3 Stars. The Screwtape Letters is honestly not the kind of book I would choose on my own but it filled a reading challenge prompt, I love Narnia, and one of my old bosses recommended it to me years ago. So my review should be read with that in mind. This just was not the book for me. I’m a fast reader and simply cannot bring [...]
4.5 Stars. Oh my goodness. Why do we pay less attention to Anne Brontë than the other sisters? I liked this book infinitely more than Wuthering Heights! I’ll still give Jane Eyre the edge as my favorite book by a Brontë, but it’s a closer thing than I expected. Anne wrote both a captivating story and a searing indictment of “bad boys” and [..
3 Stars. I read one of Ms. Birds earlier books, Adventures in the Rocky Mountains, during my blogging break and quite enjoyed it. I could only admire a woman who, in Victorian times, not only traveled alone, but managed to summit Longs Peak in a dress. When I needed a travel book as part of the 20201 Nonfiction Challenge, Ms. [...]
We meet Lizzie and her sister Emma shortly after the notorious murder of their father and stepmother. The women are living in fear of an unnamed horror that is taking over their hometown. They're trying to research it and combat it as best they can but Emma is an invalid and Lizzie is--well, notorious Lizzie Borden. The horrors [...]
4.5 Stars. This is another desperate end-of-year reading challenge grab that paid off. I'd never even heard of this book but I started trolling through an "Epistolary novel" list, comparing it to what was available as an audio download from my library, and landed on this. I loved it. I don't know exactly what my reaction would [...]
A successful WWII columnist, Juliet Ashton, has just published a collection of her popular wartime columns. But now she's looking to write a "meatier" book, she just can't find a topic she wants to live with throughout years of research. Then she receives a letter from Dawsey Adams, a native of Guernsey. He shares with her that her copy of Charles Lamb's book, The Selected Essays of Elia, helped him throughout the Nazi occupation of his island and asks her to help him find more of Lamb's writing. A correspondence begins between Juliet and Dawsey, and ultimately the other members of his book club. The characters in this book were wonderful. I was in love with all of them. They weren't all book lovers when the war started, but by the end, they had experienced how books can make the unbearable a little more bearable. The letter format lets you know the characters more intimately. I think that, other than the characters, what made this book really click with me was that it was obviously written by a book lover for book lovers. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book: "Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books." "Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers." "It was amazing to me then, and still is, that so many people who wander into bookshops don't really know what they're after--they only want to look around and hope to see a book that will strike their fancy. And then, being bright enough not to trust the publisher's blurb, they will ask the book clerk the three questions: (1) What is it about? (2) Have you read it? (3) Was it any good?" "Because there is nothing I would…
Writer and bibliophile Helene Hanff strikes up a friendship through correspondence with the staff of a used bookshop in London. I think my expectations were too high. I remember other readers telling me, "Oh, if you liked The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, you will absolutely love 84, Charing Cross Road." Well, I absolutely loved Guernsey, so there wasn't really any room for me to like something more. Disappointment was inevitable. Letters were obviously left out, and I found myself wondering what was going on in between the published letters. There would be a reference to "your last letter" and I wondered what had been said in it. I was a little taken aback by how quickly the author took such a familiar tone with the reserved "Brits." I can't imagine writing "WHAT KIND OF A BLACK PROTESTANT BIBLE IS THIS?" in my second letter to a business. Not if I was truly upset, and definitely not in a teasing manner. I thought it got repetitive. "Do you have this book? Why not? What's that in dollars? Glad you liked the food I sent. Maybe I'll get over there someday." That's about it. I don't think I've read, or even heard of, most of the books that the author wants to buy. I appreciate that she's a voracious reader, but we apparently have 0 books in common. It was hard to stir up much interest in that. I did like that books united such far-flung people. I'm sitting here thinking about a quote by Emerson that says something like "I can't be truly alone when I'm surrounded by books." He was using that as an argument to get out in nature, but that can be a comforting thought as well. Not only am I as a reader sharing…
Celie is only a young teen when her stepfather marries her off to their widowed acquaintance, Albert. Celie is little more than a slave to the family. Albert has several spoiled children who terrorize her and he regularly beats her himself. Celie just puts her head down, writes letters to God, and tries to go unnoticed. As time goes by, Celie loses contact with her beloved sister, Nettie. She starts writing letters to Nettie as well, but she never hears back. Then Albert moves his ailing lover, blues singer Shug Avery, into the house and expects Celie to take care of her. Far from feeling jealous of Shug, Celie is relieved that someone is there to deflect Albert's attention from her. The women become friends and Celie realizes how much more there is to life than what she's getting out of it. I read this in order to have a review ready for Banned Books Week. I'm not sure what on earth possessed me to buy it at a library book sale. I've always been a little afraid of it, ever since hearing my grandmother talk about the movie years ago: "Oprah wasn't going to let that man beat on her." Wife abuse. Not exactly my cup of tea. I was surprised to find myself loving the book. I was taken aback in the very first pages, I'll admit. Rape and beatings and killing babies, and all of this happening to a 14-year-old girl. I didn't know if I was going to be able to finish it. I'm so glad I stuck with it. You see, Celie is not obviously a strong person. She is a survivor, but she doesn't really thrive. She just gets by. Watching her come into her own and become a woman to be reckoned with…
I have somehow never seen "Bram Stoker's Dracula" or any of the other movie incarnations of this book. In fact, I was surprised to read the back cover of this book and find out that the book is about Dracula moving to Enland to set up shop. So, I had no expectations going into it. Overall, I enjoyed the book. It's written in a journal/letter style, which I (mostly) liked and found interesting. I liked seeing what was going on with the main characters as we went along. The voices of the narrators kind of all blended together though. Mina was different, but Jonathan and Dr. Seward were pretty interchangeable for me. If there wasn't a clue in the content, I very often had to flip back to see which one was supposed to be writing this section. And I thought Van Helsing's "accent" was terrible! This intelligent physician/lawyer makes some horrible grammar and syntax mistakes that didn't come across as real to me. Granted, I'm not an expert at that kind of thing, but there's my opinon. Speaking of characters--the characters in this book were all (with the obvious exception of the vampires) too noble and good for words. A typical, paraphrased conversation between characters (I think spoiler free): "If I should show signs of becoming a vampire, give me your oath that you will do the honorable thing and destroy me in the appropriate way." "I would lay down my very life to prevent such a thing from happening, but if it should, I would gladly fulfill such a duty to you, in order that you might go to your eternal reward in Heaven." Is this for real? Okay, the book's over a hundred years old, but still... Now for my big pet peeve: the way Mina is…