Date Finished: 13/02/2013
My Rating: 4.5/5
I remember enjoying the Secret Garden when I was a child, but not nearly as much as I loved it this time round. Mary comes to live at her uncle's big house in Yorkshire after both her parents die in India. When she arrives she is an unhappy, petulant, ignorant, arrogant and generally not very nice child, but being surrounded by good Yorkshire folk and having nothing to do but play outside in the fresh air, her character starts to develop into something much more appealing.
Whilst exploring outside she discovers the way into a garden that has been locked for 10 years, since the death of the young wife of Mary's uncle. She meets Dickon, a Yorkshire lad who has a way with plants and animals, and together they start bringing the garden back to life.
After hearing cries during the night she also discovers her cousin, Colin, who has been shut up in his bedroom for 10 years with everyone believing that he is a cripple and not going to live for very long. He is a moody, unhappy, petulant, emotional and tantrumy boy (well, wouldn't you be if you never left your room and had no friends?), but he strikes up a friendship with Mary and Dickon. They persuade him to get out of the house and the garden, the companionship, and having someone to believe in him improves both his mental and physical health until he is a normal 10-year-old boy.
This is a real feel-good book. Both Mary and Colin improve in temperament, health and looks as the book progresses and they learn how to interact with other people. Neither of them had ever really been taught what a normal family or even friendship was like and I loved the gentle discoveries they both made. (I'm trying desperately not to use the word 'journey' here!).
Anyway, the main message of the story is that if you want healthy, happy, intelligent and fun children, you should bring them up in Yorkshire.
Actually, it's probably more about the power of positive thinking... I loved this quote: "Much more surprising things can happen to any one who, when a disagreeable or discouraged thought comes into his mind, just has the sense to remember in time and push it out by putting in an agreeable or determinedly courageous one. Two things cannot be in one place."
So, who should read this book? Children. People with children. People without children. Girls, boys. It won't take you long, and your soul will be that bit better by the end of it.
Next Book: The Shell Seekers, Rosumunde Pilcher
Friday, 15 February 2013
52: Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
Date Finished: 11/02/2013
My Rating: 4.5/5
I had no idea what to expect from this book. After reading a number of hefty novels in a row I was looking forward to one with only 100 pages in, and I finished it in a day.
If you haven't already read this book, or if it's been a while since you have, I urge you to pick it up. It is beautifully written and a fast-paced read.
Of Mice and Men tells the story of two friends who travel together to get work on an American farm. There was some trouble involving one of them, Lennie, at the previous place they had worked. He has learning difficulties and, whilst his heart is so obviously in the right place, he isn't really aware of his own strength.
This book is about friendship and dreams. Keeping the two friends going is their idea to have their own piece of land that they can tend and "live off the fatta the land", looking after rabbits and alfafa.
I can also tell you that I was in tears by the end of the book.
So, who should read this book? Absolutely everyone.
Next Book: The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
My Rating: 4.5/5
I had no idea what to expect from this book. After reading a number of hefty novels in a row I was looking forward to one with only 100 pages in, and I finished it in a day.
If you haven't already read this book, or if it's been a while since you have, I urge you to pick it up. It is beautifully written and a fast-paced read.
Of Mice and Men tells the story of two friends who travel together to get work on an American farm. There was some trouble involving one of them, Lennie, at the previous place they had worked. He has learning difficulties and, whilst his heart is so obviously in the right place, he isn't really aware of his own strength.
This book is about friendship and dreams. Keeping the two friends going is their idea to have their own piece of land that they can tend and "live off the fatta the land", looking after rabbits and alfafa.
I can also tell you that I was in tears by the end of the book.
So, who should read this book? Absolutely everyone.
Next Book: The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
Thursday, 14 February 2013
53: The Stand, Stephen King
Date Finished: 08/02/2013
My Rating: 4/5
I had never read any Stephen King before. To be honest, I don't do very well with horror ever since I had a sleepover at a friend's house at 8 (yes, EIGHT) years old and her dad got us Nightmare on Elm Street from the video shop. I couldn't sleep after that night without my mum in the room for about 6 weeks. She was furious. (I also developed a phobia for cottage cheese that night as I associated it with feeling terrified. In the last year I have managed to overcome that, but it is 25 years later!).
Anyway, as a result of this I have always hated the feeling of fear when watching and/or reading fiction, and I have been easily scared. I remember a particularly tense episode of Neighbours that I had to leave the room for. I have shied away from scary books, which pretty much took Stephen King off my reading list.
Until now! The Stand is a wonderful read, and I'm so glad that it is on this list. It starts with most of the population being wiped out by a sort of super-flu type bug and then goes on to look at new societies forming, how decisions are made, the fear of the future, whether babies will be immune etc etc etc.
After the population cull, the survivors all have dreams, some dreams about the Dark Man who is a pretty scary figure, generally chasing the dreamers and then making them face pretty nasty things. The other dreams are about an old lady called Mother Abagail. Oh, I should point out that both these people turn out to be actual people. Now, it gets a bit religous for my taste really, in that Mother Abagail believes she is a conduit for God (and the 'good' people tend to congregate around her). The Dark Man, or Walkin' Dude, is very devillish. Funnily enough the 'bad' people are attracted to him. It's not quite as clear-cut as all the good folk on one side, and all the bad on the other, but you get the drift.
The characters are well developed and engaging, and not a single one of them is safe, but I like that you can't be sure which characters are going to last until the end of the book. I even liked most of them, which is unusual for me!
It is a very long book, as I think is common for King, but I found it fast-paced and hard to put down. I'm not saying I'm a total King convert, but I wouldn't automatically disregard another of his books if they were on the shelf.
So, who should read this book? Well, if you like a good post-apocalyptic tale then pick it up. It's exciting, heart-wrenching, sweet and uncomfortable all at once. Oh... but everytime you hear someone sneeze you'll worry that it's really starting!
Next Book: Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
My Rating: 4/5
I had never read any Stephen King before. To be honest, I don't do very well with horror ever since I had a sleepover at a friend's house at 8 (yes, EIGHT) years old and her dad got us Nightmare on Elm Street from the video shop. I couldn't sleep after that night without my mum in the room for about 6 weeks. She was furious. (I also developed a phobia for cottage cheese that night as I associated it with feeling terrified. In the last year I have managed to overcome that, but it is 25 years later!).
Anyway, as a result of this I have always hated the feeling of fear when watching and/or reading fiction, and I have been easily scared. I remember a particularly tense episode of Neighbours that I had to leave the room for. I have shied away from scary books, which pretty much took Stephen King off my reading list.
Until now! The Stand is a wonderful read, and I'm so glad that it is on this list. It starts with most of the population being wiped out by a sort of super-flu type bug and then goes on to look at new societies forming, how decisions are made, the fear of the future, whether babies will be immune etc etc etc.
After the population cull, the survivors all have dreams, some dreams about the Dark Man who is a pretty scary figure, generally chasing the dreamers and then making them face pretty nasty things. The other dreams are about an old lady called Mother Abagail. Oh, I should point out that both these people turn out to be actual people. Now, it gets a bit religous for my taste really, in that Mother Abagail believes she is a conduit for God (and the 'good' people tend to congregate around her). The Dark Man, or Walkin' Dude, is very devillish. Funnily enough the 'bad' people are attracted to him. It's not quite as clear-cut as all the good folk on one side, and all the bad on the other, but you get the drift.
The characters are well developed and engaging, and not a single one of them is safe, but I like that you can't be sure which characters are going to last until the end of the book. I even liked most of them, which is unusual for me!
It is a very long book, as I think is common for King, but I found it fast-paced and hard to put down. I'm not saying I'm a total King convert, but I wouldn't automatically disregard another of his books if they were on the shelf.
So, who should read this book? Well, if you like a good post-apocalyptic tale then pick it up. It's exciting, heart-wrenching, sweet and uncomfortable all at once. Oh... but everytime you hear someone sneeze you'll worry that it's really starting!
Next Book: Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
54: Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
Date Finished: 17/01/2013
My Rating: 3.5/5
Anna Karenina is, perhaps, a surprisingly easy book to read. Full of rich characters, lovely descriptions of life and society, perhaps a little too much about progressive farming techniques, a love story... basically everything you need from a good book.
My problem with it is this: Anna Karenina is a complete knob. Admittedly, part of this is due to the time the book was both set and written, but she starts off by persuading her sister-in-law to stay with the cheating, lying (and annoyingly likeable) husband and not walk out on their loveless marriage. This pissed me off right from the start!
Anyway, Anna embarks on an affair with Vronsky, leaves her long-suffering husband, and then spends the rest of the book moaning about not being accepted in society, and how lonely she is, and being jealous of Vronsky and making his life difficult, inventing arguments, and missing her son, and not really liking her daughter, and generally being pathetic. Now, I'm not saying that my problem is entirely due to her having an affair in the first place. As far as I can tell, her marriage to Karenin was not due to passionate love or anything. I just wish she'd been a stronger character, and thought to herself "I made this decision, I knew it was going to be difficult, I'm going to make the best I can out of it". Maybe if she'd held her head high, sorted out the divorce and not been a dick about the whole thing then she would have been more deserving of the eponymous role.
Quite frankly, I think she deserved everything she got.
As an aside, the love story I liked is not the one between Anna and Vronsky, her lover. I couldn't care less about either of them. It is the one between Kitty and Levin. That one is nice.
So, who should read this book? Despite me not liking Anna, I think this is an important book to read if you like classic novels. It's got bits of interest around politics, lifestyle and whatnot.
Next book: The Stand, Stephen King
My Rating: 3.5/5
Anna Karenina is, perhaps, a surprisingly easy book to read. Full of rich characters, lovely descriptions of life and society, perhaps a little too much about progressive farming techniques, a love story... basically everything you need from a good book.
My problem with it is this: Anna Karenina is a complete knob. Admittedly, part of this is due to the time the book was both set and written, but she starts off by persuading her sister-in-law to stay with the cheating, lying (and annoyingly likeable) husband and not walk out on their loveless marriage. This pissed me off right from the start!
Anyway, Anna embarks on an affair with Vronsky, leaves her long-suffering husband, and then spends the rest of the book moaning about not being accepted in society, and how lonely she is, and being jealous of Vronsky and making his life difficult, inventing arguments, and missing her son, and not really liking her daughter, and generally being pathetic. Now, I'm not saying that my problem is entirely due to her having an affair in the first place. As far as I can tell, her marriage to Karenin was not due to passionate love or anything. I just wish she'd been a stronger character, and thought to herself "I made this decision, I knew it was going to be difficult, I'm going to make the best I can out of it". Maybe if she'd held her head high, sorted out the divorce and not been a dick about the whole thing then she would have been more deserving of the eponymous role.
Quite frankly, I think she deserved everything she got.
As an aside, the love story I liked is not the one between Anna and Vronsky, her lover. I couldn't care less about either of them. It is the one between Kitty and Levin. That one is nice.
So, who should read this book? Despite me not liking Anna, I think this is an important book to read if you like classic novels. It's got bits of interest around politics, lifestyle and whatnot.
Next book: The Stand, Stephen King
Wednesday, 2 January 2013
55: A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
Date Finished: 07/12/2012
My Rating: 4/5
This was the biggest book so far I think, with just under 1500 pages and it took me 2 months to read. What I have discovered with a lot of these massive books is that there seems to be a rather nice story that is bulked up with really detailed information about politics, business or farming methods. In the case of A Suitable Boy it was mainly politics with a bit of business thrown in.
Set in India shortly after Independence, it is in essence the story of Lata and her mother's attempts to find a husband for her. The story also incorporates a number of families that touch on their lives and I found myself really enjoying these parts of the books. Lata was intelligent and respectful, with 3 potential suitors, all of whom have their own merits, and I really loved the character of her over-sensitive mum.
The description of the difficult post-Independence times and the sensitivities in both local and national politics are well written, but quite lengthy to get through. The book also touches on inter-religious friendships, inter-caste relationships and inter-political rivalries.
I thought the characters were all brilliant, and Vikram Seth managed to create colourful, interesting, funny, arrogant and caring people with ease.
So, who should read this book? Well, it's certainly a commitment to start something this big, but I definitely think it's worth it. If you're interested in other cultures, other countries or history, and if you like a good mix of characters, then this is definitely one for you.
Next book: Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
My Rating: 4/5
This was the biggest book so far I think, with just under 1500 pages and it took me 2 months to read. What I have discovered with a lot of these massive books is that there seems to be a rather nice story that is bulked up with really detailed information about politics, business or farming methods. In the case of A Suitable Boy it was mainly politics with a bit of business thrown in.
Set in India shortly after Independence, it is in essence the story of Lata and her mother's attempts to find a husband for her. The story also incorporates a number of families that touch on their lives and I found myself really enjoying these parts of the books. Lata was intelligent and respectful, with 3 potential suitors, all of whom have their own merits, and I really loved the character of her over-sensitive mum.
The description of the difficult post-Independence times and the sensitivities in both local and national politics are well written, but quite lengthy to get through. The book also touches on inter-religious friendships, inter-caste relationships and inter-political rivalries.
I thought the characters were all brilliant, and Vikram Seth managed to create colourful, interesting, funny, arrogant and caring people with ease.
So, who should read this book? Well, it's certainly a commitment to start something this big, but I definitely think it's worth it. If you're interested in other cultures, other countries or history, and if you like a good mix of characters, then this is definitely one for you.
Next book: Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
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