Happy Friday! Can you smell the weekend yet? I can! It smells like freshly-baked bread and freshly-laundered sheets.
Can you guess the novel these famous last words belong to? Leave your guesses in the comments! This week I’ve got a brand new copy of A Moment in the Sun by John Sayles for the first correct guess.
love,
melanie
Sometimes I think I’m the only book-lover in the world who has luke-warm feelings towards Pride and Prejudice. I know, I know, it’s a sin. Don’t shoot me, but I’ve always thought Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy were snotty, boring and terribly pretentious. I need a heroine with… excuse my expression… balls! I’d take Hester Prynne over Elizabeth Bennet any day.
I always feel guilty about my dislike of Pride and Prejudice, and I guilt myself into reading mash-up P and P novels in the hopes that Elizabeth will grow on me. She never does. My taste is appalling. I know.
When we got the audiobook of Death Comes to Pemberley at the library, I felt obliged to pop it into my car stereo. Alas, if I didn’t listen to this book in audio format, I don’t think I would have finished it. The best part for me about the experience was listening to the glorious accent of the narrator, Rosalyn Landor.
Ms. Landor had a fabulously matriarchal British accent. She might just be the real-life Mary Poppins. AND she had different voices for each one of the characters!
Unfortunately, Ms. Landor was the best part of the novel. The characters I found dull, and the plot, although it involved a murder, had me dozing off at the wheel.
Although this book was a total flop for me, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for audio books narrated by Rosalyn Landor in the future.
Did you read Death Comes to Pemberley? What did you think?
love,
melanie
Tell me a book is about young adults dappling in magic and I’ll read it. Tell me it’s about borderline alcoholic, young adults dappling in magic and I’m grabbing the book out of your hand and running for the door.
The book I just gracefully snatched out of your clutches is The Magicians by Lev Grossman.
The Magicians is easy to compare to the Harry Potter series. Both are about young magicians attending a school for magic. Both feature a young man as a protagonist and are written from a third-person perspective. But that is where the similarities end.
The Magicians was surprisingly fast-paced and modern unlike the Harry Potter series, which is timeless, but can be a bit slow. The Magicians was also very adult, so I wouldn’t recommend this one to the kiddos.
Quentin, the protagonist, is an unhappy young guy who stumbles through a garden in Brooklyn and ends up at a school for magic. Quentin, always dissatisfied with life, thinks this new school may be the key to happiness. He makes friends, he meets a girl, he studies diligently, but he still isn’t happy.He graduates and soon after, his childhood fantasy comes true, but will it lead him to happiness? Dun. Dun. Dun! You’ll have to read it to find out! (How very Reading Rainbow of me!)
My favorite part of the book? The reality of it all. Magic, if real, would exist in the world of Grossman’s novel.The characters have major flaws. They drink, they do drugs, they have sex with the wrong people. They don’t wave wands or wear capes. They truly seemed like real people with a talent.
I also enjoyed the peach-Schnapps-drinking bear. Just read it, you’ll understand.
Have you read The Magicians? What did you think?
I’m checking out the sequel today!
love,
melanie
Rebel Angels and The Sweet Far Thing, the second and third novel in the Gemma Doyle series, made me sincerely wish there were more strong, leading female characters in the novels I read growing up. Sure, I had Hermione Granger, but she was far more of a supporting character than a leading lady.
Gemma Doyle is the best kind of girl– a relatable one. She is strong, independent, curious, and imperfect. Gemma trusts the wrong people, crushes on the wrong boys and wants the unobtainable. She is pretty, but not beautiful. She is smart, but not a genius. She embodies the confusion of young adulthood and well… life. In these last books, I most enjoyed seeing Gemma grow, stumble to find herself, and become a confident woman. It’s what kids young adults everyone goes through– with or without magic.
Although, I completely underestimated the time it would take to read the 800+ pages in the final book. In fact, I neglected my blogging duties last week because I was trying to finish it. Don’t get me wrong, reading wasn’t a chore. It was quite enjoyable, but I definitely think the final book in the trilogy, The Sweet Far Thing, could have been divided up into at least two books. And then maybe made into an HBO series. And then edited a bit.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed it and I’ll be the first in line to see the movie… if it ever gets made.
Have you read the Gemma Doyle trilogy? What did you think?
love,
melanie
I’m making pleasure reading a priority this summer– no matter what. And I am ready, ready, ready for summer.
So, I’m starting my summer reading off early with The Gemma Doyle Trilogy. I read A Great and Terrible Beauty over the weekend and I’m hooked. I’m checking out the second in the series, Rebel Angels today.
I have to admit, I am a total wimp. In kindergarten, we watched the Disney adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and I’ve never been the same. If I had known how haunting this book is, I probably would not have picked it up. But I am so glad I did.
A Great and Terrible Beauty is one part, Gossip Girl, one part Edgar Allan Poe. The book is told from the point-of-view of Gemma, a sixteen year old girl, who when the book opens is living in Victorian-age India. Soon after a mysterious tragedy, she is sent to a strict boarding school in England where she creates frenemy relationships and experiences dark visions.
A Great and Terrible Beauty had me reading (with all the lights on!) into the wee hours of the morning.
What are you currently reading? Follow me on Goodreads to see more!
love,
melanie