Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold

Every once in a while it is nice to just get a book/author recommendation and go ahead and read it right away instead of filing it into my internal "to read someday" list (which is always growing). So my uncle recommended the books of Lois McMaster Bujold and I picked up Falling Free to give her a shot. Overall I enjoyed it - maybe partially because I hadn't read a sci-fi book in awhile. And like most good sci-fi it tells a story about relevant topics (in this case the rights of a subjugated group and standing up to make a difference within an impersonal corporation). Maybe if I get a chance I'll read the next book in the series. B+

Book # 68 - The Portrait of a Lady - by Henry James

 

Well I guess The Portrait of a Lady was okay... Let's say B+. It is probably one of those novels that is better if you really read it carefully and try to eek out as much as you can from the text. My main complaint is that it totally does not resolve the main issue from the second half of the novel. It just ends before the main character makes her choice of what to do next. ARGH!

Horror Book # 19 - Carrie by Stephen King

When I was a teenager my dad showed me the film version of Carrie. I think he forgot how the movie began. Anyway, I enjoyed the book. Maybe because it was fairly short and really zipped along. A.

Book # 55 - A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

 In high school I read A Tale of Two Cities and going into it I couldn't really remember what the plot was. I did remember a number of scenes though... and this led me to the conclusion that the whole book is kinda oddly put together without a real central protagonist or main plot. The main problem that Darnay finds himself in doesn't even crop up until over half way through the novel. Anyway I still enjoyed it even though it seemed to me like I barely "knew" the characters. A-

Book # 77 Persuasion by Jane Austen

I'm not sure what to say about Persuasion...  I enjoyed Austen's style and the insight into the thoughts of the main character was interesting but I found that her passivity made the story a bit uninteresting. Really the "protagonist" does nothing proactive the entire novel - just luckily everything works out for her in the end without her really doing anything. B+

Book # 43 - The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

 You know I read The Sun Also Rises back in my twenties. I didn't really care for it back then. Reading it now in my forties "maybe" I understand the characters a bit better but still.... I don't care for it. At least it is an easy read. It has that going for it. B-

Book # 87 - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

Going into Tom Jones I didn't really expect too much. I saw the movie almost thirty years ago and remember nothing at all about it. Maybe I just expected a book from the 1740's to be a bit boring. Anyway, it turned out to be quite funny and very much a page turner. It was certainly influenced by Don Quixote which it even name-checks. Except for some spelling it doesn't read like a book that his 270 years old. Easily an A.