The Lion, The Wtich, and The Wardrobe: Check!

I just finished The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe today. I really only had about 30 pages to go, because I listened to most of it on audiobook in the fall and forgot to finish. It was less thrilling than the movie, but I did enjoy the book and the movie, and I was glad to have some of the movie's images in my head.

I don't pretend to be a biblical scholar, and I'm not, but I'm sure that this book is chalk full of biblical references that went right over my head. I know that Aslan is a symbol for Jesus, but only because I've heard it elsewhere...I would not have figured even that obvious piece out for myself. I enjoyed the book well enough, but surprisingly not as much as Lord of the Rings (gasp!).

Next up should be the rest of the series, but we'll see how far I get with that one. I've already read the first two chapters of the third book, The Horse and his Boy. My favorite teacher read us The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and then for some reason she bought me The Horse and His Boy to read in the summer. I tried and tried and I NEVER could finish it because I found it too dull. I think I expected Lucy, Edmond, Susan, and Peter to be in it, but they were not (or at least they are not in the beginning). But we'll see how this goes, hopefully quickly as it's a children's series.

The Little Prince: check!

This weekend I went on a road trip that took approximately 10 hours each way, and on the way back I listened to the 2 hour audiobook of The Little Prince to pass the time. What an interesting book! It was definitely shorter than I imagined, and I didn't know there would be the narrator as a character in it...I thought it would be a story of a prince from outer space who went random places and then returned home. I guess my impression of the story was not too far off.

There were a ton of great quotes in the book, but I'm a little upset that I did not mark them down because I was driving. I loved the humor in the book, and the idea of looking at things from a child's point of view. Fresh from teaching kindergarten, some of the things the little prince said made perfect sense to me.

Enjoyable. The storyline was a little bizarre, but it had a wonderful message of friendship and innocence and perspective. I thought it was a wonderful story.

Next up: Midnight's Children. I was reading it before I left and I'll be continuing. I'm only a couple of chapters in right now, but I'm enjoying it...it reminds me of the beginning of Life of Pi right now a little bit as they are both set in India. Hopefully it is excellent because it was highly recommended by the man at the bookstore.

Next up....

I finished Girl With The Dragon Tattoo this morning. It was excellent. I'm going to wait a while before jumping into the next one, though, because my head is still spinning a little bit. I have not been into crime novels in the past (mostly because they sounded creepy and thus did not give them a fair chance) but this one was very good. If you can get past some violent and sexual scenes, this book is for you! I read approximately 300 pages yesterday, which was basically all but the very end of the book.

I'm deciding what to do for my next book. I'll go back to reading from the list, but I'm not sure what to do. This choice changes daily, and I can't seem to make up my mind. Yesterday, I was leaning toward something short, which at the current time is either 1984 or The Secret Garden. Then I started thinking that Middlemarch should be my kickoff to summer book instead. However, I've been toying with the idea of Sherlock Holmes instead. While I have two volumes of Sherlock Holmes, I have found that the many of the stories are short and could easily be set aside. Also, maybe I'll keep with the mystery theme that I have going.

It's another rainy day...a good day for reading and avoiding other stuff I have to do.

A little more than halfway!

Holy Crap! That's all I have to say. I'm already more than halfway through and this book has kept me interested the whole way through.



Highly recommend!

Wow!

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo--Awesome so far!

I'm not really into crime novels, or books that are complicated, or super suspenseful. However, once in a while I get a book in my hands that I have a hard time putting down, that goes quickly, and I can find myself reading a hundred pages at a time without even noticing (The Da Vinci Code comes to mind). So, this one definitely is worth reading, and worth being slightly sidetracked for, as it's not on my original list. I'm only about 150ish pages in (644 pages total) but it's awesome so far.

I also love stories where there are two seemingly unrelated characters whose stories I know are meant to intertwine somehow. Anna Karenina has an example of this. The Two Towers did to an extent, except that there are books that start with two characters who then part, but the author tells us their stories simultaneously after their parting (i.e. The Lovely Bones, The Two Towers). However, I find the first kind more interesting because, apart from the two stories that the author begins telling, there is also the anticipation of how the characters are related enough to be in the same book.

For example, Anna and Levin are the protagonists in Anna Karenina, and they are protagonists of their own stories within the same book. The fact that Anna and Stiva are siblings and Levin is his friend is not enough. The book is titled Anna Karenina, so why even bring Stiva's friend into it at all? However, later in the book, Levin and Anna meet, giving way to an earth shattering comparrisson of the two characters, and an obvious look at each character's journey throughout the book. Anna started well-off and then began a downward spiral when she started her affair with Vronsky. Likewise, Levin started off in total despair when Kitty had turned him down, but eventually married her and began an incline. The meeting of Anna and Levin lets the reader put together the fact that Anna and Levin have stories that are mirror images of each other, which becomes more apparent as the story ends.

I'm anticipating the same to be true with Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. The fact that Lisbeth is investigating Blomkvist is not enough yet...these two must be connected in some way. After all, this book is titled after the female lead just as Anna Karenina is, but so far I have heard the most about Mikael's life on the island with Henrik. We will have to see what Lisbeth is up to soon. I also wonder what all of the facts about domestic violence against women in Sweden is about, seeing as the only thing of that nature to have happened so far is the speculation of murder of Harriet. With the attention this issue, as well as public acclaim for Salander's character, she must take on a larger role in the story as it continues.

Ok! Onward!

The Wind in the Willows: Check!

That brings the total for 2011 up to 4. Woo hoo!

Overall, I don't have that much to say about this book. I had high expectations because I used to like the Disney version. However, the book version left something to be desired. There were a lot of stories that didn't really tie into the main plot or theme, and the overarching story of Toad being reformed only showed up in a few chapters. I wish I had known that going in, but too late now. Not the best book I've read on this list by far (although probably not the worst either).

Next up: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo/The Secret Garden (probably...)

The Two Towers: Check!

After a day and a half of straight reading (thanks to some sort of illness I've no doubt picked up from school) I have finally finished The Two Towers! It ended on an interesting note, but unfortunately the next book starts with 140 pages of Pippin, Merry, and Gandalf, which means approximately another month until I get to read about Sam and Frodo again. While I liked the organization in the second book because it helped me keep the adventures of different characters straight, I wish it would be a little more interspersed in the third so that I wouldn't be so reluctant to start it.

Overall, though, I did enjoy thish book, and though I got a little lost in the battle scenes involving the Legolas/Gimli/Aragorn trio, I though the book was overall pretty enjoyable. Most of it made sense, probably because I watched the movie before starting to refresh my memory. I'll probably do that again be starting the third book.

My plan is to finish the series this summer, knocking #3 off my list for good! However, I'm not quite ready to commit to that just yet. My plan now is to finish The Wind in the Willows and then take a break from the list with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Upon finishing that, my choices are

*1984
*Midnight's Children
*Middlemarch
*The Secret Garden
*Sherlock Holmes
*War and Peace (although I'm trying to save that one for last!)

We'll see what happens when I get there, I guess, but ciao for now and I'll probably be back momentarily with a recap of Wind in the Willows.