Jane Austen: Persuasion

One Word Summary: looking at her hands
More Words: This might not be Austen's finest story, but I still like it and the writing is very good. I wish Cousin Elliot didn't have to be vilified to be rejected. It doesn't do much for Anne's credit to be admired by no one but a scoundrel (not including all the other eligble males: the country bumpkin, or the unfaithful sailor). Furthermore, it is rather convenient if a little odd that Captain Bentwick would choose Miss Louisa Musgrove instead of Anne (or at all).

Anyhow, I only picked up this novel because I read half of Pride Predjudice and Zombies (along with my favourite parts of Pride and Predjudice), and hated it. Yes it was silly, outrageous, and violent, but Austen's witty phrasing didn't always survive the meat grinder. Really only the fight scenes (with Darcy and Lady Catherine) and the study questions were any good. Oh, and that one line where Charlotte prefers Darcy over his cousin because his head, and therefore his brain, is bigger. That line is funny. Seth Grahme-Smith is welcome to his royalties, I'll stick with the original stuff. To get the whole zombie brain drain out of my system I read a little from Sense and Sensability too.

Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina

One Word Summary: Black was her colour
More Words: After Anna begins her affair with Vronsky, I skipped ahead to see if she eventually throws herself under a train. Then I read various passages to find how she came to that point. Now that I've finished most of the story I've come to a few conclusions. Tolstoy has a way with words but I don't like him (if Levin really is autobiographical and if the short bio I read is true). I don't like shallow men like Vronsky either. I pity all women who can't hold on to their youth, beauty, mystery, or even their hair. Trains are a great literary device. I don't think Anna did Dolly any favours by patching things up between her (Dolly) and her husband (Stiva). And I'll be sure to avoid men named Alexie. I did like the part where Levin calls Stiva a fool for selling his land so cheap.

Question:
Can you think of anything that could have salvaged this train wreck?
Are you an Anna, or a Kitty?
Why does Ayn Rand hate this novel?

Rate: 3 tears
Quotes:
He had heard that women often did care for ugly and ordinary men, but he did not believe it, for he judged by himself, and he could not himself have loved any but beautiful, mysterious, and exceptional women.

Louisa May Alcott: Little Women

One Word Summary: girl power?
Summary: The story of happy family.
More Words: I felt guilty shirking my duties to read this book! I liked it very much- despite the nauseating sentimentality and the nonstop moralizing. There is so much good in this novel. I'm torn between a desire to take notes and a desire to take umbrage. Did Ms. Allcott intend to write a manual on how to be feminine? Well, as they say, the wicked take the truth to be hard. I appreciated the tongue in cheek humour. Allcotts little quips and zingers added so much voice and personality to the narrative. And now that I've read Little Women, I'm almost reconciled to Prof. Bhaer. Almost.

Quote:
I'd have a stable full of Arabian steeds, rooms piled with books, and I'd write from a magic inkstand

Jo got little comfort from them; so she went up to her refuge in the garret, and confided her troubles to the rats.

Action List:

1. Read Pilgrims Progress
2. Write a thank you letter to Noko for giving me a copy of Pilgrims Progress
3. Apologize to Noko for never reading Pilgrims Progress and for losing the copy she gave me
4. Re-watch the 1994 film version of Little Women, with Christian Bale
5. Write to PattiCake about how much I like Little Women
6. Apologize for doubting her literary tastes
7. Remember to tell her how much I enjoyed Meet The Robinsons by M. L'Engle

Penguin Classics

Khaled Hosseini: The Kite Runner

One Word Summary: For you a thousand times over
More Words: I finally screwed up my courage to read beyond that winter day in 1975. I wept with Amir. I also couldn't help but laugh mirthlessly through the horror.
Quote:
But this was no Hindi movie. (p109)
there are bad people in this world, and sometimes bad people stay bad. (p319)
Had I actually gone to sleep after I had given Sohrab the news he feared most? (p351)

Question:
Is it better for people to take their own beatings, or to accept an intercessory?
Does Amir feel empathy for Hassan? Or is he wrapped up in his own self flagellation?
Why doesn't Hassan pelt Amir with pomegranates, ever?
What is Amir's real crime?

Riverhead Books 2003

Jane Urquhart: The Stone Carvers

One Word Summary: King Ludwig gifts a bell
More Words: There is some breathless feeling associated with reading a book set in a place you call home. I miss Canada. This is a great novel, it's really too bad it will be forgotten. Urquhart build miracles with words. I think I might have another go at Away. I think I might have to read more Canadian authors. But this, this is a great novel.

Plot Summary: A no longer young woman leaves home to help carve a monument. So many things happen.

Quotes:

Like every other man, woman, and child in Bavaria, Father Gstir was well
aware that King Ludwig was mad, and he knew that an interest in Canada was
precisely the kind of course the King's mad mind was likely to take. p10

"It is the same with almost anything that remains abandoned. Friends,
sweethearts, places, homelands, houses, and this castle in my mind. After a
certain period of time the roof goes and there is no turning back. Still it is
important to see what kind of ruin remains, for it is my contention that only
the greatest works make beautiful ruins." p53
She felt utterly fixed within the dimensions of a house. p142

"Listen, Tilman said gently to his friend, "anything you want is possible.
My grandfather knew a priest once who built a gigantic church in the wilderness
- right in the middle of a forest - a stone church. With a bell. And my
grandfather carved the alters out of wood, just like he was in Europe."
p210

People up and die, she thought, they up and die before they have their fill
of the impossible. Her grandfather had died before Tilman's much-longed-for
return. Father Gstir had died before the bell for his illogical church was
blessed. Eamon, without ever laying a hand on a military aircraft. They all had
approached their desires naked, simple and glowing, without artifice or
disguise, their wide open hearts an uncomplicated target for annulment of one
kind or another. Renunciation was an option they never even had time to consider
before they were rejected by experience and the light was cancelled.
This was not going to happen to her. She would court the impossible, but
she would conceal herself, confuse the spirit of annihilation, bring no
attention to her quest. p253

Questions:
Why is Klara the only woman in this book? (not counting her mother, her grandmother, the nuns and Crazy Phoebe)
What are Klara's feminine qualities? What are her masculine qualities?
Can we have whatever we dream?
Must time erase everything?
How is tenderness important in this story?
What's the significance of the whistle?

Viking Penguin 2002

Dave Eggers: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

One Word Summary: Frisbee
More Words: I read this book for the obvious reason. And because the back jacket promised something mind blowing. So yeah, it blows. Hehe. Actually I don't even know what self-conscious means. I mean I know how I feel when I've done something publicly humiliating, but this is different. I've never read Kierkegaard. I think I'm supposed to like this book. Everyone likes it. It's really gimmicky. He swears a lot. He thinks about sex a lot. He's all about the mid-stream. He might not be telling the truth. He's got issues with sentimentality. He's carrying the grief of the world. He sees himself as some sort of Christ figure, and his mother is... Mary? He might be a cannibal. And yet he's an everyman- a failure, a dreamer, a tired old man, a noying. But he is never mediocre. He is magnificent. And his brother too, even more. Even more.

This book is revitalizing. I feel renewed. Like it's sping and I'm twenty and anything is possible. I should become some sort of activist and start something great. You know change the world, make it a better place, for you and for me and the entire human race. Naturally I really liked this book. It made me happy, except the part at the end where he wrote "I hate you, I hate everyone". That's what he wrote right?

Questions:
Did he mean that? The part where he hates me?
What's Toph doing these days?

Censorship: Egger's does swear a lot and try to have sex a lot. It's got Alcoholics and and it's full of Death. My daughter should probably grow up before she reads this. By grown up I mean a) she can think for herself and b) she not a self absorbed immature person. Of course this book isn't necessary for survival and there are plenty of similar works (but the style is striking and it is like a dose of sunshine). So I guess everyone should read it at their own peril. Think skin cancer.

New Words:
Solipsism, Bathos (with a 'B')

If I were a stalker:
Dear Mr. Eggers
I just read you Heartbreaking book. It was fine.

Here's a picture of my brother. He's a man now and would prefer to be called Rob. Or Bob. Or Robert. While I was reading your words I kept thinking this is my brother. When I saw your picture I thought there is my brother, whose dog is that?
Of course half way through I realized you are not my brother. You don't even look like him. Only for a moment I believed you were the same. He is a bright star. A superhero. He always says, "Thanks for the compliment, but I am not nearly so wonderful." I'm pretty sure he's right, but I don't believe him anyway. Tears and snot are dripping off my face as I write- I love my brother.
Incidentally, he has read Kierkegaard.
I wonder if you're regretting that part in the introduction where you invite everyone to write to you. Do people remember the return address envelope? I'm not actually going to mail this because, well, it's just begging to be mocked, or ignored, or lost.
ah... all the best,
Sheri

Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird

One Word Summary: Boo

More Words: I don't know anyone that doesn't like this book. And I know a lot of people who named their first born Atticus. Really. Okay- I can only think of one person, and it was a middle name. But still. What an iconic character. He was a man of integrity. He was a good father. He was highly quotable. He was a great reader. And he couldn't have done it without Calpurnia or Miss Maudie. ummm, I'm at a loss for any comment that isn't dumb or redundant. I liked the book. It took a while to really begin enjoying it. The trial scene went by in a whirl. I wonder if Matlock stole the left-handed defense. And those Ewells!

Questions:

Was the name Heck Tate a joke?

Why is it fair to say Bob Ewell fell on his knife?

Louis de Bernnieres: Corelli's Mandolin

One Word Summary: Antonia

More Words: This book was Awful. Terrible. Depressing. Difficult. Insane. I loved it. It made me feel hopeful, despite human atrocities.

Questions:

1. Does Carlo's homosexuality impact his heroism? Would he even be a hero if he weren't a homosexual? What do you think about his arguments against choice?
2. Compare Mandras to Antonio. Francisco to Antonio.
3. Hubris. What is Mandras' fatal flaw?
4. How is Pelagia like a man? Is she different from other women in our day and culture?
5. According to the author what comes of teaching women to think? Do you agree?
6. What is the name of the literary technique for separating lovers and then reuniting them after it almost too late? What purpose does it serve? Is it true in real life?
7. Is Antonio a coward, a lover not a fighter, a pacifist, a wimp? Why does he give up on Pelagia so easily?
8. How did WWII change the world? Why is Cephallonia the perfect place to stage a story about change, and growing old, and being young and in-love. What do these things have in common? What other dichotomies can you identify in the book.
9. Why does the doctor use such big words?
10. Was Mussolini really crazy?

Quotes:

he also knew that everyman needs an obsession in order to enjoy life.

Another thing. Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes andthen subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have towork out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivablethat you should ever part.

He had struggled for a better world, and wrecked it.

More Reading:
Tragic Greek Plays
Mussolini Biography
History of Greece
A farewell to Arms, and other Hemingway novels
An atlas

Censorship: I would want my daughter to wait until she was a senior in highschool at least. But she should read it again after college and when she's old.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

One Word Summary: Brains! Guts! Glory!
More Words: Truthfully- I haven't actually read this book. I saw it at Barnes and Noble (my favourite store) and held it in my hands for a long while. I weighed my options and put the book down with a sigh. The cover picture would be too fascinating for my daughter and knowing there is a book entitled Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is almost as great as reading it. Almost.



From the blurb on the back of the book:

Complete with romance, heartbreak, sword fights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses. Pride and Prejudiced and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you'd actually want to read.

*Note to self: make an Austen Spin-off List

Daphne DuMaurier: Rebecca

One Word Summary: Haunting
More Words: When Will asked if Alfred Hithcock's film was based on this novel my vision automatically shifted to a black and white film, so silent you can hear clocks ticking, and short uncomfortable dialogue with the nameless girl painfully repeating the same answer to different questions. I started holding my breath for the terrible thing to come at last. Before that I felt impatient with the nameless girl. I wanted her to be better than Rebecca after all, eventhough there's no competing with Rebecca. I felt frustrated and jealous for the nameless girl. Really, DuMaurier is a genius with words, she can capture so much human feeling with them. I like how her words pulse through the text ("We would not talk of Manderly, I would not tell my dream. For Manderely was our no longer. Manderly was no more.") There was one passage in chapter two that made me think "this will be quite different from Jane Eyre". I really liked reading this book, although I may never read it again.

Quotes:

The devil does not ride us anymore. We have come through our crisis, not unscathed of course. His premonition of disaster was correct from the beginning; and like a ranting actress in an indifferent play, I might say that we have paid for freedom. But I have had enough melodrama in this life, and would willingly give my five senses if they could ensure us our present peace and security. Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind. Of course we have our moments of depression; but there are other moments too, when time, umeasured by the clock, runs on into eternity and,catching his smile, I know we are together, we march in unison, no clash of thougth or of opinion makes a barrier between us.
We have no secrets now from one another. All things are shared. Granted that our little hotel is dull, and the food indifferent, and that day after day dawns very much the same, yet we would not have it otherwise.

This passage reminds me very much of the famous passage in Jane Eyre near the end where she says,

I have now been married ten years. I know what it is to live entirely for and with what I love best on earth. I hold myself supremely blest - blest beyond what language can express; because I am my husband's life as fully as he is mine. No woman was ever nearer to her mate than I am: ever more absolutely bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. I know no weariness of my Edward's society: he knows none of mine, any more than we each do of the pulation of the heart that beats in our separate bosoms; consequently, we are ever together. To be together is for us to be at once as free as in solitude, as gay as in company. We talk, I believe, all day long: to talk to each other is but a more animated and an audible thinking. All my confidence is bestowed on him, all his confidence is devoted to me; we are precisely suited in character - perfect concord is the result.

Study Questions:

1. Who is the nameless girl? A natural extension of her husband, a foil for Rebecca, a sort of Everyman, a ghost?
2. Does Maxim love the nameless girl? Why does he love Manderly? Why can't he forget Rebecca?
3. How do societal conventions help the plot, and inhibit the characters?
4. What words and phrases does DuMaurier use to create such on ominous tone?
5. Are the nameless girl's imagining more real than what's actually happening?
6. When does the nameless girl star refering to herself and Maxim as we?
7. Do they have children?

Chaim Potok: The Chosen

One Word Summary: Tzaddik
More Words: This is a work of genius. I even pulled out my pen and sticky notes to study it as I read, although I didn't commit anything to memory. I loved reading every word, and following significant words as they appeared through the story. I love how Potok used sight and sound to define his two main characters. I love how everyone blinks, but it means different things. I like Davey Cantor, whose only purpose is to show up with bad news. I love how the title is open to so many interpretations. I love how beautiful Potok's images are and I love the complete lack of superfluity in his style.

Study Questions:

• Is the Master of the Universe as silent Danny's father or as effusive Reuven's father?
• Is the World Cockeyed? How do different character define the world?
• How does having a soul counter cruelty? How is Reb Saunders both cruel and compassionate?
• Warfare and fighting language figure throughout the novel. What are Danny and Reuven fighting against?
• In the beginning Reuven's father is angry and lectures him on the importance of listening. At the end Reuven's father is angry again for the same reason. How does Reuven change and remain the same?
• Why does Danny want to study psychology?

Quote:

My father looked at me. " What did I never tell you?"

Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre

One Word Summary: My Master
More Words: This novel is a masterpiece. Books that are good enough to study should have study questions. So I've come up with a few questions to spend time thinking about.

Study Questions

• Why can't Jane live with Mr. Rochester as his mistress? And the parallel question, why does she offer to accompany Mr. Rivers to India as his secretary but not as his wife?
• How is Jane's love for Helen similar to her love for Mr. Rochester? What does she feel for Mr. Rivers?
• What makes Jane Eyre so different from Pride and Prejudice?
• How does Charlotte Bronte define good or bad in her characters?
• Is Jane really an elf/faerie? Who is she?
• What words were threaded throughout the text?
• Was the finale satisfying?
• Which do you think better, love in this world or glory in the world to come? Must a person give up one to achieve the other?

Quotes:

He made me love him without looking at me. p203

Alas the readers of our era are less favoured. But courage? I will not pause either to accuse or repine. I know poetry is not dead, nor genius lost; nor has Mammon gained power over either, to bind or slay; they will both assert their existence, their presence, their liberty and strength again on day. Powerful angels, safe in heaven! they smile when sordid souls triumph, and feeble ones weep over their destruction. Poetry destroyed! Genius banished! No! Mediocrity, no: do not let envy prompt you to the though. No; they not only live, but reign and redeem: and without their divine influence spread everywhere, you would be in hell - the hell of your own meaness. p427

This was very pleasant; there is no happiness like that of being loved by your fellow-creatures, and feeling that your presence is an addition to their comfort. p284

Hush, Jane! you think to much of the love of human beings; you are too impulsive, to vehement: the sovereign Hand that created your frame, and put life into it, has provided you with other resources than your feeble self, or than other creatures feeble as you. Besides this earth, and besides the reace of men, there is an invisible world and a kingdom of spirits: that world is round us, for it is everywhere; and those spirits watch us, for they are commissioned to guard us, and if we were dying in pain and shame, if scorn smote us on all sides, and hatred crushed us, angles see our tortures, recognise our innocence (...) and God waits only the separation of spirit from flesh to crown us with a full reward. Why then, should we ever sink overwhelmed with destress, when life is so soon over, and death is so certain an entrance to happiness - to glory. p45