the book i read for february was catch-22. i actually read the first 20 pages in january, before i got distracted by the boy in the striped pajamas. it wasn't until mid-february that i realized if i wanted to finish it that i better get on it, so i picked it up again. needless to say, it wasn't a can't-get-enough-page-turner for me. but when i was actually reading it, i loved it.

i've heard so many incredible things about this classic, timeless novel that i definitely started it with high expectations. there was a lot more dry humor than i expected, but that was a big part of it's charm. it pointed out so many flaws about war and relationships and just life in general in such a raw, cynical and highly entertaining way. the writing was unbelievably clever and i feel like it's a book that you have to read at least a few times in your life to really soak in all of it's amazingness.

nearly every line in the book makes for an excellent quote, which made it difficult to choose just one to share. so instead, i chose a few...

“he knew everything there was to know about literature, except how to enjoy it.” 

“it was miraculous. it was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. it merely required no character.”

“anything worth dying for is certainly worth living for.”