lavivi | SOS - Dune, Catcher in the Rye, Year of Wonders, The Treasure of Montsegur

A far-too-delayed SOS. It's been a while since I said what the acronym stood for, so allow me to say it again as a reminder for everyone, including myself: Supply of Sanity.)

Dune: Before I started it, I was told that some claimed it was comparable to Lord of the Rings. Now, I wouldn't say that, for I believe there is no other fantasy book that has made more people want to desperately live in the book's world like LOTR. But Dune holds an interesting allure too - especially (and this is what I consider the best element of the book) concerning the Bene Gesserit. The plot and general line of the story struck me as being quite original. However, I didn't become especially attached to any character, except perhaps the Lady Jessica. Leto's description too sounded quite handsome. The villian, Baron Harkonenn, was successfully evil, though. I liked Chani later in the book. The ending was profound, but in a small way - it did not tie up the book, except perhaps in the way that it had an emphasis on what history would say, and every chapter from the beginning had an excerpt from what history said about the events taking place in the book. But still, there was quite a bit left un-concluded - I suppose that's for the sequels.
Quotes - one of the evilness of the baron, another one of humor, and another of striking profoundness of the Bene Gesserit:
The Baron turned toward the man. "I am hungry."
"Yes, m'Lord."
"And I wish to be diverted ...." the Baron rumbled.
The guardsman lowered his eyes. "What diversion does m'Lord wish?"
"I'll be in my sleeping chambers," the Baron said. "Bring me that young fellow we bought on Gamont, the one with the lovely eyes. Drug him well. I don't feel like wrestling."
"Yes, m'Lord."
Note: I am not a homophobe, but that made me stop reading to wail, "Ew ew ew ew ewww...." As I said, very effective evilness.
[When one of the Duke's right-hand men accidentally overlooks an assassination attempt:]
The door opposite the Duke banged open. Thufir Hawat strode through it looking older and more leathery than ever. He paced down the length of the table, stopped at attention facing Leto.
"My Lord," he said, speaking to a point over Leto's head, "I have just learned how I failed you. It becomes necessary that I tender my resig-"
"Oh, sit down and stop acting the fool," the Duke said. He waved to a chair across from Paul.

"Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn to see fear's path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
I usually sneer at those kind of self-help things, but this one's actually really cool.
Catcher in the Rye: I had this recommended to me a very long time ago by a close friend, who raved about it. Now, after finally reading it myself, I need to email her and ask her exactly why she found it so good.
I think it was the lack of a plot that made me indifferent to it. I like plots.
The slang was interesting, and there were a couple terms in particular that I really liked (they were what I liked most about the book, actually). Flit (noun) and flitty (adjective) for gay, and talking about "feeling very sexy" when horny. That second one in particular I want to make part of my vocabulary.
Only one quote:
While I was walking, I passed these two guys that were unloading this big Christmas tree off a truck. One guy kept saying to the other guy, "Hold the sonuvabitch up! Hold it up, for Chrissake!" It certainly was a gorgeous way to talk about a Christmas tree.
Year of Wonders: I really, really liked this book. Like Dune, it was original in its plot and direction and outcome, which is always nice. I'm not sure why I liked it so much, considering how nearly all of it was so terribly depressing and awful. But the ending, and quite a bit before the ending, surprised me completely. I think I might not have liked it as much if the author had left it with the sudden relationship that sprung up near the end, but she didn't, and I truly liked how the book ended. Something about escape, running away to a totally different culture - it has the same appeal as a fantasy world, you know. Anyway, it actually made me want to run away to live with Muslims, which ~~is crazy~~ really applauds the author considering how I know they treat women and the awful circumcision thing they do to women that I read about in Slave.
One quote, cut because it's spoilerish.
Aphra had turned the knife on herself and suck it to the hilt, deep into her chest. Yet somehow she staggerd, upright still, the uncanny strength of the lunatic keeping her on her feet. She lurched to where her baby's skull lay and then dropped to her knees, reached down, and with the most exquisite tenderness, gathered it up in her two hands and pressed it to her lips.
The ending was beautiful and profound as well. Just a really, really good book. Had feministic qualities too, which of course endeared me all the more.
The Treasure of Montsegur: It's very interesting, because this book had about the same amount of morbidness and depressing scenes as Year of Wonder, yet I didn't like it nearly as much. It's hard to pinpoint why I didn't like it...perhaps because it wasn't satisfying. I definitely didn't like the main character as a girl, she was a total bitch.
No quotes.