Reading FAIL: The Holy Bible: New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and others

Not gonna lie. I hated reading The Bible. I growing up in a catholic household and going to a catholic school, religion was one of those things that had to be done – tedious, but an inevitable part of life. Which is why I can comfortably say that I much like the New Testament over the Old Testament - stories about Jesus doing cool shit is much more interesting than all the naysaying and the be-a-good-person-or-you’ll-go-to-hell shit. Not that it’s shit (sorry Mum), but I stand by my point that walking on water is infinitely more interesting than psalms when you have to sit in mass while an old man reads old stories to you. Whatevs.

That said, the New Testament has its merits. Protestantism has clearly discovered this

Midsummer Night’s Dream – William Shakespeare

I love Shakespeare. I genuinely do and I put it entirely to my first positive, wonderful encounter with the great bard. It was my 12th year in existence and Midsummer Night’s Dream was on the school curriculum. That year, I fell in love and, as whenever the process of ‘falling in love’ takes place, it was never expected.

Life of Pi – Yann Martel

Ok gang. It’s time for a poll:

I had heard a lot about this book, but never worked out exactly what it was about. You see, Life of Pi is one of those books that people get really excited about, but never actually read. It’s a little sad because it is quite the little gem of a book and a lot of people are missing out by just talking about reading it.

Currently reading: Freedom – Jonathan Franzen

Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides

I liked many things about Middlesex. Here is a list:

• The story in the most general sense
• The fact that said story has a quite normalised approach to a subject matter that is quite un-normal in our society
• The back-and-forth flashbacky type writing. I normally find it quite annoying, but here it was good
• The reader-narrator conversation that was maintained throughout the novel. I liked listening to Cal’s voice.
• Desdemona. How awesome is Desdemona?

 

I also didn’t like a lot about this book. Here is another list:

The Tale of Pigling Bland – Beatrix Potter

If someone asked if you what your favourite Beatrix Potter character was, what would you say? I bet you would probably say ‘there were others apart from that cheeky little rabbit?’. To that, I would say, yes. Most certainly. And the best of those, in my opinion, is Pigling Bland. Yes, The Tale of Pigling Bland is a tale of wonder, enlightenment, deliciousness and about, as the title implies, a rather bland pig. But, as we all know, bland characters always find the most exciting supporting cast.