Wanda's comments

Wanda's comments from the The Book Addicts! group.

Note: Wanda is no longer a member of this group.

Jan wrote: "I had a thought the other night about this book. When Walter and Laura fell in love, it was hopeless because of their different "stations" in life. Why was it ok for them to later be married and..."

I wondered about that too, Jan. I thought that her peers might overlook the situation by virtue of Walter's having been in Honduras and having risked life and limb for her? What do you think?

Hi Maggie and MarBear (you changed your name!). I found some discussion questions. These are not my own questions; but, rather taken from the Reading Guide Page at Penguin, the publisher. Hope they don't repeat what you already have.

The Woman in White

Laura is presented as an ideal of Victorian womanhood, obedient, respectful of social conventions, and willing to sacrifice her own wishes for others. How does her double, Anne Catherick, illuminate the dark side of that ideal?

"You will make aristocratic connections that will be of the greatest use to you in life," Collins's father told him when he started school. But Collins lived a life on the periphery of respectable English society that his father would not have condoned. In the novel, how is pedigree intertwined with deception and immorality? Where do the lines blur between servants and the served? How are the underprivileged used as a screen for viewing the upper-crust characters?

Why is Marian so mesmerized by Fosco, who she says "has interested me, has attracted me, has forced me to like him"? Why is Fosco able to see Marian, despite her physical unattractiveness, as a "magnificent creature"?

When Hartright returns from Honduras to restore Laura's true identity, he brings tactics he had first used "against suspected treachery in the wilds of Central America" to "the heart of civilised London." Why is he forced to work outside the laws and conventions of society to achieve his aim? Why did he have to leave England and return in order to make this change?

One critic has suggested that Marian and Fosco might be considered the true protagonists of The Woman in White. (In many ways they are much closer to Collins's own bohemian sensibilities than Hartright and Laura.) In what sense might this be true? How would you interpret the story's conclusion— especially Marian and Fosco's fate—in this light?

The use of multiple narrators was one of Collins's favorite storytelling techniques. What qualities does each narrator bring to the story? How does each change our view of the characters? Could the story have been told from a single viewpoint, and if so, whose?

David, I have thought about this thread for the past few days and I think the more important question is not whether or not it is a "girl" book or even a "boy" book; but, is it a GOOD book? A good book is one which you enjoyed tremendously, would recommend to your friends and think about long after you have closed that last page. So, if someone tells you it is a "girl" book or a "boy" book, just look at them and say books are unisex and . . . Happy Reading!

What makes a book great is your experience in reading it. Whether or not you enjoyed the book and want to savor that experience - not a "girl" or "boy" label.

I, for one, probably read more "boy" books than "girl" books - simply because I don't read much chick lit. Now and again, I enjoy something light and heartwarming, but that book definitely needs to make an impression on me or it hits the wall fast.

So, to you, David, I say - enjoy your book whether it be a "boy" or a "girl." Really, what's in a label anyway? To those to mock you - give them a copy of the book and tell them to read it first and then you can both share in the experience.

Hi Nathaniel. You have a great list. Let me know when you get to An Army at Dawn - we could read together.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog is a great read. The characters are true and honestly feel like people you may already know in your life. Their pretentiousness is what makes them human. I cannot wait to "listen" to the discussion and take part!

Nicola wrote: "The Wednesday Letters by Jason. F. Wright

Jack and Laurel have been married for 39 years. They've lived a good life and appear to have had the perfect marriage. With his wife cradled in his arms..."

The Elegance of the Hedgehog was superb! I adored both Paloma and the Hedghog and their pretentiousness.

Marian is my favorite. She is intelligent and capable.

My least favorite is a toss up between Laura and Mr. Fairlie. She is annoyingly simple - incapable of doing much beyond being "pretty" and he is exceedlingly selfish, whiny, and just annoying. Although, his self-indulgence and manipulative behavior does get him his desired result - to be left alone and to not be made responsible for any decision-making.

She did not describe herself as "ugly;" the narrator did. Fosco looked past her physical attributes to her heart and saw someone beautiful. I only wish Hartright had done the same. Remember, when he first met her, it was he who described her as UGLY - "the lady was ugly" - were his words; not Marian's.

Home Across the Road by Nancy Peacock.

Every family has secrets, but the Redds have more than most. Consider, for example, the fact that this North Carolina clan has two distinct branches, the white Redds and the black Redds, their former slaves. Through seven generations, their histories and their blood have mixed, culminating in the present-day occupants of Roseberry Plantation, solitary Coyle Redd and his black housekeeper (and distant cousin), China. When Coyle puts the dilapidated mansion up for auction, it would seem that the two families' shared past will finally come to an end; but in Nancy Peacock's remarkable saga, Home Across the Road, blood ties are not so easily severed. Skillfully jumping from present to past and back again, Peacock traces the Redd connection back to antebellum days when white plantation owner Jennis Redd fathered the child of his slave, Cally. When the boy, Cleavis, is 6 years old, Redd's jealous wife accuses him of stealing a pair of earrings that her own son really took, and has him sold away. In retaliation, Cally takes the earrings herself and buries them under the floor of her slave cabin. From this point on, the fortunes of the black Redds improve while those of the white Redds decline.
Peacock mixes a little magic into the parallel histories she tells, and conjures up an exquisite novel that is part ghost story, part meditation on the ineffable power of blood and history to bind people to a place, to each other, and to patterns of behavior that repeat themselves through the years. Home Across the Road is spare in its prose style but rich in the themes it mines. --Sheila Bright

OR

The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips.

In 1931 Carbon Hill, a small Alabama coal-mining town, nine-year-old Tess Moore watches a woman shove the cover off the family well and toss in a baby without a word. For the Moore family, focused on helping anyone in need during the Great Depression, the apparent murder forces them to face the darker side of their community and question the motivations of family and friends. Backbreaking work keeps most of the townspeople busy from dawn to dusk, and racial tensions abound. For parents, it's a time when a better life for the children means sacrificing health, time, and every penny that can be saved. For a miner, returning home after work is a possibility, not a certainty. However, next to daily thoughts of death, exhausting work, and race are the lingering pleasures of sweet tea, feather beds, and lightning bugs yet to be caught.

Why did Collins "make" Marian ugly? Couldn't she be pretty and smart? ARGH!

Hi Michelle. I have not read this trilogy; however, I do own it. I will have to move it up the to-be-read list based on your enthusiasm. Thanks!

Elena wrote: "I am reading Dracula and I woke up in the middle of the night feeling a shadow over me...freaky...Very different from modern vampires! I am going to check out Frankenstein next."

Oh, Elena. I was thinking about reading Dracula next which means I would be starting it this weekend and now that you have written about your experience, I am not sure! ;) With my husband leaving soon, I will just have to sleep with the lights on!

Hi Mary. Another great recommendation would be The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. Written in letter format like The Woman in White, the Moonstone involves a mysterious moonstone gem from India and the havoc it wreaks on the character's lives. To me, the Moonstone is written like an early police procedural and the "closed door" mysteries.

Right now, I am reading a great book by Bram Stoker - The Jewel of the Seven Stars. It is said to be the "father" of the mummy story although there is some controversy as some believe the mummy story was created years before Stoker's novel and that he just expounded upon the idea. I don't know what is or is not true - I do know this - it is very readable, very good and creepy - a perfect Halloween story.

Don't you just want to send Mr. Fairlie off to the corner for being so selfish? And, I do love Marian although I am upset that Collins made her "ugly" and "mannish" in order to make her smart.

Winnie the Pooh Stories - A.A. Milne
The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck
The Shell Seekers - Rosamunde Pilcher
Coming Home - Rosamunde Pilcher
Middlemarch - George Eliot
Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis
Wrinkle in Time Quartet - Madeleine L'Engle
Dracula - Bram Stoker
Wives & Daughters - Elizabeth Gaskell
Lady Audley's Secret - M.E. Braddon
Death Be Not Proud - John Gunther
The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins
Someone Knows My Name - Lawrence Hill
Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
World Without End - Ken Follett
The Boy in Striped Pajamas - John Boyne

Mary wrote: "Hi all. I want to thank whoever nominated this book. It's hard to believe most of us have never heard of such a wonderful book. I don't think I'd even heard of the author. Anyway thanks!

Mary"

Mary, I am glad you are enjoying it!

This book is fabulous. I am finished and cannot wait for the discussion to begin. Happy Reading!

Psst! Mary, I do both. I download the classics for free and buy only those books which I believe I will truly love and/or read again. A dear friend owns the Kindle2 and absolutely loves it. I have the older model Sony Reader 505 and even though it does not have a backlight, I love mine too. It is a little less expensive than the top of the line model and I just hook a small booklight on to it and read at night time. Of course, once my husband deploys, I can leave the bedside lamp on and read all night long.

Hi All. Another great site for free classics is feedbooks.com. Just create a profile, designate your ereader, and you can download classics for free. This site is fun because they offer some of the lesser-known classics too. Today, for example, I downloaded a mystery written by A.A. Milne (yes, Winnie-the-Pooh's author). If you don't have an ereader, you can download books in Adobe format onto your computer too. Have Fun!

You will enjoy Middlemarch tremendously - I did! Just be patient with Eliot's wordiness.