoult
Atria Books, 460 pages
Book on Goodreads

A short history of nearly everything, by Bill Bryson

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Bill Bryson

I have little to say about this book, except for leave whatever you are doing and read it. Now.

If you want to know a little bit more, let’s say this is a book about every branch of science, which explains what we know, how we got to know it, and what is still ahead of our actual knowledge, including brief biographies of great scientific men and women who studied issues and made discoveries we now take for granted. And all that is told in a humorous and concise manner, which not only does it make you get involved in all the mysteries of our world, but also be willing to learn more.

Because we all have studied books about the distance between the Earth and the Sun, or the age of the Universe, etc. and, nevertheless, we don’t know how they actually measure it! Those processes that leaded the way to the facts that we now find in textbooks involved incredible adventures and epic disagreements among scientists, and knowing about it makes science far more interesting.

Believe me: this is a book to read and re-read. To learn about men and women who tried to find answers. To think about everything that is awaiting for us to discover.

A short history of nearly everything
Bill Bryson
Published by Broadway, 560 pages
Non-fiction November
Non-fiction reading challenge: 10/10

The Martian, by Andy Weir

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Andy Weir

If you ask me for the genres I don’t like, I would first mention horror, followed by science-fiction. But guys, that was before I read The Martian!

Mark Watney is left alone in Mars during a sandstorm, when the crew had to evacuate and thought Watney was dead. But he is not. The astronaut has no way to contact Earth to tell them he is alive, and the next mission to land on Mars is scheduled in 4 years, so this man has a problem. The fact that the food he has would feed him only for less than a year before starving to death doesn’t help either. But Watney is a resourceful guy and soon he comes up with a plan: plant potatoes on Mars!

The adventures of Watney on Mars will keep you glued to the book. The story is told through daily entries he keeps in case he finds a solution to send them, but soon we start knowing what’s going on on Earth and also with Watney’s crew on their way home. This astronaut is a genius for the way we works on staying alive and getting a way to communicate with NASA, and he is also very joyful despite the situation he is in, so the book is going to lift your spirits. It talks a lot about science, though, but I think it is explained very well even for non-science people so that anyone can follow Watney’s operations.

Watney’s wisdom

I listened to the audiobook, being this the first fiction novel I haven’t read in Spanish before that I have listened to, and I think the narrator totally becomes Mark Watney. It’s like he is real and tells you what he is doing. I was so engrossed in the novel that, near the end, I had to stop, take a few minutes to think about the possible outcomes of the story (because the reader doesn’t have the slightest idea about what is going to happen), sob a little in advance in case he didn’t get it, and then continue with the book.

I really recommend it.

I think that the film will be on theatres in October, and it looks really good, doesn’t it? Be careful if you still haven’t read it and you plan to, because the trailer reveals most of the story:

Recent non-fiction reads

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Dan Ariely, David Allen, Roy F. Baumeister

I have been reading some non-fiction books lately – which might also be considered self-help books – due to that maker of infinite to-be-read piles, also known as GoodReads. I listened to The power of habit (review) and since then, GR has been recommending to me other books related to that one and I’ve tried some of them. Let’s see:

This picture of the author is so funny!

The power of habit talked a little about willpower, and that was a topic I had never thought about before, so I picked up this one in order to know more.

The book talks about what makes us have more or less willpower, how to exercise and increase it, and compares this concept with other aspects like self-control, self-esteem, etc. It’s really interesting, seriously, and it provides lots of examples about how our willpower works in real life.

Baumeister, in Willpower, mentions this other book, Getting things done. I know it was a bestseller some years ago and everybody knows about it, but this was the first time I heard of it, so I also picked it up, expecting some king of encouragement and positive thoughts for me to start doing the things I have to do. I was wrong.

David Allen has developed a whole system based on the fact that our brains are constantly thinking about the things we have to catch up with, even when we are actually doing other things, so it prevents you from being calm and productive in the current task. Seriously, that is exactly what happens to me all the time: when I’m studying I think about housework and when I’m ironing I think about things I have to do at the office, and so on.

Allen has created a way to have all your thoughts written down and organized, and claims that if you have a system that you trust (but not your brain), you can just work on one task without feeling overwhelmed for the others that you are not doing at that moment (wouldn’t that be WONDERFUL?).

You can get an idea of the process in this summary, but if you are interested, I recommend reading the book. You can also watch this video of the author talking about the concepts explained the main concepts of the book.

What makes me recalcitrant is that I don’t know how to apply it to my studies. I have to think deeply about it, because it talks about projects, and I think I can consider, for example, Studying lesson 1 as a project, and then divide it in actions (reading the lessons, underlining important things, writing a summary, etc). It’s a book to read twice in order to do it correctly.

PS: This leaded me to the next question: what if I implement the whole system of Getting things done (which I’m planning to do) and I have everything organized in their places, but I don’t do things? To solve this particular problem I’m reading at the moment a book titled The now habit

This is other book recommended by GoodReads after reading The power of habit, but I didn’t like it that much. It is based on tons of experiments, but in these kinds of books you expect some practical implementations in real life after every experiment, which is missing here.

No doubt that the results of the experiments are quite interesting, but in the end, I got bored of all the data, the little changes they do in the experiments, etc, and I didn’t find it very useful.

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And that’s enough self-help for now.

Do you find these kinds of books helpful?

Any recommendations?