Today’s Progress:
- Books Read: 0.74
- Total Books Read: 5
- Pages Read: 242
- Total Pages Read: 1365
- Time Read: 2 hours 57 minutes
- Total Time Read: 12 hour 8 minutes
- #todayinsixwordds: Amazing sea monster classic story fun!
Bout of Books Readathon 4.0 Day #6
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
Title: Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
Author: Jane Austen and Ben Winters
Publisher: Quirk 2009
Genre: Jane Austen; Fantasy
Pages: 340
Rating: 5 / 5 stars
Reading Challenges: Fantasy; Mount TBR
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters expands the original text of the beloved Jane Austen novel with all-new scenes of giant lobsters, rampaging octopi, two-headed sea serpents, and other biological monstrosities. As our story opens, the Dashwood sisters are evicted from their childhood home and sent to live on a mysterious island full of savage creatures and dark secrets. While sensible Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, her romantic sister Marianne is courted by both the handsome Willoughby and the hideous man-monster Colonel Brandon. Can the Dashwood sisters triumph over meddlesome matriarchs and unscrupulous rogues to find true love? Or will they fall prey to the tentacles that are forever snapping at their heels? This masterful portrait of Regency England blends Jane Austen’s biting social commentary with ultraviolent depictions of sea monsters biting. It’s survival of the fittest—and only the swiftest swimmers will find true love!
This is another book that languished on my TBR bookshelf for way too long! Thankfully I came to my senses during the Bout of Books Readathon and added it to my immediate TBR stack. I had high hopes after reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (and subsequent sequel and prequel). I wanted it to be just as good. It isn’t, but only fractionally so. This book blends Austen’s story of two sisters (well, three, but Margaret is too young to be much of a character) looking for a place in the world. Only this time, Colonel Brandon’s face has tentacles, Willoughby is a treasure hunter, there is a pirate, Barton Cottage is on a mysterious little island, Bath is the Sub-Marine Station Beta on the ocean floor, and all manner of sea life want to kill humans. Every day is fraught with perils, both from the sea and of the heart. I loved the blending while keeping Austen’s own words. The twists at the end are fun, but wrapped up a bit too neatly. Of course that is keeping with Austen’s own works. Maybe it’s because I love zombies so much that P&P&Z holds a spot over this volume. It was good, but not absolutely amazing. There were some great illustrations and characters. And that Lucy Steele, watch out for her! I would recommend to lovers of Austen and monsters. Great Saturday read!
Bout of Books Readathon 4.0 Day #5
Today’s Progress:
- Books Read: 0.49 (Murder on the Orient Express) + 0.26 (Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters)
- Total Books Read: 4.26
- Pages Read: 234
- Total Pages Read: 1123
- Time Read: 2 hours 17 minutes
- Total Time Read: 9 hour 11 minutes
- #todayinsixwordds: Great mystery, started great monster reimagining
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Title: Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Piorot Mystery #9)
Author: Agatha Christie
Publisher: Harper 1934
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 336
Rating: 5 / 5 stars
Reading Challenges: Mixing it Up — Mystery; Support Your Local Library; Semi-Charmed — Always wanted to read
How I Got It: Library loan
Famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot must sift through clues–some real and some planted–to find a murderer aboard a crowded train speeding through the snowy European landscape.
This is one of those books that I have always wanted to read, yet somehow never got around to it. I finally snatched it off of the library racks and took it home. A classic mystery that had me guessing until the very end. Loved it! The characters are colorful. The setting is inspired. The clues are given but not completely obvious. Now I understand why this is such a classic. It has everything you want for in a great mystery. I just can’t believe it took me this long to get around to it.
Bout of Books Readathon 4.0 Day #4
Today’s Progress:
- Books Read: 0.59
- Total Books Read: 3.97
- Pages Read: 198
- Total Pages Read: 889
- Time Read: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Total Time Read: 6 hour 54 minutes
- #todayinsixwordds: Loving a classic Agatha Christie mystery
Paris in Love by Eloisa James (DNF)
Title: Paris in Love
Author: Eloisa James
Publisher: Random House 2012
Genre: Travel memoir
Pages: 258
Rating: DNF
Reading Challenges: Semi-charmed — Memoir; ; Dewey — 910s; Mixing it Up — Travel
How I Got It: I won it!
In 2009, New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James took a leap that many people dream about: she sold her house, took a sabbatical from her job as a Shakespeare professor, and moved her family to Paris. Paris in Love: A Memoir chronicles her joyful year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
With no classes to teach, no committee meetings to attend, no lawn to mow or cars to park, Eloisa revels in the ordinary pleasures of life—discovering corner museums that tourists overlook, chronicling Frenchwomen’s sartorial triumphs, walking from one end of Paris to another. She copes with her Italian husband’s notions of quality time; her two hilarious children, ages eleven and fifteen, as they navigate schools—not to mention puberty—in a foreign language; and her mother-in-law Marina’s raised eyebrow in the kitchen (even as Marina overfeeds Milo, the family dog).
I am sad to say that this was a DNF. I read almost halfway through this book before deciding to put to down and move on. Please don’t take my DNF to say that it is a horrible book. It’s just I could get behind it at all. Let me explain. The structure of the book is short vignettes. At least, that’s what the introduction implies. I thought I would be reading short vignettes or essays from James’ life in Paris. But no. These “vignettes” are based mostly off of Facebook posts James made throughout her year in Paris. Most of them are one paragraph Facebook statuses. They are short with little to no context or commentary. Many of them would be great FB posts, but fail to intrigue me as a reader who is not personally acquainted with the author. Occasionally, James has an essay that caught my attention. She uses an occurrence to then comment on cultural differences or life lesons or sheer comedy. Those were good. Those kept me going for another 70 pages. But in the end those were too few and far between. I just couldn’t get through the intervening paragraphs. I feel like this could have been a much more interesting book with a little curating. Take those interesting pieces and expand to create essays (of more than one paragraph). I feel like I could have gotten behind that book. Alas, this was not that book. And so, I move on to other selections…
Bout of Books Readathon 4.0 Day #3
Today’s Progress:
- Books Read: 0.38
- Total Books Read: 2.38
- Pages Read:101
- Total Pages Read: 691
- Time Read: 1 hour 21 minutes
- Total Time Read: 5 hour 24 minutes
- #todayinsixwordds: DNF, disappointing and messes with stats
Quote Wednesday — Salinger
“The fact is always obvious much too late, but the most singular difference between happiness and joy is that happiness is a solid and joy a liquid.” — J.D. Salinger (De Daumier-Smith’s Blue Period)
This little enigma from Salinger sums up much of life unfortunately.
Bout of Books Readathon 4.0 Day #2
Today’s Progress:
- Books Read: .7 (A Great and Terrible Beauty)
- Total Books Read: 2
- Pages Read: 279
- Total Pages Read: 590
- Time Read: 2 hours 4 minutes
- Total Time Read: 4 hour 3 minutes
- #todayinsixwords: Slower reading day, but good book
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Title: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Author: J.K. Rowling
Publisher: Scholastic
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Pages: 734
Rating: 5 / 5 stars
Reading Challenges: HP
How I Got It: Own it!
This one is a reread for me. It’s been awhile since I read the series. I remember reading the first couple of books out loud to the boys when they were infants. SO that’s what eight years ago? I read the last few books as they came out, but overall it’s been awhile.
Instead of doing a traditional review, I thought I would just give you some of my reread thoughts. Things I noticed, things I loved, quotes I like, etc. And then I will have a mini review of movie vs. book.
Book fun:
Favorite scene:
- Ron and Hermione’s row at the Yuletide Ball. I love that we get to see their love blossoming this early in the series. They’re so cute.
- Harry-Hermione-Krum love triangle nonsense. The hate mail in the lunch room was beautiful. Hee hee.
- Amazing Dumbledore speech at the end of the movie. So moving!
Favorite character(s):
- Definitely Fred and George. I just adore those two. They pop up from time to time and always say the right thing. I love their’ backstage antics and wild dreams. I really wish we could have gotten more from them. As a side note, I also really enjoyed Bill and Charlie in this novel.
- And as little as she’s actually in it, Rita Skeeter makes an excellent villainous figure. I love that Hermione traps her as a beetle at the end. Hee hee!
Favorite expressions: Loads of Ron’s “blimeys”
Other odds and ends:
- Forgot how much time we spend with the Dursleys at the end of the summer. They are so icky.
- And how much we get to see of the Quidditch World Cup. I really love those scenes.
- The explanation of the Dark Mark’s appearance at the World Cup makes much more sense than in the movie.
- I felt like we already knew Hagrid was half-giant, but guess I was wrong…
Favorite quotes:
- “Why do they have to move in packs?” — Harry in reference to having to ask a girl to the Yuletide Ball. Love the uncomfortable match making. (pg. 388)
- “Aren’t you two ever going to read Hogwarts, A History?” (Hermione) “What’s the point?” said Ron, “You know it by heart, we can just ask you.” — Hee hee. I love Ron’s little comebacks.
Movie funMy favorite scenes:
- All three tasks, especially the lake task. I love the visuals on all three tasks. They really put me on the edge of my seat every time I watch.
- Final showdown with Lord Voldemort. It was amazing to see Voldemort in the flesh.
- All the scenes with David Tennant as Barty Crouch Jr. I just love David Tennant.
Things I wished to see, but didn’t:
- Nifflers, blast-ended skrewts, unicorns, and all the crazy magical creatures Hagrid takes a fancy to. They’re so real in the book, I really wanted to see them in the movie.
- Sirius. He has a couple of great scenes in the book that just don’t make it into the movie. Boo!
- The stunning of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle on the return tain. Man, I really wish I could have seen that.
Other odds and ends:
- They really cleaned up Krum and Karkaroff for the movie. I liked them much more in movie than the book. Hmm. Interesting…
- While slightly interesting, I am glad they didn’t include the House Elf Liberation Front in the movie. It gets a bit tedious towards the end of the book.
- Miranda Richardson is delightfully evil as Rita Skeeter
- Trivia from IMDB: In the first draft of the script, a subplot featuring the Weasley twins and Ludo Bagman, the head of the Ministry’s sports department, was featured prominently. In fact, it was reported that Martin Landham was cast as Bagman. In the subsequent drafts, the subplot was dropped, and the character of Ludo Bagman makes no credited appearance in the movie. — wish they had kept it
