So Many Books, So Little Time

Because Les Miserables is so long, I have decided to read and write about it in chunks.  So far, I have read through page 300 and I am enjoying it.  Most of what I have read so far has been about Fantine and Jean Valjean and I have to say that I really like Jean Valjean as a character.  He was not a very nice person at first but as the story progessed, he completely redeemed himself. I don't know much about Victor Hugo but it seems to me as though this book is a social commentary.  Hugo includes his opinions on poverty, the legal system and society in general.  He talks a lot about how poverty affects people and the lengths they will go to in order to stay alive and feed their families.  He also discusses the injustice of the legal system and condemns the harsh punishments inflicted on the poor by the legal system.  He definitely has some strong opinions regarding the society at that time and I am eager to see what he else he has to say....

From Goodreads:  In the year 1792, Sir Percy and Lady Marguerite Blakeney are the darlings of British society—he is known as one of the wealthiest men in England and a dimwit;she is French, a stunning former actress, and �the cleverest woman in Europe”—and they find themselves at the center of a deadly political intrigue. The Reign of Terror controls France, and every day aristocrats in Paris fall victim to Madame la Guillotine. Only one man can rescue them—the Scarlet Pimpernel—a master of disguises who leaves a calling card bearing only a signature red flower. As the fascinating connection between the Blakeneys and this mysterious hero is revealed, they are forced to choose between love and loyalty in order to avoid the French agent Chauvelin, who relentlessly hunts the Scarlet Pimpernel. My Thoughts:  This was a surprisingly good book.  I usually expect a 'classic' to be a little difficult to read but this wasn't the case at all.  The Scarl...

From Goodreads:   Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein when she was only eighteen. At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering the cause of generation and life and bestowing animation upon lifeless matter, Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts but; upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature's hideousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein. My Thoughts:  I didn't know what to expect when I picked up this book.  I have seen Frankenstein's monster portrayed on television and in movies but I had no real understanding of what the book would actually be about.  For the first few pages, I was a little bit confused and checked to make sure ...

From Goodreads:  Published two weeks after his seventieth birthday, Ada, or Ardor is one of Nabokov's greatest masterpieces, the glorious culmination of his career as a novelist. It tells a love story troubled by incest. But more: it is also at once a fairy tale, epic, philosophical treatise on the nature of time, parody of the history of the novel, and erotic catalogue. Ada, or Ardor is no less than the supreme work of an imagination at white heat. My Thoughts:  I am just going to put it out there...I do not love Nabokov.  I really dislike his writing style and I have not enjoyed any of his books.  I took a class on him in college and we read 6 of his books, Ada, or Ardor was the one we didn't get to and it's been sitting on my shelf ever since.  I know he is considered a great writer but I think I am seriously missing something when I read his works.  The story was all over the place and it seemed like everyone was having sex with each othe...

From Goodreads:  Set in the harsh Puritan community of seventeenth-century Boston, this tale of an adulterous entanglement that results in an illegitimate birth reveals Nathaniel Hawthorne's concerns with the tension between the public and the private selves. Publicly disgraced and ostracized, Hester Prynne draws on her inner strength and certainty of spirit to emerge as the first true heroine of American fiction. Arthur Dimmesdale, trapped by the rules of society, stands as a classic study of a self divided. My Thoughts:   This is my first book finished for the  Classics Bribe .  Yay!   I feel like I should have read this book a LONG time ago but I was kind of afraid of it.  After reading it, I am kind of surprised at myself because it was not bad at all.  It was a nice change to read a book that is mostly told from an outside perspective; it felt like I was watching through someone else's eyes.  There is a narrator but we never fin...

From Goodreads:  Winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize, The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton ’s masterful portrait of desire and betrayal during the sumptuous Golden Age of Old New York, a time when society people “dreaded scandal more than disease.” This is Newland Archer’s world as he prepares to marry the beautiful but conventional May Welland. But when the mysterious Countess Ellen Olenska returns to New York after a disastrous marriage, Archer falls deeply in love with her. Torn between duty and passion, Archer struggles to make a decision that will either courageously define his life—or mercilessly destroy it. My Thoughts:  Hmmmm, I don’t really know what to say about this book.   I had to do a little bit of online research to see if I figure out what Edith Wharton’s point was when she wrote this book because I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be a critique or not.   Evidently, it’s not supposed to be a critique but a description of the customs of the tim...

From Goodreads:  The masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years--a vastly ambitious novel that is at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis. In his journal, John Steinbeck called East of Eden "the first book," and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families--the Trasks and the Hamiltons--whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. Here is a work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's abscence. My Thoughts:  This review might be a little gushy but East of Eden was a huge surprise to me.  I was expecting a really long, dry book and I could not have been more wrong.  Th...

From Goodreads:  Dark allegory describes the narrator’s journey up the Congo River and his meeting with, and fascination by, Mr. Kurtz, a mysterious personage who dominates the unruly inhabitants of the region. Masterly blend of adventure, character development, psychological penetration. Considered by many Conrad’s finest, most enigmatic story. My Thoughts:  I never had to read this in high school or college so I have always thought that I was missing something.  After reading it, I see now that it wasn't that big of a deal.  Let me just put it out there, this is a weird book.  I understand that it is exploring man's inner darkness as well as the atrocities committed by imperialists in Africa but the story is hard to follow.  It is definitely well-written in that it reads as though you are hearing a story someone is telling you.  But because of the way it is written, it is difficult at times to follow.  The narrator's obsession with Kurtz was...

From Goodreads:  The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness -- in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience. My Thoughts:  This is another book that I can not believe I have put off reading for so long.  Talk about a great book.  The story itself is sad and depressing but at the same t...

From Goodreads:  The aristocratic vampire that haunts the Transylvanian countryside has captivated readers' imaginations since it was first published in 1897. Hindle asserts that Dracula depicts an embattled man's struggle to recover his "deepest sense of himself as a man", making it the "ultimate terror myth". My Thoughts:  How have I put off reading this book for so long???   For some reason, I thought it would be boring and super lame.   WRONG.   This was a great book and it’s no wonder it is considered a classic.   The creepy factor reminded me a lot of The Woman in White and the story hooked me right away.   The characters were silly but lovable and I found myself completely engrossed in the story.   It was really hard for me to get the picture of Hugh Jackman as Van Helsing out of my head because the original Van Helsing is nothing like that.   Madame Mina seemed to be the smartest one of the bunch though she tried to play hers...

From Goodreads:  A socially adept newcomer fluidly inserts himself into an unnamed Russian town, conquering first the drinkers, then the dignitaries. All find him amiable, estimable, agreeable. But what exactly is Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov up to?--something that will soon throw the town "into utter perplexity." After more than a week of entertainment and "passing the time, as they say, very pleasantly," he gets down to business--heading off to call on some landowners. More pleasantries ensue before Chichikov reveals his bizarre plan. He'd like to buy the souls of peasants who have died since the last census. The first landowner looks carefully to see if he's mad, but spots no outward signs. In fact, the scheme is innovative but by no means bonkers. Even though Chichikov will be taxed on the supposed serfs, he will be able to count them as his property and gain the reputation of a gentleman owner. His first victim is happy to give up his souls for free--l...

From Goodreads:  Full of secrets, mistaken identities, surprise revelations, amnesia, locked rooms and locked asylums, and an unorthodox villain, The Woman in White marked the creation of a new literary genre of suspense fiction that profoundly shaped the course of English popular writing. My Thoughts:  I am purposely going to be vague in this review because I do not want to give anything away that might ruin the story.  This book was first published in 1860 but that does not diminish the fact that is a great mystery story.  There were so many twists and turns that I really had no idea what was going to wind up happening.  There was fraud, intrigue, kidnapping, and conspiracies all over the place.  I really thought I would be kind of bored with the story but I must say that Mr. Collins really kept my attention and every time that I had it all figured out, there would be some new twist to the story.  I also loved how the story was told by different...