Book Forty-Two - The Woman In White - Part Four

I still haven't finished this book. And the thing is, at our last book club meeting before our summer break, I recommended this book and at least two people have read it - one of whom is my sister. She keeps asking if I've finished it yet (I'm guessing there's a good twist and she wants to discuss it). I've enjoyed the book but it feels like work to get back to it. A couple of weeks ago I reread The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society and finished it in two days. Couldn't wait to get back to it. Why are those books so few? Why can I read Sense And Sensibility annually and continue to make discoveries each year?

But I'm not giving up on this woman who wears white but isn't really the protagonist because she's barely around yet I believe her story is crucial in the lives of the people central to the tale. (Sometimes I just like a run-on sentence.)

Book Forty-Two - The Woman In White - Part Three

I'll tell you one thing about Mr Willkie Collins: he sure can write a female voice. More to come. Also, I finally learned how to highlight on my Kindle!

Book Forty-Two - The Woman In White - Part Two

Okay, so I got sidetracked a bit but it was through no fault of The Woman In White. I'm back to it now and still enjoying it. It turns out that this book, published in serial form in 1859-60, was one of the first mystery novels! I was surprised because I knew the Gothic novels were popular in Jane Austen's time and she died in 1817. So I'm not entirely sure about the genre distinctions. Didn't Gothic novels contain mystery of a sort?

I don't consider it a spoiler to say that the novel contains a woman who dresses in white. That's all I'm saying other than the fact that I love Mr Hartright.

Book Forty-Two - The Woman In White - Part One

I'm loving it so far! I'm highlighting like crazy which is not terribly easy on a Kindle, at least for me. I've Googled but somehow I'm not doing it right and suspect I need a first grader to explain. Anyway, what I've read so far contains lots of those lovely sentences that make me stop and read them again because they're just so true or beautiful or genuine. There is also much foreshadowing which I enjoy because I try, even at the earliest stages, to figure out what the future holds. (My methodology primarily consists of imagining the absolute worst that can possibly happen in these characters' lives.)

The Woman In White was published in 1859 so we're talking Victorians, people! Watch your back.

Book Forty-One - The Princess Diaries - Part Two

Meg Cabot

I saw The Princess Diaries years ago and after reading the book, I'm a little surprised how different they are. I shouldn't be surprised since this often happens. I know the book is always better than the movie so I read the book first, but in this case I didn't plan to read the book until I saw it on the list. The basics are the same: girl discovers she is actually a princess. A princess! OMG! Various things happen which of course I won't go into in case there is someone who hasn't read the book or seen the movie and may want to some day, but I enjoyed both the movie and the book. The adults in this weren't quite as clueless as adults can sometimes be in YA books. Or maybe the adults in YA books aren't as clueless now as they used to be back when, say, the TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas came out and the adults never talked but only made annoying sounds. Charlie Brown was made for kids and the adults just got in the way. But I digress.


The Princess Diaries is a precious, quick read perfect for a light little pick-me-up between books with a high emotional factor. You know, the ones where you're so invested in the characters that you just know something terrible is going to happen to them or you're so absorbed in the mystery that you dream about it at night. Though now that I think about it, the night I finished this book I did dream about a tiara...

Book Forty-One - The Princess Diaries - Part One

Cute, sweet, fun read! The movie is so different! More to come.

Oh My

Poor little neglected blog.
 
I tried to read Ulysses four times but didn't get very far. I've been reading some wonderful books and some okay ones, none of which are on the Big Read list. I believe I'll give Joyce a pass for now and move on to something from the list which sounds like a bit more fun. More to come!