Friday, March 16, 2018

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte


Title: Jane Eyre
Author: Charlotte Bronte
Pages: 636
Finished: March 16, 2018

First Sentence: There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.

Summary: Jane Eyre lives her childhood as the penniless niece to her cruel aunt and cousins. After a final outburst, she is sent to a charity school where, while conditions aren't great, she learns enough to become a governess to Adele, a French girl living at Thornfield. There she falls in love with Adele's ward, Mr. Rochester. But things aren't quite what they seem. Rochester runs hot and cold, and the servant Grace Poole seems to do all manner of horrendous things without retribution.

Thoughts: This is the first adult classic I ever read. I remember reading it in 7th grade and understanding only the broad strokes of the story. In the 28 years between then and now, this is my fifth reading of the novel, and I'm always amazed at which I get out of it. Last time I read this, I remember noticing all the feminist language that I hadn't seen the first three times I read it. I also remember St. John being quite awful and controlling. Both those things were there, though I was struck at how firm Jane was in her convictions. She knew herself more at age 19 than I did at 29!

I find myself having mixed feelings about Mr. Rochester. I don't like the way he teases Jane. It reeks of the adage "He only treats you that way because he likes you," which is a HORRIBLE thing to teach our kids. But in the end, I always find myself pitying him and enjoying the fact that Jane goes back to him. I feel like I understand more, this time around, why she needed to go off on her own.

Again, I feel like each time I read this, I catch things I didn't the first time around. Some of Jane's speeches are really striking and astute. I've long said, since I started reading all these classes, that the ones written by women read very differently than the ones written by men. Women are always striving to be equals however they can be. I really enjoyed this rereading of Jane Eyre.

Counting as Reread of a Favorite Classics for Back to the Classics.

Sunday, March 11, 2018

Classics Club Spin #17 - What I Got

Numbers have been drawn and we are slated to read number 3 on our list. In my case, that is The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. I'm really looking forward to this one. I had it on my Back to the Classics challenge up until the point that I realized it didn't technically fit the category I had planned it for. I decided to put it away until another year, but this works out just as well for me! As of right now, I don't plan on starting it until April, but I am very much looking forward to it.

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Dash by Kirby Larson


Title: Dash
Author: Kirby Larson
Pages: 243
Finished: March 7, 2018

First Sentence: Mitsi Kashino packed her sketch pad, her binder, and her worry in her book bag. 

Summary: Shortly after Pearl Harbor, Mitsi, her family, and her fellow Japanese Americans are rounded up and moved to interment camps. Her dog, Dash, unfortunately cannot come with her, and Mitsi must navigate the camps and her emotions without his help.

Thoughts: Book itself is great for reminding American kids that America is not always infallible. Brings awareness to the fact that just because bad people do bad things doesn't mean that everyone of that nationality (or religion) is a bad person.

Read for Bluestem Challenge.

Monday, March 5, 2018

Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle


Title: Better Nate Than Ever
Author: Tim Federle
Pages: 275
Finished: March 5, 2018

First Sentence: I'd rather not start with any backstory

Summary: Nate prefers Broadway musicals to sports, a fact that really sets him apart from his classmates and turns him into a target for bullies. So when an opportunity to audition for the roll of Elliot in E.T. pops up, he takes it. Of course, to do so, he has to run away to New York and attempt to get back before his parents find out.

Thoughts: Things I liked about this book:

- Nate has clearly been bullied, but that wasn't the focus of this book.
- In fact, there's clearly plenty of awful things from his homelife, but Federle doesn't beat the reader over the head with them.
- Nate is in middle school and starting to discover his sexuality, but in a way that again isn't really beating the reader over the head with it.
- His way of relating to Broadway shows was very similar to how I related to some super nerdy things. The result in how other people related to him was about the same.
- In order to get the parents out of the way, Nate runs away. No one dies!

Solid addition to the Caudill list this year best for 5th grade and up, though I imagine some precocious 4th graders would be able to read this as well. 

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Classic Club Spin #17

The rules:
  • Pick twenty books that you’ve got left to read from your Classics Club List.
  • Try to challenge yourself: list five you are dreading/hesitant to read, five you can’t WAIT to read, five you are neutral about, and five free choice (favorite author, re-reads, ancients — whatever you choose.)
  • Post that list, numbered 1-20, on your blog before Friday, March 9th.
  • That morning (3/9), we’ll announce a number from 1-20. Go to the list of twenty books you posted, and select the book that corresponds to the number we announce.
  • The challenge is to read that book by April 30, even if it’s an icky one you dread! (No fair not listing any scary ones!)


I decided to keep off things that I know would be a slog. I'm fairly busy the next two months, and I have a number of other books I'm planning on reading, so I didn't want to bog myself down with something HUGE. There are other "icky" ones on here, so it all works out. I have a plan for all of Tolkein, so those will never show up on a spin list. I will be reading Jane Eyre and Cloud Atlas this month regardless or whether or not they come up in the spin. I'm okay with adding them here on the off chance one of them is chosen, but of course, I'd be interested in one of the other ones as well!

1. Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan - A Study in Scarlet
2. Eliot, George - Daniel Deronda
3. Collins, Wilkie - Moonstone
4. Atwood, Margaret - The Handmaid's Tale
5. Capote, Truman - Breakfast at Tiffany's
6. Shakespeare, William - Twelfth Night
7. Byatt, A.S. - Possession
8. Austen, Jane - Sanditon and Other Tales
9. Burnett, Frances Hodgson - The Little Princess
10. Bronte, Emily - Wuthering Heights
11. Twain, Mark - The Prince and the Pauper
12. Shakespeare, William - A Winter's Tale
13. Mitchell, David - Cloud Atlas
14. Steinbeck, John - East of Eden
15. Wilde, Oscar - The Picture of Dorian Grey
16. Forster, E.M. - A Room with a View
17. Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre
18. Collodi, Carlo - Pinocchio
19. London, Jack - The Call of the Wild
20. Barrie, J.M. - Peter Pan

Saturday, March 3, 2018

The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare


Title: The Iron Trial
Author: Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
Pages: 295
Finished: March 3, 2018

First Sentence: From a distance, the man struggling up the white face of the glacier might have looked like an ant crawling slowly up the side of a dinner plate.

Summary: Callum Hunt knows nothing about magic and mages other than the fact that his father hates them. So when it's his turn to take the Mage tests to determine if he should be trained at the Magisterium, he tries to fail. Of course, he makes it in, and now he's thrust into a fight of good vs. evil.

Thoughts: This is a Harry Potter duplicate. I like it, but it is a dupe. Really great for kids who enjoyed that series. The magic works differently, but everything is still very similar. Characters are compelling. Evil guy is evil, though we don't find out too much about him. I plan on reading the rest of the series, though I suspect someone will die, and I'm not ready for it.

One of my assigned Rebecca Caudill books.

The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery


Title: The Little Prince
Author: Antoine De Saint-Exupery
Pages: 84
Finished: March 1, 2018

First Sentence: Once when I was six I saw a magnificent picture in a book about the jungle, called True Stories.

Summary: An unnamed narrator is stranded in the desert. While trying to fix his plane, a random boy pops up asking the narrator to draw a sheep. The little boy, dubbed the Little Prince by our narrator, slowly tells the story of life on his planet and his journey to Earth.

Thoughts: Okay, so it's a bad summery. I'm having a hard time summarizing this one because the feel is just so... surreal. This book has been on the edge of my attention since seventh grade French class (a little under two decades ago!) My parents asked to read it for out book discussion this month, and considering it was under 100 pages, I was happy to do so.

I was left with a hole in my heart. I was at work, so I couldn't take time to cry the way I wanted to, but it definitely affected me. This was a beautiful story. Beautiful enough that I think I'm going to add it to my personal shelves at home so we can read it with my kid some day. The messages were very apropos today as they were back in World War II. I'm very glad we read this.

Read for my family book discussion.

Thursday, March 1, 2018

March Reads


Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - Back To the Classics
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-ExupĂ©ry - Book Discussion
The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare - 2019 Caudills
Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federele - 2019 Caudills
Dash by Kirby Larson - Bluestem Challenge
A Blind Guide to Stinkville by Beth Vrabel
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Moonwalking With Einstein by Joshua Foer

Moonwalking With Einstein will either be read this month or taken off my list entirely. I'm going to attempt the final two bluestems as well. On this current list, I'm most excited for The Little Prince and Cloud Atlas (which is a reread). I'm also looking forward to Jane Eyre as a set up for my novel next month.