The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien

The Things They Carried  is an amazing book. There are no two ways about it. Unless someone hates media that isn't exactly lighthearted, I can't think of any real reasons to dislike this book (not to say that it's perfect). What I really appreciated about this book was how honest it was, despite having whole chapters of the book dedicated to telling the reader not to believe everything they are told; even if whole parts of the book were made up, I would still appreciate it's honesty. Not because it's a completely accurate retelling of what actually happened, but because it never glorifies the war for better or worse. No leaders giving an emotional speech during a battle, no crying over every characters corpse, just the honest brutality of war.

Book's Page Count: 233

My Total Page Count: 683

The Princess Bride - William Goldman

Over winter break I started to read a book that I've been wanting to check out for a while: The Princess Bride. It had been years since I'd seen the movie so I figured that I might as well check out the book that it was based on. When reading it, I could clearly see the same type of humor that was used int the movie, as well as an additional layer of meta humor that made it extremely fun to read. It reminded me of something like the historian murder mystery subplot in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. From the way that Goldman credits himself as the person who abridged the book, to the little sections that he writes with his voice injected, it added a little something that I honestly loved about the book. Overall, it's timeless story, funny love able characters, and meta humor made The Princess Bride a great read.

Book's Page Count: 450

My Total Page Count: 450