I guess I spoke a couple chapters too soon. This book is getting better. Since last entry, Jane and Rochester have become romantically involved, been engaged, and I am just now to the part where she is refusing him after finding out about the insane wife in the attic. Ridiculous, Charlotte Bronte, but exciting nonetheless. I'm not sure I would have come up with crazy lady in the attic as part of any plot but perhaps I am just not that creative. In any case, this book is much better now and has captured my interest.
I just thought I'd update to take back what I said before, but as I still have 175 pages to go, and I'm determined to finish before tomorrow at noon (when I leave for new years festivities) I'm off to attempt to finish.
HAPPY NEW YEARS!!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Jane Eyre: 29%
Honestly, I'm a little disappointed by this book so far.
All the things I've heard about Jane Eyre, the number of people who actually like it because they have read it and not just seen the movie (did somebody say Pride and Prejudice?) I really expected to like this book by now.
To be fair, it's not an extremely difficult read, and I have read up to this point before. (The book was assigned to me in high school and I read about this far before getting too busy to continue). I remember liking the book when I read it before. However, I would have expected some sort of plot to develop by now.
Normally, I am the kind of reader and movie-watcher who loves a whole lot of nothing. For example, my favorite movie of all time is It's A Wonderful Life. Now, many people have seen this movie and probably if you haven't see the whole thing, you've seen the end. For me the real end is the last 10 minutes, but the end portion, the part with Clarence the angel, lasts about 40 minutes or so. In this part, Clarence shows George what the world would be like without him. This really is the only part of the movie with a plot. The rest of the movie (the 1+ hours) chronicles George's life from a young boy to a middle aged married man, including his marriage and his career. However, watching that part of the movie is like watching someone's life pass before your eyes. Don't get me wrong, I love the whole thing because you really need the beginning to appreciate the end. In general, movies like this are really the kind that I like. Others include Big Fish and Forrest Gump.
The beginning section of this book is reminding me of the beginning of It's A Wonderful Life, except that I am not sure what the point of the beginning is. There were many chapters documenting Jane's years at Lowood that were not all that influential as of yet. I'm hoping things pick up since I know that this story eventually becomes a love story between Jane and Rochester, but seeing as how Jane just met Rochester that obviously hasn't happened yet. I'll keep going though and see how things turn out in the next few chapters.
And hopefully I can finish today or tomorrow and bring my 2010 total up to 10!
All the things I've heard about Jane Eyre, the number of people who actually like it because they have read it and not just seen the movie (did somebody say Pride and Prejudice?) I really expected to like this book by now.
To be fair, it's not an extremely difficult read, and I have read up to this point before. (The book was assigned to me in high school and I read about this far before getting too busy to continue). I remember liking the book when I read it before. However, I would have expected some sort of plot to develop by now.
Normally, I am the kind of reader and movie-watcher who loves a whole lot of nothing. For example, my favorite movie of all time is It's A Wonderful Life. Now, many people have seen this movie and probably if you haven't see the whole thing, you've seen the end. For me the real end is the last 10 minutes, but the end portion, the part with Clarence the angel, lasts about 40 minutes or so. In this part, Clarence shows George what the world would be like without him. This really is the only part of the movie with a plot. The rest of the movie (the 1+ hours) chronicles George's life from a young boy to a middle aged married man, including his marriage and his career. However, watching that part of the movie is like watching someone's life pass before your eyes. Don't get me wrong, I love the whole thing because you really need the beginning to appreciate the end. In general, movies like this are really the kind that I like. Others include Big Fish and Forrest Gump.
The beginning section of this book is reminding me of the beginning of It's A Wonderful Life, except that I am not sure what the point of the beginning is. There were many chapters documenting Jane's years at Lowood that were not all that influential as of yet. I'm hoping things pick up since I know that this story eventually becomes a love story between Jane and Rochester, but seeing as how Jane just met Rochester that obviously hasn't happened yet. I'll keep going though and see how things turn out in the next few chapters.
And hopefully I can finish today or tomorrow and bring my 2010 total up to 10!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Update
December 26: 5 days until the new year, with hopefully another book to squeeze in before the year comes to a close.
A couple days before Christmas I started Jane Eyre. I'm currently on chapter 5, which is really not too far, but if I play my cards right I will have lots and lots of reading time this week. It's good so far. I read about a third of it when assigned in high school and I remember liking it, but just not having time for it. Hopefully I'll have time for it this time around seeing as it's pretty much a staple in literature.
For Christmas I got several books on my list:
...and one that wasn't (because I have heard good things about it and need to read it to keep up with today, haha)
So, basically I have my work cut out for me! I've got these 5 books, plus the 7 others that I ordered previously (AND Oliver Twist that needs to be finished so I can check it off already!) which is approximately how many books I've finished this year. I'm doing my best but I have a feeling this spring will be a little sparse, seeing as I am taking more classes than I usually do, but I'm hoping it will be ok. I'll just have to pick an interesting short one to read during that time, or one with shorter sections (Sherlock Holmes maybe?). I'll be back with a post of whichever book I choose to finish before new years and a cumulative update of which books I've read so far this year and prior to this year. See you around New Years!
A couple days before Christmas I started Jane Eyre. I'm currently on chapter 5, which is really not too far, but if I play my cards right I will have lots and lots of reading time this week. It's good so far. I read about a third of it when assigned in high school and I remember liking it, but just not having time for it. Hopefully I'll have time for it this time around seeing as it's pretty much a staple in literature.
For Christmas I got several books on my list:
...and one that wasn't (because I have heard good things about it and need to read it to keep up with today, haha)
So, basically I have my work cut out for me! I've got these 5 books, plus the 7 others that I ordered previously (AND Oliver Twist that needs to be finished so I can check it off already!) which is approximately how many books I've finished this year. I'm doing my best but I have a feeling this spring will be a little sparse, seeing as I am taking more classes than I usually do, but I'm hoping it will be ok. I'll just have to pick an interesting short one to read during that time, or one with shorter sections (Sherlock Holmes maybe?). I'll be back with a post of whichever book I choose to finish before new years and a cumulative update of which books I've read so far this year and prior to this year. See you around New Years!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
A Christmas Carol
Here's what happened with Oliver Twist. I got it out of the library, I was making zip-o progress on it, and after 3 renewals (aka 9 weeks) of hardly reading it, I was not allowed to renew again and so I returned it. This is unfortunate. This is book #2 (second to Lord of the Rings) that I've stopped midway through. I do plan to finish the book at some point.
On the plus side, I did read A Christmas Carol. I have been looking for a nice copy of the book, preferably hard cover with some illustrations, but Amazon, Borders, AND Barnes and Noble left me disappointed. What I found were tiny books with tiny words, paperbacks with meaningless pictures on the front, or hardcover volumes containing about 10 stores several hundred pages long, and A Christmas Carol only took up about 100. So, I had given up hope. Then, while Christmas Shopping in Hallmark, I came across one of the most beautiful copies of any book I've ever seen. It was in the middle of the Dept 56 Christmas Dickens Village things. It's hardcover and has beautiful color illustrations by P.J. Lynch and is unabridged. It was a little pricey and more than I would normally pay for a book, especially of that size, but it was so nice that I couldn't resist.
So, I read it in about a day. It's December 21st and what is more Christmas-y than Dickens' classic story. I'm sure everyone knows it, so I won't summarize. Having read an abridged version out of an anthology in seventh grade (and being forced to read it and not understanding a thing) I didn't feel like I had a complete grasp on the written version. It was really a good story and not entirely as dry or drawn out as Oliver Twist was. So, that's another one off my list!
I'm hoping to be able to finish another book by the new year. (Something tells me I'll be getting some books for Christmas this year!). Which one it is is yet to be determined. Maybe I'll be able to plug away at Lord of the Rings again. Other choices include Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, The Secret Garden, or whatever appears under the tree Christmas morning!
Merry Christmas!
On the plus side, I did read A Christmas Carol. I have been looking for a nice copy of the book, preferably hard cover with some illustrations, but Amazon, Borders, AND Barnes and Noble left me disappointed. What I found were tiny books with tiny words, paperbacks with meaningless pictures on the front, or hardcover volumes containing about 10 stores several hundred pages long, and A Christmas Carol only took up about 100. So, I had given up hope. Then, while Christmas Shopping in Hallmark, I came across one of the most beautiful copies of any book I've ever seen. It was in the middle of the Dept 56 Christmas Dickens Village things. It's hardcover and has beautiful color illustrations by P.J. Lynch and is unabridged. It was a little pricey and more than I would normally pay for a book, especially of that size, but it was so nice that I couldn't resist.
So, I read it in about a day. It's December 21st and what is more Christmas-y than Dickens' classic story. I'm sure everyone knows it, so I won't summarize. Having read an abridged version out of an anthology in seventh grade (and being forced to read it and not understanding a thing) I didn't feel like I had a complete grasp on the written version. It was really a good story and not entirely as dry or drawn out as Oliver Twist was. So, that's another one off my list!
I'm hoping to be able to finish another book by the new year. (Something tells me I'll be getting some books for Christmas this year!). Which one it is is yet to be determined. Maybe I'll be able to plug away at Lord of the Rings again. Other choices include Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, The Secret Garden, or whatever appears under the tree Christmas morning!
Merry Christmas!
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Oliver: 24.5%
SO CLOSE to being 1/4 done!
Surprisingly, this book is actually getting BETTER! Maybe the reason that I hate Dickens is because I never got far enough into the books to start enjoying it. I'll openly admit that if I were assigned Oliver Twist for school (one of the few of Dickens that I was not) I would have stopped about 30 pages in when Oliver was at the funeral parlor. (Then I probably would have watched the movie and selected very specific passages to talk about in class so it would look like I knew what I was talking about...that is the way I survived English class). Regardless, Oliver Twist is getting exciting.
Currently, Oliver has just been found by Nancy on his way to deliver some books for the wealthy man. I'm pretty sure he's going to be taken back to Fagin even though he probably wants to stay with the man and find out whose picture was hanging above his bed. This guy is probably his grandfather. I think that is how Dickens works.
In the movie Bill Sikes is way creepier. Maybe I just have not yet discovered his creepiness. We'll see. I'm not a huge fan of shady characters, and am usually not too concerned when people are not shady, but I've seen Oliver! the musical several times and I'm pretty sure Sikes is a bad guy, and that he's made bad by more than just being friends with Fagin, who encourages stealing. We'll see. I still have 75% of the book to go....this is gong to be interesting.
Surprisingly, this book is actually getting BETTER! Maybe the reason that I hate Dickens is because I never got far enough into the books to start enjoying it. I'll openly admit that if I were assigned Oliver Twist for school (one of the few of Dickens that I was not) I would have stopped about 30 pages in when Oliver was at the funeral parlor. (Then I probably would have watched the movie and selected very specific passages to talk about in class so it would look like I knew what I was talking about...that is the way I survived English class). Regardless, Oliver Twist is getting exciting.
Currently, Oliver has just been found by Nancy on his way to deliver some books for the wealthy man. I'm pretty sure he's going to be taken back to Fagin even though he probably wants to stay with the man and find out whose picture was hanging above his bed. This guy is probably his grandfather. I think that is how Dickens works.
In the movie Bill Sikes is way creepier. Maybe I just have not yet discovered his creepiness. We'll see. I'm not a huge fan of shady characters, and am usually not too concerned when people are not shady, but I've seen Oliver! the musical several times and I'm pretty sure Sikes is a bad guy, and that he's made bad by more than just being friends with Fagin, who encourages stealing. We'll see. I still have 75% of the book to go....this is gong to be interesting.
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