Pyles of Clutter

Book Review--Pride and Prejudice revisited

I am a sucker for all things Pride and Prejudice.

Really I'm a sucker for all things Jane Austen.

So when I saw all the books based on a Post-Pride and Prejudice life, well, I had to have me some of those. 

Oh, I wish I hadn't.  What a disappointment.  First, I tried Darcy's Story.

This is the whole P&P story told from the point of view of Darcy.  I've always wondered why he was such a crumb at first and what happened to change his opinion of Elizabeth.  I had lots of questions for Mr. Darcy so I thought, here's my answers.

And while it did answer *some* of my questions, I found that I didn't like it.  I didn't like the liberties taken with Mr. Darcy, and his relationships with the other outside characters, such as Fitzwilliam, and Georgiana. To the author's credit, she is very true to the P&P original text, in even using the exact conversations that Darcy has in the book in her own work.  That's creditable, but boring.  I kept thinking, I've read this already, and in a better setting.  Not a barn burner for me.

So I moved on.

Mr. Darcy's Daughters is about, wait for it, Mr. Darcy's daughters.  He and Elizabeth have had five beautiful daughters, now in age ranging from 20 to 16.  (They do have two sons, but they are still young so they stay *out* of the picture back at Pemberley.)  Darcy has been called on to go to Constantinople on a diplomatic mission and Elizabeth, not being able to bear being away from Darcy goes with him.  Therefore, they send their daughters to live with Fitzwilliam, his wife, and young family, with the Gardiners to share in the guardianship.  The daughters are, amazingly enough, a lot like the Bennett sisters, and you can detect the similiarities from the very, bitter, beginning. 

Oh my.  That was the nice part of my review.  Because, can I just say, Elizabeth never would have let her daughters have their first view and experience of society without her there, especially if she was really raising the hare-brained daughters that these turn out to be.  Honestly!  I was so tired of the bunch, even the one that was suppose to be like Elizabeth by the end of the book, that I just wanted it over!  Please!  Each sister, with her very familiar personality, goes through the social whirl with the usual and unusual problems of society.  In my mind, I could never see Elizabeth raising daughters like Belle and Georgina.  The girls are selfish, prideful, and unmoved by the problems they cause for the rest of the family.  Never would Elizabeth have raised a Lydia, having felt the sting of Lydia's uncaring actions as a young woman. 

Now besides all this, I felt like the book, having been written in the 21st century, takes liberties that would not have been known in the age that the story takes place.  Pet peeve of mine.  It definitely was not written Jane Austen-ish.  Done. With. That. Book.  (But if you'd like to read a better review than mine, with a few less rants, you can go here.)

   And onward.

So I moved on to Letters From Pemberley: The First Year. 

Thank goodness there was only one year. 

While this book was truer to the style of Jane Austen, it was also much more boring.  At least with Daughters, there was a story that was being told.  This book was really story-less.  Even now, trying to really focus on the story, I can't remember too much of what went on in Elizabeth's letters to Jane.  There are some great passages talking about Mrs. Bennett and her nerves, which made me laugh.  But mainly they made me laugh because of the original P&P book, and not because of how they are handled in this book. The good thing about this book, it was mercifully short.  I read it in a few hours.   

Oh my again.  I'm striking out here.

So I went for a Not-So-Much sequel, but still a P&P take off. 

I really liked Shannon Hale's book Princess Academy.  I love her style of writing and I love the story that she weaves with humor, and conflict.  But I also love that there isn't too much conflict so that I have to be angst ridden for days after.  Sometimes, it is just too much for me.  For me, Austenland was much the same.  I loved it.

There is no moving on from Pemberley here.  The characters have nothing to do with the original Darcys.  They don't pretend to know how things ended up with Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth.  And the book is better for it.  The story follows Jane in her quest to finally fall in love, or at least to live her REAL life.  Jane has the problem of always comparing her boyfriends to Darcy, and of course, next to that great example, they always come up lacking.  So when a rich aunt dies and puts in her will a trip to a reenactment of Austen's time period, how can Jane resist?  A chance for her to either find her Mr. Darcy or put away her dreams forever.  The story moves along quickly with twists and turns that you can see coming a mile away. Sometimes, that is exactly what you need.   

I loved it!  I needed it!  I love that Shannon Hale wraps it all up with a very pretty bow at the end too. I realize that some find that boring.  I find that a lovely fantasy.  There is very little in life that comes with a very pretty bow to wrap it up, so why not find it outside of your life?  I'm all for a little realism in my reading, but I'm also all for having a little happily-ever-after. 

Give yourself a boost.  Read this one. 

 

Book Review--The Thirteenth Tale

This is an amazing book.  I love the way the story is told, with the under story also.

The basic plot centers on Margaret Lea, a noted bookworm and somewhat author, who is receives a letter from Vida Winter, a reknown author, to writer her final story.  She doesn't know Vida Winter and is puzzled by why she wants her.  When she starts her journey with the author, she only wants to be told the truth, something Ms. Winter isn't known for.  As she hears the story, she is drawn into the life of the twins, as she was a twin herself, although her twin died at birth.  That is the understory.  A story of how she hides from life in her desire to escape the loneliness of not knowing her twin, and the shell of her mother, who can't handle the death of the twin either.  I love how the story unfolds, piece by piece, starting at the beginning, going to the end, just missing a piece here and there, until Margaret finally finds the missing piece and you see it all fall into place.  An amazing tale.  The Thirteenth Tale.

I wanted to go back and read it all again after I knew the pieces.  I wanted to go back and live through it, knowing the secret.  Amazing.

A couple of my favorite quotes:

"Life is compost."  I blinked.  "You think that a strange thing to say, but it's true.  All my life and all my experience, the events that have befallen me, the people I have known, all my memories, dreams, fantasies, everything I have ever read, all of that has been chucked onto the compost heap, where over time, it has rotted down to a dark, rich, organic mulch.  The process of cellular breakdown makes it unrecognizable.  Other people call it the imagination.  I think of it as a compost heap.  Every so often I take an idea, plant it in the compost and wait.  It feeds on that black stuff that used to be a life, take it's energy for its own.  It germinates.  Takes root.  Produces shoot.  And so on and so forth, until one fine day, I have a novel, or a story."   pg. 46

"Do you know the feeling when you start reading a new book before the membrane of the last one has had time to close behind you?  You leave the previous book with ideas and themes--characters even--caught in the fibers of your clothes, and when you open the new book, they are still with you.  Well, it was like that. All day I had been prey to distractions.  Thoughts, memories, feelings, irrelevant fragments of my own life, playing havoc with my concentration."  pg. 289

Book Review: Princess Academy

Plot line:

In the country of Danlar, the Chief Elders have decided that the next wife for the prince will come from a remote village, far in the mountains.  The village doesn't have a school in it, and so the Princess Academy is set up for the eligible 19 girls to go to.  They will have to learn to read, and write, as well as poise and conversation skills.  One of those girls, Miri, does not want to go.  She wants to stay in the village with her dad and older sister, but that choice is not given to her.  She learns all the academic things that are taught, as well as learning what strength lies within her. 

This book is for children, but I, being young in heart, loved it!  I love the message of the story, that we have hidden inner depths that allow us to do things that maybe we don't think we are capable of.  It is a good book for anyone to read, but especially young girls between the age of 10-18.  Every girl in that age should read about the strength that is in us. 

SPOILER!!  SPOILER!!  SPOILER!!
Things that I loved in this book:

I loved that all the girls fouhd a strength in themselves, to be able to grow and improve their minds.

I loved the linder speak.  The idea of a secret languate that no one hears is so fascinating.  Wouldn't every child want to have that at test time, as the girls did?  I love also how Miri trusted in herself to get better and become stronger in her linder speak, until she was strong enough to summon Peder.

I loved that her and Peder were friends before they were something else.  Friendship is the most important thing in a relationship.

I loved that Miri is not the most beautiful, but still Peder loves her.  It gives the rest of us hope. 

I like the way the girls turned the table on Olana, to make their situation bearable.

I loved that the book showed all the girls as strong, each in their own way.  Some were physically strong, others emotionally, some in academics.  I thought how the book showed how each of them were able to identify what was their strength and use it to better the situation they were in. 

I have already got Zoey reading this, and she is loving it!  Usually reading is a chore for her and she is devouring this book!  I will have Meg read it next. 

Read it!  Love it!!

Really, I read all the time!

I attend two different book clubs.  I happen to be (for only three more months!) the president of one of them, and so, I feel very obligated to read the book.  Well, so I'm a little behind on the book reviews.  Here is one that I have on my mind right now:

CandyFreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America by Steve Almond

What can I say about this book?!  First, it made me hungry for candy.  Steve Almond, a self professed candy freak, Loves his candy.  Really!  He is obsessed with finding out where the candy bars of yesteryear have gone, and if they are gone for good.  He visits several other "candy freaks" and also some candy bar factories, although not one of the big three companies, Mars, Hershey, or Nestle.  They do not allow visitors into the actual factories because of threats of espionage.  But he went to many other small family-owned factories.  It was really interesting to read about how these candy bars are made, how family businesses are kept together, how these small companies are fighting back against the big three.  I loved to hear the descriptions of how candy is made, and the descriptions of how it tastes to the author.  But this is the part that I didn't like.  The book to me is about candy manufacturing.  The author took it somewhere else when he started talking about how terrible the republicans are, and how we as a country only care about the rich, the evidence of that is how we have reacted to the terrorist attacks of 9-11.  Now how that all fits into candy manufacturing, I don't know and as such, it drove me a little crazy.

Would I recommend this book?  If you are thin, can eat all the candy you like and don't mind political diatribes in books that aren't suppose to have them, read the book.  If you are at all interested in hearing how certain candy bars are made, read the book.  If you have interest in candy of yesterday, read the book.  If you get tired of someone pushing a political agenda where it doesn't belong, don't read the book.

HELP!!

I need help!!

A friend of mine is having a family reunion, which they would like to have a little book review.  She asked me for some recommendations on some books that they could choose from to read.  Here are her only guidelines:

1.  needs to be clean

2.  needs to be discussable

3.  not too long

Please leave your suggestions in the comments!  Please tell all your friends to leave their suggestions in the comments!!  The more suggestions, the better! 

HELP!!

Mrs. Mike

We read the book Mrs. Mike for our book club last month, and I'm ashamed to say that I didn't get it completed until today, but I am proud to say that I did get it read.  With that said, I LOVE this book.  When I went to the book club, I had only read a short way into the book.  As the discussion progressed, I thought to myself, wow, this sounds like a depressing book.  One lady said, I could hardly wait to see what happens to her in every chapter, and I thought Oh, please, not every chapter.  And you know, not every chapter does something happen to her.  I have to admit that I cried in several different places.  I won't spoil it for you, in case you are going to read it, but it is a great story, and a very fast read.  I wish I had some quotes for you, but I turned the book back in and I left my little paper in it that I had marked my quotes on.  Ah well.  But anyway, try it, you'll enjoy it! 

Book Review-The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Oh.  I liked this book.  I like the way it was written.  I like the main story.  I like the sub plots.  I just liked this book all the way around.

The story takes place in WWII Germany, where a girl is taken in by foster parents when her own mother can't take care of her anymore.  She has several incidents that happen to shape her belief in stealing, such as death, famine, bombings, the inequality of gender, and race, and then her own desire to learn and know.  Liesel is also faced with what would happen to her or her family if the Jew they are hiding is found.  Her foster family is compassionate.  They are dissatisfied with how the Jews are treated.  They hold on to those beliefs as long as they can until to survive, they must conform.  They do as little as possible in the Nazi world.  Liesel's character is varied, as humans are.

Some other characters I loved; Rudy, Liesel's best friend, who also happens to be a boy.  He is constantly trying to get her to give him a kiss.  He also hates the arrogance of the Hitler Youth, and does all that he can to put them in their places.   The foster father, Hans and his quiet defiance against Nazi Regime.  The foster mother, Rosa, who sounds a lot like my sister, Cathy.  Very stern on the outside, but a big softie on the inside.  But the character I liked the best, was Death. 

The whole story is told from the point of view of Death, the one who comes to take your soul away when your breath leaves you.  Death narrates the story.  I liked how this author uses this unique view point.  Another point I like is the little side bars that would appear about every page or so.  Death would give us a glimpse into the rest of the life of this character, or that place.  It was fun to see what happened to these people outside of the story or when the story ends.  Very refreshing. 

After having said all that, I don't know if I should recommend this book or not.  I had another book reader say to me, "The writing is very original in my opinion, but I would not choose to read it again, nor recommend it because of the profanity.  I've read plenty of WW II stories without."   Ouch.  I didn't think the profanity was that bad.  Yikes.  SO, here's my disclaimer.  There is some profanity.  They have two particular pet names for themselves that are not very nice, but since they are written in German, it is hard to remember that you are reading a derogatory name.  Also, the boys in the neighborhood like to swear.  Is the book laced with it, on every page, and every conversation?  No.  Is there enough there that you notice it?  Yes.  You make your own decision about it.  I enjoyed it.  Call me a sinner.