Bookmark Break Challenge 2012

Last year I participated in AubrieAnne's Bookmark Break Challenge. She challenged everyone to get their dusty old books off the shelves and finish them! She said that if we read more books than she did in 2011, she would give us prizes! Well, I read more books than she did! In 2011, I read 66 books. Here is what I got for my efforts!





I also got free ad space on her blog for one year! This year, I plan on taking part in her challenge again.





My personal goal is to read at least 52 books this year, or one a week. I also think I already mentioned this, but I would like to try to read at least one book a month that I already have laying around. I am going to try not to buy any books this year (except for the ones I buy with my B&N or Amazon gift cards!) This means I will be downloading a lot of free classics from Amazon as well as reading a lot of free reviewer books from Dorrance and LibraryThing. I also plan on reading a lot of library books. At least that's the goal!

Last year I not only took part in AubrieAnne's challenge, but I also joined an online book club at The Many Thoughts of a Reader. We are currently reading State of Wonder by Anne Patchett. One of my other book goals for 2011 was to read more classics. I did read A Christmas Carol as well as several of the Anne of Green Gables series, but I need to get more on the ball this year for that.

You can find out more about what I am reading, reviewing, planning on reading and hoping to read on my BOOKSHELF page. Also, if you haven't already, come see what I am reading on Goodreads!

What are your book related goals for this year? Are you involved in any book clubs?

Review: Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Published: 1811
Number of Pages: 409
ISBN: 9780141439662
First Line: "The family of Dashwood had long been settled in Sussex."

See the Goodreads description HERE.

This is a story about a family, of a mother and three daughters, as well as their extended family of cousins, step brothers and sisters-in-law and their current love interests. There is selfishness and greed; there are parties and laughter; there is music and books and love; there is heartbreak and deceit. It seems a formula for success.

The eldest daughter, Elinor, is the only rational one. Her next sister, Marianne, is a silly, selfish flighty girl who cares nothing of anyone else’s problems and wants everyone to focus on her own. The third sister barely gets mentioned, as she is not old enough to fall madly in love with the wrong guy and then make a scene about it when he doesn’t love her back.

The brother and sister-in-law are greedy and care only about money, even though they have plenty and don’t share it with the rest of the family. The cousins are only focused on parties and gaiety and fun.

My impression of this book was that they spend the whole time having parties and looking for a husband. They fall in love with men who are unfaithful and they act quite silly about it upon realizing the man doesn‘t love them. The men are all fickle and quite rude about it, pretty much ignoring the girls once they have had enough of them and never communicating with anyone.  I almost didn’t like them until I recollected that this book was written roughly 200 years ago and times WERE different then. However, I find it hard to relate and also to distance these girls from our modern times. If they were here right now, they would be completely out of place. I would tell them to shut up or to stand up for themselves for God’s sakes!

This is an era where men and women still marry for money and class. An era where your mother can arrange your marriage to a “suitable” beau. An era where the women didn’t work and then men were landlords as an occupation. It is an era that I do like to read about and would like to understand, but that I have a hard time relating to. Maybe it’s Austen’s style of writing. Maybe it’s just the era.

However, for such an old book, it is sometimes amazing how much things really haven’t changed. I think this quote still holds true today.  “Shyness is only the effect of a sense of inferiority in some way or other. If I could persuade myself that my manners were perfectly easy and graceful, I should not be shy”.

This one just cracks me up. “Elinor agreed to it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition”.  So she didn’t argue with him. She was snubbing him by not giving him the satisfaction of an argument. I love it. What an insult!

But the best quote is this one at the end, which redeems Marianne. She finally turns around and realizes that she is not the only person in the world and the learns to respect and care about other people. She realizes that the man she loved when young was worthless and the one who has stood by and loved her for years is priceless.

“Marianne Dashwood was born to an extraordinary fate. She was born to discover the falsehood of her own opinions, and to counteract, by her conduct, her most favourite maxims. She was born to overcome an affection formed so late in life as at seventeen, and with no sentiment superior to strong esteem and lively friendship, voluntarily to give her hand to another!”

I cannot say I really liked this book as much as I thought I would. From hearing what other people have said, I thought it would be absolutely great. It was just okay. I have found that there are several classics that I feel about this way. Maybe the hype is just too much. My expectations are too high. Or maybe I am just not into this style of book. I will keep trying however.

I give it a 3 out of 5. I liked this book but I did not love it.

PS. I have not seen the movie, but saw the cover of the book. Does Hugh Grant play Willoughby? I hope he's not Brandon. He's definitely more of a rouge. Also, if Kate Winslet is Marrianne, I am not sure I agree with that one either. I guess I will have to watch it.

Have you read Sense and Sensibility? Do you want to be part of the discussion? Please join us over at KT's Refinishing School for a link up and discussion of this book. While there, you can also vote for our April BBC book club read.

Reading Is Cool

I am always looking for new books to read and I stumbled over this site - The Busy Bookworm. I am going to attempt to read her suggestions this year. (I have already read Her Fearful Symmetry, but I think the rest are new for me). I also have a book club in New Olreans that I have been to a couple of times, and usually keep up with the reading. The next few months worth of books for that are:

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (March -- I am already late)

Nine Lives: Death and Life In New Orleans (see review in post below)

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown


The Busy Bookworm reading list:

To Be Read:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

The Leaf by Jo-Ann M. Rodriguez

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Does anyone have any thoughts or comments on any of these books? Or do you have any other suggestions of what to read? I am always looking out for a good book!
 
Currently Reading:

February Book Club

Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans. This book is actually for the April book club meeting, but it was available in the library first, so, I got into it early. Dan Baum writes about life in New Orleans, from the 60s on to today, from the perspective of nine different people. I really enjoyed it. You get a glimpse into what it was like living in the 9th ward, the Garden District and New Orleans in general. This city has a lot of history and Dan Baum tells it in a fun and interesting way. Also, since I am here because of Katrina and each character tells their story of that day, of that time, I get a little more insight into how it would have been to have to live through that disaster.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars. A good read.

January Self Imposed Read

If you haven’t already read it, read The Time Travelers Wife, also by Audrey Niffenegger. I read it and loved it, which is the reason I decided to read her most recent book, Her Fearful Symmetry. This book is set in London and is about a ghost in a flat near Highgate Cemetery. It is a pretty fast read, interesting enough, but without the pizzazz that The Time Travelers Wife had. When I read The Time Travelers Wife, I couldn’t put it down. I was at my parent’s house for Christmas and I was sleeping in an unheated room in the winter time and I still would lie in bed with my arms and head exposed and freezing cold, reading it until the wee hours of the night. This book is good, but not that good!

I also read Julie and Julia which if you haven’t already heard, is about a young girl just about to turn 30 who decides to cook every single recipe from Julia Child’s famous cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. In one year. Five hundred and some odd recipes, each with pounds and pounds of butter all cooked within 365 days. And she writes a blog about it.  But the book is about more than just her adventure. It is a story about a girl who has hopes and dreams but is not sure what they are or if she will ever accomplish them. She is bored of her job, her life and her apartment. She takes on a task, a meaning of life, something to look forward to. Its not an easy one; she has some trials and tribulations, but you like her more for them. She is human. She is all of us. I liked her. She makes me want to cook every recipe from MtAoFC. I give it 4.5 stars.

January Book Club Read

So, the January book club read. One by Jodi Picoult, who, if you haven't yet read, is DE-PRESS-ING! However, I am always looking to learn something new, and this book taught me a little bit about osteogenisis imperfecta, otherwise known as "brittle bone syndrom". However, one can only handle so much strife, even though it does provide insite into what it may be like having to be a parent in such a difficult situation. I give it an "okay" but not a "great".

As a side note, I finished the Hemingway and am not in a hurry to read another.

Next up: its a toss up --  Skinny Legs and All, Her Fearful Symmetry or Julie and Julia. What do you guys suggest?

December Book Club Read

I am almost done. I should finish tonight. However, I am not quite sure that I like the way he writes. I feel like I should becuase he is "one of the greatest writers of all time". However, although I like what he writes about, I dont like the WAY he writes. Pamplona just isn't as exciting to me when Hemingway is the one telling me about it. We will see if I change my mind in the next 20 pages.

You can find out what else I have read and suggest books for me on goodreads.

My October Book Club Read

Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table by Sara Roahen


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


View all my reviews >>