Kelly Jo's comments

Kelly Jo's comments from the Chicks On Lit group.

Note: Kelly Jo is no longer a member of this group.

Tera, are all the book discussions now only 15 days long? What happened to the month-long read and discussions? Did I fall asleep somewhere and miss this change?

I rather like the Historians Make the Best Villians theory we're working on. There was mention of Vlad admiring Napoleon, a fellow megalomaniac.

Elizabeth, yes, that part also bugged me. I mean we hear a little about her granddaughter's sad end to her marriage, but we hear nothing of hers nor about why her daughter is so, um, irresponsible. I think it all reflects back on my feeling this book is about abandoned children and bad parents, in a victorian fairy-tale wrapper.

I finished The Forgotten Garden this weekend. I didn't like it as much as I hoped to. The story was good, even if it had dead ends (Linus, pirates, secret tunnels, etc). It was almost as if Morton had a much longer story written.

That leads me to my editorial gripe: this book is so badly in need of a good editor. Perhaps the dead ends were also the work of this lousy editor, by incompletely chopping out sub-plots.

Anyway, I think Morton was clearly influenced by Victorian literature, she just couldn't pull it off herself.

I'm on page 62 and I'm finding the format, the skipping between eras, rather abrupt. I would think I had things set in my head and then the chapter would end and I felt thrown somewhere else. I feel like the transitions don't lead the reader backward and forward but rather jerk them from place to place. This feeling makes it hard to read this book in short sessions (which is all I usually get).

Nadia, you reminded me of my interesting thesis supervisor. Mine had this tiny office that had every wall, floor to ceiling in bookshelves, and papers and more books stacked on almost every available square of floor. I thought Professor Rossi, so neat and self-composed was the anthesis of my history professor.

I was wondering also, since history is written by the winners (generally), if Vlad really did those things he was accused of or if it was all part of the spin created by the moors in Constantinople. All of medieval warfare was brutal and inhumane (well, it is today, too, but I digress) and the tortures attributed to Vlad are no different from others I've studied (for example, the Spanish Inquisition). It is my way of making Vlad less terrible, I suppose. How could a historian be evil after all?

I thought the entire book was fabulous and relished the opportunity to get lost in a novel, since so few modern novels provide me that opportunity either because they are too short, lack description, or use such simplistic language.

I have a degree in history and so I appreciate the description, backstory, and opportunity to discover the mystery by reading about the characters research. It's so rare you find a history professor and or history students involved in such an adventure! But I think this mystery could have only been solved by a history student - someone who knows how to research.

I didn't feel an overwhelming sense of evil in Vlad. I saw him as more of a Machiavellian Prince rather than the satanic monster to which other writers have depicted him. The fact that he was a historian and a lover of books threw me off balance a bit, and made the book less creepy. That doesn't mean I didn't find him despicable, but I would have loved to browse his library.

I also loved the end of the book. I won't spoil it, but it was pleasing, in a twisted and smirking sort of way.

I only saw the movie, and I also thought the end wasn't good. Quite different from the book. I didn't see the Mini-series, is it worth looking for?

I finished The Historian yesterday. It took my breath away. Now I'm afraid to start another until I "get over" this one. Ha Ha!

I have not started reading yet (sorry...I was preoccupied with another book...) and was wondering if this discussion really is only lasting 15 days (half of this month), or will carry on until Oct 15th? I'm not sure I'll have enough read to participate if it's over in a few days!

Cindy, I also agree that you need to stick with Edgar Sawtelle for a bit before you feel really with it.

Oh, and Macy's had their holiday display out two weeks ago! How can anyone even think about Christmas when it wasn't even the first day of autumn?!?

Personally, I've had it up to my ears with retail and advertising. The season is the season, and it is NOT time for that season yet. Sheesh. Get a grip.

OK, I'm off my soapbox now. :)

Mary, that's so funny, and yet so annoyingly true! LOL.

Oooh, that's heavenly.

Tera wrote: "Love the Chunky Chicks Club!.."

LOL!

On the first day of autumn, I wondered what happened to the summer. Here is my Summer Six Word Memoir:

I came, I saw, I napped.

I'm not reading it...but...I saw Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters at the bookstore today and laughed out loud. It seems that Austen Horror is all the rage. Are they humorous or true horror books?

Myrna wrote: I'm about to start reading "freaky green Eyes, Joyce Carol Oates writting is gripping. We Were the Malvaneys, The Gravedigger's Daugther, Blonde (fictional take on Marilyn Monroe's life) and I'll Take You There were all page turner.."

Myrna, I'm a big fan of JCO. Did you read Big Mouth, Ugly Girl? It's another of her YA novels and she's able to get into the head of an adolescent so well. I have Freaky Green Eyes on my list to read.

I have not read any Steinbeck yet, but I have East of Eden in queue.

I started The Historian yesterday. I'm really liking it and anxious for the chat to start next week.