The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

 

Title:  The Book Thief

Author:  Markus Zusak

Narrated by:  Allan Corduner

Publisher: Listening Library

Length: Approximately 13 hour and 57 minutes

Source: Checked out in Libby from the Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

What makes a book a classic?

Liesel has lost her family in 1939 Germany.  At her brother’s funeral, she picks up a copy of The Gravedigger’s Handbook that was accidentally left behind.  Her new life as a lover and stealer of books has arrived.  She is taken care of by a new foster family and grows up learning the complexity of trying to do good in a world that has forgotten its humanity.  Will Liesel, her friends, and foster family make it to the end of the war?

My thoughts on this book:

·       This is a powerful story.  This was a powerful book when I first read it fifteen years ago and was just as powerful on a reread, this time on audiobook.

·       This was the @dees.reads Classic Buddy Read for May, but I finished it up in June.  I am behind on my buddy reads!  I am still thinking about this book months later.

·       Liesel’s foster father, Hans Huberman, didn’t have much, but his kindness and care for others meant so much in troubled times, especially as so many ignored the suffering of others.

·       It was disturbing how many people blindly followed Hitler, and how many people didn’t want to say anything and rock the boat, even when they knew it was wrong.  It’s disturbing how much this is paralleled in modern times.

·       Allan Corduner was a powerful narrator on the audiobook.  Have your tissues handy as you listen to this one.

·       One major theme was how do you keep your humanity during terrible times?

·       The book was beautifully written and unique to have the story narrated by death.

·       Liesel has everyday cares and friends, but she lives during extraordinary times.

·       This book is classified as a young adult novel, but it is an important story that all adults should read as well.

Overall, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a must-read historical fiction classic that sticks with you long after you turn the last page.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

 

Title:  A Wrinkle in Time

Author:  Madeleine L’Engle

Narrated by:  Hope Davis, Ava DuVernay, Madeleine L'Engle, Charlotte Jones Voiklis

Publisher: Listening Library

Length: Approximately 6 hours and 27 minutes

Source: I used my monthly audible allotment from Amazon.com for this book.

What book would you like to see adapted for the big screen?  I had not read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle when I was young, but I did read it with my kids before the movie came out a little less than ten years ago.  It was good to reread it again for the Classics Buddy Read with @dees.reads in March.

Meg Murry’s father disappeared years before and her family waits for his return.  Neighbors whisper that he abandoned his family, but his wife and kids believe it has something to do with this work.  One night a strange woman visits Meg’s home and invites her, her brother Charles Wallace, and her friend Calvin on an adventure to find her father.  Will they find him?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I enjoyed reading the physical version with my kids last time around, but it just didn’t really click with me this time around. 

·       The audiobook had a good narrator and I enjoyed that Madeleine L'Engle also discussed how hard it was to get this book published.

·       This is a young adult fantasy, science fiction, and coming of age story.

·       It was published in 1962 and won the Newbury medal in 1963.

·       I liked the time travel through the universe.  The tesseract and explanation were intriguing.

·       This is the first book in a series, but I have never read the other books. Have you?  What did you think?

·       I did love how this was great story of the power of love.

·       This book was referenced in the last season of Stranger Things, and it was fun to read it after watching that.

·       I liked that Meg was a strong female character who thought differently but was very gifted in math.  I felt like her and Charles Wallace may have been on the spectrum.

Overall, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle did not engage me this time around, but it is a unique young adult novel with a great female lead.

Jazz by Toni Morrison

 

Title:  Jazz

Author:  Toni Morrison

Narrated by:  Toni Morrison

Publisher: Random House Audio

Length: Approximately 3 hours

Source: Purchased from Audible and checked out a physical copy of the book from Kewaunee Public Library

Do you have a favorite jazz song or musician?  I have always loved the classic songs by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

In 1926, a middle-aged man named Joe murders his teenage girlfriend, Dorcas.  His wife, Violet, attacks the corpse at the funeral and stabs it across the face, earning her the nickname, “Violence.”  How did they end up in this situation?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I read Jazz by Toni Morrison this month for the Classics Buddy read hosted by @Dees.Reads.

·       The audiobook is read by the author, but it is abridged so I also had the physical book from the library to fill in the gaps.

·       I loved the jazzy music and sound effects in the audiobook and Toni Morrison reading her own work.

·       There is a great forward by Toni Morrison that sets up the book.  She was inspired by seeing an old picture of a pretty girl in a coffin and the description that went with the picture.  How creepy and interesting.

·       This is the second book in a series after Beloved.  Beloved centered on mother love and Jazz centers on couple love.  They are both set at different points in Black history, otherwise they are not related.

·       Jazz is a beautifully written book that flows like a jazz song.  Like jazz, the narrative does not flow the way you would expect it too, which made it hard to understand at times.

·       Just like when I recently read Beloved, I found using SparkNotes to be helpful after I read it to make sure I understood what I had read.

·       I am still confused though – why didn’t Joe go to jail for shooting Dorcas?

·       The setting for the book was mostly 1920s Harlem, but there are plenty of flashbacks to the past.

·       Violet and Joe’s marriage gets better after the shooting.  I guess they were finally about to talk through their problems, but I was disturbed about Joe.  He, a man in his fifties, was so upset that his teenage girlfriend had decided to date men her own age that he shot her.  I think Violet deserved a better man, but she also does bad by slashing Dorcas’s face at the funeral.  This was meant to represent her sadness as she wanted to be a mother, but her and Joe had decided not to have children and she realized she wanted to be a mother too late.  Violet learns she has to take control of her own life and happiness.

Overall, Jazz by Toni Morrison was an interesting novel written in a unique way.  I am glad I read this book.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

 

Title:  Wuthering Heights: With an Introduction and Student Guide (As Told by Emily Bronte) and Bonus Material by Lord Byron and Alison Larkin

Author:  Emily Bronte with bonus material by Lord Byron and Alison Larkin

Narrated by:  Alison Larkin, Andrew Wincott

Publisher: Alison Larkin Presents

Length: Approximately 14 hours and 41 minutes

Source:  Review copy from Alison Larkin Presents.  Thank-you!

Are you planning on going to see the new Wuthering Heights movie?  It’s on my list, but I am probably going to wait until it comes to streaming.

Lockwood is a new tenant at Thrushcross Grange in Yorkshire, England. Due to weather, he is forced to take shelter at the neighboring estate, Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord, Heathcliff.  He meets the curious inhabitants. The housekeeper at Thrushcross Grange, Nelly, is able to fill him in on the history of the two families.  Heathcliff was a foundling who was raised with the Earnshaw siblings, Catherine and Hindley.  When Mr. Earnshaw dies, he is treated poorly by Hindley. Heathcliff fell in love with Catherine, but she chooses to marry their neighbor, Edgar Linton of Thrushcross Grange.  Heathcliff spends his life exacting revenge.

My thoughts on this classic novel:

·       I read Wuthering Heights for The Classic Buddy read for January @Dees.reads.  I didn’t finish the book up until February, but I had read it a few other times in my life, so I still enjoyed the group discussion which largely focused on what terrible people the characters were and how it is not a very romantic book.

·       Alison Larkin is a wonderful narrator of this audiobook. She does different distinct voices for all the different characters.  She is one of my favorite audiobook narrators.  She wrote the introduction and study guide at the end.  It was very interesting and puts the book into context.  A poem by Lord Byron was also included.

·       Wuthering Heights is a classic as it looked at childhood trauma and how that trauma could impact a person throughout their life.  Heathcliff takes this trauma and turns it to vengeance on every person he thinks has wronged him, including the one person he loved the most in this world.  He continues this vengeance on the next generation.  Luckily, the book shows that the trauma cycle can be broken, and the next generation can have a new chance.  I think most movies miss the entire point of this book as they focus on the “romance” and most don’t even show the entire second half of the novel.

·       This was Emily Bronte’s only novel.  This novel was different than most Victorian novels of the day which were morality tales.  This Gothic novel had a Byronic hero and intense passionate feelings.

·       I always think of Hindley as an all-bad character, but on this reread, I was reminded that he truly loved his wife Frances and fell apart after her death.

·       It seemed that many of the characters in this novel had mental health problems.  It made me wonder if a lot of the characters could be helped in current times with therapists and modern medicine.  What mental health problems did Emily see within her own family or neighbors that inspired this book?  I also think it’s based a lot on her brother Branwell with his excessive drinking, sleeping with his employer’s wife, etc., but it could have been others as well.

·       Wuthering Heights is a strange novel.  Cathy and Heathcliff are terrible selfish people who do not think about the impact their actions have on everyone else around them.

·       SPOILER ALERT:  I have always wondered – how does Cathy will herself to death?  Does she starve herself to death? SPOILER END

·       The book has an interesting narration as it is a story within a story.  It starts and ends with Mr. Lockwood telling the story and then Nelly Dean taking over for the entire middle section of the story.

·       I wish Heathcliff would have left and never came back.  Catherine, Edgar, and Isabella were happy before his return.  Poor Mr. Earnshaw didn’t realize that he was destroying his family for generations by bringing Heathcliff home.  Heathcliff clings to his hate and bitterness and is a terrible person.

·       Why is this book considered a great romance?  I don’t think Heathcliff really loves Cahterine.  He is obsessed with her but is toxic and would rather destroy her and her family than accept that she has moved on without him.

·       Why didn’t Nelly keep Edgar informed sooner on Young Catherine’s shenanigans?

·       I had gotten about the lawyer’s duplicity.  He was paid off by Heathcliff not to make it to Edgar’s side before his death.

·       Everyone is too alone out there on the moor.  They really needed to socialize with more people.

·       Even though I disliked pretty much everyone in this book, I couldn’t stop reading it.

Favorite Quotes:

“He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”

“Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!”

“My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being.”

Overall, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is an unforgettable beautifully written classic that shines a lot on how early trauma can impact lives through generations.

 

The Night Before Christmas by Nikolai Gogol

 

Do you have a favorite book that you like to reread at the holidays?  A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is just such a book for me.

The Night Before Christmas by Nikolia Gogol is the story of Vakula, a blacksmith and his fight against the devil who has stolen the moon and is causing all sorts of trouble in his village to win the most beautiful maiden.  This story was the December pick for the Classic Buddy Read hosted by @Dees.Reads.  This story was written in 1831 and is a traditional story read on Christmas Eve to children in Ukraine and Russia.  It is a short novella and I spent most of the time thinking – what the heck am I reading?  It was a strange tale and pretty much the opposite of The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clark Moore.  I guess I was expecting more of the Moore version, and this really threw me off.  It will not be a classic I reread at the holidays of the future.

Book Source:  Purchased from Amazon.com.

Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne Du Maurier

 

Title:  Frenchman’s Creek

Author:  Daphne Du Maurier

Narrated by:  John Castle

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Length: Approximately 8 hours and 47 minutes

Source: Purchased from Audible.com

What is your favorite pirate novel/movie/TV show?

Lady Dona de Columb leaves London with her children for her remote estate in Cornwall.  The excesses of the restoration court have worn on her.  While there, she discovers that her butler has been working with a mysterious pirate who has been using her estate as a place to hide.  Dona soon finds herself in love with pirate Jean Benoit Aubery and loving the adventures they have together.  Will she sail off into the sunset with him or stay with her family?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I read this as part of the Classics Buddy Read with @dees.reads in November.

·       My former high school English teacher, Mrs. Smith, recommended this book to me in high school as I enjoyed Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.  While this is a very different type of book than Rebecca, I loved it.  This is my first time rereading it since high school.

·       I also enjoyed the 1944 feature film and 1998 TV movie.  I am going to watch them again now that my Christmas movie viewing is winding down.

·       This historical fiction novel is set during the reign of Charles II.

·       The novel was published in 1941. 

·       This novel is more of a historical romance with adventure and is a different genre than Du Maurier’s most famous novel, Rebecca.

·       William the devoted butler was my favorite character.  I loved the banter between him and Dona.

·       Dona’s husband, Harry, shows up with his friend Rockingham.  Harry is not the smartest and is easily fooled by Dona.  Rockingham on the other hand, knows that something is up.  He is a scary individual – it seemed like part of Dona’ s flight was to get away from Rockingham and his pursuit of her.

·       Dona has a free spirit and loves adventure.  There are some tense moments in the story, but she makes it through.

·       I think every busy mother of young children would like to run off with a handsome, well-educated pirate, but also knows that you are a mother and have to settle down. Dona ultimately understands this.  This book seemed to really make one ponder what it is to have dreams and be free, and what ultimately must be sacrificed to be a mother.

·       I liked the somewhat open ending and hope that Dona finds her pirate in the future after her kids are grown.

·       The writing in this novel is beautiful and it has a lovely opening.  It worked very well as an audiobook.

Favorite Quotes: 

“And perhaps one day, in after years, someone would wander there and listen to the silence, as she had done, and catch the whisper of the dreams that she had dreamt there, in midsummer, under the hot sun and the white sky.”

“All this, is only momentary, is only a fragment in time that will never come again, for yesterday already belongs to the past and is ours no longer, and tomorrow is an unknown thing that may be hostile. This is our day, our moment, the sun belongs to us, and the wind, and the sea, and the men forward there singing on the deck. This day is forever a day to be held and cherished, because in it we shall have lived and loved, and nothing else matters but that in this world of our own making to which we have escaped.”

Overall, Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne Du Maurier is a beautifully written historical romance novel.

Go Tell it On the Mountain by James Baldwin

 

Title:  Go Tell it On the Mountain

Author:  James Baldwin

Narrated by:  Adam Lazarre-White

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Length: Approximately 8 hours and 45 minutes

Source: Checked out from the Kewaunee Public Library through Libby

What is the worst birthday you’ve had?  I had a couple in a row where I had the stomach flu and then hypomesis gravidum when pregnant with my daughter. This pales in comparison to John Grimes birthday in Go Tell it On the Mountain.

John Grimes is celebrating his14th birthday and struggles with his faith over the course of a day.  The book explores the complexity of his family.  Set during the depression in New York City, will John find his morality and purpose in life?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I read this book as part of the Classics Buddy Read for June with @Dees.reads.

·       Go Tell it On the Mountain was James Baldwins first published novel in 1953.  He was thirty years old when it was published.  He did well as this novel has been ranked by Time magazine as one of the top 100 English language novels.

·       This seems to be a semi-autobiographical novel as much of it is based on Baldwin’s own life.  He was born out of wedlock to an unwed mother.  His mother never told him who his biological father was.  She married a Baptist preacher.  He and his father had a difficult relationship.  He didn’t like that James like to read and had white friends.

·       This is complex story of an unhappy family.

·       This was a very well written novel, but also a very bleak story.

·       This was a coming-of-age story for 14-year old John Grimes, but it also delves into the past of his father, Aunt Florence, mother, and grandmother.

·       It was interesting look at the struggle between faith and living the life you want to live and faith versus sexuality.  As part of their faith there was no cards, music, dancing, etc. and it a struggle for the young people.

·       John’s mother Elizabeth had a tragic love story with Richard, John’s biological father.  He was arrested for a crime he didn’t commit.  It broke him and caused his suicide.

·       John’s father, Gabriel, is a pastor, but greatly struggles with following his faith and avoiding sin.  He drove me insane.  He judges Elizabeth for having a child out of wedlock, something he himself also did, but never acknowledged.  The hypocrisy and double standard for sexual morality of women versus men was astounding.

·       The audiobook had a great narrator with a deep voice who was perfect for the preaching sections.

Overall, Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin was a bleak, but well written coming of age novel about the struggles between faith, racism, and sexism.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

 

Title:  Sense and Sensibility

Author:  Jane Austen

Narrated by:  Rosamund Pike

Publisher: Audible Studios

Length: Approximately 11 hours and 25 minutes

Source: Included with my Audible membership

What is your favorite book featuring sisters?  I feel like Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, and the Little House series are my favorite books featuring sisters.

In Regency England, the Dashwood sisters; Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret have just lost their faither.  Their half brother inherited the entire family estate and now the sisters and their mother must start a new and reduced life.  Luckily, Mrs. Dashwood’s cousin, Sir John Middleton, has a cottage for them to live in.  With their reduced circumstances, will they be able to find love?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       Rosamund Pike was a lovely narrator.  I enjoyed this audiobook so much!  Rosamund Pike played Jane in the 2005 Pride & Prejudice which made it extra fun to have her as a narrator.

·       I read Sense and Sensibility in April for the @dees.reads Classic Buddy Read.  There was good discussion in the Instagram buddy read group that focused on how the novel was very much Elinor’s story and that Marianne was underdeveloped and very emotional.

·       I am also trying to reread all of Austen’s novels this year to celebrate her 250^th birthday I am running a bit behind!

·       John and Fanny Dashwood are so detestable.  I love how Austen masterfully wrote this scene with Fanny talking John down to giving his sisters nothing.

·       It was interesting look into who you can count on in life.  Sir John is a distance relation, but he is very helpful to the family.  John Dashwood is their half-brother, but he does nothing.  Mrs. Ferrars cuts Edward out of her will, but not her other son, Robert, for the same “sin.”

·       I thought it was interesting how Mrs. Dashwood and Marianne share many of the same qualities.

·       I always feel like Elinor is my spirit heroine as the oldest sister trying to keep it all together to help her family.

·       Willoughby is such an intriguing villain.  I always find myself loving him although he is a terrible person.  His last visit to explain himself to Elinor is very self-serving, but it also makes me understand his love for money is more than his love for anything else.  It makes me feel sorry for his wife!

Overall, Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen is a beautifully written classic novel with unforgettable characters.  The audiobook narrated by Rosamund Pike was an excellent edition to listen to.

The Street by Ann Petry

 

Title: The Street

Author:  Ann Petry

Narrated by:  Danielle Deadwyler

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Length: Approximately 13 hours and 25 minutes

Source: Audiobook Purchased from Audible

Have you “discovered” any new authors lately through Instagram?  I recently discovered Ann Petry through various Instagram posts and being a part of the Classics Buddy Read in February with @deesreads.  The Street was published in 1946 and I can’t believe I had never heard of this book or author until recently.

Lutie Johnson is a young black woman struggling to raise her son as a single mother in Harlem in the 1940s.  She wants a better life for her son Bub.  She believed in her marriage until her husband Jim couldn’t get a job.  Rather than lose their home, Lutie became a life in housekeeper for a rich family.  She could only go home to visit for four days a month.  Jim found a new woman who moved into their home while Lutie was gone.  This leads Lutie to move to a dumpy apartment on the street.  Will Lutie and Bub be able to make a better life for themselves?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This novel had well developed, complex characters.  It is told through many points of view which I found compelling.

·       It captures the trials and tribulations of poor African Americans in New York City during the 1940s.  Trying to get by was very hard and the oppression of hunger and no available jobs weighs them down.

·       I was confused for a bit in the novel when Lutie would go to Jamica to visit.  I was like – why, she sure is traveling a long way all the time.  I ended up looking it up and it’s a neighborhood in New York City.

·       The building supervisor, Jones, and his lust for Lutie was so scary.  It was built up through the novel and very suspenseful.

·       My favorite character was Mrs. Hedges.  She watched the neighborhood and knew everything that was going on.  She had a will to succeed and helped people out.  She was a madame to make money off of other women, so she was a complicated person.

·       Lutie kept struggling to make a living for her and Bub, but racially, sexually, and economically, the world was working against her.  Instead of helping her out, people just kept trying to take advantage of her.

·       This novel had quite the ending, I can’t stop thinking about it.  Lutie was caught in an impossible situation with no good solution.

·       I want to read more books by this author.  Have you read any other her other books?  If so, what do you recommend?

Overall, The Street by Ann Petry was an excellent, well-crafted novel with compelling characters and storyline.  It has kept me thinking and prompted a good discussion in the Classics Buddy Read.