I have been meaning to update my blog more often than I have in the past, but busy days have kept me away. I have three new books to share about: Choke, Is Belief in God Good, Bad or Irrelevant, and Fahrenheit 451.

First, Choke was subtly brilliant. I quickly identified with the main character both child and man, though I have no obvious similarities to their obvious plights. The reality of the younger character's inner-scepticism conflicting with the embedded idea that he cannot possibly be misled by his mother is very real to me. I think children's minds are constantly working to size up and categorize their situations and unmade choices while developing to grown-up status. As we grow, we do however, find that we are not yet experienced enough to feel confident in our every assessment and ignore our parent's influence. The adult character this little boy grows into narrates his portion of this novel internally exposing not only his personal problems and weaknesses, but his every little though about the characters in his life, their settings, purposes and effects on him as a man.
Choke was a very fast read for me -not because it is a piece of fluff about a sex addict (though I feel that presence of sexual addiction in the book is entirely overemphasised by the recent media), but because its excitement was realistic and I could not put it down.

The second book was a collection of emails exchanged between Greg Graffin (front man of punk band Bad Religion) and Preston Jones (Professor and Bad Religion fan). During these exchanges the two men form a personal friendship while discussing their very different religious beliefs. Of course this private communication was never meant to be turned into a book and shared with the world, so it is a bit tiresome to read but I found Graffin's extreme knowledge of his naturalist beliefs very interesting. He is incredibly comfortable in these beliefs and has a lot to share.

Lastly, I have just finished Fahrenheit 451. I was never made to read this in school and for a long time have felt that it was a necessary read. Bradbury's science-fiction manifest of the idea that humans may become so technologically advanced that they begin to ignore and eventually fear thoughts, feelings, and knowledge is as easily understood from today's viewpoint as that of the time it was written in.

READ!