Book a Week in 2015 - BW3

[Rosyl]

I finished 2 books this week.

1.  Maggie's Mistake by Carolyn Brown  3 stars

easy read fun story.  I liked it alot.  found free on kindle

 

2.  Sleeping Coconut by John and Bonnie Nystrom 3.5 stars.

It is a good book about Bible Translation in Papua New Guinea and the changes that have been happening for the last 20 years that are speeding up translations.  The catalyst was a tsunami.

 

  For a modern missionary pick, I would definitely recommend this book.  I have a better understanding of the process of translating and culture of PNG.

 

I read this because I have very good friends in Papua New Guinea with Wycliffe Bible Translators.  That said, I would not have read the book if not for that connection. 

 

I am better off having read it, and isn't that how you want to feel at the end of a book?

 

 

I am hoping for a snow storm Sunday and Monday (snow day from co-op) to have a reading marathon.  My Atomic Girls book club is meeting Monday, and I am slightly over half way.

[Violet Crown]

Since we're all laughing at rules and making thread drift into an olympic sport anyway, here à propos of nothing except possibly math (no parsnips) is an item that recently came in Great Girl's e-mail from her university. This is from the campus police's "Best of" incident reports from 2014:

 

Public Intoxication: A [campus] Police Officer observed a student, who was under the age of 21, fall to the ground near the officer's feet as the student entered the dormitory. The student produced a ticket stub when asked for identification. The student stated he was drunk but could still do calculus. The officer asked the student what 1 divided by "X" as "X" approaches infinity equaled and the student correctly answered "0".... Apparently, the student was too intoxicated to handle lesser math as he originally stated he had consumed a shot and two drinks of "mystery punch" but then counted the drink tally as 5 shots and 4 drinks of the punch. The student tried to bargain with the officer and offered a home cooked meal for his release. When the officers declined, the student demanded more calculus problems before expelling some of the alcohol from his system on a table.

 

--------

 

Oh yes, books. Still on The Princess Casamassima, having been slowed by dh's extended absence and Great Girl's first week of classes. Honestly I think she's making up for being homeschooled; I'm packing her nice lunches and buying her school supplies. But now everyone is back and settled and if only I can hide from Wee Girl (who is reading to herself lately!), I can fit in more reading time.

[TeacherZee]

As we have been talking Hemingway, Audible has For Whom The Bell Tolls on sale

 

And there are quite a few other interesting looking books in the sale

[Chrysalis Academy]

I had planned to read Jane Eyre, and Sargasso Sea because I vaguely remember it has some connection to Jane Eyre, but all this talk about Jane Austen has me itching to reread Sense and Sensibility. Hmmmm, I might need to flip a coin or something :).

 

I hear you on the stacks and stacks of your TBR books, although mine are mostly dusties. I really want/need to read lots of dusties this year. And there is definitely no dust on my Jane Austens :D.

 

That's what I did last year - re-read Jane Eyre and then immediately read Wide Sargasso Sea.  It was absolutely fascinating to read them together, but it definitely changes your feeling about the Rochester character.  I never know if that's a good thing or a bad thing - to have your feeling about a character affected by his portrayal in a different book, by a different author?

[redsquirrel]

Thanks! I love Charles de Lint!

[Jane in NC]

That's what I did last year - re-read Jane Eyre and then immediately read Wide Sargasso Sea.  It was absolutely fascinating to read them together, but it definitely changes your feeling about the Rochester character.  I never know if that's a good thing or a bad thing - to have your feeling about a character affected by his portrayal in a different book, by a different author?

 

I too re-read Jane Eyre last year; while I did not immediately read Wide Sargasso Sea, I read it shortly thereafter.  About Wide Sargasso Sea I wrote:

 

 

Jean Rhys created one of the more provocative examinations of racial identity that I have read in Wide Sargasso Sea.  The term "victim"  seems to apply to both Antoinette and Rochester in this pre-quel to Jane Eyre.  Known later to us as the mad woman Bertha, Antoinette is introduced to us as a Creole living in Jamaica's changing world after the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833.  Her father had been a cruel slave owner left impoverished after abolition.  He subsequently drank himself to death leaving a wife, daughter and mentally disabled son on a crumbling estate surrounded by the people whom he formerly abused.  The European whites view white Caribbeans (i.e. Creoles) as inferior while the black Jamaicans were not inclined to associate with former slave masters. The family's monetary problems are later solved when her mother remarries.  In fact, it is her step-father who leaves Antoinette half of his estate, assuring her future financial stability--if only life were that simple then.

 

Rochester (a name that does not enter the book although part of the story is told through his eyes) is a second son. Because of primogeniture, he must find his way in the world financially.  Behind the scenes machinations pair him with Antoinette--under the law of "feme covert" her property became her husband's.  Love or respect did not enter into the relationship; he performs the act of a dutiful son and marries the woman selected for him.  Later he learns that madness runs in the family, that his wife's father seems to have a bevy of mixed race children on several islands, children of his slaves who were then abandoned.

 

Rochester does not redeem himself--nor would we expect him to when we see the picture that Bronte created of him.  We might understand him a tad better through the speculations of Rhys.  We certainly see the complexity behind the mad woman in the attic.

Jane Eyre was one of my favorite books of '14, one that I certainly did not appreciate as a high school student.

[Stacia]

Those of you planning to read Jane Eyre.... Are any of you also planning to read Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair along with it? It is a fun one to add to your reading, imo. :D

 

The first installment in Jasper Fforde’s New York Times bestselling series of Thursday Next novels introduces literary detective Thursday Next and her alternate reality of literature-obsessed England

Fans of Douglas Adams and P. G. Wodehouse will love visiting Jasper Fforde's Great Britain, circa 1985, when time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously: it’s a bibliophile’s dream. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection. But when someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature and plucks Jane Eyre from the pages of Brontë's novel, Thursday is faced with the challenge of her career. Fforde's ingenious fantasy—enhanced by a Web site that re-creates the world of the novel—unites intrigue with English literature in a delightfully witty mix.
 

Praise For The Eyre Affair…
 

"[Thursday Next is] part Bridget Jones, part Nancy Drew, and part Dirty Harry." â€”Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"Neatly delivers alternate history, Monty Pythonesque comedy skits, Grand Guignol supervillains, thwarted lovers, po-mo intertextuality, political commentary, time travel, vampires, absent-minded inventors, a hard-boiled narrator, and lots, lots more.... Suspend your disbelief, find a quiet corner and just surrender to the storytelling voice of the unstoppable, ever-resourceful Thursday Next." â€”The Washington Post

"Fforde's imaginative novel will satiate readers looking for a Harry Potter-esque tale.... The Eyre Affair's literary wonderland recalls Douglas Adams's Hitchhikers series, the works of Lewis Carroll and Woody Allen's The Kugelmass Episode." â€”USA Today

"Filled with clever wordplay, literary allusion and bibliowit, The Eyre Affair combines elements of Monty Python, Harry Potter, Stephen Hawking and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but its quirky charm is all its own." â€”The Wall Street Journal

 

(And now posting that makes me want to reread The Eyre Affair whether or not I read Jane Eyre, lol!)

 

[Lady Florida.]

As we have been talking Hemingway, Audible has For Whom The Bell Tolls on sale

 

And there are quite a few other interesting looking books in the sale

 

That's quite a sale! Thank you for the heads up. I also have a credit to use, but don't think I can bring myself to use it on Hemingway.

 

 

ETA: I ended up buying For Whom the Bell Tolls, and used my credit for Out Stealing Horses. The latter isn't available at my library in any format, and is priced higher than I like to pay for books. I feel like I got a pretty good deal on both audio books. :)

[Chrysalis Academy]

I read The Eyre affair last year, too!  It was a fun read.

[TeacherZee]

That's quite a sale! Thank you for the heads up. I also have a credit to use, but don't think I can bring myself to use it on Hemingway.

 

Yeah I won't be using my credit on any of the books as the credit costs more than the books in the sale :) And I definitely won't use it on a book I didn't finish in High school and then lied my way through the discussions ;) (And this was pre-wikipedia so I couldn't even do what I did in grad school for my pop-lit class when we had to read Carrie and look up what happened on the 'net :lol: )

 

But there are a few books I probably will be buying, seeing how Tuesday is pay-day and all :)

[Tress]

That's what I did last year - re-read Jane Eyre and then immediately read Wide Sargasso Sea. It was absolutely fascinating to read them together, but it definitely changes your feeling about the Rochester character. I never know if that's a good thing or a bad thing - to have your feeling about a character affected by his portrayal in a different book, by a different author?

Yes, I know. Like seeing a movie and having that change how you thought the characters looked like. I'm going to take my chances :), Wide Sargasso Sea is high on my dusties list.

[Kareni]

I just finished one of Kareni's finds from last week, Written in Red by Anne Bishophttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15711341-written-in-red?from_search=true. It was excellent!!!

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it also, mumto2!  I'm waiting for book two to arrive from the library, and I've put in a purchase suggestion for book three.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Tress]

I too re-read Jane Eyre last year; while I did not immediately read Wide Sargasso Sea, I read it shortly thereafter. About Wide Sargasso Sea I wrote:

 

Jane Eyre was one of my favorite books of '14, one that I certainly did not appreciate as a high school student.

Yes, now I remember reading your post about Wide Sargasso Sea and why it bumped higher on my TBR list. (I bought it originally because I was following Great Courses' A Days Read.) Thanks for finding your old post!

 

I had Jane Eyre on my reading list for my English (foreign language) state exams. I found it such a slog, and so boring, and you had to look for all this symbolism stuff (lightning in trees, flying birds, colour-of-such-and-something), yuck. Although to be honest, my lack of reading skills in English at that time had a lot to do with finding it a slog :D. That shouldn't be a problem now.

[Nan in Mass]

Hugs, mumto2

Nan

[Tress]

Those of you planning to read Jane Eyre.... Are any of you also planning to read Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair along with it? It is a fun one to add to your reading, imo. :D

 

 

(And now posting that makes me want to reread The Eyre Affair whether or not I read Jane Eyre, lol!)

I am having so much luck finding BaW recommendations in my library recently! It's really amazing.

 

Last week I read that Chameleon book you all were talking about, in a Dutch translation no less. Yesterday I finished Penelope Lively's Consequences (such a sweet book!) and this morning dh picked up Shikasta, by Doris Lessing, and All the Light We Cannot See.

 

I just put The Eyre Affair on hold. Amazing.

[Tress]

I have the second one and plan to start it as soon as the church bells stop their serenade. The quarter peal in honour of our dear friend is happening now. I had planned to listen in the tower but ds is ill with a stomach bug so I am home with my poor boy who is missing something he really wanted to do -- he isn't skilled enough to ring in today's event but wanted to be there. Dd and dh are in his place. Windows are open and can easily hear from our house. I don't want to listen to youtube while our bells are ringing but this should give you a great idea of what is happening

It is from the York Minster which has a great ringing team.

 

Eta. I replaced the first link with a better one.

:grouphug: momto2

[mumto2]

I'm glad you enjoyed it also, mumto2! I'm waiting for book two to arrive from the library, and I've put in a purchase suggestion for book three.

 

Regards,

Kareni

I am about 30 percent done with the second one and loving it! I will definitely be looking for book 3.....goodreads said coming in 2015?

 

I love The Eyre Affair. I have to admit I foundd it so funny that I let dd read it even though she was about 13 and it is heavy on swear words. If I manage to actually read a few Austen books I will have to reread. I think it was mainly p and p.,

 

I read the third in Michael Thomas Ford's series about Jane as a Vampire last year and it was funny. I just checked the first one in this series out in honour of February. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6570140-jane-bites-back?from_search=true

When hunting for a review of Jane as a vampire I found this article that I liked about the spin offs.http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/02/jane-austen-pdjames-robert-mccrum

 

Eta I added the link. Ds appears to be feeling better....5 hours symptom free and counting. The peal was completed which is lovely. Certificates can be made so a good memorial. It is one huge pattern with 8 bells which must change order constantly. A full peal takes about 3 hours of nonstop ringing. The ringing master was telling me how someone has a sweater knitted with the pattern of his favourite peal on it. Wasn't sure if that was a hint or not......fyi I take small knitting projects to practice frequently.

[Robin M]

Kareni-Those who enjoy fantasy might be interested in this book which is available free to Kindle readers:

The Very Best of Charles de Lint by Charles de Lint

 

Love Charles de Lint - and given that it's free doesn't break my buying ban.  Hee Hee

 

 

Sandy:  I just finished one of Kareni's finds from last week, Written in Red by Anne Bishophttps://www.goodread...rom_search=true. It was excellent!!! I thought it started off a bit slow, a bit too much world building for my personal taste but once things started moving I was mesmerized. I read a few blogs that complained about the lack of a strong romance element in the book but have to say I disagree.....the fact that the couple is actually learning about each other slowly is wonderful and very romantic imo.

 

I have the second one and plan to start it as soon as the church bells stop their serenade. The quarter peal in honour of our dear friend is happening now. I had planned to listen in the tower but ds is ill with a stomach bug so I am home with my poor boy who is missing something he really wanted to do

 

:grouphug:

I am listening to Written in Red in my car. Read the book sometime last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. Happy the 2nd book is coming out in paperback mid February.  Now that I'll break my buying ban for.    February seems to be about as long as I can make it for not buying any new books.

 

 

VC:  Public Intoxication: A [campus] Police Officer observed a student, who was under the age of 21, fall to the ground near the officer's feet as the student entered the dormitory. The student produced a ticket stub when asked for identification. The student stated he was drunk but could still do calculus. The officer asked the student what 1 divided by "X" as "X" approaches infinity equaled and the student correctly answered "0".... Apparently, the student was too intoxicated to handle lesser math as he originally stated he had consumed a shot and two drinks of "mystery punch" but then counted the drink tally as 5 shots and 4 drinks of the punch. The student tried to bargain with the officer and offered a home cooked meal for his release. When the officers declined, the student demanded more calculus problems before expelling some of the alcohol from his system on a table.

 

:lol:

 

 

 

Redsquirrel:  Thanks! I love Charles de Lint!

 

Did you ever read the two books he wrote under his pseudonym Samuel M. Key? - From a Whisper to a Scream and I'll be Watching You.  So so good.

 

 

 

For our creative BaWer's and those who appreciate art:  To Paint is to Love Again: Henry Miller on Art

 

In keeping with our theme this week:  The Ink Dark Moon -

No other period in Japan’s literary history was as dominated by women as the Heian Period (794-1185). Most Japanophiles know names such as Sei Shonagon (“The Pillow Bookâ€) or Murasaki Shikibu (“The Tale of Genjiâ€) for their contributions to the world of literature, but Izumi Shikibu (Shikibu is a title, not a name) and Ono no Komachi should be added to that list.

 

 

 

 

[Nan in Mass]

I am about 30 percent done with the second one and loving it! I will definitely be looking for book 3.....goodreads said coming in 2015?

 

I love The Eyre Affair. I have to admit I foundd it so funny that I let dd read it even though she was about 13 and it is heavy on swear words. If I manage to actually read a few Austen books I will have to reread. I think it was mainly p and p.,

 

I read the third in Michael Thomas Ford's series about Jane as a Vampire last year and it was funny. I just checked the first one in this series out in honour of February. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6570140-jane-bites-back?from_search=true

When hunting for a review of Jane as a vampire I found this article that I liked about the spin offs.http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/02/jane-austen-pdjames-robert-mccrum

 

Eta I added the link. Ds appears to be feeling better....5 hours symptom free and counting. The peal was completed which is lovely. Certificates can be made so a good memorial. It is one huge pattern with 8 bells which must change order constantly. A full peal takes about 3 hours of nonstop ringing. The ringing master was telling me how someone has a sweater knitted with the pattern of his favourite peal on it. Wasn't sure if that was a hint or not......fyi I take small knitting projects to practice frequently.

Might it have been stress? Something like that could have upset my children,s tummies...

 

Cool knitting idea!

 

I finished listening to The Diary of a Nobody.

 

Nan

[JennW in SoCal]

I love The Eyre Affair. I have to admit I foundd it so funny that I let dd read it even though she was about 13 and it is heavy on swear words. If I manage to actually read a few Austen books I will have to reread. I think it was mainly p and p.,

 

Eta I added the link. Ds appears to be feeling better....5 hours symptom free and counting. The peal was completed which is lovely. Certificates can be made so a good memorial. It is one huge pattern with 8 bells which must change order constantly. A full peal takes about 3 hours of nonstop ringing. The ringing master was telling me how someone has a sweater knitted with the pattern of his favourite peal on it. Wasn't sure if that was a hint or not......fyi I take small knitting projects to practice frequently.

 

The Eyre Affair was a fun read, though while I have other Jasper Fforde books on my shelf I haven't been moved to read them.  Yet.  

 

I got Wide Sargasso Sea from my library last year after Jane had read and discussed it, but darn if that font wasn't too bloody small! Couldn't get past the first page.  My library only had a cheap paperback -- I'm sure a proper hard bound library edition would have a better font. Audible doesn't have it so I may have to get a kindle version.  Best part of ebooks is there is always enough light and the font size can be changed! 

 

Mumto2, I spent quite a long time just now watching several videos of people doing the change ringing, and listening for the accompanying changes in the pattern within the scale.  It looks like it can be a fabulous workout! Some people were having to bend their knees and put their entire bodies into pulling the ropes.  Anyway, hugs to your ds for having to miss something that was so important to him.  Glad he is symptom free for 5 hours and counting.  

 

ETA:  My favorite weather term is one I picked up while living in Hawaii:  Pineapple Juice.  It describes that mist that is too little for an umbrella or windshield wipers, even on the lowest intermittent setting.

 

And the worst wind is what we have today.  Santa Ana winds -- the humidity plummets, your plants whither before your eyes, your lips shrivel up in spite of lip balms, and the relentless hot wind from the desert blows all day long.  

[Chrysalis Academy]

Finally, finally finished The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam by Barbara Tuchman.  It was a very interesting read, a history of ideas - the idea that the folly of acting against one's clear self-interest is a recurring vice of rulers - and I learned a lot about the Renaissance popes, pre-American Revolution British government, and Vietnam.  The last section, on Vietnam, did drag more than the others - it was very detailed. I learned a lot I didn't know before.  It was also rather depressing: that a book written in 1984, about America's debacle in Vietnam, could be so very prescient about the debacles of America's foreign wars in the 21st century.  The whole those who don't understand history are doomed to repeat it thing . . . . 

 

Anyway, I'm glad I read the book.  It would be a great book for a junior or senior history class - read and analyze these instances of folly, pick another and analyze it in a similar way.  Or something like that.  

 

On to The Secret History of the Mongol Queens!  I just picked it up from the library and I'm eager to get started - it looks fascinating. And very readable!

[Stacia]

On to The Secret History of the Mongol Queens!  I just picked it up from the library and I'm eager to get started - it looks fascinating. And very readable!

 

I just picked up my copy too!

 

Hopefully, I'll finish Nigerians in Space tonight or tomorrow; I'll start Mongol Queens after that.

 

[shukriyya]

 

In keeping with our theme this week:  The Ink Dark Moon -

 

Jane Hirshfield is one of my favorite poets. Her poetry is lovely. This book has traveled with me through several moves.

[shukriyya]

Eta I added the link. Ds appears to be feeling better....5 hours symptom free and counting. The peal was completed which is lovely. Certificates can be made so a good memorial. It is one huge pattern with 8 bells which must change order constantly. A full peal takes about 3 hours of nonstop ringing. The ringing master was telling me how someone has a sweater knitted with the pattern of his favourite peal on it. Wasn't sure if that was a hint or not......fyi I take small knitting projects to practice frequently.

 

Your description above is fascinating. Gosh, what complexity the bell yields and from something with such a simple and graceful form. I read your description out to dh and he immediately thought of Dorothy Sayers' The Nine Tailors. I haven't read that one but we did see the movie which was well done.

 

Sending :grouphug: to you and your family.

[Angel]

Nan said:  There are books with women main characters that are strong and lively.  The reason I love the books so much is that Jane Austen has all sorts of women in her books - strong, weak, quiet, controlling, passive, meek, lively, small-minded, very young and silly, selfish...  Most of them don't come to a bad end.  Most of them are just managing as best they can in the times they live in.

 

:iagree:  I have been too busy this week to join in this lovely discussion of one of my favorite authors.  Because of the quote above, Jane Austen means so much to so many different people!  I have been inwardly chuckling as many of you have listed your favorite Austen books or characters, sometimes agreeing, sometimes, disagreeing, and sometimes rolling my eyes.   I truly think that is the beauty of Austen.  You will find someone to identify with.  A few years ago now, I did an Austen study with Skye and three of her friends.  It was so much fun, and very enlightening!  We had four very different personalities (plus us moms) and every one of those personalities identified with a certain character or characters.  This brought such a diverse, and lively discussion to each of the six main Austen books we read and studied.  Truly, whether you think Fanny strong or weak, whether you admire the practicality of an Eleanor Dashwood or the passion of Marianne, or even the lively wit of an Elizabeth Bennett, I believe it  ties into what you, as a woman, relate to.  At the end of our study, the girls had to list the books from their favorite to least favorite, as well as the heroines and heroes.  As each girl (plus myself) read our list, there was always someone interjecting about how could so and so be so high on your list, or low, or I can't believe you liked that one!  Which is funny, because that is kind of what's been happening here this week  :laugh:  I love how Jane Austen, centuries later, is still vibrant and lively and pertinent to so many!

 

Here is a fun quiz you can take to see what Jane Austen character you might be (I made all the girls take it!)

http://www.strangegirl.com/emma/quiz.php

 

I am Marianne Dashwood  :laugh:  with some Emma tendencies.  

 

And since we are giving opinions, I think Pride & Prejudice is the book everyone should start with.  Emma would probably be my second pick.  As much as I like the story and Marianne, Sense & Sensibility is a harder read.  Northanger Abbey and Persuasion are short.  Northanger Abbey is a fun read, but I believe that P&P gives a better Austen overview.  I can't identify with Anne Elliot so Persuasion, though a great story, always gets a lesser vote from me.  My least favorite was Mansfield Park!  Ugh!  Though Skye identifies with Fanny (though she is also very much a Marianne as well!)  

 

If any of you are interested, here's the blog that Skye and her friends kept on our year long Austen study.  The only thing that never got posted was the Regency Ball we attended.  

http://theaustensisterstogether.blogspot.com/

 

 

[Angel]

guilford lake: On the topic of Austen, I was going to have dd (7th) read Pride & Prejudice next, but do y'all think we should do a different Austen?  (I remember reading Austen in school but have no recollection of which book we read.)  At this point in her life, she dislikes every book I pick out but maybe if I tell her The Hive suggested the book...  :)

 

I may get stoned by the BaW majority, but I think your dd will not only enjoy, but will comprehend the subtleties,  in P&P better if you wait a couple years.   Especially if she is resistant to your selections, it could color her view of Austen before she has a chance to figure it out for herself.   :leaving:

[Chrysalis Academy]

Nan said:  There are books with women main characters that are strong and lively.  The reason I love the books so much is that Jane Austen has all sorts of women in her books - strong, weak, quiet, controlling, passive, meek, lively, small-minded, very young and silly, selfish...  Most of them don't come to a bad end.  Most of them are just managing as best they can in the times they live in.

 

:iagree:  I have been too busy this week to join in this lovely discussion of one of my favorite authors.  Because of the quote above, Jane Austen means so much to so many different people!  I have been inwardly chuckling as many of you have listed your favorite Austen books or characters, sometimes agreeing, sometimes, disagreeing, and sometimes rolling my eyes.   I truly think that is the beauty of Austen.  You will find someone to identify with.  A few years ago now, I did an Austen study with Skye and three of her friends.  It was so much fun, and very enlightening!  We had four very different personalities (plus us moms) and every one of those personalities identified with a certain character or characters.  This brought such a diverse, and lively discussion to each of the six main Austen books we read and studied.  Truly, whether you think Fanny strong or weak, whether you admire the practicality of an Eleanor Dashwood or the passion of Marianne, or even the lively wit of an Elizabeth Bennett, I believe it  ties into what you, as a woman, relate to.  At the end of our study, the girls had to list the books from their favorite to least favorite, as well as the heroines and heroes.  As each girl (plus myself) read our list, there was always someone interjecting about how could so and so be so high on your list, or low, or I can't believe you liked that one!  Which is funny, because that is kind of what's been happening here this week  :laugh:  I love how Jane Austen, centuries later, is still vibrant and lively and pertinent to so many!

 

Here is a fun quiz you can take to see what Jane Austen character you might be (I made all the girls take it!)

http://www.strangegirl.com/emma/quiz.php

 

I am Marianne Dashwood  :laugh:  with some Emma tendencies.  

 

And since we are giving opinions, I think Pride & Prejudice is the book everyone should start with.  Emma would probably be my second pick.  As much as I like the story and Marianne, Sense & Sensibility is a harder read.  Northanger Abbey and Persuasion are short.  Northanger Abbey is a fun read, but I believe that P&P gives a better Austen overview.  I can't identify with Anne Elliot so Persuasion, though a great story, always gets a lesser vote from me.  My least favorite was Mansfield Park!  Ugh!  Though Skye identifies with Fanny (though she is also very much a Marianne as well!)  

 

If any of you are interested, here's the blog that Skye and her friends kept on our year long Austen study.  The only thing that never got posted was the Regency Ball we attended.  

http://theaustensisterstogether.blogspot.com/

 

 

Phew! I'm Elizabeth Bennett.  I was worried I was going to be Emma . . .  ;)  :D

 

ETA:  all this Austen talk has got me so excited, I'm going to re-read P&P, S&S, and Persuasion - after I finish listening to Northanger Abbey!  :hurray:

[prairiegirl]

Those of you planning to read Jane Eyre.... Are any of you also planning to read Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair along with it? It is a fun one to add to your reading, imo. :D

 

 

(And now posting that makes me want to reread The Eyre Affair whether or not I read Jane Eyre, lol!)

 

I read The Eyre Affair  quite a few years ago but I didn't finish it.  It didn't really make much sense to me but I hadn't read Jane Eyre yet.   So maybe I will try it again, maybe it will make more sense this time  around.

[Robin M]

Angel:  Here is a fun quiz you can take to see what Jane Austen character you might be (I made all the girls take it!)

http://www.strangegi...m/emma/quiz.php

 

 

 

 

 

I got

 

Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

 

 

 

[Angel]

shukriyya:  Last night ds sat down with The Invention of Hugo Cabret and finished it in one sitting. He thoroughly enjoyed it and recommends it for readers 10 and up  ;)

 

Aly really enjoyed that a few years ago!  She did not enjoy Wonderstruck as much.  In fact, I'm not sure that she finished it.  

 

Stacia:  Now that I'm older & look back at some of the lit choices when I was in high school, I sometimes wonder why certain books were assigned because, imo, some books need a certain amount of life experience before you would really 'get' them. (Madame Bovary springs to mind to me.) But that's a whole 'nother can of worms that I won't open now.

 

:iagree: and :lol: about the worms!  Just because you can read something doesn't man that your should, or that it wouldn't be better if saved for a later time.  

 

Violet crown: I enjoyed Northanger Abbey most of all her books, too, and had the added advantage of reading it for the first time after having read several of Mrs Radcliffe's gothics. Oh the hilarity. 

 

I've been wanting to read The Mysteries of Udolpho for years now because of N.A.!

 

JennW:  Though I'm not a huge fan of Emma, I think my all time favorite satirical character from any of the Austen novels is Mrs. Elton, the classless and judgmental wife of the vicar.  And of course poor Miss Bates, the dotty aunt of Jane Fairfax is a hoot, as is Emma's neurotic father.  I usually revisit the second half of the book as it is where all those characters are set loose.

 

:lol:  :lol:  to the bolded!  I can't STAND Mrs. Elton and her infamous Mr. E.  :ack2:

 

Robin: And let's not forget all the spin-off books for those who want to explore rabbit trails.

 

I've read Pride & Prejudice and Zombies  :willy_nilly:  "It's a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie is possession of brains must be in want of more brains."  :lol:   Yes, that's the first line!

 

 

I have never read Hemmingway.  I've tried to read Dickens multiple times and with the exception of A Christmas Carol, have never made it through a single one!  I have yet to decide if I'm reading an Austen or a Bronte in February.  In a perfect world, I would like to read one of both!!

 

 

 

 

[mumto2]

I just got Anne Elliot so I guess I need to read Persuasion! :lol:

[prairiegirl]

Your description above is fascinating. Gosh, what complexity the bell yields and from something with such a simple and graceful form. I read your description out to dh and he immediately thought of Dorothy Sayers' The Nine Tailors. I haven't read that one but we did see the movie which was well done.

 

Sending :grouphug: to you and your family.

 

lol   I thought of Nine Tailors, too. I didn't know there was a movie.   I will have to look for it.

 

Mumto2,  :grouphug:  to you.

[prairiegirl]

Your description above is fascinating. Gosh, what complexity the bell yields and from something with such a simple and graceful form. I read your description out to dh and he immediately thought of Dorothy Sayers' The Nine Tailors. I haven't read that one but we did see the movie which was well done.

 

Sending :grouphug: to you and your family.

 

lol   I thought of Nine Tailors, too. I didn't know there was a movie.   I will have to look for it.

 

Mumto2,  :grouphug:  to you.

[Angel]

Rosyl:  2.  Sleeping Coconut by John and Bonnie Nystrom 3.5 stars.

It is a good book about Bible Translation in Papua New Guinea and the changes that have been happening for the last 20 years that are speeding up translations.  The catalyst was a tsunami.

  For a modern missionary pick, I would definitely recommend this book.  I have a better understanding of the process of translating and culture of PNG.

I read this because I have very good friends in Papua New Guinea with Wycliffe Bible Translators.  That said, I would not have read the book if not for that connection. 

 

I added this to my TBR list!  Thanks!

 

Stacia: Those of you planning to read Jane Eyre.... Are any of you also planning to read Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affairalong with it? It is a fun one to add to your reading, imo.  :D

 

I think I'm the only person who was so disappointed in this book!  

 

Robin:  I'm Elinor Dashwood

 

Of course!  Our fearless leader would need Elinor tendencies  :laugh:

 

Whew!  Now I'm mostly caught up!   :hurray:   I hate busy weeks where I can't check in a little at a time!

 

 

[JennW in SoCal]

 

 

I've been wanting to read The Mysteries of Udolpho for years now because of N.A.!

 

JennW:  Though I'm not a huge fan of Emma, I think my all time favorite satirical character from any of the Austen novels is Mrs. Elton, the classless and judgmental wife of the vicar.  And of course poor Miss Bates, the dotty aunt of Jane Fairfax is a hoot, as is Emma's neurotic father.  I usually revisit the second half of the book as it is where all those characters are set loose.

 

:lol:  :lol:  to the bolded!  I can't STAND Mrs. Elton and her infamous Mr. E.  :ack2:

 

 

 

What about her going on about Sucklings of Maplegrove?  and Knightley?   :ack2: A total nightmare of a woman!  Though Emma isn't exactly a paragon of virtue, either.  I think it is Mrs. Elton's character that opened me up to Austen's sharp satirical wit, well, that and the over-the-top portrayals in the Colin Firth P&P of Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine DeBourgh!  

 

Anyone here NOT seen Bride and Prejudice, the Bollywood version of P&P?  

[JennW in SoCal]

I just got Anne Elliot so I guess I need to read Persuasion! :lol:

 

Oh you must!  It is my personal all time favorite, it is a tighter and more mature story but with some wonderful memorable characters. I've identified with Anne for many years now!  It's also much shorter than the others, so not a huge investment in time.

 

ETA:  There are times in my life where I want to be Mrs. Bennet, and take to my room with such flutterings and tremblings, and have my lady's maid bring me my tea.  :rofl:

 

And to answer Jane's question in the post after this one, I'm doing ridiculously well! 

 

 

[Jane in NC]

Jenn--Bride and Prejudice is great fun.

 

How are you feeling?

[mumto2]

Jenn, Glad you are doing so well. I have to admit I put the peal info in my post this morning to entertain my recovering friend. I knew it would be a good distraction if you wanted one! ;) Since you made the long study of posture when bell ringing from what I observe the only time experienced ringers are normally going to be bending knees is when ringing up(getting the bells in position to ring). The better the posture while ringing seems to equate to longer ringing time and heavier bells if wanted. A really good small woman can ring the bigger bells if she wants to sucessfully. I saw it done. Ds pretty much just rings with his arms so can go on forever. dd can finally do a half hour but is exhausted for a few minutes after, her posture is ever so slightly off( even I can see it) but great strides are being made. She has moved to a heavier bell recently so doing great.

 

The Nine Tailors is a wonderful book. Even ds read it for fun!

[Angel]

JennW: What about her going on about Sucklings of Maplegrove?  and Knightley?    :ack2: A total nightmare of a woman!  Though Emma isn't exactly a paragon of virtue, either.  I think it is Mrs. Elton's character that opened me up to Austen's sharp satirical wit, well, that and the over-the-top portrayals in the Colin Firth P&P of Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine DeBourgh! 

 

Oh do not even slightly compare Mrs. Elton with Emma!!   :laugh:  Emma certainly isn't perfect but she grows and learns

 

I don't know if there was any better casting than Mr. Collins in the Colin Firth P&P  :lol:   That man is simply ridiculous.  Poor Charlotte!

 

ETA:  There are times in my life where I want to be Mrs. Bennet, and take to my room with such flutterings and tremblings, and have my lady's maid bring me my tea.   :rofl:

 

I think I'm having one of those moments today!  I could probably  channel enough drama for Mrs. Bennet  :lol:

[Lady Florida.]

I'm Elinor Dashwood. Can't say that it was a surprise. :)

[Angel]

IRL I am a Marianne surrounded by Elinor's, with a couple Elizabeth Bennett's thrown in.

 

I'm getting a little worried that I'm the only Marianne here.  We are oft misunderstood, of course  :lol:

 

My Elinor's tell me it just takes all of them to keep me in line  ;)  :001_tt2:

[Guest]

Every year I have the best intentions when we start the 52 book challenge and every year, I fade away. I used to be able to read up to four novels a week. Now I am lucky to finish one every two weeks. I don't know what's happened to me, except maybe homeschooling a high school student. I seem more inclined to read an econ or stats text than literature. :tongue_smilie:

 

That said, ds had to read Mansfield Park for AP English Literature. He asked me to read it so we could discuss it. I like Austen fine. I.did.not.like.Mansfield Park. No way.  I know that it is considered one of Austen's most complex novels and that ds's very fine teacher will have a strong reason for doing it, but oh did I dislike that book. It felt like one really long exercise in character development - for the author, Fanny Price, and myself, as the reader.

 

Nothing happens. Yes, I know the "heroine," and boy, do I use that term loosely, goes from poverty and gets to marry the landowner's son, but there are lots of novels out there with that story line and the good ones at least manage to provoke some kind of emotional response from the reader besides irritation.

 

I get that for a poor young woman of that time frame the only thing she has is her virtue and Fanny Price is certainly virtuous. She never makes a misstep. She's never wrong. She never does anything except meekly accept her place in life and she does it without complaining. Gads, is she boring and she can keep that big priggish dolt, Edmund. Thank you very much.

 

I didn't like the characters or the plot. I do like some of Austen's more pithy comments on human nature and her use of irony is masterful. I came close to liking the perpetually nasty Mrs. Norris because she had some of the best line.

 

If someone can help me move beyond my rather juvenile reaction to this book, I'd be grateful.

 

Oh, and another thing! What's with this dues ex machina c--- at the end where the unwelcome lover runs off with a sister, etc., allowing "hero" (blech!) to suddenly find Fanny worthy of his notice beyond friendship? Too neat.

 

ETA:  i had no idea you all were talking about Austen upstream. Forget Mansfield Park, I say. Just forget it. I'll never get that time back.

 

I love Mansfield Park.  It isn't my favorite Austen, but I love the way Austen lets us see how rape-y the rake's approach is (and how close Fanny gets to being trapped into a nightmare)... if she'd been more susceptible, she could have been the protagonist of Tenant of Wildfell Hall (and I think she would have had a similar sense of obligation at the end). 

 

The romance between Fanny and Edward is actually a favorite bit for me too, and fits with the anti-Romantic theme of the novel itself - love isn't about the flashy bits, or the exciting thrills, its about shared values, about hours spent talking and reflecting... and a true love is the person who brings out your best and truest self, who sees all of you and reflects back your highest potential.  Edward gets confused...and falls into the classic seeing someone as who you wish they were because you find them attractive trap... but he values and cares for Fanny all the way through... it isn't until later that he realizes that that is lasting, deep love.

 

I don't see Fanny as a model of any kind of perfection, feminine or otherwise, but someone without the qualities that would have served her better - Elizabeth Bennet would have done much better in MP than poor Fanny - but she gains confidence in herself, she reads and thinks and learns, she tries to look at the world with compassion, but is limited by her own biases, she learns to hold on and not be bullied when it really counts, but doesn't really learn to speak up for herself.  

 

Her resistance is quiet, but no less real... and I wouldn't say the arc is poor girl makes good... she could have 'made good' by marrying Henry Crawford and trying to 'save' him with her so called virtue, and a text pushing the passive virtuous woman would have given us that story line (and I'd have thrown it across the room and ranted about it for months).

 

I actually don't reread it very often because I find Henry's pursuit of her too realistic and I identify too much with Fanny (I was a bookish, innocent teen with idealistic values and a desire to please others... I had more spunk than Fanny, but then I wasn't subjected to her childhood...), but the depiction of society and families and how character is shaped are nuanced and brilliant... (to me, at least!)

 

 

[Kareni]

Anyone here NOT seen Bride and Prejudice, the Bollywood version of P&P?  

 

I'm guilty of not having seen Bride and Prejudice.  While I'm a big reader, I'm really not a movie or TV viewer.  We have a TV in the house but it's solely for the viewing of DVDs.  I probably watch about four movies a year.

 

 

 

And to answer Jane's question in the post after this one, I'm doing ridiculously well! 

 

Wow, precognition at work!

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[Guest]

I've been going through the thread backwards, hoping to meet myself in the middle, but have to get back to tissues now (pseudostratified ciliated epithelium here I come... )

 

I was told by my high school lit teacher that Dickens was paid by the word. If so that totally explains his lengthy works. I'd get awfully clever with adjectives and adverbs as well if I was paid by the word. 

 

I'm so glad he was paid that way... his sentences are so much fun!  (My kids were entranced by the opening sections of Oliver Twist many years ago for the language as much as the story and I remember a similiar reaction to Great Expectations when my 6th grade teacher read us the opening chapter...)

 

 

If I do participate in the Feb. author challenge, I'm thinking of reading Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

 

That is, by light years, my favorite Bronte... closer to Austen in flavor than to her sisters, imho.

 

 

 

Last night I finished a reread (audiobook) of Arabella by Georgette Heyer.  I think I enjoyed it more this time than the first time I read it.  Parts were silly and hard to believe but overall a fun story.  

 

I am very fond of Arabella - it does require massive suspension of disbelief, but I love that this Heyer address, even just a bit, some social justice issues.

 

Jenn, I'm sorry if my fondness for Heyer was misleading!   ....and I love Persuasion too... the Mrs Smith side plot feels weak to me, but the core story grabs me every time.  Have you seen the earlier draft version?  I love one plot piece of it, but feel the final version was much stronger overall.

 

 

 Yesterday I finished Penelope Lively's Consequences (such a sweet book!)

 

I was so fond of that last year.  The first section was my favorite - and it hit me hard - but I loved seeing the generations go by and the pieces from the past and their impact... especially poignant at this new-grandmother season of my life and watching my eldest daughters as young women...

 

 

 

That's what I did last year - re-read Jane Eyre and then immediately read Wide Sargasso Sea.  It was absolutely fascinating to read them together, but it definitely changes your feeling about the Rochester character.  I never know if that's a good thing or a bad thing - to have your feeling about a character affected by his portrayal in a different book, by a different author?

 

Well, it's a tribute to the secondary book if it can make you believe they're the same people.  (Most secondary books fail dismally at that, for me, I can enjoy them for themselves, but their characters aren't the same people for me as in the original... an exception was LeGuin's Lavinia, but that enriched my appreciation for the Aeneid rather than clashing with it... )

 

 

That's quite a sale! Thank you for the heads up. I also have a credit to use, but don't think I can bring myself to use it on Hemingway.

 

I still keep hoping that someday I'll be old enough to apreciate Hemingway... it hasn't happened yet, but I'll probably try again in another decade or so...

 

Angel: I'm another Elinor (probably not a surprise)...

 

 

[TeacherZee]

I too am an Elinor, although I'll admit that when I was younger I was probably more of a Catherine. I wonder if it changes as we grow and mature?

[Nan in Mass]

Lisa/swimmermom - Eliana explained SO much better that I managed to. That is what I was trying to say.

 

Mumto2 - thanks for the info about the bells. We had a bell in our church growing up, a Paul Revere one ( fairly common here). The kids were allowed to ring it after the service, letting the bell pull us up. One of the first things my husband and I did together (that I remember) was ring the bell. He added his weight and got me high enough that my hands hit the ceiling. He also too me up the rickety series of wooden ladders in the steeple to see the bell, me sure we weren't,t supposed to be up there but going anyway. The janitor scolded us. Different sort of bell. Ours just hung.

 

I came out Eleanor Dashwood. I,m probably a mix of Eleanor and Marianne now. I was definitely Fanny when I was younger.

 

Robin - Thank you for the painting book link. I live in fear that someone is going to replace the old linoleum on the church floor. Such beautiful animals live there. They are shy. You have to hold very still and look carefully for them to appear, so I am afraid that someone won,t know they are there and accidentally destroy them.

 

Jenn - I am glad you are doing well. I haven,t seen the Bollywood. : )

 

We watched Shakespeare in Love last night. Happy sigh.

 

Nan

[Robin M]

Link to week 4 - please continue conversation in new thread.

[Openhearted]

I have done quite a bit of reading, at least I did earlier this week.

 

I started with Call the Midwife book 1 by Jennifer Worth. I love the television series on PBS. The book was very good. I loved the history, midwifery, and the English dialect of East London. Some of the stories were heartbreaking, and I cried like a baby during one part, which is why I haven't started the second book.

 

The next book was The Glassblowers by Petra Durst-Bennen translated by Samuel Whitcocks. It was first published in German in 2003 and is the first book of a trilogy. It takes place in the late 1890s in a small German village of Lauscha where the main industry is glassblowing. It is the story of three sisters trying to survive after their father dies unexpectedly. I really liked it.

 

Next I read Maude by Donna Marby. It is a biography of the author's grandmother. She was born in 1892, and she knew terrible heartbreak. She had some happiness too. I enjoyed the book. It made me wish I had listened to my grandmothers more.

 

I also read a chapter in The History of the Medieval World.

I am also on chapter 5 of Don Quixote. It is pretty good, but it seems as if some the sentences are run on and on and on. Maybe it's just me.

 

I am thinking about American Sniper by Chris Kyle next. So much for lighthearted and funny.:(

[Kareni]

Oops!  Wrong thread.