ImScared3222’s Comments (group member since Jan 31, 2020)

ImScared3222’s comments from the The Bookshelf group.

I honestly do not really know how to express my feelings about this book other than "meh". It was a good story, but it wasn't a profound read. I had read some comments that this book had changed their lives and I was hoping it would change mine. I'm not unhappy that I read it; I am glad I read this book, but I feel like I set my expectations for this book too high. I was kind of excited when I got to the last chapter because it was the last chapter. I didn't really feel any emotional attachment. I did feel bad for Griffin because he was betrayed twice and I felt like people could have shown him more compassion. At the same time, however, I think Griffin may have been a psychopath in the technical sense of the term - he didn't seem to show any emotion other than anger and he didn't care for his father shooting himself. I was angry that Kemp betrayed a friend that was seeking him out for help, but Griffin did tell him he wanted blood so...

Here is a cool infographic I found about The Invisible Man:

https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-In...

This book is just shy of 200 pages, depending on what edition you pick up. I thought it would be fun to read a couple of novellas this month. Because this book is so short, I don't know what need there will be for a page/chapter breakdown; I plan on spending a couple of weeks on this book. However, I find that having to stick to a schedule makes me more accountable and forces me to read more. So I'm creating a breakdown. Naturally, I was planning on reading half of the book one week and then half the other week and then picking a really short book or short story for the last half of May. I know that not everyone has finished The Secret Garden, but I feel obligated to stick to a schedule. I am going to start reading The Invisible Man and then in two weeks, I will see where we are at - to see whether or not we need the whole month of May for The Invisible Man or we can sneak in something extra.

5/1 -5/9 Chapters 1-9
5/10- 5/17 Chapters 10-Epilogue

I wish had read more of Frances Hodgson Burnett's novels when I was a child. It would have been very interesting to be able to compare a child's view of the book to an adult's view of the book. Unfortunately, I can only view this book through the eyes of an adult. Fortunately, being able to read this book as an adult, I think I picked up more literary devices and whatnot than if I had read it as a child. Even as an adult, I think Burnett still offers magic in her writing. This book has really cheered me up; it is nice to see miserable people transition to a place of happiness. What did you think about the book?

That's great! I hope you enjoy your classes. Don't worry about being behind; school is more important. The beauty of doing an online book club is I can post sections and people can respond at their leisure. I just finished the book this afternoon myself. My library actually decided to open today for the first time in a couple of months so I ran over and rented a copy of the movie I watched when I was a kid. So I'm pretty excited to watch it tonight.
In my opinion, I think the garden and the robin can be viewed as reincarnations of Mrs. Craven. I don't think Mary is a reincarnation of Mrs. Craven, but she definitely is a catalyst. As far as the ten years between Mrs. Craven's death, the beginning of the garden's neglect, and Mary's birth, I view more as change and growth and not so much reincarnation. Mary has been neglected by her parents and the garden was neglected and only through care does the garden and Mary begin to grow and flourish. I think the ten years show what neglect can do.

I found this cute article about The Secret Garden and thought I'd share it.

https://www.bustle.com/articles/31204...

I just wrote a few paragraphs and then my internet decided to take a nap and nothing got saved. So here's the idea in bullet point form.

Why I wanted to read this book:
1. I've wanted to read this book for quite some time now
2. It is a very short read and I thought it'd be nice to have something small
3. This book is in the public domain so it'll be easy to find

Remember!
This book is "The Invisible Man" by H.G. Wells.
It is not "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison; a very different book.

Here are some links to copies of the books:

This first link is for Project Gutenberg; if you do not know who they are and have any questions please let me know.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/sear...

This second link goes to the Goodreads page of this novella. Click on "Read book" underneath the picture of the cover to access their copy.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Another resource is the Overdrive. With my library, this book is basically always available.
You can also download a PDF of this novella from several different websites. Please take caution with this, however. I don't want you to risk getting a computer virus for a book club.

Thanks!

I've been trying to find the 1993 movie version of this book that I watched when I was really little, but it isn't on Netflix or Hulu or Amazon Prime. You could rent it from the library or pay for it. Or I did find older versions of the movie on YouTube. Its always fun to read the book and compare it to the movie because then you can obnoxiously point out everything that's wrong; at least, that's what I do. Anyways, on YouTube, the 1987 version and an animated version are available for free if you are interested. If you dig around a little bit, you can unearth the 1975 version of the film as well.

I don't know about you guys, but it has been a long two weeks for me; I feel bad that it took me two weeks to finish five chapters. Ugh! Luckily, my school semester is wrapping this week and I will have a couple of weeks to do whatever I want until the Summer semester.
I honestly don't know what to feel about Colin. You can't really blame him for the way he acts because he's only ten years old and he's been emotionally neglected while being materially wealthy. I feel bad for him, really. Having met Mary and Dickon has/will be very good for Colin and Colin and Dickon are very good for Mary. The trio make a happy group. I am very curious about what Mr. Craven's reaction will be when he returns home and discovers that his son has become reanimated. I am also curious about Dr. Craven. It's obvious that he wants Colin to die so that he can inherit the estate, but I don't think he'd ever go so far as to murder a ten-year-old boy. He's an interesting person and he comes across as cowardly and greedy to me. Cowardly because that's the vibe I get and not because he's too afraid to murder.

I want to apologize for not keeping on track of the schedule; I've fallen behind on stuff and I'm sorry for that. I personally am only in Chapter 19 when I should be closer to the end of the book. Luckily, we still have this coming week of April. I'm going to finish chapters 19 and 20 and hopefully get something posted and then work on the ending chapters for this week. If you have finished the book already and want to discuss it, I can open up a discussion thread so you can do that.

I have no idea. I haven't heard anything from her since; I hope she's okay, too.

I just received an email from my county library that they will now be doing curbside pick-ups. This means that I can put books on hold, they'll email me when it is ready to be picked up, I drive to the library, and they bring it out to me. I got this email two minutes ago. I imagine that sooner or later most libraries will be doing the same thing if they aren't already. I'm very happy about this. You can check with your local library to see if they are doing something like this or you can put a bug in their ear and suggest this to them. Another thing you can check out is the Little Free Libraries; these are boxes people place outside of their homes and its basically leave a book take a book. I have a couple by my house and people have seemed to be using them more frequently these days. Of course, the selection is what people put there so it is hit or miss. Also, the virus can live on surfaces for several days, so if you do pick up books from other people make sure you give them a good wipe down; just make sure the Clorox wipe is damp and not wet or you'll ruin your books.

The libraries being closed really sucks. The audiobook on YouTube isn't awful, but I agree: hard copies are superior. I'm going to continue to stick to the schedule, which I'm behind on because it is finals week for me so *sarcastic* yay. But even when I continue to post things about the book, I'm posting them so they're available and not to make anyone feel rushed or anxious. I want them to be there for you when you get there.
One of the biggest downsides of the libraries being closed is that ebooks will be more of our constant companions than solid books. I'm looking for books right now that are easily available for next month. I'm thinking of doing novellas. For example the first half of May we can read HG Wells' The Invisible Man, especially with the movie being out. And then maybe throw in another novella or a short story just to keep the word count up without feeling overwhelming.

I'm glad you are liking it. I watched the movie when I was a kid, but reading the book as an adult is a completely new and different experience. I really like what you said about Mary's character growth. I do think it is an interesting aspect of Mary's character that she is coming from a very spoiled and naive background surrounded by people and yet has no emotional attachment to anyone. Now she's in an environment where she has to entertain herself and is very often left alone and it's at this point that she starts making meaningful attachments to others. I very much like the character depth Frances Hodgson Burnett gave to Mary Lennox as opposed to Sara Crew from A Little Princess. I also really love the other characters Burnett created in this story; they give so much more life to the book. I really like Martha and I think she acts as a good foil to Mary.

I love this book. The conversation between Martha and Mary in chapter 7 really resonated with me when Martha asked Mary how she likes herself. It is one thing to like or not like another person, but it is everything if you like yourself. You have to live with yourself, you don't get to choose that. It's important to love the person you have to live with and if you don't something probably has to change, which is typically easier said than done. What Martha says to Mary feels so...what's a bigger word than important? Crucial, I guess.
I love Dickon and I love the relationship between him and Mary, but his relationship with nature seems a little far fetched. It's one thing to love nature, it would have to be magic for it to love someone back, but maybe that's the point. Maybe I'm just too cynical.
I really love all the characters. Colin is a spoiled brat, but that isn't his fault and he certainly grows on you. It wasn't until Mary was describing Dickon to Colin that I realized that Colin is Dickon's foil.

No worries! I've actually been incredibly lazy this week and am finishing up the chapters this morning. Please don't feel pressure or stress to finish chapters on time; your mental health is more important. Thank you for letting me know. I wish you well and if you want to slow down or discuss chapters up to a different point, let me know.

Welcome! That's me as well. I used to read so much as a kid and I never lost focus, but now its difficult to sit still and read. Something nice about being in a book club is it keeps you accountable and then I'm at least reading one book a month.

Hi Michelle! Welcome! I've never met anyone that hated the Giving Tree before; I like it, but I don't love it. Although I do really like Shel Silverstein. I like true crime, too. I would like to read that Jeffrey Dahmer graphic novel, but unfortunately, the libraries are closed and I feel like that's a book I have to have a physical copy of. I'm not a fan of ebooks. I actually haven't read the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe even though I would watch the movie a lot when I was a kid. I did read the Magician's Nephew, though, and loved it. Right now, we are reading The Secret Garden; I like Frances Hodgson Burnett. We're about ten or eleven chapters. I try to think of books to read for the next month in advance to give a heads up especially now since the libraries are all closed so I am open to suggestions. Anything in the public domain is the easiest thing to get a hold of or if you see anything on the Overdrive that's easily accessible. There isn't really a theme to this group; my goal is to keep it casual and friendly. It's great having you here; I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

I know that all across the country, facilities are being shut down. My town finally made the decision to close down my local library the last week of last month. Without libraries, this will make it more difficult to gain access to physical copies of books, which sucks for those like me who have a hard time reading ebooks. However, it is not the end of the world and book worms around the world shall prevail because we are lucky enough to live in the digital era and have many resources at our disposal. Also, from now until further notice, we will have to think of books that are easily accessible online. Books in the public domain are the most easily accessible, but we are not limited to that since we have the Overdrive (yay!). However, since the Overdrive works just like a library, we have to be cautious about how many copies are available. Here is a list of resources given by my own library of where to find books:

Project Gutenberg
Overdrive
Teen Book Cloud
Abdo Digitial Bookshelf
Libby (audiobooks)
Tumble Book Library

Happy Reading!

I love Frances Hodgson Burnett. I love that her stories are realistic in the sense that life has this underlying sorrow to it, but it's hopeful and fun. I don't know If you've ever read A Little Princess, but the main character, Sara Crewe, does not have the same character depth as Mary Lennox, I feel like. Mary is such a brat, but you can see where that stems from; you're annoyed by her behavior, but you have empathy for her because she's a lonely girl that wants to be loved just like everyone else.
How fitting is it that we're reading about the time of the Cholera outbreak during COVID-19?
I'm actually glad we chose this book; her stories are comforting to me. Also with it being spring, I love the nature aspect of this book. I think there's a lot of symbolism in this book such as the secret garden itself I think is symbolic of Mr. Craven. I think just as he has his entire house locked up, he also has himself locked up and it'll be interesting to witness his progression through this book. I remember when I was really little (forever ago and yet I remember this) the bird that Mary becomes friends with, I always thought of it as Mrs. Craven. Some people believe that birds can be messengers and not just in the carrier pigeon sense. Birds in mythology are known to guide souls to their afterlife.

Since there are so many editions of The Secret Garden floating around in the world, I tried to divide the chapters up instead. This is a relatively short book, my copy is just shy of 300 pages, so I'm not too worried. Of course, if this is not doable, you see an easier way of doing things, or anything else, just let me know!

4/1-4/5 Chapters 1-5
4/6-12 Chapters 6-14
4/13 - 4/19 Chapters 15-20
4/20 - 4/26 Chapters 21-27