I am still on my classics kick. Currently working on Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. I am hoping to make some significant headway with the book today and tomorrow because I really want to get back on track with North and South. I also just bought a bunch of Jane Austen books too. I think I will try and balance Jane Eyre with North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell rather than wait to finish one. So many books so little time!!

I am also working on a hiking memoir Almost Somewhere, by Suzanne Roberts. Its about 3 college friends spending a month hiking the John Muir Trail.

Lastly I'm still slowly making my way through the short story collection The World of Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse.

Started

Little Lord Fauntleroy, by Frances Hodgeson Burnett

Phantastes, by George MacDonald

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë

The Republic, by Plato

Finished

War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy

What Katy Did, by Susan Coolidge

The Nibelungenlied, by Anonymous (an old Germanic epic)

It has been a crazy week for me as far as book tranisitions. I don't normally read this much. :) I've been getting more and more into the classics and I've been loving it. War and Peace especially was an achievement.

Finished Dune, by Frank Herbert.

Started Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë and 1984, by George Orwell.

Finished:

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb I liked this book a lot! Good political intrigue, especially towards the end. I really need the rest of the series now.

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie Wow, what a fun book! I definitely did not see the ending coming, which in a mystery I'd say is a good thing. I was also surprised at how often she used French in the dialogue. The main character is Belgian and his French-speaking friend usually drop a few French phrases per chapter. I speak French so it wasn't an issue for me. However, it makes me wonder how much French your average 1930's reader knew. Was it just common for people to know basic French? Maybe her being English had something to do with it? I wouldn't expect the people I know now (in America) to understand most of the French that she used.

Currently Reading:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte After seeing multiple people mention this book on the "what book do you regret not reading sooner" thread I decided to pick it up. It's been sitting on my shelf since Christmas. I'm only about 20 pages in, but so far so good.

Still reading Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte

For some reason it's been quite a slow read for me, but I'm still really liking the book! I noticed again (as I did with Murder on the Orient Express) that there is a fair amount of French that the reader is just expected to uderstand. I guess it was common for educated people in England at the time to learn French as part of their education. I mean even Jane learned french at her orphan's school.

Finished: Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte

It was a bit of a slow read for me, but I enjoyed it a lot! It was darker and more complex than the typical "Victorian romance" that I was expecting.

Started: All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr

For some reason I really prefer short chapters to long chapters which is one of the reasons I am loving this book! The chapters are like 2-3 pages long. I'm a sucker for a good WW2 story, especially one set in France. This book is a real recipe for success as far as my tastes go.

Had a good time reading this week. Early on I finished Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf (1925) and it was awesome. Amazingly written. I was a little lost in the beginning because she brings out a lot of characters and it's a little unclear where she's going, one of those books you get a better handle on the further you go. Glancing at the endnotes I'm sure I missed some of the social satire. But it was still a lot of fun to read. The ending was subtle and strange and surprised me, the book suddenly stopping about fifty pages before I thought it would (because of the extensive endnotes) and stopping right in the middle of action. Of course after some thought her story feels complete, the ending correctly significant, the last lines memorable.

Definitely coming back to this one later this year, and reading more of Woolf's work in the meantime. After finishing, I read the foreword which said it was influenced by Ulysses, so I'll probably be climbing that mountain too in the near future.

After the challenge of Mrs. Dalloway I wanted something easy to read, so I started and finished The Gunslinger, by Stephen King (1982, The Dark Tower #1). Not sure I would put it among his best but the concept and setting are great, and it was enjoyable enough that I blasted through it over a couple days. Will definitely continue reading the series. Did not like the Pocket Book format, but I found it for a dollar so I can't really complain.

After that I started and finished Last Exit to Brooklyn, by Hubert Selby Jr. (1964). I knew this guy had written Requiem for a Dream so I expected something kind of dark and fucked up. Boy howdy, mission accomplished. Skimming reviews I was laughing at the tenor of words that popped up ... "hellish", "obscene", "sadistic", "an assault." Selby does escalation so well, his typical type of story building in pitch, his characters spiraling out of control, losing their identity and bottoming out on an horrific high note.

Over the weekend I started Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë (1847). I was worried this would be a sort of boring symbolist Hawthornish Romantic type of situation. Then I was surprised by the modern quality of the writing, the energetic opening, the thick tension between Jane and Mrs. Reed (Jane's transgressive speech making me nervous), and the easy sort of Dickensian plot that establishes itself. But I don't think Dickens could have written a character like Jane. She's really something.

Recent Acquisitions: Elmer Gantry, by Sinclair Lewis. Artemis, by Andy Weir.

I finished Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley and Silhouette of a Sparrow, by Molly Beth Griffin. I gave Brave New World 3 out of 5 stars. I liked it for what it was and appreciate it as a progenitor of the dystopia genre, but its focus on the world rather than the characters or plot prevented me from loving it. I gave Silhouette of a Sparrow 2.5/5 stars. I really really wanted to love this novel, but it needed about 150 more pages for me to really connect with it. The writing wasn't bad, but the overall story and characters felt shallow. There weren't enough pages given to develop them, and there was one super contrived plot point that made me cringe.

I'm currently reading Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. I'm astonished by how much I'm loving this book. I didn't really enjoy Villette by her, but I've actually laughed out loud at parts of Jane Eyre. The writing is absurdly good.

I finished:

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte -- 5/5, I absolutely adored this book. I was constantly surprised by how funny Charlotte's writing is and there are so many lines that are just breathtakingly beautiful. It's a little surreal being done with it; I'm already planning a re-read in the future when I get the penguin drop caps edition. Jane is absolutely one of the best characters ever written, hands down. I also really loved the depth the first-person narrative gave to her perspective. It felt like you got to know Jane so intimately by the end.

Love Poems, by Various -- 3/5, I wanted something short after getting through Jane Eyre, so I picked up this pocket poem collection that B&N was selling for $5. It's pretty much just a collection of the most famous love poems ever written. I'd say it was fine, I like reading poetry and it was a pretty solid collection.

Dread Nation, by Justina Ireland -- 3/5, This is a YA historical fantasy I've seen get a lot of hype. It's speculative fiction about what if zombies rose up during the civil war, which honestly sounds like a really silly premise, but I like the way the book handled it. It's not super camp-y like you'd think; it's more focused on how a situation like that would affect race relations in reconstruction era America. It was super fast paced and a fun enough read, but the prose wasn't really anything special. I had a couple other problems with it despite being an overall enjoyable read, which is why I gave it a 3.

I started:

Dubliners, by James Joyce -- Enjoying this so far, but I have to re-read a lot of the stories in order to feel like I "get" them. Definitely a welcome challenge though, and I'm excited to get to the final story, which I hear is amazing.

I am hoping to finish Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte over the next few days. I am also hoping to finish Almost Somewhere which I am so read to be done with by now. I want to continue on with North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell although I think I may read Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen next because it is a bit shorter. At this point I am not sure what I am reading next. I am also thinking of reading Anne of the Island, by L.M. Montgomery. I had started about 40 or so pages but had to put it down because I was a bit overwhelmed by all the other books I was trying to get through. I hate how there are so many books I want to read and not enough time to get through them.

Finished Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and really liked it. This was my first time reading any of the Brontes. I wasn't sure what I'd think of the book, because based on what I knew of the story I didn't think I'd like any of the characters or the plot all that much, but I ended up loving the descriptions of the natural setting and surroundings and the emotional descriptions, even if I was rolling my eyes at the source of said emotions, and Jane grew on me. Wide Sargasso Sea is on by TBR now. (Does anyone know how readers in 1847 reacted to Bertha? Were they hungry for backstory and explanations or did they just take it for granted that "mad" is a complete diagnosis and all mad people are violent?)

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Started Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte because I guess I'm on a Bronte kick now, Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher, and a book for school Critical Terms for Animal Studies by Lori Gruen.

Started reading Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte.

Finished Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë (1847). Took about two and a half weeks to complete, one of the longer times I've spent with a book this year. Great read of course. The earlier sections about Jane's childhood are fantastic, and the shifting conflicts and settings of the later sections are dramatically pretty satisfying.

Started and finished Tinkers, by Paul Harding (2008). Very impressive. Reminded me of a Virginia Woolf or Don DeLillo joint, being of shorter length and concerning concepts of time, living, dying, the human body, human connections. I noticed this book as a Kindle daily deal and the outline said it won the Pulitzer, so that was an easy sell. Glad I picked it up.

Started The Drawing of the Three, by Stephen King (1987, The Dark Tower #2). Spent some time reading this over the weekend so I'm about halfway through. Definitely an improvement over The Gunslinger, which I'll give a bit of slack being analogous to The Hobbit in its purpose as a broad introduction to character, setting, concept, and theme.

Recent acquisitions: To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf. Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman. Our Friends From Frolix 8, by Philip K. Dick. Only Revolutions, by Mark Z. Danielewski, which with its three-color process, vertiginous two-in-one format, and dual bookmarks, has to be among the weirdest looking books I've seen.

Just finished The Rise of Endymion, by Dan Simmons. I charged through the whole series, and it was fantastic! Favorites were books 1 and 3.

Started Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte yesterday. I prefer switching between genres between books, especially series, to help keep them all from bleeding together.

Started and finished The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe; The Horse and His Boy; and Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis (reread). I last read them when I was a lot younger (think four to five years ago, minimum, probably more like six or seven) and while I still like them, the allegory feels a lot more heavy-handed and I'm a lot more annoyed at Lewis' attitude towards Susan and girls in general. This is the start of a rereading kick for me of Lewis' work (next up, the rest of the Chronicles of Narnia - interested to see how those will go as I remember thinking books 2 through 5 were definitely the best, while 1, 6, and 7 weren't nearly as good, especially 7).

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Finished Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (for school). I enjoyed it up until the end of Lowood and then it rocketed downhill. I kind of hate Rochester. In class we were debating whether it was a feminist novel, and even taking into account the social tendencies of the time, it strikes me as very much not a feminist novel (I mean, to actually find happiness she apparently has to marry the guy that does nothing but raise red flags in the story). I did really like the characterization of Helen Burns and Bertha Mason, and I still have a lot of questions about authorial intent there that I'm thinking over (one of our class assignments was to write a backstory for Bertha).

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Started Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson and Particle Physics Brick by Brick by Ben Still. While I haven't gotten too far into the latter, it appears so far fairly good - an entertaining introduction (with some actual substance, the bane of most popular physics books) based on treating each fundamental particle as a lego piece and building from there. The former, though, I really highly recommend. While Isaacson is not an art historian, he is a fairly good biographer, and his biography of Leonardo is impressively in-depth (it's also really nice, with full-color pictures of most of Leonardo's paintings and many of his sketches and notebook pages). Definitely gives one an appreciation for Leonardo's curiosity (my favorite bit so far has been the mention of how one of Leonardo's lists of what to learn that day included figuring out what a woodpecker's tongue looks like).

Finished To All the Boys I've Loved Before, by Jenny Han. So cute. Writing was VERY YA - not much challenge here. But absolutely adorable and the movie was, too. I downloaded the second on my Kindle to read after what I started after - Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. My book club couldn't believe I'd never read it so here I am! And - if I may add - I am REALLY enjoying it!

I finished Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë yesterday. Amazing book!

Today, I started reading Sourcery, by the late Terry Pratchett. I've been enjoying the Discworld series so far, so I think I won't be disappointed by this one either.

I am currently working on Anne of Avonlea, by L.M. Montgomery and The Penderwicks at Point Mouette, by Jeanne Birdsall I am hoping to finish up both books either today or tomorrow. I'll probably continue on with each series. I have decided to take a break from The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. I just can't get into the flow of the writing. I might give it one more shot later on but if I still can't get into I'll call it quits.

I am also slowly taking my time reading The World of Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse and North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell.

Actually I might put North and South down not because it's bad but I just got a nice copy of Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte (Penguin Deluxe) and it being a Gothic story sounds great for October. I'll get back to North and South later. So many classics I want to read. I feel like my ignorant soul has awakened.

I finished:

• Master and Apprentice by Claudia Gray, which I gave 3 stars. I liked some of the new things it added to the canon, but the plot was a bit messy.

• The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson, which I gave 4 stars. This was a lot of fun but I spent a lot of time feeling nostalgic for the first Mistborn trilogy rather than focusing on the new story.

I started:

• Alphabet Squadron by Alexander Freed. I'm enjoying it so far but there are definitely weaknesses, likely a 3-star rating at this point.

• The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, like a lot of other people on the sub! I'm loving it!

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, a re-read for me, as part of the r/bookclub summer readalong. I didn't love this when I read it in high school but I'm hoping to appreciate it more now that I'm a bit more open to classics.

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë

Finished Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë. It was a really enjoyable read, and the ending was not what I expected.

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Started Player Piano, by Kurt Vonnegut. It's the 4th Vonnegut book I've read over the past month or so, and I'm close to halfway through and really enjoying it.

I just finished The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert and I enjoyed it so much I felt inspired to tackle a long time "to-read" of mine, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. So far both have had me so hooked in, my Netflix account is starkly neglected and I'm trying to choose meals that are easier to eat while reading.

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. Reader, I finished it.