"When the Dixie Train comes down the track, everyone gets off."

That's what Flannery O'Connor said about William Faulkner. After reading several short stories and 1 of Faulkner's novels (Light in August), I must agree. Light in August was actually a pretty good story, but my beef(s) with Faulkner are 1)he gives his characters all similar sounding names, and 2) he should reduce the novel/short stories by about a fourth. There was a Burden, Byron Bunch, Burch, and a Brown all in the same novel, as well as 2 Joes. Yikes. Burch and Bunch were supposed to sound alike to fit into the plot of the story, but come on, dude, give us a break. I had to keep flipping back and forth to remember which B word fit each person. Faulkner also likes to include lots and lots of side stories within other side stories, which ultimately fit into the main story. Or do they? I keep finding myself asking, did we really need to know about this SIDE CHARACTER's lineage? I give it 3.5 stars.

After taking our midterm on Faulkner, my next assignment for lit class was to read All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren. I was really excited to read this one because I'm originally from Louisiana (the novel is about a corrupt politician in LA and his assistant), and because I really liked the movie version that came out in 2006.

I actually just finished the book today, and I must say that it is the best thing I have read in a really long time (it's up there with To Kill a Mockingbird). When Kyle and I saw the movie last year, we didn't know that it was originally a book, and now I kinda wish I could've read the book first. I haven't seen the movie in a while, so I can't give too many comments on how they differ, but our friend Haley wrote a review that gives a great outline of the plot and characters, as well as movie info.

I agree with her that the movie did a pretty good job of relaying the book, but the movie ending is really incomplete. There is a lot in the end of the book that the movie doesn't tell you, and ironically, it's (in my opinion) possibly the best part of the book. I feel like you can walk away from the book feeling a little lighter about the story, although I definitely wouldn't call it a feel-good. Certainly thought provoking though. I give it 5 stars, and highly recommend it to anyone, especially people interested in law and politics. I say that loosely because I'm not really that interested in law or politics, but I still found the book really entertaining. It is also an interesting time to read this book because one of the main campaign platforms of Willie Stark is providing universal health care (for LA), and even though this book is set in the 1930's, it looks like that same issue may drive the 2008 election...