The God of Small Things (and also my heart)

You guys, I love this book. I love it. I love it I love it I love it. I’ve written about it really briefly before, but as a re-read, it needs its own post.

This is the edition I found at Chop Suey and I love this cover the best. Weirdly enough I've read my roommate's copy twice and this one... not at all. 

About a year ago, my roommate took a South Asian Lit class in which they read The God of Small Things. She immediately fell in love with it and begged me to read it. Which I did. At the beach. Side note: This is not a beach book.

What it is, though, is a look into the ways in which lives can be—and have been—affected and ruined by some of the policies put forth by British colonialism and the caste system. Roy unabashedly tackles loads of taboo subjects, but she does so in such a mature way that you don’t feel overwhelmed.

One of the cool things about this book is how it’s set up. You’re constantly switching from one narrative in 1969 to one in 1992 without feeling confused or dizzy. The plot moves both quickly and slowly at the same time, teasing you with what will happen while withholding vital and plot-changing information until the end. The voice in this book is unique and powerful; it’s close to how The Book Thief is written, but where The Book Thief is more of a middle-grade/YA/could-be-read-by-adults book, The God of Small Things, I would say, is probably just for adults. 

Interestingly enough, this is the only fictional book by Arundhati Roy (she’s also written nonfiction) and it BLEW. UP. It won a Booker Prize in 1997, was sold in over 21 countries, and Roy received half a million pounds in advances. And it was her first fiction! And she hasn’t written any more! I’m just...!    !    !!!   !!!!!!!!!

Anyway.

I’ve seen a lot of people making resolutions for what they’ll be reading this year. Several people have talked about incorporation women authors, people of color, and contemporary books into their to-read lists—this book checks off all three AND, on top of it, is a well-written and fascinating read.

You can rent it if you want, but I strongly recommend buying. All of the covers are beautiful, and this will definitely be one you’ll want to re-read. 5/5

Kanthapura (A couple weeks late)

Every once in a while when I read a book, while I can appreciate what it’s doing, I just can’t get into it. That’s what Kanthapura was for me—I could fully appreciate the importance and significance of its subject, but for me, something was off.

Why is this image so blurry? We just don't know.

                The novel depicts a fictional town/village in India in the late 1930s. The town is slowly getting introduced to Gandi and his followers. The whole book is written from the perspective of an unnamed female protagonist, an older woman in the village, who connects with the other women there to help push for Gandian policies.

                There were lots of cool things happening in this book. First, since it was published in 1938, the author didn’t know whether or not India would actually become decolonized. It’s interesting to see how he worked his way around that knowledge gap and how he planned and executed his ending to reflect that. It was also really cool to see the female characters taking action in this book. I was surprised to see how much agency they had gained by the end of the novel. It was awesome. I was impressed.

                The difficulty for me was the way the novel was written; since the author was going for a narrative spoken by an older village woman, it gets a little rambly at times. There are also a ton of names, some of which are repeated (and which you’re expected to remember) and others who you’ll never hear from again. It was a similar experience to reading Russian novels with a long list of characters, and it was distracting from some of the other things the novel was doing.

                There were also some moments that didn’t seem that… relevant? I guess? Again, it’s probably because the book is a spoken narrative, but I would get frustrated with the parts where the narrator would get sidetracked. I did like it when the narrator addressed the audience, though: she addresses whoever she’s talking to (the audience, the reader, whoever) as “sister” which added to the cool things the book was doing with gender.

All in all… 3/5 

Where to Buy Cheap Textbooks

Since it’s the beginning of a new college semester, and since the high school seniors are receiving their acceptance letters, it’s a good time to make a post about where to get cheap textbooks.

But why? you ask. Can’t I just get my books from the school bookstore? They have everything I need.

Don’t do it, friend.

The first semester my freshman year of college, I did just that: I ordered all my textbooks from the university bookstore. The total came to a little over $300. (I also got a free t-shirt, but that’s beside the point.) Since then, I’ve used these sites, and I’ve saved $100-$200 dollars every semester, money which can be put to better use. Like food. And things from Target.

That being said, here are some great websites to find (cheap!) textbooks. The sites include both used and new books, but honestly, go with the used. The worst that can happen is that the book is already highlighted, which means you get the SparkNotes version if it’s a subject you really don’t care about (Lookin’ at you, Geology).

I’ll start with the obvious: Amazon.

Look, I know Amazon is the do-all, end-all of all evil corporations, but they have an Amazon Student free trial which gives you six months of free shipping. In the long run, since shipping is what ultimately increases the prices of your books (I’ve gotten some books for one cent, only to have to pay much more to physically get the book to my house), this is an awesome idea. Just make sure once your six months are up that you cancel the subscription, unless you want to pay the $49. (Buzzfeed recently did an article about the best ways to save on Amazon, and in it, gave some great tips for students.)

BigWords

This is the website I use the most often because I’m lazy. It searches the most popular used books websites and finds your textbooks at the cheapest prices. The websites usually included in this search are Textbook Rush, Half.com (part of eBay), Amazon, AbeBooks, and a few miscellaneous textbook sites that I only get very rarely. Yes, you’ll have to type your payment info into multiple websites (unless you’ve made an account), but in the long run, it’s going to save you more than if you just buy everything off of Amazon. And sometimes you get free shipping!

ThriftBooks

This is a website I’ve only just recently heard about, but my roommate swears by it. Not only do they have free shipping (YES), but they usually have all the textbooks you need (some books, like those with account codes for foreign language classes, might not be on the site). I’m definitely going to check this out in the fall, when I’m once again stressed out over the amount of money websites take from me over shipping and handling.

That’s all I’ve got so far! I also know of some sites like Powell’s, but I’m not sure if they carry textbooks, or just novels (which would still be good for all you English majors out there). Let me know if there are any good ones I’ve forgotten!

Textbooks are expensive (and other thoughts).

School has started, which means I'm a million, gazillion dollars poorer than I was a couple of days ago. Textbooks really hit ya where it hurts. (Good future post?) 

The bright side, though, is now that I'm in my third year of college, I'm only in classes pertaining to my major, which means NOVELS GALORE. 

This semester is gonna be great. I'm going to get to mix it up with stuff I'm posting; I'll even have some poetry on here, interestingly enough. I always forget just how much I love poetry, so this'll be a great refresher AND something to make the blog more... diverse? Interesting? Hip? Probably not hip.  

Also, even though I've got enough schoolwork reading as it is, I started Texts from Jane Eyre, which is hilarious and snarky and irreverent in all the right ways, so expect something about that soon.

Also also, here are my classes this semester, in case you're interested:

• South Asian Literature and Film (We're reading God of Small Things, which is one of my favorite books)
• Modern Poetry
• History of the English Language
• Contemporary British Fiction
• Psycholinguistics