bookshelves: classics, read-in-2009, young-adult
'I write this sitting at the kitchen sink.' The opening line of a completely charming young adult novel.
Seventeen year old Cassandra Mortmain and her family live in a decaying castle in the English countryside. Cassandra tells her story through the notebooks she keeps. We learn all about her eccentric family, her seemingly crazy father and her somewhat pretentious older sister Rose. When the wealthy Cottons become their neighbours their lives change forever, Pride and Prejudice stylee!
This book is extremely readable and completely draws you in to Cassandra's world. Someone said to me that no young girl should grow up without this book and I totally agree. I wish I had read this when I was younger and could join in with Cassandra's dreamy romantic reality!
I think the added charm of this book is that the ending isn't clichéd and many times I felt like shaking Cassandra and telling her to 'get a grip' and 'open her eyes' but this added to the naivety of her character and made her seem very real. It made me remember what it was like to be 'in love' when I was seventeen.
I only have this book 4 stars as the ending wasn't right for me. Perfect for the book, but not for me. I would definitely recommend that everyone reads this book. Dodie Smith is a fantastic author!
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Read more about the books here ~ http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2441... ]]>
Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden
Book Summary
A haunting novel about identity, love, and loss by the author of Three Day Road
Will Bird is a legendary Cree bush pilot, now lying in a coma in a hospital in his hometown of Moose Factory, Ontario. His niece Annie Bird, beautiful and self-reliant, has returned from her own perilous journey to sit beside his bed. Broken in different ways, the two take silent communion in their unspoken kinship, and the story that unfolds is rife with heartbreak, fierce love, ancient blood feuds, mysterious disappearances, fires, plane crashes, murders, and the bonds that hold a family, and a people, together.
As Will and Annie reveal their secrets—the tragic betrayal that cost Will his family, Annie’s desperate search for her missing sister, the famous model Suzanne—a remarkable saga of resilience and destiny takes shape. From the dangerous bush country of upper Canada to the drug-fueled glamour of the Manhattan club scene, Joseph Boyden tracks his characters with a keen eye for the telling detail and a rare empathy for the empty places concealed within the heart. Sure to appeal to readers of Louise Erdrich and Jim Harrison, Through Black Spruce establishes Boyden as a writer of startling originality and uncommon power.
Book Reviews:
"Though the incongruously melodramatic denouement doesn't fit with the richly textured narrative preceding it, the novel as a whole is an intelligent, multilayered accomplishment, and well worth reading." - Publishers Weekly.
"Boyden writes with unassailable authenticity; his latest is strongly recommended for all fiction collections." - Library Journal.
"Though the forced, contrived plot almost submerges the novel, the sensuous apprehension of a distant, perilous, ineffably beautiful world draws us in and won't let us go." - Kirkus Reviews.
"Boyden is definitely a gifted storyteller. His narrative progresses with practiced ease until, very near the end, it falters in a climax that is pure melodrama – after which, I’m sad to say, the story unravels into a threadbare epilogue: a disappointing finale that does little justice to the rest of the novel." - Quill & Quire (Canada).
More Information:
This is Boyden's second novel following Three Day Road. It won the 2008 Giller Prize in Canada.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
It is hard to believe that there is anyone on the planet who is not familiar with the story of A Christmas Carol. Written in a six-week period in October and November of 1843, the novel was the first of five short Christmas books published by Charles Dickens. Obviously, it was the most successful novel in the series. In fact, he was so certain that people would like his story that he refused to sell the rights to his publisher and instead paid to publish it himself. His instincts proved correct, and soon after its publication, all of the copies were sold.
In his later years, Dickens would read an abridged version of A Christmas Carol at public readings for which he charged a fee. Often, that fee went to the several charitable organizations that he was involved with throughout his lifetime. The book itself was instrumental in raising people's awareness of poverty.
Since its publication, the story has been told many times in all imaginable forms. Despite the thousands of times that A Christmas Carol has been adapted to stage, radio, movies, and television, the novel remains the most popular and poignant telling of the tale.
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The Muppet's Christmas Carol is one of my all time favourite films!! Watch it every year :) It is actually pretty close to the book! ]]>
bookshelves: china, currently-reading
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21. I Capture the Castle
Not the ending I wanted but a very cute book. ]]>
"Don't know how this one is going to end. I just want to shake Cassandra though!!"
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That one sounds good Shannon!! ]]>