Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte

Started – 19/4/13

Finished – 25/4/13

Format – Kindle e-book

 

Challenges – Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge

BBC Top 200 Books

1001 Books You Must Read

Ultimate Teen Book Guide Challenge

501 Must Read Books

World Book Night 2012 Challenge

 

Synopsis – Wuthering Heights is a wild, passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine’s father. After Mr Earnshaw’s death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine’s brother Hindley and wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return years later as a wealthy and polished man. He proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries.

The action of the story is chaotic and unremittingly violent, but the accomplished handling of a complex structure, the evocative descriptions of the lonely moorland setting and the poetic grandeur of vision combine to make this unique novel a masterpiece of English literature.

My Thoughts – I downloaded this book when I first got my Kindle as there are a lot of classics out there that I havent read and as it was free i didnt really have a lot to loose. I seem to have a rather love/hate relationship with the classics i either really love them and get sucked into them or i hate them and cant get into the story or understand them. Happily this was a book that I absolutely loved and got really into the story.

This book tells the story of Catherine and Heathcliff who have grown up together and social class is really the main factor in the reason that there relationship doesnt get going. They both end up marrying other people and Heathcliff ends up vowing revenge on Catherines new husband.

At the start of the book you see how the story ends up and as its told through the eyes of someone else the story is revealed all the way through the book. I did enjoy the story told in this way and it added to the mystery of the book and how the characters ended up in the way that they did.

I found this book very east to get into and i really understood the language too. Another good point for me was there is not an extensive list of characters which made this book a lot easier to read.

I do wish i had read this in the middle of the winter though as i think it would have added to the atmosphere of the book.

This book is very good and it had also made me make my mind up to try more classics as this was a book that i very much enjoyed.

Rating – 4.5/5

Life of Pi – Yann Martel

Started – 16/2/13

Finished – 4/3/13

Format – Paperback Book

 

Challenges – Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge

1001 Books You Must Read

Ultimate Teen Book Guide Reading Challenge

501 Must Read Books

World Book Night Reading Challenge

 

Synopsis – One boy, one boat, one tiger …After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang-utan and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary and best-loved works of fiction in recent years.

 

My Thoughts – I brought this book back in 2010 way before the movie was out and I wanted to read this as it was such a high profile book. Now I did really enjoy the story especially the ending part where Pi spoke to the officals and the whole story became clear.

This book is about Pi Patel who lives in a zoo in India. I really enjoyed his descriptions of the zoo and the animals especially. His family decide to move away to Canada and sell the zoo and some of the animals. The ship that they are travelling on sinks and Pi is a survivor along with a few animals who are injured, this includes the Begal Tiger, Richard Parker.

He is adrift from everyone for months and lives with the tiger in a small space. The only part i didnt really understand was when they found an island, i didnt really understand the significance of that.

This book is quite religious too, three different religions howevr i didnt find that this was too heavy or forced upon the reader.

I do want to see the film but I’m not sure if this will live up to such a good book. I really enjoyed the story and i can see why its on so many reading challenge lists.

Rating – 4/5

Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell

Started – 31/7/12

Finished – 9/9/12

Format – Paperback book

 

Challenges – Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge

BBC Top 200 Books

1001 Books You Must Read

Ultimate Teen Book Guide Challenge

World Book Night 2012 Long List

Synopsis – Tomorrow is another day… Set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Civil War, Margaret Mitchell’s magnificent historical epic is an unforgettable tale of love and loss, of a nation mortally divided and a people forever changed. Above all, it is the story of beautiful, ruthless Scarlett O’Hara and the dashing soldier of fortune, Rhett Butler.

My Thoughts – I’ve had this book on my shelf for a long time and to be honest i was getting a little bit put off my the sheer size of the book. its over 1000 pages long and to be honest this did put me off a little bit. However, i didnt need to have worried i absolutly loved this book and i really wish i had read it sooner.

This epic book centres on Scarlett O’Hara and her life. At the start of the book she is a very self centred person and all she wants to do is attend lots of parties and find a husband and lead as many boys on as possible too. Its at a part she meets Rhett Butler and these too dont really mix very well. In fact the end up really disliking each other.

Then the unthinkable happens, civil war breaks out in America and all the men go off to fight leaving all the women behind. This is the chance for Scarlett and her friends to have to do lots of things like working in a hospital and treating the wounded soldiers. Once the civil war is over with the reconstruction takes place and its here that Scarlett’s character really starts to appear.

To be honest i didnt really like Scarlett, I really tried to but her treatment of people, espeically Frank. I thought that this was so sad what she did, i do understand the reasons behind it, to save Tara, but she ruined her sisters happiness at this. Scarlett could have had a brilliant life but instead she was so preoccupied with Ashley that she didnt realise how badly that she was treating everybody.

I did find the treatment of the black people in the book so shocking. I know that this is what happened during this time period but reading about it was so shocking and i just dont know how people could have been treated in that way by others.

I also thought that this book was so much more than the romance story that it is billed as. I found it so sad with the ammount of death in the book and there were so many twists and turns that sometimes i couldnt believe how much was happening. At the end of the book i did shed a tear as Melanie was such a nice person and i just didnt think she deserved anything that happened to her.

The only thing that did put me off slightly was the begining was very complicated with all the characters being introduced and this did at one point make me think that it wasnt the book for me. This was nessassery for the book to be introduced and once i got a hundred pages in i didnt really look back.

I loved this book its not often that i say that and i was so shocked at how much i loved this and how quickly i got into it. An amazing book!

Rating – 5/5

Dracula – Bram Stoker

Started – 14/7/12

Finished – 5/8/12

Format – Kindle e-book

 

Challenges –  BBC Top 200 Books

1001 Books To Read

Ultimate Teen Book Guide Challenge

501 Must Read Books

World Book Night 2012 List

 

Synopsis – ‘The door is shut, and the chains rattle; there is a grinding of the key in the lock; I hear the creaking of lock and bolt…I shall not remain alone with them. I may find a way from this dreadful place, away from this cursed spot, from this cursed land, where the devil and his children still walk with earthly feet!’

 

Young lawyer Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania on business for a mysterious Count. Months later in England, beautiful Lucy Westenra falls ill and dies, inexplicably, as if from a severe loss of blood. Lucy’s friends, including Jonathan’s fiancée Mina and the intrepid doctor Van Helsing, must begin a desperate battle against a powerful, ancient evil, in Bram Stoker’s definitive gothic tale.

My Thoughts – Dracula must be one of those books that everyone is familar with, even if they have not read the story. I downloaded this onto my kindle the day i got it, as there were so many classic books that i just hadnt read.

The book takes the form of diary entries, letters and other simular writings between the main characters in the story. For me, I really liked this and i felt that it helped the story. There was nothing left out and at times it was easy to forget the format of the book as so much detail was gained.

The book starts with Jonathan Harker who travels out to visit Count Dracula in his castle and to arrange him moving over to England. It is here that we get the first encounter with Dracula himself, and as apperances go he does seem quite normal in the begining. However, towards the end of this part of the book Draculas colours are reveiled. One scene really scared me, him crawling down a wall, and this is the first time that a book has scared me, however it was scary in a good way.

We are also introduced to the other main characters, Mina, Lucy, John Quincy and Arthur. These are the main characters that the letters and the diary entries come from. There was also lots of changes in the narrator and i liked how quickly this changed and how good it was to get a difference of opinion at times. The other character is Dr Van Helsing, who i didnt know was actually a character from Dracula. This was a nice surprise for me. To start with i was a little unsure as to how all the characters would fit together, but once they did it all made sense.

What eventually happens to Lucy, and i dont want to say if others havent read it, really did affect me in a way. I desparatley didnt want it to happen, but i can see why it did for the sake of the book. This enabled the latter part of the book to pan out and have an introduction to it.

The final part of the book was good, the hunt for Dracula and what to do with him once they caught him. I liked the journey and also all the parts with Mina. This for me made the book so brilliant. However i did think that the ending was a little bit quick and id have liked to read more and more.

I think the best part of this book is that Dracula isnt actually in it all that much. Its the creepyness of where could he be, what would happen next and the general threat of him. I also liked his character he was so clever and almost seemed one step ahead of everyone else.

On the surface this is a long classic book, something that i will admit puts me off a book. However i got really into this book and for a person that isnt always at one with the classics that is something. And its also long, but once i got into the story i just couldnt stop reading, i was sorry when it ended. This book is fantastic, one that everyone should read, if they havent already!

Rating – 5/5

Around The World in Eighty Days – Jules Verne

 

Started – 30/5/12

Finished – 10/5/12

Format – Kindle e-book

Challenges – BCF June Reading Circle

1001 Books You Must Read

1001 Childrens Books You Must Read

Synopsis – Phileas Fogg is a man of habit, a Victorian gentleman who follows the same routine every day–until he accepts a wager that he can circle the globe within eighty days. Thus begins a hair-raising journey, in which Fogg’s obsession with his timetable is complemented by the dynamism and versatility of his French manservant, Passepartout, whose has a talent for getting into scrapes as the two dash across continents in a suspenseful race against time.

My Thoughts – This book was picked as the choice for the June Reading Circle on the BCF. It is a book that i always wanted to read but never got around too.

This book is aout Phileas Fogg, an excentric  London gentleman who loves his routine. His days follow the same pattern day in day out and he spends a huge ammount of time at the gentlemans club. It is here that he takes the bet to travel around the world in eighty days. Along with his french servant Passepartout he does just this. Now, along the way a policeman named Fix takes Fogg for a thief and follows him around the world in an attempt to arrest him and bring a thief to justice.

I was a little bit unsure about reading this book as i have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the classics. I sometimes struggle to get into them and really have a hard time reading them. However i really got into this book and once i picked it up i couldnt put it down.

There were a few parts that i struggled with, like would it have really been possible during those times. Nowadays this would be an easy feat but a hundred years ago or so, would this have actually worked? Also some of the language and attitudes and values in this book was a little bit hard to read but again this was a sign of the times when things like that happened, if not still unaceptable to say hard to stomach things.

This book is good, a must read for everyone, I was a little bit disappointed as i thought it had an hot air balloon central to the plot, but it didnt. I must stop watching films before i read the book!

Rating – 4/5

 

 

 

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Started – 1/1/2012

Finished – 18/1/2012

Format – Kindle e-book

 

Challenges – 1001 Must Read Books

 

Synopsis – Amid the foggy streets of sinister London and the even more sinister countryside, Holmes and Watson once more solve the unsolvable. This book is a collection of stories, including -A Scandal in Bohemia, A Case of Identity, The Red-Headed League ,The Boscombe Valley Mystery.

 

My Thoughts – I downloaded this book for my Kindle the day i got it because at the time it was the top free book in the downloads, and it was a book that i have always wanted to read but never got around to it. I am so so so so glad that i downloaded it and read it because it is an amazing book. To start with i was a little bit worried that i might not be able to get into the book properly as it is a classic and that is something that i always struggle with, but this was not the case with this book. I really got into it from the start and couldnt put it down. I also liked the variety of the short stories. Some i guessed straight away what was going to happen, and others i really couldnt guess. I was hooked at finding out what had happened with the stories and really want to read more.

 

i think my favourite story from the lot was The Read-Headed League. This one really had an intricate plot and it kept me guessing until the very end. I also enjoyed the character of Holmes himself, and how extravagant he was.

 

I have a couple of negatives, but only small ones. The kindle edition had a few typos and couldn’t pick up some of the money symbols which was a bit puzzling at first until i worked it out what it was and i read this book out of sequence too. It doesn’t matter from the book front, it’s just me, i like to read books in the order that they were written!

 

A brilliant book, highly recommended and i cant wait to read more!

 

Rating – 5/5

1001 Books You Must Read 2011 Wrap Up

This is the first year that i have taken part in this challenge properly. Firstly i know that this is a huge challenge and i probably wont ever complete this challenge properly. However its a fun challenge to run along side all the others.

Books Read in 2011

1- Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden This was a book that i didnt think i would enjoy but ended up loving.
2- Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer This book i didnt like so much, i just didnt understand it all that much
3- The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien This was brilliant book, i really enjoyed reading it for the first time.
4- The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien This is a huge saga, one that i need to go back and re-read one day.
5- The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham This was also good, a genre that i hadnt read before but really enjoyed.
6- A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving I really didnt enjoy this book, i just couldnt get into it.
7- The Ambassadors – Henry James This book i didnt really like either, i just couldnt get into it either.
8- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie My first Agatha Christie book and i really enjoyed this too.

I managed eight books this year, not bad really, so next year i am hoping to read 10 and up the target a little bit.

Random Stats

Percentage Complete – 1.09

Books on TBR at the end of 2011 – 16

Books on Wishlist – 30

Target for 2012 – 10

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie

Challenges – BCF November Reading Circle
1001 Books to Read
501 Must Read Books

Synopsis – Roger Ackroyd knew too much. He knew that the woman he loved had poisoned her brutal first husband. He suspected also that someone had been blackmailing her. Now, tragically, came the news that she had taken her own life with a drug overdose. But the evening post brought Roger one last fatal scrap of information. Unfortunately, before he could finish the letter, he was stabbed to death!

My Thoughts – I read this book as part of the November reading circle on the BCF. I was a little apprehensive to start with as my nan is a huge fan of Agatha Christie and i didnt know if it was my type of book. Well, this just goes to show how much you shouldnt judge a book before you read it. I enjoyed this book so much, Agatha Christie has now gone into my top author list!

The story centres on Dr Sheppard who discovers a murder has taken place, when it looks like the wrong person is going to get the blame, Poirot is asked to investigate the crime. I had heard of Poirot before, mainly due to the television series, so i had a bit of an idea of how to picture him.

The book had so many twists and turns to it. I couldnt keep up on who was the suspected murderer, and when i did have a guess, i got it totally and utterly wrong. I couldnt help but try to work out the clues in my head as i went along, but I’m not ashamed to say i got it wrong most of the time. I think this enhnaced my enjoyment of the book a lot more!

I was so shocked by the twist at the end. i actually had to read it several times just to make sure that i had read it correctly. i would say that it was the best twist that i have read in a book for a long time.

This was my first Agatha Christie book and i really want to read more of them. A brilliant book recommended for crime/thriller fans faithful and also to those new to it.

Rating – 5/5

The Ambassadors – Henry James

Challenges – BCF October Reading Circle
1001 Books You Must Read

Synopsis – Concerned that her son Chad may have become involved with a woman of dubious reputation, the formidable Mrs Newsome sends her ‘ambassador’ Strether from Massachusetts to Paris to extricate him. Strether’s mission, however, is gradually undermined as he falls under the spell of the city and finds Chad refined rather than corrupted by its influence and that of his charming companion, the comtesse de Vionnet. As the summer wears on, Mrs Newsome comes to the conclusion that she must send another envoy to Paris to confront the errant Chad, and a Strether whose view of the world has changed profoundly. James’s favourite novel and one of the greatest of his late works, The Ambassadors is a subtle and often witty exploration of different American responses to a European environment.

My Thoughts – I was so looking forward to reading this book, having not read many classics, but unfortunatly i just didnt like it. The language really really really put me off! I actually couldnt understand a lot of it and Henry James seemed to have a way of using far to many words say a simple thing. Maybe this was just me not being able to understand it, but it made the book very difficult to understand. I was reading sentences over and over again, and this really slowed down my reading and enjoyment of the book.
I’m hoping not all classic books are like this as I’d love to be able to read more of them!

Rating – 2/5

A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving

Challenges – Wordshakers online book club
BBC Top 200 Books
1001 Books You Must Read
Ultimate Teen Book Guide Challenge
The New Classics Challenge

Synopsis – ‘If you care about something you have to protect it. If you’re lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.’

Eleven-year-old Owen Meany, playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire, hits a foul ball and kills his best friend’s mother. Owen doesn’t believe in accidents; he believes he is God’s instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul ball is both extraordinary and terrifying.

My Thoughts – i was originaly really looking forward to reading the book as it sounded so good and was on so many booklists! Well it must be good then! But unfortunatly, it just wasnt a book for me. I didnt like how it jumped backwards and forwards in the narrators life, i was interested in the childhood side, but towards the end i was actually skipping his adult life parts, i also found it confusing with the timeline. Also, my main bugbear with the book i had was everytime Owen Meany spoke, it was in capitals. I really struggle to read in capitals I’m not sure if it is just me or weather it bothers other people but this really really really put me off!

The book was interesting at the begining, I was overwelmed that a friendship could survive an event, even make it stronger. The book deals with all sorts, love, hate, death, life, war, politics, real life events and lots of others.

This book does make you think, and maybe i would have enjoyed it more at a different time, but if you can handle a heavy book, then this is for you.

Rating – 2/5