Books Read: 21 and 22

Hi everyone, It has been quite some time since I last posted on my blog about the books I am reading in a year. Mostly due to senior year, but the few breaks I have had I did get some reading done. I have finished 2 books recently. I am getting close to my goal of 25, but I have very little time left, so I may just be close this time around we shall see.

I finished the book Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir. Its basically her view of Elizabeth I before she became queen. Basically 2 years old until she receives the coronation ring from her sister proving that she has died and Elizabeth is the new Queen of England. It follows her learning about her mother's death, living with her step mother Catherine Parr and then switching from court, to own house, tower, court and finally house arrest. Her most intriguing theory is that Catherine Parr's husband Thomas Seymour slept with Elizabeth at age 15 and she became pregnant, but had a miscarriage. It is not exactly and well accepted theory although it is believed that Thomas Seymour and Elizabeth flirting extensively while living under the same roof and a scandal did occur that require that she leave the household. As to the pregnancy, there is no way to prove or disprove that theory. It is a very interesting book with a different twist to the story of young Elizabeth. An easyish read, but nevertheless a nice one.

The other book I have read is a biography of Joan of Arc called The Virgin Warrior the life and death of Joan of Arc by Larissa Juliet Taylor. It looks at the life span of Joan of Arc, with specific focus on her 2 years in battle, trial and death. She also examines her influence in society not just France, but Catholic Church and the world. She uses a lot of primary texts and is able to quote several people involved or influential in Joan of Arc's story. She takes away the idolized version of her and brings her down to earth as a young girl who really believed in her faith and in a unified France. She gives several interpretations of certain events or decisions Joan had made allowing the reader to decide what sounds more plausible in the story. Overall it was an amazing read and an interesting biography (for someone who usually finds biographies boring!) Definitely a good one to start out on if you have never read a true biography before.

Books Read: 20

I finished this book today and it was A Room With A View by E. M. Forster. I saw a movie of this book and that is what prompted me to read it. It is about Lucy Honeychurch, who goes to Italy with her cousin Miss Bartlett and meets several other British citizens while there including Mr. Emerson and his son George Emerson. George falls in love with Lucy and kisses her on an excursion to the countryside with the group. This upset and shocks Lucy, so she leaves for Rome with her cousin. She meets Cecil, who proposes to her 3 times before she agrees to marry him. We return to England where Lucy is with her family and her fiance. A neighbor has a house to lease and gives it to the Emersons, which upsets Lucy, but she must hide for no one knows about her and George. George makes friends with Lucy's brother Freddy and spends a Sunday afternoon playing Tennis. He kisses her again and she kicks him out, but not before he tells her that he loves her and that she shouldn't marry Cecil. She breaks off her engagement, but decides she wants to travel to Greece with other friends from her trip to Italy. Mr. Emerson makes her realize that she in fact does love George and they get married and go back to Italy, which upsets her family and friends.

This was an ok book. I am not sure I liked it all that much, but I wouldn't say I hated it. I'm not sure I like this author's writing style. However, I may not like it as much because it was written for that period's audience (early 1900s) and that was a very different audience than today. It is a short book, so it is pretty easy read overall.

Books Read: 19

Another book I have finished recently is Why She Married Him by Myriam Chapman. It is the story of a young Russian Jewish woman named Nina, who has moved to Paris with her family in order to avoid the revolution happening in Russia. She mets a man named Abraham (older, but also Jewish and from the Russian empire), who is a Social Democrat, like herself, but he is a harsh and serious man. They court for awhile and eventually get married, to everyones amazement. The story begins with their wedding night, which shocks Nina and she begins to reflect over her life at how she came to this point. It goes to their courtship and how they met and their difficulties as a couple. It moves further back to the very beginning of Nina's life, how her parents met and her growing up in Russia. The dangers of being hunted in Russia for being Jewish during the Social Democratic movement, which Nina was involved in as a small child. This prompted their move because her mother was worried she would be sent to Siberia. They end up in Paris with another family they were friends with in Russia. This family has a son, who is about Nina's age named Sasha. They grow up together and fall in love, but Sasha's family has moved to New York and he wants to join them. He promises he will write to her and return to Paris for her. However, two years pass and she does not hear from him and then she mets Abraham. By the end of the novel we find out that this story is about the author's grandmother and this is based on her manuscript.

I really enjoyed this story. I thought that set up was interesting. I liked the reflective, looking back set up of the story. It helped that every time there was a change in period there was a page saying theme and year period of that section and each chapter had month and year too. I'm not entirely sure I got the "answer" to why she married Abraham, but it was still an enjoyable and fun read.

Books Read: 18

I have finished several books recently and now am getting around to writing about them. The first was The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hathorne. I actually bought this book when I was in junior high and could not get into it. It was a bit easier for me to read it now that I am much older. Although, I still had some difficulty with the language. The story is about the House of Seven Gables in a small town in Mass. It follows the story of the family (Pyncheon) that built it and lived in the that house for many generations. It is cursed because the original builder of the house stole the property from a poor farmer, who later was hanged for witch craft (he cursed the family before he died). The day the house was finished the builder of the house was found dead. Since then the relative that resembled this particular family member died in a similar fashion. The story goes on about the current family member that lives there, old maid Hepzibah Pyncheon, later her brother Clifford Pyncheon, and finally Phoebe Pyncheon ( a young distant relation to the family). There is a feud with the more successful part of the family, Judge Pyncheon, who is trying to take the house from the members currently living there and find the old document that proves the Pyncheon family owns an extensive piece of land in another part of the country, but he resembles the original Pyncheon and dies according to the curse. The only person who knows where this document is would be Clifford, once Judge Pyncheon dies moves with his sister to a nice country home in this family land and Phoebe stays in the house. The story goes back and forth between present time and the history of the Pyncheon family and you gain more information about the history of the house.

I would say that the concept is interesting, but it was not one of my favorite books to read. I thought it would be more like a mystery novel, but it was more like a historical novel, which is not necessarily a negative. I was not a fan of the writing style. I found it very difficult to follow the story and there was a lot of unnecessary information given to me. I felt like there were moments when the author was rambling and not sticking to the story at hand. I have his other book the Scarlet Letter and hopefully that will be a better read than this one.

Books Read: 17

I have finished The Space Between Us by Thrity Imrigar. It is set in India and looks at the lives of two women and how even though they are of a different social class how their lives are the same. Bhima is a servantL illiterate and uneducated. She is taking care of her granddaughter since her daughter and son-in-law died of AIDS. She is trying to get her educated so that she can have a better life, but she becomes pregnant, which is one of the major controversies of the story. Her husband has left her and took her son with him after an accident at his job in a factory. The other woman is Sera, a wealthy housewife who Bhima works for. She has been widowed after several years of being physically abused by her husband. Her pregnant daughter and son-in-law live with her. She has been helping Bhima educate her granddaughter and throughout her lifetime. The books goes through their past lives to show how they ended up in this situation and the present day.

I liked this book only because it was interesting to see the cultural aspects of India. I felt that there wasn't really a point to the story and there was no easy way to end it. I definitely did not like the ending. There was no final resolve nor was there any sort of choice for the reader to decide how they wanted it to end. I felt like it just ended after the climax. I didn't mind the back and forth between present and past because I felt the transitions worked in the story. Overall, a good book to read if you are interested in learning a bit about the culture of India, but definitely not a good one for plot.

Books Read: 16

I have no finished The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant. It is about this young girl who grows up during the Ren. in Venice and loves paintings and art. She is educated and very smart, but her world gets torn apart by Savonarola, a priest who is against art and women being educated. She is forced to marry herself to an older man, which ends in shabbles. However, she manages to survive and is able to explore her passion that she has had to keep hidden.

This was a pretty simple book. Not too complex of a plot or writing style. I thought it got a bit too graphic at bits and could have been written in a more interesting manner. Not a bad book to read for the summer since it is pretty relaxing. I do not have a whole lot to say about this book since it was so short and simple. If you enjoy Ren. Italy and paintings and an easy read its a good book. I may not read anything else by the author, but I am glad I picked this one to read because I believe it is one of her better ones.

Books Read: 15

I just finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini and I could not put it down! It looks at the last 33 years in Afghanistan from the viewpoint of two women, whose lives eventually come together in the middle of the novel. It is a great book about the hardships these women face individually as well as together against there husband. The book starts off with Mariam's childhood and her naivety about being an illegitimate daughter to a wealthy businessman til your 15th birthday. When her mother dies she is forced to marry a man from Kabul and at first everything seems to be alright, but after several miscarriages Mariam's life is very difficult and sad. Then the book shifts to Laila, a girl who lives down the street from Mariam and her husband's home. She grows up with her friend Tariq and eventually when they are both much older realize they love each other. However, life in Kabul has become unsafe due to the shootings and killings between warlords. Tariq family leaves and Laila's parents are blown up and she is saved by Mariam and her husband. She learns from a man that Tariq died on a refugee camp and agrees to marry Mariam's husband, so that he has two wives and hopefully Laila will produce children. She has a daughter which puts the husband against her and soon Laila and Mariam bond together and they are both seen as the one and the same to their husband, even after Laila becomes pregnant again and gives birth to a boy. They struggle against his anger and beatings together as their world is been torn apart by war and the restrictions of the Taliban. I won't say to much else, because I don't want to give away the endings because it is amazing.

I absolutely loved Kite Runner and I heard this book was just good and they were right. I loved reading this book and had a hard time putting it down. I really hope he writes another book because I think he is a fantastic author. They stories and lives of the character is so different from my own that I can't help, but be sucked into the difference and interesting aspect of the lives of these people.