The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Week 17‘s book is The Wizard of Oz, which is the cutes thing you’ll ever read. Yes, I’m really in love with this. It is ridiculously likeable.

Title: The Wizard of Oz
By: L. Frank Baum
Pages: 143
Published by Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1993
First published 1900

When a huge cyclone transports the orphan Dorothy and her little dog Toto from Kansas to the Land of Oz, she fears that she will never see Aunt Em and Uncle Henry ever again.
But she meets the Munchkins, and they tell her to follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City where the Wonderful Wizard of Oz will grant any wish. On the way, she meets the brainless Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion. The four friends set off to seek their hearts’ desires, and in a series of action-packed adventures they encounter a deadly poppy field, fierce animals, flying monkeys, a wicked witch, a good witch, and the Mighty Oz himself.

***

Rating on Goodreads: (really liked it)

This is quite possibly the cutest thing I’ve ever read. For such a small book, it’s become a huge classic and it deserves a great review and stuff. I just don’t know what else to say.

What can I say? I like the story, I like the setting and I like the characters. It’s all cute and creative and imaginative. The plot is surprisingly well put together and for such a short book, it’s amazing the characters have actual personalities (mustnotbashbadbooks).

As this review is positive, you all know it’s gonna suck, so I’ll just finish by saying: give this a shot. It’s a two hour read, tops, and it’s well worth it. You’ll be very well entertained all the way through and age is no concern. If you’re a child or a child at heart, you’ll enjoy this very much.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Week 15 is… quite a while ago and thus it’s also quite a while since I read Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. This is not really a review of it, since I don’t feel entitled to review great classics like this. So here guys: have a ramble on Jane Austen’s awesomeness.

Title: Sense and Sensibility
By: Jane Austen
Pages: 462
Published by Collector’s Library
First published 1811

Sense and Sensibility, the first of Jane Austen’s major novels, is a portrait of two very different sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. Elinor is practical and disciplined, Marianne Capricious and emotional, yet they share a troubled and impoverished family background, and both must struggle to achieve the happiness they deserve. Ranged against them are the forces of a society where men and masculinity predominate; Elinor and Marianne have to balance their emotional needs against the harsh financial realities of the world at large. Sense and Sensibility is a chronicle of romantic misfortunes, narrated with irony and a sharp eye for hypocrisy. A powerful drama of family life and growing up, the novel is at once a subtle comedy of manners and a striking critique of early-ninteenth-century society.

***

Rating on Goodreads: (really liked it)

If I had to describe Jane Austen shortly as I see her, I’d call her an ideal writer. One of my favourite things in a story is a great cast of characters and Austen’s are always unforgettable. Who could ever forget Mr. Collins or Miss Bates or Lydia Bennet? All characters are well-defined and well-rounded. You can hear their voices as clearly as if they were in the room with you.

It’s no wonder that Jane Austen is a classic. Repeatedly, married women with children completely fail to establish romances that are as convincing as Austen’s – and she remained unmarried and a virgin her entire life. No, I’m not talking about Stephenie Meyer, why would you even think that would be the case?

Jokes at Meyer’s expense aside, there is a tendency to misinterpret Austen’s meaning what with Twilight claiming to be (at least partially) based on Pride and Prejudice. It cannot be stressed enough that Austen would not approve of most of Young Adult paranormal romance literature these days – I am certain she would not. What little I’ve read of it, I know there’s a tendency to admire passion over close friendship and equality in character. I’m not just talking about Twilight, but a book such as Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, which is all about this insane passion that even goes against all reason.

This takes me back to the book at hand, Sense and Sensibility, and wouldn’t you know it – it’s right there in the friggin’ title. It’s in the book’s plot. Be warned: there will be spoilers in a bit.

As is probably known to all, this is a story of two sisters: Elinor is sensible and calm, while Marianne is romantic and emotional. Elinor suffers the loss of a lover while in the end, Marianne almost puts her own life at risk. Guess who’s the more sensible of the two? Yeah, you guessed it. Austen knew it’s not reasonable to put your life at stake over a man. She knew life will go on regardless of a broken heart. She knew what nobody seems to know these days. Ironically, Austen’s books are a better life lesson for girls, and they were written at a time when women weren’t allowed to get an education or to vote and they were thought inferior to men. Take away the whole ‘you need to marry or you’re nothing’ and the message at it’s core is: Life goes one. It’s never worth throwing your life away for some man. Even if Elinor hadn’t gotten her man in the end, she have, in time, have gotten over it.
That’s not unromantic or anything – it’s healthy.

Guys, stop reading Hush, Hush, and Twilight and other such books and go for Jane Austen. Fill in a message that fits our time period better and you have not only a most entertaining read with a cast of great characters, sizzling wit, biting irony and a good story – you also have a message that makes most young adult literature look like soft core porn with a plot deficiency.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke – I Fail

Week 11 and I fail. How much do I fail? Enough that we’re actually in week 12 and I’ve decided to give up on a book and I’m dragging my way through the next. I decided not to finish Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell as it’s not humanly possible (for me) to do it within a week. Here is a short description of why (this is not a full review and the rating only reflects how I’m not able to finish it).

Title: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
By: Susanna Clarke
Pages: 769
Published by Gyldendal, 2005
First published 2005

Centuries ago, when magic still existed in England, the greatest magician of them all was the Raven King. A human child brought up by fairies, the Raven King blended fairy wisdom and human reason to create English magic. Now, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, he is barely more than a legend, and England, with its mad King and its dashing poets, no longer believes in practical magic.

Then the reclusive Mr Norrell of Hurtfew Abbey appears and causes the statues of York Cathedral to speak and move. News spreads of the return of magic to England and, persuaded that he must help the government in the war against Napoleon, Mr Norrell goes to London. There he meets a brilliant young magician and takes him as a pupil. Jonathan Strange is charming, rich and arrogant. Together, they dazzle the country with their feats.

But the partnership soon turns to rivalry. Mr Norrell has never conquered his lifelong habits of secrecy, while Strange will always be attracted to the wildest, most perilous magic. He becomes fascinated by the shadowy figure of the Raven King, and his heedless pursuit of long-forgotten magic threatens, not only his partnership with Norrell, but everything that he holds dear.

***

Rating on Goodreads: (it was okay)

Nope, can’t do it. I won’t be able to finish this within any foreseeable future. There are many reasons for this but mainly, I think, it’s because the story doesn’t draw me in as much as I’d like.

I want to like this – I know it’s supposed to be brilliant and as far as writing, characters, and plot are concerned, it’s not a disappointment – I just can’t finish it. The rating of two start reflect my inability to finish it. I read about halfway through and I just don’t feel that urge to press on. The plot, while good, just isn’t very interesting to me. There is a lot of story going on and a lot of plot lines and I can’t help but feeling that while these stories are okay, this could have been much shorter (though, take that with a grain of salt – I haven’t actually finished it).

Really, this is not a bad book, this even had moments where I almost felt compelled to read on and on and the book is very funny in a dry, ironic sort of way, but I just couldn’t finish and so far – no, I’m not going to finish this. It’s going to go on my list for next year (the half that I haven’t read, at least) and I’ll see if I’ll be able to kill it by then.

I’m really disappointed in myself (I finished Marked but I couldn’t finish this, which was supposed to be brilliant? Stupid me) but alas – what can I do? I’m going to be way behind schedule and I have some books of 4-500 pages ahead of me. Sorry, guys. And sorry to my own perfectionism which is going to beat me with a stick.

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

Week 7 – I finished this book last weekend so I’ve been ahead for quite a while, so much so that I’ve read a book that wasn’t on my list during this week! Please bear in mind that this review is positive and thus not very well-written – it’s just the way it works for me, I think. Right, let’s dive into Tolkien’s Hobbit!

Title: The Hobbit
By: J. R. R. Tolkien
Pages: 277
Published by Harper Collins, 2011, London
First published 1937

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling any further than his pantry or his cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard, Gandalf, and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo is most reluctant to take part in this quest but he surprises even himself by his resourcefulness and his skill as a burglar!

***

Rating on Goodreads: (really liked it)

I once tried to labour my way through The Lord of the Rings and those books don’t do much for me. I’ve always respected J. R. R. Tolkien all the same, and having read this I feel like my respect is more than well-founded.

I absolutely love it. It’s like reading a fairytale or, even better, having a fairytale read to you. The narrator is a large part of the story and it works to the book’s advantage.

As to writing, the description is less heavy than it is in the Lord of the Rings. There is some of it, but not several pages, and though it did distract me from the story at times, I also found that it set the tone nicely. Some places, the descriptions really worked, other times they didn’t.

I probably enjoyed the first half of the book more than the second. The first part was fairytale-like in its style and it felt like the characters were moving through fairytale quests. I liked the different places and people, traditions and stories, but in a novel by Tolkien, that’s hardly anything new.

If you, like me, aren’t too good at the Lord of the Rings – not because it’s necessarily bad but because it’s heavy – the Hobbit is definitely worth a try. It’s very Tolkien-y, but also sweet, set in the nicest setting and it’s much easier to read than Lord of the Rings. This is a must-read.

Tales of Unease – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Week 1 and I’m already one down which means I’m ahead of schedule! Woo! To be fair, this is one of my cheaty-books… I’d already been reading this for many weeks and I just added it as my first to get it over with (not in a negative sense, I really like it). So here it is: My (sort of) review of the collection of short stories “Tales of Unease” by the great and mighty sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Title: Tales of Unease – Tales of Mystery and the Supernatural
By: sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Pages: 208
Published by Wordsworth Editions Ltd. 2008, London.

Selected and with an introduction by David Stuart Davies

This gripping set of tales by the master storyteller Arthur Conan Doyle is bound to both thrill and unnerve you.

In these twilight excursions, Doyle’s vivid imagination for the strange, the grotesque and the frightening is given full rein. We move from the mysteries of Egypt and the strange powers granted by The Ring of Thoth to the isolated ghostlands of the Arctic in The Captain of the Polestar; we encounter a monstrous creature in The Terror of Blue John Cap and the beings that live above our head in The Brazilian Cat and The Leather Funnel; and we shudder at the thing in the next room in Lot 249.

***

My rating on Goodreads: (It was amazing)

Classics equal no reviews in my world. It may seem silly but I don’t feel entitled to review the likes of sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

I’ll say though, that it’s a shame for people to only ever read the stories about Sherlock Holmes – do yourselves a favour and pick up not only the great mr. Holmes but also a collection of short stories such as this one. Doyle is a brilliant storyteller in his own right.

My favourite from this collection is the shortest one: “How It Happened.” In a few pages, Doyle managed to knock the wind out of me when I realised that it wasn’t any longer. The story is as striking as it is short. I really like it. I wasn’t scared by any of the stories, really, but that’s just me – I’ve never been honest to God scared by a book. This is no defect on Doyle’s part. If you’re easily scared by ghost stories in general I’m sure Doyle will deliver.

To sum up, Doyle is the king of effective imagery, ghost stories and timeless tales. Give some of his works, also other than Sherlock Holmes, a try when you get the chance – it’s well worth it!