Rebecca's comments (member since Jan 11, 2008)

Rebecca's comments from the The Rory Gilmore Book Club group.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. I felt a camaraderie with him, as I do with you all -- the need to track, to record one's bought it - read it - thumbs up or down on it. I was interested in much of what he had to say about his enjoyment or dislike of things, and I suppose he hits the right note with me too, humor-wise. I found myself loving his turn of phrase often, and some of the best have already been posted -- in particular, about the books you own being so representative of who you are, even if they haven't been read -- the idea that you chose it says something about you.

And yes, I was totally intrigued with the lost Victorian classic. :)

Finally, I was amused to see how often the Rebecca effect worked its way into his reading choices!

Arctic - just happened to see this. If I remember correctly, it was basically a female couple living together. It was a little bit vague, but I do think it intended to imply a lesbian relationship.

Tom, thank you!! Excellent list.

The Gun Seller sounds fantastic. Yes, Burn Notice and Wodehouse mixed up together and dropped in my lap like a big yummy crack sundae :)

Tough one, but I think I'd have to do a day at Chilton and a Friay night dinner. And then back to Star's Hollow for ice cream and one of the girls' famous second Friday night activities.

Am I the only one who ever thought, sheesh -- Fridays must be abnormally long in their world? They must have stayed up all night on Fridays to do everything they did after getting back from a 2 hour dinner.

Fran came into town prior to the fire to tell Lorelai that she was planning on selling to a hotel group, and she was thrilled to hear about L's plan to branch out with the Dragonfly, because she said she would have sold years ago but for not wanting to kick out her girls.

The fire only caused them to have no income while they finished up their plans with the Dragonfly.

Long awaited answer -- The Voyage by Philip Caputo. It's all family drama and coming of age and brotherhood and sailing and narrated by a descendant, so it's all the best parts of my favorite novels put together :) I always consider the tone to be something along the lines of A Separate Peace meets White Squall (Jeff Bridges movie) meets any Southern dysfunctional family as written by Pat Conroy.

If I had to recommend any 2 of Piccoult's books, they would be My Sister's Keeper and Plain Truth, in that order, with Perfect Match a somewhat distant 3rd. I really didn't enjoy The Pact or Salem Falls or Tenth Circle, although 19 Minutes was decent. Apparently I like the children stories rather than the teenage ones,w hich bode poorly for my future parenting... hmm. I digress -- in short, yes, I think Sister's Keeper is worth reading. I agree that it is very thought-provoking.

Haven't read any Hoffman, but it does sound good.

Ooh, I've really wanted to read Stiff, and maybe it will work well with some of the physical aspects of back from the dead. And then, easier for those of us who don't dig the "scary" so much.

1. Stiff
2. Frankenstein

All suspense, all the time:

1. Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe
2. The Ruins

I definitely wouldn't mind seeing a film version of this now that I've read it.

The whole thing was just so amazingly relevant to modern day life, somehow, even though it utilized societal mores that are long gone. I think the key is that regardless of the setting, the human emotions were so complete and honest that it felt true and timeless. What a masterful soap opera writer :) Seriously, it was a terrific story. And WHY does anyone make it into a "swashbuckling" film -- there's what, exactly ONE swordfight in it? And that being the death of Franz's father, like 20 years ago. Maybe I'm not getting the idea of the word "swashbuckling".

I was fascinated with how, as someone mentioned, the Count was careful to allow the objects of revenge to ruin themselves by playing on their worst instincts. I thought that his second-guessing with regard to his role as Providence was touching and evocative -- I could feel what he must have felt, learning that his intentions had gone much further and with more devastating results. I greatly appreciated that he did have his humanity, and tried to allow the person to repent and serve his punishment, and then move on.

Regarding Mercedes: well, I think this is the only way it could have worked out. She did, in the end, choose someone else over Edmond, even if that was understandable (being her son). And yes, they had not known each other, and people do move on and grow. I'm not bothered by the relationship with Haydee, because for the first few chapters where she was mentioned, I assumed she was more concubine than anything else. And I knew she loved HIM, and him finally allowing himself to receive that love felt perfect to me. I like the idea that Albert did distinguish himself and she lived a happy life in the end, content with her honorable son.

Morell and Valentine are great, and I particularly loved that at her "funeral", he onserved from behind the tomb of Abelard and Heloise. One of those little details that my awesome history teachers taught me to appreciate ;) And while I did love the 5th of October and Morell finally meeting his love again, I was much more touched at the symmetry of the Count stopping Max's suicide exactly 10 years to the day after saving the father.

But I thought he said he buried him in the grave after he dug up the baby...? I will keep reading and just be glad I'm not alone here on this one.

(eta, apparently I make things up. I'm caught up now! Onward!)

This story? is like book crack. I am insanely hooked on Jeeves, Bertie and all things P.G. Wodehouse. Love, love, love it. The dialogue is great, the situations are hilarious, and the attitudes are just enviable. How I wish to float through my days with that kind of aplomb!

I immediately called my brother to complain, as he was my self-appointed literature director the whole time I was growing up, and had failed to ever bring me to these particular books. :) His excuse, of course, that he'd never read them himself, which says a lot about his too-serious attitude and inability to chatter socially. Ha! He's getting a set for Christmas, little does he know.

Help, though, because I am OCD about reading things in order... and cannot seem to find a chronological list for the Jeeves stories. Anyone?

OK I skimmed a lot because I'm only through Chap. 50 unabridged, but I have a question.

Perhaps a SPOILER question.....










I'm very confused about Bertuccio's story in the garden at Auteuil -- I thought he was confessing to having murdered Villefort, and then we turn around and the Count is saving Villefort's wife and kid and meeting with him? Who was it that was killed?

OK, I will annoy Tom by commenting that I too am surprised at how easily this "old" book reads. I admit that I tend to look at older stories as being dense and difficult to wade through, courtesy of Dickens and Tolstoy (gack.) But this is just wonderful, and engaging, and I'm thrilled to be reading it.

I am doing the unabridged version (I bought abridged and then was able to get unabridged from the library, and so now am racing through it lol). Loved the whole Morel storyline, and I actually really enjoyed the Italy piece, including the long and drawn out backstory of Vampi. I suppose I innately recognized that it was all weaving together, even though at that point not much had started to knit.

I think overall though my favorite part so far is the relationship between Dantes and the old abbe in prison. Such a rich and rewarding friendship, and I see so much value in pointing out that one can be a good person and better one's self regardless of your place in life.

I really did enjoy Deux, but I wished I'd put it aside after One for a little while, because I went into it with a stinky attitude LOL

The French class was awesome, ordering plural everything totally captured my imagination, especially when combined with his first story about another effort to avoid what's difficult in speaking -- using words with no "s"s to avoid working on his lisp.

I am a little bit in love with Hugh, myself. I found myself wondering for much of the book, how did David hook this guy and what is keeping him around?

Jesus Shaves was just made of AWESOME. :)

Well, I agree that I went about 160 pages before I got a laugh. I don't see myself as the kind of person who typiclly "doesn't get" humor, but then I hated "Knocked Up", too so go figure. I'm assuming I'm not the one only one who did, but all I saw/heard was That's hot! 4 Stars! Katherine Heigl is teh best! But I digress.

What's really funny is, now that I'm done reading it, I remember quite a few parts already mentioned here that I did like about Part One. But at the time I recall almost disliking it, it was so mediocre. I an totally enamored of his mother, so I will read earlier stuff if he deals with her more there.

I would say what bothers me is not a lack of originality, and he can trun a phrase, but at the same time he doesn't finish a story or wrap it up neatly enough for me. I thought many of his chapters were just ended abruptly without that continuity of the point of the story.

I did seriously love the chapter about the beach and the tanning pageant, along with the fishermen watching equations in the sand.

Dini, I just loved the first one; Odd is a great character. Without going into a whole book review/recap, I'll say that I found him endearing. He's a young guy, about 20, with useless parents, who has developed a framework of caring people to fill that void. He's making a simple life for himself, with the exception of his "undercover" work -- he sees dead people, and helps find their killers, can find people just by thinking about them, and occasionally has premonitions of things he'd rather not see happen. It's all presented almost nonchalantly -- as if these things could happen to anyone. I thought it was interesting and fun and I really did get engaged with the cast of characters. Give it a try!

Michelle, you crack me up -- I think it is amusing that you think of Gatsby as prententious, but love Fahrenheit 451 (which I may have actually used the word pretentious to describe.)

I now know "whichwayshewent" -- the complete opposite direction from me! Still glad to have this place to share opposing viewpoints :)

On topic, I'm going to start with the rest of the Odd Thomas books by Dean Koontz. I also just finished a biography of Johann Gutenberg (by John Man, who also wrote a history of the alphabet that I may have to hunt down, called "Alpha Beta"), and planning to start the Outlander series by Gabaldon.

Oh, and I'm reading Lemony Snicket and Magic Treehouse with my kiddo. :)

My top 5 are probably:
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (thanks to this book club!)
Gone With the Wind
Little Women
The Voyage
and The Official Preppy Handbook

I'm kidding about the last one. Kind of.

I'm all about the library. Last night I searched online in conjunction with my Goodreads to read list, found 6 titles that were in at my local branch, made my list, requested several others that are permanently checked out, and headed out. Ten minutes at the library and I've got 8 new books to get through.

On the way, I popped by Half Price to look for Monte Cristo (still can't find unabridged, but then I'm unwilling to traipse through B&N with a double stroller in tow, so what do you expect.) I also found a supremely cool leather-bound-with-gold-tooling copy of Gone With the Wind, which I've long needed to replace. But these (ha, 4) books are the first I've bought since Christmas, I think. I just can't justify paying for the books when I can get almost anything I want from the library, even if takes a while, as in the case of Eat, Pray, Love (#36 in the request line and counting.)

Plus, my dh just doees NOT get the book love, and there's no place in our house for them. But also, I'd rather read on a timeline than give up my maid :)

1. The Polysyllabic Spree
2. The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters
3. My Life in Orange