Book Review: Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad (1899)

Yes, this is the book on which the movie Apocalypse Now was based.  Same kind of deal, a man, Marlow, traveling up a river to find another man, Kurtz, who has gone crazy and needs extracting.  Along the way we're treated to surreal and brutal scenes of inhumanity.

This book is far more introspective than I realized it would be.  It's told in the manner of a person looking back on a great sadness or horror, after reflecting on it for some time.

Joseph Conrad was a master literary figure, I gathered that much even if most of what he was saying was far too obtuse for an adventure novel.  Plus his writing can sometimes be a bit long winded.  Take this sentence for example.

Book Review: Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling (1897)

Not so bad sea story about a boy who falls off a ship and is kidnapped by a nice guy who punches him in the face so he learns some manners.

There you have it, the whole story in a nice little nutshell.  I'm not saying it's a bad book but it did surprise me.  The main premise is exactly as I stated above.  For some reason I pictured the book differently.  I thought it would show a young man becoming heroic.  He learned all about life at sea, that much I did expect, but I just pictured him saving the ship in a storm or something.  I mean, the title is Captains Courageous, don't you think he should have done something courageous?  But all he did was fish a lot.

Book Review: King Solomon's Mines, by Sir H. Rider Haggard (1885)

This is an action/adventure book.  Blood pumping action, heart thumping adventure.  This book is about high adventure in Africa made famous by stories of big game hunters and old legends of lost treasure.

It's not for the faint of heart.  It's not for your mother's drawing room or your gran-gran's tea parties.

Lifting his gun, he let drive at the last, a young cow. By some extraordinary chance the ball struck it full on the back of the neck, shattering the spinal column, and that giraffe went rolling head over heels just like a rabbit. I never saw a more curious thing.

Summer of '84

Think of palm trees, sea shells, pina coladas, and endless summer days.  Remember when you were about 19, hanging out at the beach or the lake with friends, throwing a frisbee or just laying on a towel?  Somewhere nearby, that familiar summer song comes on the radio.  Those are the memories I'm pulling out of my own past.

Book Review: King Solomon's Mines, by Sir H. Rider Haggard (1885) - Writing Style

Right, well I'll jump in and start this thing with a quote from the introduction that is worth writing down

....books are easier to understand when they are written in plain language

and

...a true story, however strange it may be, does not require to be decked out in fine words.

This book, more than any book I've read from that period, reads in a style similar to modern writing.  Gone are the too-flowery descriptions and heavy language.  It's blunt, it's strong, and it's brutal.  I say, fine job.