Book # 62 His Dark Materials Book 1: The Golden Compass

Progress Book 18.33 of 100-

The Golden Compass is the story of Lyra and her destiny to save her world from destruction. It’s a world similar to ours, but also really different. It reminded me of the television program Sliders and all the parallel universes that exist. Lyra is raised by the scholars of Oxford College. Once a year her Uncle Asriel visits, but otherwise the scholars are her family In this world each human has a spirit called a dameon that is connected to them always. For children their dameon can take any animal form. Once they hit puberty their dameon will stop changing and remain one character until they both die. A human cannot live without their dameon and a dameon cannot live without their human. In this world there are witches who also have dameon’s but they can be separated and live apart from their dameons. Lyra cannot be more than a few feet from her dameon nicknamed Pan without experiencing horrible pain. There is also a race of warrior bears that can speak, but do not have dameons.

Lyra is leading a happy childhood, running around Oxford with her best friend Roger, until everything changes. Her Uncle Asriel has begun researching a new thing called dust and had discovered another world through the Northern Lights. At the same time, orphaned children start disappearing around London. When Roger is taken, Lyra goes on a mission to safe him. Along the way we discover she is the young girl destined to save their world. With the help of the gyptians, Lorek the bear, a witch named Serafina, and a hot air balloon flier named Lee, Lyra sets out to the cold wilderness of the arctic to rescue Roger.

I really enjoyed reading this novel. They style of writing was really easy to follow and I like that there were witches and bears. It was a fun little fantasy world that Pullman created. Lyra also had a natural tendency to find herself in the company of nice people that want to help and end up being crucial in her quest.

I’ll give this part an A- 92%

The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

It seems that Lucinda doesn't want me to get too far ahead of her on this project because for any gift giving occasion she gives me a book that isn't on our list. At least she chooses books that I want to read. For my birthday she gave me The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. It is his third book in a series that includes The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game. Somehow this book acts as a direct sequel to The Shadow of the Wind and as a prequel to The Angel's Game which itself was a prequel to The Shadow of the Wind. I've read both of those books and would very highly recommend The Shadow of the Wind to just about anyone... that book is easily in my top 50 and was one of the best books I had read for quite some time when I read it a couple of years ago.

That book is about a young guy, Daniel Sempere, that lives in Spain after World War II and discovers a book that he completely loves, when he tries to learn more about the author he unravels this mystery about the author who has pretty much disappeared along with his works. That book had everything. It had thrills, romance, comedy, some scary parts, a great mystery, and it was about how readers interact with books that they love.

The follow up, The Angel's Game, was about an author, David Martin , in Spain during the 1920's that is in love with a woman (who turns out to be Daniel's mother) and who makes a deal with a mysterious character (that most likely is the devil) so that he can become successful. That book wasn't quite as good, but still was very enjoyable and was a bit darker in tone than the first book.

Now The Prisoner of Heaven links both of these two previous stories together a bit more closely. It involves Daniel learning a story about David that casts doubt on whether or not anything in The Angel's Game is actually true and hints at a conspiracy against Daniel by an old enemy of David's.

I enjoyed the book, but unlike the other two books, this one doesn't really tell a complete story and is nowhere near as complex. It actually feels like half a book and leaves the reader hanging at the end. There isn't a cliffhanger or anything, but most of the plot threads that are begun are not closed at all. The only thing really accomplished is that the two previous books are more closely tied together to each other and the reader doesn't know what's true or not from the previous book. The Shadow of the Wind is an A+, The Angels Game is a B+, and The Prisoner of Heaven is a B-. Hopefully a fourth book will follow soon that will tie up some of the loose ends.

Fun Book- #2 One Thread Pulled The Dance With Mr. Darcy by Diana J. Oaks

Before starting this project, I had my own little project- to read as many Pride and Prejudice variations as I could.  These include novels that start the moment Jane Austen’s novel ended, ones that are told from Mr. Darcy’s view point, and in this case, ones that change a part of the original novel and go from there with a different story.  This was a Christmas present from Daniel and helped me get through Little Women faster so I could get started on this one. 

I really enjoyed this novel, and only got a little disappointed towards the end when I realized it was only a Part 1 and Part 2 isn’t out yet, so I’ll have to wait to finish the story.  In this novel, Lizzy doesn’t hear Mr. Darcy slight her at the assembly dance.  Instead they get to know each other and Mr. Darcy quickly falls in love with Lizzy.  While a few scenes were on the edge of cheesiness- I still loved reading the book. As I told Daniel, the variations that tend to show Mr. Darcy’s struggles with his feelings and pride are always the best.

I’ll give this book an A 95%

Also a side note about my grading.  I’m not saying that this novel is better than the classic Little Women, I’m just saying my enjoyment reading the book was better.  The grades I assign are biased and completely dependent on my enjoyment.    

 

Book #46 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Progress Book #18 of 100 

Most people know the story of Little Women- at least most girls do.  I’ve see a few movie versions and felt like reading the book would be a nice easy fast read to enjoy over the Christmas holiday- it was.  This was the first time I had read the book, but not the first novel by Alcott that I had read.  A few years ago I discovered a made-for-tv movie call The Inheritance.  It’s a fun movie that I really enjoyed.  Upon further research I found out it was based on a story written by Alcott  when she was much younger.  It was only recently discovered (I think after 2000) and published.  I found it at the library and read it a few years ago.  It was cute, but written when she was younger, so I expected to get a little more from Little Women.

The novel is pretty close to the movies, especially the most recent one with Winona Ryder as Jo March.  The only complaint I have about this book- is the high morals that are persistently mentioned every other sentence.  I get that they were good, but to make every lesson, every paragraph about being good and charitable got to be overkill by the end of the novel.

On a side note, I never really made this one of my favorite movies because I always felt bad for Laurie.  I was hoping to get more explanation from the book on the love story.  The sequence of events happens differently in the novel compared to the book.  Jo goes off to her writing career while Laurie is away at college, so she meets the Professor before the big proposal.  Also I was more sympathetic towards the novel Amy instead of the Kristen Dunst Amy, so I accepted the story and final outcome better in the novel that the movie.  Overall Little Women was a cute novel about sisters and family.

I’ll give this book a B+ 87%

Book # 67 Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Progress Book # 17 of 100

The full title of this book is Vanity Fair a Novel without a hero. With a title like that I wasn’t sure what to expect. I have seen at least two movie adaptations of the novel and remember not really liking the story. This isn’t even one of the books that I was waiting to read. In fact, I only picked this book to read since Daniel was reading Les Miserables, a really long book- so I thought I should read a long one too. I have to say, in the end, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the book. While there were a few parts that just wouldn’t end and went into way too much detail that was not really crucial to the plot, it was a good novel that I enjoyed reading.

The story centers around the lives of two main characters-Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley. They are opposites in both personalities and social status. Becky aspires to be a part of the wealthy and will charm and entertain her place into society. She reminded me of Scarlett O’ Hara loved by all the men and able to talk her way through anything. Amelia is the prim and proper girl, born into wealth, who does everything in the way it should be done. Throughout the novel the reader likes them, hates them, and then understands them all at different points. Thackeray was really able to get the reader to change their attitude towards each character.  At first you don’t like Becky, then you see her point of view and like her, then you see how she takes advantage of others and doesn’t love her boy and you don’t like her.  It’s always back and forth.  Even Amelia got to be really annoying with her constant devotion towards her husband who society would call a “rake.” Thackeray was successful in drawing me into the story and keeping me entertained for over 700 pages.  The novel follows the two women from the moment they leave their boarding school together, through war with Napoleon and into their 30s. From it we get a glimpse of 19th century upper class English Society. 

There were a few times where Thackeray compared a type of person by actually mentioning a name and using them as an example.  I’m wondering if he was writing about real people of the time- like a People Magazine type of thing.  Maybe these people were a part of big scandals or would have been recognized by readers at the time he wrote this.  Even if they weren’t, I like to think that they were probably modeled after people of the “ton.”  It made it really fun to read.

I give this book an A- 92%

Should you read the book or see the movie? Part 1

While reading many of these books I often find myself comparing a novel to the eventual movie that was made from it. Sometimes the book is way better... sometimes both are worth checking out... sometimes neither. I figure I'll have the occasional blog entry where I decide which is better in my opinion.

The Stand by Stephen King (1978) vs. The Stand (the 1994 miniseries)
This comparison is easy. It is amazing how faithful the miniseries is to the plot of the novel... yet it nowhere near as enjoyable or scary. In fact I didn't even finish watching the miniseries yet... and I started a few months ago. The difference can be summed up by examining one specific memorable scene... At one point in the novel a prisoner is stuck in a prison cell while everyone else in the prison has died of the disease. In the novel we get all of the stuck prisoner's thoughts about slowly starving to death in his dark prison cell... he even remembers how as a child he accidentally left his pet rabbit to starve in a cage. He contemplates eating the dead prisoner in the cell next to him. The reader is left to imagine how dark and scary the prison has become without power and really feels the desperation of the prisoner. In the movie the prison is well lit... the prisoner doesn't look like he's missed any meals, we don't learn about the rabbits, we haven't heard all the other prisoners slowly dying, in fact he's in his cell for about thirty seconds before someone lets him out. Decision : Read the book

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein (1937) vs. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012 film)
This one is a bit of an incomplete comparison since the movie really only covers the first third of the book, but by the time the film series is complete it would probably take less time to read the book than watch the movies. The movie is really good... but not great. The movie adds more back story than is really necessary and literally takes one sentence from the novel about stone giants and turns it into a five minute action sequence. Decision : Read the book

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (1980) vs. The Name of the Rose (1986 film)
The novel really focuses on the smallest details about theological debates, library cataloging and differences in types of monk orders. These things don't translate into film very well. Sean Connery is well cast but the film falls far short. Decision: Read the book

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818) vs. Frankenstein (1931 film) vs. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994 film)
I was surprised at how different the 1931 classic film is from the original novel. The characterization of the monster is completely changed between the two.  Still, the movie is a classic as is the novel. The 1994 film however is a different story. It is more faithful to the novel but adds unnecessary scenes and is just poorly directed. Plus Kenneth Branagh is way too old to play Frankenstein. The novel is mostly about psychological horror, but this film just tries to hard to add more frights. For example, at the end the monster kills Frankenstein's wife. In the novel, Frankenstein discovers his wife's body with a strangled neck. In the 1994 film, Frankenstein (and the audience) see the monster ripping out her heart and then throwing her body into a flame where she then burns up. Decision : Read the book AND see the 1931 film - both are very different from each other

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (1908) vs. The Wind in the Willows (1949 cartoon)
The book and the cartoon are pretty different... The book focuses a lot more on Mole and Rat, while the cartoon is dominated by Mr. Toad. Really the Toad sequences in the book are just comic relief for the more thoughtful parts featuring the other characters. Decision:  Read the book and see the movie.


Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (1938) vs. Rebecca (1940 film)
It would be hard to go against anything directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film is a faithful and entertaining adaptation. Decision: Either one... both are good.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1877) vs. Anna Karenina (2012 film)
The book had a good plot... but it is so long and has way too many discussions about farming and the social structure of 19th century Russia. Overall the novel is good, but it isn't for everyone. The newest film adaptation takes all of the good parts and leaves out the parts about agriculture. Decision: See the movie

Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (1926) vs. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977 film)
The book is good but I couldn't help but think of the cartoon while watching it... especially all of the characters' voices. Decision: See the movie

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (1950) vs. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005 film)
It isn't that the movie is bad... it just isn't the same as reading the book. CGI overload. Decision; Read the book.

Les Misérables (1852)by Victor Hugo vs. Les Misérables (2012 musical film)
The novel has more detail then any movie could ever hope to hold. That being said, the musical does a good job of streamlining the story and keeping all of the emotion. The books is worth the effort if you have the time and the movie is one of the better musicals to come out for quite some time. Decision: Read the book and see the movie.

Book # 27 - The Chronicles of Narnia (Part 3 of 7) - The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis

I've always loved The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but I had never read the book that chronologically follows it in the series, The Horse and His Boy.  I didn't even know what it was about. Basically it is about a boy, Shasta, that lives in the country Calormen, which borders Archenland, which itself borders Narnia. One day he finds out that the mean fisherman that has raised him is not actually his father and that he plans to sell him into slavery. While planning his escape he meets the horse of the man who is about to buy him. The horse, Bree, is actually from Narnia and has been keeping it a secret that he can talk (because animals only talk in Narnia). The two plan an escape together and end up having an adventure in which they meet the Peter, Edmund, Lucy and Susan from the previous book, end up saving all of Narnia and Archenland, and at the end *spoiler - but totally foreshadowed very early on* Shasta finds out that he is actually the missing son of the King of Archenland.

Overall I enjoyed the book... but not quite as much as the first two. It isn't a classic in the same way as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but is interesting in that it shows what lies beyond Narnia's borders. I'm curious if I look up an analysis of this book if it would show that C.S. Lewis was trying to say something about the relationship between the Muslim world and Western society. The people of Calormen are described to have darker skin, live in a desert, hate the freedom that the people of Narnia have (who coincidentally all have white skin and live in a beautiful forest) and they don't have Aslan on their side...but instead worship a different god. Also, the narration of this book doesn't have quite the same playful tone as the previous two had, but seems a bit more serious and darker. Maybe this books is just setting up some theological issues for future books. Anyway, I'll give this one an A-.

Book # 70 Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

In order to continue the trend of reading books with new adaptations out this month, I tackled Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. It is a big giant heavy book. The first thing I needed to decide was which translation to read. There are quite a few out there and they seem to be of varying quality. I had ordered a new translation that was supposed to come out this year from Amazon, but what they sent was actually a different translation from the 1970's by Norman Denny. It seems the publisher switched which translation was going to be the one they were pushing as the movie tie in... Anyway, after a bit of research it seems that this translation is supposed to be one of the better ones so I decided to just go with it.

Last year Lucinda and I saw the musical, so I had some knowledge of the basic story but really couldn't remember too many specifics except that there was a sewer chase at the very end. The version I read is 1232 pages, so it is a bit difficult to quickly summarize the story completely... but essentially the story is of Jean Valjean and the way he redeems himself and sacrifices everything he has in the process. At the beginning he has left prison after 19 years for first stealing a loaf of bread and then for continually trying to escape. He steals some silver items from the Bishop of Digne that first night and is quickly caught. When the police bring him back to the Bishop, the Bishop says that he gave them to Jean so that he could have the money in order to start his life over again. Jean realizes that he has one last chance and uses the funds from the stolen items to start a new identity and begins a business that makes him incredibly wealthy. With this wealth he goes around helping all the poor people of his town. Then he meets Fantine. She's had a very hard life. She's just been fired from Jean's factory, has no money, and has left her small child Cosette in the care of the Thénardiers, a couple that run an inn. Jean promises to bring Cosette back to Fantine but gets sidetracked when he finds out that another man is being convicted as being "Jean Valjean" for breaking his parole. Jean turns himself in but first asks the policeman Javert if he can go retrieve Cosette before being taken away. Being completely unmoved by anything, Javert says no... (this is where Fantine would sing I Dreamed a Dream and everyone crys while watching the musical)... Fantine dies and Jean goes back to jail.... but of course Jean Valjean escapes again and goes to find Cosette. The Thénardiers are completely evil people and make Cosette's life miserable. Jean pays them off and takes her away to Paris where they luck into living in a convent.... cue the intermission... Now it is ten years later, Cosette has grown up... she meets a boy, Marius..  there's a revolution in the streets .... and the book adds a million new characters at this point... but basically Jean Valjean doesn't want to give up Cosette who is like a daughter to him, but eventually he saves Marius' life and helps Cosette have everything she would ever want.

From pretty much start to finish, I really enjoyed this book. It took a long time to get through, but it was worth the effort. The novel certainly takes its time in telling the main story and pretty frequently Hugo goes off on long stories about minor characters or entire sections on his thoughts about a topic or background history of something. The first sixty pages or so are just about the Bishop of Digne and why he has the silver that Jean Valjean later steals. Then there is about a fifty page retelling of the battle of Waterloo... which has almost nothing to do with story except for one small detail that is of some minor importance at the end. After Jean Valjean escapes into the sewers, there is a fifteen page chapter about this history of the sewers in Paris. There are also entire chapters about Hugo's opinions on convents and this history of criminal slang. That's why the book is so massive. However, I found all of these details really fascinating and thought they gave the story much more depth... unlike the details and background in Anna Karenina which kept putting me to sleep. I was also glad to see that the character of Gavroche plays an integral part of the storyline in the book and has some of his own adventures, where as in the musical he is just kind of there and doesn't have the fullest back story.

The book is easily in my top 50. I'll give it the rare A+.

Book # 64 Charlotte's Web by E. B. White - A second opinion

I'm pretty sure that when I was a little kid I saw the cartoon version of Charlotte's Web. All that I remember was that the ending had a bunch of baby spiders floating all over the place. This reminded me of one day a couple of months ago when I opened my garage door and pretty much the same thing happened. Let me just add that I don't like spiders.

The plot is pretty simple. Wilbur the pig is born the runt of a litter and is only saved from the axe by the farmer's daughter Fern. She helps Wilbur get bigger until he is moved to Fern's uncle's farm. At the farm he befriends a bunch of animals including the spider Charlotte. Wilbur fears that the farmer will eventually turn him into some nice tasty bacon... so Charlotte spins a web with the words "Some Pig" into it. Everyone sees this web and takes it as a miracle and Wilbur becomes famous. After a few more messages the farmer decides to keep Wilbur around and not turn him into Christmas dinner. Then the spider dies and all of her creepy spider eggs hatch and a few of the spiders stick around to be friends with Wilbur. The end.

Overall I enjoyed the book.... but when comparing it to something like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or The Wind in the Willows, or Anne of Green Gables it isn't quite as good. There were just too many little things that bugged me to really say that it was a truly great book. Let me make a list...

-The girl, Fern, doesn't do much to move the story along once the pig is taken out of her care... actually by the very end she doesn't even care about Wilbur at all and would rather hang out with her friend then see Wilbur get an award. What kind of friend is that?

-At one point Fern tells her parents that the animals can speak to each other and listens to their conversations... yet there isn't a scene where she first discovers this nor does she mention it again... and yet she ignores Wilbur at the very end.

-At first I wanted to know how it is that a spider can spell... but then it is revealed that Charlotte is actually a poor speller, but can still read. This left me with the question... how does a spider know how to read? I usually have a pretty high level of suspension of disbelief when I approach this kind of story, but this just crashed it.

-So at the end Wilbur is famous for.... just being famous. There really isn't anything special about Wilbur at all yet he's so "special". At least the pig in Babe was really good at something and earned its keep.

-At one point Templeton the rat complains that everyone is mean to him and is always making him do favors for them and he's totally right. Without him Wilbur would have been turned into a ham, yet Wilbur only focuses on how Charlotte helped him. I felt bad for the rat... it seemed like all of the other animals were prejudiced against him just because he was a rat.

-I realized that this book has probably made at least a few people vegetarians without really meaning to.

- All Wilbur does is worry the whole book, he doesn't actually do anything at all except sit around and hope he doesn't get eaten. He is not a proactive pig at all.


I'd recommend the book for little kids, but for adults it doesn't offer that much. B+

Book # 29 The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein

Progress - Book #  16 of 100

I’m a big fan of the Lord of the Rings movies and subsequently read all three of those books back around 10 years ago.  The Hobbit was one that I just never ended up reading so I’m glad I was finally pushed to read it.  We were lucky and got to go to an early screening so I actually had a hard deadline of 1 week to finish the book.  Since the new movie is broken into 3 parts if all else failed I only needed to get a third read before the week ended, but reading the whole book in 6 days wasn’t a problem.  It was very easy to read and didn’t drag on and on like other books have.  I felt like the book was a quick overview of a short story.  I didn’t feel like Tolkein went into too much detail. I like that the author also addressed the reader, I always think it’s funny when they use that type of writing style.  It’s like they want to remind you that you’re reading a book. 

The story is of a Hobbit named Bilbo who is picked by the wizard Gandalf to go on a treasure adventure with a bunch of dwarfs.  Bilbo is a Hobbit and has a natural tendency to avoid adventures at all costs, but he does go along for the journey and ends up playing a very crucial role in multiple settings.  Without him the dwarfs probably wouldn’t get to their destination.  Along the way Bilbo discovers his own strengths and is happy to be a part of their team.

On a side note, I like to read fast.  I can sit down for a few hours and really get through a bunch of pages.  It’s great for books that are easy to read and allow for fast reading.  I thought this book would allow for that and it mostly did- but “spoiler alert” I missed one of my most anticipated moments of the book.  I completely read over Bilbo’s finding of the magic ring.  It’s mentioned in one sentence in a very casual way and then the scene moves on.  A few pages later when we are brought back to the ring, I was thinking where did he find it?  Daniel had to help me find the place and I couldn’t believe I just passed it by without seeing it.  It’s such a big part of the Lord of the Rings that I expected it would be a big scene, not just one short sentence.  Tolkein does have a big scene with Bilbo and Gollum and the riddles are great, but the discovery of the ring just wasn’t what I expected.  The same thing happened later.  During a big scene something is quickly taken care of and I thought did I just read that?  I thought it would be a whole big battle- wasn’t the whole second book The Two Towers all about battles?  It just seemed funny that big epic scenes went by really fast in the book.

Overall I enjoyed the book, it was short, only 300 pages and it was nice to be back in Middle Earth.  As for the movie I enjoyed that too, just wish we didn’t have to wait so long before part 2.  Reading the book days before seeing the movie was good and let me know what to expect.  Peter Jackson did change a few things around, added more of the history and more characters.  I recommend the book and the movie to anyone- unless you aren’t a Lord of the Rings fan.

The book will get an- A 95%

Book #64 Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

Progress Book #15 of 100

Charlotte is the only spider I will ever be able to like- sorry spiders but you are warned.  This is a very cute story about a pig named Wilbur and his friendship with a spider named Charlotte.  Wilbur and Charlotte live on a farm and have many friends.  Charlotte decides to help Wilbur become famous and invaluable to the farm so she does her web spinning magic to make it happen.  This is a really cute children’s story but there also a few sad moments about life.  I can see how this book is a classic.  I really enjoyed the novel and will recommend it to anyone.

I rate this at a 95% A

Book # 44 Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

Progress- Book #14 of 100

I’ll start by saying that I was really looking forward to reading this novel. I remember watching the Masterpiece Theater adaptation sometime in high school and really liking the movie. When I saw it was on the list this was one of the first books I wanted to read. It turned out being the 14^th book only because we couldn’t find it at any of the library book sales. We got lucky finding the book at a random used book store in Cambria, CA. This was a tiny little store with every bookshelf covered with books and tall piles of books in front of every shelf. We were pretty lucky we found it and escaped the store without being buried alive in a tidal wave of books.

I didn’t remember much of the story, just the ending and from that knew it was a tragedy. Saying it’s a tragedy is putting it lightly. The main character goes through so much, not by choice, but by circumstances she is thrown in. Despite everything she has high moral standards and keeps this throughout the book. Instead of getting angry or feeling sorry for herself, she takes on the problems of everyone else and never complains. There is one time when she finally stands up for herself and writes a letter to her husband- but that is it- the rest of the time she just deals with her life by working hard. That is one of the biggest problems I had with the book, I like happy endings and when people are rewarded for their hard work and attitudes. She does get one week of happiness right before she loses everything, but for me that wasn’t enough. She was too good of a person to have so many bad things happen too. As a reader you sympathize with her so much and want her to succeed and be happy. Thomas Hardy does this really well, with his writing style you get to care for Tess and wish the best for her.

The opening of the novel shows her at a may dance, happy and content in life where she gets a glimpse of her future husband. On the same day her father learns their ancestors were prominent Englishmen and he decides they are better than their peers. From that day on, her life quickly turns towards hardship and tragedy. Her father gets drunk to celebrate his newly discovered lineage and it’s up to Tess to take their goods to the market early the next morning to get their money needed for survival. They are poor farmers and cannot afford to lose the last trip to the market for the season. While traveling on the dark road with her younger brother, Tess falls asleep after a few hours and subsequently the family horse gets into an accident and dies. This is the first event in a series of events that lead to a very harsh and sad life for Tess. She feels terrible about the animal. Being the oldest of many siblings her mother urges her to visit their newly found relations to request help and or employment. Tess is a Durbefield and cares nothing of her D’Urberville relations, but has to go since the family really has no other options. What they don’t realize is the D’Urberville aren’t really her relations, they are people that bought the family name once they had enough money to buy the title. Arriving at the home she meets Alec D’Urbeville and she immediately knows he is bad. Alec is attracted to Tess and she goes to work for them and becomes a victim. The title of this section explains it all “Maiden No More.”

After Alec’s encounter Tess returns home and gives birth to a baby boy and begins to work in the fields. The baby dies and she decides to leave home and go to work on a dairy farm for a fresh start. Here she meets Angel Clare and they fall in love. He begs Tess to marry him, but she refuses because of her past. Angel father is a minister and Tess knows she wouldn’t be accepted. Angel pursues and pursues until they are finally married. On their wedding night Angel confesses to another love affair, and Tess decides to tell Angel everything expecting to be forgiven. Angel cannot believe it and punishes Tess by leaving her back with her family while he leaves to think things over and pursue a farm in South America. Back with her family Tess fakes her abandonment and leaves to go a work on another farm hoping Angel will send for her. She is too proud to ask for money from him family and too proud to let her own family know her situation. Instead of telling her mother she has nothing she sends them all of her money to repair the home.

As the time passes Alec and Tess meet up again and then Alec decides he must have Tess. He pursues her until and she refuses- still hoping Angel will come for her. Tess never gives up hope. In the end he does come for her and realizes how wrong he treated her, but it is too late.

Thomas Hardy teaches so many lessons about culture and society in this story and it’s Tess that suffers through all his lessons. She doesn’t want or care about a title, but her parents do. Their greed and false airs costs them a horse-which leads to sacrificing their daughter to Alec. Angel thinks he is forward with his thinking and decides not to become a clergyman like his father and brothers. He confesses to Tess of his own affair, but cannot forgive her for being raped. It’s a double standard, his first real test in life and he fails. Thomas Hardy also goes into religion and field work, but that’s too much for me to discuss right now. I’ll just say he was very critical of both!

I enjoyed this novel even though the story was depressing and sad it is a good book. It went deeper that I wanted, but I think most of the books on this list will be deep thought provoking books, that is how they become one of the top 100 greatest novels. I’ll give this a 94%

Book # 27 - The Chronicles of Narnia (Part 2 of 7) - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

 There are so many good books I haven't read that I rarely feel the need to re-read a book. When I started reading the books on this list I had previously read about two dozen of the books. Of those, maybe only three or four were books that I would imagine myself revisiting eventually. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is one of those books. Having just finished it, I'm sure I'll be reading it still again someday (for the fifth time).

For those of you who don't know the story. Four siblings (Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy) go to live in a giant house in the English countryside during WWII and find a magic wardrobe. The wardrobe acts as a passageway to the magical land of Narnia. When the kids get there they learn that the White Witch has cast a spell over the land so that it is always winter. With the help of some talking beavers, the kids find Aslan the Lion who has come to restore order to Narnia. Then *spoiler* Aslan sacrifices himself to the White Witch to save the life of Edmund. Magically Aslan comes back to life, gets rid of the witch, restores Narnia, and places the kids as kings and queens of the land.

From start to finish, the book is completely enchanting. The style of writing is simple enough for children, but still charming enough to make adults smile. It is a relatively short book, so it is easy to read it just one sitting and won't test the attention span of children. There's also the whole Christ allegory thing too... so it is a good book to discuss with kids so that they can learn how metaphors work. Easily an A+.

Book # 29 The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein

 It has probably been about fifteen years since I had first read The Hobbit. I remember really enjoying it, but didn't remember too many of the details except that there were a whole bunch of dwarfs, a few trolls, the encounter with Gollum, a giant dragon and a huge battle at the end. Actually that does sum of most of the book.

Reading it a second time was just as enjoyable. Bilbo, Gandalf and the dwarfs do have quite a few adventures for being a fairly short book. I can see how Peter Jackson could extend a five page battle sequence into a forty minute 3-D CGI epic battle for the ages and thus need to break the book into three movies.

The premise is pretty simple. Gandalf and a bunch of dwarfs recruit hobbit Bilbo Baggins to go with them on their quest to reclaim the treasure that was abandoned by their ancestors when the dragon Smaug attacked their mountain home. They have a bunch of adventures encountering trolls, goblins, elves, and giant eagles. At one point Bilbo becomes separated from everyone else while travelling through some tunnels under a mountain that is filled with goblins. While he is lost, Bilbo encounters the creature Gollum and plays a riddle game with him and is able to escape with Gollum's magic ring. Of course this is the ring that is so incredibly important in the sequel, The Lord of the Rings.


I'd easily recommend the book to just about anyone. It was in my top 50 before and is staying there. Once I had finished it,  I was tempted to re-read The Lord of the Rings next, but I think I'll force myself to wait on that for a bit. I'm giving The Hobbit an A+, but have to say that I thing the sequel is an even better read. It is basically another quest involving a hobbit, Gandalf and dwarfs, but the stakes are so much higher and the scope is larger. Also, the style of the two are somewhat different. The Hobbit has a friendly narrator that makes little jokes and doesn't make anything seem like the end of the world, while The Lord of the Rings is presented much more seriously and isn't geared toward children as much as The Hobbit is.

One last thing... it wasn't until I finished the book that I remembered that this existed....




Here are my updated rankings

1.Invisible Man
2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
3.The Hobbit
4. A Farewell to Arms
5.The Stand
6. The Name of the Rose
7.Frankenstein
8. Wind in the Willows
9.Anne of Green Gables
10. Rebecca
11.Anna Karenina
12. Sons and Lovers
13. Winnie-the-Pooh
14. Mrs. Dalloway
15.Atlas Shrugged

Book # 20 Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Since a new film version is coming out soon, I figured now is a good a time as any to read Anna Karenina. I had actually started reading it about a month ago but stopped 2/3 of the way through to read a couple of other books. I didn't really know anything at all about this book or Leo Tolstoy beforehand... then I read the introduction of the book... and it totally reveals how the book ends! No spoiler alert or anything. So now I've learned that I should probably read a book's introduction afterwards (I also noticed the introduction to Frankenstein did the same thing).

Despite being called Anna Karenina, the book actually has two stories that share equal space and Anna is really only in one of them. Her story is about how she falls in love with Count Vronsky and leaves her husband for him. She gets shunned from society and has to deal with it because her husband doesn't want to grant her a divorce. The alternating story is about this guy Konstantine Levin. He's also part of the upper class but prefers to live in the country. His whole story is that he proposes to a girl he loves, Kitty, she turns him down. He sulks for a few hundred pages. And then *spoiler* he proposes to her again, she accepts, they get married, have a baby, and Levin ponders a bunch of Russian political problems from the 1850's and tries to figure out the meaning of life. Around page 700 someone figures out that despite living in the same area and knowing the same people, Anna and Levin have never actually met. So they finally meet and have a nice chat.

The Anna storyline kept me interested most of the time. She's an interesting character and I'm sure people will have different opinions of her. I could see how that would make an interesting film. The Levin storyline is a bit on the boring side. There are endless discussions about Russian political and economic problems that I have no clue about. It gets a bit boring after awhile. It seems that much of the Levin story is actually based on Tolstoy's real life. So he pretty much throws in all of his political viewpoints into this story. I could care less about "the Serbian problem" or what kind of agreements landowners should make with peasants to tend to their land.

There are quite a few really good sequences, most notably the scene where Anna has a mental breakdown. That part of the book uses stream of consciousness to show her thoughts. I guess at the time this was considered pretty groundbreaking. I also liked the chapter where Levin's and Kitty's son is born. Overall it was enjoyable, but there were just a few too many political discussions that are completely irrelevant to me. Now I'll have to see the movie to compare it...

One last thing... the way Tolstoy describes Anna did not make me imagine Keira Knightley at all. Maybe I just have a bias against her, or maybe I just can't forget all of the horrible faces she made in A Dangerous Method.  A-

Fun Book #1- Peril In Paperback by Kate Carlisle

I took a break from The Count Of Monte Cristo to read Peril In Paperback by Kate Carlisle. This is the 5^th book in the Bilophie Series by Kate Carlisle and like the others was an enjoyable read. Brooklyn Wainwright is a book restorer that helps solve murder mysteries. She isn’t a detective for hire, just happens to be around when a murder is committed. In this novel she is up in Lake Tahoe celebrating her neighbor Suzie’s aunt Suzie's birthday. Her boyfriend Derek Stone is away for business, but her friend Gabriel is around to help solve the mystery. She is surrounded by the same people and I enjoyed the book, but it might be my least favorite so far. While it was a light fun read, it was a little too much of Brooklyn worrying about her boyfriend Derek. The setting of the Fun House was a little too far fetched too. It was just hard to visualize the mansion and I missed the lack of Derek (romance) and her parents in the book. There was one phone scene with her mother and father, but otherwise they were pretty much removed from the story. Overall I did enjoy the book and wish I didn’t have to wait until next year for the next installment- but since I still have at least 87 more books to read I guess waiting isn’t a bad thing.

A- 92%

Book #36 The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

Progress Book #13 of 100

This is the second time I’ve read this book. The first time was about 5 years ago, and I couldn’t put it down. It was the abridged version and I was very excited to see that it was on our list of 100. The story was so good I couldn’t wait to finish it and actually cheated in the last 100 pages. I had to see what happened and instead of reading the last 100 pages, I skipped ahead to the end to see how it turned out- don't worry I didn't do that this time. For this list, we got the unabridged version which is probably at least 300+ pages more than the abridged version. I thought the story would come back to me as soon as I started reading, and while I was able to remember a few things, most of the story seemed completely new. It’s a tale of injustice, deception and revenge. Edmond Dantes is a young naïve sailor publicly accused of sympathy towards Napoleon on his wedding day. His innocence is almost annoying, but I think Dumas was just showing the extremes of good and evil and how a person's character can change. Sentenced to prison, Dantes life is destroyed by jealous colleagues. In prison he befriends another prisoner Abbé Faria who opens his eyes to everything. He is taught languages, history, math, and most importantly the evil that exists in the world. With Faria’s help, he recalls every detail that brought him to prison and realizes that 4 of his colleague put in him prison. From that moment on, he is set on revenge against those who put him in jail. His goal is to ruin the men by destroying their lives.

I don’t want to give too much away, but this book isn’t all sad dark stories. There were honest sincere people in his life and while Edmond is bent on revenge against his enemies, he also helps save and elevate those who were his friends. One of the best stories (since there are many in this book) involves his old boss Morrel. Right before Morrel is about to lose everything Edmond arrives to save his company, family and name. Later he befriends Morrel's son Maximilian and continues to assist the Morrel family through everything. They are his adopted family and from them he has love.

The writing style was easy to read and straightforward, but sometimes I would get a little lost with all the characters. Edmond himself, has at least 4 different names and pretends to be different people. Even his title, The Count of Monte Cristo goes by a few different names. I found myself frequently re-reading sentences and paragraphs trying to figure out who was talking or who they were talking about. Also, the book is very long. With the abridged version I couldn’t put it done, this one took me 3-4 weeks to finish at 1065 pages. I didn’t skip ahead to the end this time and really enjoyed the story. It’s definitely one of the better books I’ve read on the list. With so much drama, how could you not enjoy it. I would recommend this book to anyone, but if you want a page turner just read the abridged version.

I give this an A: 95%

Book # 63 Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Since Halloween is this week, I figured I'd read one of the few horror novels on the list, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I didn't really know what to expect from Frankenstein the novel since everything I knew about the story had come from the classic 1931 film with Boris Karloff. I had also seen the 1994 film version by Kenneth Branagh. I'm sitting here re-watching that film right now since it has been 18 years since I've seen it and I remember almost nothing at all about it (it is available for free streaming on Crackle). After having read the book I can say that it is not at all like the 1931 film in almost any way. The 1994 version is more faithful, but is turning out to be such a bad movie that I wouldn't recommend it (Branagh is way too old to play the Victor Frankenstein that is described in the novel and overall it just seems poorly directed).

From the very start I was surprised by the novel. I skipped reading the lengthy introduction until after I finished the novel (I'll explain why I'll be doing this from now on in my next review) so I didn't have much of the background information about Mary Shelley while reading it. Her life story is pretty interesting filled with a bunch of tragedies; her mom died after giving birth to her, a couple of her kids died, and her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned. Plus, she wrote Frankenstein while she was just a teenager. Why can't teenagers today write novels this well?

So, the novel does share some similarities with the famous movie. In both a scientist named Frankenstein creates a monster, the monster gets out and kills some people and... that's about it. The novel is really about the pain Victor goes through for having created a monster that shouldn't exist as well as detailing the existential crisis of the creature. In the novel, Victor runs from his lab as soon as the creature comes to life out of fear of what he's done. When he returns the monster is gone and he doesn't know what became of it until a couple years later. The portrayal of the monster is totally different in the book. It is actually very smart, actually comments on how useful fire is, has long hair and is a vegetarian. So, the monster runs away, gets educated by watching people, and only turns evil when he realizes that he has been abandoned and that no one will ever love him. The monster then kills Victor's brother, frames a servant for it, and hides out until Victor is able to find him. When the monster is found by Victor he says

 "All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, they creature to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us. You purpose to kill me. How dare you sport thus with life? Do your duty towards me, and I will do mine towards the rest of mankind. If you will comply with my conditions, I will leave them and you at peace; but if you refuse, I will glut the maw of death, until it be satiated with the blood of your remaining friends."

He is a well spoken monster. So the monster tells Victor to create a female creature for him or he will go about killing everyone Victor loves. So much of the book is the thoughts of Victor trying to come to grips with having created a monster and whether or not he should create a second one so that his family can live in peace. There are no angry villagers with pitchforks at all!

Overall I really enjoyed reading it. The book was much more thoughtful than I had anticipated and has both psychological scares as well as some real ones (the monster does strangle a good number of people and is pretty decent at framing others for it). I don't think it'll crack my top 50; but it does deserve an A.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

When Lucinda first proposed creating this blog I thought it would be 100 reviews each and that would be it. A few months into it I realized that some of the items (such as the Harry Potter series and Remembrance of Things Past) would require separate reviews for each volume in the series, thus putting the number of reviews at 119. Now Lucinda tells me that she wants me to post a review for EVERY book I read. Forever. So now the number of book reports I've been assigned is open ended. Sigh...

So, before we started this blog I had heard about Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell and wanted to read it before the movie came out... but I got side-tracked with all of these 'classic' novels and forgot all about it until Lucinda insisted that I read a book not on the list just because she wanted to read a book not on the list also. I figured that I would like this book because the back cover compares the author to Nabakov, Haruki Murkami and Umberto Eco... all authors with books in my top 50. I also thought the structure of the novel sounded intriguing and would be something completely different. And it looked like the story would be something that tried to examine deep existential issues and would leave the reader with more questions than answers and be wide open to multiple interpretations.

It is a bit hard to quickly sum up the plot. There are six different stories with each of them being interrupted half way through and then finished in reverse order. So it goes story 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then 5,4,3,2,1. In the first half of each story (except the first one), the main character finds the first half of the story preceding it and at the end of their second half discovers the remaining half of the story that finished it. So the character in the second story finds the journal of the character in story one and in the second half of the second character's story he finds the last half of the journal of the character in the first story. The structure works for the most part and it is easier to follow than it is to explain.

The first two stories start out really well, so the first 100 pages are pretty excellent. The first story is about an accountant aboard a ship in the Pacific during the 1800's and the second story is about a musician in Europe during the early 1900's that begins helping an older composer with his work. Both start out very promising. The next two stories are just okay though. The third story is about a reporter in the 1970's trying to uncover a conspiracy about a nuclear power plant and the forth is a story set in the present about a publisher that gets stuck in an old folks home. Neither is bad, but neither is very original either. The fifth story is about a clone in a futuristic Korea which is decent sci-fi but nothing spectacular and the sixth story is about a tribe of people in a post-Apocalypse Hawaii. That story was pretty good.

I think that by the end I was just a tad disappointed since I had been anticipating reading this book for so long. I felt that the stories didn't really interconnect very well thematically and would have worked just as well individually. Except for the sixth story, none of the stories had much mysticism or anything surprising happen. Also, all of the stories resolved in a very concrete way and didn't leave much open to interpretation. I wouldn't compare it to a Murakami novel at all. I'd say that it was a bad thing that it didn't leave me scratching my head at the end (unlike every Murakami book I've read). In the end, it wasn't a weird trippy book at all. It was like expecting a David Lynch movie and getting Spielberg instead. I really shouldn't hold my expectations against the book though, and some parts were pretty good and the structure was pretty unique, so I'll give it a B.

Book # 27 - The Chronicles of Narnia (Part 1 of 7) - The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis

 A few of the 'books' on the top 100 list aren't really single books, but rather multi-volume series. I figure rather than going through an entire series all at once it would be better to break them up and read one part here and there. The first series I'm tackling is C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia.  Instead of reading them in publication order, I chose to read them in chronological order, thus starting with the 6th book published The Magician's Nephew which is pretty much a prequel to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

The story is nice and very self contained and an excellent place to start... especially since it explains how the witch got to Narnia, how Aslan the lion created Narnia, and why the wardrobe functions as the portal between here and Narnia.

I don't have anything negative to say about it at all. Maybe after Atlas Shrugged any book would have seemed great. The book is perfect for all ages, it is funny and whimsical and I'd think it would appeal to children and adults. It made me want to go right into the next book in the series, but I do want to pace myself on the series. I give it an A.

Book # 83 Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Part 1

At the time that I’m writing this part of my review of Atlas Shrugged I am only about 90 pages into it. It is a big giant book, and I’m sure it’ll take some time to get through, but I just wanted to put down some thoughts about it now. First off, I picked this as the next book to read because I had heard that it was Paul Ryan’s favorite book. He isn’t the type of politician I like. Not that I normally like politicians, but I’m starting to actively dislike him. So maybe if I could understand his favorite book I could get a better understanding of how he thinks. After reading just 6% of the book, it makes total sense that this would be his favorite book. I’ll get back to that…

Before I go on about Atlas Shrugged, I have to mention that I read The Fountainhead way back in high school.  I didn’t know anything at all about it or Ayn Rand and somehow I was informed that there was some type of scholarship offered for whoever could write the best essay about The Fountainhead and her philosophy of Objectivism; so then I ended up spending the whole of my spring break of my senior year reading that long long book. I thought the book had an interesting story and was very readable, but really the main character, Howard Roark, was a complete jerk and I totally hated him. I don’t remember what I wrote in that essay, but I couldn’t really get behind the whole idea of Objectivism and couldn’t get behind the type of point of view that would actually see Roark as a hero. He’s totally selfish and that selfishness just destroys things that could easily benefit other people with no cost to himself. So until I got assigned these 100 book reports, I had no intention of ever reading Atlas Shrugged. Oh yeah, the Ayn Rand Institute never acknowledged the essay I sent them. 

So after reading 90 pages I definitely have an opinion already. The writing style is enjoyable and the plot has potential. At this point in the novel it looks like there is something going on behind the scenes that the main characters don’t realize yet and I do want to know what happens next.  Also, the two main characters (so far) are well written and are well characterized. Both characters, Dagney Taggart and Hank Rearden, are very goal oriented, no nonsense, driven types of people and make for good protagonists. However, both characters are not particularly likable and I’m not really sure I want to see them succeed. I’m sure this is not Rand’s intention. She writes about them as if they are the most noble heroic business people ever and how their greed will save everything. But that isn’t the main thing that bothers me so far. What I find fascinating is the characterization of almost every other character. Either someone is a hard working intelligent capitalist that does what need to be done to succeed (which is just a handful of characters) or the character is written (without any sympathy) as someone who is either lazy, ungrateful, afraid of change, anti-capitalism, or just a drain on successful people. And the book is not at all subtle about this either. So this brings me back to Paul Ryan. If this is really his favorite book, is that how he sees most of society? Are people who rely on the government for something just a drain on successful capitalists and are they that way because they are lazy and not selfish enough? That is sort of the way that I perceive Ryan, so it makes total sense that he’d like this book. I totally disagree with this philosophy, but at least the plot is interesting so far. Now I need to read the next 1100 pages.

Part 2

I’m still reading… Right now I’m about 450 pages in. My impression is NOT improving. I will grant that the book has an interesting premise and the characters are fascinating in a weird way. The basic story is what would happen to society if all of the best and hardest working people in science and industry start disappearing and at the same time the government started over-regulating business so that it would be impossible for anyone to succeed more than anyone else. However Ayn Rand writes with such a chip on her shoulder that it is hard to enjoy the book and to see her radical point of view. She just seems so hostile to anyone that isn’t super smart or incredibly hard working to the point that they have no life outside of making money.  A few things… so far in the book whenever a great business man disappears he makes a point in completely destroying their business the day they vanish. It really seems like they do it to spite the world. It reminds me again of The Fountainhead when Roark destroys the buildings he designed just to satisfy his own ego. It wasn’t like he owned those properties, physically labored to construct them, or was one of the people that needed the housing to live in. His selfishness trumps all of these other parties’ interests and Rand celebrates him. So basically this same scenario happens over and over in Atlas Shrugged where the head owner of a business decides to quit and physically destroys his business out of spite and without care for employees that have devoted their time to help build it.  The next thing that bothers me is the plot where the government starts over-regulating everything to a ridiculous degree. The thing is that in the real world some people actually view any government regulation to be as horrible as it is in this book and that just isn’t the case. The regulations in the book don’t help competition at all because they protect no one and don’t allow ANYONE to succeed. We don’t live in a society where people would stand for this to happen, either on the left or the right side of politics.  Maybe if the setting wasn’t in America it would make more sense in the book, because basically the story is presenting a practically communist type of government and I find it impossible to find any correlations with what is happening in our country. Maybe people that actually think President Obama is a Socialist will really have fun and enjoy this book… however I’m not one of those people. Basically Rand’s philosophy goes beyond taking care of yourself before helping out others. It seems to include the right to destroy things you originally built that have grown with the help of others  if you want to. It would be as if a movie director could magically make all copies of a movie of his disappear just to satisfy himself…. forget about all of the people would also worked on the movie or paid for its production. Society just doesn’t stand for that to happen and shouldn’t. Just look at all the fuss people raise when George Lucas doesn’t release the original version of Star Wars on Blu-Ray. He may have created it, but in a way it belongs to the people now.

One final thing bothering me… Many of the scenes are dialogues between two characters where one is defending a sort of selfish point of view versus someone who disagrees and advocates sharing or helping others… and the arguments given by the “nice” person are always so stupid that no one in real life would actually make them. The other person’s rebuttal just seems to be against some argument that no one would actually make… I think most everyone agrees that people have the right to make money, succeed, not be forced to help others and earn a profit on their ideas.

Well I still have 700 more pages to go…. sigh…

 

Part 3

Now I’m 64% through and at the point where there secret “utopia” is revealed. 

So who lives in this utopia? A bunch of super rich guys… apparently without any family or women.

What do they have to vow to live there? To live only for their own interests and for no one else. 

Why are they so happy there? Because they are free to be as greedy as they want without being judged.

 

What do they spend their time doing? Complain about how sick they were of being taken advantage of by everyone in society. 

What are their plans? To get even richer by just trading gold for services between themselves.

Who is John Galt? A really smart guy that gets frustrated when his employer puts in place a really bad compensation package and decides to quit and take out his anger by creating an international conspiracy to destroy the economic infrastructure of the whole world out of spite.

Does this sound like something a Bond villain would do? Possibly… 

Is John Galt the villain of the book? Nope, somehow he’s the hero.

Is this book long and stupid? Yes.

Am I enjoying this book? No.

 

Part 4

This book would just not end… and the amount of plot does not justify the number of pages. So much space is devoted to Rand’s philosophy and it is never at all subtle. So after over 1000 pages, the character of John Galt shows up and makes a speech. It starts on page 1009 and continues without interruption up to page 1069. Yes, a 60+ page speech.

During these 60 pages we get another rehash of Rand’s philosophy… but this time she throws in a good bit of anti-religion stuff too. This epic rant includes things like how religious leaders just want power and don’t really care about people, how when people act compassionately they aren’t really doing it out of the goodness of their heart but out of guilt, how love isn’t real and on and on…

After this speech the following things happen… Dagney murders a guard because he can’t make up his mind (and she’s the heroine?); her brother goes crazy because he realized that he never really wanted to help people at all and actually just wanted to destroy the successful people; John Galt shows how un-American he is by not helping his country at all; and as the “heroes” fly over New York and see that it has basically been destroyed and they celebrate that fact. And to top it all off Rand doesn’t tell us which guy Dagney ends up with.

 I’ve gotta say I’d never vote for someone that said that this is his favorite book. The grade is easily a big ol’ F.

Book # 91 The Call of the Wild by Jack London

Progress Book 12 of 100

I think we had to read White Fang by Jack London in school and know I saw the movie when I was little. I remember that story fondly and expected The Call of the Wild to be a short enjoyable story and it was. The Call of the Wild is about a dog named Buck who is kidnapped from his life of privilege and sold to work in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. At the beginning Buck leads a happy life on the ranch of a Judge- he is content. Then is kidnapped and for the first time beaten into submission. The new owners are strangers and completely foreign to his way of life. He is quickly shipped to the wilderness and sold to two government workers setting up the mail system. From the two men, Buck learns that his new role in life is to be a part of a dog sled team. His new owners are fair and teach him how to adjust to the new life. Buck quickly picks up on how to survive and starts to feel The Call of The Wild. His natural instincts are to be the leader and he soon becomes the leader. By the time they arrive at their destination, Buck has become the leader of the sled and has learned to survive and endure.

The sled team is then put to work delivering mail all over the wilderness. They work with many different humans and are pushed beyond their capabilities. At the end of the mail season instead of getting a rest they are sold to a family- 1 woman and 2 men in search of gold, with no idea of what they are doing. They mistreat the dogs and when he can run no longer Buck is beaten. An onlooker Mr. Thorton, saves Bucks life and a strong bond grows between them. Buck saves Mr. Thorton’s life and becomes a legend. During this time Buck’s instinct becomes even more connected to the wild and his wolf cousins. In the end Buck joins the wild wolves to fulfill his destiny.

I really enjoyed this book- it was one of my favorites so far. I will give it an A 96%

Book # 82 A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

Progress Book 11 of 100

After reading Daniel’s review of this novel I was a little intrigued. He has never mentioned wanting to punch someone before. Then we saw the preview for a film called Silver Linings Playbook. In this preview Bradly Cooper is outraged and breaks a window due to this book. With my sharp detective skills and Daniel making me promise not to skip ahead and glance at the end of the book (I’ve done that before) I knew something crazy must happen at the end. So once I finally finished The Sound And The Fury I knew this was the next book that I needed to read.

After reading The Sound and The Fury I really appreciated how this story is told in chronological order. The writing style is direct and to the point. He writes with very short sentences. I saw this in The Old Man and the Sea, but since that was such a short book- I didn’t notice it as much. It was definitely more apparent in this novel and was something that I enjoyed after my last book. I think I am becoming a Hemingway fan.

The novel is set in Italy in WWI and tell the story of an American who joins the Italian forces as an ambulance driver. He meets a woman, falls in love, is injured, recovers, and gets sent back to war, leaves and finds his love and that’s all I’ll reveal. It’s a classic tragic war love story. I definitely enjoyed the book and will give it an A 94%

Book # 24 The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

Progress book 10 of 100

 

This was the most challenging book to read so far on the list. The story is about the Compson Family, a formerly wealthy family from the south who seem to be doomed to sadness by the choices they make. It’s definitely not a happy story. There are 4 parts and an appendix, so in total about 5 sections of the book. Each of the 4 parts is told from a different character’s point of view. The writing style was very confusing and I was mostly lost during the first two parts. This book took 2-3 weeks to read. I just got distracted by other things and didn’t pick it up for a week. Since each part is told from a different point of view and starts with a different date you already have to be ready for changes, but in addition to that, Mr. Faulkner frequently goes back to the past tense and changes the story timeline without the reader knowing. He also likes to write in that stream of consciousness style that just goes on and on and on.

Part 1 was told from Benjy’s point of view. He is the youngest Compson sibling that has autism and as the author states he is 33 years old, but has the mind of a 3 year old. His point of view jumps from present to past in and out constantly. Through him we are introduced to the family- His father, mother- Mrs. Compson, sister Caddy and brothers Quentin and Jason, the family maid Dilsey and Benjy’s keeper Luster. Once I finished the complete novel, parts of this section became clearer. In it you see that Caddy really loves her brothers Quentin and Benjy. We also get to see how Mrs. Compson is constantly complaining of being sick and how the children are really brought up by their maid Dilsey. In one of the scenes, there were so many it’s hard to remember which part it took place in, Dilsey makes Benjy a birthday cake from her own earnings. As they are celebrating Mrs. Compson catches them and tells Dilsey to throw it out and stop feeding Benjy trash. It’s pretty sad and emphasizes the opposite feelings of both characters. On one side you have Dilsey, who uses her own money to buy cake mix and make Benjy a birthday cake to celebrate his birthday. On the other side of the spectrum you have the mother who is bothered by Benjy’s uncontrollable noises and emotions, yelling at Dilsey while complaining about her own helpless sick situation. The mother does nothing to gain any sympathy- more on that later.

Part 2 is told from Quentin’s point of view following him a day in his life at Harvard. This part is also really confusing- the writing style follows his mental breakdown and is not straightforward or clear. From this section I just remember that he goes on a long walk and ends up in a small town. At the bakery he befriends a little Italian girl and buys her some sweet treats. She then shadows him all day long, and he tries to get rid of her, but she won’t leave him. Subsequently her brother charges Quentin with kidnapping and he is forced to pay bail all because she wouldn’t leave him alone. I did feel sympathy towards Quentin. He was heartbroken over his sister Caddy’s situation and lost.

Part 3 is the first section that is mostly straight forward and way easier to understand. It’s told from the point of view of Jason. Jason has become the head of the family after his father passed away. He works to support his mother who is always sick, Caddy’s daughter Quentin, and his brother Benjy. Jason is not a nice person. As a reader we should feel sympathy for him since he was the odd one out in the family, never really close to his sister and brother Caddy and Quentin and not given the opportunity to go to Harvard like Quentin, but we do not. He steals the money Caddy sends for her daughter. He is always complaining of all the sacrifices he has made for his family. In a way he is really like the mother always saying poor me, the only difference is he goes to work. In one memorable scene Jason received a free pair of tickets to a show in town. All day long Luster has been looking for a quarter to go to that show (since part one of the novel.) Jason tells Luster that he will sell him a ticket for 5¢ knowing Luster doesn’t have the money. Jason then burns both tickets in the stove, one by one, right in front of Luster. This type of torment and torture are great examples of Jason’s evil character.

Part 4 is the final section and told to show Disley’s life with the Compson’s. From it you see that she basically helps the family survive. She cooks, takes care of everyone and seems to be pretty content with life. On this final day of the book she takes Benjy to church for Easter services while Jason is running after Quentin and Mrs. Compson stays sick in bed. One of the most memorable scenes that sticks out from this section involves Mrs. Compson and Dilsey. When Dilsey gets home to find Mrs. Compson still in bed and Mrs. Compson has Dilsey bring her the Bible which fell to the floor from the edge of the bed. Mrs. Compson yells at Dilsey to place the book in a different spot because it would just fall again and then she might have to get out of bed to pick it up. When Dilsey offers to open some windows to give her light she doesn’t want it. Mrs. Compson wants to have the Bible around, but doesn’t want to read it. I could not relate or understand her character except to say that she was not likable and seemed to do nothing to help her family in anyway.

The appendix summarized each character and I was happy to see how a few of them turned up, and see that Jason did get a little of what he deserved.

I read somewhere that this story was suppose to show the decline and fall of a wealthy southern family- in my opinion it does. I couldn’t relate or feel sympathy for anyone. I usually like novels with clear protagonists and people you root for. This story did not have one. I’m interested to see if anyone else has read this- what do you think?

I’ll give the book a 84% B (it is a classic)

Book # 79 Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery - A Second Opinion

Anne of Green Gables is one of those books where I know I'm not now, ever have been, or ever will be part of the target audience. So really my opinion doesn't matter too much here. I know my wife loved it, probably because she first read it when she was a little girl. I can say I enjoyed it somewhat and I was interested in finding out what would happen in the end, but really it is a book intended for little girls... and I guess on that level it is pretty good.

Anne is an interesting character though after a couple hundred pages of her jabbering on and on about what happended to her I just wanted it to end. I also found the style slightly distracting. The book is written in third person, but most of Anne's adventures aren't really presented that way. Each chapter starts out with a bit of set up and then instead of finding out what happens in the third person narrative the action skips to Anne getting home and then Anne telling her adopted mother what happened. Usually this results in a paragraph that is at least an entire page in which Anne just talks and talks and talks.

It won't crack my top 50, but I'll give it an A, because if I don't Lucinda will bug me about it.

Book # 86 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Progress book 9 of 100

If you want a quick read, pick this novel.  At only 127 pages I was able to read it in a few hours.  The story is of an old man, a fisherman in Cuba.  He has gone 84 days without catching any fish and feels like his luck is going to change.  I don’t want to give too much away, but would definitely recommend this book to anyone.  Unlike The Age of Innocence, this is a novel that you really cheer for the protagonist.  You want him to catch a fish and succeed. 

The writing style really made me feel like I was out on his little boat with him, thirsty with the hot sun beating down.   I was reading this pretty late at night and was so engaged that a noise from the kitchen made me up out of the sofa- I thought a shark was attacking me!  This is the first book by I’ve ready by Ernest Hemingway and it didn’t make me want to go back in time and punch him, like Daniel mentions below after he read A Farewell to Arms. I rate this a 94% solid A.

Book #54 The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Progress Book 8 of 100

This book is about the strict rules and standards of New York Society in the late 1800’s.  The novel follows the life of Newland Archer as he becomes engaged to May Welland.  The moment they are engaged, May’s cousin Countess Ellen Olenska arrives in New York after leaving her husband in Europe.  Society in those days did not tolerate divorce or scandal, so Ellen quickly becomes the black sheep of the family.  Newland is a strict believer of following the strict rules of society and quickly judges May as someone bad.  Everything changes when they meet, he starts to fall in love with her and appreciates her thoughts and knowledge, quickly comparing her with his fiancé May and often puts May’s character down.  He sees nothing that grand in May and still marries her, all the while pining for Ellen.  This is the whole story.

The style of Edith Wharton didn’t make this book a quick read, despite the fact that it’s only 235 pages.  Often times Ms. Wharton would set up a scene and then the next chapter would be a whole new scene/setting.  I guess this was done to give readers a chance to image what they want to.  The book spans a few years time, and then jumps 26 years to the conclusion.  Newland’s torment and agony of not being with Ellen and then being with Ellen (almos) was not that interesting to me.  I didn’t like his character and didn’t enjoy the book very much.  I guess you are suppose to sympathize with May, and I did, but even though she was shown to be cleverer than Newland thought, it was just too much that she had to hide it and be the perfect wife and perfect front.  If Ms. Wharton was trying to explain how rigid society was, she did a good job- since I didn’t feel that close to any of the characters and didn’t mind to see how they ended up.    

I give this an 82%, B-