Tag: Books

Everything Austen Challenge completed

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everythingausten2My fourth 2009 challenge is done.  Whew!  Wasn’t sure I was going to make it 🙂  I joined this challenge without ever having read a Jane Austen novel and now I can say I have.  I really enjoyed reading Pride & Prejudice and can understand why this is a favorite of many.  Mr. Darcy ranks right up there with romantic heroes.  I listened to Sense & Sensibility and enjoyed this as well, although not as much as Pride & Prejudice.  I watched the 1995 movie version with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet as the two sisters and liked it so much it ended up on my Top 100 list.  I read The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler and watched The Jane Austen Book Club movie and was surprised that I preferred the movie.  And for my last task I watched the 1995 BBC production of Persuasion.  I liked this story and look forward to reading the book.

I am so glad I joined this challenge because it introduced me to Jane and now I feel like we’re old friends.  Thanks Stephanie for hosting this great challenge.

You will choose 50 of the books I will read next year.  If you help me you could win a $20 gift card to Barnes & Noble.  Go here to vote. (Right now the top vote getter is A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving)

The Girl on Legare Street, by Karen White

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The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White: Book CoverFinished 12-16-09, rating 4/5, fiction, pub. 2009

Book 2 in the Tradd Street series

“And?” I prompted.

“They found human remains inside.”

I didn’t respond.  I was on my knees following the trail of salt, realizing too late that the grainy spills resembled footprints.  I held my breath as if preparing to dive into water, and stopped when I saw that the trail of salt led to the back stairway.

“Jack?” I whispered. ” I think we have a problem.”  And then I dropped my phone and started to scream.

Chapter 5

Melanie is a successful and attractive Charleston realtor who also has the uncanny gift of being able to interact with ghosts.  She has recently reconciled with her recovering alcoholic father and when her mother, who has been absent from her life for 30 years, waltzes back into town she has enough.  Her mother pulls strings with Melanie’s boss and she s forced to help her mother buy her childhood home, just a short walk to her own home.  Melanie is uptight and plans every detail of her life and her mother and friend with sparks, Jack, do not fit into her plans. 

The historical home that her mother bought has been haunted since her mother was a child and the spirit is gaining strength and hatred.  The two must come to terms with each other.  And Jack has started dating a woman who rankles Melanie and much of the book is spent with the silent treatment being used by both of them.  But the puzzle of the past and the details of who this evil spirit may be brings them together, if only to solve the riddle of Melanie’s heritage.

As with the first book, I really enjoyed the ghostly elements of the story.  These evil ones can do real damage!  I enjoyed Melanie more in this one, but Jack less.  I really thought he behaving stupidly, but maybe that’s not too far from reality.  Melanie and Jack keep dancing around each other and a little of that can go a long way.  And I confess that I really didn’t like the very end.  The plot all comes together in a satisfactory way, but the addition of the last page or two was unnecessary.

I would recommend this book and the first one, even if you are not into ghosts, I’m certainly not and I think these are fun mysteries.

tlc tour hostStop by the TLC website and see who else has reviewed this book.  I received this book from the tour for review.

You will choose 50 of the books I will read next year.  If you help me you could win a $20 gift card to Barnes & Noble.  Go here to vote. (Right now the top vote getter is A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving)

The Awakening, by Kate Chopin

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The Awakening by Kate Chopin: Book CoverFinished 12-14-09, rating 4.5/5, fiction, pub. 1899

In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not  a mother-woman.  The mother-women seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle.  It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood.  They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy priviledge to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels

Chapter IV

Edna Pontellier is a young woman living in New Orleans in the late 1880’s,  Her life, like that of most ladies at that time, revolves around her husband, children, and social calls.  Then one summer while she and her family were on Grand Isle, she becomes enamoured with Robert Lebrun, who returns the interest in kind.  As Edna feels propriety fall away, her new way of looking at her life makes her a changed woman and unhappy.  Edna is a woman who is stuck in a box and she longs to break free.

This is a re-read for me.  I read it in college and loved it.  It’s on my Top 100 list and it will likely be there for quite some time.  There is a profound beauty in the writing and with Edna’s awakening that left much for thought.  There were passages that moved me, made me think, and defined the times.  I cannot get into too much discussion without ruining the end, but I would recommend this book as a thoughtful classic. 

Kate Chopin was very sensitive to criticism and the harshness of her detractors over this book forced her to stop writing altogether.  This was her last novel and it is a shame she never got the recognition she deserved when she was alive.  People seem to think you need to agree with Edna’s decisions to appreciate the book.  I think that is missing the point.  But that’s just me.

I chose to read this as part of a book group that Em at The Many Thoughts of a Reader is hosting.  Feel free to stop by her blog as she and others discuss it.  I think I may be the only one who loves it 🙂

This book was from my personal library.

You will choose 50 of the books I will read next year.  If you help me you could win a $20 gift card to Barnes & Noble.  Go here to vote. (Right now the top vote getter is A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving)

Teaser Tuesday – The Awakening by Kate Chopin

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teasertuesdays31Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: Grab your current read. Open to a random page. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!). Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

It sometimes entered Mr. Pontellier’s mind to wonder if his wife were not growing a little unbalanced mentally.  He could see plainly that she was not herself.  That is, he could not see that she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Chapter XIX

Just finished this – review tomorrow. Visit MizB for more teasers.

You will choose 50 of the books I will read next year.  If you help me you could win a $20 gift card to Barnes & Noble.  Go here to vote. (Right now the top vote getter is She’s come Undone By Wally Lamb)

Help Me Help Myself and Win a Gift Card Quiz

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UPDATE – Voting Closed.  Click here to see results.

I’m going to be signing up for the Read Your Own Books challenge again next year.  Last year I committed to 50 and finished the challenge in October.  This year I have even more books in my house so I’m going to make my goal 55.  That’s where you come in.  I’ve taken a new picture of my tbr pile.  Some of these I’ve had more than 10 years, some were gifts, some I bought, a few I won from you, some were free from when I worked for Barnes & Noble, but all of them are waiting to be read.  So, here’s where you come in.  I’m letting you pick 50 of the books I will read from my stacks next year and you’ll be entered to win a $20 B&N Gift Card. 

Here’s how it works – Look at my tbr stacks, choose 1-5 titles you think I need to read in 2010, leave a comment telling me which one(s) and for each title you will receive one entry for the $20 B&N Gift Card.  You don’t have to tell me why I should read it unless you want to, but in the event of a tie I will use the comments to help me decide.  I’ll leave the voting open for two weeks (until December 29).  Limit 5 titles per person.  If I’ve never sent you anything in the mail, please leave your email.

Feel free to make fun of any of the titles – I am clueless how some of them made it into this house!

I think you can click on the picture to see it better.  Here are some of the piles closer up so they are easier to read.  If you double-click on these they will be easier to read.

Scandalous Love, by Brenda Joyce

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Scandalous Love by Brenda Joyce: Book CoverFinished 12-9-09, rating 3.5/5, historical romance, pub. 1992

“You are the one with no morals, you are the one who would stop at nothing to get what you want.”

Anger flared.  “Wrong.  I warned you not to return here, and you did so at your own risk.  If you did not  come back for what I can give you, then why did you return?”

She gasped, crimson color suffusing her cheeks.  “How arrogant you are!  I came back to tell you what I think of you now that I know  the truth!”

Chapter 4

Nicole Bragg is a free-spirited lady living in relative seclusion in Victorian England after she had the audacity of crying off of her wedding.  On her wedding day.  The scandal has ruined her reputation, but not her independence.  When a rival practically dares her attend a party for the Duke of Clayborough, she arrives and immediately catches the eye of the Duke.  The Duke is looking for a mistress, Nicole a husband.  Nicole always seems to make the situation worse and the Duke is charmed by it.

I love historical romances when they are done well.  I like romance and sexual tension and don’t need sex described to me in detail every other chapter and I can  always count on Brenda Joyce to provide a comfort read for me.  The first half of this one was great and I loved getting lost in it, but he second half not so much.  Nicole never seemed to stop making stupid choices and the Duke turned very stuffy, ruining a great romance for me.  This is still an above average historical romance, but it did have the potential to be so much better.

This was from my personal library.

Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier

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Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier: CD Audiobook CoverFinished audio 12-07-09, rating 4/5, fiction, pub. 1999

Griet is a 16-year-old girl living in 1660’s Holland.  Her father has been blinded by his work and it is up to Griet to live at the house of the painter Johannes Vermeer as a maid.  Here she is accepted by Vermeer himself and his mother-in-law Maria Thins, but despised by the lady of the house, Catharina, and one of the daughters, Cornelia.  Cornelia is out to do real damage to Griet, while Vermeer is her champion.

The relationship between Vermeer and Griet is a complicated one.  Griet is being sought by the butcher’s son, but her sexual awakening is due to Vermeer.  Vermeer allows Griet to become his assistant and the two spend their days together in the studio.  When Griet is forced to sit for a painting she knows it will ruin her, but she appreciates the hours she and Vermeer spend staring at one another, the longing filling the small studio.

I saw the movie when it came out in 2003 and thought it was a bit slow, so I was in no hurry to read the book, but I was wrong not to have read it first.  The book was wonderfully done.  It is the story of Griet and what life was like for a girl in her time.  She had so few options, if any, and she still managed to maintain her independence in small ways.  It is also an imaginative tale of the story behind the girl in the painting.  I love art museums,  looking at a painting and trying to take myself back to when it was painted and this book did that for me.

I do admit that while I liked Griet she really did frustrate me at times.  People in the house mentioned on many occasions how smart and cunning she was and yet I didn’t feel that.  The author told me she was special, but I was never really convinced.  She was a young girl caught up in a life out of her control and that is enough, no need to tell me I should think she is the most misunderstood maid ever. 

I liked it and now I may have to watch the movie again even though I didn’t love it the first time.

This audio was from the library.

When Christmas Comes, by Debbie Macomber

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Cover ImageFinished 12-7-09, rating 3.5/5, romance, pub. 2004

Why, oh why, couldn’t her sons be like her friends’ children, who were constantly causing them heartache and worry?  Instead, she’d borne two sons who had to be the most loving interest sons on God’s green earth, but… The problem was that they didn’t understand one of the primary duties of a son-to provide his parents with grandchildren.

Chapter 6

Emily is a widow and the prospect of spending Christmas without her daughter is too much to bear.  Charles is a college professor who wants to avoid Christmas at all costs.  The two strangers agree to switch houses for two weeks.  Emily is headed to Boston to surprise her daughter and Charles to Washington state to finish writing the textbook he’s working on.

Emily’s daughter is not happy to see her mother and Charles is horrified to find himself stuck in a small town that adores all things Christmas.  Both face disappointment and surprise and discover that trading places may have been the best thing for them.

This is a sweet holiday romance.  If you have seen the 2006 move The Holiday where Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet switch houses you get the gist of the plot.  I thoroughly enjoyed it for what it is and it did put me in the holiday spirit.  There are no big surprises, but I loved Faith and Charles’s brother, Ray. Perfect light-hearted reading for this busy time of year.

I borrowed this book from my mom.

Teaser Tuesday – When Christmas Comes

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teasertuesdays31Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: Grab your current read. Open to a random page. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!). Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Emily was bored and sad and struggling not to break down.  There was only one thing left to do-what she always did when she got depressed.

Bake cookies.

 Chapter Eight, When Christmas Comes by Debbie Macomber

So, what are you cooking up today?  Head on over to MizB for more teasers.

Dumb Witness, by Agatha Christie

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Cover ImageFinished audio 12-4-09, rating 4/5, mystery, pub. 1937

Belgian detective Hercule Poirot receives a letter from a dead woman and he and his friend Captain Hastings try to find out if this woman died of natural causes or was murdered.  There is no shortage of suspects – nieces, a nephew, a companion, servants, and two doctors.  Hercule must find a way to get answers without alerting anyone to his true purpose and his talent for skillful lying takes him far. 

This was my first Agatha Christie novel (my husband too) and we really enjoyed it.  Neither of us figured out what really happened til the end and our favorite character was Bob the dog.  I usually hate when animals talk or we read their thoughts, but Bob was wonderfully charming and he made me laugh every time.  This could have been due to the talented narrator, Hugh Fraser.

This was a great audio for a road trip because it appealed to both of us.  Since we have more travels ahead this month (I’m leaving in 7 1/2 hours) I will have to stock up on more Agatha Christie.

I checked this out of the library.