#Classicsathon wrap up

This was a successful month of reading for me. I was able to read a lot of books and five of them were classics. If you remember the only goal of #Classicsathon was to read one classic during the month of August. All of the classics are on the shorter side but I’m still happy to have been able to read more than a few of them.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

This is the sweetest children’s book.  The adventure part of the story is perfect for kids and all the deeper meanings that can be read into the Little Prince are perfect for adults. I wasn’t expecting the end of this book to deal with grief and it brought me to tears.

The Pearl by John Steinbeck

This book follows the story of Kino, his wife Juana and their baby boy. One day Kino finds a massive pearl and the book is all about the things that happen to them afterward. I liked the insight into how the poor people like Kino lived versus how the rich people in the village lived. The Pearl also perfectly captures the dark side of wealth, privilege, and greed. I was not prepared for how dark this book was and wow that ending was something that I never saw coming.

Oz: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Eric Shanower

Unfortunately, I didn’t like this graphic novel adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. This is adapted from the book series and not the movie so I did find it interesting the differences between the two. I was previously only familiar with the movie and I have to say that I like that version the best. Although I do want to give the actual book a try in the future and see if my opinion changes. The writing in this graphic novel was pretty juvenile and I would have to take breaks while reading because I could feel myself getting annoyed. Also, the art in this was not the best. When the action scenes were happening it was hard to see what was happening because of how dark it was. (Very reminiscent of the Battle of Winterfell.) The art was also gothic and dark compared to how young the writing was. I definitely would have appreciated the art more if there wasn’t such a disconnect with the writing.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

While reading this book I was reminded of how dangerous it is to have a leader with unchecked power.  In Animal Farm there is a saying, “Four legs bad. Two legs good.” To translate that to today it would be “Republicans bad. Democrats good.” This book also reminds us that while someone might start off with a better way of doing things, if they are in the position where no one is making sure that they are doing right by their people it will never end well. Absolute power corrupts absolutely and history has consistently proven that true time and time again.

~Cassie