I was doing so well, listening to Jane Eyre through Just The Books, since I started late, I had hours of audio to listen to on my commute. Then..... I caught up. Then.... I had to wait for each chapter to come out each week.
I broke.
I went to my kindle and got the free version and dug in.
Each year, I make a point to really tackle a classic. This year is Bronte, this sisters. And I, admittedly grudgingly, set in to listening to Jane Eyre. I am amazed at how much I loved this story. It's a classic, to be sure, but it's incredibly modern in the characterization of Jane. I adored her and how independence and outspokeness. That must have been quite the stir back in the day....
Basic plot line below, spoilers!
Jane's parents die while she is very young and she is sent to listen with an aunt and uncle. The uncle passes away as well and the aunt, and cousins, want nothing to do with Jane. She is sent to a school for poor orphans, basically, and being Jane, does very well. She moves from there to Thornfield to be a governess for a Mr. Rochester's young not-really-his girl.
Love ensues but whoops, there's a lunatic in the attic....Jane moves on to Morton.
Good fortune finally arrives at Jane's doorstep but she never forgot her love, Mr. Rochester. She heads back to Thornfield only to find ruins, in more than one place.
Ah, what a delicious story. Jane is a wonderful character and, for the time period, incredibly original and strong willed. I'm very happy I read this one.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Gulp by Mary Roach
I can't say enough about how much I love Mary Roach and her books. I love weird little facts and she obviously does too. Each book has given me enough to thoroughly creep out and disgust my friends. Gulp is the icing on the cake.
Adventures on the alimentary canal is the subtitle and Roach takes us from mouth to anus on a journey through our food tube. In the beginning, we eat. We learn about saliva, how we chew. Then we head to the stomach (why doesn't the stomach eat itself? It does. We basically have a new stomach every 3 days), to the intestines and out the chute.
Something might be wrong with me in that I read this book even while eating dinner. To quote the book, I've become "numb to the ick factor". I've had Ulcerative Colitis and had a lot of my diseased and pre-cancerous gut removed. I have an ileostomy. Poop and the ins and outs (no pun intended) of the gut just doesn't faze me at all.
I was really happy with the light that was shown on IBD and ostomies. Even if it was brief, it's a much better light than we normally get. Amazingly enough, it was interesting reading about fecal transplants (ick factor!) and how transplanting the healthy bacteria of a gut into a gut ravaged by UC or Crohns could actually save the colon.... well, it brought a tear to my eye!
I can't recommend Mary Roach and her books enough!
Adventures on the alimentary canal is the subtitle and Roach takes us from mouth to anus on a journey through our food tube. In the beginning, we eat. We learn about saliva, how we chew. Then we head to the stomach (why doesn't the stomach eat itself? It does. We basically have a new stomach every 3 days), to the intestines and out the chute.
Something might be wrong with me in that I read this book even while eating dinner. To quote the book, I've become "numb to the ick factor". I've had Ulcerative Colitis and had a lot of my diseased and pre-cancerous gut removed. I have an ileostomy. Poop and the ins and outs (no pun intended) of the gut just doesn't faze me at all.
I was really happy with the light that was shown on IBD and ostomies. Even if it was brief, it's a much better light than we normally get. Amazingly enough, it was interesting reading about fecal transplants (ick factor!) and how transplanting the healthy bacteria of a gut into a gut ravaged by UC or Crohns could actually save the colon.... well, it brought a tear to my eye!
I can't recommend Mary Roach and her books enough!
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Tell The Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
I forgot where I heard about this one....so sorry for no links to it. However, I spotted it at my library and remembered the name from some past "I need to read this" state.
This is a really great first novel about a young teenage June Elbus. Awkward, the weird girl, horribly shy.... she is only herself around her Uncle Finn. It starts off fairly quickly, letting us know that Finn is dying and painting a final portrait of June and her big sister, Greta. We learn quickly, too, that in 1987, Finn is one of the victims of AIDS. Very misunderstood and ousted in that decade, he is clearly the Prince Charming in June's life though. After his death, little pieces of people start floating to the top and June starts putting them all together.
Things start to make sense, no matter how hurtful they were.
Brunt portrays the sister relationship in a very real way. Being a little sister myself, this was very much a realistic portrayal of the problems sisters go through. Everything in this story is about relationships interacting, mending and resolving. The hope of June, the faith of June in her Uncle Finn, helps everyone move past the past and get on with the present.
This is a really great first novel about a young teenage June Elbus. Awkward, the weird girl, horribly shy.... she is only herself around her Uncle Finn. It starts off fairly quickly, letting us know that Finn is dying and painting a final portrait of June and her big sister, Greta. We learn quickly, too, that in 1987, Finn is one of the victims of AIDS. Very misunderstood and ousted in that decade, he is clearly the Prince Charming in June's life though. After his death, little pieces of people start floating to the top and June starts putting them all together.
Things start to make sense, no matter how hurtful they were.
Brunt portrays the sister relationship in a very real way. Being a little sister myself, this was very much a realistic portrayal of the problems sisters go through. Everything in this story is about relationships interacting, mending and resolving. The hope of June, the faith of June in her Uncle Finn, helps everyone move past the past and get on with the present.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Wonder by RJ Palacio
2013 is starting to really be the year of great reads. Wonder was recommended by a blog by NRG Joan of Dark. Since I was hemming and hawing about what to read next, I just checked my library for all the books she recommended and Wonder popped up as an e-book.
What a wonderful book! I wish I did have the time to sit and read it in one sitting but it didn't work out that way. I actually loved this so much that I chose not to go to Half Price Books during a lunch with a friend, just so I could keep reading this. So I sat in my car, eating Indian food from a food truck and read. Perfect. Lunch.
Wonder is about a family, The Pullmans, but it revolves around the little boy, August. He was born with severe facial deformities and was homeschooled his entire life. This book covers his first year in a mainstream school as a fifth-grader. Despite the many, many surgeries he has had, he is still very much different from everyone else.
The book has sections for the kids. August is first, then we hear from his older sister, Olivia, his friends, her friends, etc. All the kids have a point of view about August and the Pullman family.
Obviously, school is very rough. It's never easy being different from the other kids (oh, this brought back bad memories of school) but August is a champ.
Wonder really did my heart good. I got teary but I was mostly very proud of August and his friends and family. HIGHLY recommend.
What a wonderful book! I wish I did have the time to sit and read it in one sitting but it didn't work out that way. I actually loved this so much that I chose not to go to Half Price Books during a lunch with a friend, just so I could keep reading this. So I sat in my car, eating Indian food from a food truck and read. Perfect. Lunch.
Wonder is about a family, The Pullmans, but it revolves around the little boy, August. He was born with severe facial deformities and was homeschooled his entire life. This book covers his first year in a mainstream school as a fifth-grader. Despite the many, many surgeries he has had, he is still very much different from everyone else.
The book has sections for the kids. August is first, then we hear from his older sister, Olivia, his friends, her friends, etc. All the kids have a point of view about August and the Pullman family.
Obviously, school is very rough. It's never easy being different from the other kids (oh, this brought back bad memories of school) but August is a champ.
Wonder really did my heart good. I got teary but I was mostly very proud of August and his friends and family. HIGHLY recommend.
American Grown by Michelle Obama
I picked this up from the library knowing it wasn't anything but some fun reading. I'm trying really hard to gear up for gardening this year and figured a book about the White House garden would spur me in the right direction.
Obama is a charming writer. Her enthusiasm for what she is writing about comes through. She is very clearly happy about the garden and what it is teaching everyone who comes and volunteers to tend it. They invite hordes of schoolchildren to help out and celebrities come as well.
Since getting involved in my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) I've been really desiring fresh food. I've not been successful with growing but this book did give some pretty good tips on gardening. Got to say too....the fact that they also keep bees at the White House for honey makes me so happy! That's another thing on my list of hobbies I'm researching.
This is not a political book, just a fun overview of the White House garden and the Let's Move project.
Obama is a charming writer. Her enthusiasm for what she is writing about comes through. She is very clearly happy about the garden and what it is teaching everyone who comes and volunteers to tend it. They invite hordes of schoolchildren to help out and celebrities come as well.
Since getting involved in my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) I've been really desiring fresh food. I've not been successful with growing but this book did give some pretty good tips on gardening. Got to say too....the fact that they also keep bees at the White House for honey makes me so happy! That's another thing on my list of hobbies I'm researching.
This is not a political book, just a fun overview of the White House garden and the Let's Move project.
Just a Thought: Jane Eyre
So I started listening to Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte on the CraftLit podcast. I've since switched over to her Just the Books podcast, not because I don't like crafty, because I do, but I was to eager to get to the book part.
I'm continuously blown away by how good some of these classic novels are and how, by being forced to read them in a dry classroom environment, so many people shy away from them. I LOVE reading and even I shy away from classics.
This story, so far, is just enthralling and so incredibly well written. Listening as I am, it's going to take me a while to get through the book, as chapters are doled out through the podcast. I'm ok with that because of the commentary from Heather Ordover of the podcast. She's a teacher and points out so many nuances that I think I would have missed otherwise. It's like sitting and chatting with a smart friend :)
Another way to grab this book without waiting on a podcast is through Librivox. TONS of books are free for the taking here and so very worth the perusal.
Ok, that's it for this for now. I've just passed chapter 11 and am getting ready to dive into 12.
I'm continuously blown away by how good some of these classic novels are and how, by being forced to read them in a dry classroom environment, so many people shy away from them. I LOVE reading and even I shy away from classics.
This story, so far, is just enthralling and so incredibly well written. Listening as I am, it's going to take me a while to get through the book, as chapters are doled out through the podcast. I'm ok with that because of the commentary from Heather Ordover of the podcast. She's a teacher and points out so many nuances that I think I would have missed otherwise. It's like sitting and chatting with a smart friend :)
Another way to grab this book without waiting on a podcast is through Librivox. TONS of books are free for the taking here and so very worth the perusal.
Ok, that's it for this for now. I've just passed chapter 11 and am getting ready to dive into 12.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
In Session by MJ Rose
I do believe this was a free download from Audible.com and the downloads/proceed went to charity. I figured it was a worth a shot to try new characters and authors. Besides, it was only 1:45 hours long.
I wasn't all that thrilled. The main character, Dr. Morgan Snow, is a sex therapist and she did pretty much what I can stand in books...over analyzed everything and everybody.
As a somewhat pleasant side effect though, I did get interested in the other characters from other authors (Steve Berry, Lee Child, etc) so I might look up some of their work.
This was a cool premise: MJ Rose worked with the other authors to incorporate their characters in to her characters world. Cool premise, but her character just was annoying.
Ah well....
I wasn't all that thrilled. The main character, Dr. Morgan Snow, is a sex therapist and she did pretty much what I can stand in books...over analyzed everything and everybody.
As a somewhat pleasant side effect though, I did get interested in the other characters from other authors (Steve Berry, Lee Child, etc) so I might look up some of their work.
This was a cool premise: MJ Rose worked with the other authors to incorporate their characters in to her characters world. Cool premise, but her character just was annoying.
Ah well....
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