If you find yourself with some down time from drinking, partying, working and general debauchery this winter break, consider picking up these books for a mental workout or entertainment.
The top of my to-read list over break is “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo. This book is huge. It has several different plot lines, so it’s hard to explain what the novel is actually about. Goodreads gives this summary: “In this story of the trials of the peasant Jean Valjean–a man unjustly imprisoned, baffled by destiny, and hounded by his nemesis, the magnificently realized, ambiguously malevolent police detective Javert–Hugo achieves the sort of rare imaginative resonance that allows a work of art to transcend its genre.” The movie comes out Christmas day, and it’s a musical for all those who have animosity toward all things musical. It stars Hugh Jackman, Amanda Seyfried, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe and Helena Bonham Carter.
The second book I want to read before the movie comes out is “World War Z” by Max Brooks. The summary states “The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.” Zombies? Yes. Brad Pitt starring in the movie? Hell yes.
I’m also looking forward to reading “Me Before You” by Jojo Moyes. The summary for the novel explains “Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick. What Lou doesn’t know is she’s about to lose her job or that knowing what’s coming is what keeps her sane. Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he’s going to put a stop to that. What Will doesn’t know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they’re going to change the other for all time.” It releases Dec. 31, 2012.
I hope that some of you read these books because I know I’m excited to. Obviously, I’m going to read more than these three books, but I know other people have social lives, so three might be a stretch.
