From the 1900's to the 1700's

The Scent of Water was beautifully written as all of Goudge's books but I did not entirely end end... It felt a little incomplete. A slightly annoying feeling to have at the end of a book. Ah well, I still enjoyed it. :)


This week I'll be reading Lorna Doone. I'm kinda excited! :)

Gaskell and Goudge

Last week I finally finished Wives and Daughters. It was a good book but I much prefer Austin to Gaskell. The BBC version of the story was pretty much the exact same as the book. A few things were taken out but nothing of much importance. I prefer the movie to the book because some of the characters were a little more likable. But, all in all it was enjoyable. :)

This week I'll be reading The Scent of Water, by Elizabeth Goudge.

Back to Molly Gibson

Well, Freckles was so good that I finished it over the weekend. If you've never read it, go right now and do so. Stratton-Porter writs books about characters that are unhealthy, poor, or heart broken and by the end of the book they are whole and happy. Reading her books make you feel clean and make you want to smile when you finish it. Definitely a need to read.

This week I am continuing Wives and Daughters.

Of A Good Book And A Finished Project

Well, Ride The River was a fantastic book! I really liked it. The main character Echo Sackett was funny and interesting. Any heroine who carry's a rifle has got to be interesting. :)

In other news I have finished the third, and I hope, the final draft of my very own book. The Dying King. I am so excited! Anyone know a publisher?

Enchanted Book

Well, last week I finished a book that I had always  wanted to read, but for some reason had never started it. The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit. I loved it! If you have read, Five Children and It, or The Amulet, and enjoyed them, then you will love this book.

It had mystery, humor, wit, magic, and secret passageways. I would count it one of my favorite Nesbit books.

This week will be War of the Worlds, by Wells. I hope I'll like it.

White Witch

I finished the White Witch last week. I had never read an Elizabeth Goudge book before so this was a new experience for me.

I really liked the book's writing style. It was descriptive, informative, and a little poetic. I likes the story but did not entirely like the ending. It ended too quick and without enough information. And two of my favorite characters did not end as I wanted. Ah-well.

It looks like the Enchanted Castle, by Nesbit.

Two Unrelated Subjects

DONE! The Cont of Monte Cristo I am done with! It was pretty good. The main problem I had with it was keeping character names straight. :)

I, in my spare time this year was working on writing a book. It's called The Dying King. I finished the first draft last week! I am so excited, I have never written a book before but I have always wanted to. Now I have. I've sent it to several friends to give me their reviews on it.

I am happy with myself right now. :)

Farming for Animals

Well I have been reading The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas this week but somehow I misplaced it. I'll have to look for that today. Anyway, I read Animal Farm  by Orwell yesterday, and finished it yesterday. Just like when I read Frankenstein, I could not put it down.

I found the overall story to be depressing, the end to be creepy, and the writing style hilarious. The book is a what if kind of story. It's a, what if the animals threw the farmer out and began to run the farm. Throughout the story, the pigs of the farm At the end the farm is the way it was in the beginning, except the pigs are the new farmers.

My mom quoted Lord Acton, a British historian, that night when we were discussing the behavior of the pigs in the book. "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely". Very True.

What did I learn from the book Animal Farm? Never, trust a pig with power. ;)

My Thoughts On Frankenstein

So I started Frankenstein by Mary Shelley yesterday afternoon, and finished it that night. I literally could not put it down. My thoughts on it are below.

Was it captivating? Very. Victor Frankenstein was such a interesting man, you did not dislike him but yet you did not love him, mostly I felt sorry for him. His monster was so different than how it is usually portrayed now. It was very smart, but kept making the wrong choices. While reading the book, all I could do was feel sorry for it, even when it made horrible choices I understood them and felt sorry that it did not go another direction.

All in all, I liked it, but I do not think I will ever read it again. It was a book that helped you to understand human nature. If you have not read this book please do, I consider it educational even if you don't enjoy it.

I hope next weeks book will be something light and funny. I just want something opposite than what this weeks book was. 

You can find my complete book list under the "about me" section. The list is not in order so if you see something that you think would be good for next week please comment below. Also If you want me to add something to my list, again please comment the name and author below. :)

Lost, Not Found

I just got back from a vacation for anyone who was wondering if I had just stopped blogging last week, (not gonna happen!) no, it was a vacation break...

Something interesting happened two weeks ago, I lost my book list. The only copy. Yeah, still have not found it. So, that is why for the past hour I have been making a new list and putting a backup copy on my computer. I learn from my mistakes. ;)

This week is a interesting book, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley! My first horror novel. I have no idea what to expect from this book because I know that the movies, culture, and exaggerated retellings have changed the story. I hope that I will enjoy it though. :)

Happy Reading!

Treasure and Caesar

Treasure Island was amazing! I could not put it down, I now know who it was that most modern pirates are modeled after, Long-John Silver. He was the best character, even though he was mostly the bad guy, and he might have been a little crazy, but he was still awesome.

This week's book is not the adventure that last week's book was, but it is still great. It is Julius Caesar. I really like it so far. :)

"Beware the ides of March"

Holmes, and a Strange Extra

I finished The Hound of the Baskervilles a little late but not too late. I really liked it. Sherlock Holmes is such a interesting character, and Watson was not as cool as he is in the new movies (really, who can beat Jude Law?) but he was a good character too.

On Monday I picked up a strange looking book that my younger brother had read for school. It was called The Phantom Tollbooth, It was very weird, but I loved it. If you take Alice in Wonderland, and replace Alice with a boy named Milo, you have The Phantom Tollbooth. The writer was a genius with words, It was a completely literal world. For example Milo gets to the Island of conclusions by jumping, he meets "that awful DYNNE" (say aloud), and he rescues Rhyme and Reason. If you have not read it, please do. :)

This week its Treasure Island. I hope I enjoy it!

Thumbs Up!

Well I really enjoyed Tom Sawyer! It was well written, funny, it had likable characters, and a good story. If you have never read this book, I highly suggest that you read it now.

Next week will be my first ever experience with Mr. Sherlock Holmes! The Hound of the Baskervilles, and I'm looking forward to it.

More Like a Book a Day

Well I finished Pinocchio in about two hours. Cool! :) I enjoyed the book, the writer Collodi was both clever and funny. I especially liked this little section in the first chapter.

 "Good morning, Antonio," said Gepetto, "what are you doing on the ground?"
 "I am teaching the ants to read."
 "May it do you good!"
 "What has brought you here, friend Gepetto?" asked the other in his turn.
 "My legs. But I would like to ask a favor of you..."

I certainly enjoyed Pinocchio.

Anyway, in other news. One of my school subjects is requiering me to read A Tale Of Two Cities, by Dickens. I have never read  much of his work but I have wanted to read this one so I will get back to you on my thoughts about it. I also finished Macbeth! I think I have already said that but just in case I will say it here. ;)

Finished My First of Chaucer

I read six of Chaucer's tales last week, and I really enjoyed them! I read, The Knights Tale, The Nun's Priest's Tale, The Pardoner's Tale, and The Wife of Bath's Tale, along with the prologue of the book. I think my favorite was The Pardoner's Tale. I just liked the overall idea of how you can never trust men with evil plans, especially if you're one of them.

This week will be a book that I am sure that you all have heard of, Pinocchio. I mean who has never heard of that story? I have of course seen the movie, and now I shall read the book. I am not sure whether I will like it or not, but we will see.

Along with Pinocchio this week, I am also going to be reading A Voice In The Wind, by Francine Rivers. Me and my friend (who also loves to read) traded books this week. That just means that I have a book that I really want her to read and she has one for me so we switched books. I have never read a book by Francine Rivers but I think it will go well.

King Arthur

So I finished the Age of Chivalry, It was better than some other early England books I've read but I still don't really like King Arthur stories. I'm not really sure why but I don't, the only way I can enjoy them is if they have very little parts about King Arthur and no parts about Sir Launcelot or Queen Guinevere, those last two I just can't stand.

Anyway, this week's book is goung to be The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer. I will only be reading a few of the poems that were picked by mom. I hope I'm going to enjoy this book, I have already read the prologue and it was interesting so I feel good about this one.

I other news, I finished Macbeth, and I loved it! My favorite character was Macduff, and my favorite line was, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Hover through the fog and filthy air." That was said by three witches in the first Act and it was really cool.

Happy Reading!

Sadly I'm All Done With That Series

I finished The Return of the King! It was so good, it is on my favorite book's list! It was so much better than the movie, more detail, more characters, and a way better ending.

Next week I am going to be starting The Age of Chivalry by Bullfinch. I don't know much about this book,  I think it's a King Arthur story. I never much liked reading about him, his stories always have tragic endings which I hardly ever like. I will give this book a try though and see where it leads.

On the side, I have started a book that I bought around Christmas. Apparently it's not worthy enough to be put on my official list because its a Christian/mystery/romance novel by one of my favorite authors, Gilbert Morris. His books are all called fluff by my more classic loving sister (who once started one and  never finished it because it was so silly to her) but I have really been wanting to start it, so the poor Age of Chivalry will not be the only book in my life right now.

Happy Reading! :)

Easy Read!

Yesterday I finished the Two Towers, so I started Undine that night. I finished it in about a hour and a half. It was not only a short book, but also a really fast read.

I thought it was very well written and a interesting read, but I did not like it. I did not like any of the characters, and I did not like the story. I thought it could have ended much better. I really want to say why I did not like it but some of you might be planning to read it so I won't ruin it, unless people in the comments section beg me to but I doubt that. ;)

Since I finished Undine so quickly I started the next book on my list, The Return of the King. Yay!

And who else is looking forward to the new movie the Hobbit?
 

From Rings to Mermaids

Alright, I sadly finished the Two Towers two days late but I absolutely loved everything about it! It was just so good, J.R.R Tolkien is a fantastic writer.

I said before in an earlier post that I saw the movies first. Well I never knew how much the movies changed the story, It's crazy what they changed. I was surprised in different parts of the story because things were not happening the way I thought they were going to happen. I sort of understand why they changed some things but others I do not.

Both versions of the story are great but I can't decide which I like better.

Now I'm starting Undine by Fouque. It is about a mermaid or water sprite, and is a European classic. That is all I know but I have heard that it is really good so, happy reading! :)

Hard Poetry

Well I finished the Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves by Edmund Spencer a little bit late because it was the hardest book I have had to read yet.

Even though it was a difficult to get into and sometimes confusing, it is well written. Once you start to understand it is a good tale with lots of strange scenes. I enjoyed how the verses flowed and I thought that the way the writer chose to say some things really was genius. I liked the editor because he was funny and informative. Anyone who wants to read something that is very deep with Christian themes read Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves.

At the beginning of every chapter or Canto, there is a preamble verse that tell a little about what will be in the chapter. These preambles are written in iambic verse and you can sing them to the tune of Gilligan's Island. Here is an example;

To sinfull house of Pride, Duessa
      guides the faithful knight,
Where brothers death to wreak Sansioy
      doth challenge him to fight.

So on Monday I will be starting The Two Towers. :)