Book # 31 Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

For a brief period of time in the early nineties if you'd ask me what my favorite book was I would probably have said Great Expectations. While it isn't at the top of my list now, I discovered that I still really enjoyed it. After twenty years I also found that I remembered only the basic outline of the story.

The novel starts out with the main character, Pip, as a small child. He is being raised by his older sister and her husband Joe who is a blacksmith. One night while wondering around the marshes on the outskirts of their town he encounters the escaped convict, Magwitch. The convict threatens Pip if he doesn't help him get some food. Pip complies and tries to help Magwitch, but he is soon recaptured anyway. A few years later Pip is sent to spend time visiting with Miss Havisham and her adopted daughter Estella. Miss Havisham is an old shut-in and goes about her giant house in a tattered wedding dress. Pip quickly falls in love with Estella even though she is cold and condescending to him. A few years after this Pip learns that someone has decided to make him "a gentleman" and begins sending him money so that he can become educated and move into a higher social class. The person helping Pip remains anonymous, but Pip always assumes that it is Miss Havisham and that she plans to marry off Estella to him. After a couple of years making new friends and leaving his old ways behind, Pip finally learns who is behind the money. This revelation is a total shock to Pip.

Now I don't really want to give anything away so I'll just leave it at that. I'm curious if when I first read the book if I figured out who the secret person was before it was revealed. Knowing that all of Pip's assumptions are wrong made me feel bad for him. He really has no evidence that Miss Havisham is helping him and she takes advantage of this and lets him think whatever he wants.  The lesson to be learned here is probably that someone shouldn't make assumptions about the quality of a person based on their social standing.

Dickens' style took a little bit of getting used to. His writing doesn't really lend itself to quick reading, but rather the reader needs to take their time and really absorb all of the details that Dickens throws at the reader. I also liked how the title can be looked at in different ways. When Pip is told that he is to be "a gentleman" he thinks that he has 'great expectations' put on his future to make something of himself by his benefactor. But also at the same time Pip places 'great expectations' on what he expects from Miss Havisham and Estella. In the end both sets of expectations are not met.

The only odd thing is that Pip at one point discovers that the stories of two main characters that don't know each other intersect in  multiple ways... yet neither character learns about this and Pip does very little with the information. Also Pip learns who Estella's real mother is but never tells anyone about it.

Great Expectations stays in my top 50 and gets an A.

Book # 62 His Dark Materials Book 3: The Amber Spyglass

Progress Book # 19 of 100

With the powers of the knife and alethiometer the adventure of Lyra and Will continues in this 3^rd and final novel in the series.  This book is longer than the other two and I was a little worried I wouldn’t enjoy it as much as the first novel.  There were a few main differences between this one and the second.  Mainly this novel has more of the original characters including the bear Iorek, Roger, and the Gyptians.  There are also angels and little people called Gallivespian spies (I imagine they are like Thumbelina’s size) that they encounter and meet along the way.  Each is much more interesting and exciting than anything introduced in the 2^nd novel.  Some of the parts were a little long, especially when they venture to the world of the dead, but overall the novel was enjoyable.  It tied up most of the loose ends, and I look forward to the next novel to help finish Will and Lyra’s love story.  Oh yeah, forgot to mention they fall in love.  It was fun to read that during this novel.   I also enjoyed how Lyra was able to send Roger off in a happy peaceful ending.  I was bothered at his demise in the first novel. After reading it I had to ask Daniel if Roger died because I didn’t want to believe that it happened.

As in the first two novels, Pullman continues sacrificing characters in this battle of good vs. evil and as suspected good wins.  It satisfied my expectations and left me wanting more.  Once I’m done with the 100 novels I may try and read the next book called Lyra’s Oxford.

I’ll give this book a A 93%

 

Book # 62 His Dark Materials Book 2: The Subtle Knife

Progress Book # 18.66 of 100

At the end of The Golden Compass Lrya goes through the portal Lord Asriel has opened into different worlds.  This book opens to a different world that is basically like our world and a new character a little boy named Will.  We are introduced to Will as he is taking his mother to an old friend to hide her from some bad people looking for them.  Once that is done, Will returns to his home and gets his father’s journal.  His father disappeared shortly after Will was born and Will knows he has to figure out what happened so he can save his mother and escape from the men who are looking for him.  While on the run Will notices something strange in the air and discovers a portal to another world called Cittàgazze.  In Cittàgazze Will meets the wandering Lyra.  After an edgy meeting Will shows Lyra how to cook and they start to become friends.  Lyra’s alethiometer tells her she must help Will find his father and their adventure together begins.

Will brings Lyra back to his world where she meets a scholar Dr. Mary Malone and learns that in Will’s world people are studying dust too.  In Will’s world the alethiometer is stolen by Lord Boreal and held for ransom, he will only return the alethiometer if Will and Lyra steal a knife in Cittàgazze.  When they steal the knife Will becomes the next owner and looses two fingers.  They learn that this knife will open portals to other worlds and his severed hand can close the open portals.  With the knife Will and Lyra steal back the alethiometer and go back to Cittàgazze and their adventure continues.

While I enjoyed this book, I didn’t think it was as good as the first novel of the series.  The religious viewpoints become more dominate in this story.  At one point Dr. Mary learns that Lyra is the next Eve and the whole of humanity in all the different worlds will depend on her.  Dr. Mary herself will be the serpent tempting Lyra.  I enjoyed the adventure of the first book and felt that this one was missing a lot of action.  They kept moving back and forth between worlds, but it just seemed like a slower read.  I did enjoy seeing the return of cowboy Lee Scoresby and the witch Serafina and wished they were more in the book. 

I’ll give this book a B 87%   

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%