2012 Challenges, Books, The Classics Club

Book 108: Agnes Grey – Anne Brontë

A love story to make you smile. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Agnes Grey and although it was somewhat predictable, I felt it was well written and worthy of its place in the Brontë compendium. (Not the right word, someone help me!)

Reading Agnes Grey has even inspired me to follow it up with The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne’s second novel. Agnes Grey counts for both my Mount TBR Challenge (13 of 25 – 52%) and The Classics Club (3 of 85 – 4%).

Let’s start with the end. I rarely leave the last line of a novel uncovered because it might hint at something, but this one doesn’t reveal anything and it was so finite that it just made me laugh and truly appreciate the way in which Anne Brontë wrote the novel.

“And now I think I have said sufficient.”

The finiteness of this line is perfect. It doesn’t allow for conversation or for interpretation – it says what it means and closes the novel succinctly. I feel as if I should close all of my email sand blog posts with said line, as it’s so cheeky and yet, somewhat humorously, sufficient.

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2012 Challenges, Books

Book 107: Dogeaters – Jessica Hagedorn

One part telenovela, one part newspaper serial, one part culture clash and one part comedy of errors, Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn was definitely one of the most interesting books I’ve read this year. Winner of the American Book Award and nominated for the National Book Award in 1991, Dogeaters is definitely a unique introduction to the Philippines.

The novel reminded me a lot of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series in it’s breath of coverage and it’s fast paced serialized type chapters. Although I can only remember a few of the character’s names and hardly any of the specifics of the novel – the stereotypes of Filipino culture and the obsession with American pop-culture definitely came across strong and somewhat overwhelming at times. It didn’t help that a lot of the cultural references were a little too specific and a little too dated for me to fully understand them.

Where Hagedorn really grabs the reader is with her caricatures — her over the top descriptions and dialogues. From the hustling DJ Joey to the various rich and pseudo-rich heiresses the characters are definitely interesting and lively. One scene that stands out is when the President’s wife is giving an interview to an American reporter and her stories and reactions and the descriptions of her and her actions are captivating.

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Updates

Lunch Break Interlude II

So it never fails that as soon as I post an update about what I’ve been up-to I realize there’s more to add! I could do a weekly recap or even stick to a monthly update – but I know I won’t.* Instead you get these random clumps of posts which are sort of like my personality – intense one minute and completely withdrawn the next. If you’re interested in my internal dialogue read the end of this post – if not just read the next two paragraphs 😀

I mentioned this in the April Update, but two weekends ago Tom and I took his nieces and met my sister to paint pottery.  Well, we were able to pick up our pottery this past weekend and the picture is to the left! 1) It’s a picture using Instagram on my new iPhone I got that weekend; and 2) it’s inspired by UNC – if you can’t tell from the colors. We went up for another reason, but I have to wait to post that picture.

We again stopped by the Used Book Superstore as they were having another great sale!(40% off all used books – and 50% if you used your own bag or didn’t need a bag.) I was very good and made a list of books to look for and only purchased three.  Michael Blakes’ Dances with Wolves for May Book Group and George Orwell’s 1984 and Aristophanes’ Lysistrata and Other Plays for my Back to the Classics and The Classics Club Challenges.

Other than that – I’ve just been chugging along.  I’m most of the way through Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn and am debating on what to read next. I really want to re-read The Hunger Games and Harry Potter, but think I might save those for summer reading by the lake.

Click here to read my aside…

Book Group, Books

Book 106: First Blood – David Morrell

Everybody loves a quick read, whether it’s because it’s light or because it’s well written everyone loves one! I would not have gone out of my way to read this book, especially with the cover looking as it does, but my Books into Movies book group chose to read it and here it is. As usual it will be very interesting to hear what book group has to say about the novel and the characters!

Taking place over a span of 3-4 days we follow John Rambo, a former Marine back from Vietnam, and Will Teasle, a veteran of the Korean war, and their battle in Kentucky. The premise makes sense – a soldier with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is picked up for being a vagrant and when pushed around a bit too much he snaps. And the mayhem that follows is what this book is all about.

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2012 Challenges, Books, Quotes, The Classics Club

Book 105: Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell

Well I survived the slog. At points I honestly didn’t think I would get through the novel and really should have waited having just finished the five books of Martin’s epic saga, but I did and I didn’t. It took me nearly three weeks to read the novel (which, yes I know, isn’t a lot of time for some people – but it was never-ending for me), and they were three very long weeks.

Counting for the Back to the Classics Reading Challenge, the Tea and Books Reading Challenge and The Classics Club, I am definitely glad I read the novel (aside from the story of course) because it puts me that much closer to my yearly goals! Technically I’ve finished the Tea and Books reading challenge (my original goal was Earl Grey Aficionado, or six books) but I upgraded last month to the Sencha Connoisseur level which is eight books.

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