Wives and Daughters

I just barely finished Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters. It is a longer book and so I had been putting it off for some time, but I checked the BBC movie out from the library and watched it to get me excited about reading the book and even before I finished the movie (I had to watch it in installments, because I didn't have a 5-hour block to dedicate to watching a movie, although I wish I had for this one) I started reading the book because it is fantastic!!!

Seriously. I am still so happy and giddy about this book that I really don't know what to say other than that for anyone who is a typical Jane Austen book lover and even for those who aren't, I think that you will LOVE this book. It is just so cute. That is probably the best word to describe it: cute.

The "main character"-ish Molly, is just so adorable. This book is on my love list for sure and definitely one of my new favorite chick flicks. 5 out of 5 starts hands down. I don't know why I hadn't heard about the sheer greatness of this book before. Love it.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

I finished reading this book over a week ago.  Actually, I listened to the audio version.  I really liked it, but I'm not sure what to say about it.  It is quite different from any other book I've read or listened to.  My first thought was, HOLY BIG WORDS!   There were quite a few words I didn't know the meaning of and quite a few French words too.  (I knew they were speaking French when the words started sounding like they had swallowed some Elmer's Glue.)  Anyway, combine those two things with some rants on philosophy the author gets into and the beginning of this book could scare you off.  Don't let it though.  I think you will like it if you keep at it.


It isn't a story that is plot-driven.  This one is all about the characters. The story has two narrators and the audio version I bought from Audible had two different readers.  The part of Madame Michel was read by an older woman, who, at first, sounded like she probably bought her cigarettes by the carton or maybe the case.  I grew to really like her reading though.  She was spot on with emphasizing the right words, making the pauses just right, and adding some dramatics to it without getting weird.  She really brought Madame Michel to life for me.  The younger narrator was really good too, but for me, her character wasn't as easy to like.


Renee Michel is a  54-year-old widowed concierge of  an upscale apartment building in Paris where Paloma Josse , the other main character and narrator, lives.  Paloma is the super-intelligent 12-year-old daughter of a diplomat and a socialite.  She doesn't relate well with her parents or her older sister and she plans to commit suicide on her 13th birthday unless she finds something in the world worth living for.  Madame Michel is a very intelligent, well-read, self-taught  lover of art, books, music and movies.  She tries to hide behind a mask of stupidity or at least a mask of averageness, if that is a word, and doesn't want the upper-class people of the apartment building to know about her secret life.


I kept wondering when the two characters would interact, but when the elegant Japanese gentleman, Kakuro Ozu, moves into the building, it finally happens.   All the other tenants are intrigued by him and they all seem anxious to be in his favor.   But it is Renee and Paloma that catch his interest.  The story really picked up as the book becomes more about the relationship of these three.


 Renee's character was my favorite.   She had this extraordinary mind, inside a such a  seemingly ordinary person.   A review I read said, "She's a character we can all relate to, because don't we all feel just a little bit misunderstood, and wouldn't we all like to say we are more than what meets the eye? "   She told herself she didn't want others to know the real her and went to great lengths to keep her secrets, yet, I think she actually enjoyed being discovered;  finally being seen and fully understood by Paloma and Mr. Ozu.  We all tend to keep parts of ourselves hidden until we totally trust another person and when we find a person we fully trust, we want them to know us, the real us. 


I think I will try to buy this book in print.  There were some passages that were worth reading  over a few times and really savoring.  It's not necessarily the philosophical stuff. I doubt I'd have missed that if the author had left it out.  Sometimes I thought she was just writing it to show off.  Having said that, it was nice to have a book that made me  think and one of the main things I discovered is that I don't really think enough.   It was a smart book, that sometimes made me feel stupid, but it is a book with feeling too.  I definitely give it a thumbs up.  

This would be a fun book to have a live discussion about.  There are so many interesting little passages and discussing them would broaden my understanding and my appreciation of it.  


The references to Tolstoy and especially Anna Karenina made me want to read that next.  I know it is long and I'm not usually in to really long books.  I'm just wondering if anybody has read it and has an opinion about whether it's worth the time commitment.

  

Here's a picture of the most elegant hedgehog I could find on Google Images; just for your viewing pleasure.

Peace like a River

Katie asked me to do this awhile ago but I was worried I wouldn't remember all the goodness that this book is. I don't read a ton and it is not so uncommon for me to never finish a book. I know, I know, you are all disgusted. I am currently in the process of reading the HP series for the first time every. Again, disgust. Well you can expect a post on HP 5 coming right up if you are interested. Anyways, Tyler (my husband) and I read Peace like a River together and it changed my life. I seriously loved this book from the very first sentence.

It is the story of a regular family in the mid-West. Reuben, an eleven year old, narrates so you see his family from his perspective. He adores his older brother Davy and spends most of his time with his 8 year old sister, Swede, who is so amazing. Their dad is a janitor at the high school but is the sweetest most humble dad ever. Throughout the book Reuben witnesses him performing a number of different miracles. There are some underlaying themes here but that is all I will say because if you haven't read it you should. Probably most of you have though. This is definitely the best book I have read for a long time. Maybe EVER.

Before Green Gables

This was a fun book. It describes Anne's life before she reaches Green Gables. Because I am a sucker for all things L.M. Montgomery and I love spinoffs, I was very excited when I found this book. In some ways, it didn't disappoint - the details about Anne's early life give dimension to characters that were previously flat, almost villainized, such as Mrs. Hammond and Mrs. Thomas. You learn that Mrs. Thomas loved Anne's mom and that Mrs. Hammond has 8 children under the age of 4 (for some reason, I always thought there was more space between her "three sets of twins in succession"). You learn that Anne's mother was painfully shy and that Anne's father, unlike Anne, is very good at geometry.

However, this book was high on the cheese. There were many "cleverly insert perfectly correlating detail" moments. I think they were meant to make the book seem more believable as a true prequel to Anne of Green Gables but they just made it seem contrived.

Still, I enjoyed it and would recommend it, especially if you love L.M. Montgomery. 3 out of 5 stars. For more detailed rantings and ravings go to The Story Girl.

Shanghai Girls

I'm going to start this out like a church talk: For those of you who don't know me, I'm Emily, Erin's friend. I finally finished a book, so I finally get to blog about it! (yes, I accidentally blogged about not a book the other day, if you saw a phantom blog post in your feed)

Shanghai Girls is about two sisters who grow up in China and emigrate to the United States. The story goes from the 1930s to the 1950s. I would say that the book is primarily about the relationship between the two sisters and their families, but it also is really interesting historically.  Overall I loved it, but I would warn anyone who doesn't like sad stories- China, immigration and communism are no picnic! It's not a very happy book, but a good one that makes you thankful. (Or as The Costco Connection said, "A powerful new story!")

I'd also warn that it gets pretty graphic at one point, which it pretty important to the story, but if you want to skip over it you'll still get the gist. There were some pretty annoyed ladies at the teacher book club who didn't like it, but it's not romance novel graphic, it's "horrible, awful, things happen to people and I feel bad for them" graphic.

Born to Run

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

All I am going to say about this book is that if you already love running, it will make you love it more. If you don't love running, but want to, this book can still make you gain a passion for running. And if you don't love running and don't even want to, I still recommend this book because I think you would still like it.

I listened to it on tape (while running sometimes) and the reader was good (it may actually have been the author, I forget) BUT the one thing I will say is that he does a lot of direct quotes from people and some of them swear and I don't know why but listening to it is worse than reading it for me. So, take that into consideration. But this is a definite must read.

The Giver books 2 and 3

I hesitate to even call these 'sequels' to The Giver. I actually wouldn't call any of them sequels. The covers of the books say that they are 'companion' books, and I think that is a perfect description. They go together, but they aren't connected into one story. Gathering Blue and The Messenger are more connected than The Giver is to either of them. I hope that made sense.

Gathering Blue wasn't bad, but it wasn't memorable at all either.

I felt like 'The Messenger' was really rushed, and it just didn't have the beauty of the unveiling of the story or the surprises or any of the emotion that The Giver had. I felt like it could have been a lot better, but as it was I was a little disappointed.

Basically I would say, if you want to read them, go for it. They won't taint your view of The Giver, like I was afraid they might. But, they could just as easily be skipped, and you wouldn't really miss anything.

That is as long as you've read The Giver.

Did I mention that everyone should read The Giver.

Because everyone should read The Giver.