Last weekend we road tripped it down to Seattle for my cousin Tyler's wedding reception. It was so great to see so many special relatives! We also visited the Museum of Flight near the Boeing facility. It was impressive to say the least!
Well last month I decided to read Gulliver's Travels- as I've owned the book for quite some time but never read it. The local attraction "Miniature World" contains a neat exhibit of Gulliver at the beginning of the novel- washed up on the sea shore and tied up by the Lilliputians who are no more than six inches high, clambering around on his body, and in the process of releasing a shower of tiny arrows at him. Someone in my grade 12 literature class did a short presentation on the book, but I didn't even recall much of that. So this book is clearly a classic, and I was excited to read it!
Gulliver's Travels is a novel that I would read again. This says a lot, because I am definitely the type who reads something only once (until I have forgotten that I have read it, in which case I may read it again- this has happened...). I was pleased to find out that Gulliver travels to a handful of different locations and meets the citizens that live there- rather than stay in one place the whole story. All of the characters are larger (or smaller!) than life! Some are even horses! The storyline speeds along quickly, and is never dull (not knowing a good number of words did get tiring though, and I probably missed quite a bit just skimming over them). Beneath the surface, political and philosophical satire gives the story more depth as the author explores the state of humanity and the ironies within it. Next time I read Gulliver's Travels, I will have a dictionary handy for words and I don't know and look into the ways of life, current government, social issues, etc. of England in the early 1700's- as it would be helpful to know what sort of world Swift was seeing and remarking on.
Stay tuned... I'm almost done another book and will write a review when I'm done. It's not one of the classics, but I've decided it's ok to branch out on this blog! (You can do what you want when very few people read it anyways-heehee)
