Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

You can hate me all you want, I did not like this book. I know, I know, it's a classic. Anyone who loves and studies literature likes this book. I did not like this book. And no, it's not because I took the possibility of waking up one morning as a large bug literal, I know, it's meant to be read metaphorically by literary critics. First off, the book was meant to be read literally by Franz Kafka, it was written as a comedic piece. Accidentally, it took on this huge form of metaphysical meaning and symbolic representation.

I don't think I'm spoiling anything in this book by stating the metaphor and symbolism in this book is: we're all bugs working and working and working until the day we die. Ta Da!

The writing is more like a play/skit for SNL. It's just horrible and for some weird reason, draining to sit down and read through this book. I can't explain it. It's similar to someone draining the water from your eyes and then has you focus on something to watch the desert grow atop my iris.

I would not recommend this book for you to read. Unless, everything I just said sounds enticing to you. Then by all means, you read it. I have and I'm done.

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka gets 2 stars. Just for the accidental symbolism and life lesson. Don't be a bug in your life. 

The Stranger by Albert Camus

I don't care what anyone says, I liked this book.

The estranged third person writing, the blunt ugly sentences, and the harsh reality of relationships and social connections.

In the scenario of blurred vision (literally and mentally) with the belief of danger lurking your way, would you shoot the gun in your hand or hope for the best?

I don't know about you, but I would shoot the gun. And then my life would spiral the way the plot unfolds in The Stranger. Death, Trial, Hatred, and the Truth about relationships (if you'd like the truth without paying a psychologist thousands and thousands of dollars) read this book.

The Stranger by Albert Camus gets 3.5 stars 

Update

I see people are reading this blog, which shocks me to my very core, especially considering that the number remains up even when I haven't posted or gone on the offensive of publicity in quite some time. So I feel the need to explain myself to this void.
First off, I apologize. I haven't kept up this blog with the books I have read, so stay tuned because they'll be coming quickly and feverishly. Make sure not to read this blog for too long, you'll get sick with the feverish posts (Mu Hu Haw Haw).
Anyway, below is a list of books that will be coming, in no particular order than the top of my memory.
                    1. Beloved
                    2. The Stranger
                    3. Metamorphosis
                    4. The Things They Carried
Secondly, I also have been hoarding books for the time I would devour them all one by one in a literary feeding frenzy. So they'll be a lot of surprises as well.
Third off, don't feel scared to comment. Agree, disagree, will you read it, will you hide from it, or make any suggestions you feel I should or should not read. The comment bar is there a wise female created it for us all to share our thoughts and feelings. My theory is that she was a sharer, talker, perhaps even a genius turned politician. I don't know.

Hold onto your bookmarks, here comes the page turning storm of a century. 

The Time in Between by María Dueñas

A grown up story for grown up people or young adults or anyone who can read. It's a good book and isn't that all that matters. It's realistic and true.

The characters aren't models or young. Everyone's flawed but errors don't make love disappear.

The story in this book is an ageless romance--not as a romance for every age group more like the characters aren't young adults--people screw up as in life, screw-ups hurt, they burn and melt the depth of your heart. But they don't just end every other emotion. They rot form the inside out. But they're not black holes to suck in every other emotion you had been feeling.

So we run, run from the pain and the lasting fire. We run from the hurt, from the lasting blazes, and from the new tinge of fire. Until we find some water. Something soothing and cooling to heal our ashed lungs and hearts. A drink of water to rinse out the pain and sorrow from the past. One strong enough to return to the original blaze.

If you're in to that sort of thing, yeah, that was my segue from that poetry, read this book.

Extreme Last Minute Holiday Gifts (Adolescents Edition)

For those teens in your life

1.  The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

• A whole new circus and world for readers to travel. With two great complex characters separated by countries but connected by line of work and upbringing. And is that a possible romance budding? A storyline everyone should devour at least once. Hey, if they read it more than once, sounds like you're king of the Holiday Gifts!

2.  A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

• For that supernatural fan in your family, more like the un-cliche not over fangirled Twilight. Let her or he be ruler of their friends with bringing this trilogy up. Wereworlves, Vampires, Witches, and Romance? For those Doc Who fans, it even has time traveler!

3.  Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

• If all else fails, the classics are always something a teen should read. They have an everlasting affect on teens when they read them now. And, who hates Pride and Predjudice? Even the most bitter females love Mr. Darcy and the most sporty males adore Elizabeth. These characters set the standard for life relationships!

 4.  Death Comes to Pemberley by P. D. James

• This must be a tag along if one is gifting Pride and Prejudice. About two Christmas' past, P.D. James created this murder mystery sequel to Pride and Prejudice that resolves any undying questions you have about the characters and situations. The writing is even crafted similarly to Austen's flowery structure with pungent diction!

Extreme Last Minute Holiday Gifts (Mom's, Aunt's, and Grandmother's Edition)

For Mom's, Aunt's, and Grandmother's

1.  Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

• The mystery behind the disappearance of a political figure's wife in a small town goes public and outrage by the public and police department don't make the search simple. But, the wife was no saint either.

2.  Big Girl by Danielle Steel

• It's not one of her newer books, but it is one of her better books. For people struggling with wight, self-image, and self-confidence, read this book not to learn, but to see the similar activities in another girl trying to break away from the negativity and caged life caused by her parents. 

  3.  City of Women by David R. Gillham

• Love in the manless working world of WWII. The trifles, traumas, and post-war affairs make the book a riveting read. 

4.  Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers

• For your independent, fast tongued female family members. A female detective outwitting the Sherlock of her time in work, death, and love. A lovely trilogy for that badass relative. 

Beloved by Toni Morrison

So, I read this book awhile ago, and I've been trying to thing of a way to describe this book without giving too much away and recommend it without scarring some readers away.

I'm sure many people who come across this blog have read this book, if so great, you can add to the conversation, if not, still great, you'll learn about an unconventional book to say the least.

First off, I'm the first to say, I love those books where you don't need to do much thinking. That is that, there is no underlining story. Those pure entertainment literature. Full disclosure, this book is not like that.

This book, if you know anything about it, you know it is about slavery. The people, the after-effects, the experiences, all in relation to slavery in the United States. Everything in this book is purposeful. And ambiguous. For readers to come to their own opinions and ideas about the underline story of Beloved and the characters.

My out-of-depth synopsis of the book is: Sethe was a slave on Sweet Home. While working on the plantation for Mr. and Mrs. Gardner, Sethe meets Halle, who she winds up marrying. They have 4 children together. During their time on Sweet Home, Mr. Gardner unfortunately dies and Mrs. Gardner falls ill, so Mr. Gardner's brother arrives to manage the plantation, schoolteacher. Schoolteacher is more of a disciplinary manager on the plantation. So much so, all of the slave's on the plantation decide to escape. A plan was created, however, due to extenuating circumstances as of Sethe's pregnancy and violence occurring to the other slaves. The plan doesn't occur. Sethe creates her own plan, sending her own children before her on the underground railroad to their grandmother's house in Free States. Then Sethe leaves, while pregnant, she was supposed to leave with Halle, but to find out what happened there you need to read the book. Sethe makes it, while in her third trimester to  her mother-in-law's house. But a short while after, schoolteacher comes with the sheriff to collect her. Which is where the big problems begin. You'll have to read the book to get everything else I left out. Though you might think I've told you a lot, I really haven't.

If anything I've told you sounds appealing, read the book. If you like deciphering symbols, read the book. If you can accept things unexplainable, read the book. If you can't, read the book.

It's a book, everyone should experience.