A Book A Week

I always wanted to have a section on the Ferrispark Records website dedicated to books. My passion for reading is as serious as my passion for music. In fact, many books that I read inspire the music I write. I've decided I'll post a book a week in my blog and give a little review and also my opinion of what makes it important. I hope you'll enjoy it.

The following is a little blurb that I originally wrote for the "Books" page on the FPR website...

This section of the website is devoted to acknowledging authors and their writings that I believe could be useful for broadening ones mind and creating a more introspective and excepting society.
One phenomena of being born an American is living in a very diverse and very young society created from thousands of ancient and modern cultural, religious, and philosophical ideas. One land shared by a society of millions with an infinite amount of individual and group perspective. The American people’s worldly knowledge became my best and most impressive teacher, plunging me into a sea of learning and ideologic exception.
Another, and much less impressive phenomena is that America with such diverse cultural, religious and personal ideas could be broken down into two categories, liberal democrats and conservative republicans. Too restrictive I think.
Many and most of the featured writings are considered to be of a liberal and democratic nature. I can assure you that I am both and I am neither. I’ve learned to acknowledge and embrace a plethora of personal ideas and beliefs. Democratic and Republican, Capitalist and Communist, Eastern and Western, Religious and Philosophical, and so on. The following books have helped expand and broaden my thinking process.

With that said lets start...



Catch - 22 by Joseph Heller

One of the funniest dark comedies every written. This is an antiwar book about a fictitious group of US bombers stationed on an island off the coast of Italy during WWII. The book focuses on the hypocrisy of the war machine and points out some absurdities in the rules of war and the hierarchy of commanding officers. Catch 22 even takes a stab at Capitalism through the greedy and sneeky character Milo. The book follows the main character Yossaian's story of life, love, and death during his tour of duty. Packed with unforgettable characters, Heller tells a very funny and witty story about a very sad reality. If you like to laugh at things that shouldn't necessarily be funny, I recommend this book.