Books! Books! Books!

It has been a while since I've posted a book review.  Now that I am in school, it gets a little more difficult to find the time to update the blog.  Here is an update of the latest books I've read and the short stories that have been assigned for my university class:

Novels


Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson: This little gem I picked as my book club choice for our summer reading as it is nearly 600 pages long.  I will admit I stumbled upon this one because of  Masterpiece Theater (love it!!).  I really enjoyed the series and once I discovered it was based on a novel, I had to read it!  I was surprised how different it was from the series.  This novel is not primarily characters driven and is more of a picture of what life was like living in a hamlet in the English countryside in the 1800's.  I loved it!!  This novel is actually 3 novels in one and each one improves from the last.  I liked her writing style and had no problem putting other things aside to read.  If you love 1800's England in any fashion, I think you would enjoy this.


Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: This is my first Anne Bronte novel.  I have read Emily's "Wuthering Heights" and Charlotte's "Jane Eyre" and "Villette" and was hoping Anne would live up to her sisters...and she did.  I will say that her writing style is different and this particular story is more straight forward than her sister's books but it was enjoyable, sweet and romantic.  I had no problem sticking with the book and read it whenever I could.  I easily got through it, as it isn't too long.  It's a great book and  I plan on reading her other novels. 


Beauty by Robin McKinley: I have been wanting to read this one for a while.  I first discovered it on goodreads.com and saw that it was a retelling of one of my favorite fairy tales and it had a lot of good reviews.  The opportunity presented itself, when the library's mother/daughter book club announced that for the month of September that we would read our favorite fairy tales. As soon as I finished "Agnes Grey" I picked up "Beauty".  It was a quick read (I read it less than a week) and very enjoyable.  This book was copyrighted in 1976, and I know this because it felt like Disney's movie version so I had to look it up.  There are some differences but A LOT of similarities.  I really like McKinley's writing style and have enjoyed her other books.  This is a fun book and would be appropriate for any girl or woman who enjoys fairy tales.


Short Stories for College (I'll save you my reviews and just give you a star rating based on 5 stars)

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner:

How I met my Husband by Alice Munro:

The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe:

Everyday Use by Alice Walker:

Cathedral by Raymond Carver:

To Build a Fire by Jack London:

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien:

A Clean Well Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway:

The Rocking Horse Winner by D.H. Lawrence:

A Good Man is Hard To Find by Flannery O'Connor:

Revelation by Flannery O'Connor:

I am currently reading:

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (audiobook)
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau (for Mother/Daughter book club in October)
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (for monthly book club)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (reading to the kids..but it's been a while)
Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace (haven't actively read this for months..so I don't know if it counts for currently reading anymore.)
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (for sisters book club...um...if it still exists...what happened here sisters?!?)
The Professor's House by Willa Cather (I will be starting this next week for class)