Books Books Books

Men At Arms by Terry Pratchett

Another Discworld novel. I can’t actually get enough of them, they are so easy to read while still being worth it. Everyone is so courageous and loyal even when they don’t think it of themselves. Maybe we are all stronger than we think we are when it’s needed.

“It’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”

8/10

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Too Loud A Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal

Describing this book seems to take away from how wonderful it is to actually read. Hantá spends his days compacting confiscated books for recycling and he does it alone, with the occasional mouse to keep him company. His work is slow because he continually tries to save books from the jaws of the press. He takes them home with him and keeps them safe until eventually the books invade every area of his living space, with the potential to bury him. He learns and lives through the books he saves and is better for it.

9/10

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The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom

When you are alive you can’t be sure if you’re making the right decisions or how what you do affects other people. But when you die, it will be explained to you. I really take issue with that, it seems to me you should try to understand your life while you’re living it and not have it all dealt with afterwards. The main character, Eddie, spends his whole life as a maintenance worker at an amusement park. He thinks he has done nothing with the time that was given to him and he regrets not getting out and doing something more. But in heaven, it’s explained to him that what he did affected so many lives that eventually he makes peace with how he spent his time.

While I did cry at various points in the book and especially when Eddie got to be with the woman he loves in heaven again, that’s probably more because I will cry at the drop of a hat more than anything else. A lot of the time the wording was cheesy and it felt like it was trying too hard to be profound. It’s so easy to write about the afterlife in an unconvincing way. I’m not sure if that’s because I don’t believe in an afterlife but I still like to read/hear about what people think it’s going to involve. The book was alright but I just wasn’t as bowled over by it as I thought I was going to be.

6/10