“Gone With the Wind” - Margaret Mitchell

I know this is a daunting book to even consider reading…it is very big and there are a lot of pages…and if you’ve seen the movie, why bother reading the book?  I think that if you enjoyed the movie, you should always read the book.  Sometimes this backfires as most movies can never do justice to the written word (especially if it is a really good book) but in this case it works.  The movie is wonderful and full of memorable characters and scenes which the book fleshes out for you.

The best reason to read the book, though, is Scarlett.  Vivien Leigh’s portrayal of Scarlett is flawless - she embodies Scarlett’s fiery temper, flamboyant personality and heart-breaking vulnerability.  In the novel, we become even more aware of Scarlett’s flaws but we also see what drives her - her love of family, her love of Tara and her love of life.  Scarlett can be called an opportunist at best, but she truly is forced to take the road she travels - forced by circumstance, forced by family, forced to survive.  But, in the end, you either hate her or you feel profoundly sorry for her.  I took the latter view.  Scarlett is a product of her changing social circumstance and is forced to make the decisions she makes through necessity and need.  It is commonly held that Scarlett is a pioneer, living at a point in history where women’s roles start to change as a result of the Civil War.  Scarlett embodies one of the first examples of “Women’s Lib” as she is forced to take the man’s role in the O’Hara household and provide for her sisters, her former slaves and her community.

My only criticism of the book is also probably one of the reasons to read it if you want an authentic picture of the world Scarlett inhabits.  I could not get through the passages when Mammy is speaking. It was laborious to read Mammy’s “lines” when spoken in the vernacular.  So, I just skipped those parts - I figure this sin is far less that the sin of reading the last chapter or page!!

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

To continue the discussion I began last week:

“Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott is my absolutely favorite book. It’s one of those books I could read over and over and over…and still be heartbroken when Beth dies and still get weepy over the ending when Jo finds what she is looking for. But, believe it or not, there are plenty of people (women and girls even) who have never read this classic. Please, do yourself a favor and read it. When you ask other devotees of the novel to explain why it is so appealingly, the answer inevitably is “Jo”. Jo March is what all of us wish we could be…generous, loving, caring and devoted to her family and her ideals. For all the trouble Jo gets into due to her fiery nature and her deep seated emotions, Jo has an unquenchable spirit that we all love and relate to. Now, I have read Alcott’s other novels and have not liked a single one - at all. So, what it is about “Little Women” that makes it timeless, classic and such a great read?

Having already confessed my love for this story, you can’t imagine how I felt when I visited Orchard House several years ago. Orchard House was in the middle of some extensive renovations but when I was standing in Louisa May Alcott’s parlor, kitchen, bedroom and garden I felt a strong connection to the vivacious and deep feeling Jo and I could picture every scene from “Little Women” when I moved from room to room. Especially touching was seeing the desk where Louisa wrote her novel. Being in Orchard House was like being a member of the March family. If you have the opportunity to visit Concord, Massachusetts, be sure to visit this landmark and see if you can feel Louisa and Jo’s spirits within its walls.

If you were stranded on a deserted island…

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what five books would you bring with you?  (Of course, if you knew to pack your five favorite books before you boarded your plane, wouldn’t you also know the plane was going down and would not get on it anyway?)  But, let’s suspend all logical thought and use that premise as a starting point…

If I was about to embark on a journey I knew would end in my being stranded on a sunny and lush Pacific island and also knew I could bring my five favorite books with me that would, in theory, sustain me on that deserted island while awaiting rescue, I would bring:

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

The Shell Seekers by Roseamund Pilcher

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

The Collected Works of Jane Austen (it’s really just one big book!)

This premise is similar to a favorite party game intended to let people get to know each other while discussion which five DVDs they would bring with them, but let’s put a literary spin on it….So, let me know what five books you would cram in your duffle bag (along with the other necessities for survival… IPOD, clean underwear, bottled water, first aid kit……)  Then each week, I will share why the above five titles were my picks to keep my occupied awaiting rescue (in addition to finding fresh water, hunting food, building rescue fires….)

The Sisters Grimm

I have just had an experience most book lovers can relate to…I have discovered a new author and series to indulge in…and best of all, my local library has almost all the titles published to date!

The series is “The Sisters Grimm” by Michael Buckley and there are currently 6 volumes published of which I have read the first five. This is a delightful tale of the adventures of the many-times grandchildren of the original Grimm Brothers who fairy tales are actually case files from their detective agency.

Imagine if the descendants of the Grimm Brothers had been given the task of ensuring the safety of all fairy tale characters and creatures, which duty included keeping them relatively undiscovered from the rest of the world! The Sisters Grimm live with their Grandmother in a town called Ferrytown Landing and run into many of their favorite fairy tale characters while chasing giants, a deranged Little Red Riding Hood and other villains who are trying to run this sleepy little town without human intervention (or population). If you are a fan of fairy tales, fantasy or young adult fiction, this series is worth taking a look at.

“Monster Blood Tattoo”

I just finished reading “Foundling” by D.M. Cornish, a young adult fiction work that is the first book in a series subtitled “Monster Blood Tattoo”. This delightful book is about a young orphan boy with the curious name of “Rossamund Bookchild” who becomes an apprentice monster hunter. As Rossamund begins his journey to take up his new post as lamplighter, he runs into all kinds of mischief and ultimately reaches his destination, but only after making the acquaintance of a beautiful and mysterious monster hunter - thus the apprentice part. I can’t wait to order the second book in this series…

No, It’s Not a Dream… I Actually Have New Post

I apologize profusely for the lack of posts since July, but you know how it is, it’s sunny and warm and there’s a good book (or several) and a tall, frosty glass of ice cold Diet Coke (or tea, beer, margarita, pick your poison) waiting for you on the deck.  But, I did read a lot of good books (and a lot of not so good books) and here are three I really enjoyed.

The first was “Becoming Jane Austen” by Jon Spence.  Now, don’t be fooled into thinking this is a romantic, mushfilled story about Jane Austen’s lovelife (what little of it there really was) despite the statement on the cover (”The true love story that inspired the classic novels”) - it is so much more than that.  A must read for every Jane Austen fan (who isn’t!?!), it gives lots of details about Jane’s life and does provide a good background for where Jane was (geographically and emotionally) when she wrote her various novels.  Very well written and informative (although still not as good as Jane’s own work - but then, what is?).

The second was: “Austenland” by Shannon Hale.  This book was about Jane Austen a dyed in the wool Jane Austen fanatic (again, who isnt!?!) who spends most of her free time daydreaming and fantasizing about Mr. Darcy (who doesn’t?) who is, of course, the absolute epitome of manhood (with the exception of Jamie Fraser from the Outlander series but that’s a subject for another day).  This young, very attractive and single woman takes a trip to “Jane Austen’s England” which includes living in period costume and hobnobbing with the likes of Mr. Darcy and his various neighbors, distant relatives, etc.  Believe it or not, there are a lot of Jane Austen/Pride and Prejudice type sequals, etc.  Most of them are terrible dribble (think of the impossible task of trying to measure up to the original) but this one was very, very good.

The third was:  “Mary Modern” by Camille DeAngelis.  This work was a science fiction type read but was quite interesting.  The basic story involves the daughter of a scientist who dips into the cloning pool with some disturbing results.  Apart for the great story, there are some ethical issues also explored by the book.  The ending was quite a surprise - I had to read the last page twice and there were still some “maybes” and unclear plot issues that I am still pondering.

So, give any of these three books a whirl….or read something else…but whatever you read, be sure to let me (and the rest of the world) what you are reading.

July 10, 2007 “Earthly Delights”

I just finished reading “Earthly Delights: A Corinna Chapman Mystery” by Kerry Greenwood. Ms. Greenwood has also written an earlier series which features a 1920’s socialite/flapper who solves crimes in her spare time (that series does not sound nearly as appealing as this one was!). Corinna Chapman is a divorced baker (who also happens to be on the “plus” side regarding both her weight and her age) who lives with three cats in Melbourne, Australia. Corinna starts her day with a junkie seemingly dying on her doorstep and in the course of the book befriends another junkie (and discovers a budding bakery star), helps solve another murder (the apartment building Corinna lives in is stocked with all kinds of interesting characters) and catch a very good looking Good Samaritan for themselves to help ease the lonely nights. I hope this is the beginning of a new series….

June 22, 2007

“Ambulance Girl: How I Saved Myself by Becoming an EMT” by Jane Stern is the funny, fascinating and fast paced story of how a middle aged, weight challenged gourmet food writer overcame her fears and phobias to become an EMT in Georgetown, Connecticut.

At first I was drawn to the cover art which depicts a little girl in a white dress with a red cross superimposed on the image. I tend to “judge a book by it’s cover” - if it is not eye catching and intriguing, I won’t read it. Once I started reading, I became hooked by the story the author was telling me.

Among my favorite passages in the book is when the author lists the four things EMTs should never do: “Do not try to replace someone’s organs if they are hanging from their body. Do not give CPR to a severed head. Do not try to revive someone who is in a state of advanced decomposition. If you have a patient whose arm or leg is partially amputated, do not pull it off to make things “neat”.” Kind of sick, but it does make sense!

So, check it out… in fact, check on any of the great non-fiction offerings - sometimes you find a gem in that pile of boring stuff about real people.

June 23, 2007 “Open the Book that Unlocks the Secret”

So goes the subtitle of “Endymion Spring” by Matthew Skleton. Skleton is new to the young adult writing world and tells the tale of the “Last Book”. Endymion Spring is the young printer’s “devil” who discovers a blank book hidden in a jewel encrusted chest. Spring also happens to work for Johann Gutenberg who happens to be visited by Johann Fust as Gutenberg is embarking on printing the world’s first popularly published Bible. Fust is as evil and black hearted as the famous Faust (one in the same actually) and has in his possession a chest which he cannot open without some innocent blood. Enter Endymion. Endymion’s mission becomes discovering and subsequently hiding the “Last Book”.

The story also involves a twenty-first century American boy named Blake who discovers the book during a visit to Oxford and also becomes embroiled with the “Last Book”. Blake’s quest, however, is to discover it’s hiding place before some other unsavory characters do. “Endymion Spring” is entertaining, quick paced and full of wonderfully written prose describing the book, the adventures both Endymion and Blake have and the world they both inhabit.

June 11, 2007 - Let’s dish some dirt…

I just finished reading “Dishwasher: One Man’s Quest to Wash Dishes in All Fifty States” by Pete Jordan. Pete or “Dishwasher Pete” as he is more commonly known by fans of his underground dishwashing “zine” (a self published, copied and distributed magazine), is a college dropout who decides that all he ever wants to be in life is a dishwasher - but he is not entirely without ambition as he sets a goal of washing dishes in every US state. So Pete embarks on a journey that lasts 10 years, involves more than 80 different “dishpits” (that’s what they call that dirty dishwashing room in the trade) in 33 states (no, he never reaches all 50) until Pete gives it all up for love. There are truly some crazy people out there!

The story was fast moving, engrossing and utterly entertaining. I don’t thing I will ever look at the busboy or dishwasher in a restaurant or diner in quite the same way again.

Pete gave up his lifelong dream, married the woman he loved (this is where it gets really interesting) and moved to Amsterdam where he is currently writes for a magazine that caters to Dutch cyclists (apparently they are quite bike-happy in Amsterdam) and is writing a book about life as an American in this cycle crazy city. I really can’t wait to read that book!

What are YOU reading?