Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain

Title: The Diaries of Adam and Eve

Work includes: Adam's Diary, Eve's Diary, and 4 other short stories

"Translated" by: Mark Twain (American, 1835-1910)
Originally published: 1906
Page count: 103
Dates read: 2/18/19-2/19/19
2019 book goal progress: 7 out of 41
Back to the Classics category: Classic From the Americas or Caribbean. (Classic set there, or author from there.)
Read my other book reviews from the challenge HERE.


Description on back of book:
Long before the arrival of the serpent, conflict enters the Garden of Eden as Adam and Eve discover in each other a source of continual irritation. Through the light of their diaries, we learn of their halting progression from grudging adversaries to eventual partners.

First line:
"Who am I? What am I? Where am I?"

Favorite quotes:
Eve: "It is best to prove things by actual experiment. Then you know: whereas if you depend on guessing and supposing and conjecturing, you will never get educated. some things you can't find out, but you will never know you can't by guessing and supposing. No, you have to be patient and go on experimenting until you find out that you can't find out. And it is delightful to have it that way; it makes the world so interesting. If there wasn't anything to find out, it would be dull."

Adam: "When the mighty brontosaurus came striding into camp, she regarded it as an acquisition. I considered it a calamity. That is a good sample of the lack of harmony that prevails in our views of things... She believed it could be tamed by kind treatment and would be a good pet; I said a pet twenty-one feet high and eighty-four feet long would be no proper thing to have about the place, because even with the best intentions and without meaning any harm, it could sit down on the house and mash it, for anyone could see by the look of its eye that is was absentminded."

Review:

Eve is very social and tries to befriend Adam. She is optimistic, smart, and curious. Eve sees things through a lens of beauty and how much enjoyment something can give. Adam, in contrast, just wants to be left alone. He finds Eve annoying and tries to emigrate away from her several times. He is pessimistic, lazy, and slow minded. Adam sees everything through a lens of practicality and how useful something is. It isn't until after the fall (they eat the forbidden fruit) that Adam finally warms up to Eve. They work on writing a dictionary together, Eve accidentally discovers fire, and Adam works on a multiplication table (which includes 6x9=27).

Adam always happens to be away whenever Eve gives birth. Though the word 'born' is used, Eve never describes actually giving birth or even being pregnant. She takes to Cain (their first child) right away and is very motherly. Adam, on the other hand, thinks he's a new type of fish and puts him in water. To which, Eve quickly takes the baby out when he doesn't start swimming. When the child starts crawling, Adam thinks him to be a type of Kangaroo; when he starts walking, Adam thinks it to be a type of hairless bear; and when the child starts talking, Adam thinks it to be a strange parrot. It isn't until the child is about 5 or 6 that Adam finally believes him to be a person too.

The realization of death in the end is heartbreaking, but the final diary entry is sweet (and interesting and unexpected). This is an extremely short and very witty book - definitely worth the read. Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Mark Twain have the last words:

One of the things that piqued the interest of Adam and Eve is how the cow gets its milk. After they watched a cow day and night, they knew cows don't drink it from elsewhere. Eve "knew at once the explanation: The milk was not taken in by the mouth, it was condensed from the atmosphere through the cow's hair... By a series of experiments we had long ago arrived at the conclusion that atmospheric air consisted of water in invisible suspension; also that the components of water were hydrogen and oxygen, in the proportion of two parts of the former to one of the latter and expressible by the symbol of H2O. My discovery revealed the fact that there was still another ingredient: milk. We enlarged the symbol to H2OM."

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

Title: Agnes Grey
Author: Anne Bronte (English, 1820-1849)
Originally published: 1847
Page count: 153
Dates read: 2/10/19-2/15/19
2019 book goal progress: 5 out of 41
Back to the Classics category: 19th Century Classic
Read my other Bronte Sister book reviews.
Read my other book reviews from the challenge HERE.


Description on back of book:
Ages Grey is a trenchant expose of the frequently isolated, intellectually stagnant and emotionally starved conditions under which many governesses worked in the mid-nineteenth century.

First sentence:
"All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity, that the dry, shriveled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."

Favorite quotes:
"I can conceive few situations more harassing than that wherein, however you may long for success, however you may labor to fulfill your duty, your efforts are baffled and set at naught by those beneath you, and unjustly censured and judged by those above."

"If you cannot feel positive affection for those who do not care for you, you can at least try to do to them as you would they should do unto you: you can endeavor to pity their failings and excuse their offenses, and to do all the good you can to those about you."

"It is foolish to wish for beauty. Sensible people never either desire it for themselves, or care about it in others. If the mind be well cultivated, and the heart well disposed, no one ever cares for the exterior. So said the teachers of our childhood; and so say we to the children of the present day. All very judicious and proper, no doubt; but are such assertations supported by actual experience?"

Review:

This is a simple, straightforward, and predictable book - despite this, I would not consider it at all bland. On the contrary, I found it very enjoyable and relaxing. I consider myself as having a similar disposition as Agnes Grey and I was a nanny for 5 years - so I greatly related to the main character. Agnes' mom is inspirational and I have a high respect for her. As soon as Mr. Weston was mentioned, I fell in love with him too.

One of the themes is that it's not often the fault of the governess that the kids are unruly, but because of the parents - which I agree with. Another theme is that one should be smart with finances and plan for the future. It is a short, wholesome story that has a wonderful happy ending.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Anne Bronte have the last words:

"The best way to enjoy yourself is to do what is right and hate nobody. The end of Religion is not to teach us how to die, but how to live; and the earlier you become wise and good, the more of happiness you secure."

Everyman + Other Miracle/Morality Plays

Title: Everyman and Other Miracle and Morality Plays 

Work includes: Noah's Flood, The Second Shepherd's Play, Everyman, and Hickscorner

(Originally written in Middle English)

Playwright(s): Unknown
Originally written: ~1350s-1510s
Page count: 117
Dates read: 1/1/19 - 1/3/19
2019 book goal progress: 4 out of 41
Back to the Classics category: Play
Read my other book reviews from the challenge HERE.

Description on back of book:
Western drama, having all but disappeared during the Dark Ages, reemerged spontaneously in the liturgy and life of the medieval church. Vernacular miracle plays (Noah's Flood and The Second Shepherd's Play) of England's Middle Ages were performed by lay people - many by trade guilds - unschooled in church Latin, but familiar with the biblical events upon which the dramas were based. Morality plays (Everyman and Hickscorner) were allegorical and provided moral instruction, their principal characters vivid personification of virtue and vice.

Everyman intro: (The central character, Everyman, is summoned by Death and must face final judgment on the strength of his good deeds.) Here beginneth a treatise how the high father of heaven sendeth Death to summon Every Creature to come and give an account of their lives in this world and is in the manner of a moral play.

First sentence(s):
Noah's Flood
God: I, God, that all the world have wrought
     Heaven and Earth, and all of nought,
     I see my people, in deed and thought,
     Are foully set in sin.

The Second Shepherd's Play
1st Shepherd: Lord, but this weather is cold, and I am ill wrapped!

Everyman
Messenger: I pray you all give your audience,
     And hear this matter with reverence,
     By figure a moral play –
     The Summoning of Everyman called it is,
     That of our lives and ending shows
     How transitory we be all day.

Hickscorner
Pity: Now Jesu the gentle, that brought Adam fro hell,
     Save you all, sovereigns, and solace you send:
     And, of this matter that I begin to tell,
     I pray you of audience, till I have made an end;
     For I say to you, my name is Pity,
     That ever yet hath been man’s friend.

Review:
Noah's Flood is a retelling of the story of Noah's Ark. It was pretty bland. There was a point where Noah's Wife slaps him and threatens to not join him on the boat, but, really, it's kind of boring.

The Second Shepherd's Play is about the birth of Christ, though it really is a small part of the play. The first 5/6 of the play is about 3 shepherd's that get one of their lambs stolen. When they confront the thief, his wife wraps it like baby and lies it in the crib to try to hide the lamb. In the last 1/6 of the play, the 3 shepherds are visited by an angel and then go visit Jesus in the stable. So, in the same night, the shepherds saw a real lamb pretending to be a baby AND a real baby who is also the Lamb of God. I don't know if this play is supposed to be taken seriously or not, but I found it quite humorous.

Everyman is a wonderful introspective allegory. Death sends Everyman on a journey (of which, there is no return) to meet God and give a reckoning for his life. Before leaving, Everyman sees if anyone will go on the journey with him. Fellowship (friends) is willing to murder and do all sorts of bad things but refuses to go on the journey with Everyman. Neither Kindred nor Cousin will join in the journey. Goods (riches) won't go on the journey and, if he did, he would make it worse for Everyman. Goods is a thief and killer of souls when anyone loves Goods more than God. Beauty, Strength, Discretion, and Five-Wits will also not go on the journey. Knowledge will follow Everyman to his death, but will not journey further. Only Good-Deeds, strengthened by Confession, will go with Everyman to the end of his journey. The story is insightful despite being incredibly short.

Hickscorner was a bit confusing and I think most of it went over my head. The moral I took away was that God will always forgive sins. Pity, Contemplation, and Perseverance are all good. Freewill, Imagination, and Hickscorner are all bad. Eventually, Contemplation helps turn the heart of Freewill and he asks for forgiveness of his sins. Perseverance then helps turn the heart of Imagination and, after he asks for forgiveness, his name is changed to Good Remembrance.

I enjoyed reading these four plays. I don't read much in verse, so this was a nice change up for me - it also was a little distracting sometimes, but I did like the rhyming. If you're only going to read one of them, I highly recommend that everyone read Everyman at least once. (Yes, I think I'm clever. Thank you.)

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will close with a quote from Everyman:

Goods: My love is contrary to the love everlasting.
     But if thou had me loved moderately during,
     As, to the poor give part of me,
     Then shouldst thou not in this dolour be.
     As for a while I was lent thee,
     A season thou hast had me in prosperity;
     My condition is man's soul to kill;
     If I save one, a thousand I do spill.

Back to the Classics 2019

NOTE: This is my initial post for the beginning of 2019. For a more updated list, take a look at my 2019 Reading Challenge Wrap-Up!

I am excited to participate in the Back to the Classics Challenge again this year! I had a fun time getting into reading again, so I want to keep it up.

In the Challenge, there are 12 categories (which are meant to be filled with 12 different books). In order to qualify as a classic, the book has to have been published (or written) 50+ years ago, so 1969 or older. There are several other minor rules (like having to read all the books in 2019), which you can read at the link above. If you are interested in joining the challenge, the last day to sign up is March 1, 2019.

Last year, I added an extra ‘challenge’ to the challenge by reading all books (except for 1) by female authors. This year, I’ve taken a slightly different approach. Instead of 1 book per category, I’ve chosen 2 books. Out of the 24 books listed below, half of them are female authors and the other half are male. Now, there may be 24 ‘bound books’ listed below, but there are actually 41 novels/novellas/plays (e.g. My copy of The Space Trilogy by CS Lewis is a single physical book, but actually includes - you guessed it - 3 books).

I kind of doubt I’m actually going to read all of the books I’ve listed - but what’s the point of a challenge if you aren’t going to set the bar high? My goal is to read at least 1 book in each category and see how many extras I can read on top of that!

NOTE: As I read the books, I will link my reviews on the titles listed below. I will also check off the boxes next to the books I've completed.

1. 19th Century Classic. 
✅-Agnes Grey (1847)
          -Author: Anne Bronte (English, 1820-1849)
☐-The Last Man (1826)
          -Author: Mary Shelley (English, 1797-1851)

2. 20th Century Classic.
✅✅✅-Worlds of Exile and Illusion (First 3 books in Hainish Cycle) (1966-1967)
          -Author: Ursula K. Le Guin (American, 1929-2018)
✅✅✅-The Space Trilogy (1938-1945)
          -Author: CS Lewis (British, 1898-1963)

3. Classic by a Female Author.
✅-Jane Eyre (1847)
          -Author: Charlotte Bronte (English, 1816-1855)
✅-Lud-in-the-Mist (1926)
          -Author: Hope Mirrlees (British, 1887-1978)

4. Classic in Translation.
☐-Heidi (1880) - written in German
          -Author: Johanna Spyri (Swiss, 1827-1901)
✅-We (1921) - written in Russian
          -Author: Yevgeny Zamyatin (Russian, 1884-1937)

5. Classic Comedy.
✅-The Autobiography of Methuselah (1909)
          -Author: John Kendrick Bangs (American, 1862-1922)
❌-Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) (1889)
          -Author: Jerome K. Jerome (English, 1859-1927)

6. Classic Tragedy. 
✅-Wuthering Heights (1847)
           -Author: Emily Bronte (English, 1818-1848)
☐-1984 (1949)
          -Author: George Orwell (English, 1903-1950)

7. Very Long Classic. 500+ pages
☐-Middlemarch (1871) - page count: ~650
          -Author: Mary Anne Evans (Pen Name: George Eliot) (English, 1819-1880)
✅-Don Quixote (1615) - page count: ~790, written in Early Modern Spanish
          -Author: Miguel de Cervantes (Spanish, 1547-1616)

8. Classic Novella. under 250 pages
✅✅✅-The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking (1945-1948) - trilogy, 3 novellas; written in Swedish
          -Author: Astrid Lindgren (Swedish, 1907-2002)
          -Page count: ~ 160 / 145 / 130
✅✅✅✅✅✅-Dickens at Christmas (1843-1848) - 5 novellas, including A Christmas Carol and a collection of Christmas short stories
          -Author: Charles Dickens (English, 1812-1870)
          -Page count: ~ 105 / 120 / 110 / 120 / 110

9. Classic From the Americas or Caribbean. Classic set there, or author from there.
☐-Christy (1967) - set in Tennessee and North Carolina
          -Author: Catherine Marshall (American, 1914-1983)
✅✅-The Diaries of Adam and Eve (1906)
          -Author: Mark Twain (American, 1835-1910)

10. Classic From Africa, Asia, Oceania, or Australia. Classic set there, or author from there.
☐-Death on the Nile (1937) - set in Egypt
          -Author: Agatha Christie (English, 1890-1976)
✅-The Plague (1947) - set in Oran, Algeria, written in French
          -Author: Albert Camus (French-Algerian, 1913-1960)

11. Classic From a Place You've Lived. Read locally! Any classic set in a city, county, state,
     or country in which you've lived, or by a local author. (I live in MA, USA.)
☐-Work: A Story of Experience (1873) - set in the United States (possibly Boston, MA)
          -Author: Louisa May Alcott (American, 1832-1888)
          -Author from: Boston and Concord, MA
✅-The Bostonians (1886) - set in Boston, MA (mostly)
          -Author: Henry James (American-British, 1843-1916)
          -Author from: He lived several years in Boston/Cambridge, MA (he traveled around a lot)

12. Classic Play.
✅✅✅✅-Four Comedies: 
     Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night
          -(~1590-1601) - written in Early Modern English
          -Playwright: William Shakespeare (English, 1564-1616)
✅✅✅✅-Everyman and Other Miracle and Morality Plays (~1350s-1510s) - written in Middle English
          -Playwrights: Unknown

Back to the Classics 2018 - Complete!

I did it! 

I read a book for all 12 categories (which gives me 3 entries for the drawing) in about 9.5 months! 

Boom.

Sometime last January I decided to look for a book club to join. I found only a few near me and those that I did find coincided with my work schedule. I then moved on to looking for an online book challenge and, after considering several different ones, I decided to try Back to the Classics 2018. 

The main rules are to read a different book (written 50 years ago or more) that fits within the 12 categories between 1/1/18-12/31/18. I added a few extra rules of my own: all books are by a different author; all books I haven't read before (except for the re-read category); and only 1 male author (all others will be female authors). Most of the books I chose have an overall genre/theme of science-fiction/fantasy, utopian/dystopian, and/or feminist. 

Here is my list:

FAVORITE BOOK I READ FOR THIS CHALLENGE:
1. A classic with a color in the title - The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge (p. 1946). 
"Sometimes a story that one hears starts off one doing things that one would not have had to do if one had not heard it."

This was such an adorable modern fairy tale! I enjoyed my way through the entire story! I think part of why I like this one so much is because it was one of the last books I read for the challenge (10th to be exact) and most of the previous books had been highly political and pretty heavy. It was a breath a breath of fresh air to read a light-hearted children's fantasy.

GOOD BOOKS:
2. A classic by an author that's new to you - Sultana's Dream and Selections from The Secluded Ones by Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (p. 1905; 1928).
"A lion is stronger than a man, but it does not enable him to dominate the human race. Women have neglected the duty you owe to yourselves, and you have lost your natural rights by shutting your eyes to your own interests."

3. A 20th-century classic - Herland Trilogy by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (p. 1915). 
"Women 'woke up' to a realization of the fact that they were human. Before, they were only female beings; a little human, but mostly female. Now they are mostly human. It is a great change." -Moving the Mountain (book 1)

[Referrring to a society of all women, from the perspective of men] "Here you have human beings, unquestionably, but what we were slow in understanding was how these ultra-women, inheriting only from women, had eliminated not only certain masculine characteristics but so much of what we had always thought essentially feminine. This led me very promptly to the conviction that those 'feminine charms' we are so fond of are not feminine at all, but mere reflected masculinity-developed to please us and in no way essential to their fulfillment." -Herland (book 2)

"I noticed that Ellador and her sisters always said 'she' and 'her' as unconsciously as we say 'he' and 'his.' Their reason, of course, is that all the people are shes. Our reason is not so justifiable." -With her in Ourland (book 3)

4. A classic in translation - Beauty and the Beast by Madame de Villeneuve (French p. 1740) 
"How many girls are compelled to marry rich brutes, much more brutish than the Beast, who is only one in form, and not in his feelings or his actions?"

5. A classic by a female author - Votes for Women: A Play in 3 Acts by Elizabeth Robins (p. 1909). 
"Men say if we persist in competing with them for the bigger prizes, they're dreadfully afraid we'd lose their beautiful protecting chivalry. Well, the beautiful chivalry of the employers of women doesn't prevent them from paying tenpence a day for sorting coal and loading and unloading carts - doesn't prevent them from forcing women to earn bread in ways worse still. So we won't talk about chivalry. It's being over-sarcastic. We'll just let this poor ghost of chivalry go - in exchange for a little plain justice."

6. A 19th-century classic - The Mummy by Jane Loudon (p. 1827). 
"If you once allow innovation to be dangerous, you instantly put a stop to all improvement - you absolutely shut and bolt the doors against it. Oh! It is horrible that such a doctrine should be broached in a civilized country."

OK BOOKS:
7. A single-word titled classic - Kallocain by Karin Boye (Swedish, p. 1940).
"I have noticed that from certain persons there emanates such a strong radiation from their life philosophy that they are a threat even when they say nothing."

8. A classic crime story - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (p. 1926). 
"The truth, however ugly in itself, is always curious and beautiful to the seeker after it."

9. A children's classic - A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (p. 1905) 
"When people are insulting you, there is nothing so good for them as not to say a word - just to look at them and THINK. When you will not fly into a passion people know you are stronger than they are, because you are strong enough to hold in your rage, and they are not, and they say stupid things they wish they hadn't said afterward. There's nothing so strong as rage, except what makes you hold it in - that's stronger. It's a good thing not to answer your enemies. I scarcely ever do."

10. A classic travel or journey narrative - The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford (p. 1960). 
"Only one thing was clear and certain - that at all costs he was going home, home to his own beloved master. Home lay to the west, his instinct told him; but he could not leave the other two - so somehow he must take them with him, all the way."

11. Re-read a favorite classic - Animal Farm by George Orwell (p. 1945). 
"If she herself had had any picture of the future, it had been of a society of animals set free from hunger and the whip, all equal, all working according to his capacity, and the strong protecting the weak. Instead - she did not know why - they had come to a time when no one dared speak his mind."

LEAST FAVORITE BOOK I READ FOR THE CHALLENGE (possibly ever):
12. A classic that scares you - Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (p. 1957). 
"Morality is: judgment to distinguish right and wrong, vision to see the truth, courage to act upon it, dedication to that which is good, and integrity to stand by the good at any price."

You may have noticed that there are only 11 books in the picture above. That's because I got rid of Atlas Shrugged as soon as I finished it - horrible book. You can read my review to find out more - I'm not going to start a rant here.

I also wanted to read Last Man by Mary Shelley (best known for Frankenstein) and re-read 1984 by George Orwell. I'm going to save those for another time, though - even though I'm submitting this wrap-up about a month early. I'm reading 2 other books right now, including a manuscript draft of a book a friend wrote. (It's good to read modern books too!)

I'm excited to join the challenge again next year and can't wait for the new list of categories! I'm also starting to look into joining The Classics Club, where I would create my own list of 50+ classics to read in 5 years or less.

Happy Reading!

Sultana's Dream by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain

Title: Sultana's Dream and Selections from The Secluded Ones

Originally published: 1905 / 1929
Dates read: 11/11/18-11/16/18
Back to the Classics category: Classic by an Author New to You
Find out more about the Back to the Classics 2018 reading challenge HERE.
Read my other book reviews from the challenge HERE.

Author: Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain was born in 1880 in a small village in northern present-day Bangladesh (a colonial British province at the time) and died in 1932. Little is known of her mom and she had 2 brothers and 2 sisters. Rokeya's father was an extravagant and extremely conservative large landholder - who spoke seven languages. Her 2 brothers went to good schools and learned both English and Bangla, but the 3 girls were not well educated. Her oldest brother secretly taught her English and Bangla. The same brother also arranged for her marry a widower in his late thirties. They were married in 1896 when Rokeya was only 16. Rokeya's husband was quite liberal and encouraged her to come out of purdah (though she always wore a burqa when appearing in public) and to write about her experiences.

Her husband died from diabetes in 1909 and left Rokeya, in addition to her legal share, a considerable portion of his savings to be spent on women's education. That same year, she established a girl's school in Bhagalpur. Male relatives were so outraged by her inheritance that she moved to Calcutta in 1910 and opened Sakhawat Memorial Girls' School in 1911. By 1930 the school had become a high school and the curriculum included physical education, handicrafts, sewing, cooking, nursing, home economics, and gardening, in addition to regular courses such as Bangla, English, Urdu, Persian, and Arabic. In 1916 she founded the Muslim Women Association, which directly supported disadvantaged poor women. They offered financial assistance to poor widows, rescued and sheltered battered wives, helped poor families marry their daughters, and helped poor women achieve literacy.

Rokeya's literary activities extended over 3 decades, from 1903 to 1932. Her works, especially her essays, were mainly on a few interrelated topics: 1) women's, especially Bengali Muslim Women's, situation; 2) Bengali Muslims and their problems;  and 3: Bengali society and its problems. Women were the focal point of Rokeys's thoughts: raising women's consciousness and ensuring women's' equal rights and status in society.

(Source: The book itself contains an extensive biography.)

Description on back of book:
"Sultana's Dream," first published in a Madras magazine in 1905 - a decade before Charlotte Perkins Gilman began to serialize "Herland" (my review) - is a skillfully drawn, witty, and very appealing tale of "reverse purdah." It posits a country, called Ladyland, in which women have taken over the public sphere and men are confined to the private, hidden world of seclusion. Moreover, women have rid Ladyland of war and turned science, including the invention of air travel and the use of solar power, to peaceful, productive ends. "Sultana's Dream" wittily exposes the injustices of purdah and imagines the possibilities of women power unleashed.

Publication of "The Secluded Ones" began in 1929 in the Monthly Mohammadi as a series of vignettes documenting women's experiences of purdah. Shocking both in 1929 and today, the stories illuminate the realities of life in purdah - sometimes painful, sometimes comic, sometimes cruel. Together with "Sultana's Dream" they offer a chronicle and an interpretation of purdah in South Asia in the early part of [last] century from the rarely recorded perspective of a Bengali woman who lived it herself.

Favorite quotes:
     "'Dear Sultana, how unfair it is to shut in the harmless women and let loose the men.'
     'Why? It is not safe for us [women] to come out of the zenana [Women's living quarters), as we are naturally weak.'
     'Yes, it is not safe so long as there are men about the streets, nor is it when a wild animal enters a marketplace.'" -Sultana's Dream

"Report Eight: Once, a house caught fire. The mistress of the house had the presence of mind to collect her jewelry in a handbag and hurry out of the bedroom. But at the door, she found the courtyard full of strangers fighting the fire. She could not come out in front of them. So she went back to her bedroom with the bag and hid under the bed. She burned to death but did not come out. Long live Purdah!" -The Secluded Ones

Review:
Wow, this was a great introduction into a culture and way of life that I knew next to nothing about! The book contains a great biography of the author as well as an Afterward that explains a bit more about purdah. When you Google "purdah," the definition that comes up is this: the practice among women in certain Muslim and Hindu societies of living in a separate room or behind a curtain, and/or of dressing in all-enveloping clothes (e.g. burqa), in order to stay out of sight of men or strangers. The definition and severity purdah changes depending on the time period, location, and religion of those practicing the custom - but, in general, purdah is the seclusion and segregation of women from men and (really) from society as a whole.

Sultana's Dream was quite funny and sarcastic to me - and I think that's the point. People reading this in her day would be appalled by a reverse purdah and call it ridiculous. That's exactly what she wanted to get across - that purdah is ridiculous and it doesn't make any sense to hide away half of the population. The one thing I had an issue with was that, in Ladyland, there is no police force because there are no crimes... because all women are perfectly innocent. My question is - did she really believe women to be above crime, or was she just reflecting the (ridiculous) "delicate and innocent" image that men held of women in that time period?

What's cool about the story (other than women's rights, obviously) is how futuristic it is. There are 3 main inventions that the book talks about. One is a large balloon with pipes attached - this floats above the clouds, collecting water from the atmosphere. This means that there are no storms ever and they can control how much to water their agriculture; It also provides an early form of indoor plumbing. Another invention is an instrument that collects heat from the sun - which is then used for cooking, heating homes, and even as a weapon against countries they're at war with. The third is an "air car" that runs on electricity and uses hydrogen to overcome the force of gravity. There are no deaths due to car or train wrecks, and, instead of having paved roads, everything is grown into beautiful gardens.

Sultana's Dream was the center point of the book for me, but the selections from The Secluded Ones were insightful too. These were reports of real-life experiences - not fiction. They were very shocking and horrifying to me - just go back to "Favorite quotes" above and read Report Eight for an example. I feel like I learned so much by reading Sultana's Dream and Selections from The Secluded Ones! I highly suggest this to anyone. It is a quick read and quite educational, especially for those who know little to nothing about purdah.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain have the last words:

     "'Why do you [women] allow yourselves to be shut up?'
     'Because it cannot be helped as they [men] are stronger than women.'
     'A lion is stronger than a man, but it does not enable him to dominate the human race. You [women] have neglected the duty you owe to yourselves, and you have lost your natural rights by shutting your eyes to your own interests.'" -Sultana's Dream

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Title: Animal Farm

Originally published: 1945
Dates read: 10/22/18-10/26/18; 11/7/18-11/7/18
Back to the Classics category: Re-Read a Classic
Find out more about the Back to the Classics 2018 reading challenge HERE.
Read my other book reviews from the challenge HERE.

Author: George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair was born on June 25, 1903, who later decided on George Orwell as his pen name, was the second child of British parents Richard Walmesly Blair and Ida Mabel Limonzin who then resided in Indian Bengal. Blair was an outstanding student and attended reputable educational institutions in England. He did not continue his studies at a university but joined the Indian Imperial Army in Burma. He resigned a few years later, in 1927, with immense hatred for imperialism.

During the 1930s, Orwell published several novels. In 1936, Orwell volunteered to fight in the Spanish Civil War for the Republicans where he was shot in the neck and had to flee for his life. During WWII until 1940, Orwell wrote book reviews in the New English Weekly for a living. He also worked for the BBC Eastern Service writing propaganda. Orwell married Eileen O’Shaughnessy around 1940 and adopted a son. When Eileen died in 1949, Orwell married Sonia Brownell. Orwell died of Tuberculosis at age 46 on January 21, 1950. (Source Source)

Description on back of book:
Animal Farm is a typical satirical and political novel from the ever known author; George Orwell. In this narration, readers go through a world of animals living with a different code of laws. Orwell says though Animal Farm was primarily a satire on the Russian Revolution it was intended to have a vast application. That kind of revolution, which he defines as 'Violent conspiratorial revolution led by unconscious power hungry people,' could only lead to a change of matters.

Favorite quote:
"It might be that their lives were hard and that not all of their hopes had been fulfilled, but they were conscious that they were not as other animals. If they went hungry, it was not from feeding tyrannical human beings; if they worked hard, at least they worked for themselves. No creature called any other creature 'Master'. All animals were equal."

Review:
I read this about 10 years ago while I was high school and decided I wanted to give it a re-read. The book was rather simple and predictable (maybe because I read it before), and overall I was underwhelmed. Nonetheless, I definitely think it's a book everyone should read at least once (it's less than 100 pages long). If you haven't read Animal Farm yet - then forget about this review and go read it!

Below contains spoilers.

Despite being underwhelmed, the book made me feel strongly by the end: I hated the manipulation, mistreatment, and two-facedness of the pigs (leaders of Animal Farm) to the other animals; and it broke my heart to see the potential rise and (inevitable?) regression of Manor Farm into Animal Farm and back to into Manor Farm.

Animal Farm starts off with 7 simple commandments which are summed up in "Four legs good, Two legs bad." The idea is that all animals are equal and work together against the humans. This has a botchy start since the pigs set themselves as leaders above the other animals right away and teach themselves to read and write (which is very human-like). Slowly, more and more human tendencies are accepted by the pigs and the commandments are altered. These changes can easily be made because the other animals can't read well, so they just believe whatever the persuasive pigs tell them. Eventually, in the very end, the pigs walk on two feet, become allies with humans, and change the mantra to "Four legs good, Two legs better." The Favorite quote listed above is inspirational until you understand the background of it - then it becomes tragic:

"It might be that their lives were hard and that not all of their hopes had been fulfilled, but they were conscious that they were not as other animals (not controlled by humans). If they went hungry, it was not from feeding tyrannical human beings (but from feeding the pigs); if they worked hard, at least they worked for themselves (they worked for the pigs and had no say in anything). No creature called any other creature 'Master' (though Napolean was never called Master, he was very much a dictator). All animals were equal."

All the parts in parentheses I added. And that last sentence of the quote? Well, in the end, the 7 commandments are painted over and replaced with "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others." (Gut. Wrenching.) In the very last sentence of the book, the animals could not tell the difference between the humans and the pigs - they became the very thing they rebelled against in the beginning.

My biggest wish would be to have Snowball (another pig leader) overthrow Napolean rather than the other way around. Napolean was clearly a tyrannical communist, but Snowball seemed to be a lot more of a (non-communist) socialist. I would have liked to see Animal Farm played out under his leadership. (Follow the link the very end of this review if you'd like to understand better the difference between communism and socialism.)

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let George Orwell have the last words:

"As Clover looked down the hillside her eyes filled with tears. If she could have spoken her thoughts, it would have been to say that this was not what they had aimed at when they had set themselves years ago to work for the overthrow of the human race. These scenes of terror and slaughter were not what they had looked forward to on that night when old Major first stirred them to rebellion. If she herself had had any picture of the future, it had been of a society of animals set free from hunger and the whip, all equal, all working according to his capacity, and the strong protecting the weak. Instead - she did not know why - they had come to a time when no one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere, and when you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing shocking crimes. There was no thought of rebellion or disobedience in her mind. She knew that even as things were they were far better off than they had been in the day of Jones and that before all else it was needful to prevent the return of the human beings. Whatever happened she would remain faithful, work hard, carry out the orders that were given to her, and accept the leadership of Napolean. But still, it was not for this that she and all the other animals had hoped and toiled. It was not for this that they had built the windmill and faced the pellets of Jones' gun. Such were her thoughts, though she lacked the words to express them."

Hey! Glad you're still here! Congrats and reading the review all the way through! Many of the books I've read this year have been highly political and I've been a little confused about different political ideologies. The Difference Between Socialism, Communism, and Marxism is just one of the YouTube videos I've watched trying to educate myself. I highly suggest it if you're interested. It's 11:25 minutes long  - if that's too long for you, skip to 5:18 and watch from there. Or you can just watch the recap, which starts at 9:45.