For the past several days now, I've keep forgetting to blog about the fact that I finally finished Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Now, just to give you a little background...When I hit college and started looking around and comparing myself to my supposed peers, I felt that in my chosen field of writing/literature/english/communications, etc. I was vastly under-educated throughout my life to that point. So, I made myself a little promise to go back and read some of the books that I wanted to read, should have read, or thought I should have read. Now, granted...I mix them up. A classic here, a Stephen King novel there, a thriller, a Danielle Steel novel, another classic, etc. I don't think I could handle straight literature over and over. Anyway, as soon as I graduated I had a job downtown and I ended up taking the bus back and forth quite a bit. Well, the best thing to do on the bus is read...or count drunk people, but that doesn't take too long. So, I started with Moby Dick. That almost killed the whole thing right there. The short story is that Moby Dick is crap.
Anyway, I finally finished Uncle Tom's Cabin and realized that Stowe was a bit of a racist herself. Perhaps not in a strict black/white way, but she tended to glorify the slaves that were of a Christian persuasion and marginalize those that were not "God-fearing". I was also under the impression that the gist of the story was that Tom was a slave with a well-to-do family who treated him well. The family hit financial trouble and had to sell Tom down south. He was bought by Simon Legree and basically beaten and tortured to death slowly and inhumanely (although torture and death are rarely humane) throughout the rest of the book. He didn't even meet Legree until 300 pages into the book. Hell, up until that point, he was having a better life than I've had. So, another work of enduring literature that I didn't really care for. One day I'd like to find one that is worth giving a good review. One perhaps that I might recommend or even re-read in the most extreme cases.
Anyway, to kind of cleanse myself I read The Five People You Meet In Heaven that I borrowed from Susiezy. It was a quick read so now I've finished two books in the first two weeks of the year. I like it.
The Albom book was enjoyable and in some ways thought provoking. It kind of makes you think about life in general. I wasn't all that impressed with the neat, tidy wrap-up, but it's a happy-feely book so that's ok.
Tomorrow if it isn't too cold to breathe outside, we're headed over to our friend Robin's house to watch the playoff game and visit.