It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

A weekly meme hosted by Sheila @ Book Journey.

Today is the first day of March Break and the weather is gorgeous!  Sitting on the back porch with a book in the sunshine can't be too far off...*ahhh*


Read This Week:  (1)
Contact- Carl Sagan
This one really picked up in the last third.  Sagan has a knack for making the potentially mundane exciting.  Review coming soon.


Currently Reading: (2)
Persuasion- Jane Austen
Enjoying it so far (that was to be expected).

My Life- Bill Clinton
Haven't touched this one in some time.  I'll finish it eventually. I just have to be in the mood.


Next to Read:
I'm really looking forward to The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, so I'll probably dive into it next.


Reviews This Week:
Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte (A)
...I'm behind by 7...

I also posted my February wrap-up...a week late.  Oops!

Hope the winter blahs are officially behind us now.  Spring feels so close.  Speaking of which, did you remember to set your clocks ahead an hour?

February Wrap-Up Post

The following is a transcript from an actual conversation with myself in my head:

ME:  You know, today is March 8th.
MYSELF:  *checks date on watch* Yes, it is.
ME:  I should probably post a February wrap-up post.
MYSELF:  *scratches head*  But, I thought you did?!
ME:  No, I don't think so.  I've been behind on reviews and I posted a couple of those in the last couple of weeks but no, I don't think I got around to a February wrap-up.
MYSELF:  *scrolls through Blogger post history*  You're right.
ME:  Boy, Myself, you really have a knack for doing actions in between asterisks
MYSELF:  *tries to cover up fact that I'm blushing*

Okay...enough of that.  I feel like I have a split personality...or an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other like in cartoons.  I really don't.  I just have a very wacky sense of humour.

Read:  (4)
The Girl Who Played With Fire- Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest- Stieg Larsson
Pygmalion- George Bernard Shaw
Shameless Explotation in Pursuit of the Common Good- Paul Newman & A.E. Hotchner

Reviews:  (2)
Life Itself- Roger Ebert (B)
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret- Judy Blume (A)

Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte

Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

Published:  1847
Length:  352 pages
ISBN:  9781441412645
Genre:  Classic

Started:  Jan. 1, 2012
Finished Date:  Jan. 8, 2012 (8 days)

Where Found:  Book Depot
Why Read:  On my TBR list

Read For:  Back to the Classics Challenge--19th Century Classic (1/9) and Mixing It Up Challenge--Classic (1/16)

Summary:  An orphan girl named Jane Eyre comes of age after a miserable childhood raised by a wretched aunt, schooled in a decrepit education system, settling into her role as a governess for a girl under the care of the rough-edged Mr. Rochester.

Review:

Jane Eyre is considered one of the greatest gothic novels ever written.  To give you an idea, it reminded me of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca meets Jane Austen (though the book was published a good 30 years after Austen's work, it has similar social formalities, though you notice the characters have a more relaxed language and use some familiar slang).

Jane's life is presented in stages, from her childhood with the Reeds, a family that doesn't want her and makes her miserable; Lowood, a school that doesn't want her and makes her even more miserable; Thornfield, where she finds her greatest happiness despite the sharp moods of Mr. Rochester; and the small family she encounters that brings her life around full circle.

When it came to the characters, I didn't really like Jane until she came to Thornfield.  Mind you, I did sympathize with her situation as a child but I think once she grew into herself, she became a stronger, better character, and I found her more admirable as a governess and teacher.  Her friendship with Helen Burns at Lowood was touching, given the rest of her time at the school was dark and certainly makes me appreciate the school system I teach in--it may not be perfect but it beats Jane Eyre's any day!

Rochester was downright hard to like, much like du Maurier's Max de Winter, but (*SPOILER ALERT*) in the end, both end up being respectable, loving men, despite first impressions and choice words and actions.

What was a little off-putting to me were the religious hyperbole and deus ex machina coincidences occurring near the end of the book.  On the upside, it lead to an ending that I liked and added romance to the book's gothic tones.  It is thisclose (really, thisclose!) to an A+ for me but it's a smidge too overdramatic at times for me to put against my other A+s.

Great quotations:

"Make my happiness and I will make yours."

"I know what it is to live entirely for and with what I love best on Earth."

"And as for the vague something--was it a sinister or a sorrowful, a designing or a desponding expression?--that opened upon a careful observer now and then in his eye and closed again before one could fathom the strange depth partially disclosed."

By the way, the most recent movie version is from 2011 with Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender as Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester, which I saw just after finishing the book and thought it was a beautifully rendered adaptation. 

Rank:  (A)- Excellent, Highly Recommend

Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret- Judy Blume

Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

Published:  1970
Pages:  149
ISBN:  9780440404194
Genre:  YA, Classic

Started: Dec. 30, 2011
Finished: Dec. 30, 2011 (>1 day)

Where Found:  Xmas 2011 gift
Why Read:  A classic I missed reading in childhood.  Better late than never, right?

Summary:  A young girl entering puberty moves to a new city where she struggles to adapt to her change in surroundings and changes in herself.

Review:

So...I wondered about something that everyone who read this book years after its publication and initial controversy wondered: What exactly was controversial about this book that isn't a fact of life for young girls (always has, still is, and always will be)?  If this isn't an example of censorship going overboard, I don't know what is.

I loved reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great (a character I really connected to, being a klutzy tomboyish girl) years ago and was amazed how engaging Margaret was to me as an adult reader.  I will admit that I cried when Margaret gave her teacher the letter instead of her project and she thought she had failed.  It was a beautiful piece of the story.

It was also interesting to me how Margaret explores the concept of God as a figment and not as an omniscient figure (I could see how the censorship racket would jump on that one quick-like) and the discovery of alternative ideas of thinking and feeling as she becomes her own person and not an extension of her parents, while at the same time she doesn't feel like she has a toehold on how to go about doing this with the flexible (maybe too flexible) attitudes of her parents.

I would put this book into the hands of any girl age 11 or 12, especially when questions start coming about growth and development--it would make a great gift!

Rank:  (A)- Excellent, Highly Recommend

Still Here...With Birthday Books

This has been a crazy couple of months!  I apologize for my long-winded absence.  It's the same old tired excuses--if it's not work, it's getting a bad head cold; if it's not a head cold, it's pulling something in my neck that's been niggling at me off & on for a few months (I applied heat to it last night and appear to be cured at least temporarily...wish I had thought to do that earlier!); and if it's none of the above, it's the randomness of life throwing things at you.  *Sigh*  But never fear...for I come bearing news most bookish :)

So...my progress of the past couple of weeks is thus: I finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, successfully catching me up with the rest of the world on the Millennium series.  A good end to the trilogy, though The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo remains my favourite of the three.  I've only reviewed Life Itself by Roger Ebert and have a few other reviews in the wings, so please bear with me.  I'm starting a new book today: Pygmalion, the play by George Bernard Shaw that was adapted into a movie and then later into another, more recognizable (and pronounceable) movie My Fair Lady.

And now for the birthday book loot.  My family knows me so well and got me some lovely books for me birthday (sorry...transformed into Eliza Doolittle for a second there).  And wouldn't you know it?  Some of them are for the reading challenges I'm participating in ;)

Coraline- Neil Gaiman--I liked the movie and heard all good things about the graphic novel.

On the Origin of Species- Charles Darwin--I went with the Penguin Classic cover (because it's coooool)

Persuasion- Jane Austen--I'm making this my next foray into Austen.  Can't wait!  I went with the Penguin Classics hardcover edition.  Lovely green leaves on the cover.

Cloud Atlas- David Mitchell--Have no idea what I'm getting into with this one but sounds interesting

Contact- Carl Sagan--The movie is highly underrated and so perceptive about the state of the universe and its inhabitants...you know, besides us.  Fascinating subject matter.

Last Night at Twisted River- John Irving--I loved Garp and Owen Meany, liked Cider House Rules, and am coming back for more Irving.

Shades of Grey and The Eyre Affair- Jasper Fforde--I see these on so many book blogs, curiosity kil...made the cat go out and buy the books :D

And...drumroll please...

Sense & Sensibility- Jane Austen
YES!  Am awaiting my order of the pretty pretty Penguin Classics hardcover edition.

The Count of Monte Cristo- Alexandre Dumas
Unfortunately the Barnes & Noble leatherbound edition isn't for sale in Canada :(   But I have the Everyman unabridged (thank goodness) one on order.  Now I can actually read the entire story!


I also got a few DVDs: 

Tangled--I think this is the best Disney "princess" movie released in ages...so fun!

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street--Ahhh....Johnny Depp.  Let's just say I pause this one a lot to enjoy the view ;)

Inception--Twisted, tangled awesomeness

Panic Room--This is one of the smartest thrillers I've ever seen.


I will try my best to get a review or two up over the weekend and get back on some kind of track.  I also hope to go back through all the posts in my Google Reader to catch up on what you've all been reading.  Wow...that'll take a while.  Must get busy...This will take a record-breaking amount of coffee.  Almost as much as Stieg Larsson's characters drink...anyone else notice that they all seem to consume "coffee and sandwiches" wherever they are?

Happy reading :)

Life Itself- Roger Ebert



Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

Published:  2011
Pages:  436
ISBN:  9780446584975
Genre:  Nonfiction, Memoir

Started: Dec. 25, 2011
Finished: Dec. 30, 2011 (6 days)

Where Found:  Xmas 2011 gift
Why Read:  I enjoy Ebert's movie reviews and more often than not agree with his opinions, and was interested in learning how he became one of the most revered movie critics worldwide.

Summary:  A reflection of childhood, his start in journalism, interests in reading, travel, memorable interviews and encounters, and his influence by and on the movies.

Review:

Roger Ebert has an inside view of the film industry unlike any other.  He isn't a filmmaker, an actor, or a studio executive, yet he is just as respected, opinionated, and central to the world of movies as those who run the cogs of the machine called Hollywood.  Ebert isn't pounding the pavement but is the one who brings it all together: he watches the finished product, scrutinizes what worked and what didn't, and makes a conclusion that millions of moviegoing public recognize as the inside scoop on the best answer to the inevitable question: "Is there anything good playing at the movies?"

Ebert has a refreshingly honest tone in his memoir, writing as if he has nothing left to prove or hide, which he readily admits when the book comes to the time when Ebert underwent treatment for thyroid and salivary gland cancer.  He starts as all good stories do from the beginning, recounting his start in journalism, encounters with both the famous, including an interview with Lee Marvin and a road trip with Robert Mitchum, but most memorably with the not-so-famous, his stay at the Eyrie Mansion, and his friendship and working relationship with Ebert's complete and utter opposite Gene Siskel.

His transition from Catholic childhood in the chapter "How I Believe in God" fascinated me most and, similarly to myself, a thankfulness for its simplest moral values of honest, kindness, and humility, but not its theology. His bibliophiliac chapter "Books Do Furnish a Room" would make a great book on its own.

The movies don't play as much of a part in this memoir as you would think, but they crop up occasionally.  This book is less about the movies and Ebert as a movie critic, and more wholistic in scope with Ebert's experiences as a journalist and a traveler.

Rank:  (B)- Very Good, Recommend

December & January Wrap-Up

So...it's been a crazy couple of months, but hopefully February will start the ball rolling for a smooth 2012.  If the past month is any indication of what the year will bring...yikes!

So...I neglected to post a wrap-up for the month of December, but maybe this will make my microscopic reading progress in January look better if I put them beside last month :D

So...*okay, that's enough of that*

DECEMBER
Read:  (4)
Bag of Bones- Stephen King (A+)
The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History- John Ortved (B)
Life Itself- Roger Ebert
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret- Judy Blume

Reviews:  (6; see 2 above)
The Count of Monte Cristo- Alexandre Dumas (A+)
The Old Man & the Sea- Ernest Hemingway (A)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter- Carson McCullers (A)
It- Stephen King (A)

JANUARY
Read:  (3)
Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte
Seriously...I'm Kidding- Ellen DeGeneres
11/22/63- Stephen King

Reviews:  (1)
Emma- Jane Austen

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

A weekly meme hosted by Sheila @ Book Journey.

Ouch, two weeks later and I've just finished one book: 11/22/63 by Stephen King.  I've had no motivation to write any reviews, either.  Is this a slump?  Well, at least I'm still reading something.  It's a reviews slump :)

Read This Week:
11/22/63- Stephen King
Wow, this was a terrific read!  It was full of unexpected threads and he works the time travel yarn (get it? Threads? Yarn?  Ha ha) so well, it makes me want to not only re-read The Time Traveler's Wife but find more books in this subgenre.  Any suggestions?

Collecting dust on the nightstand but still hanging in there:
U2 by U2- U2 (Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr.)
My Life- Bill Clinton

Reviews Coming Soon (I promise):
Life Itself- Roger Ebert
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret- Judy Blume
Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte
Seriously...I'm Kidding- Ellen DeGeneres
11/22/63- Stephen King

Next to Read:
I'm finally going to get to The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.  With the release of the movie The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I'd like to finish the book
series off.


Have a great week of reading :)