I’ve been reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X and I came across a few interesting quotes. It’s surprisingly readable; I guess I was expecting it to be really intellectual. I respect Malcolm X but he’s got some funny views on a few issues. It could be the zeitgeist, but for some reason I expect more from someone who traveled the world as a champion of human rights. This one, for example, was pretty shocking to read:
“All women, by their nature, are fragile and weak: they are attracted to the male in whom they see strength.” Pg. 93
This other one made me wonder if anything has changed, and if so, for better or for worse?
“Right now, in every big city ghetto, tens of thousands or yesterday’s and today’s school drop-outs are keeping body and soul together by some form of hustling in the same way I did.” Pg. 108
And this next one, which took place during a riot in the 1940s, was just too funny:
“… we laughed about the scared little Chinese whose restaurant didn’t have a hand laid on it, because the rioters just about convulsed laughing when they saw the sign the Chinese had hastily stuck on his front door: Me Colored Too.” Pg. 114
So you can see there’s something for everyone in here. I am only about halfway through the book, so maybe some of his viewpoints will change. I know he at least stops hating white people, so there’s hope! Hah, goodnight!
I just read Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations and I really enjoyed it! For some reason I never picked up Dickens because I figured it was only for literature snobs or English majors. A friend at work recommended that I check out this book after I had been recently enjoying Twain’s hilarious accounts of Tom and Huck’s adventures in nineteenth century America. If you search the Internet you’ll see plenty of comparisons between the two authors, and rightly so; they were contemporaries and they both wrote about every day life in their respective societies.
I just read Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. I didn’t realize it until I had finished the first chapter, but the book is actually a collection of short stories. At first I was upset because I had grown, in such a short amount of pages, to really feel the emotions being developed in the narrative. I remember putting the book down to go make some tea, excited to pick up where I left off, only to find a new story being introduced. I feel like an idiot now because on the cover of the book it says “stories by Jhumpa Lahiri.” Haha! The book was enjoyable nonetheless.