2012 Challenges, Books

Book 120: The Phantom of Pemberley – Regina Jeffers

Yay for a quick enthralling read! We all know I discovered a love for Jane Austen fan-fiction last year and picked up quite a few volumes at the time. Some I was (and still am) not so sure about and this is one of those. I’m not quite so sure about this one, but at least it counts towards my Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

The major plus to this novel is that the story itself was gripping enough to keep me interested and there was just enough of a plot twist to make me constantly second guess what I deduced early on. The downside to the novel itself was Jeffers writing. Although she tells a captivating story, I wasn’t quite convinced that it was regency era enough for me. It definitely brought in the seedier side of things, but the language and revelations of the story just didn’t have the eloquence which Austen’s originals had. And the quoting was sometimes a bit erratic, like ‘Oh I think I’ll throw in a Pride and Prejudice quote here. And the WORST part was that she even through in an entire scene/section that was pulled directly out of Mansfield Park which really bothered me for some reason.

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Book Group, Books, The Classics Club

Book 118: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson

Congratulations Hollywood and hype! I had no idea how simple and eloquently written this novella is. From the few adaptations I’ve seen the bits of and the general idea of the story I’ve gleaned over the years I thought it was a much more over the top, dramatic and violent story. I’m not completely wrong, but I definitely had more action in my mind, but I can now remind myself it Stevenson wrote, and set the novella, in the late 1800s. (Part of this may be I feel I was merging Frankenstein and this novel together in my head, but who knows.)

This book is for my Books into Movies book group at my local library and conveniently also counts for one of my 100 books for The Classics Club! I’m holding my breath book group is better than last month. I don’t think there’s anything too contentious in this novel, but who knows with book group.

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Book Group, Books

Book 113: Dances with Wolves – Michael Blake

This is one of those few books recently that is not involved with a challenge, but I did read it for my Books into Movies book group. Overall I enjoyed the book, the film was so-so and I was incredibly disturbed/upset by the book group discussion.

As usual I won’t talk much about the plot or the characters, but I will give my reactions in three parts 1) the book, 2) the movie, and 3) my reactions to the book group discussion.

The Book
I was surprised I enjoyed the book as much as I did. I would not have gone out of my way to read it, but as usual, I’m glad I read it. It was beautifully written and I thought it captured the magnificence of the open plains and the west before expansion. The story itself was believable, but it was a bit of a stretch. Not knowing much about the time period or the people I can’t say for certain it could have happened or that similar things didn’t happen.

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Books

Book 112: The Book Thief – Markus Zusak

This is one of those situations where I’m glad I don’t read the backs of books carefully each time before I start reading a book. I went to the library knowing there was a book about a book thief I wanted to read. I assumed this, The Book Thief, was the correct title as a few people have blogged about it recently and I’ve a friend who also recommended it…

About a quarter of the way through the book I realized this was definitely not the book I thought it was, but kept reading. Whoops! When I finished The Book Thief I went back to my handy list of books to-be-read and found the book I planned on reading was actually called The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett. A stretch, but same basic premise – a person who steals books – but completely different stories and tales.

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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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